OPINION
July 27,1984 Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kaanan USPS 605-6400 is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Staffer-First Flight Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 600-3451, daily during the regular school year and Wednesday and Friday during the summer session, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays, and final weekends. The student subscription fee is $3 for six months or $27 a year in Douglas County and $16 for six months or $4 for a year outside the county. Student subscriptions are $3 a semester paid through the student activity fee. POSTMASTER Send address change to the University Daily Kaanan, 118 Staffer-First Flight Hall.
JAMES BOLE KAREN DAVIS
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Editorial Editor Classified and Campus Sales Manager
MIKE KAUTSCH JOHN OBERZAN
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Medical miracles
Without the operation James Hale had little hope for the future, but with the operation hope was an option.
His son called the operation a miracle.
It was.
But the road to this miracle was long
But the road to this miracle was long. In South Africa, December 1967, the first heart transplant was performed. Most of the operations performed at that time were not successful and the procedure was soon abandoned.
But in 1980, with the development of a new drug, doctors started performing heart transplants again and this time they are meeting with much more success.
Yesterday a team of doctors at the University of Kansas Medical Center performed the Med Center's first heart transplant, and so far the operation has been called a success.
Medical science continues to astound us and leaves us speechless at the human brain's ability to comprehend and maintain the body in which it dwells. The tireless researchers who strive to improve our lives earn our heartfelt praise and admiration.
In particular, the latest news from the KU Med Center would indicate yet another victory and brings to mind the words of Bernard M. Baruch: "There are no such things as incurables; there are only things for which man has not found a cure."
Funding education
In recent years, federal support for graduate students has been steadily declining.
Greater support at the state level and from private sources has not made up the difference. This is as true for the nation as it is for the University of Kansas.
The effects of the Reagan administration's cutbacks in federal aid for graduate education are alarming not only because they affect students, but also because they have caused the whole system of graduate education to deteriorate.
From 1980 to 1982 the total number of graduate students declined, and what is worse, minority students were hurt even more, as a recent study by the Institute for the Study of Educational Policy at Howard University, Washington D.C., demonstrates.
While white enrollment dropped 8.4 percent, black enrollment dropped 15 percent.
The explanation is that the availability of financial aid has not kept pace with tuition increases.
The cutbacks in funding resulting from Reagan's "New Federalism" have shifted the responsibility of university funding to the state and university levels. It is essential that the leaders of these institutions recognize this so that the work of past generations will not go to waste.
Let the games begin
The long-heralded and long-awaited event of the year is now upon us. After months of tiresome comment from the media, at last the true celebrities are being allowed to take the stage so that months of tiresome training may reap their rewards.
The Los Angeles Olympics has been clouded by political controversy prompting many to complain that the Games no longer live up to the ideal upon which they are founded.
Those who voice such complaints ignore the fact that the Olympics have always been tainted by politics. Boycotts and bans are as old as the Olympics themselves; the ancient Greeks were known to exclude their political rivals from the Games.
So while the political maneuvering involved in Los Angeles is regrettable, it is by no means unprecedented and should not be allowed to dampen the spirit and excitement of the event.
The sporting field is one of the few remaining realms of human endeavor in which the pursuit of excellence still reigns supreme. It serves as a source of pride and achievement not only for those who compete, but also for those of us who share in this glory by virtue of our common humanity.
So let the cynics be silenced, lay the politics aside and let the games begin.
CORRECTION
In a July 13 editorial, the Kansan stated that the Student Senate Executive Committee passed a resolution that forbade the use of Student Senate funds to purchase products from companies with subsidiaries in South Africa.
The resolution was tabled until it co.'d be brought before the full Senate this fall.
Ask a German, say in Heidelberg,
what he knows about Lawrence,
Kansas. He will know no more than
the name of the Yorker does, that
a poet to nothing.
So I had to explain to my friends in Germany why in the world I wanted to go not only to the United States (something considered a little bit suspicious by itself), but to this place at the middle of "Reagan-country."
