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Friday, April 8, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Enrollment technology should meet needs of all
The switch to computer enrollment is helpful to students because it allows most of them to enroll easily and efficiently without having to wait in lines. However, visually impaired students are not benefited by this system because the University has not yet made computers accessible to blind students.
The University should supply the necessary voice synthesizers and computer screen enlargement software for legally blind students so they can benefit from the new system and other computer-based technology such as E-mail, computerized card catalogs and faxing.
The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, requires that federally funded schools make their facilities accessible to students and faculty with disabilities. The University has not provided the necessary equipment for the blind and, therefore, is not in compliance with this act.
Blind students are shut out, unable to communicate efficiently in writing without the necessary equipment that is specially designed for the visually impaired. The current lack of specialized equipment makes life even more difficult for students who already face many challenges every day.
If we can afford to have new technology like computer enrollment, then we can afford to provide the necessary equipment to make the technology beneficial for all students.
Moving into a more computerized society should provide more opportunities for all students. This is not accomplished when we hinder some students' efforts to learn.
AMANDA TRAUGHBER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Fort Riley expendable in light of nation's needs
Fort Riley has been labeled as expendable in recent U.S. Army reports. While the loss of the base threatens to send shock waves through the Kansas economy national defense needs to come first. The closing of Fort Riley best serves the needs of the nation.
Due to budgetary constraints, the army will close two military bases. A February issue of Army Times labeled the 1st Infantry at Fort Riley and the 4th Infantry at Fort Carson, Colo., for likely closure. Immediately, Kansas politicians jumped into the fray defending the base and its economic benefits. This is ironic considering these same people helped poise the base on the brink of extinction.
One of the Army's reasons for closing the base is its relatively small size. In 1990, the Army had plans to expand Fort Riley. But nearby farmers did not want to lose their lands. Through political pressure the expansion plan failed. Now those same self-interested farmers are crying about the plan's potential.
Self-interest, whether on the individual, city or state level, should not be the main motivation in these closure proceedings. Fort Riley's tanks and helicopters are still modern, but a landlocked infantry unit is less important now in an age when air attacks are relied on heavily.
Furthermore, continued financing of Fort Riley would prevent more modernization of the military as a whole. For example, the military has plans for a $4.6 billion aircraft carrier and a fleet of 400 new F-22 stealth fighter jets running $135 million apiece.
It's easy to concentrate on Kansas. This state, though, is not a lone island. It is cradled in the arms of an immense nation. In considering the fate of Fort Riley, the needs of that nation need to be put first.
MATT HOOD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
BEN GROVE, Editor
LISA COSMILLO, Managing editor
General manager, news adviser
JUSTIN GARBERG Business manager
BILL SKEET. Systems coordinator
Editors
JENNIFER BLOWEY Retail sales manager
Ast Managing Editor ... Dan Englans
Assistant to the editor, ... J.R. Claribone
News ... Kripti Fogler, Katie Greenwild
Todd Selfart
Editorial ... Colleen Olson
Nathan Olson
Campus ... Jes DeHaven
Sports ... David Dorsey
Photo ... Doug Hesse
Features ... Bera Bennett
Alliance Allen
Freelance ... Christine Laue
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
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Passion for football punishes, pushes character to the limit
Saturday morning I woke up feeling like death after three days in the sun.
I was feverish, my head and throat hurt, and green substances clogged my nose and lungs. Outside it was 45 degrees and raining.
A perfect day for football!
My girlfriend, of course, thought I was crazy. It was beyond her why I would want to play a physical, violent sport in inhospitable conditions when a casket was being prepared for me at the funeral home.
COLUMNIST
Football is my passion.
From the time I was five, I have wanted to play professional football. Anytime I was with at least two other friends, I suggested a game of football or an one of its bastard cousins like "Snear the queer." (Our mothers preferred the euphemistic "Tackle the man with the ball.") We didn't even know what a homosexual was, we just liked the rhyming. In grade school, we played tackle soccer and tackle basketball in the concrete parking lot.
Nature asserted itself when I was a senior in high school, and I realized that the NFL may not be my destination. My 100-yard dashes were timed with a calendar, and four years of lifting weights had left me the lightest linebacker in the Wichita City League.
Still, I pursued my passion in college through flag football. But at the mention of a tackle game, I would sell my soul to play.
This insanity pushed me to the playing fields on a Saturday morning fit for neither man nor beast.
On just the second play, I took an elbow to the nose. Blood, mucus, rain and mud mixed on my face. This was football.
Once first blood was drawn, I setted into my game mood. I leveled the quarterback on the next play. If there had been a ref, it would have been flagged as a late hit. If there had been a ref, a lot of things would have been called. There wasn't, so you did the worst you thought could get away with.
I thrilled to the sensation of hard collisions and slamming opposing players to the soggy turf. I felt elation when my arms enclosed a fleeing ball carrier and dragged his resisting body into the muck and goo. I felt like a god as I locked horns with a defensive lineman trying to harm my quarterback.
When the adrenaline started, the pain, the cold and all unnecessary thoughts were blocked out. I became a map obsessed.
The rain and cold quickly drove the casual spectators away. More involved spectators soon were forced to seek shelter. Casual players, weak of heart or soft of body, also fled.
The battlefield was abandoned, except for a few serious men. They were there for love of sport or out of loyalty to the cause that their team represented. This game was a debate of muscle, not of brain.
Trash was talked, tempers flared,
and bodies were battered.
