612
Opinion
Page 4 University Daily Kansan, December 3, 1981
Peace: it's academic
Everyone's talking about peace, you say, but is anybody really trying to find it? How can we hope to bring up a generation of children who truly despise war and work to avoid it, when they have grown up seeing nothing but hatred and violence?
Well, one of Kansas' very own congressman thinks he has the beginning of a solution. Less than two weeks ago, Democratic Rep. Dan Glickman introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would establish a National Academy of Peace in the United States. The academy, as Glickman envisions it, would be "something between a school and a think tank" where U.S. leaders would be trained in the highly prized but rarely masted art of peacemaking.
The academy could offer some academic courses, Glickman says, though he admits that one probably couldn't get a master's degree in "peace studies". Trainees would come primarily from the military, the State Department and other government agencies, but some businesses have already expressed an interest in using the academy to learn how to deal with members of Third World countries.
A peace academy. Now isn't that a nice idea? Of course, such a concept could only be born in a hopelessly hostile world, but it does make some sense. Almost all important foreign policy is hammered out at the negotiating table these days, and people have to know how to talk to one another.
More than likely, some of these legislators are just eager to be associated with the novel "peace bill" and ride the coat tails of favorable publicity. But if Congress really took the bill seriously and set up a workable academy, the United States would take a step toward altering its warmmer image. Shouldn't we study strategies for peace at least as diligently as we study those for war?
Of course, getting Congress to fund such a bill would be a clever trick indeed. The commission that studied Glickman's proposal recommended putting up $61 million for the academy—about the cost of two dozen new M-1 tanks—over a period of four years. Somehow, one just can't see the Pentagon getting excited over that kind of trade-off. After all, what would all those people do if we were all out of wars?
And one more thing. Clickman has plans to establish the academy in the Washington, D.C., area. Come on, Dan, the idea is to get away from all the bickering and red tape and can't-badged attitudes. Get your school as far away from our fair capital as possible.
Surprisingly, Glickman's bill has garnered quite a bit of support in its infancy. He had attracted 55 co-sponsors in the House before it was introduced, and several senators indicated they would support a companion bill in the Senate.
How about Denver or San Francisco or even Peoria? Anywhere but Washington. Then, maybe your plan will have a chance; otherwise, it's doomed from the start.
AAAAAAAAAA
How a professional student knows it's time to move on
One professional student is calling it quite
You say that you've heard that song before and that I'll come wandering back in a year or two, hungry for the academic life and tired of an eight-to-five job. You say that I'll miss the casualness of college and the freedom to set my own schedule.
No, this is my last semester of a full-time college student. With more than 230 credit hours from two universities, my transcript is looking good. I will be assigned a jacket for my bulletin board; three will be enough.
Thirteen years ago college was exciting, challenging and inspiring. It sparkled. Now that
KARI
ELLIOTT
brilliant shine is a glimmer—and a tarnished one at that.
It's time now to put away the notebooks and pencils and get a job. A real job, that is.
It's time to stop taking "impractful" courses like Advanced Lithography, Industrial Design and Power Train Diagnosis. It's time to stop training English in schools. It is time to speech to English to education to journalism
To a professional student, a "real" job pays more than minimum wage, is one you can tell your family and friends about, and requires more than an eighth-grade education.
There have been several indications that it was time to end my professional-student status. Many of the indications relate to money and work, but it is also a sign of time. Others concern the quality of education.
I knew I had to stop going to college when my classmate kills's knowledge of the Kansas Union burning was something they "remembered reading about" and not a vivid memory.
It's time to stop being a professional student when you are more a contemporary of the industry.
Although I don't lie about my age, I don't burt it out to every other student I know. When a 20-year-old friend learned how old I was, his eyes enlarged, his mouth dropped open and he gasped. "You're that old and you're still going to school?"
Is there a statute of limitations for going to college or collecting undergraduate degrees?
And awkward moment also occurs when I mention my student number. The first two digits are onees. Younger students "ooh" and "ah" at the low number, making it seem like a prehistoric relic. At least my student number is not five digits.
For the professional student, time collects but money doesn't.
Continually living below the poverty level has lost its charm and excitement. I get a little envious of my working friends who take vacations and don't visit relatives, who drive new cars and whom furnish their homes with something besides garage sale specials.
Living on part-time jobs that pay subsistence wages / management leave too much for firs reshake the aftermath.
Constantly rising living expenses and college fees add to the problem of low wages. For example, the cost of tuition at the University of Kansas has more than doubled in the last 10 years.
A loan to cover living expenses becomes too matter-of-fact for the professional student. Another indication that it's time to finish school is that you've already borrowed the maximum amount allowed under the Guaranteed Student Loan program.
However, the strongest reason for leaving college is that the quality of education seems to be
Maybe a more critical eye comes with age. Or perhaps on the older side of the red pen has given it weight and depth.
The quality of instruction seems to be lower now than it was 10 years ago. The first time around, the professors' knowledge and teaching ability were at least average and usually good. Now the range of quality is more extreme—instructors seem to be very good or very poor.
