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Tuesday, October 31, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KU police's logic is hazy in cancellation of security
The rationale behind the decision to cancel KU police security, at Kansas Union parties is questionable at best
Student groups who wish to have late-morning parties in the Union must now hire security personnel from a private company, KU police will no longer offer security service because of "problems that had occurred between police and some of the groups that were having the parties." Mei Baloh Gilgen, assistant director of KU police said
MaJ. Ralph Oliver, assistant director of KU police, said disturbances at the events were one of the reasons the police decided to stop the security service.
This explanation seems inconsistent with the common perception of a police officer who "keeps the peace." It certainly would appear hypocritical that KU officers wanted to refrain from involvement in party disturbances within areas under their jurisdiction.
their jurisdiction. A more plausible explanation would have been that police see offering security at parties as a waste of essential manpower. Monitoring college parties should not take precedence over other responsibilities, and not all situations require attendance by police. They could arrive quickly if they were notified of an emergency.
Some student leaders are confused by that explanation.
But Oliver said nothing to this effect. Instead, he said he didn't think police were in a "proper role" at parties. Some student leaders are confused by that explanation.
Some student leaders are confused by Tommy Hardin, president of Phi Beta Sigma, a fraternity that frequently has parties at the Union, was disappointed with the decision to revoke security. He said that his organization shouldn't have to seek outside sources and that he thought confronting and dissolving disturbances was part of a policeman's job.
Ironically, though, when a disturbance now occurs at a Union party, the private agents use beepers to contact the KU police. "We see more of the KU police now than we did before," Hardin said.
Hardin said. If KU police are refusing to waste manpower on a party, then canceling the security service was a wise move. If, as Oliver seems to be saying, they canceled the service because of problems and disturbances, the KU police appear to be turning their backs on a distasteful situation. Revoking security then seems highly inappropriate.
The rationale is not clear.
Craig Welch for the editorial board
Bush may test legal limits by choosing line-item veto
Don't be surprised if George Bush breaks the law sometime soon.
The president has promised to try to use a line-item veto on a piece of selected legislation soon so that the constitutionality of the issue can be checked.
the issue can be checked. The White House feels that the power of the line-item veto is inherent in the president's right to veto bills to which he is opposed, but others, most notably Congress, feel differently.
The line-item veto would give Bush the power to kill parts of a bill but pass the rest into law. It would increase his power to cut programs he deems unfavorable. It could also be used as a tool to help balance the federal budget by cutting out many unnecessary, and often expensive and wasteful, amendments riding alongside important legislation.
Pump alongside. The practice of pork-belly politics is a lengthy tradition in American lawmaking. Congressmen attaching a couple of million dollars supporting their favorite cause to an appropriations bill or some other piece of legislation has become a major problem in dealing with the national debt.
The line-item veto could solve this problem with a literal mark of a presidential red pen.
But the Democrat-controlled Congress refuses to pass legislation allowing the president the power to use the line-item veto. The Congressmen are protecting their own interests, not those of the country as a whole.
of the country as a whole.
Although the country needs the line-item veto, Bush is only complicating matters by using the veto without approval of the Congress.
However, members of Congress should get off the playground, quit playing politics and cooperate with the president or we are all going to continue paying the price.
Brett Brenner for the editorial board
Nawa staff
David Stewart...Editor
Ric Brack...Managing editor
Daniel Niemi...News editor
Candy Niemam...Planning editor
Saman Delin...Editorial editor
Jennifer Corser...Campus editor
Elaine Sung...Sports editor
Laura Husan...Photo editor
Christine Winner...Art/Features editor
Tom Ebenli...General manager, news adviser
Business staff
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Flag burning means freedom Motivation fueling controversy more political than patriotic
It is divinely ironic but very true that the burning of the flag is more of a statement of freedom than the flag itself.
As if our congressional leaders don't have enough to do in dealing with the budget, ecology, glasnost, perestroika, Panama, abortion and their own ethics problems. They think they can sit around and outlaw the burning of a symbol that stands for the right to protest.
This sudden abhorrence on the part of congressional leaders for the desecration of the flag appears, unsurprisingly, to be politically motivated.
Just when the country is being rocked by scandal after scandal within the government and our faith in it as a whole is dropping to a new low, they come along with a plan to prove their undying loyalty to the country.
The idea is that if we all see our representatives rallying to what appears to be a patriotic cause, we are supposed to get lumps in our throats and tears in our eyes.
Then, of course, we are supposed to go out like good little voters and vote for them, the heroes of the flag, and (in their view) everybody lives happily ever after.
