4.
Friday, March 4, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Free speech is essential on all college campuses
The right to free speech on public campuses is protected by the Constitution and should continue to be protected. But the University of New Hampshire recently compromised this right.
Professor J. Donald Silva, a tenured professor at the University of New Hampshire, was found guilty by the university's tribunal of verbal sexual harassment. The tribunal suspended him without pay.
Three students complained about two specific instances. During one of his technical writing classes, Silva told students that focus in writing was comparable to sex. In another instance, Silva quoted 1920s belly dancer Little Egypt: "Belly dancing is like Jell-O on a plate, with a vibrator under the plate."
Silva sued for damages for violation of his constitutional right to free speech, back pay and reinstatement.
Campuses are a forum for new ideas. Differing opinions and free speech are necessary to introduce those ideas. While references to sex may offend some, Silva's references provided clear images through legitimate similes. Most college students know enough about sex for the similes to make their point.
The First Amendment allows for comments like Silva's. His statements were neither gender-biased nor obscene, and they did not violate any code of political correctness. While some people are offended by references to sex, they do not have license to take away Silva's constitutional right to express his opinions.
If professors are not protected by the Constitution as other citizens are, students can unfairly label lectures as "harassing" or "offensive." The University of New Hampshire should stand behind Silva and protect his rights as a citizen and teacher.
AMANDA TRAUGHBER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Government objections to beer ads ridiculous
Recent Molson Ice advertisements have caused the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to claim that Molson is violating a federal law that prohibits the use of high alcohol content in beer advertising. These advertisements show the Molson Ice label while simultaneously proclaiming it a "bolder" beer. The ATF's position is ridiculous.
The ATF claim is based on the fact that the bottle shown in the commercial prominently displays the beer's alcohol content. Molson Ice contains 5.6 percent alcohol by volume. Regular beers contain 5 percent.
Labels displaying alcohol content have been legal since a 1992 U.S. District Court ruling that stated that such bans violate both the First Amendment and the public interest. Further, this specific label was approved by federal regulators. It is thus outrageous for the ATF to expect Molson not to use the label.
The ATF also objects to the use of the word "bolder." Advertisers use certain words to create images for products:"sporty" for cars, "zesty" for salad dressings and "bold" for beers, regardless of alcohol content. ATF, however, insists on inferring negative meanings from such words, seeing their use as a prelude to "strength wars" based on higher alcohol content.
Such ATF hypersensitivity is not unprecedented. Ironically, the agency objected to Coors' "won't slow you down" advertisements for the opposite reason, arguing that they downplayed the alcohol content of beer. ATF plays both sides of this issue, apparently more concerned with trying to justify its own existence than serving any real purpose.
SEAN FINN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
BEN GROVE. Editor
LISA COSMILLO, Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
JUSTIN GARBERG Business manager
BILL, SKEET. Systems coordinator
Editors
JENNIFER BLOWEY Retail sales manager
Aest Managing Editor ...Dan England
Assistant to the editor...J.R. Clairbomb
News ...Kristi Fogger, Katie Greenwald
Todd Selfert
Editorial ...Colleen McCain
Nathan Olsen
Campus ..Jess DeHaven
Sports ..David Dorsay
Photo ..Doug Hesse
Features ..Sara Bennett
Wine ..Allison Lippert
Freelance ..Christine Laue
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr ... Jason Eberly
Regional sales mgr ... Troy Tarwater
National A & Coop sales mgr ... Robin King
Special Sessions mgr .. Shelly McConnell
Production mgr ... Laura Guth
Gretchen Ketterleinchl
Marketing director .. Shannon Reilly
Creative director .. John Carton
Classified mgr .. Kelly Connelys
Tearsite mgr .. Wong Chan
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Decline of etiquette in college leads to all new rules of eating
The phrase "Table manners in the U.S.A." is an oxymoron. For example, eating utensils are virtually unheard of on college campuses, as most of us know. Etiquette in general is experiencing a decline in popularity. In an effort to rectify this messy situation, I'd like to address a few of the most basic elements of a dining experience.