Images of America
If it had been New York, San Francisco, or even some small town in Oregon, I might have qualified for a scholarship mark. But not lawrence, Kansas.
I have to admit: I was not too excited about the state my sponsors thought they should send me to. At least I knew the University was considered to be a pretty decent place. Here was my chance. I wanted to study there. This passed.
With mixed feelings I took off last year. Don't misunderstand me. I like to travel and have been hitch-hiking all over Europe. But foreign study is a completely different matter.
As a traveller you sightsee, wonder, and return home praising God that you are not like those foreigners.
But studying and really living in a foreign country inevitably forces you to adapt to new ways of life.
I was amused by the Salt Lake City Tribune headline, "The Russians are coming." I was less delighted by video-game in Los Angeles that allow you to "select your target" on a map showing the Soviet Union.
After U.S. marines invaded Grenada, a KU student, in a letter to the editor in this newspaper, expressed his "patriotism" stating he would fight and even die for his country even if he did not believe in what his government was fighting for.
I have been impressed by the natural beauty of this country, by the uncomplicated friendliness and openness of its people. I've been disgusted by the uncomparable ugility of those highways featuring always the same "Burger Kings," by "MacDonalds," and by advertisements praising the "best," "greatest," and "newest."
But I also learned that patriotism
not necessarily mean uncondition-
alism.
WOLFGANG
DOBLER
Staff Columnist
The flags at the Lawrence "Independence Days" did not celebrate strength and power but reminded one of the rich heritage of this country. Here I found some truth in the rhetoric of President Reagan's inaugmentation, "We are a nation that has a government — not the other way around."
arms race would sing something equivalent to "America the Beautiful." It happened in Lawrence after they showed "The Day After" on TV.
I had — and maybe I still have — my share of those instant images of "America" and "the American."
Staff Columnist
some of those comfortable prejudices.
I learned that "the American" does not exist. There are Kansans, New Yorkers, Californians. The black single mother in the South Bronx is more different from a single "yuppie" in Brooklyn Heights than a German is from a Frenchman.
Fortunately, there were people that expressed the opposite point of view.
Patriotism and obedience to government are, unlike the recent history of Germany, two very different things in this country.
What I've seen is not a "melting pot," but a collection of minorities, all distinct, but all Americans.
In Germany it just wouldn't happen that the participants of a demonstration against the nuclear
America is praised all over the world as the land of opportunity and freedom. In Germany I tended to agree with Walter Mondale's dissenting view that under the Reagan Administration, government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" had degenerated to a government "of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich".
Paradoxically, his female running mate Geraldine Ferraro, just a couple of days before, exclaimed "In America, anything is possible if you work for it. American history is about doors being opened, about opportunity for everyone."
Both have a point. The percentage of poor people in the United States is now higher than in many less wealthy countries. But in few countries can you find as much social mobility and individual freedom.
Walter Lippmann, the American journalist and political analyst, was right when he said "for the most part we are still in the middle define, we define first and then see."
I gave up trying to define "America" or "the American." Whatever idea one might have about this country, whatever prejudice, be it positive or negative, it can be confirmed.
Fortunately, by really living in a foreign country, one cannot help but see more than just those preconceived definitions.
The summer session is over.
Finals have been crammed for and
taken; term papers have been
written. Finals will receive their final grades.
Some will pass, some will not,
But, everyone will have learned
something
The University Daily Kanus is no exception. It is more than ink on newspaper. It is a staff of students learning how to keep the public
Lessons learned
The Kansan not only serves the readers by providing and interpreting the news, but it also teaches the staff lessons that it would never get in a classroom or textbook.
I have reviewed the past 14 issues and would like to share with readers my evaluation of how the Kansan performed. Too often, the media feels that it does not owe its readers explanations for the stories it does and does not cover
In the first issue I wrote a column outlining the ambitious goals the Kansan would try to attain this summer.
