Opinion
Page 4 University Daily Kansan, March 5.1982
Silence will be costly
"We need our books to understand your bombs."
Now there is a slogan that students, notorious in the past decade for political and social unconsciousness, should be able to sink their teeth into.
As the 5,000 students who rallied on the Capitol steps in Washington this week found out, it's easier to be politically active when confronted with a direct threat.
The threat is the Reagan administration's proposed cuts to education, particularly cuts in student financial aid.
Congress is now considering cuts in the 1983 budget for several student financial aid programs, including Guaranteed Student Loans, National Direct Student Loans, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, educational benefits for veterans and work-study programs.
line at the financial aid office only to come out empty-handed.
Students participating in these, and other, financial aid programs may wait in
Alternative aid programs, such as Auxiliary Loans to Assist Students or loans from private lenders, aren't promising for students left high and dry at the financial aid office.
Students concerned about cuts in financial aid should not wait for Congress to approve the cuts before they protest. They should join the efforts of those 5,000 students who went to Washington.
Individually, students don't have much political power, but collectively they represent a large bloc of votes-80,000 in Kansas.
Loans under these alternative programs involve high interest rates and stiff monthly payments while the borrower is still in school, making them, at best, impractical for most who need financial help.
Students must start wielding that collective political clout before the door of the financial aid office slams in their faces.
Did you know that reading Mademoiselle magazine can corrupt your mind and soul? Or reading "Huckleberry Fun"? Or "Our Bodies, Our Senses," or both can be arrested for supplying these materials?
'Moral-minded' book banning protects none, threatens all
Such is the climate of the Reagan Age. Ever since the 1800 election, many conservative groups have taken the Reagan victory as a means to reclaim power in all areas of society, not only in government.
Censorship is increasing at an alarming rate. The above-mentioned books and magazine are only a few that have come under fire. The attempts at banning are grounded on a sound ideal, children should not be exposed to certain material unless the banning leads to restricted rights for everyone.
Historically, banning never succeeded. In the past, banning involved complaints or demonstrations. But now legislation is involved, and that drastically changes the picture.
The Georgia State Legislature last year enacted a law declaring it to be a mandatorium on abortion.
Further, the law prohibits the access of minors to materials containing "nude or partially denuded bodies, posed or presented in a manner that is not intended for mass or passion." "Last or passion" is not defined.
vertise or lend to minors, books, magazines, records and other materials that have "descriptions or depictions of illicit sex or sexual activity." It would also be against the law to display them in places to which minors would have access.
The situation would be amusing if it weren't for the temperament of the times. Similar laws, though less repressive, are in effect in Pennsylvania and in several municipalities in California. Similar legislation is currently under consideration in 20 states.
According to the American Library Association, attempts to ban books have jumped 500 percent since Republican's election. There are about four weeks of a week, and head of three to four a week, as before the election.
Not only are conservative religious groups involved, but also feminist, anti-feminist, multicultural.
Some of the books that groups are attempting to ban are "Catcher in the Rye," by J.D. Salinger; "The Scarlet Letter," by Nathaniel Hawthorne; "Soul on Ice," by Eldridge Cleaver; "Catch-22," by Joseph Heller; and several discursive "bed" forms "beast" as a verb as well as a noun).
Some of the incidents in the past year include:
In Drake, N.D., the school board ordered the burning of "Slaughterhouse Five," by Kurt Vonnegut.
—In Montello, Wis., a citizen's group removed 33 books from school library shelves, including "Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl."
Most of these cases involve junior high or high school students who are very wise to the ways of the world. "The Happy Hooker" wasn't being read to third graders. The older students could handle the content. Most probably read the Cliff Notes anyway.
— In Girdar, Pa., *Studi Terkel* has appear in an open meeting to defend his book "Working," and he is being awarded a prize.
It is quite another thing to burn literature because of a few words or an opposing viewpoint. That crosses the line from regulation to censorship.
A typical attitude is a 16-year-old girl in Pittsburgh Township, N.J. The school board barred "Catcher in the Rye" because of the swearing by Houlden Caufield, the book's protagonist. She said that she found the language distasteful, although she didn't object to reading the book.
— In Wichita, the Wichita Christian Center conducted a ritual burning of books, magazines and record albums, said to be responsible for "immorality, rebellion, drugs and perseveration."
