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University Daily Kansan, September 30, 1981
Opinion
A mystery regulation
Usually new University regulations appear to flutter slowly down through the governance process. Committees, the administration and SenEx put their two cents in and change takes place.
But a proposed new regulation offered by KU Parking Services has apparently dropped through the process like a rock.
The regulation, which closes the last tear in the University parking dragnet, requires campus visitors to pay for parking violations born of innocence, or at least ignorance.
The latter is something that nearly everyone who supposedly has a role in approving the new regulation enjoyed until this fall—except D Kearns, director of parking. Members of SenEx and the Parking and Traffic Board, who apparently approved the regulation tucked neatly into a report from Kearns, have
expressed absolute wonder about the regulation.
Early in the week, there was even confusion about which year's report contained the regulation. Kearns first said the proposal was in his April 1981 report, but there is now some indication it slipped through sometime the year before.
"It's there in black and white," says Kearns, who defends the regulation as a way to keep visitors from infringing on student and faculty parking areas.
But Clark Bricker, the 1979-80 chairman of the parking board, is adamant that the regulation didn't slip by him without his knowing it.
Maybe parking board and SenEx members just didn't realize they were expected to bring a magnifying glass to meetings. Next time parking services submits a report, they'll be ready.
Nation sluggish, overcautious can't keep step with president
America's worst fears were dramatized in a who-done-it sketch last week on "Fridays," ABC's pathetic response to NBC's "Saturday Night Live."
In the skit, a suit-sleeved arm reached out and slashed minor individuals with a bloody fountain pen. The identity of the slaver was revealed as Ronaldo, Ronald the Ripper made an insane entrance.
The obvious response to this presidential satire is to dismiss it on grounds that entertainment tailored to adolescent audiences often exhibits more bad taste than talent. On the young
KEVIN
HELLIKER
people's market, absurdity sells at least as well as art.
But if art is a representation of life, then most absurd is the fact that this Ronald the Ripper sketch accurately reflects the current national nightmare. Many Americans seem to regard President Reagan as their potential worst enemy.
The nation's paranoia is understandable when one considers Reagan's lack of cautiousness relative to his predecessor. Above all, Jimmy Carter was safe. A campaign cartoon by MacNelly best illustrated Carter's paralyzing cautiousness and foreshadowed his loss in last November's election by portraying the former president at the wheel of the ship America.
"We will maintain the same steady course that we've been on for three years," Carter said in the cartoon. His ship was grounded on a rocky islet.
This perception of Carter as the leader of an unprogressive nation says more about our country's self-conscious attitude in the 70s than about Carter's performance in the Oval Office.
William Manchester, in "The Glory and the Dream," states that after the Vietnam and Iraq wars, "the United States turned inward once more, seeking comfort in insularity and isolation."
By responding to this country's isolationist mood, Carter ensured his defeat in last year's election. Reagan's victory was not so much a personal triumph as a national plea for progression out of the stagnant waters in which our eco cathy and morale had decayed.
If Reagan is to be judged by his response to that plea, his performance thus far is admirable.
One of Reagan's first moves was to relieve the economy of the fettering grasp of such programs as affirmative action. When coerced "equal employment" takes priority over production, Reagan realized, it is not surprising to note a halt in the economy's procession.
One American sore spot at the end of Carter's reign was our splintered image around the world. The hostage crisis proved humiliating to Americans. And in the world's eye, America held no firm position on any matter concerning the infringements of its international rights.
This situation improved in recent months when the Navy won an air skirmish with attacking Libyan planes, and when Reagan issued an ultimatum to the Soviets: either they would come to terms with America on arm limitations or would enter an arms race that they could not win.
Reagan's accomplishments have at worst moved this country into open and scary waters. To say the matter is uncertain is to seriously understate the matter. But as Robert Frost once suggested, it is the very choosing of a course that makes all the difference.
Given a choice between life and dean, ... most always will opt to live. The recent Gromyko-KaH talks suggest that Reagan might have been the first world one step away from nuclear proliferation.
After Reagan was shot last March, George Will evaluated the president's performance by suggesting that "what Churchill's bulldog demeanor did for the British in the dark months" the blitz, Reagan's savior-faire did for America if a few difficult days; it was inspirational.
Concerning Reagan's recovery, his physician reported that the 70-year-old president recently
Unfortunately, Reagan's confidence in himself and his country is not shared by most Americans. And because prophecy spawned out of fear have a tendency to be self-fulfilling, Reagan's attempts at progress are being hampered by his critics.
His frustration became apparent last week when he called for courage from the "chicken
Meanwhile, Reagan's job is hardly enviable.
The only situation more dishearriving than a good team without a leader is a good leader with a spiritless team behind him.
