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University Daily Kansan, January 15, 1982
Opinion
Their dream deferred
At noon today a group of students will march in silence down the cold gray sidewalks of Jayhawk Boulevard. They will march in memory of a man and his dream.
And their march is only one of hundreds that will be conducted today in support of a bill that would designate Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday.
They simply want Jan. 1.5 to be a day for remembering.
The marchers make a simple request. They don't call for school holidays, construction paper effigies, or the half-hearted memorial speeches that usually honor the birthdays of national heroes.
Martin Luther King was a great man. He marched and he prayed. He sat at forbidden lunch counters and rode forbidden buses. King and the people he led were arrested and slandered, attacked by police dogs and sprayed with fire hoses.
But they overcame. And they helped bring on a renaissance in American civil rights that is only now beginning to fade.
Like Mahatma Gandhi, King shook the unjust foundations of a relationship with nonviolent protest. Even the man who killed Martin Luther King—especially the man who killed him—recognized the historical importance of this portly Alabama minister.
So why can't we officially recognize King's importance?
But if those arguments are valid, why have presidents proclaimed holidays such as Citizenship Day, or Loyalty Day, or Marianation Day, or Gen. von Stuhnberg Day.
Opponents of the new holiday say that even king King was an important figure, it would be impossible to designate a holiday for every important figure. Holidays are hard to come by, they say.
Gen. von Stueben day?
The people who march today probably will not succeed in the near future. For blacks, the political climate in America is sub-freezing temperatures, that marchers are facing.
But someday, some way, the memory of Martin Luther King will receive the honor it deserves.
The marchers have a dream, too.
Shankel perfects his role as an 'interim sort of guy'
Iran into an old friend of mine the other day at enrollment.
"Mike Roe," I said as we crowded into the entrance line, "haven't you gr
no, but I am finally going to do it this semester," said Mike, who has been a fifth-year senior since 1976. "As a matrifer of fact, I need to learn the same things for years, and I'm going to get it in time."
"What's that?"
"Microbiology 101."
'Is that all?'
"Not your ordinary Microbiology 101," he
obtained "Del Shankel's Microbiology 101."
You see, eight years ago and 236 credit hours
ago, Mike came to KU to study microbiology under Shankel.
"I'll be damned if I leave before I've taken at least one of his classes." Mike said.
"You mean his previous interim stints as interim chancellor, interim LA & SE dean and permanent executive vice chancellor have kept you all these years from taking a class from the
"Yes," he sighed. "The few he ever taught were always filled. I thought there was hope for me when he finally resigned the vice chancellorship to return to teaching and research. Then Archie resigned and they practically shoved the chancellorship down Del's throat. But he put his foot down. He accepted it only on the condition that it was an interim appointment.
"Now after hiding out a semester on sabbatical from those appointment-happy administrative jobs, we come home with where we meet biologists-to-be desperately need him full time."
"Didn't you know, Mike? Shankel's just signed on as KU's permanent Mr. Interim. Right now he's acting as athletic director, but that's just the beginning. The University has a whole waiting list for graduate students to fill. As they find permanent people, Shankel will just move on to the next interim post."
"Word has it that it play our bowl game, KU anticipates a need for an interim football coach
"I mav never graduate." groaned Mike.
"I think the staff at Robinson is next in line with a request for an interim习勋. Then the School of Fine Arts needs an interim drama coach. Just unum they can find somebody perfil-
"It's his own fault, Mike. He's just an interim kind of guy. Look at his track record; this is a damn good kid." KU. What can you expect from a man who got an English degree from Walla Walla College, went to med school for a couple of semesters, joined army, and then got his Ph.D. in bacteriology.
"Poor Shankel," Mike muttered. "Aren't the ever moor to leave him alone?"
"But why doesn't the administration ever abide by the maxim that good teachers should teach and bad teachers should administrate? Why don't they appoint somebody who never fills his classes, instead of turning Shankel into an academic transient?"
"Take heart, though. The microbiology department needs an interim professor and I've heard the position is seventh on Shankel's waiting list."
"Face it, Mike," I said. "Shankel enjoys being a professional diliest. He likes everything he does and he likes doing everything. Besides, he's good at everything.
"F forget it," said Mike, as he backed out of the enrollment line. "I was thinking about transferring to Walla Walla and majoring in English anyway."
Budget Hike
Spirit of giving caught in red tape tangles
Eighty-five **Christmasmas** ago, a little girl named Virginia O'Hanlon wrote to the New York Sun to ask, "Is there a Santa Claus?" Editorial writer Francis P. Church responded with the immortal name *Jesus*, as, yes, Virginia; there is a Santa life that exists. *Jesus* is love and generosity and devotion exist...
This past Christmas, another newspaper named *mature made belief in the spirit of Santa Claus—in love possible for another little girl*. The Clearwater (Fla.) Sun told of a woman with cancer who depended on her friend to check to support herself over the year-old's Christmas had been a barren time for the two.
Readers, touched by the story, sent $2,300 in cash and gifts to the woman, Betty Jean Meshey, for her daughter Jessica. Innumerable boxes with bows brightened the Meshey's living room, but scarcely more than the look of delight that brightened their face Christmas morning, and daughter shaded their newfound fortune by giving many of the gifts to other needy people.