In Lawrence, a boy about 12 was once asked about "Ball Four." Jim Bouton's controversial drug and sex expose of baseball. The book has the object of censure attempts in the past.
At conflict is the First Amendment, guaranteeing free speech, and the Fourteenth, guaranteeing the privileges and immunities of citizens.
But banning, which is supposed to protect the interested parties' rights, endangers everyone else's. It is one thing to regulate the distribution or display of material. Examples are regulating the location of bookstores that sell pornography and selling Playboy behind a protective cover.
"I liked it," he said. "It was just like junior high."
Are the adults involved listening? The students are learning anything new. The refusal to face reality is a common theme.
George A. Harris, Illinois chairman of the Moral Majority, said recently, "I would think moral-minded people might object to books that are philosophically alien to what they believe.
There are many adolescent issues that are much more important than dirty words in books that might be read in school. If parents and citizens' groups are concerned, they should find ways to deal with teenage drug use, pregnancy, runaways, prostitution and suicide.
Well, I would think moral-minded people would realize that to protect their rights, they have to be tolerant. Nobody wins with a narrow, repressive attitude.
There are the issues that threaten to destroy youth, not Holden Caufield saying "God-dammit," or a biology textbook describing birth control methods.
"If they have the books and feel like burning them, fine."
Banning is not the answer. Unchecked, it will take away everyone's rights, including the rights of parents and educators.
Lost in space
Pot Shots
Top Republican leaders enter the White House for a high-level conference on the unexpectedly burgeoning federal budget deficit.
The leaders and Reagan exchange pleasanties, but then quickly go on to the war.
The Senate Budget Committee chairman opens by pointing out that a $120 billion deficit was created in 2015.
Reagan responds. "You know, yesterday a
person, a young man, went into a grocery store and he had an orange in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other. He paid for the orange with food stamps and he took the change and paid for the vodka. That's what's wrong."
The latest sordid investigations of past presidents have dug up a disillusioning revelation: George Washington had his Oval Office bugged. Researchers have learned that he called kerosene-powered recording devices during his second presidential term.
But Washington was more ingenious than FDR, who concealed the recording mike in a lampshade: George planted a Japanese-made microphone in a cavity he had whittled
"You know, the president responds on just a totally different track," he tells them. "He has an idealized concept of America that will be the economy more in the long run than the economy."
The leaders shake their heads and leave, being due back on Earth.
After the meeting, Bob Packwood, Senate Republican Campaign Committee chairman, joined a group of activists.
"I'm sorry, I made a mistake," he tells Reagan.
Reagan responds, "You know a person, a young man, went into a grocery store ..."
out in one of his wooden teeth. Not even Martha knew.
Of course, the recordings are very bad, not only because technology was crude (strips of parchment were used as recording tape, and George probably raided Betsy Ross' sewing basket for a couple of spools to wind the tape around).
We do, however, know from the tapes that George had a slight wheeze, and on several later tapes, a hacking cough. At quiet moments when George isn't salivating, there is a gnawing sound, causing scientists to speculate that they terminate teeth, which of course is terminal.
This is an econ-line, all-student thank you card. After a few years in college, I figure many of us are behind in telling quite a few people that we've appreciated their help along the way. So, to the great and the small, I recommend for the too little-heralded college helpers:
Physicians now believe that even if Washington had been smart enough to come in out of the rain that evening in 1798, he would have been within six months, from shot gums' wounds.
Aunts, grandmass and big sisters for knowing just when to send a 85 till. And For Kunjik and her grandmother.
Macaroni and cheese at three boxes for $1
Jeff Thomas
Short-term loans. Better yet, long-term loans. Most of all, parents.
A young man I met on Daisy Hill when he both lived there more than two years ago. If getting old, with all the sagging and wrinking, me growing more deeply into the folds of just one or two friendships like ours, I think I can handle port-35 afterall.
Mom and Dad. For the blind commitment have children. They had no idea who they'd be.
Squeaking herds of children on campus. Yogurt, salad bars David Bowie and
David Levine.
And—ideas for papers, test answers and pot shots, even the ones that wake me up at 4 a.m. to say that they've finally arrived.
To all thanks much.
