OPINION
The University Daily KANSAN
January 27,1984 Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kaman (USPS 605-640) is published at the University of Kaman, 118 Stauffer Finst Hall, Lawrence, KS 60045, daily during the regular school year and Monday and Thursday during the summer session, excluding holidays. Mail to USPS Kaman at usps@usps.org by mail are $15 for six months or $27 in Douglas County and $18 for six months or $35 for a year outside the county. Student subscriptions are a $3 semester paid through the student activity费 POSTMaster. Send address changes to Kaman Public Relations, Kaman, 118 StauFFER FIRST HALL, Lawrence, KS 60045.
DOUG CUNNINGHAM
DON KNOX
Managing Editor
SARA KEMPIN
Editorial Editor
JEFF TAYLOR ANDREW HARTLEY
Campus Editor News Editor
PAUL JESS
DAVE WANAMAKER Business Manager
CORT GORMAN
CERT Sales Manager
National Sales Manager
JOHN OBERZAN Sales and Marketing Adviser
General Manager and News Adviser
JANICE PHILLIPS DUNCAN CALHUNO
Campus Sales Manager Classified Manager
Clark untested
Although William P. Clark has made a smooth transition into his appointed post as secretary of the interior, his role as guardian of America's natural resources has yet to be tested.
Clark's effectiveness in the role is still being questioned, and has yet to be judged because the Reagan Administration has recently softened its "tree-killer" image a bit.
The brevity of Clark's tenure and the lack of important congressional action taken during it, as well as the inability of environmental lobby groups to examine recent policy changes in anything but degrees, has made a few small steps in the right direction seem like huge leaps.
Clark has been in office for almost three months. In that period he has confidently patched the Department of Interior's reputation by merely contrasting his predecessor's belligerent circus tactics with a soft-spoken support of the environment.
He has consulted with a variety of environmental groups, as well as local governments, to seek out their opinions of oil drilling on the outer continental shelf.
He has been convinced by Congress that he should continue to purchase land for the National Park system and has promised that he will soon review James Watt's controversial policies concerning federal coal leasing.
Meanwhile, the environmental lobby has been waiting for Clark's suspect policies to unfold in the way hibernating bears wait for spring.
He has also cleaned house by pushing several of Watt's closest advisers from their positions.
These groups have become fat as their coffers overflow from donations and memberships collected from people who became angry with the misuse of our natural resources during the pre-Clark period.
Let's hope that lobby groups will not be content to compare Clark's policies with those of Watt's during this election year.
Instead they should take advantage of the Reagan administration's worry about losing votes by pushing environmental concerns while they have the chance.
Commitment to justice
Community corrections programs give low-risk inmates a transition from prison to society, reduce the prohibitive cost of keeping them behind bars and provide a service to the state.
In 1982, legislation that increased minimum sentences for many crimes was passed as part of the state's "get tough" policy on crime.
Important strides have been made in the last two years toward improving the state's criminal justice system, but Douglas County's refusal of a prison honor camp near Clinton Lake is a stumbling block to this move to achieve justice for law-abiding citizens and inmates alike.
Vehement opposition to such a program is an indication that the noble ideas of lawmakers and judges may be met with old-fashioned apprehension in Kansas communities.
Kansas prisons, which were already reaching maximum occupancy, faced serious overcrowding
problems. More criminals were being prosecuted. Once convicted, they received heavier sentences.
Last week, the legislature approved $2.7 million to provide space for 400 minimum-security prisoners.
Corrections Secretary Michael Barbara said that the appropriation would reduce dangerous overcrowding conditions to minimally acceptable standards, but that more help would be needed to bring prison populations to nominal levels.
Honor camps, such as the one shunned by Douglas County, are one way to alleviate overcrowding and improve prisoner rehabilitation.
State officials would like to see Douglas County, as well as all Kansas communities, make their contribution. But legislation and appropriation is a small part of the answer; the cornerstone to improving criminal justice lies in everyday citizens who exchange out-dated attitudes for positive action.
Working together well
With the future of the steel industry in doubt, it's refreshing to hear the views of Lynn Williams, the acting president of the United Steelworkers of America.
Williams . . . has demonstrated through his comments that labor and management can work together to ensure a solid future for the troubled industry.
He was almost conciliatory in . . .
pointing out that concessions made
by the union in the last bargaining
contract with United States Steel
will benefit the industry as a whole.
Williams, who has been acting president since the death last November of Lloyd McBride, has had to make decisions that may not be popular with union members.
But he appears to be making those decisions based on a realistic assessment of the state of the steel industry. As Williams said of the recent contract concessions, "We did what we felt we had to."
Mesabi Daily News, Virginia, Minn
The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 300 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter should include his class and home town or faculty or staff information. The Kansan also invites individuals and groups to submit guest columns. Columns and letters can be mailed or brought to the Kansan office. 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject letters and columns.
