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Tuesday, February 1, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Student Senate wrong to finance county project
Last week, Student Senate passed Bill No. 1994-078. The bill "fund[s] the Douglas County AIDS Project (DCAP)." Senate should not have given the group this money.
The problem is not whether AIDS is important. AIDS is an epidemic. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that in the United States, 1 million people are infected with the HIV virus and 339,250 people have been diagnosed with AIDS. The number is expected to be between 415.000 and 535.000 by the end of 1994.
Nor is the problem a matter of whether the Douglas County AIDS Project needs the money. DCAP's funding was decreased because less money had been coming in from the United Way and other sources.
The problem is a simple matter of jurisdiction. Senate should use the students' money for students, not for the general public that contains some students.
DCAP claims that "25 percent of the DCAP board members are KU students with an additional 25 percent being KU-affiliated, 60 percent of the volunteers are KU students." The funding was requested "in order to continue to provide its services to the community," and not KU directly. Because DCAP does not serve primarily KU students, Student Senate is not justified in financing the group.
The bill passed states that "three of the 20 on file' clients are KU-affiliated." But a main criteria for financing a particular organization is that it serves KU students, not the county.
In the future, Senate should keep the students' money for the students.
DAVID ZIMMERMAN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Two years later, Clinton 'discovers' family values
Isn't it amazing how things that go around come around? It is about time that President Bill Clinton put family values in the pulic conscience.
During the 1992 presidential campaign, George Bush, Dan Quayle and the Republican Party said that many of today's problems resulted from the collapse of the American family. They called for renewed attention toward family values.
In response, Clinton, Al Gore and the Democrats blasted back, saying that it was not a political issue and that it wasn't the government's job to promote values. The issue quickly polarized during the campaign, with the Republicans looking like moral tyrants.
Yet it was none other than President Clinton, in his State of the Union address last week, who called for a return to family values. In his address, he stated, "We have seen a stunning breakdown of community, family and work — the heart and soul of civilized society."
It is, to be sure, a good discovery for Clinton. By spending considerable time discussing values in his address to the nation, Clinton must realize their dramatic effects on society. They are at the epicenter of a wide range of domestic issues: education, crime spouse abuse, divorce, unwed mothers, teen-age pregnancy, and many more.
A return to the United States' unwritten moral code is vital to help our nation alleviate itself of these terrible social problems. Fortunately, Clinton appears ready to put the issue of family values back on the U.S. agenda and out of the endless loop of political rhetoric. Unfortunately for George Bush and Dan Quayle, Clinton had this revelation about two years too late.
RICHARD BOYD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
BEN GROVE, Editor
LISA COSMILLO, Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET. Systems coordinator
Editors
Assistant Managing Editor ...Dan England
Assistant to the editor ...J. R. Clairborn
News ...Kristi Fogler, Katie Greenwald,
Editorial ...Colleen McCain
...Nathan Gleon
Campus ...Jess DeHaven
Sports ...David Dorsey
Photo ...Doug Hesse
Features ...Sara Bennett
JUSTIN GARBERG
Business manager
JENNIFER BLOWEY
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
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National & Co-op sales mgr ... Robin Kring
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Gretchen Koetterleinrich
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Classified mgr ... Kelly Connealy
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Fundamental Christian agenda inspires 'religious correctness'
My elementary school principal could predict the end of the world. With a King James version of the Bible in his left hand and my undivided attention in his right, he would begin each day with stories of salvation and eternal damnation.
Even as a youngster, I questioned how such疼 and angst could come from one book, one religion. I didn't dare question out loud, however. In fact, any sort of questioning only fed the growing persecution complex of my tiny Fundamental Christian school.
Spurned by mainstream Christianity, and undeterred, they have taken their message of God out of the church and into the political arena. By winning seats on local school and library boards, they have managed to alter public school curriculums, limit health education andensure
A persecution complex indeed has culminated in the hearts and minds of Fundamental Christians across the country. As a result, we see stealth political candidates and conservative legislation metamorphosed by faith rather than democratic debate.
libraries. It is an unwavering faith, non-inclusive and apocalyptic. It is the breakdown of cultural pluralism. It is the dawn of religious correctness.
The most recent example of this persecution complex appeared in a fullpage, Jan. 16 advertisement in the Kansas City Star. The ad contained an essay by James Dobson, founder of the conservative Christian group, Focus on the Family. In his essay, entitled, "How Do Liberals Spell Relief?" Dobson castigates Liberals for being "so bankrupt that (they) can't tolerate a free and fair debate on the issues. Thus, its adherents seek to muzzle their opposition."
This censorship, Dobson claims, is
at the heart of liberal legislation to silence conservative broadcasting. Yet, when accused of running stealth political candidates in local elections, Dobson retorts, "What more can I do to get the word out? My half-hour radio program is heard 12,265 times per week, on more than 2,000 stations in Western nations. Our beliefs are clearly delineated in those programs and are well represented in magazines totaling 3 million copies every month." The breadth of exposure is hardly an example of a persecuted minority muzzled by amoral Liberals.
In an attempt to mix religion with politics, Fundamental Christians will alienate every other religious doctrine in existence. Will they let Muslims and Jews pray right next to the Christian children in public school?
The common implication throughout Dobson's essay is that the hedonistic liberal agenda must be stopped by a heavy dose of the Lord Almighty. I say let the good doctor try to prove himself. But keep this question in mind: Does religious freedom include all religions, or just the Christian, religiously correct ones?
Will they teach the Cherokee version of creation, as well as the Christian one? Will those children so inclined be able to act on the new Supreme Court ruling allowing religious animal sacrifices?
