Opinion
Page 4
University Daily Kansan, April 29, 1983
A depressing picture
The land of plenty has become the land of the unemployed, and KU students graduating in a couple of weeks now have to find their niche in that land.
Double-digit unemployment seemed as far away as Pluto when many of these graduates were growing up in homes where the bread-winners could usually find some type of work. But the jobs aren't so easy to come by now, and the job market just doesn't have room for a new wave of workers.
The same bread-winners, thinking an education would allow their offspring to get the best jobs, sent their children to college to rise above the daily grind of manual labor.
But the work of the hands may be the only work the graduates can find. And considering the tight job market, they may very well be lucky to find such jobs. Some grads have found work, but there are few high-paying office jobs to go around.
It's hard to find a bright side to the job picture for graduates, and even to do so, one must invoke the cliche that hard times create strong character. That's pretty lame. Tell it to the graduates who daily feel the disappointment and insecurity of knowing there aren't jobs waiting for them when they graduate.
Times are hard, but good luck, you guys.
President Reagan, using his get-tough talk and his eloquent style, tried to sell his Central American policy to the American public Wednesday night.
More tough talk
But this time, failing to sense the growing discontent over happenings in Latin America, he may have overdone the bombs and bullets and underdone the olive branch. He reconstructed the world as a global checkerboard and told us that the communists were making dangerous jumps onto our side of the board.
To deny that the communists have designs on parts of the Western Hemisphere would be ludicrous, but the Reagan method for handling the problem — pumping military aid into the region — is rapidly losing its appeal. At least that's the way many members of Congress see it.
President Reagan was greeted with applause 10 times, but silence reigned in the hall when he said he would stick to his request for an additional $200 million in military aid for El Salvador this year and next. Get the point, Mr. President?
But the applause, that barometer of a presidential address, came thundering when Reagan said Central America would not become another Vietnam. We keep wanting to hear that, yet we have our suspicions.
There was another moment of hope when Reagan dwelt on his plans for finding diplomatic solutions for weary, war-scarred Central America. He is appointing a special envoy to the region, and perhaps this peace initiative will pay off. It's bound to work better than the bombs.
Positive feelings from visit can't erase evil of Kremlin
When it comes to the Soviet Union, I'm as cynical as they get. I don't believe the Russian leaders have anything but bad intentions for this world. I think they lie, cheat, and scheme in order to force their world view on the peoples of the Earth. I believe they are evil, pure and simple.
With this subjective viewpoint stuffed firmly up under my hat and my most reactionary tendencies left at home, I went out to have a look at Soviet Man at the hoedown for the Russian athletes north of Lawrence last week. Just an average American, you understand, sniffing around.
When I got there, the old barn was packed with curious folk such as me. All eyes were searching for the Russians who had yet to arrive. Actually, I couldn't tell what kind of food of food that stretched across several tables. The
BONAR MENNINGER
hosts for the event, the Lawrence Coalfion for Peace and Justice, were admonishing the Americans not to eat all the food before the guests of honor had shown up.
Soon all was brought under control, however,
and quite a lot of food remained when a general murmur and bustle swept through the weathered barn. The Russians had arrived. They streamed in to the applause of the crowd, grinning and looking around, some of them clapping as well, out of general good humor, I reckon.
So this was Ivan. They looked like Russians with mysterious, Old World faces and fierce pride in their eyes. Most all of them were griming as they picked up paper plates and began loading up on fried chicken, beans, and a multitude of other home-cooked dishes.
The Americans and the Russians mingled about, eating and talking through translators. I figured I'd go and find me a Russian to talk to, I went up to one of the pole vaulters and said, "Hello." He stared at me and smiled. Sergi Kulibanna was what his name tag said. He was too tall, but built like a swimmer, with a powerful chest and arms.
There was a translator there, so I asked her to ask him what he thought of America — good a place as any to start.
Sergi said that although this was his first time in the United States, he was not surprised at what he saw because he had studied America quite a bit in school. He said he thought the Americans were a hard-working, fun-loving gentle, and added that he was enjoying himself here.
It was a fairly predictable answer to a predictable question. Actually, I was kind of at a loss to know what to ask the guy. I thought about asking him how much he knew about the war in Afghanistan and what he thought his country was doing there, but I didn't want the conversation to degenerate into an exercise in rhetoric.
