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University Daily Kansan, December 1, 1981
Opinion
A hardened heart
The days are brief now. Temperatures are plummeting across the country; nature's icy fingers are taking the nation within their grasp.
Winter must truly be here. Look at the haunting pictures on the evening news—pictures of sickly children coughing and hacking in Denver, pictures of heatless homes in Brooklyn, pictures of food lines in Chicago.
Food lines in America? Can there be food lines in the most prosperous nation in the world? Is that bit of Third World legacy still permeating the lower classes of the First World?
But there they are, millions standing in line for food lest they go hungry. Take a look at their faces. See the unemployed standing despondently as snow flurries whip about them. See the eyes of the elderly, the proud elderly, who survived the Great Depression only to succumb to the Great Recessions.
these aren't statistics. These are people.
Saddest of all, these relief lines are becoming longer. Yet they're also becoming fewer as money for social services evaporates like the warmth of the weak winter sun. Such "giveaways" are more a thing of the past than the present.
After all, times are different now.
Perhaps the great—and ill-funded—
social reforms of the '60s had the American people's blessing only because times were better. In hard times, apparently, responsibility toward thy neighbor is an inflationary factor that can easily be done without.
The words "compassion" and "concern" have no place in current economics. It's clearly an acceptable price to pay for a better economy if families have to be bundled up inside their own homes. If the elderly have to go hungry in their "golden" years. If babies are freezing in heatless tenements, babies whose only sin was being born into poor families instead ofrich ones.
Congratulations, America, you've proven you can harden your resolution. But America, has your heart hardened as much as your resolution? Do you not worry that if the United States lives a thousand years, it may be said that this was its most selfish hour?
sensitively.
Dying in the cold winds of December is the help for society's forgotten. Dying, too, is the concern for others that once made America the most generous nation on Earth.
Go ahead, America, continue along your hardened course. But as the merry, tinsel-sounds of Christmas fill the air, bear in mind that a nation that has lost its heart has also lost its soul.
Perched on edge of future seniors face dreams, fears
By JEFF THOMAS Guest Columnist
My days on the Hill are numbered and the doctors tell me there's nothing they can do. They assure me that I will pass on as naturally as I was born, and then they send me on my way.
The Watkins medicine men don't believe my visions. I tell you, like most any other senior, I can see it: Squatting grossly on graduation day is an awesome, hungry, black woman.
Staring down one of those cosmic pits must be a lot like looking at graduating in May. The thought of hurtting into either neither the sun nor the Earth sends the same clammy wiles up the ol' stine.
Where does a spark of light go when it falls into a black hole? Where will I be in 19 years? Sometimes those questions too much alike.
But then, that's just the nightmare of an overwrought senior.
But if I could pull those men back through time and make them my classmates, they'd shame me. Just two years after we'd graduate together, those three would be raking in big bucks and reeling out classic cinema.
I'm only 21 and already I'm behind the greats.
Yes, of course, most everyone lives through graduation. Sometimes, one even goes on to make quite a name for himself. Take, for instance, Jean Pakey, Aristotle Onassis and Orson Welles. By the age of 24, each was soaring; Getty made his first million in oil; Onassis bought the beginnings of an empire, six freighters with a $20,000 price tag dangling from each ship; Welles released "Citizen Kane."
If Johann Sebastian Bach were my age today, he'd have already been a professional musician for six years. In a way, while I was young, I had been an orchestra flies, Johann was practicing for immortality.
Maybe it's too late to be great.
All right, so I'm a bit upset, but seniors go through that. One minute we wonder how we can be worth someone's money and the next we lean to relish our secret dreams.
Like anybody else, I have my dreams too. Somewhere a red tire brownstone waits for me. With a little work, warm sunshine will someday stream in over great bursting flora and splash onto polished hardwood floors. On the second story there will be an airy writing room with bookshelves to the ceiling and two massive desks. I see a typewriter waiting on one desk, chuck full of the insight and eloquence I haven't acquired yet.
But there's something out in the world that steals dreams. We each know some of the victims, maybe a woman smothering in alcohol or getting married in a dead-end job he used to call a career.
What will any of us really find on the other side of the blackness? How should we make the decisions now to make our visions come true?
But the stubborn future has a tight vinyl face. It has no mouth to whisper hints and the eyes are sealed shut where they would show tomorrow.
Even I have finally seen that I don't have to take this class in semester. There's a whole life to do, my life.
And the black hole crouches on the calendar, whirling, and rolls a day nearer.
Of course, we can't do much more than make the best possible decisions as we go along, without worrying too much where they'll take us. A lifetime of days spent worrying about tomorrows only adds up to an unhappy life.
You see, even a senior Jayhawk has something yesterday's masters can't ever have again. I'd much rather be a little leery about tomorrow, and alive, than be Bach.
(Jeff Thomas is a senior majoring in journalism.)
Letters policy
The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and not exceed 500 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. If the letter is a personal note, the letter should include the class and home town or faculty or staff position. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject letters
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Call for murder is never 'tolerable'
A university community is often said to be a microcosm of the world. For a university that hosts thousands of foreign students, as the case in Kansas does, this would be particularly true.
And so the signs taped to the student information booth on Jayhawk Boulevard before and during Thanksgiving break should have caused no surprise or disturbance.
The signs, whose creators chose not to take credit for their work, included a poster depicting Saudi Arabia's Prince Fahd as a puppet of a grim-looking Uncle Sam. The poster read: "The Saud royal family may now expect the same destiny as Egypt's Anwar Sadat."
There is no argument with the fact that the creators of these posters have every right to display them in public places. But they should be treated with respect to murder and assassination to go unanswered.
The signs appeared several days before AP and UPI stories in Nov. 26 newspapers helped win over the public.
