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Wednesday, March 16, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Sex Predator Act wrong, would restrict rights
With the Sex Predator Act, the Kansas Legislature is attempting to brand convicts for life. In its current wording, the act would restrict many of the rights we take for granted.
The act is designed to prevent recidivism among sex offenders. The act has five bills, three of which are generating the most controversy. The first establishes a civil jury after a sex offender has served his or her sentence to determine if the convict is fit to return to society. The jury has the option of placing the convict in a mental institution for life.
The second bill requires released sex offenders to register with the sheriff in the community where the offender resides. In essence, this gives law enforcement agents a list of potential suspects when a sex crime is committed.
The third bill stipulates that the offender's criminal record would be released to his or her employer by the Department of Corrections.
The act as a whole is unfair. An offender could conceivably be required to serve two sentences for one crime if that person is placed in a mental institution after serving jail time.
Jails have long since ceased being edifices of rehabilitation. The time the offender spends in jail should be used for rehabilitate him or her, perhaps through counseling, so that, in our haste to punish the offender, we don't neglect the need for rehabilitation.
One alternative would be to revise sentencing laws so that, upon conviction, the offender could be placed in an institution. This approach also would save the cost of convening another jury, years after the crime took place.
The second and third bills are equally unacceptable. The offender, once released into society, must constantly be reminded of the crime. By requiring the offender to notify the sheriff and future employers of the crime, the offender can never make a fresh start, even if he or she has been rehabilitated.
Worse, a list compiled by the sheriff of "known sex offenders" in a community comes close to violating our principle of innocent until proven guilty. Any time a sex crime occurs, those who have been registered as official "sex offenders" would immediately be considered suspects.
Sex crimes are among the most heinous crimes humans can commit. While no one would deny that the crimes need to be stopped, the Sex Predator Act is not the way. The Legislature should not be in the business of branding people with scarlet letters.
COLLEEN MCCAIN AND NATHAN OLSON FOR THE
'Three strikes' can't deliver what it promises
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Baseball metaphors make bad laws. Legislation giving criminals "three strikes, and you're out" is a grand illusion. It promises to make the rest of us safe from violent crime. But it cannot.
It is sloggeering at its worst — knee jerk, pandering, brain dead. Lawmakers passed a piece of "three strikes" and California Gov. Pete Wilson signed into law this demagogue disguised as crime fighter.
Here's the muddle: Because the bill makes no distinction between violent offenses and other serious felonies such as burglary, a defendant never convicted of a violent crime can be sentenced to prison for life.
The cost of "three strikes" is likewise hazy — $3 billion extra each year in a ballpark figure for more prisons, more guards and bigger operations.
Uncertain consequences of "three strikes" strongly suggest we should take our time, think hard and consider options. Before we throw the high, hard one, we should know precisely what we're doing.
Francisco Examiner San Francisco, Calif.
Black History Month educates is not reverse discrimination
On the night of March 6 I was flipping through an old University Daily Kansan dated March 2 when I saw an article in the Oread Forum. It was giving responses on whether heritage celebrations were effective in educating students about other cultures. One person's response upset me. A few of the remarks included: Black History Month is reverse racism and, Black History Month is some kind of conspiracy for African Americans to gain more rights than white people.
THIS IS ALL WRONG!!
Even though I was four days late in reading the letter, I felt that it was important to set this person straight.
First of all, Black History Month is not an example of reverse racism. If anyone were to look up the definition of racism in the dictionary it would say that it is the belief that one's ethnic group is superior. So, doesn't this mean that reverse racism would be the belief that one's ethnic group is inferior?
GUEST COLUMNIST
Arrican Americans do not use Black
History Month as a means to give ourselves superiority but as a means to educate. How can we, as African Americans, be considered racists because we want to make ourselves and others aware of our accomplishments? Black History Month is a way for us to do this. In this case racism is a different topic and should not be associated with our month.
