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Friday, April 22, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
A year ago, Student Senators asked the Board of Regents to raise the student activity fee from $25 to $28 a semester. This year, if the approved increases go through, student fees will be raised $20 a semester.
Students should be expected to pay their fair share. A troubling trend has developed, however. The University is looking to the students,rather than the state budget.to pay for improvements.
The latest case deals with the plan to increase tuition by $2 a semester to pay for an addition to the Hilltop Child Development Center. The program benefits parents and children alike. A $2 increase would not be an undue burden to students.
But the Senate and the students need to draw the line somewhere. If the center needs money, it should draw from the general budget, the Regents or the Legislature, not from the students, via the Senate.
If the University wants to put new windows in Strong Hall, should it look for financing from the state or from the students? If the French Department wants to hire a new teacher, should we raise student fees to pay for it? They should look to the state.
One of the benefits of a public university is that many costs are defrayed by the state. The students are expected to pay their fair share, but the state is expected to come up with the rest. If the University feels that financing at the University is too low, it should continue to demand appropriate increases from the state or cut costs from existing programs.
At $2, $5 or even $15 at a time,the fee increases don't seem too large. But students should be wary of the increased financial burden that the University and the Senate are imposing on them.
RICHARD BOYD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Clinton's crime policy should be applauded
President Clinton's new policy to rid public housing of crime should be praised as an idea long overdue from a government that traditionally has paid only lip service to the problems of inner-city Americans.
Clinton and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros have said that public housing authorities might institute the following:
- placing armed police and metal detectors at building entrances;
frisking suspicious-looking people for weapons;
frisking suspicious-looking people for weapons; erecting fences around public housing projects;
conducting weapon searches in the common areas of housing projects such as the grounds, empty units and stairwells:
- urging tenants to sign consent forms allowing their units to be searched for weapons.
These suggestions were made in response to a Chicago judge's ruling that "sweeps" of public housing projects for weapons without "probable cause" violate the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure.
As long as law enforcement agents act within the law, these measures should not adversely affect them.
Though the measures intrude on the lives of public housing tenants, they cannot be more intrusive than the intimidation and fear that tenants currently endure.
Solutions, however, should not be restricted to those listed above. Housing authorities should support tenant efforts to seek more effective and less intrusive solutions.
HEATHER KIRKWOOD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
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Caning incident spurs questions about role of worldwide police
As the world's only remaining superpower, the United States is used
The Michael Fay incident has thrust the tiny nation of Singapore onto the national radar. People who used to think that Singapore was the capital of North Dakota now have an opinion on the 18-year-old who was sentenced to six lashes of a wet cane in his buttocks for what amounts to a minor act of vandalism. This has led to a debate about the issue of punishment in a free society — a debate that satisfies no one.
to getting what it wants. We expect a certain amount of deference from other nations in the international arena. Our Supreme Court says it is legal to violate the sovereignty of other nations to arrest a fugitive from American justice through what is tantamount to an invasion force. In a world of equal nations, we are more equal than the rest.
We live in a geographically large country in the relative isolation of the Western Hemisphere and thus are rarely exposed to foreign views on sovereignty. This needs to change.
Seh-Ling Toh, Singapore senior, thinks that the United States may be a bit too presumptive in its judgment of her country.
There are people in the United States who are shocked and appalled that an American citizen should undergo a punishment straight out of "The Wizard of Id." I am one of those people. Yet we are in the minority. Americans seem to take a perverse glee in the proposed mutilation. There are many who, through ignorance of our legal system's history and our founding fathers' conception of rights, would like to see this kind of punishment available here.
"We may not have the same justice system, but don't we have the right to set up our own country?" Toh said.
'Each country has different laws, different rules. We don't tell other countries what to do.'
But there are really two issues here. There is the question of whether caning is a just and moral punishment. But there is also a question of what we as a country are morally entitled to do about it. This question is not nearly as easy to answer.
Toh obviously has a stake in the public perception of Singapore in this country, but hers is a point of view that can be appreciated even by those who strongly object to caning as a form of punishment.
This does not mean that we should stand by while things happen. Our government is entitled, and perhaps morally obliged, to express displeasure when a foreign government proposes to brutalize one of our citizens. And indeed, President Clinton has made his feelings clear on the subject. We also have a variety of economic tools at our disposal. The People's
But in the absence of a world government — which I think is a good idea but which has not come to fruition — there is no international standard for human rights. As a result, we are quite limited in what we can do to effect change in other nations.
The United States has no moral right to be the world policeman. Newspaper editorials scream for blood in Bosnia, Rwanda, Somalia and in other trouble spots around the world, with the assumption that the United States must step in when atrocities are committed.
Republic of China felt international wrath at the Tiananmen Square massacre through economic sanctions and, most recently, through the denial of Beijing's bid to sponsor the 2000 Olympics. These are wimpy weapons but they are the only weapons we are entitled to use.
Some may think it strange that the fate of one young punk should be so tied up in issues of international importance, but it all comes back to the need for a consistent foreign policy that recognizes the sovereignty of other nations while preserving our right to express our views. Clinton is free to take economic action against Singapore if he thinks that is right, though the chances of that happening are slim to none. But as much as it pains me to think of it, we can go no further than that.
