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Tuesday, January 11, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Decision allowing skater to compete is right one
The International Committee of the U.S. Figure Skating Association acted wisely Saturday night when it voted unanimously to allow Nancy Kerrigan to compete in the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Kerrigan was injured last week when an attacker clubbed her above the right knee, and she was unable to skate in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
Though the committee's decision bumped 13-year-old Michelle Kwan from the Olympic team, Kwan will still be the alternate and will skate in the event that Kerrigan's injuries do not heal sufficiently to allow her to compete at the Olympics. Both Kwan and her coach were comfortable with the decision.
Kerrigan is a stronger skater than Kwan and has a better chance of winning an Olympic medal. She won a bronze medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics and is the 1993 U.S. national champion. She is familiar with the pressure of international competition and has the years of experience that Kwan lacks. Her exclusion from the Olympics would have been a serious handicap for the United States.
The Kerrigan attack bears a grim resemblance to the assault on tennis superstar Monica Seles last April. By allowing Kerrigan to skate, the committee has taken the power of deciding the skater's future away from her assailant.
The committee's decision allows Kerrigan to fulfill a dream for which she has spent a lifetime preparing. Years of discipline and sacrifice have carried her to the top of her sport and have earned her the right to compete in the Olympic Games and vie for the highest honor in skating.
KRISTIN BRUMM FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Political correctness not a solution to bigotry
Animal welfare officer. Nondiscretionary fragrance. Even if you are unsure of the exact meanings of these phrases, it is obvious that they reek of political correctness. We have all heard the contorted catch phrases of the P.C. movement. As quickly as such expressions were coined, the political correctness crusade was out of control.
Originally political correctness had a noble goal. It sought to make our language kinder and more sensitive. It made gains in recognizing diversity. But any headway that was made has been overshadowed by the ridiculous restrictions political correctness has placed on our daily language. Too often an attempt to use politically correct language stifles the free thinking and the free exchange of facts and ideas.
Political correctness was born out of a need for harmony. The world was and is too full of bigotry and intolerance. Political correctness, as it exists today, does not address these issues. Instead, it focuses too much on changing language when the internal roots of hatred and ignorance still need to be changed.
What then is the answer? We should be polite, not political. Instead of learning whole new vocabularies, we should concentrate on courtesy. Deep internal problems are solved by understanding, not external linguistic tricks.
Political correctness should be replaced by consideration and courtesy in speaking and in listening. If I call an animal welfare officer a dog catcher, I hope he or she will forgive me. Because, as it stands, the whole political correctness confusion has a nondiscretionary fragrance. Translated: It really stinks!
MATT HOOD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
BEN GROVE, Editor
LISA COSMILLO. Managing editor.
BEN GROVE, Editor
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
LISA COSMILLO, Managing editor
JUSTIN GARBERG Business manager
BILL SKEET, Systems coordinator
JENNIFER BLOWEY Retail sales manager
Editors
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Assistant Managing Editor...Dan England
Assistant to the editor ...J. R. Clairborne
News ...Kristi Fogler, Katie Greenwald,
          Todd Selft
Editorial ...Colleen McCain
          Nathan Olson
Campus ..Jess DeHaven
Sports ..David Doresy
Photo ..Doug Hesse
Features ..Sara Bennett
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr ... Jason Eberly
Regional Sales mgr ... Troy Tarwater
National & Co-op sales mgr ... Robin King
Special Sections mgr ... Shelly McConnell
Production mgr ... Laura Guth
Gretchen Kochtenkollnch
Marketing director ... Amy Casey
Creative director ... John Carton
Classified mgr ... Kelly Connexsy
Teartools mgr ... Wing Chan
**Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 230 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Kansas must include class and hometown, or faculty or staff position.**
Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer's
The Kansas reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansas newroom, 111 Stauffer Flint Hall.
Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photographed.
