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Fridav.September 2,1977
University Dally Kansan
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Comment
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kanan editorial staff. Signed columns represent only the views of the writers.
Preserve Kent site
Now that there is a lull in the battle over the construction of a gymnasium near the site where Ohio National Guardmen shot and killed four Kent State University students, one can only hope that the combatants will temporarily forget the fight and examine the issue.
The on-again, off-age construction now is “off” while the courts decide who has jurisdiction over whether the area should be saved as a national historic site. But it seems time may have run out for wound care in district (parens) and parents who protested to preserve the site of what will be in fact a historic site, officially designated so or not.
THIS MAY, Kent State trustees awarded more than $5.5 million in contracts for the construction of the gymnasium annex, which would replace condemned facilities elsewhere on campus. Soon afterward, seven years after four students died and nine were wounded during a protest over President Richard Nixon's orders to invade Cambodia, over 100 protesters set up camp in the area.
in the area. The university pointed out that the construction site would be no less than 200 feet from the actual shooting site.
from the protesters rightly countered that the construction would distort the setting of the shootings and make it impossible for historians or juries to assess what happened
— especially important because nine students who were wounded and some relatives of the dead students still are appealing the recent court ruling that the National Guard and the state government were innocent of any liability in the shootings.
shootings.
The presidents camped out on the site, were arrested, some camped out again and they were arrested again. The construction finally was stalled in the courts.
THE SITE should not be saved as an answer to the emotional pleas of victims' families or the wounded themselves.
The site should not be saved to glorify an event no one should be proud of.
But — despite the embarrassment the event obviously continues to cause Kent State, Ohio and the National Guard — the site should be saved precisely because it embatters all of us and our times before the world and history.
One hardly relishes wallowing in past tragedies, but we will never fully realize the important lesson of Kent State if it stops embarrassing us.
enforcing us.
All agree that the shootings never should have happened, but they did. It should never happen again, but it could.
There is much less chance that such a tragedy would reoccur if we remember Kent State.
Kent State and its trustees should stop the construction and help us all remember.
The self-inflicted cut by the Student Senate early this summer of about one-third of its internal operating budget was announced at the University of Kansas administrators and students.
After all, why question a cut? But the apparent unconcern when the Senate reduced its working budget by almost $15,000 from $46,000 for most Senate financial transactions, which this year will total more than half a million dollars.
KU Senate funds need watching
Already this year, the Senate, with very little opposition, allocated to 75 KU student organizations about $40,000 in student funds, fred raising their activity fee by $1.50 and allocated $0,000 of all $133,000 in surplus Senate money.
THE SENATE is not a professional organization. It is run completely by students, including a student treasurer, with little or no financial expertise. In the past year, the treasurer has been replaced three times.
An organization that should be run professionally is too often open to the whims of financially inexperienced students, but be little, if any, University check on their decisions.
If anything, the University increases the chance of disastrous results. The $48,000 allocated by the University for the Senate's operating expenses was not based on need. Instead,
Had Secretary of State Cyra Vance agreed in Peking that the United States would break official relations with China and would be for official relations with the People's Republic, he would have made nonsense advice on the national commitment to morality in foreign policy.
U.S. resembles China's servant
Yet some academic China-watchers, amateurs of realpolitik, now advocate that cynical course on the ground that the "normalization" of relations with Pekhan—which would involve US troops in relations with Taiwan—is necessary to sustain a Peking-Washington counter to Soviet expansionism.
Throughout history our views about China often have been distorted by fantasy, and this argument is no exception. The Peking government denies that the Chinese have facial eyes, nor would it respect us for cravenly yielding to its wishes. It is interested in conducting
BY GEORGE W. BALL Times Features
limited diplomatic business for one reason only; we are an enemy of its enemy, the Soviet Union.
SO IT FETUGS to argue, as some China specialists do, that because we are making the leaders in Peking "impatient" by frustrating their designs on Taiwan, they will run frantically into the embrace of Moscow.
But if we would gain little from pushing Taiwan overboard, what would we lose? Well, self-respect for one thing.
In fact, they will maintain whatever relations with us best serve their interests, and it matters little whether they are defined as existing in fact or as being actual recognition.
WE WOULD BE acting out of character in pursuing the sorrid diplomacy of the 18th century when the reversal of alliances was standard procedure.
Nor could we repudiate our security treaty with the No
The time-honored standards for diplomatic recognition require that a government have control of its territory, have the support of its people and meet its international obligations.
tionalist government without critically diminishing the confidences of Japan, Korea, and Russia in their commitments.
The Taiwan government unquestionably controls Formosa and the Pescadores. It has kept its commitments. And, if it is not a model of democracy, the 17 million people of Taiwan certainly would prefer the mild authoritarian system of the Nationalist ruler, the antithesis an hill of the People's Republic and absorption by a country with a standard of living only one-third their own.