So I asked what kind of music he liked. As the melodic, ancient sounds of the Russian language slipped from his tongue, I caught the words. Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Rolling Stones. He kind of did a little dance and said, "Elvis," and grinned.
Pretty soon a bluebear band got rolling, and most of the Russians got to tapping their feet. "Barjo, yes?" said Sergi. The Russians took to舞 dance quite readily, and someone handed them cowboy hats and red scarfs to go with their brand-new Levis.
I sat there and contemplated these Russians. They went out of their way to talk to the little kids that came up to them. A couple of the athletes did it with several talks with several pretty American girls.
And so Iwoke, torn, and still am, because I don't want to think of those athletes I met out at that barn as the deadly foe, the adversaries of America. Still, despite all the good vibrations that the Soviet visit generated, I will not be numbed into a warm, gentle feeling of reverence for Communist Russia. The government of the Soviet Union is the most dangerous, destructive political force on earth, and if you think not, you're living in a dream world.
They acted more like Americans than any foreigners I'd ever seen. Laughing, spoofing, horsing around, they looked like a bunch of guys you'd see at a Royals game. It just didn't seem right that these people were the enemy.
Maybe someday the Kremlin will better reflect its people, a people as great and true and flawed as we are. Then the spirit between our nations will be what it always could have been.
But until that day, we have to keep our guard up, make friends with them when we can, and hope the mules don't start coming down.
Letters to the Editor
Ritual obscures role of churches
To the editor:
1. would like to respond to the article "Fundamentalists, Mainline Christians Often Clash in Approach," by Joel Thornton on Friday, April 12.
I have tried both ways but I find, like so many others, that fundamentalist organizations bring me closer to God and His truth. Just as Tom Ryan says, "Until you have the resource of Jesus Christ all social ministry is hot air and extremely ineffective."
After reading this article, I began to wonder what the function of the churches really is these days. Weren't churches developed to teach God's word, to have fellowship with other believers and to praise Him? How else does one learn God's will except through the Bible and through Jesus Christ? I think, from my own experiences, that fundamentalist organizations attract so many people because they avoid all the symbolism and manmade rules that church leaders use. What is more important in our organizations emperor is God's love through Jesus Christ, our savior, and His teachings in the Bible. What is so wrong with this? Arent churches supposed to be based on God's commands?
It is sad, because God's message is missed in many of our churches today. There was a statement in Joel Thornton's article saying "that mainline denominations stand more for ambiguity." This ambiguity may come from God's message being intertwined with rituals and symbolsisms of mainline churches, thus making His message more complicated than it really is. Fundamental organizations get to God's real issue of Jesus Christ. Many people enjoy these organizations because they receive more fulfillment, learn more of what God expects of them and how God can be involved directly in their lives.
One cannot receive salvation through rituals, symbols and manmade rules, but John 14:6-9, "Jesus said to them I am the way, and the truth, that no one comes to the Father but through me."
So, don't knock these organizations until you try them.
Debbie Wyngarden,
Fairway, Kan., sophomore
Dialogue will solve rift
To the editor:
The article on fundamentalists and mainline Christians in the April 22 UDK was basically a balanced and well-researched piece. The two quotes attributed to me, although basically negative comments, were accurate as best I recall. However, members of the group have suggested that perhaps there is still more to say. Please allow me to share the following to say.
I see the basic difference between fundamentalist and mainline groups revolving around the understanding of faith and mission. Lutheran Christians begin with the Gospel, the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ brings forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God and with one another and promises life everlasting. Such faith is personal,
Bob
but it is not private. It is celebrated, shard and confessed in community as we gather to worship and share the Lord's Supper.
The mission of God's people is to proclaim Christ both in word (talk about Christ as drawn from the Scriptures) and in deed (Scriptural values and ethics). The "ambiguity" (perhaps not the best word) lies in the realization that issues of sexuality, sex education, war and peace, church and state relations, marriage and divorce, vocational decisions, etc., cannot always be settled by appeal to one particular Bible text or group of texts. They require prayerful Biblical study and mutual conversation, even then resulting in the possibility that opposing viewpoints can be supported with good Bible evidence (e.g. nuclear freeze issues).