Chewing
Seeing as how humans were not designed with four stomachs and an udder, I am continually surprised by how many people aspire to imitate our bovine friends. Is it udder envy? Or is it an attempt to come to terms with the beast within? Regardless, chewing with one's mouth open is unappetizing for everyone except the culprit.
My roommate, connoisseur of the repulsive, has a little party trick that she does with Oreos. She chews up one or two, swishes the chocolate mush around her mouth, and then bares her crud-encrusted teeth in a charming grin. Can you sense my envy?
I knew a girl in grade school who could make anything she drank come
The Nose
out of her nose. She didn't even have to laugh very hard for it to happen; she could just chuckle and show the entire lunch table with her beverage of choice. I have to admit, though, that she had nothing on the guy who could spew whole raisins from his nose. A word of advice: If you feel compelled to regurgitate substances through your nasal passages, please don't do it when you have a cold.
Belching
Just don't, okay.
Food As Entertainment
I food as biter, lament
This topic depends on the situation.
In fine restaurants, I would refrain from playing Jenga with the dishes unless you really can't get the server's attention. In most other situations, though, using one's food for purposes
other than eating is generally frowned upon (how and when it is eaten, though, is up to personal preference, such as with whipped cream).
Last week my aforementioned roommate, in a perverse fit of malice, stuck her tongue out at me through the center of a bagel. Needless to say, I was speechless. I was so appalled that I couldn't even finish my mashed potato sculpture of Winnie-the-Pooh.
Elbows
If you're not in danger of overturning the table, (as is often the case in fine dining establishments such as McDonalds, where the tables are bolted firmly to the ground) forearms on the table are permissible. Caution, though, to women in low-cut blouses. Don't try to eat seductively while leaning on your elbows. Believe me, you'll ruin the image when you try to gracefully retrieve bits of your meal from your cleavage. And foods such as grapes can be quite embarrassing later in the evening if not removed.
Straws
Hand-eye coordination is the key here. Always, always, always look before sipping. A gift I know experienced a temporary loss of motor skills
once but permanently lost a potential love interest. Sitting across the table from him, she delicately bent her head to sip her drink and instead inserted the straw directly up her left nostril. Hoping he hadn't noticed, she immediately took a sip (correctly this time) to cover up her severe embassment. She casually looked up and met his widened eyes. "Aren't you even going to wipe it off?" he shrieked.
These little tips and anecdotes cover only a few of the many gray areas of eating. As you may know from experience, there are many more embarrassing/disgusting moments that could occur while eating. I hope I've clarified some of the basic matters. But if worst comes to worst and you're committing one faux pas after another, do this: Take two handfuls of food, smear it liberally through your hair, and tell people that you're saving it in case of nuclear disaster. Guarantee, no one will bother you.
Snow days at KU unlike Chicago
I am from Chicago. Actually, I'm from a suburb about 20 miles north of the city, if you want to get technical on me.
The reason I bring this up is because of the somewhat wintry weather we've been having at KU recently.
You see, it's cold in back in Chitown. I'm talking nose-hair-freezing, car-stalling, bone-chilling, mind-numbing cold. The kind of weather that makes you say you'll never curse those 95 degree, 90 percent humidity days in the middle of July ever, ever again, so help you God. And it snows. It snows a lot. It's not saying that the weather we experienced earlier this week was pleasant by any means. But compared to Chicago, it was downright balmy here in Lawrence.
Actually, answering is an understatement. I think that I would have to add the adjectives "heatedly" and "frantically" in front of the verb "answered" to adequately describe it.
Which brings me to my point.
I had to work the early shift the other morning at KU Info. This shift starts at 7 a.m., a time at which neither my brain or my body is very active. So, I dragged myself through the frigid and snowy air to work and started answering the phones.