THUS, THE HONEST course is to reaffirm our recognition of the Nationalist government as having sovereignty over Formosa and the Pescadores while explicitly stating that we do not recognize its claims to the mainland.
Kansan reporting called poor
The Wednesday Kansan article about Tuesday's SenEx meeting contains a number of misunderstandings and misquotations. The net effect of the article is a serious misrepresentation of what occurred at that meeting. Because I was the person most seriously misrepresenting it, I needed to set the record straight.
First, the article in question focuses on a discussion that occupied only 18 to 15 minutes of a class and one hour of time, Ignoring all other agenda items to concentrate on the single "newsy" item may be good "journey," but it seems poor reporting.
To the editor:
Moreover, we should make clear that we will continue to support the Taiwan Government only if it stops discourse on Taiwan and countries who settled there centuries before the advent of Chiang Kai-shei in 1949. If, as seems unlikely, this qualified position would lead Taiwan to sever its relations with us, so be prepared.
Second, the issue of the ombudsman was on the agenda because of a letter I wrote July 18 by the committee (D. Del Shankel) prior to the ombudsman's appointment. Copies of that letter went to the candidate, SenEx and the Committee chairman, who recommended the appointment. Though that July letter urged the executive vice chancellor to reopen the search, my comment was against it and opposite. What I said was simply that since the appointment had been made, the issue I had raised was now most, and I had nothing to reopen the matter.
In this context, my remarks seem more temperate and reasonable, I think, than those reported in Wednesday's Kansas. This opinion is also that of Jeanneette Johnson, assistant to the executive vice chancellor, with whom I have shared this letter.
At the same time, while disregarding the "one-China" or "two-China" theology and the studied ambiguities of the Shanghai Communique, Richard Nixon signed in 1972 we should assert that the government of the United Republic is the test of union with regard to the mainland but not Formosa or the Pescadores and offer recognition on that basis.
KANSAN Letters
tive opinion, at least from the University Council, before closing off any possibly useful options.
on the other hand, because the descriptions of the ombudman post by the Senate passed a bill that made women Grievances were left deliberately broad and vague, some people have made interpretive comments that I saw as potentially restrictive. I made the same number of statements of opinion that the ombudman "would not do X" or "should not
Associate professor of East Asian languages and cultures
Carl Leban
be involved in 'Y' or remarks that the person appointed to the post should decide what the job should entail.
THAT PEKING would reject this should not deter us. Our policy would accord with the facts and established diplomatic practice and we would be true to our announced principles.
Because the novice ombusman is "to receive and attempt to resolve" grievances from a diverse consortium of alumnae, the department that it might be useful for the ombusman to have some representation.
During the last five years, in addition to the recent Vance trip, Henry Kissinger visited a small group of American presidents also made the arduous pilgrimage to that far-off capital. Meanwhile, not long after his visit, standing has designed to visit us barbarians in Washington.
All of this should be done in the context of a total policy to regain the face we have lost by the appearance of kowtowing.
Sandy Dechant Editorial Writer
Are we, or are we not, vassals of the Middle Kingdom? We certainly act as if we were.
George W. Ball, an investment banker, was undersecretary of state from 1961 to 1966.
each year, the Senate is allocated money by a set for enrollment. Each KU student enrolled in the fall or spring pays 68 cents a semester for Senate operating expenses and each summer student chips in his entire activity fee.
**THIS YEAR**, student body president Steve Leben and Chris Caldwell Senate treasurer, determined that the amount was far more than was actually needed. So he budget by a third. In the money the money was simply spent.
However, last Sunday StudEx apparently disregarded that stipulation when it approved about 800 in Senate funds for groups that had exceeded last year's allocations. Lebanon said that StudEx apparently overstepped its bounds.
Senate's financial affairs.
Caldwell said, "Very few people understand how the money is spent, or what's involved."
THE PROBLEM is the chance of bad financial decisions rather than theft or embezzlement. Most of the half-million dollars with the Senate deals with in state accounts are held in three vouchers approval for all expenditures.
However, about $1600 is directly available to the president and treasurer in a private Senate checking account without even the requirement of dual signing.
suspect in the according to Leben, had the Senate decided to spend the entire $40,000, it was perfectly free to do so.
Even with vouchers,
however, mistakes are bound to
happen. It was reported in last
week's Student Senate Record
that a $118 service contract had
been paid twice.
Why shouldn't the Senate face the same rigorous budgetary procedures it imposes on other student organizations when they ask for student activity fees?
Organizations allocated
money by the Senate are responsible to the Senate for their expenditures. But to whom is the Senate responsible? Leben said the Senate is responsible to top officials and agreed that administrators rarely question the Senate's motives.
THE UNIVERSITY falls far short of its responsibilities to keep track of how student activity fees are spent. It also fails to provide the financial expertise that students lack.
Students, who ideally should care about how their money is spent simply do not.
