OPINION
The University Daily KANSAN
October 7,1983 Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kannan (USPS 605-640) is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stuart Friend Hall, Lawrence, Kansas. Daily during the regular school year and Monday and Thursday during the summer semester. Subscribers are $15 for six months or $27 a year. Subscriptions by mail are $15 for six months or $27 a year. In Douglas County and $18 for six months or $3 for a county. Student students receive $3 as a student fee through the student activity for POSTMaster. Send your application to us at USPS and include a check to the following address:
MARK ZIEMAN Editor
DOUG CUNNINGHAM STEVE CUSKIC
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A peacemaker
He's a model of calm in a world of turmoil. He's a man with a rare commodity — courage. He's a Polish patriot, but more than that — he's a man of peace.
Leech Wales has been rewarded for his struggle to bring more freedom to his countrymen. He won the 1983 Nobel Prize. He deserved it, and he deserves more.
Compare him to Reagan and Andropov and other world leaders. They talk in rhetoric and play international politics; their motives aren't for peace or freedom but more for self-interest. Wales uses words sparingly — a plain-speaker like Harry Truman — and he's never forgiven that he is a simple laborer at a Gdansk shipyard.
That's what has made him beloved by the Polish people and others around the world, including factory hands, dock workers and other laborers in the United States.
"Lech Walesa's activities have been characterized by a determination to solve his country's problems through negotiation and cooperation without resorting to
He's been a voice of moderation, but he hasn't compromised the dignity of the Polish people. He calmed the more restless elements of the outlawed Solidarity labor movement to prevent more blood-shed in Poland. He knew more unrest would've given the Soviets an excuse to send soldiers tramping across his homeland.
violence," the Nobel Committee said in awarding the prize.
In the face of threats and imprisonment, he has remained true to the cause of establishing rights for Polish workers. Try to find such courage in the ranks of those world leaders who have position and title but would cower in the face of such threats.
Walesa is a man of principle in a world of compromise. He joins other principled people who have received the Nobel Peace Prize — Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Albert Schweitzer. All had vision beyond the "us and them" attitude that dictates world politics.
Walesa deservedly joins the ranks of these peacemakers.
Arms control talks
Arms control might finally bring Ronald Reagan and Yuri Andropov to the bargaining table.
The two leaders, each the president of a superpower, hardly have been on the best of terms lately. The Soviet action in shooting down a South Korean jetliner and the U.S. response don't make for cordial relations.
Unfortunately, such a compromise seems unlikely. The Soviets said that prevention of nuclear war
Still, the Reagan administration yesterday presented a new proposal for arms control to the Soviets. The discussions, now going on in Geneva, might bring new results if the United States and the Soviet Union could use the proposals advanced thus far as a starting point for a compromise.
was "the most urgent task of our time," but they also accused the United States of taking a "one-sided approach" to the talks.
The Americans, meanwhile, have said much the same thing. Reagan said that the United States had been forced to "push, pull, probe and prod" the Soviets toward arms control.
Neither response brings the Soviet Union and the United States closer to an agreement on the reduction of nuclear weapons. Moreover, neither response appears to allow much room for compromise.
However, the statements by both countries indicate that Reagan and Andropov recognize the dangers of a nuclear war. Now if they will only do something about those dangers.
Alcohol awareness
KU students will get a chance to polish their image next week by attacking a vice that some people think is synonymous with college life - alcoholism.
Beginning Monday, several KU offices and student organizations will present Alcohol Awareness '83, a weeklong education program to promote the mature use of alcohol. Non-alcohol parties and a competition to concoct a non-alcohol cocktail — to be dubbed "The Jayhawk" — are just some of the events scheduled.
Much credit should go to the Associated Students of Kansas and the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services for organizing the event; however, even the best intentions for such a program will serve no purpose if students fail to participate.
"Starting Early" teaches children as young as 5 years old the effects of alcohol and the difference between alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Says Sonia Charley, a local prevention programs specialist: "If we want to get a handle on abuse by young people, we need to start earlier."
It is heartening to note that Alcohol Awareness '83 will not be the only program in Lawrence getting into the ring with Mr. Booze. Officials in the Lawrence school system are "Starting Early" with their own awareness program.
Who knows? If programs like "Starting Early" are successful, perhaps programs similar to the one next week at the University of Kansas may become endangered. And that would be just fine.
