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Opinion
University Daily Kansan, March 7. 1983
Adding to the flames
The bloodshed continues in El Salvador. And like a mad firefighter, the United States continues to throw gasoline on the flames in hopes of putting them out.
Last week, the Reagan administration went on the offensive in calling for more military aid for El Salvador. The administration has asked for an immediate $60 million increase in military assistance for the country, which now receives $26 million dollars from the United States.
While strenuously ruling out the possibility of U.S. ground troops going into Central America, White House spokesman Larry Speakes made it clear that the president wanted the current Salvadoran government to hold on.
The president also is considering increasing the number of U.S. military advisers from the current 45 to the self-imposed limit of 55 — and possibly raising the limit.
And Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger told Congress that additional advisors in the "tens or twenties" may be needed.
Aides say President Reagan believes that the civil war is at a "critical stage" and that the United States should take "all necessary measures" to ensure victory for the government.
Strangely enough, there has been no anguished cry for help from the Salvadoran government, whose attitude would seem to contradict the desperate frame of mind of the Reagan administration.
But more importantly, the latest rhetorical military offensive by the president and his advisers is typical of the administration's narrow approach to the war in El Salvador.
Before throwing more money and manpower into the fire, the president should remember that "all necessary measures" should include negotiations with the Salvadoran rebels to end the fighting.
Problems at EPA persisting as Burford tries to keep job
BY HELEN THOMAS
WASHINGTON — President Reagan is finding that the cloud over the Environmental Protection Agency "just won't go away," as one aide put it.
United Press International
So the investigation will go on, even though the president has tried to cut his losses by replacing him.
His aides say he is fully committed to supporting EPA Administrator Anne Burford even though there are some rumblings at the EPA that they should make a clean sweep of the EPA hierarchy.
Burford has gone along with EPA budget cuts and the policies of the administration, which some of the career personnel have severely criticized as detrimental.
It has been Reagan's style to remain loyal to beleaguered top aides who have been loyal to him.
The president has long said the questions of environment were overly exaggerated by environmentalists. During his campaign, he suggested that trees were the cause of air pollution and that the outdated slide of Santa Barbara, Calif., cost purified the sea breezes.
On his first trip to his California mountaintop ranch, the president looked down from his helicopter window on the oil rigs off Santa Barbara and proclaimed them "a beautiful sight."
Since he has been in the White House, environmental issues have not been of prime concern except when a disaster forced recognition of the case of the dioxin score at Times Beach, Mo.
But what the president did not bargain for was the heightened understanding and fear by the military.
There is no question that what once was viewed as strictly a concern among youth has now reverberated throughout the country and the threshold of protecting the public health against nuclear and toxic waste and pollutants has increased with each passing year.
Since Burford had voted against antipollution measures when she was in the Colorado Legislature, there was some question about her appointment.
Preeoccupied with his economic program, Reagan did not give the EPA top priority consideration in the early days of his administration.
But the neglect has led to big problems and allegations of mismanagement and conflict of interest that now deeply concern the White House.
He left the policy guidance to counselor Edwin Meese and Cabinet Secretary Craig Fuller.
Reagan has ordered White House counsel Fred Fielding to conduct a review of contacts between White House aides and EPA officials in view of allegations that there may have been political considerations in the management of the $1.6 million Superfund to clean up hazardous waste dump.
The struggle over giving documents to congressional committees and the invocation of executive privilege by Reagan led to days of conflict and suspicion.
As a result, James Baker, White House chief of staff, has moved in to assess the damage and to
The charges forced resignations of top officials, and the inquiries and reports of document shredding have hurt morale in the agency.
The president has indicated that some of the problem may be with the probing media in dealing with the headline-making story.
But it is hard for the media to ignore six congressional committees investigating the
The University Daily
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Greek stereotypes not justified
I have friends who live in one or another of the "39 greek" houses at KU. I am not a greek, but I know there are some fine people scattered throughout the system. For some reason, though, fraternity and sorority love has fostered a lot of criticism from non-grecs, or GDIs.
Why, just walking the sidewalks of old KU I have heard greeks called elist, racist, irresponsible, immature and insecure, to name but a few. Such criticism is certainly not justified.
For one thing, not all of those charges have any factual basis. Before we shove an entire group of people into one of our convenient little cabinets, we need to look at the facts and draw our own conclusions.
In addition, we have the responsibility, at some point, to offer an alternative or solution to the problem. Criticism without a suggestion of that is bad mouthing, and that is counterproductive.
As a student of print journalism, I realize that responsible comment must be our forte. Therefore, with the hope of serving the community by stimulating more responsible comment among the irresponsible GDIs, I offer the following problems and a solution to each.
1. Eltism. Much of this charge probably stems from the BMWs, Jaguars and Triumphs that conspicuously cruise campus in the spring, stopping to honk outside the sorority that houses the Repunzel of their choice. And anyone who has been through rush knows that many illustrious alumnae have lived there. GDIs can take heart, though; George Washington, who slept almost everywhere, never spent a night at a sorority house.