I found myself in the middle of a veritable phone frenzy. And everyone was asking the same question:
The number of calls we received about this was incredible. It was hilarious. I really didn't understand how so
They were so disappointed to hear me say that all classes were in session and that, yes, the buses were running just fine.
I answered that question a whopping 100 times over the course of one hour. Do you know what that answer was? You got it — "NO."
I really felt bad for some of the people. Many of them had obviously just rolled out of bed and were praying to their respective Gods that classes had been canceled. A lot of wishful thinkers, that's for sure.
many people could possibly think that the University would shut down for a mere spattering of snowflakes. I thought that the idea was preposterous to tell you the truth.
I rarely had snow days when I was a kid. It didn't matter if it had snowed 12 inches or if it was 20 degrees below zero outside, we always had school. I thought that I had may have two from the time I was in kindergarten until my high school graduation. It sucked.
This is why I thought it was so funny that so many people would think school had been canceled after a flurry. Really funny, that is, until I remembered that KU canceled classes twice last year on account of weather similar to what we've been experiencing lately.
It turned out that the University had canceled classes because the buses couldn't make it up the hills to get to campus. The snow and ice had made them too sticky.
I remember walking up the hill to go to class through maybe two inches of snow. When I got there I found that all classes had been canceled. It had seemed odd to me at the time, but then who was I to question a day off of school?
This had also sounded a bit silly to
me. Why didn't they just plow the roads and then salt them like they did at home, I had thought.
I voiced these thoughts to the people around me that day, and they had all looked at me like I was requesting the impossible. They then explained to me that nothing like this (the snow) had happened at KU for five years or so.
I forget sometimes that I'm not in Chicago where if it even smells like it might snow, a genuine army of snow plows and salt trucks is called out to do battle. Measures like that aren't that common here because they aren't necessary.
If had been the one at home in my bed looking out the window at the possibility for class cancellations, I probably would have called KU Info, too. Anything to keep the hope alive for a day off I guess.
So I'm going to try to remember that I'm not at home. Right now, I'm damned glad to do so. When it snowed two inches here, they got 10 inches in Chicago.
And no, they didn't get a snow day either.
Danielle Raymond is a Wiltmette, Ill., junior in Journalism.
Those that deal in racism must deal with its effects
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
I was not at all surprised by Jacob Arnold's article "Race War" (March 1st.).
Basically, Arnold described how he and his cohorts would pick flights with African-Americans, and a game of cat-and-mouse would ensue.
It didn't shock me, nor did it make me feel any sympathy for those who feel as he does. It just keeps me fed up with whites whining about racism.
When Arnold and his friends start
to get overpowered (a.k.a. a good ass-whipping), they want to cry and call it outs.
Now, when Arnold & Co. were terrorizing African-Americans, it was reduced to "testosterone-crazed youth crimes." Yet, when the "enemy" began fighting back, "real, senseless hate was the sole motive." Sounds like a double standard to me.
Tiffany Williams
Stop whining about racism. You've set your monster loose, Dr. Frankenstein. Now, deal with it.
Thirty Williams Kansas City, Kan. freshman
Student senators should follow Senate procedure
I am writing in response to the front page article in the Feb. 24 edition of the Kansan entitled "Senate interviews violated rules." I personally find the attitude of Mr. Bill Mills to be appalling. The position of "Oops...Oh well, no harm done," is not the stance that should be taken on this matter. Regardless of whether or not the outcome changes, or the severity of the infraction, rules were violated. In a time when our own United States Senate exempts itself from the laws
itpasses, such as affirmative action, it is refreshing to discover where they learned these attitudes of exemption — at the university level. It is my hope that the Student Senate's choice to ignore its own rules does not continue along the trend set by our national government. For the sake of the student body, those senators who choose to govern incorrectly should be asked to step down and the powers of the Student Senate turned over to those who will govern within the rules and guidelines established.
Overland Park freshman