LETTERS POLICY
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. The Kansan alwo invites individuals and thanks to apply green columns. Columns and letters can be mailed or brought to the Kanson office, 111 Staffer-Finl Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject letters and columns.
Music and theatre departments are short on space
The pitfalls of playing in Hoch
First-class symphonies and soloists play here. Tickets are cheap and the audiences are loyal. Theatre and touring companies are plentiful.
But when the best cellist in the world, Mstislav Rostopovich, played here in April 1981, his sound was often lost, swallowed in that acoustical disaster we call Hoch Auditorium.
At first, KU's program of performances sounds impressive.
Rostropovich is a master at producing sound, but Hoch is an unconquerable enemy. When he played softly, he couldn't even be heard from some seats in the 20th row.
flaw and one that shows all the more because it contrasts so sharply with other aspects of the performances here.
The theatre department has problems, too. It offers three series of plays every year, but students learning to direct usually never get to see their work on a stage. Set crews must do preliminary building at late night because they have no place to work but the stage, which is heavily used during the day and evening.
The theatre department and the two concert series need more and better room. The lack of appropriate lighting work that precedes them is a serious work that precedes them is a serious
Hoch must be used for some concert and chamber series events because the Crafton-Prey Theatre in Hall is for the theatre department.
But Hoch is a terrible place for a concert. On a scale of one to 20 for
DEBORAH
BAER
Staff Columnist
accoustics, James Moeser, dean of the School of Fine Arts, gives it a two.
Hoch has other problems. It has virtually no backstage area and no dressing rooms.
What it does have is a bad reputation. Jacqueline Davis, director of KU's Concert Series and Chamber Series, says some artists won't perform here because Hoch is so bad.
Davis said she almost lost the booking of the New York City Opera, scheduled to perform in February, because of Hack's lack of dressing rooms. She was able to convince the company to stay by letting them perform in Crafton-Preyer instead of in Hock.
But they would love to perform here. "The people here have a reputation for being one of the warmest, most receptive audiences
Wilms says the department needs more theatres of varying sizes and more room for construction and costume changes. There is no place to do welding and to work with machines that give off toxic fumes, but outside.
That move could be made only because Ron Willis, director of the University Theatre, was willing to make some sacrifices. Willis is in charge of the theatre, and it is already used day and night for classes, rehearsals theatre performance and work by keyboard players. Whenever Craft-Preyer is "loaned" for a music performance, all those activities are put on hold or temporarily moved to less adequate places.
The two concert series need a
place where dance and opera troupes have enough room for costume changes and where the sound of great musicians won't be lost because of a badly designed hall.
It's shameful that KU gets such greats as Rostropovitch and symphonies conducted by Andre Previn, Neville Marriner and Leonard Slatkin and then puts them in Hoch. The orchestras are loud enough to be heard there, but if they play in early or late spring, the heat plays with the tuning of their instruments and does little for their comfort.
The dean and several faculty members of the school are working on plans for a performance complex that would solve those problems. The team has worked with millions and would probably require both private and state support.
State support might be hard to come by in the next few years, but the music and theatre programs deserve help. Without it, KU can only lose, by failing to book groups for performances forming facilities and by not making the most of the world-class performers that do play here.
Reagan holds on to conservative ideas
WASHINGTON — President Reagan is going out of his way to mend fences with conservatives, a politician who has said he will need if he decides to run again
He has held the line on ousing James Watt as Interior Secretary and he is in effect the only one who can ask for his resignation. Watt stirred up a storm of protest when he said he had on his advisory committee "a black . . . a woman, two Jews and a cripple."
Watt's supporters in conservative ranks rallied to his side, and Reagan
HELEN THOMAS United Press International
himself was inclined to shrug off the remark as "unfortunate" and to permit Watt to retain his seat in the Cabinet.
The president is proud to call himself a "conservative" and he believes he was elected to turn the country to the right. He has put conservatives in charge of many government agencies with a view to shaving the federal government's involvement.
For two years he has tried to destroy the Legal Services Corp. an anathema to conservatives that gives legal assistance to the poor, by failing to name members of the board or provide adequate funding.
Reagan also has tried to change the U.S. Civil Rights Commission to reflect the views of conservatives in Congress and limit the jurisdiction of the panel.