Singapore is in charge of its own destiny. If the diplomatic pressure gets too intense, it will change. The Michael Fay incident boils down to a case of a man committing a crime in a nation and being given the punishment that nation metes out.
"Crime pays," Toh said. "And he is in a foreign currency."
Paul Henry is a Tacoma, Wash., graduate student in Journalism.
'Crunch time'spoils springtime
One of the best times of the year is upon us. The sun is creeping through the clouds a bit more frequently, baseball season is under way, and the end of the semester is only three weeks away. However, there's one significant drawback: It's time for the end-of-the-year crunch.
You all know what I'm talking about: the multitude of papers, projects and tests that bombard every college student near the end of a semester. Personally, I've been under the gun since the end of Spring Break. I've had three tests, four stories due in my journalism class and a countless number of Spanish assignments. Throw in my duties as a columnist for the paper and five games a week as a member of the KU baseball team, and you've got one busy individual.
Normally, I would have no problems with such a workload because it keeps me from participating in the one activity at which i excel — procrastination. And to tell you the truth,
I'm holding my own in the classroom and on the ball field.
1) I had the opportunity to watch only the final 1:12 of the NCAA championship game between Arkansas and Duke. For me to miss 10 seconds of an athletic event of this importance is almost sacrilegious, especially in college basketball, my favorite sport. But I couldn't help it because I spent the entire night shutting between the Kansan newsroom and the journalism school's editing lab.
But things just aren't right. My life is just not at the state of equilibrium.
1) I haven't cooked a meal in almost a month. I just don't have the time to take an hour out of my busy evening and prepare myself something good to eat. Instead, I have been living on the Burger King-Pizza Shuffle-Joe's Doughnuts-four-Cokes-a-day diet. Though I'm still managing to incorporate the four basic food groups, this is not exactly the ideal fare for an extremely busy student-athlete.
4) My dwindling bank account is directly related to my diet because I'm spending so much money on fast food it's making my head spin. Throw in the cash I dish out for rent, utilities and the occasional movie or compact
2) Since Feb. 14, I have worn a hat to class every day except one. Considering it's baseball season, it's not that strange that I'm inseparable from my hat. The problem is, I just don't have the time to worry about my hair. Instead of making sure it looks good, it's much easier to throw on a hat.
disc, and I'm on the fast track to the poorhouse.
5) My social life is at an all-time low. It's gotten to the point where going to Hastings, renting a movie for 49 cents, and watching it with a buddy is a huge social experience. And I can't remember the last time I went out on a date. Not exactly the type of college social life you dream of when you are a senior in high school. Things aren't looking too great.
By now, I'm sure many of you have picture of a stressed-out, broke, hungry, emotionally depraved Neanderthal swimming around in your head, and if this is what you think of me, for the most part, you're right. But I'm sure I'll be OK, until three weeks from now, when finals will be here, and I'll probably be far worse off than I am now.
Isn't college life great?
Scott Tittington is a Poway, Calif., more in exercise science.
Death penalty bill no solution to state crime
Death, dead people, people killing other people and making them dead, rigor mortis. Like watching it. I enjoy those Steven Segal, finger-breaking, bone-snapping action films. After football I keep watching TV so I can catch "Murder She Wrote."
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Death is fascinating, but it is not the answer to my problem. My problem is crime in Kansas. The solution is not the death penalty. The "honorable" Joan Firnney has until 11:50 p.m. tonight to veto a death penalty bill and stop a grave mistake by the state of Kansas. The intentions of the legislators are mixed: Some want to stop crime, and others just want to get re-elected. The death penalty will do neither.
The death penalty has been proven not to stop crime. In the states that have instituted the death penalty, crime has risen more than in states without it. So the death penalty doesn't deter crime.
Actually, it may give the government too much power, waste money, be opposed by many victims' families and be designated arbitrarily to minorities. And this might be worth it, if it stopped crime. It does not. If my sister is raped and killed I may want the man dead — hell, I may want to kill him myself. But she's not coming back, and if I could stop other people's sisters from being killed, that's what I would want. The death penalty does not do this.
If my sister died, I wouldn't want it to be treated like a Van Damme film. It's not a showcase; it's a tragedy.
Charlie Frey
Charlie Frey Brockport,N.Y., senior
It's time to treat it like one and stop the flashy death penalty rhetoric. The death penalty achieves nothing except more tragedy. It's time to bring our heads out of the sand and address the real issues of crime.
You imply that employers are
Striker replacement bill Striker replacement bill unfair system
In your editorial against the striker replacement bill, you argue for a "level playing field" but state that "Congress should let jobs go to those willing to work for the wage offered." Letting companies unilaterally set wages is hardly a level playing field, especially when there are many unemployed people willing to work for low wages.
reluctant to hire permanent replacements, but in a 1992 survey, 80 percent said they would be willing to do so. You note the low level of strikes and imply that passage of the bill could cause this to increase. This is because the threat of permanent replacement effectively takes away the right to strike, according to the International Labor Organization. Without the right to strike, workers' incomes will fall — as they have for 20 years.
In a recent U.S. survey, 83 percent agreed that "the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer" and that the economic system is "inherently unfair." Allowing permanent replacement for strikers contributes to this reality and perception.
Michael Barfield Lawrence graduate student