Some people think that Black History Month is like a special privilege. We hear and see white Americans 365 days a year. For example, we are required to take Western Civilization
so we can learn more about human civilization. What we really learn is about white civilization, not Black. Black History Month allows us to learn about Black civilization
I personally feel that, there should not only be one month of recognition, but every day of every year. It is important to give credit where credit is due, but first you need to know where and to whom to give it.
For example, in recognition of the first African American or Asian American to graduate from a school, a portrait could be displayed on campus. The portraits of people of other ethnic groups allow people to recognize the trials and tribulations they have experienced. This will make our journey to success a little easier.
The portraits also would help people of different ethnic groups to feel, more accepted by the University of Kansas. KU tries to help minorities, but that help often is unavailable unless you work diligently to find it.
I'd also like to respond to the fact
that February is known as Black History Month, not "the black month" as it was called. This person also said that no other races have their own months. Is it that you don't pay attention to the displays on campus, or do you even attend KU? November is Native American Month, March is Women's and Asian American History Month, and Hispanic Americans observe their culture in September. Can we at least educate ourselves before we try to educate others?
I don't want to discredit everything this person said. I agree with the person when he/she said this must stop. Stop the ignorance and the unwillingness to learn about other cultures. It must be understood that whites are not the majority or non-whitees the minority. If we are to work together we must be open-minded and see people for who they really are. Bottom line, learn the truth.
Krista Morgan is a St. Louis senator in human biology.
Turnabout reveals social trends
Some architecture students, in their perpetual pursuit of the strange, threw a transvestite party.
I went to a very revealing party, and I don't say that just because I was wearing a backless mini-dress.
It was a good experiment. Besides showing the world the color of my underwear, the party revealed a lot about gender roles in society.
The idea of wearing a dress did not really bother me.
When clean clothing has reached a minimum, I have been known to lunge around the house in one of my girlfriend's skirts. Those things are comfortable and breezy. Totally non-restrictive, if you know what I mean.
I had planned to wear a tie-dyed cotton skirt and a T-shirt to the party. Casual, yet slovenly. My girlfriend had other plans.
She persuaded me to wear a black stretch dress just barely long enough to cover the imagination.
Right then I began to realize why many women obsess over their bodies. I have a metabolism that can work through a cow faster than a stream of piranha. I am thin. Still the dress found my little bulge of a tummy and highlighted it to its maximum size.
Irritationally, I began to wish I had worked out recently so my chest was more prominent. I even wondered how the dress made my butt look.
Men's clothes hide, women's emphasize.
I, like many men, have a wardrobe consisting almost entirely of faded jeans and old T-shirts. If it ain't comfortable, I don't wear it. Men's clothes are traditionally more comfortable and utilitarian because we won't wear anything else.
I often wonder why women put up with the whims of fashion.
I was just a little afraid to walk into a strange house with my body so blatantly on parade. My courage was bolstered when I ran into a friend in the driveway. He was wearing a pink
dress, lipstick and had his hair curled. The resemblance between him and his sister was frightening.
We walked into the living room, and my pride dropped faster than attention spans when the weather turns nice. Five people, dressed normally, sat looking at us like we had just walked in wearing, well, dresses.
Thank God the party was in the basement.
After walking into the basement, I almost wanted to go back upstairs. It was scary down there.
one guy looked like a hippy chick who let her facial hair grow. Another fellow demonstrated what Sinead O'Connor might look with a mustache and goatze. Chest hair curled forth from cleavage everywhere.
The men were constantly readjusting bras or playing with other guys' fake mammaries. They mimicked every female mannerism from wanton slut to religious prude.
Many of them had gone all out. Styled hair, makeup, stockings, purses, chokers and other accessories.
It was less interesting for the women to dress as men. They already wear most of the same types of clothes as men. Every woman there
was wearing a tie, probably because it is the only article of dress left that is almost strictly male.
snort of relieving themselves outside, anything those women did to imitate men was already being done by women in everyday society.
Women are gaining equality to meet in all areas of life, but it seems to be the expense of the feminine side of humanity.
Traditional female duties like cooking, sewing or child rearing are being abandoned by women, and men are not picking up the slack. How many people, male or female, do you know who can cook a menu more extensive than Ramen and macaroni and cheese? Many women have adopted the male attitude that traditional feminine activities are a sign of weakness and cause for embarrassment.