On a similarly harmonic note of happiness did Charles Dickens end his classic "A Christmas Carol," a story with a construction as perfect as a snowflake. But if Dickens, a conscientious man, were alive to witness the shameful ending authority told on this real-life tale, he be forced to attack it and his chorus, which resounded Tiny Tim's happy chorus, "God bless us every one!"
Instead, enter now the unformed specter of Srooge, grasping in his hand a form letter of introduction from the state welfare office. With mindless words, the office informed Mrs.
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Editor Business Manager
Vavasore Hansen Natalie Judle
Herman Hammett Trevor Hammer
Editorial Editor Karen Schlueter
Campaign Editor Gretchen Olsen
Campaign Associate Jennifer Nunford
Associate Campus Editors Joe Rebel仁, in Rebee Chaney
Assistant Campus Editors Ron Haggitton
Sports Editors Ron Haggitton
Associate Sports Editors Ron Haggitton
Administrator Editors Coral Beach
Makeup Editors Lisa M. Sheehan, Lillian Davis,
Sharon Brennan, Rick Miller
Wire Editors Eileen Marr Teresa Hurdan
Photo Editor Ben Biger
Staff Photographers John Hardesty, John Hardesty
John E. Cole, John Greenman,
Tracy Thompson, Mark McDonald
Head Chief Head Copy Chiefs Cindy Caplan, ibpel, Clerk Cador
Columnists Brob Abbott, Dan Bowers, Clerk Cador
Dan Torchia, Jolyn Watt, Laurel Russell,
Tom Brown, Richard Russell
Editionary Cartoonists Jon Bezos, William Andros
Staff Artists Jan Bryan, Keith Lewis, Lovinia Harris, Willie
Staff Writers, Pam Alloway, Keith Harrison, Jan Gunn.
Retail Sales Manager Elizabeth Morgan
National Sales Manager Heather Shankway
Claudette Manager Lawrence Shankway
Production Manager Larry Shankway
Production Manager John Egan
Retail Sales Representative Ruth Rieman, Ruth Rieman
Jeri Grimes, Amy Jones, Matthew Langan,
Philippe Langan, Sarah Rabyrn Myers, Robin C Blanye, Mike Pearl,
Susan Shriner
Campus Intern Jenise A Popovic Vivia Zakarian
Sales and Marketing Assistant Rick Musker
General Manager and News Adviser
A letter from the editor . . .
To the uninitiated, the Kansas can seem to be a maze of clattering typewriters and chattering journalists. Sometimes it seems that way to the initiated, too.
This guide is intended to take some of the mystery out of the Kansas and help readers learn more about it.
WHO'S WHO
Tracee Hamilton, a four semester Kansan veteran, is in charge of the newsrooms daily operation. She is called on to handle every story she gets written to journalists or entire sections of the Kansan.
As campus editor, Gene George leads the team of four editors who supervise the Kanans 26 reporters. The campus desk is open for students and faculty that appear in the Kanans from day to day.
In general, the news side is responsible for filling the newspaper with words and the advertising side makes sure there is a newspaper to fill.
Am Hornberger is the retail sales manager, and technically, she is Judie's second in command. Hornberger has worked on the Kansan since last summer as a sales representative, production manager and back-to-school edition manager.
Vanessa Herron, the editor, heads the Kansan's news side and Nateleine Judie, the business manager, oversees the Kansan's business and advertising half.
Karen Schlueter, the editorial editor, supervises the Kansan's 11 columnists and lays out the editorial page. Three days a week she writes articles about the Kansan when she write lead edits—the unsigned editors that represent the collective opinions of the Kansan's editorial team.
Ron Haggstrom, the sports editor, started out at the Krasnan last year as a sports writer, and then at Coca-Cola.
Ben Bigler stepped into the photo editor slot fresh from a semester shooting photos for the Kansas City Star. Bigler oversees the Kansan's six photographers, and he probably will shoot a few frames himself this semester to stay in shape.
has almost total control over the content and appearance of the sports pages.
The Kansan encourages readers to send in tips for stories, pictures and columns. Readers can reach the Kansan by calling the number 434-4284 or by coming to the newspaper in Flint Halt.
NEWS RELEASES AND TIPS
Photo ideas should be directed to Ben Bigiger; editorial ideas and letters to the editor should be directed to Karen Schietler or Vanessa Herron; and tips on upcoming meetings and social events should be directed to Coral Beach, the entertainment editor.
But remember that different kinds of ideas
so to different editors.
If you think a story was unfair or inaccurate, call the newsroom and ask for either the editor or a campus editor, or write down the text. If you're sure that reading our policy for letters to the editor,
The campus desk will field every idea that doesn't fall into the above categories. You can find the names of campus desk editors in our masthead—the list of names in the bottom left corner of this page. (Don't ask us why the list is called a masthead—we only work here.)
When submitting an idea, be sure to include the name and telephone number of someone who can assist.