LETTERS POLICY
U.S. dollar stands tall worldwide
The American dollar now stands strong against foreign currency, and its buying power overseas has rarely been higher. But it's still hard to convince some of us that the United States is a great understanding of the world that now is the time to趁
You see, I have this friend who wants to travel but who just can't seem to pull herself away from the rigors of academe. She's been cramming and sweating and generally driving herself stark raving mad for the past 20 years, semester by semester, book by book.
group of us were planning a three-month tour of Europe, I told my friend, "Think about it. These are supposed to be the best years of our career."
"You've just slaved to get a bachelor's degree and you want to go to law school. You ought to put
I keep trying to convince her to take one term, or at least a summer break, away from her ambitious study regime to travel the world a first time and become a discernible first-hand knowledge of different people and different lands.
Sure, there's nothing socially wrong with being a bookworm for that long. In fact you're assured by your instructors, parents and the powers that be that hard work in school and during all those interruptions, eventually lead you to more profitable and enjoyable existence.
However, at the same time, you are told that college years are the best of your life.
So a couple of years ago, while a
away those black and white books for a short spell; ignore the powers that be; and tell your parents and instructures that you'll see them in a movie.
I pointed out to her that she would still graduate from law school and only be a semester behind in life and having power had never been so good.
My last pitch was for her to justify travel as educational. I told that at the least she would pick up a little economic education if she'd just keep track of how much wine cost in every country.
She didn't go for it. She was convinced by those powers circling above her that she should not fool around with her life and that she should begin law school immediately after graduation.
"Besides," she groaned, "Maybe the dollar will be worth even more when I've finished school. I'll go then."
I pitied her every time I popped open another inexpensive bottle of good wine on the trip.
Well, all through her law school days the dollar has indeed been getting even stronger.
Even in lean years the dollar has been the world's main trading currency. It has gotten much stronger in the past five years because of lower U.S. inflation and widespread foreign faith in President Reagan's resolve to strengthen the dollar.
Today the strength of the dollar is amazing. According to the New York Times, the dollar began getting less expensive than the U.S. economy started to recover.
For example, in January 1979 the dollar bought 4.25 French francs. Two years ago a dollar bought 3.88 French francs. How much to an exchange rate of 8.6 to one
So, once again the economic environment for foreign travel is the best it's ever been for those who can afford to go or for those who can't afford it but choose to go on a low budget anyway.
But it's still going to be difficult to convince my friend to give up a few
months of her career to pick up some hands on knowledge and understanding of different cultures and attitudes.
It seems to be the same old story.
Go to school for 20 years, get a job
and wait until you retire to see
whether all those things you've
heard about foreign cultures are
really true.
But by that time my friend no doubt will be "too old" to see countries in the other light than we filtered windows of a speeding bus tour.
No doubt the carrot at the end of my friend's stick is a golden one. However, I thing that foreign travel can bring a more sensitive grasp on world problems. The time to attain that worldly education is when you're young, before you take your place in a materially-based society.
With the strength of the dollar overseas and the educational benefits, the time again is perfect for world travel.
But, you won't know if you don't go.
I have spent my life longing to get out of the Midwest.
Although I've had the opportunity to visit places across the country and throughout the world, I have been asked to live "where the action is."
People on both the East and West Coasts tend to think of Kansas as a backward, primitive land of wheatfields and cornfield where little girls are named Dogs and little dogs are named Toto.
One Easterner has told me this perception is called "East Coast snobbery," to which another New York native replied, "It's not snobbery, there's just nothing out there."
Another New Yorker asked me whether women in the work force in the Midwest were still looked after. A teacher was contacted to stay home and raise kids.
In truth, these "East Coast snobs" don't know the good that they're missing.
Don't get me wrong. This is not to say that I don't love the excitement of a city, especially in cities with "grandios" and Joe Theissmann groups.
And I'm in awe as I walk past the noble marble of monuments, museums and memorials.
It's a thrill to be able to walk to the Smithsonian Institution, the Mall, the Capitol and the Washington Monument in about the time it takes me to walk to the KU campus.
I love walking by all the sterile
government offices and wonder-
ing what goes on within to keep
this country going.
But I've found that if you want to live in a city "where the action is," such as D.C., you have to cope with the differences.
Differences such as:
- The cost of living.
Once I had conquered the task of finding a place to stay, I moved
Washington Columnist
JENNIFER FINE
An average lunch of a fast-food sandwich and a beer costs about $5
The cost and lack of parking, as well as the traffic, is why people
- Weather.
into my apartment — one room and small kitchen, modestly furnished and complete with cockroaches — for a mere $800 a month. Fortunately, I will have roommates sharing the expense. It's just a shame one of us has to sleep in the bathtub.
like me ride the subway to work.
