4 Monday, October 3, 1977 University Daily Kansan UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN- Comment Unagged editorials represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Signed columns represent only the views of the writer. Proposal superfluous A superfluous proposal to ensure equality at the University of Kansas is floating around the University's committee system, consuming more time than it is worth. Carl Leban, SenEx member, thinks KU's discrimination grievance procedures are stacked in favor of women and minorities. He also thinks the procedures are stacked against white males. He has proposed an amendment to the University Senate code, an amendment that would institutionalize equality at KU. Leban gave his proposal to SenEx at its meeting Wednesday. SenEx, always happy to farm out ideas, promptly passed the proposal along to the Human Relations Committee, the Faculty Rights, Privileges and Responsibilities Committee and the Student Senate Rights, Privileges and Responsibilities Committee. Responsibilities The committees could just as easily consider an amendment praising the American flag, democracy and the Kansas City Royals. Such an amendment would probably pass with little opposition and accomplish just as much as Leban's proposal — absolutely nothing. property. THE EBAN WANTS to change the University code to include the following provision：“All rights . . . granted to any person associated with the University of Kansas and any regulations, processes and procedures to guarantee that the University privileges equally in every way to all persons similarly associated with the University of Kansas.” sure The U.S. Constitution already has an equal保护 clause in its Fourteenth Amendment. Courts already see to the interpretation of that clause. U.S. courts have grievance procedures for all people who believe they have been victims of discrimination. unclear. It is difficult to see the value of the proposed amendment. Although its substance is unarguable, the assumptions behind it are questionable. Leban's amendment assumes, without saying so, that whites somehow are being harmed because KU grievance procedures don't specifically mention them. This proposal reminds us of a so-called reverse discrimination case, the Bakke case, now before the U.S. Supreme Court. LEBAN TOLD SenEx Wednesday that his amendment did not address the same principles as the Bakke case, which focuses on a white student who contends that his race worked against him when he was a medical school student, however, in an interview that “it's inevitable that this would be in my mind. I've been reading about the case.” 1 Webster, interested, however, his amendment is "simply addressing a wrong." He has yet to give one concrete example of the wrong to which he refers. Victie Hanner, associate director of KU's affirmative action program, had the right response to Leban's proposal. She said, "He's operating under a basic misconception. Our grievance procedures do not exclude Caucasians. If a white person comes in (with a discrimination complaint), he is just as affected as anyone else." SHE ADDED that she didn't see any possible harm in Lebanese proposal, but that she didn't see it by her. It was needed. Her comments echoed those of Hobart Jackson, who said at the meeting Wednesday, "Everyone has access to affirmative action grievance procedures, whether they're black, white or brown, if they feel they've been discriminated against because of race." If Leban knows of specific instances in which University grievance procedures have been unfair, let him come forward with them. He can present them to the University Judiciary if he wants to. In the meantime, the committees that will consider his proposal would be well advised to let it die. It just isn't necessary. There is a place in Kansas where a handful of families graze cattle on the tallgrass prairie much as their parents and grandparents did. But the U.S. Interior Department wants to take their land and make a national park out of it. Maybe most people don't understand what loss land means, but I grew up in Iowa. I know what it means; it means losing a big part of your life. Often it's just about the only thing a man and woman have to share with hard labor and low pay. My family's farm won't be taken under the proposed boundaries, but our neighbor's will have to go. If the government can get a part of anything from you or me. The government needs an incredibly good system, its basic rights, and an individual that's not a good enough reason. The National Park Service of the Interior Department recommended the area be made into a park because it was one of the largest sections of tallgrass prairie still unbroken by the plow and unmarried by commercial development. The primary impetus for the bill came from a Shawnee Mission-based organization, Save the Tallgrass Prairie, Inc. The major author of the law is Harry Wagness. Shawnee Mountain lawyer on the organization's board of counselors. REP. LARRY WINN, R- K., has introduced a bill to create the Tallgrass Prairie National Forest that would cover 100 miles south of Lawrence. The bill will set aside 187,000 acres (222 square miles) at the intersection of Greenwood, and Loan counties. The hill is the latest move in a series of efforts to establish the park, but it's somewhat different from previous proposals. Prairie park will destroy hills To write about writing is risky By JAMES J. KILPATRICK Washington Star Syndicate Among the values that ought to be conserved (I say this as a practicing conservative) is the purity of the English language. Today's advice along that line is: Don't transfer to Cornell. I see by the papers that Cornell has a dean of writing, Robert Farrell, who has been serving as commander-in-chief for a million-dollar "war litter issue." Like his peers, this one has its fired up critics. The Cornell Daily Sun has been saying unkind things about Dean Farrell's conduct of hostilities. A couple of weeks ago, the dean wrote back the paper defending his program. problem. Then proved a mistake. Among other things, Professor Farrell hitched a singular subject to a plural verb. He also undertook to splice a broken sentence between the dean and he carries affairs as he will from that point.17 poorly CORSE STIL, the dean of WHORE STILL, the writer of this "I had communicated with Dean Levin on the general problem several times, starting last spring, and the second, that of over- acceptance, came