It's time to stop going to college when you know more about the subject than the instructor, and you know how to present the information more clearly and interestingly.
Also, it's time to leave college when you receive a grade that's lower than the one you deserve and you have to begin a petitioning process to get the grade changed.
Perhaps the grade petition was the shove I needed to be forced into the real world. Being a professional student has been fun, but expensive. It's time to leave the academic womb.
KANSAN
The University Daily
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The dead man's wife and three small children sat silently in the courtroom. Now and then tears would roll down tiny cheeks as the trial unfolded before them.
No order in this court—just insanity
Ring One had been the opening statements to the jury. The voice of the defense attorney echoed in the consciences of those present—those with conscience, that is.
Ringling Brothers couldn't have staged a better three-ring circus.
"My client did kill the deceased, yes," he began. "And true, my client didn't even know the man. And true, my client did drive by looking for someone to shoot, and the victim happened to be out mowing his lawn. My client was just in a bad mood.
"But my client is not guilty by reason of insanity. He was clearly insane when he did it;
DON
MUNDAY
The insanity defense placed a heavy burden onto the prosecution—the burden of showing some good reason why a killer should be held accountable for his murders.
that's obvious. Therefore, he didn't do the act,
and therefore cannot be punished for it!*
...AND THOUGH MY CLIENT DID PHYSICALLY COMMIT SAID CRIMES, YOU THE JURY MUST CONCUR THAT, DUE TO THE SUDDEN DEATH OF HIS BELOVED DOGGY, BRUNO WAS MENTALLY DISJUNCT AND RENDERED TEMPORARILY INSANE WHEN HE POISONED THOSE FIVE CHILDREN, MOLESTED THAT NUN ...
Ring Two had followed up swiftly, seeing as how little matters such as inence or guilt were already decided. With whodunit out of the way, he could decide whether who should be punished.
The jurors looked at one another and shook
their heads. The jury silly the sillies.
That man is crazy, they told him.
"Can we just send these people, this woman and children, home without seeing justice done?" he asked. "If the defendant was insane, as the defense attorney claims, and if the defendant therefore didn't commit the crime, why, then, the man killed last June was not shot and therefore must still be alive today!"
An angry prosecuting attorney rose, fultily
worsening sympathy for—of all people—the victim.
The defense attorney looked over at the defendant, who looked sad, oh, so sad, and then responded, "I will remind the prosecution that it's a fact that actions taken when one is insane are not punishable. It's a fact that one is not accountable for those actions."
"Order!" barked the judge. "Will the prosecution kindly remember that justice is for the defendant, not for the victim's wife and children?"
"A fact?" shouted the prosecutor. "You mean a legal myth? Tell me, you are seeking justice? Is saying this man isn't responsible for a murder he committed justice? Is that justice to this woman and three fatherless children?"
"And will you kindly remember," the prosecutor responded, "that the defense is asking for proof that you are guilty."
Rhardsal
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS 81
assuming the responsibility for such murders? Is that longer a legal concern? Is that by no means a legal concern?
"Order! Order!" shouted the judge. "You're talking crazy talk. Take responsibility for your ones' actions. Why, you'd have to trot merrily off to jail for just killing a person. Why, you'd have to pay parking tickets. You'd have to get your taxes in by April 13. That's crazy!"
The prosecution arranged for a short adjournment while he thought about just who was crazy and who was not. When he addressed the court again, his mind was still reeling with one question about the insanity involved in more insane, the defendant or the defense?
And now, in the center ring, the prosecutor asked, "Let me ask the defense attorney a question. If the defendant was indeed insane at the time of the act, is he not insane now?"
"Oh, no," the defense attorney stammered. "But the beauty of it. Sure, he was insane with that."
"All better?"" the prosecutor asked. "This insanity, it just turns itself on and off like a light bulb? There’s a hidden switch? He’s in surprise moment, then lucid the rest of the time."
"Essentially v. ves. but he's quite sane now."
"Mach in the way I was angry a moment ago but may not be sorrowed."
“Precisely!” beamed the defense attorney.
“Just as you were angry.”
Finally, some sense was getting through to the prosecutor!
Unfortunately, none of this new-found sense was seeping through to the stone-faced children. One thought went through their minds: "Why did you kill our dad?"
"Ansie sense didn't seep through to the womma, watery eyes, who could only think, 'Why did this happen?'
When the big top came down, the jury filed back into the courtroom to announce the verdict: not guilty. The defendant cried with joy. The woman just cried.
"I object, your honor! This is insanity! He goes ... freep. . ."
Finally, she stood up. She wasn't looking for sympathy, just justice.
"If he isn't guilty by reason of insanity, then the court, 'then I must be guilty by reason of insanity.'"
The judge ordered her to sit down. The prosecutor was over. The prosecutor promptly objected.
"You can't object, the verdict's in!" screamed the woman as she furiously pounded the bottle. "Do the better."
Order? Justice? In this court?
Don't look too close.
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
Sharing holiday duties brings real thanks
I would like to offer a few comments about the Thanksgiving column by Ben Jones. Nov. 24
Although Mr. Jones has a marvelous command of creative writing and used beautiful imagery to describe his notion of Thanksgiving, it is apparent that he has a slightly warped idea of what the holiday means to at least half the population.