Meanwhile, only a select few have working knowledge of the
COMPOUNDING THE problem, the Senate audits itself.
the decision is left to a small executive board, StudEx.,
The lack of financial expertise is continually visible in the Senate's actions.
Approval of allocations also is in question. According to Senate Rules and Regulations, allocations must be approved by the entire Senate except during breaks-Christmas, summer, for example-when quick action is required. Then
The Senate, under the leadership of Leben and the prime minister, initially step by reducing its own expenditures. But if it must eliminate the unilateralism under which it operates.
Faced with about $133,000 in surplus money, much of it was carried over from last year. But as the summer of the last April to improve recreational services—one of Loben's campaign promises—the $60,000 figure was chosen, said Leben. "We knew we had to work with."
The Senate will continue to spend money. Leben said he intends to carry out his campaign promises to spend last year's surplus, of which FLT is left—on the ground. But they are a possible course and teacher evaluation and a student legal aid service.
The Senate is a major funder for most student organizations and many campus projects. It must be watched.
SON OF SAM
Lance too sloppy to stay
Bert Lance has to go.
The director of the Office of Management and Budget has recently been revealed as a wheeler of personal financial finances. Some of his business practices in his prior career as a Georgia banker were illegal and many others are legal and of borderline legality.
He also has violated Carter's conflict of interest guidelines for federal appointees and for federal commissionation the holder than stance.
the durt came to light when Lance asked permission to sell his shares in the National Bank of Georgia (NGB)—which he headed before becoming director of OMB.
The stock's value was plummeting because the bank was having serious financial issues, but it would be an exception to Carter's
OR PLAY
Ross McIlvain Editorial Writer
conflict of interest guidelines for his staff, and prompted inquiries into Lance's financial past.
Perhaps the most flagrant of Lance's violations was using the same bank stock dividends to pay off mortgages on large loans—one for $2,625,000 from the Manufacturers' Hanover Trust Company (MHT) and another for $180,000 on the Chemical Bank, based in New York.
Lance (as well as friends and relatives) consistently overdrew his checking accounts at NBG and another bank he was president of, the Calhoun (Georgia) First National Bank. Yet he was not charged interest or penalties (which would have been very high) as it is the almost universal. This amount to informal, interest-bank which the outside directors of the banks knew nothing about—a subtle form of embezzlement.
Lance was also an astute practitioner of a maneuver known as the rollover: staying one step ahead of the collection date by taking out new loans to pay off old ones, then repeating the process as the newer ones come due.
There is also a lot of documentary and circumstantial evidence (such as personal memos between Lance and officers and others) that those officers and suspiciously small collateral requirements) indicating that Lance abused correspondent banking arrangement, MHT and another Bank. Bank correspondent banking arrangement is made when a bank leaves a non-interest bearing account with a second bank in another city, change for the second bank's change for the second transaction for it in that city.)
The evidence indicated that Lance received personal loans from MHT and the Chemical Bank with favorable conditions
in exchange for the non-interest bearing deposits he had transferred from the holdings of NBG and the Calhoun bank.
Not only were majorities of the boards of directors of the two banks Lance ran kept ignorant of his shenanigans (which was, in some cases, a violation of federal law) but the Senate was also kept ignorant at his confirmation hearings.
Although Carter made an issue of requiring absolutely complete disclosure of all financial dealings, assets and debts, Lance gave a very sketchy account of his finances. The Senate also asked for a complete, detailed report, but many of the items were lumped together in various ways to estimate estimates of total value. Somehow Lance even managed to completely forget some of his debts and a few of his assets in his report.
Just why the Senate failed to actually investigate the nominee for director of OMB—a post more powerful than most cabinet level jobs—is another peculiar question. But no facts have surfaced on this aspect of the question yet.
With the possibility that he may have to pay interest and penalties on his past dealings and have his multitude of loans called in, Lance has put his Atlanta-based firm £2 million for "Butterfly Manna." His wife, Labelle, says this is a symbol of their determination to stick it out in Washington, but cynically out that Lance may well need money to pay his overdue bills.
Lance says all these incidents were honest mistakes or unfortunate oversights.
Unlikely as this seems, he should be given as much benefit. The doubt is as possible. Humans often lose mistakes, honest and otherwise.
But if all these shady deals are truly honest mistakes, then Lance is not a financial wizard.
If he cannot keep his personal and business finances straight, or keep his bank from almost going bankrupt, he must business business. OMB, OMB is the largest economic power in American government.
Lance is either incompetent or a crook. Either way, he has to go.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Editor
Jerry Scib
Published at the University of Kansas daily AUM newsletter. Subscription is $25. May and July except Saturday, Sunday and holiday. Mail to University of Kansas at 100 West 46th Street, 800-739-6666. Subscriptions by mail are a member or $25. Outside the county. Student subscription requires a year outside the county. Student subscription requires a year outside the county.
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