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Opinion
University Daily Kansan, July 27, 1963
Walk softly, carry a big light
Darkness is never so total as when it is mixed with an ample amount of fear. And darkness is prevalent on the campus of this University. When night falls, a rising tide of fear often accompanies it; a fear felt by male and female alike.
Campus lighting has been an issue for years. Usually, it is followed by little or no action by the University. The blue phones scattered about the campus are one exception. They are an important weapon against the night-stalkers. But better lighting would be a more effective weapon.
Nothing prompted this editorial but sheer foresight. We weren't prodded into writing this by a series of night-attacks on students. Editorials written after the fact are often bitter and full of hindsight.
The defenders of the campus' present lighting facilities may quote figures of the seemingly immense amount of streetlights on campus. Don't be misled. Take a walk at night on the pathways of our University.
In front of Watson Library is a stellar phenomenon - a black hole. The front of the library may be well-lighted for aesthetic purposes, but that light does not illuminate the
lawn. And while buildings such as Wescoe Hall may be doused with light, don't dare walk behind Stauffer-Flint Hall or down the hill behind Fraser Hall.
In some places it is so dark you're in danger of tripping over an object in your path. The unpainted curbstones along Memorial Drive are nearly invisible in the darkness between the streetlights. Reflective paint could remedy the problem.
The list continues: The area between Strong and Bailey halls, Marvin Grove, Danforth Chapel, Blake Hall — and onward into the black night.
One of the problems is the properties of the average campus light itself. The lights seem bright, yet only tend to illuminate a circle of light beneath them. The cylindrical lens of the streetlamp seems to softly diffuse the light, not magnify it as it should. And although this lens may be a necessary component of the lamp, it is not helping the situation.
If more modern lamps, with more lumens-per-watt, took the place of the present lighting system, the campus might not be as pretty at night, but it certainly would be a lot safer.
U.S. to draw hard line in Nicaragua
By HELEN THOMAS
United Press International
He named former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to head it and Kissenger, who once participated in the destabilization of Chile, leading to the downfall of leftist President
Responding to congressional demands, Reagan established a bipartisan commission to look into long-range U.S. policies toward the region. The committee of the panel members are considered hard line.
WASHINGTON — President Reagan is making several moves on the Central American front when polls show a wariness of his policies. The drive is to break the back of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, which he says is being armed by Cuba and the Soviet Union.
military leaders Reagan insists he is seeking a political dialogue and has said repeatedly that Cuba's Fidel Castro resisted an overture he made early
Salvador Allende, is already on record with his view.
He said he would oppose going to war with Nicaragua but he would do whatever was needed through covert aid to guerrillas or through a strong presence on the Honduras-Nicaragua
Meanwhile, the president is seeking to convince a reluctant Congress that the United States is more interested in economic and industrial Central America than it is in a military solution.
Reports indicate those moves already have been made and more with the United States planning to hold a major U.S.-Honduran summit on the Honduras-Nicaragua border next month.
in his administration. Clearly, Reagan has not been pushing to talk to Castro or the leaders of the Salvadoran insurgency or the Sandistas.
Some of the U.S. pressure may be taking hold. Nicaragua has offered to negotiate the question of arms supplies to El Salvador and other regional sticking points.
But while the United States struggles to keep Central America in the Western fold, the mistakes of the past are creeping up and need quick solutions.
But clearly time is running out, and if the United States wants to make the Monroe Doctrine work, keeping the other superpower out of the Western Hemisphere, it must add more of an economic and social wallop to its military assistance. And some members of Congress say that should be in the form of a new massive Marshall Plan for Central America.
Democrats facing nomination-election gap
By ARNOLD SAWISLAK
United Press International
WASHINGTON — American politics appears to be reducing itself to a series of "gates," as in Water or Billy, or "gaps" as in gender or missile.
What follows here is about a "gag" that is has been around for some time but, like Legionnaire's Disease, never got a popular label. It has to do with the differing and sometimes overlapping nature of having a presidential nomination on the one hand, and a presidential election on the other.
This pheromone is not new. The best example of it will be 20 years old in 1984 and the proof that it works will be seen in 2020.
This "nomination-election gap," for lack of a catcher label, surfaced when Sen. Barry Goldwater stormed the Republican Party to win the presidential nomination without breaking a sweat. Goldwater had the campaign so well organized that he had the nomination all but locked up before any potential rival could get started.
Then he went out to campaign for the presidency and took the worst popular vote drubbing in history to that date. Lyndon Johnson beat him in a race where he was saying "I will win." Barry Farky was in peril.