Opinion.page editors outline philosophy for the semester
The staff of the Kansas changes every semester, and with it, so does the philosophy. Changes are less important for reporters, who are taught to be objective. But for Opinion page writers, philosophy is very important. Therefore, we feel it is important to explain our ideas about the Opinion page this semester.
First, the name of the page is crucial. We do not report the news, we give opinions about the news. The two divisions of the paper — news and opinion — are independent of one another. Columnists' opinions are theirs alone and aren't necessarily supported by the editors or reporters. Editorials represent the majority opinion of the editorial board. The editorial board consists of ten people, and more than half of them aren't journalism students.
Our basic goal in constructing the page is interaction. The Opinion page is the only page where students can truly be heard. In order for them to be heard, they have to write to us. Essen-
A few words about opinions are necessary, though. Sometimes columns receive intense criticism. A case in point concerned one columnist's assertion that the displacing of Native Americans in this country was, for all intents and purposes, an example of Darwin's theories. Many people were upset about the column. Some said the editor shouldn't have printed the column. Others suggested that the columnist be fired.
Their protests missed the point. Students won't agree with everything written in this page simply because everyone has an individual opinion, but calling for someone's column not to be printed cuts off discussion. The
tally, we would like the page to be a continuing dialogue with students.
quantity and eloquence of the responses to the column in question were much more valuable, and much more educational, than not running the column in the first place.
Our second major point concerning opinions is that we do not want students to think our opinions are the only ones that matter. As a second case in point, one Kansan editorial last fall criticized President Clinton for meeting with Salman Rushdie. Coincidentally, the lead editorial in the New York Times the same day praised Clinton for the meeting, and in fact criticized him for not standing by Rushdie more completely. Clearly, opinions aren't designed to be the final word on subjects; sometimes, they are meant to be the Initial word.
Our desire is not to further a single political agenda. Even-handedness will be a dominant factor in how we set up the page. Many perspectives should be represented in the page. But again, in order to do this, we need
readers to respond to us, whether by writing letters or guest columns.
We do have a few simple guidelines on corresponding with us. Letters to the editor are effective and probably the most widely read portion of the paper. We request that letters be no longer than 200 words. Letters longer than this length may be edited for space reasons. When writing, please include your name, phone number, year and major. Guest columns should be no longer than 600 words. As with letters, guest columnists should include their name, phone number, year and major.
The Opinion page will be stronger as more and more people correspond with us. We hope the Opinion page will be a page in which everyone can participate and from which everyone benefits.
Colleen McCain is a Salina sophomore majoring in journalism. Nathan Olson is a Colby graduate student in English.
To stop crime, buy a horse
Americans are upset about crime, it has become such a serious problem that even the U.S. Congress has taken precious time away from campaign fund raising to pass a tough anti-crime bill, which will make the streets safer for decent, law-abiding citizens by imposing harsh mandatory minimum penalties on Sen. Bob Packwood.
But government action alone is not the answer. To fight this crime wave we need to remember what our pioneer foreparents did when they were settling the Wild West.
In those days, ordinary civilians sometimes had no choice but to form posses, saddle up their horses and bring lawbreakers to justice at the end of the barrel of a gun. I realize what I'm about to say is controversial, but maybe it's time we did the same thing. If the police can't protect us, maybe it's time we exercised our constitutional right to keep and bear — horses. Criminals are going to think twice about entering your bedroom if they know there's a horse in there.
Another option is to buy a handgun. Let me state up front that whatever YOU think about the handgun issue, it is my firm belief that you are 100 percent correct. But what opinion we jointly hold, we need to consider the implications of a handgun-related news item that was reported recently
by Tom McNiff of the Ocala (Fla.) Star-Banner.
This item, which I am not making up, describes a tragic incident involving a Marion County, Fla., commissioner named Norm Perry, whose wife, Betty, was getting ready for a weekend visit to Miami. Needless to say, Norm was nervous about this, because Miami has a reputation for having a bad crime problem.
