Opinion
Page 4 University Daily Kansan, April 6, 1982
Careless housekeeping
The handling of what the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences considers a "minor, almost housekeeping matter," has caused dissension within his academic house.
The controversy centers on the shifting of $53,500, money used to hire 10 assistant instructors, from the Western Civilization program's budget to the budgets of the history and philosophy departments.
Last week, James Seaver, chairman of the Western Civilization Program, went before the University Senate executive committee to complain about the reallocation of half of his department's budget.
The money will still be used to hire assistant instructors for Western Civilization, but the history and philosophy departments will be the ones doing the hiring.
It appears that the Western Civilization Program was treated in an uncivilized way.
Robert Lineberry, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, made the decision to shift the money without consulting, or even notifying, Seaver.
Seaver has grounds to complain. While no rule requires that Lineberry consult with department chairmen before making budget changes, it's hard to imagine him making a change of this magnitude without asking Seaver for his opinion.
The rationale behind the change, strengthening the graduate programs in the other two departments, may be valid. But the procedure followed to make the change was hardly admirable.
At Seaver's request, the history department has already agreed to return its money to the Western Civilization Program. But the philosophy department is hanging on to its share of the loot.
Seaver has drawn up a compromise to remedy the situation. He is asking Lineberry to allow the program to keep its full $106,995 budget for next year. The dean and the departments involved could then hold discussions about ways to reorganize the program.
It is not too much for Seaver to expect to be included in decisions that affect the program he has directed for 25 years.
Maybe Lineberry will see the uproar created by this decision as a helpful hint for improving his housekeeping.
Private sector given chance to support space exploration
I didn't watch the space shuttle land last week. It's not that I wasn't interested, because I paid close attention to the news to find out how well Nike was doing and to perform and to make sure it's crew was safe.
Space exploration is still dangerous and exciting, but it's not the stuff of dreams it was ten or fifteen years ago. Now I find it hard to think of the shuttle Columbia as much more than a glorified airplane, although the early rockets are more serious as any contraction H.G. Wells dreamed of.
Back when Neil Armstrong rode one of those rockets to make that "one small step for man, one giant leap for Mankind," everything on Earth fell during each crucial step of the Moon mission.
JOLYNNE WALZ
People brought television sets to work or stayed home to see the first fuzzy video images of the moon's surface. At my grade-school, everybody assembled in the caterina to watch history being made on television, instead of reading about history in their textbooks.
That moment when the first footprint of man impressed the moon's surface has long since passed, though, and those of us who witnessed it became the only people ever to live during a time in which we were alone. As a result, to suddenly find themselves living during a time when space travel was almost ordinary.
Almost, but not perfectly ordinary, though.
Despite our familiar acceptance of it, space travel is man's great quest during this century. The challenge for us is to conquer the universe.
Others say we are questing for a new home for people to colonize as they overload the Earth.
There are those who say we are questing for technological knowledge, so that one day industry may be established in space to make way for ever increasing numbers of people on Earth.
Some people, especially the astronauts, are questing purely for the adventure of it, the thrill
And others are questing to find other intelligent beings, because we on Earth are beginning to feel a bit lonely, whirling around in snace all by ourselves.
Lonely all by ourselves, lonely among billions of people.
Critics say that money the United States government spends on the space program is being spent on a quixotic quest and that the money could be better spent on Earth, to feed.
clothe, house and provide medical care for millions of people who need it.
These concerns are admirable, but the United States funding for space exploration is less than one-tenth of one percent of the federal budget, and its budget cuts during the Reagan administration.
There are other areas of the budget that might be cut to provide money to care for the poor—Notably defense —but even if the entire space exploration budget was scraped and the money handed over to the poor, their problems would not end.
People would still go hungry. People would still receive inadequate medical care. People would still live in rattlesnake shelters or no place to sleep. People would still be lonely and people would still die.