Most pleasing of all to his conservative constituency, the president has kept up a steady drumbeat of harsh rhetoric against the Soviet Union, referring to the Kremlin as the "evil empire" and drawing the eye later that year over a "struggle between freedom and totalitarianism, between what is right and what is wrong."
He said he believed that American conservatives were "uniquely
equipped" to present the world the proper vision of America.
But he has angered some conservative leaders like Richard Viguerie who have sharply criticized him for not taking tough action against the Soviets for shooting down the Airplane airliner. Viguerie said Reagan had tainted with the Soviets "and he blinked, he backed away and refused to engage the Soviets in any kind of serious activity."
Viguerie wanted Reagan to close U.S. ports to the Soviet government and to recall the U.S. ambassador to Moscow. He also would have canceled all sports, cultural and scientific agreements with the Soviets and suspended arms negotiations with them.
But for others who remember the cold war and the dangers from East-East tensions, dangers that have been magnified by the growing nuclear superpower arsenals, the prospect of slamming the door on the Russians may seem self-defeating.
Each president in the past few decades has understood the difficulty of dealing with the Kremlin and of the need to the East-West blocs from reaching the confrontation stage. Each has tried to keep the lines of communication open considering the alternative.
But the conservatives are not only angry that the Soviets have not been totally isolated from the Western Europe, but that they let the conservatives down by not
succeeding in abolishing the Education and Energy departments and feel that he has not tried hard enough to stop busing, permit prayer in the schools and to seek to eliminate abortion laws.
Viguerie said that the president has "surrounded himself" with moderate, liberal, Eastern establishment, big business type Republicans."
If Reagan could wave a magic wand, he would be glad to oblige since he has said he is philosophically in tune with the conservative. But even presidents know the limits of their own power and they can be controlled by the Supreme Court if some of the goals are vigorously pursued.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Lecture series would be better than memorial
To the Editor:
I was shocked to see that some students have proposed that our financially strapped University waste $20,000 on a Vietnam war memorial. It is hard to imagine the train of thoughts that could lead a rational student to the conclusion that we should spend money on a fountain dedicated to the victims of a colossal foreign policy blunder.
If we suppose, for a moment, that the University does have $20,000 to spend on a Vietnam war memorial. I have a more rational suggestion for the form that this memorial should take. It should be a lecture series attempting to inform Americans about the issues surrounding potential Vietnam-like wars that the United States may fight.
I'm not making a blanket statement that the United States should never intervene. Instead I'm saying Americans should stop voting only if Americans are thorny.
The lecture series would present speakers holding a spectrum of political views who would speak on situations in countries where there is a possibility the United States will intervene.
oughly informed about the situation in the country in which it is proposed we intervene.
In any case, I do not want to see any American soldiers or any American advisers in El Salvador unless Americans become well-informed about the situation and Americans overwhelmingly approve of intervention. (I don't expect informed Americans to approve of intervention in El Salvador.)
The one important goal to accomplish in the interests of the victims of the Vietnam disaster is to ensure that military commissions such a foolish blunder
Mark Cline
Medicine Lodge graduate student China Day
China Day
To the Editor:
According to Monday's story, "Students Prepare Variety Show for China Day is" the commemoration of China Day is "a celebration of the anniversary of Taiwan's independence from the Ching Dynasty in 1911." Yet historically there was no such day. What we are com
memorating is Oct. 10, 1911, when the revolution led by Sun Yat-Sen began. It was the revolution in which China rejected a 2,000-year-old imperial structure and replaced it with a republic.
Bor-hua Wang Taiwan graduate
The purpose of the China Day show is to provide cross-cultural understanding. I hope this misunderstanding of Chinese history will not cloud the importance of this event.
To the Editor:
the oct. 7 Kansan's report about the KU Committee on South Africa. The story misquotes me as saying that the great majority of South Africa's population was wounded in a word I list, beard applied to the black majority in that country.
I would like to correct one point in
Heed the cries
In a response to a reporter's question about the composition and political status of the nonwhite population, I mentioned that in South Africa the term black also refers to African those of mixed ancestry, the so-called "south African." The Kanans garbled these remarks in its otherwise accurate account.
The key point here is that the various segments of the black population are more united than ever before in their opposition to the racist regime and Western investments.
The recently formed United Democratic Front is the most massive anti-apartheid coalition ever formed in South Africa. The United States should heed the cries and break the ties with Pretoria.
Lard Okie Student assistance center employee