I live in South Florida, and the crime situation down here is really not that bad, as long as you take certain precautions — locking your doors, avoiding poorly lit areas, moving to Idaho, etc. But life down here can be unnerving. For example, we rented one of those warehouse storage lockers, so we could store some of our stuff in there for a couple years before throwing it all away. The rental guy asked me to sign a piece of paper, and he said (this is a real quote):
"This just says you're not going to use it to store any, like, drugs or human bodies."
Here's another true Miami story: On Thanksgiving Day, some workers were trying to fix a clogged toilet at a rental duplex, and they found A PERSON IN THE SEPTIC TANK. (This person was deceased. Fortunately for him.) Police don't know how the body got there, but it's a safe bet that it wasn't an accident, unless we're talking about one of those EXTREMELY high-suction toilets.
But getting back to commissioner Perry and his wife. The Star-Banner reports that, at Commissioner Perry's suggestion, Mrs. Perry was planning to take a handgun with her to Miami. As she was packing, however, she discovered that the gun was jammed; so she brought it to Commissioner Perry, who was standing in front of his closet, deciding on what to wear. He was working on the gun when suddenly, unexpectedly, it went off.
The bullet — in yet another of the senseless tragedies that we read about all too often these days — went through nine of Commissioner Perry's dress shirts.
"Those shirts are $25 to $30 apiece," he told the Star-Banner.
A terrible waste, you say? Yes. But
sometimes you must pay a price for vigilance. In today's crime-ridden society, there could very easily have been a criminal hiding in the back of Commissioner Perry's closet, planning to steal enough money to afford air fare to Miami. And this criminal could easily have been penetrated by Norm's bullet, which would have meant that he or she (the criminal, also the horse, if Commissioner Norm kept one in there) would no longer be roaming the streets and victimizing innocent people. Instead, he or she would be successfully suing Commissioner Perry for millions of dollars.
So let me just state how grateful I am to Commissioner Perry for caring enough about his wife's safety to want to send her down here with a hand-gun. The one thing we need more of down here is armed people, which is why, on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, I am urging EVERYBODY who is thinking of visiting South Florida to feel free to bring the weapon of his or her choice, although we do remind you that, before you travel with a gun, you should take the standard precaution of test-firing it in Commissioner Perry's closet.
Also, flush with care.
Dave Barry is a syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Teacher's own beliefs necessary for learning
After reading Russell Abbot's letter to the editor on Dec. 3, one would think that Ann Jurcyk is the only teacher to express her own beliefs during a class or to teach from a certain perspective. Everyone who has attended classes at any level at any institution knows that all instructors who wish to teach coherently and meaningfully present their material within some sort of context. If they merely act as robots and repeat the reading material, what purpose do they serve?
During my years at KU, I have heard Marxism, Capitalism, and Monarchism all extolled as ideal systems of government. I have heard lectures offered from extremely feministic to extremely male-chauvinistic viewpoints. I have heard virtually every religion's praises sung, with the exception of Christianity (until now). In fact, this semester alone I have been told in lectures that Christianity was
Abbott states that "Jureyk must have realized that her beliefs would be challenged." I'm sure she did.
responsible for scientific ignorance, that the Catholic Church persecuted and tortured the mentally ill, and that mystics and prophets were simply outdated terms for schizophrenics. All these remarks were expressed by instructors without any fear of offending the "cultural sensitivities of diverse students." Am I complaining about this atmosphere? Quite the contrary. I think it's what university life is all about.
Every good instructor looks forward to having their students question and challenge their own opinions as well as the instructor's.
I have heard many viewpoints and agendas expressed at this university since I came here. I have not agreed with them all, but all that were expressed with conviction and spirit have certainly been a catalyst to provoke thought and questioning of my beliefs. I applaud Ms. Jurcyk. This is what true learning is about.
Erin L. Nix
Lawrence junior
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