The rain came down unyieldingly. Hair was plastered to heads and sweats were coated with mud. Weariness weighed bodies down more than sodden clothes.
effort.
The team I fought for was obviously outmatched in size, numbers and athletic ability. Still we fought for honor. They may have taunted us for losing, but they could not have faulted our
Obligations to work forced me to leave early. I felt like a deserter. My good name was probably besmirched by the other team.
My girlfriend had waited in the car. She could not have even comprehended the emotions that had driven me to endure such a punishing afternoon and still regret leaving early. Most women wouldn't understand. A lot of men wouldn't either.
Perhaps it is excess testosterone, or maybe I am just a little less evolved.
I can't really explain it. Football is almost mystical to me.
Our world has become easy. There is little to test a person's mettle.
I feel compelled to punish my body to discover its limits. Only then can I reach deep inside myself and overcome those limits.
I tapped into something that blustery day. When I left the field, my headache was gone and my sinuses and lungs were clear.
Call me crazy, but I don't want everything to be easy. I need the character.
Jacob Arnold is a Wichita junior In Journalism.
Never let it be said that Bob Dole doesn't care about endangered species
Loss of Brett tarnishes opening day
Baseball's opening day usually is a holiday for me.
I usually celebrate it with barbecued hot dogs and a day off from classes.
But on Monday's opening day, I went to classes. My charcoal stayed in its bag. I just didn't feel like celebrating.
This was the first opening day I've ever spent without No. 5. — my idol, George Brett.
Actually, I was 3 when Brett was a rookie. But at that age, Super Grover from Sesame Street was my hero.
I discovered Brett in 1976 at the tender age of 5. I vaguely remember my mom screening his name during the Royals first postseason appearance, playing against the hated New York Yankees.
The Royals only world championship? Brett was a one-man team in
Kansas City's first World Series? Brett batted 390 that year, still the highest average since 1941. He hit a three-run homer that clinched the pennant against the Yankees.
Since then, Brett has given me some of the greatest memories of my life. I can't think of a time when the Royals won a big game without Brett being the reason why they won.
That was just a side effect of his intensity. He always played the game harder than anyone.
But Brett hardly was a model knight. His legendary temper drove him to destroy clubhouse lockers, bathrooms and even some reporters' television cameras.
But Brett was a constant figure in my life. Someone I could turn to when I needed some cheering up. I could listen to the radio for the third spot in the batting order, and there he was, getthe league championships. And he batted over 370 in the World Series.
I wish I could say Brett's heroes pushed me to become a baseball player, but the closest I got to playing was in a softball league.
And if Brett's temper sometimes was out of control, his ego never was. After he hit one of his 317 home runs, his head would drop, tobacco wad in his cheek clearly visible, and he would take his classic turn around the bases, careful not to show up the pitcher.
That was refreshing in today's baseball world of self-adulation after a home run.
I've shared his individual triumphs with him as well. I was at the game when Brett went 4-for-4 in 1991, which virtually clinched his third batting title. I was there at next season's opening day, when Brett accepted his trophy, holding the prize, a silver bat, high above his head with one fist, just like a powerful knight would wield his mystical sword.
ting another hit. The fact that I was in the same city that Brett played with his whole career filled me with pride.
When I was a kid, seeing a shiny George Brett baseball card on top of the pack after I eagerly the paper wrapper, was the greatest thrill in the world.
And now he is gone. His No. 5 has been replaced by a suit, as he is now a Royals vice-president.
He never possessed the talent you would expect one of the greatest hitters in baseball to have. But Charley Lau, a guru of batting instruction, and hard work gave Brett his beautiful, sweeping swing that never will be properly imitated.
There will be times when I still will need him. When the bills start piling up. Or when I have to try and figure my income taxes.
That was inspiring to me. Because of Brett, I always knew I could become good at something if I worked hard, even if I didn't have as much talent as my peers.
In those times, I dust off an old plastic folder where I keep those baseball cards. I'll open it, and the memories will come flooding back. I won't remember the tears I shed when Brett announced his retirement.
I'll just remember when he thrilled me every night with his heroes, at a time when the only math I had to worry about was trying to figure out his season batting average.
Dan England is a Lenexa senior in Journalism.
Everyone welcome at Hispanic conference
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
On behalf of the Hispanic American Leadership Organization, I invite you to attend our Fifth Annual Hispanics of Today Conference on April 8-10 at the Kansas Union. We have witnessed great progress since HALO first held this event in 1900, and we are proud to continue this tradition, which celebrates our rich culture and heritage. It is extremely important for students
You are probably wondering,
"What does this conference have to offer KU students?" The answer to this question is simple: "Leaders of Today Working for a Better Tomorrow: Juntos Podemos!" This conference allows participants to come together and explore important Hispanic issues. Also, this conference allows students to learn facts about Hispanic Americans. It
You, as a participant, will have the opportunity to hear three of the most prominent Hispanic leaders in the country, to participate in informative workshops, and to attend exciting social events such as Saturday's explosive Caribe dance! We are certain that this conference
like yourself to participate in this three-day event in order to make this conference truly successful.
is important for all students of every color to attend, in order to be truly diversified. We cannot preach about multiculturalism or diversity if we do not learn about the fastest growing American population.
will be a great learning experience, and we encourage everyone to join Hispanics around the nation in the pursuit of education and unification.
Again, I would like to extend a special invitation to welcome you to HALO's Fifth Annual Hispanics of Today Conference this weekend. For more information contact the Office of Minority Affairs at 864-4351 or 864-HALO.
Sandra T. Olivas HALO President