But some money can buy a dream—the dream of traveling through space and exploring the unknown. Some money can fulfill a spiritual need, even if it cannot end their physical needs.
No amount of money can stop that.
And all of that money doesn't have to come from the government, which was once thought to be the only agency large and affluent enough to underwrite space exploration. Now that space trajectories are almost ordinary, private industries have shown interest in sending up spaces vehicles of their own.
An organization has even been formed to encourage private investment in space exploration.
Co-founded by Carl Sagan, director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University, and Bruce Murray, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, the Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to encouraging and promoting research on planetary systems. The search for planets in other solar systems and the quest for extraterrestrial life and intelligence.
Projects the society encourages include obtaining soil samples from other planets, sending a probe in to the Sun, sending robot rovers to other planets and moons in this solar system, mapping Venus with radar, obtaining samples of passter aerosols and sending out radio signals into space in the hopes that other intelligent beings will hear and respond.
Funding for these projects sponsored by the society will come from annual dues paid by its members.
Instead of vicariously participating in space exploration only by fuzzy video images of the television, members can have a more personal stake in space exploration.
Now, everybody can have a piece of the rock, but the new rocks they bring back will probably be of a different chemical composition than any ever found on Earth.
KANSAN
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'Pac-Man fever' a national epidemic
The world is about to be taken over by a little yellow ball that eats dots and monsters.
Atari, the company that manufactures the home video version, recently launched a publicity barrage equaled only by the Reagan administration's campaign to look credible in
Companies are manufacturing all sorts of Pac-Man paraphernalia, just in case we don't get enough of the critter at the arcade or in front of our television screens.
All this activity adds to the growing debate on video games. Are they merely sophisticated updates of traditional toys or the mind-numbing products of a brave technology? The Pac-Man craze reinforces the need to answer the question.
A year ago, Pac-Man was just the latest in the succession of video games. It stood out from others. You didn't have to fire at any ships or master any complicated controls.
A single lever is the only control. With it you guide the Pac-man around the maze, as it eats dots and monsters when it is energized. It was especially popular with women, since it wasn't a fighting game. Experts said women tended to leave from games that involved guns or battles.
Sometimes in the fall, its popularity took off. Pac-Mach machines appeared everywhere, in arcades, department stores and even in restaurants that didn't serve pizza.
Atari, which controls most of the video market, is betting that Pace-Man cartridges will account for 25 percent of everything sold by the home game industry.
Big business, never shy about running a craze into the ground, is acting accordingly.
They probably could do that without any public notice in case they went ahead and carried a criminal charge.
April 1, coincidentally or not, April Fools' Day, was declared National Pac-Man Day. In 25 cities, Pac-Vans, customized Volkswagons, patrolled the streets blasting out the Pac-Man
DAN TORCHIA
Other companies are getting into the act. About 30 companies are flooding the market with Pac-Man pajamas, greeting cards, wrapping papers, clocks, mugs and lunch
"Pac-Man Fever," a novelty song, has hit the Top 15 on the Billboard charts, and an album of songs about video games has just been released.
And what about the game itself? It has spun off two more games, Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man II. The original game has grossed about $1 billion in its first year.
Atari executives estimate people have bought a million cartridges in the first month it has been available. By the end of the year, it will be in nearly one out of every 10 homes.
Isn't all this a little much?
Bear in mind that I have nothing against the game, although I am a little envious of those who master it. I could never play a pinball machine, much less a video game.
The popularity of video games is exploding, and no one is taking time to question their nature. Companies are supplying the goods and people are blithely buying them.
Our concepts of free time and constructive play are changing and it may not be for the best.
Play is usually thought of as curious and spontaneous. There usually is some part of positive result from it.
Video games are different. You can play for an hour and the result will be sore eyes and a
the problem with video games is that they are so easily addictive. The appeal is obvious—the bright lights, sophisticated controls, fantasy situations. But as players become proficient, they move on to more sophisticated games. This is where the Pac-Man barrage is flawed.