I said that the Kansas would try to be more than a daily newspaper appearing twice a week. I said that
JIM BOLE Editor
the stories and pictures would look beyond the series of events that make news.
Did the Kansan provide the readers what I had promised? I think so.
Overall, our news coverage was more in-depth and interesting than other area newspapers. Still, we didn't dig deep enough on some stories, and we missed others.
Like most summers, few important campus news stories happened, so most of our stories were features people and programs on campus that, although not that newsworthy, might be interesting to readers.
One important campus story that should have been better explored was the Board of Regents approval of the fiscal 1966 budget. Although budgets may be dry and boring, they are the backbone of any institution.
Because the Kansas was not published every day, we did not try to run the latest updates on international and national happenings. Instead, we wrote a local reaction, with a different angle or
a historical perspective on such events.
The best example was our special package on Kansas State Penitentiary's trend-setting advances in prison reform, Kansas prison reform programs were praised by Chief Justice Warren Burger in an unprecedented live interview on national television.
On the other hand, we only touched the surface of reaction to the Supreme Court's decision that required students who request financial aid to prove they had registered for the draft.
The Kansan did a good job covering city news. We did more than cover the City Commission meetings. The views of the average resident were treated with just as much importance as those of the city officials in issues such as the proposed renovation of the Lawrence Opera House and why the city demolishes some buildings and not others.
One story, however, brought unmeeded attention to one family's tragedy. We printed the name of a 13-year-old boy who attempted to commit suicide. Although the name was a matter of public record, it should have been omitted.
Next month's primary election should have received more coverage, especially in light of the number of voters who registered.
The opinion page was a lively open forum. Many topics were debated in columns written by staff and guest writers. It was encouraging to receive as many guest columns as letters to the editor.
The editorials on the left side of the page — the ones that represent the views of the Kansan as determined by the editorial board
generally stayed away from commenting on specific events. The editors used particular items in the news as springboards to dig into the broader, philosophical issues at stake.
This summer yielded more sports news than was anticipated, but the Karsan was able to keep up with the pace It started with a riveting seven game NBA playoff series, followed with important Supreme Court decision on television rights to college football games and ended with the beginning of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
So there you have it. I would like to thank you, the readers, for complimenting us on our good stories and complaining about our bad ones. Because afterall, the ultimate goal of any newspaper is to be of service to its readers.
The sorry state of graduate funding
A recent proposal by several national graduate school associations to increase the amount that graduate students can borrow each year under the Guaranteed Student Loan Program from $5,000 to $8,000 raises serious questions about the financing of graduate education in the United States in the 1980's and beyond.
Asked to comment on the proposal, officials of the KU office of student financial aid expressed misgivings. They were quoted in a recent University Daily Kansan article as saying that students should either find part time work to supplement loans or simply not to take on such large debts to pursue graduate education unless they want to face the prospect of bankruptcy ("KU grad student support plan for more federal aid," July 13, 1984).
Neither their comments nor the article itself really addressed the central issue in this matter: There is a crisis of funding for graduate education at KU and in this country that can indeed not be resolved simply by raising the amount of money that can be borrowed under the Guaranteed Student Loan Program.
But it also won't be resolved by advising graduate students to find part-time jobs or not to borrow so much.
Recent funding trends
To understand the magnitude of this problem, we might first consider a few facts regarding recent trends in federal support for graduate education nationwide:
- In 1968 the federal government provided 51,000 fellowships for graduate education. In 1983 the number of fellowships offered was only 9,168.
We know, of course, that under the Reagan administration a philosophy has been adopted under which cuts in federal support for education are to be compensated by greater support at state level and from private sources.
A comparison of the fellowship support offered to graduate students
- In 1970 there were 3,239 graduate students at KU. The University provided 15 Honors Fellowships, 10 Dissertation Fellowships, and 42 Summer Fellowships for that year. The federal government provided funds for an additional 13 Title VI Fellowships (for the study of foreign languages), 33 National Science Foundations fellowships, and eight Summer Fellowships.