The answer to all of these questions is an emphatic no. Because Fundamental Christians so believe in their anointment by God, they have made the arrogant assumption that the First Amendment was written exclusively for them. From this religiously correct point of view, the only religion worth following is Christianity.
As I suspected during grade school, the fear and angst said more about the people running my school than it did about Christianity. Movies, lectures and daily sermons never were tempered with opposing viewpoints. Neither objectivity, nor truth was not an issue. All that was required was faith.
Although I was raised Lutheran, the message at my church was clear—“If you don't believe like me, then you're against me.”
Greg Thoren in a Kansas City, Kan. senior in Journalism and sociology.
Night walk inspires sober thoughts
As the clock strikes one, I venture from the nearly deserted Stauffer-Flint.
COLUMNIST
The chill night air bites into my exposed face, and I pull my long overcoat tighter about my spare frame. I briefly contemplate reentering the warm sanctuary of the silent building. The click of the door locking behind me seals my fate.
Without further ado, I round the corner of the building and set off into the hostile blackness.
The wind launches a withering attack against me. Its icy fingers scrape over every patch of exposed skin. With unerring tenacity it digs and prods, finding every crevice and weakness in my winter attire.
Neither moon nor stars can part the murky waves, and I am left with the dull light of a few light posts. I miss the cheery companionship of the celestial lights on a winter's eve. The light posts offer only a depressed, leaden guidance for my wandering spirit.
Fog smothers the landscape. Campus buildings hunch under the woolen coat, glaring at me out of dark gaping eyes.
1crossJayhawkBoulevard.Normal
alive with youth, it lies there sleeping,
awaiting another day of its rowdy users.
I tread lightly, afraid to disturb its slumber. I have never seen an angry street awake, nor do I wish to.
I put on a bold face as I pass between the imposing presences of Bailey and Strong halls. A deeper chill rolls off those stone effaces. I have never been one to admit fear, not even to an inanimate object.
As I head down the hill, I feel more at home.
Trees crowd around me, familiar as old friends. They wrap the fog about them like a comfortable old cloak, worn and threadbare but familiar. Nothing needs to be said. We know what is on each other's mind.
These walks are often a time of
Or am I?
reflection for me. I sort out the day's events or plan my ordeal for tomorrow. Sometimes I think not at all, grateful just to be alone with the night.
I hear a noise muffled by the fog. Is it a roving dog or a far more dangerous predator?
My eyes play tricks on me. Is that a branch stirred by the wind, or an assailant stirred by greed?
In Lawrence, I have no real fear of walking alone, even though I have been harassed a few times. Yelled threats from drunken frat boys in speeding cars do me no real harm. My long hair seems to draw unwanted attention, especially from Lawrence police. Still, I have never endured a serious assault. A creature of the night, I feel at home in the shadows.
The broad expanse of the stadium parking lot stretches before me, a concrete plain strewn with metal concealment.
These nightly strolls with only the wind for conversation that I so highly prize are a fearful undertaking for many. Large percentages of the population are denied this simple pleasure.
In any but the smallest towns, it is
dangerous for women to walk alone at night. Evil men have denied women the tranquility of a walk with only the night for company.
In many cities it has become equally hazardous for men to venture out unprotected. In my hometown, Wichita, I no longer dare to walk the streets alone. Vivid experience has taught me otherwise. Even numbers are no guarantee. One gun can hold many bullets.
Our society sinks farther into warlike conditions every day. Women need escorts, preferably big ones. Men need weapons or a supporting unit. Cars serve as our armored transports. Heavily armed guerrilla bands terrorize the cities while lone assailants threaten to strike anywhere. It is a sad commentary on a so-called civilized society.
I suppose one day I will have to give up my solitary walks. Hopefully it will not take a painful lesson to teach me.
I hunch further into my collar and pull my cap low over my eyes, trying to appear more sinister than a sinister world.
Jacob Arnold is a Wichita junior in Journalism.
KU needs a new degree to teach "victimhood"
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
In addition to eliminating several degree programs, the University needs to consider the addition of new degree programs in order to fulfill the educational needs of our society. These new programs should empower individuals to take advantage of job opportunities in new, growing fields.
One of the new vocations emerging in our society is that of the professional victim. This innovative profession demands excellent acting skills and the ability to make
loud demands, but the opportunities abound! For example, the recent trials of Lorenna Bobbitt and the Menendez brothers have demonstrated that when a person can successfully assume the victim's role, he or she can malm and kill with impunity! Furthermore, professional victims can obtain high-paying jobs and admission to prestigious schools without earning them through the hard work that is required of non-victims!
It is for these reasons that I propose the University offer the Bachelor of Science in Victimhood (BSV). This program will teach students
Longer skirts from 40s not that long after all
how to achieve victim status, and how to use it to further themselves once they have it. There's a new way to get ahead in our society, and KU has an educational obligation to teach students how to use it.
Derek Shirk Iola senior
In reference to the issue of the Kansan dated Jan. 26, 1994, page 9,
"Sports Scrapbook," perhaps the
skirt-length of the 1940's cheerleader appears long to those accustomed to today's brief outfits. However, if you look closely you will see that the skirt is only knee-length a la WWII styles. You also are seeing the gracefulness of a pleated skirt which follows the person's body and movements. When the cheerleader stood, the skirt hem was near the kneepc but out of the way when she knelt. Also, her collar has points, which Webster's Unabridged Dictionary shows as "Etonian."
E. G. Green
Lawrence resident
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