This is not to suggest that there are no supporters of the bill who truly believe in its purpose. Time will tell because the bill probably will be overturned by the Supreme Court or suffer from tremendous negative public outcry. The ones who then still support the bill are the ones who believe in its intent.
The fact remains, though, that if the bill passes the constitutional test, it will be helpful politically to all who have supported it.
Our own Sen. Bob Dole, for example, is a major proponent of the anti-decresement bill. Here is a guy who would really like to be president, but he has trouble with his public image. The U.S. public likes to elect presidents who are warm and personable and who communicate well with the public. Dole had trouble in these areas when he ran against George Bush for the Republican nomination in 1988.
He might figure that if he becomes a superpatriot who will stand up for the flag and be appalled when someone burns it in protest, he will come across better to the public
On the other hand, there are those of us who reject that notion because we believe that the fling always stood up
David Boggs
Guest columnist
or itself just fine. We don't like to see the flag burned. It is a symbol of our country (which is still more good than bad) and should be held proudly. The symbol of the flag is strong enough to withstand the burning of the object.
Consider the prospect of all the flags in the country suddenly being destroyed by rabid protesters. Activity would not cease. It wouldn't even slow down. U.S. citizens would get very mad, make more flags and arrest the protestors. (Not for desecrating the flag, but for stealing the flags from hospitals and used car lots. Theft is justifiably illegal.)
If desecration of one symbol of the country is illegal,
will it become illegal to desecrate all national symbols?
The president, for example, is a symbol of the United States. We don't stand up and sing to him at the beginning of the year, but when we approach duties he has the ceremonial role of representing the United States, its beliefs and people.
Obviously, burning a president is illegal, but desecrating
bim or his office also could include yerbal abuse.
Every political cartoon, column or public statement that openly criticizes the president damages his symbolic image. Should open criticism of the president be illegal?
Again ironically, as this bill prohibiting flag desecration becomes law in the United States, many of the Soviet bloc countries are slowly opening up and allowing their people more freedom in the form of protest.
I don't think, though, that aiding these countries to achieve a level of democracy closer to ours means that we should meet them halfway philosophically.
The administration recently has come under fire for not aiding and supporting these countries in word or action.
David Boggs is a Dallas junior majoring in Journalism.
Coach is not a literary critic Unlike Schembechler, Telander at least wrote his own book
Another person had some less-than-kind words for the book. "That person is Bo Schembecchler, football coach at the University of Michigan. Schembecchler characterized Telander as "a malcontent . . . Rick Telander is a loser. He's been a loser all his life. You wouldn't want him on your team, you wouldn't want him in your organization, you don't want him writing for your magazine. I don't give a damn what he says. I'm glad he played at Northwestern rather than Michigan." (Telander was an All-Big Ten cornerback at Northwestern before joining Sports Illustrated.)
Recently this column had some kind words for a new book by Rick Telander, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. Telander's book, "The Hundred Yard Lie," is a critical and angry look at big-time college football.
"I interviewed Bo over the course of six months," Albom said. "I talked with him and asked him questions, and I ended up with 70 to 80 hours of tape. A stenographer transcribed the tape, and it came out to about 3,000 double-spaced pages." Albom then went through the transcripts and wrote the book — in the voice of Bo Schembchler.
And even if best-selling author Schembecheir thinks that Telander's book is rotten, at least Schembecheir should concede that Telander wrote the book himself. That's more than Schembecheir did.
Like so many of these books by athletes and coaches that cram the bookstores' shelves these days, "Bo" was ghostwritten. The writer was Mitch Album, a very talented prize-winning sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press. I had a long conversation with Album about how he wrote "Bo."
well, I certainly would never presume to know more about college football than Bo Schembechler. I do know this, though: When Schembechler ventures into the area of literary criticism, he does so as a best-selling author. His autobiography, "Bo," has been a fixture on the New York Times best-seller list this fall.
There's nothing wrong with that. This is how most sports books are written. I guess an athlete or coach should not be expected to sit down and actually write a book, even when his name is on the cover.
When he played, I and I share at least one thing in common: our love for the late Woody Hayes. Schembecher was coached by Hayes in college, he was an assistant under Hayes at Ohio State and later he coached Michigan in a series of legendary games against Hayes' Ohio State teams. Despite their on-field rivalry, the men admired and respected each other.
So Be probably knows about Wooody Hayes' books. Hayes wrote three of them: "Football at Ohio State," "Hotline to Victory," and "You Win With People." They may not have been great works of literature, but Woody
Bob Greene
Syndicated columnist
Hayes wrote every word of every book. No ghostwriters.
