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Tuesday, September 27, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Debate yields no winners, but the whole nation loses
At last, thanks to Sunday night's Bush-Dukakis debate,
the election would mull over. The quality of life in Cayatac is one of their problems.
OK, it wasn't that bad. Voters who have been living in their closets for the past six months got a chance to see the two presidential candidates differentiate themselves on a few issues, such as weapons in space and nuclear disarmament.
But other noteworthy stands were almost non-existent. Instead, Bush risked losing that all-important Australian vote by coming out against "Crocodile Dundee" in his remarks and being charged with lying to him, who he proclaimed he was for jobs and against homelessness.
In short, neither candidate came out looking like someone most U.S. citizens would want in the White House as a guest.
Other non-news was Dukakis 'bland explanation of how passionate he was and Bush's repeated attempts to show how tough he could be by trying to interject unwitticisms while Dukakis spoke.
But perhaps it isn't the candidates' fault. Many of the questions were as uninspired and vague as the answers. The entire debate process is designed to let the candidates prepare for generic responses that will offend a few voters as possible.
The debates should be more than just free TV time for the parties. Voters have a right to see how their next president reacts under pressure. They've seen what happens when the president who can function only when well-protected by underlines.
Changes are in order for the next debate, scheduled for mid October. First, eliminate the live audience. It's just another tool for the image-makers to create the illusion of hearty support for the candidates.
Second, dispense with questions on patriotism and passion. Voters have heard enough already. The panelists must ask the candidates again what programs they will cut to balance the budget, but at time they must follow up until coherent answers come out.
If these and other changes are made, the debates could give voters a chance to think about who might make a better president instead of leaving them pondering what a dim future this nation could be heading for.
Michael Merschel for the editorial board
Newspapers, students and parents are confusing the conflict between dorm rules and student freedom. The rules, created as an undesirable yet inevitable recourse to encourage better behavior, are often misconstrued as restrictions on students' sexual behavior.
Rules and freedom confused
Students at Boston University rallied against a proposed rule to ban latenight and late-night visitors to dormitories.
Residents of Oliver Hall here at the University of Kansas are disgruntled, even upset, by the recent enforcement of an old rule governing the admittance of guests to a residence hall floor.
In reality, rules restricting traffic inside dorms have more to do with community living than with bedtime, bed partners or
Rean Donald L. Carter of BU says, "We are simply saying we must have an environment in which students have the right to work."
And that hits the nail right on the head.
College administrators are not contesting the fact that students must take responsibility and lead their own when they get together.
The problem is that some students infringe on the lifestyles of their roommates, neighbors and floor residents.
Those who protest dorm rules need to understand that the right to swing their arms stoops at their neighbor's nose.
Dorms are not free for any student. When a student is forced to rush to the library, not for the resources there, but for refuge from a roommate's lover who has become a permanent lodge, it is unfair. Administrators shouldn't have to enforce rules against students to ensure they should be mature enough to prevent such problems from arising and be able to handle those that do among themselves.
Students need to learn that their actions affect the lives of those around them. The earlier they understand and accept the rules, the more likely they are to behave appropriately.
Muktha Jost for the editorial board
Opinion
Todd Cohen ... Editor
Michael Horak ... Managing editor
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Stephen Wade ... News editor
Michael Merschel ... Editorial editor
Noel Gerdes ... Campus editor
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LOOKING UP
Shuttle's return encourages academia
University has plenty of reasons to be excited about Discovery's return to space
The space shuttle is scheduled to fly again soon. For what promises to be a momentous occasion, all systems go, the astronauts are ready and the nation is waiting.
This article examines the significance of space flight to us in the academic community, to the aerospace industry and their partners in the industry. It is our aim that we share whole. It will not address the risks associated with the military's heavy reliance on manned shuttle flights, fundamental to our national security, for the competing concepts.
To us in the academic community, especially those in the science and technology areas, the space shuttle program is inspiring. Astronauts use computers on board the shuttle to study the microgravity environment of low-earth orbit, collect data on earth resources, provide satellite and telecommunication services and, most importantly, create an infrastructure of a permanent paused space station.
On a smaller scale, we at the University of Chicago have an interest in the study of shuttle activity. Our organization UXS Space Program, is in the final stages of fitting five self-cained experiments in a 2.5 cubic-foot habitat.