- at KU in 1970 and in 1983 shows what has really happened to support for graduate education in recent years.
- Thirteen years later, the number of graduate students enrolled at KU had risen to 5,494, an increase of nearly 70 percent. Yet the number of fellowships from both state and federal sources had declined. In 1983
Guest columnist
MARK
MIKKELSEN
there were only 12 Honors Scholarships awarded, 10 Dissertation Fellowships, 35 Summer Fellowships, three fellowships from the National Science Foundation, and 12 fellowships from other sources. Honors Fellowships provide support for graduate students in the first and fourth year of study and are currently worth $5,000; during the second and third years of study recipients receive graduate teaching assistantships. Dissertation Fellowships provide support for students writing their dissertations and are currently worth $4,650. Summer Fellowships provided a stipend of $1,000.
The significance of these observations should be obvious. Except for increases in borrowing privileges, there have been no major improvements in the sources of financial aid available to KU graduate students in the past decade and a half.
KU's peer institutions
But these statistics only tell half the story. When one compares the
What should be done?
Since graduate students are responsible for approximately 40 to 60 percent of "credit hour production" at KU, this support can hardly be viewed as representing a firm commitment on the part of the university to graduate education. But without it most of the graduate programs would be forced to fold for lack of an adequate number of students.
- By comparison, at the University of North Carolina the state provides $600,000 for graduate fellowships and there is an additional $900,000 from private sources Funding for GTA positions amounts to nearly $6.7 million and $2.5 million is available for tuition waivers. A half million dollars is also awarded to graduate students in work-study programs, which nearly equals the amount distributed to undergraduates at KU (Graduate students may also participate in the work-study program at KU, but they make up only eight
- situation at KU with that at our "peer" institutions, one discovers to just what extent the university has left it to individual graduate students to finance their education. Consequently, the only students who can pursue graduate studies are those who can depend upon their family's support, those who are willing to borrow extraordinary sums of money, or those few who hold teaching or research assistantships.
- At KU, state funds for fellowships currently total $206,780. The Endowment Association provides an additional $136,700. However, the greatest source of support for graduate education comes in the form of graduate teaching assistantships (GTA's) and research assistantships (RA's). The state provided over $3.5 million for GTA positions in the last fiscal year and $321,180 for RA's. An additional $170,570 was provided for the partial waiver of "incidental fees" (tuition) for GTA's.
The extent to which KU has simply not kept pace with those institutions with which we like to compare ourselves in assisting graduate students financially is apparent from the following facts and figures:
These facts demonstrate that the solution to the financial and crisis confronting graduate education at KU is not found either in the suggestion that we should be looking for part-time work or warnings that we might be borrowing too much. The opportunities to receive fellowship support simply do not exist. Assistantships are available for less than 20 percent of the total number of graduate students enrolled. The work-study program is apparently not oriented to meet the needs of graduate students or else more students would take advantage of it.
percent of those receiving financial assistance in this form.)
Fortunately, both Chancellor Budig and Vice-Chancellor Horowitz of the Office of Research, Graduate Studies and Public Service understand the problem. They have ardently supported such efforts as the increase of the "incidental fee" waiver to 100 percent over the next three years. Additionally, through their efforts the Regents have proposed salary increases totalling an average of 19.9 percent for GTA positions in the next fiscal year.
However, raising the salary paid to the fortunate one in six graduate students who holds an assistantship at KU and funding the fee waiver, which KU graduate students have been advocating for almost a decade now without complete success, will result in much higher raising the amount of money available under the Graduate Student Loan Program from $5,000 to $8,000.
What is really needed is a firm recommitment to the value of graduate education at both the state and federal levels.
The comments of officials in the office of financial assistance notwithstanding, KU administrators really do understand this. But Washington is something we cannot be so certain about.
(Mark Mikkelsen is a graduate student in philosophy and a member of the executive committee of the graduate student council.)
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