For better or worse, society is taking on a male mode of dress, thought and action.
I think we are losing something.
Ask the women at the party. Some men look good in dresses.
Jacob Arnold is a Wichita Junior in Journalism.
KANSAN STAFF
BEN GROVE, Editor
LISA COSMILLO, Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET, Systems coordinator
Editors
Editors
Asst Managing Editor...Dan England
Assistant to the editor...J.R. Clairborne
News...Kristi Fogler, Katie Greenwald
...Todd Seifert
Editorial...Colin McNearn
Nathan Oleon
Campus...Jess DeHaven
Sports...David Dorsey
Photo...Doug Hesse
Features...Sara Bennett
Wire...Allison Lippert
Freelance...Christine Laue
JUSTIN GARBERG Business manager
JENNIFER BLOWEY Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Business Start
Campus sales mgr...Jason Eberly
Regional sales mgr...Troy Tervawier
National and Coop sales mgr...Robin King
Special Sessions mgr...Shelly McConnell
Production mgrs...Laura Guth
gretchen Kottenbeilch恩
Marketing director...Shannon Reilly
Creative director...John Carton
Classified mgr...Kelly Connelys
Tearshews mgr...Wing Chan
Business Staff
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Americans need to have all facts on Whitewater
Bill Clinton's top white House assistant, Bernard Nussbaum, resigned because of ethical miscalculations related to the Whitewater affair. His actions following the death of Vincent Foster may prove to be the most damaging of all the maneuvers Nussbaum undertook for the Clinton administration.
Vince Foster was Hillary Rodham Clinton's law partner and confidante back in the glory days in Arkansas. He worked closely with her on the Whitewater Development land deals, then was appointed deputy White House counsel. His job was to submerge the Whitewater debacle once and for all.
Foster failed. The press picked up on all the shady intrigues: phony campaign contributions, spurious land deals and the bogus loss the Clinton claimed they had on Whitewater. In addition, the press found large payments from the Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan to Whitewater Development that nobody would explain. The whole cover up started to unravel.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
On the afternoon of July 20, 1993, Vince Foster was found dead, shot in the head with a .38-caliber pistol, an apparent suicide. An autopsy was performed, but the results, like so much about the scandal, have been suppressed.
Foster's office was not sealed after his death, and a recent U.S. Park Police report on Foster states Nussbaum interfered with the interviews of witnesses. He also denied the park police access to important papers in Foster's office. Nussbaum turned over Whitewater files found in Foster's office to the president's personal lawyer.
Nussbaum was Clinton's oldest and closest adviser. He worked intimately with the Clintons on every major initiative put forward by this
Kelly Staples
Ellinwood graduate student ROTC does not endorse anti-gay views or policies
The first sentence of Article VI of the Code of Conduct states the following:
administration. For the Clinton-Rodham regime the ramifications of Nussbaum's resignation and the growing Whitewater affair are grim. Justice demands that all relevant evidence pertaining to the case be provided to the American people so that they can judge for themselves the actions of their leaders.
The Code of Conduct is made known to Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadets and midshipmen. Apparently, ROTC cadets and midshipmen are fighting for freedom the freedom to be treated as nonbiased individuals. A few weeks ago a letter was written to the editor that compared ROTC to the person that was supposed to be kicked out of his dorm for displaying anti-gay paraphernalia. The writer of that letter compared the WHOLE of ROTC to this person. The biased tone of this letter came as a shock to us cadets.
"I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, dedicated to the principles which made my country free."
I want it to be known that ROTC is active in the "Don't talk. Don't ask questions" policy. I also want it to be known that provisions for ROTC are passed down from Congress, and we as cadets and midshipmen have little to no power to change them.
In the future please be aware of those who will be reading your material, especially if your material is meant to be displayed to the public, and please remember that ROTC cadets and midshipmen of the University of Kansas are Jayhawks, too.
Alberto Marquez
Alberto Marquez
Wichita freshman