For me, the subway is another $8
a week.
The temperature may be milder here, but a snowfall practically sends the city into a panic. After three inches of snow recently, the city shut down. Schools, including universities, closed. Meetings were cancelled. The subways almost shut down.
In Lawrence, I complained if all the neighborhood streets and walks were not cleared of ice. Here, with 425 miles of city street to clear, it's understandably an impossible job to make them walkable and driveable. I watched an ambulance, siren blaring and lights flashing, rush down a city street to an emergency — at about 25 miles per hour. I hope no one was dying.
- Crowds.
So those "cultured, advanced" people on the coasts can bellithe Midwest all they want. I know the truth.
Yes, the notorious sardine-style subway does exist. Not to mention waiting in line to get a ticket here is waiting wherever you go.
What was it that was said by that little girl from Kansas, whose name actually was Dorothy?
There's no place like home
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
No one's listening
To the editor:
Hats off to the University Daily Kansan. Monday's edition rose to new heights of journalistic buffoery.
One of your cover stories referred to the lecture given by Gordon Jump to a group of journalism students on the evils of "creative" journalism.
He was upset by the trend in journalism to "creatively" change a story to make it more "interesting" — even if the facts are "slightly off."
Gordon jump was only upset; I am disgusted. Not three inches away from the article condemning "creative journalism" was a story in which Druse Muslim leader Wulid Ali fought against civil war could destroy his country.
The United Press Internationalistory was fairly straight-forward ... the accompanying headline unfortunately told "Muslim leader threats destruction of Lebanon." With what? Nuclear warheads? Switwads? Rubber bands and pane cline?
Could it be that the headline was just a little bit "creative?" I'm sure
Thomas L. Roberts
that Gordon Jump means well when he comes to lecture KU's journalism students on "creativity," but in the past he's used to bother — nobody's listening.
Thomas L. Roberts
Overland Park senior
Darkness is liked
To the editor:
Before anything else, allow me to say that I agree with Helaine Kaskel's comments Monday concerning the need for more lightening to provide safer campus walkways at night.
The lack of such lighting is another example of the twisted priorities of those in power.
I would ask, however, if, indeed, new lighting is to be installed, that at least one fairly central site be left in darkness for those of us who enjoy the solitude and the brief, intangible protection from society's ridiculous nature. This is a task we all along such paths that run among the monuments to education.
There is, then, for us some hope that one evening we will meet one or more deserving canaries. We'll gain by winning we temporarily relieve
Doug Humphreys Great Bend senior
pressure, but by losing we eternally rid ourselves of the frustration stored within.
Ridiculous vell
To the editor:
A year ago, during the KU-Wichita State football game, I heard their band and fans join in a ridiculous yell, 1, of course, expected such behavior from Shocker fans.
This letter is directed to the Spirit Squad and Pep Band at KU basketball games.
I am, of course, talking about the ever-popular "We're going to" beat the hell out you' yell. There is no reason for the students at a fine college to go to Kansas to lower themselves to the mickery of Shocker fans.
David Herren
Osage City junior
However, at this year's first home basketball game against Morehead State, I heard the same yell, this season. I played Squared, along with loyal KU fans.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The White House is taking on a new look. Some members of the old Reagan team were involved in the scene and not being reslaced.
Reagan team vanishing from scene
The president has shifted two top advisers, William Clark and Edwin Meeze, from the White House to more prestigious Cabinet posts Clark and Meeze are his staunchest conservative bulwarks.
Both remain close Reagan advisers, however They will continue to have ready access to the Oval Office.
Clark, who had served as national security affairs adviser, was appointed interior secretary, succeeding James Watt.
Meese, who often tangled on policy questions with Chief of Staff James Baker, will make Baker the most powerful man in the White House besides the president.
Presidential counselor Edwin Meese has been nominated to be attorney general and will replace Attorney General Roberts when he is confirmed by Congress.
Clark and Meese were rigid in their views. Baker urged compromise, particularly with Capitol Hill.
The departures of Clark and
HELEN THOMAS
As the man in charge, Baker will no longer have to deal with the unworkable "troika" system that held sway at the beginning of Reagan's administration when three advisers were equal. Each carved out his own turf. The friction that ensued was inevitable.
The system fell apart a couple of years ago, Baker and Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver wound up as allies. Clark and Meeya teamed to thwart a number of Baker's proposals, including a plan for Baker to become national security affairs adviser.
Under the new regime, Meese's position of counselor has been eliminated. Aides are saying that the White House will now speak with "one voice" and that there will be a smoother relationship with the Reagan-Bush 1984 re-election committee.
White House spokesman Larry Speakes says, "I do not accept that the voice of the conservatives is lost on us of here we are conservatives."
1
And so the White House is becoming a more tightly knit organization as it heads down the campain trail again.
}