The people I know who are video experts played Pac-Man in the fall. They have long since gone on to other games. It doesn't make sense to watch a product that will be forgotten in a few months.
It is very likely that Pac-Man will go the way of the hoala-hoop the mood ring, pet rocks and the happy face. Even if you hate the creature that gobbles monsters and dots, you might want to pick up a couple of Pac-Man mugs, or perhaps a T-shirt.
You can show them to your kids as an example of silly crazes in the '80s.
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
Inviting Schlafly a 'disservice' to University
I can think of no greater disservite to the faculty, staff and students of this campus or to the community at large than to provide this woman with a forum from which to parapolize and willfully misrepresent. And to then give her several thousand dollars of student money for doing so is incredibly stupid. Tentative her talk: "Do we want a gender-free society?"
I would call on all people committed to the concepts of equal opportunity and progressive social change to use the time and place of Schlafay's appearance to demonstrate against the abversion of the ERA and the women's involvement in the society she has so joyfully and effectively smeared back.
SUA has erred severely by inviting Phyllis Schiaffy here to speak.
Let Phyllis take her money and leave Lawrence with a bitter taste in her mouth.
Peter Gray,
Wichita Graduate student
Clarifying remarks
To the Editor:
I employed reading Ame Calovich's story covering my remarks to the American Association of University Professor's chapter meeting last Thursday. I would appreciate the opportunity to add some details that may clarify my thinking for your readers.
I quoted Deanell Tacha, vice chancellor for academic affairs, about the principle that reforms of KU's academic programs should be initiated by faculty. Iutee agrees with this.
The obvious vehicles for faculty academic leadership are the governance bodies of the University. But, as presently constituted, they cannot function well for this purpose, because of their complexity and frequent turnover of members and leaders. Therefore, I proposed
that the University Council review the Senate Code with a view toward reconstitution itself in a form more suitable to academic leadership responsibility.
On the matter of departmental autonomy, as it exists at the University of Kansas, my view is that our form of it has generated inward-looking departments mostly preoccupied with departmental interests at the expense of academic authority which spans departments and schools.
This is the model of University organization sometimes called a "faired" system. I believe that it is possible to preserve appropriate autonomy without the penalties of parochialism; hence, I deplore this and hope we can change it.
An example of an undesirable consequence is the effect of complete delegation of salary budgets to departments. The method makes it difficult to equally reward equally meritorious faculty who are in different departments.
professor of philosophy and vice president of KU's AAPU chapter
To the Editor:
Punk misunderstood
To the Editor
We have been amused by the questionably competent opinions expressed on the subject of punk and "gnu wave" music following the University Daily Kansas' publication recently published by The Huffington Post on the music scene in Lawrence. A few points have been overlooked in the dash into print:
1. There is more to punk than slam dancing and purple hair (there are also funny shoes and shirts). Far beyond the creatinous conceptualization of rebellion attached to punk by outsiders, the subversion of symbols and refutation of the apparent values of mainstream society are the primary instigators of the expression of punk.
2. True punk is no more dead than Mozart or
yo-ys. What is dead (or should be killed) is the sexistdrive emanating from the LA music industry and squashed across the radio spectrum Just because you don't hear it on the commercial FM or read it in the National Enquirer, youthful doesn't mean it could be cried into a hole and died.
3. To many, dancing is simply the Duquesne hurling of a body through space. The abrupt connection of one body with another (the so-called "slam") is a secondary phenomenon much like the apple sucked by gravity eventually hitting the ground.
5. By turning the values of society upon itself (for instance, you cannot print the word "fuck" in your paper, yet no doubt most of you on the staff use it and certainly all of your readers are familiar with it), the failures of the system are evidenced, which is why society feels alienated from the punks and hates them so (as contrasted with the onosite, which is also true.)
4. You are too stupid to understand points 1
through 3.
Jocelyn Kitchen,
Manhattan freshman
John Simmons,
President,
21 Kusol
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