Or perhaps a real survival test; Leave each
Why not hold a decathlon each year that all Greeks must complete in order to continue their membership? Events could include a dog food cook-off using only tin cans, hopping onto moving freight cars or scavenger hunts for spare change.
greek on a Harlem street corner with $40 in $1 bills pinned all over his or her clothing, and tell him or her you'll be in a month with dad's MasterCard.
2. Irresponsible. There are also a lot of irresponsible GDIs out there, as we all know, but not many of them would blame their inepitheto on a "pledge prank." Why not simply burn the fire before they have to measure the measure of the man, after all, is not how many times he can get an A on the same term paper.
3. Racist. There are black Greeks and white greeks, and for the most part, they do not live
MATT BARTEL
together. Three formal rushes have come and gone since the Kansan's controversial series on racism in the KU greek system; since then, not a single black woman has rushed a white sorority. Obviously, no blacks will be pledged if no blacks go through rush.
Why not use busing to achieve desegregation? The buses could travel down Jayhawk Boulevard at high speed, thus "rushing" the blacks to their houses.
4. Immature. I guess the only way to "grow up" is to grow up. Let's raise the entrance age to 30.
Wait, the word "immature" is on the first line.
The word "grow up" is on the second line.
So it's:
1. Immature. I guess the only way to "grow up" is to grow up. Let's raise the entrance age to 30.
2. Immature. I guess the only way to "grow up" is to grow up. Let's raise the entrance age to 30.
5. Insecure. Some people charge that greeks are too insecure to make their own friends, so they join a house, giving them an excuse to hang around together and dress alike.
Why not call a greek on the phone and say you'll meet him at Uncle Mily's for a beer at 10 p.m. on a Friday? Then watch from across the street as he tries to be 'one of the guys.'
6. Dump the whole system. Those 39 houses
could become a chain of "rap" parens, although this might resemble the function some now serve. They could become a school of generic architecture, teaching students how to design Wal-Marts, K-Marts, Quick-Marts, Pic-Quils, Alcs, Gibsons, Food Barns and taco shops.
The houses could be made into homes for delinquent teens, although this also might resemble the function some now serve. They could become a series of branch libraries, for example, a Library or the History of KU Football Library (with the winning season displayed in the foyer).
One of the houses could be made into a wax museum, featuring life-like figures of former chancellors that stand up and the alma mater and former star athletes in action poses. Another could be the Student Senate Hall of Fame, with machen to shake your hand for a quarter.
The hall of fame for hacky-sack players, street musicians and dogs who wear bandanas could all be placed in one house, with the 30-Minute Hall of Fame next door. This one would house greatest hits of television, with loops of "Leave It To Beaver," "Gilligan's Island," "Mr. Ed," and "My Mother The Car" running continuously in the lobby.
Two of the houses could be combined to hold the "Salina Piece," with rose-colored 3-D glasses provided for fans of the piece. The Pi House would also host Jayahower Towers could be a Terminx shop.
A national clearinghouse for wayward ball point pens could occupy a couple of the houses, with a training facility for traffic control station attendants next door. Another could be made into a nondenominational church so that Jed Smole and Rosey Grier wouldn't have to stand alone.
The uses for the houses could be many. So next time you hear a GDI grousing about the Greeks, ask him what he would do about it. Or better yet, suggest something to him.
Letters to the Editor
McCollum Hall Council
To the editor.
We, the past and present members of the McCollum Hall Executive Council, believe that the article of Feb. 14 concerning McCollum Hall government, presented an inaccurate version of
Warren Bridges attempts to show that the McCollum Hall Council was ridden with "stirie" during the past semester culminating in the resignation of several members. The decision to appoint Warren Bridges, whose opinions were represented — believe their remarks were misquoted, taken out of context or both.
The article implies that all resignations were the personal fault of David Cook, council president. This is not the case. The actual reasons among others were increased study loads, employment pressures, health reasons and cancellation of a residence hall contract.
Lack of communication was a motivating factor in a minority of cases.
The article also implied that the current executive council members had been appointed by Cook without proper approval by the hall government. The minutes of the McColum Hall Senate meetings on Jan. 27 and Feb. 10 show that the committee approved the half for Senate approval, and were in every case approved by the two-thirds majority mandated by the constitution.
It is the consensus of the executive council members, both past and present, that the interests of truth were not served in the writing of this article. We believe an apology, both to
Other factual errors in the article include the false attribution to Tim Colton of the assertion that six members of the council had resigned in December and January, and that hall elections were held in September. In truth, hall elections are always held in April, and the number of people resigning in December and January was five, not six as stated.
David Cook and to the members of the council, is in order.
Mecalumhong Hall Executive Council
Palestinians thankful
To the editor.
The the General Union of the Palestinian Students and the Coalition for the Human Rights of Palestinian People extend their gratitude to the American people who showed great sympathy, generosity and help to the Palestinian and their suffering, particularly during the acts of atrocities of last year's massacres.
We are also thankful for KU's support of freedom which helped in introducing and representing the Palestinian issue to our American friends on campus.
Bob
Such an atmosphere will undoubtedly help to bring about a clear understanding of the roots of the problem, and will actually speed up efforts to end this tragedy.
General Union of Palestinian Students
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 should include his class and home town or faculty or staff position. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject letters.