At the Kansan, we don't think that accepting a call sign of weakness—we accept a call sign of honor.
COMPLAINTS
And, as our readers, its your job to help keep us honest.
Made into plain and human talk, what Grace Fulton, a welfare supervisor, was telling Mrs. Meshaw was that "because many people have to work hard in the face of subsistence." Those cold words hardly reflect
Meshey that "Because you received a large sum in contributions, it will be necessary for you to contact us regarding your eligibility for assistance."
BEN JONES
A Florida official will seek a waiver for the Meshees from the rule that forces welfare agencies to count "non-recurring income" against a person's poorest. Practically, the case against Ms. Meshus was Betty Jean and Jessica Meshey, as it would allow them to keep on keeping $18 per month to live.
Integrity is strict adherence to a consistent code of conduct. But an absolutely rigid code cannot consistently govern cases which are not necessarily obligatory to adherence" will often mean "harsh adherence."
I am sure the man of Srocco and Marley hardly kept stricter ledgers than the Florida state welfare office. To hold Christmas alms accountable! Putting a price on Father Christmas is like reducing a beautiful and gracious woman to a prostitute. The soul suffers.
Self-defeating rules like this, and the untrusting attitude lurking behind such rules, have created an ugly legalism that injects itself into every muscle of society, deadening our people and weakening their zardars can. Men and women no longer confront one another to reconcile their differences; they hide behind law-givers and pencil-pushers. The administration of our republic has become so massive that the hand of justice no longer is visible, but now is extended glove in iron-clad edicts.
the beneficent, communal joy of Tiny Tim's wish
for the Lord may be the Lord, may the Lord
may give, and the wolfary office take it
But spiritually, the waiver matters very little. The exhilaration that came at Christmas for the Meshes, as they experienced, in the words of Church's editorial, the "love and generosity and devotion (that) abound and give to our life its highest beauty and joy"—this exhilaration was smothered by the thoughtlessness of a bureaucrat who would have made a suitable lacey in the window. This is what Jesus has learned at the age of 12 that there is neither such a thing as a free lunch nor a Santa Claus. Replace the ribbons with red tape to bind the packages back up.
One's indignation at this modern tale struggles to find expression and imagines a sympathetic
Dickens sitting down to update "A Christmas Carol." He would chew the end of his pen awake, his mien working its way into a sour frown, and then he would wearly take a sheet of foolscap and change the opening sentence to "Discrepancy is what there is. There is no doubt whatever about that."
Discretion is indeed as dead as a coffin-mill when some dunderheaded supervisor follows the letters of the law even if they spell death for their lawyers or send letters than spirits; that way the mind does not have to trouble itself to think. Human actions which supercede the conscience
Officials acknowledge this is the case with the new regulation that tightens welfare loopholes, often around the financial necks of the workers. It also contradicts on "non-recurring income," it actually contradicts the Reagan administration's philosophy of encouraging private charity.
We are an efface, secondary society whenever we have not the power to do right when the rules would have us do wrong. To remedy the rules, we have to unify and unify them, who wonderly transformed Ebenzer Scrooge from a mean, miserly man with a splintered heart into the Spirit of Christmas Eternal. All we can say until then to the girl in Florida is, "Yes, we unfortunately there used to be a Santa Clause."
Letters to the Editor
March honors King's work
To the Editor:
Gerritrade Sellards Pearson Black Caucus will again be sponsoring the March For Martin on January 15, 1982. A half hour prayer vigil in Danforth Chapel will precede the morning. At noon the students will trip peaceful demonstration from the Kansas town to the residence halls on the "hill" and back.
Last year's students will remember the success of the march and its beautiful statement of unity.
We seek national recognition of King's contributions to American society. King's trumpphant struggles have instilled in the entire community, particularly the minority community, a sense of pride that enables us to strive for true equality in all facets of our lives.
Our purpose in supporting the national movement is to commemorate a great American who served as a role model for all races. Our mission is to encourage a free day' from classes or work to the calendar.
Belva Wilson
Cherry Roath
Regina Goodwin
Members of GSP Black Caucus
His dream was for the brotherhood of all mankind. He is no longer with us, the children of Adam and Eve, and beliefs and beliefs. The caucus would like to invite all students to participate in the realization of his dream on earth.
Better late for some
To the Edotr:
Non-traditional students can appreciate an article such as that by Lisa Bolton printed on Dec. 3. It isn't yet recognized that we are here on campus in such numbers. We aren't compulsive with it, but we've taken for ours, secretaries or anything else what we are, until we sit down in the classroom.
As president of the Non-Traditional Student Organization, I know that many of us are full-time students, and women don't seem to outnumber men.
We may feel that learning skills aren't easily resurrected. But there is some compensation for having been around awhile. Often we find that the skills we've developed through life and work experiences.
I've had no difficulty in fitting with the 18-to-24-year-old students I have met in my classes. We accept each other. Other non-trads have mentioned this, too. It is certainly true, though that the (ahead) mature student can feel confident that TRSRTs recognized this problem and can help to solve it.
I suspect that most non-trads will agree Better late than never.
Virginia Hunnel President, Non-Traditional Students Organization