1. wonder: If literal Biblical interpretation yields such plain, simple truths, how come the fundamentalist and neo-evangelical groups are more splintered than the mainliners?
Dialogue is fruitful. Let's have more.
Mark E. Hoelter.
Mark E. Hoenter
pastor, University Lutheran Church
Rose Rousseau,
Lawrence graduate student
Of the families whose children attend Hilltop,
60 percent of them are students; 20 percent of these are single-parent students. The cost of child care can be enormous — $48.75 per week for one toddler-aged child. Several families have more than one child at Hilltop.
Hilltop decision unfair
During the past 11 years, the Hilltop Child Development Center has become an efficiently run organization on the University of Kansas campus. In the spring of 1921, when a group of student activists first demanded viable campus child care, the Student Senate allocated $20,000 for the establishment of Hilltop. This spring, the $2,015 remived by Hilltop was denied.
The growing presence of nontraditional students at KU is undeniable. Hillop, a non-profit organization, is now attempting to exist exclusively on tuition fees and federal government food reimbursement. The money appropriated by the Student Senate would have funded four student jobs and provided fee reductions for 37 to 17 low-income families.
In a time when it has become strangely fashionable to neglect the unfortunate, it is sad that University students, the once-brave champions of liberalism, are turning their backs. Even the privileged few may learn to feel remorse.
To the editor:
Plaster foot nominee
to the editor?
I would like to nominate Dennis Quinn,
professor of English, for the James Watt plaster
foot award.
Quinn has been taking up space in both the Kansan and the Lawrence Journal-World with vituperative comments about the theatre department's production of "Buried Child" and the KU administrators' support ance of Washington on his statements that he is inappropriate for University administrators to spend the money (never mind if it was their own) on a trip to Washington when
To the editor:
one university and its professors "were strained financially." Now — get this — one of the administrators who was a part of the delegations to Washington was Gerhard Zuther, chairman of the English department. I wonder if Quinn has told Zuther personally of his views on the trip. Especially since Quinn considers the play to be one that "exploits sordiness and ugliness." And, of course, since Quinn also admits that he has neither seen nor read the play, he is in a perfect position to publicly reprimand his departmental superior.
Not content to merely cast aspersions on the judgment of the chairman of his department, however, Quinn has also included Deanell Tacha, vice chancellor for academic affairs, and Robert Lineberry, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in his condemnation of those who gave support to production of a play which he found offensive.
Quinn must consider himself not only an expert in dramatic criticism, but also University administration as well. Considering the effort he has put into his criticism of these parties without having had any actual exposure to the production in question, one has to wonder what he would do if he were actually to attend some such function. Disintegrate into radioactive particles, probably. Sadly, I haven't seen such an example of appallingly narrow-minded administrators on the Beach Boys. However, there is a bright side to this dark cloud, and that is that when these administrators start looking for places to cut the budget, they'll have one obvious place to consider.
Lawrence graduate student
Alarming use of funds
To the editor:
Recently the Student Senate Finance and Auditing Committee allocate $493 of student funds to the Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas. During the April 20 Student Senate meeting the committee members of the Senate voted to reallocate these $493 to other unfunded student projects:
William Adkins, Lisa Ashner, Thomas Berger, B John Bower, Loren Busy, Paul Birkirk, Chris Coffel, John Conard, Dan Cunningham, Mark Delworth, Nancy Devore, Paul Fazio, Anne Fidler, David Fidler, Jon Glicherr, Beth Holl, Leslie Lane, Laura Langberg, Scott Megafinn, Mollie Mitchell, Dena Molos, Cathy Ormsbeck, Bettina Phal, Paul Sharp, Adam Silverstein, Silke Kespert, Blair Tinkle Robyn Waggy, Bob Walker, Bonnie DeNovelles and Ann Seymour.
We, the undersigned students, are alarmed at being forced by a public institution to financially support an organization which opposes our own convictions. We believe we such use of student funds in no way reflects student financial priorities and constitutes irresponsible allocation and representation. We urge students of like mind to express their opinion to their institution especially to Chancellor Gene A. Budg, Strong University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan. 60438
John Hisey,
Robert W. Brooks,
Loretta Flanagan,
C. Stiles,
Lawrence graduate students
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