to me in late August." Cornell's dean of writing wrote: 'I had communicated with Dean Levin on the general problem several times, starting last spring, and the second, that of overacceptance, came to me in late August.' The dean's letter provoked a thundering response from a Cornell alumnus, Daniel Margulis, who serves as technical adviser to the student paper. Margulis said the Farrell letter contained "no less than six eight-point indentificable graphical or paragraph errors" in the first paragraph. Mr. Margulis also assailed Dean Farrell for being "verbose and redundant." And the moral to this part of the story is that any critic who writes "less than six" when he means "fewer than six" ought to sleep on his angry letters before he sends them. The morning or midnight might imply that to jump on a professor for being verbose and redundant is to be, sad to say, verbose and redundant. struction and syntax lie in a minefield between an author and his thought. Clauses blow up; the most innocent verb quakes a poisonous bubble queaks theaphor swallows an idea whole. anthem A PROFESSIONAL writer to write about the writing art is a riskier business still. Once or twice a year, the urge overcomes me; I write a column on usage or style, and sure enough: The next mail brings a feverish letter of criticism or complaint from a academician somewhere, chastising me for dangling a participial phrase from the end of a sentence. As every editor discovers soon or late, writing the simplest paragraph is a risky business. Grammar, con- read that Mr. Lance was the single most important officer in the Carter administration. I have waged a 30-year war upon "it remains to be seen." The war goes on. In lecturing to journalism students, I have begged them to untangle the spaghetti threads of their syntax. Such strictures are bad for students. Some student of advertising eventually will write that the Maribarro ads depict a man on a horse with a cigarette in his hand, to achieve clarity in writing, believe me, clearly in easy task. Even so, the labor of criticism must continue. It is a tedious labor—indeed, a Sisyphus labor—and years pass with no visible evidence reward. I have traveled to Europe against "the single most," but the howls have accomplished nothing. We still All summer long, I waited for an opportunity to use "aestivate," but the opportunity was not so great. To pass the summer in a state of relative inactivity or torpor." The trouble with aestivation, as the Cornell ingroglio indicates, is that professors, technical advisers and student editors wake up in September. They fall upon one another with shillings and bicycle chains, but it's all in a bogus water. A Caugoug's waters, the students of Cornell may yet learn the English language, how she should be writ. Ross McIlvain Editorial Writer Families would be allowed to keep up to three acres of their land and live on it for up to 25 years or until the owners die. **WAGNER GAVE some of the reasons for establishing the park:** The park service doesn't have a specific plan with this particular ecosystem. Most of America's tallgrass prairie has either been commercially developed or plowed and farmed by the government, but think the government would do a better job of preservation that the families who now live there. And the American lack of parks in the Midwest. "This would be the closest national park to five million people," Wagner said last week. week. The people pushing this park have a fine goal, they just don't know how to get there. I probably want those rare and beautiful hills preserved more passionately than anyone, but I wonder why the worst way to go about it. The ranchers who own that land love it. They need it. They want it for their children, and they'll take care of it. They have in the past, and there's no reason for them to change. THESE LANDS are the best in the world for grazing cattle. They aren't nearly as good for growing crops and they're distant from any city or developed area. There's no reason for owners to develop their properties and change the ecosystem. If the government will keep its ubiquitous fingers out of this particular pie, the land will stay as it is. But if the government makes it a national park, it will be changed and commercialized, just like the other national parks have been. It will be ringed with hot dog stands, cheap motels, trinkets shops and trailer parks for tourists. I've ridden through those hills, and about the only differences I can see between the land now and what it must have been like 300 years ago are the few isolated ranchhouses and the cattle grazing instead of bison. THE WELL-MEANING backers of the park will have caused just what they were trying to prevent-the alteration and exploitation of the area. Not only will they mar the Flint Hills, they will help destroy a part of American land. culture that is almost gone. The cowboy used to be a national symbol, as John Bull is to England. But only one per cent of Americans still graze cattle. The way of life I had as a boy is almost gone. If the grassman takes away my shoes and makes it a park, our culture will give way before the cheapness of tourism. THE HOUSE'S passage of the higher retirement age will give senior citizens a longer productive lease on life. He died in a nursing home, like one decaying autumn leaf in a whole bushelful. It was sad; nursing homes usually are. Under the bill, private sector workers whose employer has 20 or more workers on the payroll If we lose this part of our national culture, something fine and strong will have gone out of our culture. I want to prepare that, too. Mandatory retirement demeaning I want to save the Flint Hills The recent decision by the House of Representatives to increase the mandatory retirement age to 70 will give added meaning to a lot of people's lives. Unfortunately, it's only a small step in the right direction. From there, his attitude declined. He appeared to be bored with life. There was nothing left. I remember that when my grandfather retired he had a lot of good years left. The acquaintances he had formed while working were his life. His employer respected his ability. I also remember how, after 65, he sat at home a lot, too proud to become a square dancing old codger and too ashamed to admit he was put on pasture like an old bull. Rick Tbaemert Editorial Writer The bill is good, but a complete ban on mandatory retirement should be the next goal. will be allowed