Saeed Farokhi
Guest columnist
space shuttle scheduled for an early 1989 launch. The program we are participating in is called the "Get Away Special," or GAS, which NASA uses to transport astronauts and GAS containers on 24 shuttle flights.
Besides the KU Space Program relationship with the shuttle program, quite a few KU contractors are involved in the contractors involved with the manned space program. At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and in Los Angeles, a large Jayhawker community thrives and contributes to the pro
The aerospace industry and government labs are in the process of developing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Because of the lack of testing facilities that could simulate the entire flight of a single aircraft, aerospace engineers must
void by serving as a flying testbed anesthetic, providing vital flight data in a Mac25 re-entry environment, as well as other critical information needed by the pilot, programs in the past, for example the X-15 rocket, also have served admirably as scientific platforms similar to the multi-mission shuffle of air.
An article in a recent Aviation Week and Space Technology shows the close relationship between the world community and the space shuttle. A protein crystal growth experiment to test whether drugs used to develop drugs to treat AIDS, the article said. In fact, these experiments belong to an emerging new technology called "protein engineering," the aim of which is to improve protein functions. From the many applications probed in this technology seems to be the most fruitful of them all.
It is through the development of such activities that the shuttle program has and will contribute to the welfare and prosperity of mankind on earth and beyond.
Saeed Farokhi is an associate professor of aerospace engineering.
Emotions run deep for space program
Challenger disaster shows how much the effort to touch the sky means to everyone
"No way. You're kidding," is the most
quent answer I've heard.
The best way to get a feel for what the space shuttle means to people is to show them how they operate.
That's what I said at least. I had just popped my head into a neighboring room at my residence hall to ask why everyone's television was on news in the middle of the morning.
"The space shuttle just blew up," said my neighbor
"No way," I said. "Sid shuttles do not blow up" They launch little, she tiles and blow tires.
Michael Merschel
Why did it hurt so much? Why will so many people never forget it? It won't just the loss of life. People daily see and read about plane and bus crashes, natural灾患 and freak accidents. More people in more grusome ways than the seven crew members who died on the Challenger.
Then came the replay, a replay we would watch again and again and again; the sleek white spacebias arcing toward the cosmos. The radio-filted voice saying, "Roger, go to throttle up." Then, like a cut in a poorly edited video, he spins up and puffs white cloud fills the ice blue sky instead.
Editorial editor
Just like that. The shuttle had blown up.
Everyone says they remember it as if it had just happened. I remember all too well watching the explosion, then slumping back against the wall of the building, the blast could be felt all the way from Florida.
It wasn't just the loss of a grand symbol of U.S. ability. Some people marvel at the space program because of the technological gimmickes of the technology and the byproducts don't stir emotions like that either.
It wasn't just blind patriotism, although the shuttle is supposed to be the grand symbol of U.S. achievement. Patriotism wasn't why people around the world were saddened.
The shuttle means more to us than that. It is supposed to be figuratively and literally above the problems of this world. As it lifts into the skv. it lifts our spirits with it.
That's what it's made it a machine that, mor-
gan any other mechanical creation, touches tha-
mous hands.
When the shuttle flies into space, it shows humanity at its best. It shows us reaching out to other planets and worlds, but we are struggling to free the stuff that keeps us mired to the earth. It shows us pushing us beyond the earth.
These days, being optimistic is the same as being naive. Problems abound on this planet. Many of them seem insurmountable. But a successful shuttle flight makes us forget those
problems. It is a sign that even greater things are possible.
That's why when one ended disastrously, it was unbelieved. That's why when we watched the Challenger and crew die, parts of all of us died.
It's why we became so angry at people who were supposed to run the mission when we were on the ground. We don't care about risks. It's why we're still angry at them for containing to show signs of carelessness in their actions.
But shuttle flights mean too much to us for the anger to toer. We just want them to get everything bolted on right and get on with the downound.
And when they do, we'll be waiting here below, straining our necks awkward while we try to get up.
Because we know as long as we can keep
tromping, sometimes we usi must catch one.
■ Michael Merschel is a Lakewood, Colo., senior majoring in journalism.
Illustration by Gary Pratt/KANSAN
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed
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