Loyal fan laments end of basketball season
Earlier this week, another Jayhawk basketball season came to a painful halt. Unlike last year, the team will have an opportunity to enjoy the upcoming spring break, but it is doubtful that they can make the cut.
Granted, a losing season is nothing to be proud of, but let's not forget that last October, they weren't exactly considered among the conference's elite.
The following ode sums up the hopes, dreams and conclusions about this basketball season as a whole.
The season is over, the scoreboard is dim,
The Hawks went to K-State and lost once
and then.
At 13 and 14 their final record stands,
not a really big roar when hands. Not a really big roar when hands. By nature, fans 'fair' wings will point toward Ted. And extremists may even wish he were dead. "Punt him or lynch him, just send him away, Look at how poorly his Jayhawks did play." A losing season, it's true, is bad.
But it's only the third an Owens team has had.
Letters to the Editor
Spring vacation plans promote inequality
To the Editor:
As the weather turns warm and spring break approaches, thousands of KU undergraduates will be making their vacation plans. Many of these opulent youngsters, commonly referred to as preppies, will be headed for Florida, seeking relief from their hectic course loads.
Unfortunately, these individuals are either politically unaware, or they choose not to care about the fact that Florida has yet to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The spending of their thousands and thousands of dollars in Florida can only serve to, in effect, tell the Florida Legislature, "It's OK that you haven't passed the ERA in your state."
We don't think that today's preyy undergraduates are malicious; rather, they seem to be characterized by political apathy and a desire for self gratification. Perhaps T.S. Eliot, in "The Cocktail Party," described this problem best when he wrote:
Half the harm that is done in this world
"I am also a psi who want to rearhand that.
They don't need to do harm but the harm does not interest them.
because they are absorbed in the endless struggle
to think well of themselves.
does notInterest them.
Or they do not see it, or they justify it
America took 144 years to grant women the
right to vote and we won't be surprised if it took another 144 years for America to grant women the right to vote.
In an effort to avoid such a lengthy wait for justice, preppies might consider going skiing in Colorado or sitting on the shore of Padre Island in Texas—both states have ratified the ERA. This may impress upon the states that have failed to ratify the amendment that the American populous is not willing to allow discrimination against women.
Richard W. Couch and Mike H. Merrill,
Human development and family life teaching
It may have been coaching, it may have been fate.
Whatever the reason, we're seventh in the Big Eight.
but it just wasn't a good year for Hawks
Basketball.
DAN BOWERS
Confused and sloppy, they oft' looked like hell.
Confused and sloppy, they off' looked like hell,
And many a voice cried out, "Come back DAD!"
But the season was fun for the time that it lasted.
Even though at the end they really got blasted.
Rioters the thievers against Kentucky and
the Hoosiers.
At times like those, KU was far from being osers.
But with a lack of depth and talent to admire,
It wasn't long before the team began to tire
We went to Lincoln and began to bushall.
They went up to Lincoln and were run to the
They managed to fold against a lowly Cyclone.
And if losing weren't enough of a vice,
Let's try to help the kids face the PRINT.
At the homes of their foes they proved little test.
Even in Auen, at their sacred name,
They managed to fold against a lowly Cyclone.
swinging beet, go to get,
Bob Marcum the gall to raise the ticket
price.
is loud.
And now that it's over and all's said and done.
And, when they can't afford tickets, Allen isn't as loud.
"I'll bring in more income," the A.D. would say.
But to find a seat was no problem on game day. You had the students as the ones who lived the crowd.
There are two players who finished at last Tuesday's final gun.
Without mention of Tony or Dave, this verse is deceiving,
'Cause we'll all despair that those two are leaving.
We've watched them for four years, both thick and thin.
And they both played big roles in many a win. The two leading scorers next year will be gone, and next year we'll have a new dawn. And these players who'll be back to Let's hope one like last year they're able to
Let's hope one like last year they're able to repeat.
Playing at point will be the young boy Tod,
for a freshman. "I'd play all that bad
one."
As we've come to realize, he's a pretty good shot.
And Kelly, of Kely, the one without knees.
If they ever start healing, Albig-Eight is a breezer.
So on to next year, the fans all roar.
For fresh new recruits there’s an open door. This Kellog from Omaha is a shooter they say, And Thompson from KC., boy, can he play? Maybe not. You can bet they’ll be better than in #2.
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