No professional editors. During the off-season, he would write for 15 hours a day, doing his best to polish his prose.
Woody never had a national best seller. For one thing, Mitch Arnold do. He never even had a real publisher. Mitch Arnold do. He never even had a real publisher.
Like so many of these books by athletes and coaches that cram the bookstores' shelves these days, "Bo" was ghostwritten. The writer was Mitch Albom, a very talented prize-winning sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press. I had a long conversation with Albom about how he wrote "Bo."
But maybe there was more to it than that. The other day I talked with Woody's son, Steve Hayes, now a municipal court judge in Franklin County, Ohio. "That's just the way Dad was," Steve Hayes said. "If it was going to have his name on it, he was going to write it. I remember seeing chapters that he had written. It would never occurred to Dad to let a ghostwriter write a book from his tape-recorded comments. To Dad, books were very important. They were to be worked at and written. Otherwise, what was there to be proud of?"
"Bo" is published by the giant New York-based Warner Books, and thus is guaranteed sophisticated marketing and nationwide distribution. All three of Woody's books were printed at a settingshop in Columbus, Ohio. Basically, he published himself. Admittedly, he was never a very sophisticated businessman.
written.
The Hayes has quick to point out that he thinks Beo Sebembechler is a good man. So do I. But Bo is the first to say that he learned a lot about life from Woody Hayes. Next time he tutors literary critic, and next time he looks at "Bo" riding the best-seller lists, he might want to think about that.
Bob Greene is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Math vital in real world
Math not part of the real world? Hmmm. I guess it's too bad Mark Hansen doesn't have the time to think about "impetent numbers" that speak "nothing but numbers." His frustration with the subject blinded him of the enormous power of numbers. I don't see many English majors explaining the origins of the universe, building bridges or defining new physical forces that shape and change the Earth.
I really wish mathematics did sit "in a stagnant pool of processes and rules." Maybe then I wouldn't have such a hard time proving that imaginary numbers do exist and that one can only equal one, not zero.
Keith Unekis Manhattan senior
Oh well, if Mark wants to think,
speak and write of life and death,
I say more power to ya. Just don't
know what you can not balance your
your checkbook.
Math 002 needs teachers
In response to Mark Hansen's article about math systems at the University of Kansas, he's right! I'm currently enrolled in 002. But not for long. Without a teacher I can't teach myself as easily as if I went to a classroom, sat down, listened to a teacher tell me how to simplify a quadratic equation and then went back to my dorm to solve it myself. I is like telling someone to pick up a physics book and to know it in 20 weeks without attending a class. But if you don't know it, you don't pass. Give me a break, please. Help me!
Of course I have tried the tutors. But come on, the majority of the time you spend in that room is spent sitting there with a stupid look on your face. Then someone may come along to help you. You do a couple of problems, and then he or she has to leave the room for some unknown reason. So you're stuck there with half of your problems solved and the rest are all Greek to you. Gee, this just gives me more inspiration to come back again.
So I'm behind as hell and will have to drop. And I'll try it again, probably this summer in community college while I try to work 60 hours a week so I can come back here next fall.
Well I think you think too hard! And that you only think for those of us who get A's. Sorry, but I'm not an "A" student, and excuse me for not being one.
But then the math department might say: "What about those who get A's and stay up with the course? What do you think about that?"
So maybe give a little more help to those like myself who have trouble teaching themselves math.
I plan on majoring in environmental studies, and the most math I need is calculus. And I can't get there without my 092. If these tutors are so good, why no we teach them a class or two to teach our class how to do math? I don't need much more math and would like to get it over with and get to the stuff I enjoy doing: science.
Hey Mark, where is that petition? I'll sign it, and more than once. I believe I know 20 other people who will also sign it.
Andrew J. Marsh Overland Park freshman
Cartoon should be daily
Scott Patty, through "Gamp Unhreey," has managed verbally and visually to capture humor that Jayhaws can relate to. It is an excellent local comic strip.
My only complaint is that it is not run daily.
The Kansan should realize that "Camp Unhewely" is damn funny and will continue to run the strip.
Michael Ayres
Leavenworth graduate student
Other voices
The Gloucester County Times, Woodbury, N.J., on communism:
More than $2,000 East Germans, eager to escape their communist "paradise," have moved to West Germany since Sept. 10.
We in the United States are well aware of the shortcomings of political democracy and economic free enterprise. But our system has proved far superior to communism and other government-controlled economies.
Those who have experienced firsthand the denial of rights and economic failure of communism year to share our way of life.