As our economic state worsens, perhaps Americans will finally realize only they can benefit.
Nixon Library's opponents off-target
The debate over the proposed Richard Nixon presidential library at Duke University in Durham, N.C., is an embarrassment to the academic world.
Terry Sanford, president of Duke, suggested last month that the university donate land for the library. Private donations would pay for construction and the National Archives would maintain the library. Trustees of the university accepted the proposal and began negotiations with the former president.
But the idea was too much for some of Duke's faculty and alumni, who argued that the library would become a memorial to Nixon. They were afraid that building the library at Duke would be interpreted as a statement of support for the president, who was driven from office by the Watergate scandal.
The Duke Academic Council voted 35-34 against the proposal. When Sanford ignored the council's vote, its members threatened to seek a vote of no confidence in him. The council's action has devastated Duke's reputation as a first-rate school.
Regardless of your feelings about Richard Nixon, the man is a former president. As such, his presidential papers are extremely valuable to scholars. Although Watergate will always be an embarrassment to this country, there are lessons and insight into the presidency to be gleaned from Nixon's papers; he had a historical perspective more than any other person might suffer from those people who interpret the library as a monument to a criminal.
that Nixon, angered by civil disobedience during anti-Vietnam demonstrations in 1971, endorsed an idea that "thugs" from the Teamsmasters union be used to physically assault the protesters. The idiosyncrasies of the teams scientists and psychologists busy for years.
The true extent of Nixon's activities in the 1960s was revealed in a disclosed White House tape recording showing
Nixon's many positive accomplishments—achievements for which he always will be
BRIAN LEVINSON
respected—are also of interest. He was the first U.S.president to visit China and Russia. Nixon and Henry Kissinger, his secretary of state, achieved a detente with China and began SALT with Russia. Nixon also secured a cease-fire in Vietnam.
Duke officials have said they will place severe limits on the museum part of the library. Theirs is a smart move. Although it is the museum that attracts tourists, building museums requires considerable reasons. It should not receive much consideration as a tourist attraction. At least no more than Leavenworth gets. Presidential museums are not that thrilling; another desk from the Oval Office and more inaugural ball invitations. Considering the Duke administration's policy, it is difficult to see what negative "statement" the library could make.
As a university, Duke is supposed to
provide resources and facilities for academic research. Like all universities, it should strive to provide as many research facilities as possible to attract scholars in a variety of fields. The council's rejection of the library proposal is really a censorship vote.
What hypocrisy! The council and its faculty members would be the first group to scream if someone tried to censor Duke's library or in some other way limit the materials the faculty had access to. After all, the primary interest of most faculty members across the country is research. Yet, somehow, it is okay for the Duke council to censor.
Richard Nixon was a criminal, there's no question about that, but is the council suggesting scholars ignore the criminal element in this country? Organized crime and criminals are a big part of our society. How naive is the council to suggest it is enlightened while refusing to recognize all elements in our society?
Finally, I hate to spell the council's fun, but it is wasting its words. Congress, not the council, will have the final say regarding the Nixon Library. Under the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955, Congress has 60 days to veto any agreement for the establishment of a memorial at the White House as a member of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which will review any library proposal, has called opponents of the Duke proposal "very short-sighted."
Duke President Sanford should be commended for his quick action in offering to provide the land for the library. I'm sure there are many other universities that are interested in learning, will jump at the chance to have the library, should the Duke council's stupidity prevail.
Letters to the Editor
Band protected from cups
To the Editor:
Rebecca Chaney's Pot Shot (Sept. 25) concerning cup fights at football games seemed reasonable. I am willing to concede that cup fights are not only dangerous and inconvenient, but they also are a spectacle of "Rock Chalk Jayhawk; go KU." They are an inevitable expected part of game days. Let the student body duck.
To avoid the danger of those flying, diswasher-safe plastics, I suggest Ms. Chaney join Marching Band. There is a musical haven in Memorial Stadium (if you can stand the close-range percussion of KU fight songs) that not only provides police protection, but all the ice water needed to cool Cokes after the half and terrific seating. Furthermore, this section is completely cup-fight-free.
Ah, the joys of being a senior—and a Marching
Jayhawk.    Christine Tamburini
Video games mild vice
To the Editor
How about some slack on video games! Playing Asteroids is certainly less "mind-numbing" than watching "General Hospital" or "Dukes of Hazzard."
I disagree with Kari Ellott's observation (Sept. 17, Kansan) that "Americans have allowed video games to dominate their lives. The games become an obsession, and an expensive one."
Certainly, cars, sex and sports haven't taken a back seat to vid games yet. Perhaps Ms. Eliott and I could discuss this further, over a friendly game of Pac-Man. **Je Morrow**
Lawrence special student
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