In 1972, Sen. George McGovern demonstrated how a Democrat could do it better. Using the newly reformed Democratic rules as a battering ram, he won the nomination with ease and then went on to an even worse shellacking in the fall. Coldwater had absorbed eight years earlier.
Political professionals explained what had happened in terms of ideology and pragmatism. Simply stated, in both cases the parties had become so focused on the ideological parity of their candidates that they forgot about political electability.
And therein is the gap. In seeking a candidate whose liberalism or conservatism is beyond question, the parties also may be selecting a candidate who is perceived as being too far to the right or left to be elected in November, when the majority of those who vote identify themselves as middle of the road Republicans or Democrats or independents.
However, an ideological candidate for a nomination can be transformed into a pragmatic candidate for president. Ronald Reagan did it in 1980.
The strong stands he took represented Simple Simon, "good news" solutions to citizen concerns — lower taxes and less red ink and red tape in government. He projected himself as the common sense nice guy. Carter as the befuddled lighthearted surrounded by spendthrift doodlers.
As 1984 approaches, the Democrats are beginning to wonder whether they have a position to win.
Democratic Party activists seem to favor liberals of the Walter Mondale and Alan Cranston stripe for the nomination, but it also seems, from polls of the public at large, that a perceived moderate such as John Glenn may be the most electable Democrat.
The question being asked is whether a non-ideologue like Glenn can win the Democratic nomination or whether a candidate like Mondale or Cranston can win a national election.
Letters Policy
The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 500 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter includes his class and home town or faculty or staff position. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject letters.
Questions about news ethics often have unclear answers
Dave Roman's story is an interesting one — of intrigue, emotion and, perhaps, questionable tactics.
Roman, a reporter for the Potomac News newspaper in Woodbridge, Virginia, seemed, for a while, to be caught between a rock and a hard place with no place to turn.
The rock — journalistic ethics
The hard place — the law.
Roman's story is told in the July/August issue of the Columbia Journalism Review by a former
The story began late last year, when Roman wanted to interview a convicted murderer, John J. LeVasseur, who was raped on Death Row at the notorious Jail Center, a maximum security prison.
Because Roman and LeVasseur reportedly had "not got along well" during LeVasseur's trial, Roman decided that instead of writing a letter to him in an interview, he would arrange a personal request.
The story goes on to tell how Roman set up the meeting with the help of William Britton,
WARREN BRIDGES
superintendent of a jail where LeVasseur allegedly had done time prior to being sent to Mecklenberg.
Apparently, Britton was to accompany Roman while they were in the prison. However, Britton told him he could not make the trip, but could arrange Rome's visit — by swearing in Roman as a sergeant for a day, and having a lieutenant accompany him.
Roman agreed, and got the interview.
Roman agreed, and got the interview.
That seems to be where the question of where one draws the line of journalistic ethics comes into play.
Following the interview, Roman apparently had second thoughts about the method he used to get the interview, and he even wrote a story of how it worked. "He got to get in touch," which ran in the Potomac News.
Britton was suspended from his job as a result or his role in Harper's trip to America. He was removed three weeks after
Roman faced another charge, a misdemeanor,
for impersonating an officer.
the paper decided to run the interview, Roman, Britton and the lieutenant were all charged with two felonies — conspiracy to falsify a state register (a sign-in register), and documentation that did something.
Subsequently, the felony charges were dropped because Roman had signed his real name.
However, Roman was later convicted of the misdemonstrand and given a six-month suspended sentence.
Roman continues to work on the Potomac News and was described by his publisher as a "fine, sensitive news reporter." . . .
"in," in the article, Roman contends that although he regrets the way he gathered the information because it could have been gathered by "more conventional means," he says he did not break the law because, as the story reports, "Britton had the authority to hire and fire."
The question remains — did Roman act unethically? A court of law determined that he had broken the law. But does that automatically mean he acted unethically?
that would have happened had Roman gone ahead and written LeVasseur asking him to grant an interview? Roman did get the interview, and it seems that if LeVasseur was hired at his current interview, he would have done so regardless of whether the request was written or personal.
Journalists face many of the same ethical questions as other public servants, but are less likely to be exposed.
Journalistic ethics is not a standard set of rules accepted by everyone in the news business.
There are exceptions. Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists developed a "Code of Ethics" more than 50 years ago, though it was revised in 1973.
But it does not hold all the answers, and neither do columnists, city editors, managing directors.
Many of the considerations journalists must commonly keep in mind include whether a reporter should call the family of murder victim to gather information about the victim, or, if necessary, to report what happened or weeping relatives at a funeral, or releasing a sworn deposition before it is entered into court.
All of these, and many other questions face journalists across the nation.
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