Often at my family's get-togethers, the women would be up in 6 or 7 in the morning getting the meal ready while the men sat on their drierries and served them. When the meal was over, instead of offering a hand with the unbelievable amount of dishes, the men would go right back to the football games and the women back to the kitchen, perhaps getting the turkey in time to fix turkey sandwiches for supper.
To Mr. Jones (and many other male members of society) Thanksgiving may be a laid-back, easy-going kind of a day where one sits in the kitchen or dining room and sings to the grandfather clock, or, more likely, the screaming of the crowd at the football game on television. But to Mrs. Jones (and to most of the female population) Thanksgiving means two or three days ahead of time preparing the meal.
This Thanksgiving, I had the good fortune to spend the holiday at the home of my boyfriend's family, where, if anything, the men did more toward preparing the meal and cleaning up than they did before. It was a series of "Can I help?" more often than not answered with "No, thanks, we can take care of it."
If this is not the case at your house, Mr. Jones, perhaps next time (Christmas, for example) you could make the holiday less burdensome to some of the people for whom you are thankful. When a man in the kitchen, I am sure the results would surprise and delight all parties involved.
Belinda Holmes
Lawrence sophomore
No way to judge
To the Editor:
I am writing in response to the Nov. 19 editorial that stated that the students who do not vote either "don't think their votes matter, or don't care in the first place." It seems to me that you have overlooked an important reason that 90 of your body does not vote. They have no one to vote for.
Very few people know the candidates for president and vice president personally. All they do know is the history presented by the candidates, what the coalition asks as its chief concern.
In the recent election campaigns, for instance, there was only one coalition that was verbal about the needs it saw on campus. However, the coalition members never mentioned possible problems, not in their newspaper interviews nor in the speeches they delivered to living groups.
So which is worse, a coalition voted into office by 10 percent of the student body that feels they know enough to make a decision, or one that has been voted into office by 90 percent of the student body simply because more people recognized their names on the ballot?
Cathy Cooper
St. Louis, Mo., sophomore
Abortion offers choice
David Henry, in his nov. 23 column, compares the protection of the so-called lower animals to the protection of the human fetus. But the two are very differently in a way that Henry has failed to see.
An aspect that Henry didn't mention was the relative healthiness of these different species. Many of the animals for which aid is sought are in danger of becoming extinct. There is absolutely no possibility in the foreseeable future of the death of the human race.
To the Editor:
A substantial portion of the approximately four billion people on this Earth lead less-than-happy lives. Any rise in population will most likely be accompanied by more intimate souls that inhabit every nation on Earth.
With an unequal distribution of finite natural resources, some people are going to have less than the average. Some people are going to be poor. An unwanted child will often only add to that poverty and misery, especially in this time of cutbacks in aid to those who need it. An unwed mother mired in poverty needs the choice offered by abortion.
David Henry could never be a mother, of course, and it is unlikely that he will ever be poor. But if Henry was pregnant with an unwanted fetus, what would he do with it?
Scott R. Kemper Lexington, Mo., junior
To the Editor:
Ever since Tracee Hamilton was barred from the Jayhawks' locker room (Sept. 9 Kansan), KU students (and football players) have been bombarded with a series of negative stories. Tracee has brought us through many weeks of football with such encouraging stories as "I went to a charity football game and 3rd victory, . . . without Bell," and "44 Jayhawks face of offensive rebuilding."
And to top off all of her journalism masterpieces, she created "Bowl bid may not be in Jayhawk forecast." This story read, "The Jayhawk forecast ... is the kind of Kansas weather . . . and the chance of KU receiving a bowl bid is dropping as fast as the chance of snow is rising."
what an upfight for our "struggling" football team. Tracee, I guess you were correct in comparing the Jayhawks to the weather. It was too chilly in the air and the Jayhawks gave me a game I will never forget.
Oh, the football players were not the only ones who were privileged enough to receive Trace's insight on KU's faults. She won my everlasting affection with such stories as "Song could ease KU fans" apathy" and "Jingles as offbeat as KU fans."
One can surely see that Tracee is destined to be a career politician. She already has the technique down; she tells us how lousy our team is going to do, and she the wonders why we are so
I thought after the MU game that Tracee would be eating her hat or swabbing her toenails with her toes, but no, our heroine has come out and is wearing a pair of yellow Jayhawks. How quickly we change our tune!
Tracee was not the only one to off the team this year. Business manager Larry Belengood and Earl Richardson also took their states at the 'Hawks. In the game against Nebraska, Beleengood predicted Nebraska-49, KU-3, and Richardson predicted Nebraska-45, KU-10. It is fine that they wanked back to their personal identity but really necessary to play Jayhawks? I'm sure it was not very encouraging to the football players who happened to pick up the paper.
I, like many other students, look to the Kansan as my main source of information. Therefore, I read most every story written. I only hope that she will never fail in basketball team. Perhaps she can redeem herself.
Gordon Blake Clark
Gordon Blake Clark
Shawnee Mission freshman