to work until age 70 and will be protected against age discrimination for five years longer than under the current law, which protects workers until 65. Minds don't have to quit functioning at 70, nor does experience, skill and creativity have to fizzle out. He says, So why mandatory retirement at that, or any, age? Such changes will affect 70 per cent of the labor force. Job openings at 65 chil- dren will receive full social security benefits. THOSE FORCED to retire before they want to are left few choices, but can be new employees who hire an old-fuddy-dudy firm. TERMINATING employment because of age is as unfair as terminating it because of hair becoming it. The deciding factor, not age. they think will croak after two days of work. forced retirement not only robs workers of their self-respect and motivation, but also discriminates against them. Perhaps it is even an unconstitutional practice. opportunities of higher retirement ages say senior workers will hurt their employers. Senility, incompetence, memory loss and physical deterioration are factors that will threaten business. If that's so, it should be the employer who decides, not the state. Proponents of across-the- As an alternative, a retired worker can become involved in senior citizens programs. Leagues, auxiliary clubs and other organizations are accessible to an elderly person. For, for people who love work, but work is not as enjoyable for them, replacement. For many, anything other than work is idle folly, void of purpose. Those who oppose mandatory retirement altogether have already initiated a two-year program to limit the law's effects. They believe it will show extended productivity for older workers. If that happens, a ban on mandatory retirement would be probable. Some Supreme Court justices and congressmen are examples of people who, although near 70, are more brilliant than many others, have not stagnated, nor have they been choked by an age requirement leach. Why should mandatory leach be less prominent, but equally active minds and bodies across the United States? Let's hope so. An individual with the ability to continue learning, teaching and producing, whatever his age, shouldn't be shackled by those ignorant of their abilities. board mandatory retirement can't predict for an individual worker's future. To assume a worker changes from being competent at 6 to being over the hill at 70 is silly. Praise for Germans unmerited The current leadership generation's memory of the world war and its attendant Nazi horrors, as Warren so incisively points out, is rather weak. Indeed, the German people, shielded to a large part by an educational system to remind its population of their wrongdoings and further increase the years, are increasingly devoid of any war guilt whatsoever. To The Editor: gulf war this residual war guilt fades and the short memories of nonGerman observers evaporate, the Federal Republic will be progressively less restrained in its foreign and Perhaps Warren is a bit too generous, however, in his plaudits for Germany and rather too reluctant in pointing out some of its faults, both past and present. Warren quite correctly notes the bountiful flow of aid extended by the government to the victims of Nazi terrorism, and their consistent support of the Jewish state's right to exist. It is at least plausible, however, that this postflow policy pragmatic foreign policy consideration for hint of anti-Semitism by Germany, the present government realizes, with harm immeasurably its position as a leader in the Western world. Andy Warren's recent guest editorial in the University Daily Kansan paints a bright and glowing picture of the German Federal Republic. His effusive praise for the German state is credible, in light of its admittedly brilliant postwar economic recovery and 25 years of reasonably stable democracy. Letters domestic policy. The concessions to France and other common market states that Warren cities as evidence of Germany's generous export of Germanic marmot movements of Brilliant, Germanic moves of Britain, first chancellor in the postwar government, Conrad Adenauer In the early stages of the European Economic Community (EEC), Germany continued to make concessions to Gen. de Gaulle and other EEC countries. Today, however, the recollections past atrocities most just as powerful is one's power once again dominant in Western Europe. These sacrifices are going to be fewer and far between. Evidence of this phenomenon was brought home to America recently when German rejected President Guter's appeal to stop the sale of machinery to third world powers. Economic well-being, a rather selfish desire, came first in the minds of Bonn decision makers. As far as their dedication to democracy and fundamental human rights goes, one must readily concede there has been no significant transition. But Almond and Verba's classic work of the "Civic Culture," directs our attention to significant deficiencies in the German democracy in Germany, cordoning Almond and Verba, which more inclined to obey administrative authority than other Western democracies. Moreover, their commitment to democracy and democracy', institutions is far weaker than such a traditional bastions of the United States and the United Kingdom. Germany has made significant progress in adapting itself to the power-political realities of the postwar era. We needn't fear another aggression from Europe because its own defense is now inextricably linked with the West. Political and cultural bonds with other European countries continue to grow. The German people, however, remain comparatively new to Western-style decency. Their economic and military prowess is awesome. These facts combined with receding war guilt and mounting internal demands on their resources, will make Germany less and less loath to use the machine while growing more and more insensitive to criticism of any deviation in its domestic policy James C. Mifsud James C. Milsud Wichita Law Student THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Editor Jerry Selb published at the University of Kansas daily August 15th. Subscriptions are $30 for July and June and except Saturday Sunday and包邮. July and June apply except Saturday Sunday and包邮. Subscriptions by mail only $10 a semester or $18 a year outside the county. Student subscription is $20 a year outside the county. Student subscription is $20 a year outside the county. 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