According to these news stories, Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia had been subjected to "injurious attacks" by hard-line Arab states for the eight-point Midale peace plan he has proposed. The Saudi peace plan has angered some Arab states, which that implies recognition of the state of Israel.
the news reports said that the 12th Arab League summit, which convened last Wednesday, had to be postponed because moderate Arabs, who were willing to consider the Saudi plan, and hard-line Arabs were "hopelessly deadlocked" on the issue. Appealers had hated, and the war it may induce, to peace or any other result of compromise with Israel.
In fact, the Prince's plan for peace has been opposed—bitterly by Israel and moderately by the United States—for not directly stating its own position in the peace process, lacking sufficient guarantees of security for Israel.
The posters displayed on KU's campus are
REBECCA CHANEY
anurher indications of the lengths to which such consuming hatred will lead men.
"Palestine has seen many invasions throughout its long history, but none as vicious or as systematic as the ionist one. . . . The Palestinian Moslems along with other Moslem nations across the Middle East will remain to defend themselves and will never recognize the Terrorist Regime of Israel. . . .
"Prine (Fadhf)'s submission to Israel is condemned by the Moslem people of Palestine who Muslims across the world, the Saudi皇国 and the United States, expect the same destiny as Egypt's Anwar Sawat."
American students at KU have been accused of intolerance and bigotry in their dealings with foreign students, particularly Moslem students from the Middle East. It is true that the content of posters such as these colors the opinion of many Americans.
The call for murder, whatever the circumstances, can only be called disgusting and repulsive, whether it comes from an American or a Moslem Arab. If, as the creators of these signs claim, the authors of the statements on the signs represent "all the Moslems that terrorize" is far more applicable to these people than to anyone they choose to denounce.
If these authors do not represent the entirety of Moslems as they claim, this too should be made known in no uncertain terms. Freedom of speech is right of more than just extremist spokesmen.
There is evidence that the murdered feelings expressed in the signs are not those of either the majority of Moslem students at KU nor of Palestinian Moslems at KU. Instead, it seems to be just another tactic of a small, active group that seeks every opportunity to yell, "Death to American Inmates," but that uses of incarceration in the sound of similar criticism from those who do not agree.
Surely there are some Moslems who will speak out against such manipulation. If there are not, many Americans will be left to base their opinions on statements like those on the signs at
Letters to the Editor
Problem of racism needs to be confronted
To the Editor:
Dan Parelman's letter to the editor (Nov. 24) shocked and enraged me. His letter was in reference to the Kansas's series on the criminal practices within the Greek system.
Parelman admits to the discrimination, but then goes on to claim that the Kansan series holds no merit on the basis that "Racism pervades numerous organizations in society."
It is sadly true, as Parelman pointed out, that racism exists in many aspects of our society. However, even sadder is the fact that we do nothing to change these conditions, largely on Parelman's premise that they exist everywhere else anyway, and that such things as interracial tensions won't be eliminated at the infinitesimal Greek level.
Sorry Dan, but you're just passing the buck.
they no longer exist and we can some day coexist rationally.
This is a fallacy on Parelman's part. Interracial tensions must be eliminated at all levels of our society, whether it occurs at the university or from Greek establishments on the University's campus.
I can't imagine that the stories would have really offended anyone who was really thinking
Aaron K. Zee Atlanta, Ga., senior
I would like to comment the Kansan on its insight into a problem that is so frequently shunned or "swept under the rug." The racial issue has conscientiously been re-exposed to the unseeming public eye. I hope that anyone who was involved in this series realizes exactly why they were offended.
Every individual has the potential to accept another human being into his immediate world, whether that person be of different color, religion or social status. The decision to accept another individual rests on a balance between society's influence and one's own rationale.
It is obvious that Parelm has allowed the societal norm to make his decision for him. After all, he admits that it is a shame that certain members of his fraternity would quit living in the house if a black man were to join. Yet he accepts the situation based on society's ways.
I only hope that such ugly issues as racism will keep being brought up and offending people until
It appears that the reporter decided what she wanted the stories to say and found statements to support her opinions, ignoring those who might be more upset from the direction she wanted her story to take.
Greek story one-sided
The Kansan's series dealing with alleged racial discrimination in KU's Greek system presented a biased and misleading view of the actual situation.
Why was it necessary for her to rely almost solely on instances that occurred two, three or four years ago? No effort seemed to be made to talk to women who are currently living in sororities. Also, the views of a handful of women who are no longer living in houses should not be assumed to be the views of the 1,003 women who are currently active undergraduate members.
To to the Editor:
Although the reporter did talk to two Panhellenic officers, she did so only after those officers learned of the series and called her. She made no effort to contact them.
How can KU's 13 residential sororities be faulted for not having black members when no black women are signing up for the membership program? Any woman who has a 2.0 GPA and 12 hours of credit from the semester prior to the membership program is eligible to participate. Stories such as the Kansan's series only discourage black women from participating in the program, thereby aggravating the problem of the lack of minority participation.
Contrary to the reporter's contention, no sorority has a predetermined list of pledges. Each house has an opportunity to meet all of the women going through rush and decides on its pledge class from these meetings. Usually, between 60 and 70 percent of the women participating in the program are asked to pledge a house.
1
Although it may be helpful to know women in a
The reporter also used stereotypical phrases to refer to houses, including "smaller, less established houses" and "jock fraternities." All of the houses in KU's Greek system are strong groups of active individuals, and labels such as these are inaccurate and meaningless.
The timing of the series should also be questioned. If the reporter had been working on it for four months, why did the Kansan choose to run the series during the same week as the registration for the membership program? It seems to be an awfully convenient coincidence.
In conclusion, this story was not an accurate handling of a sensitive subject, but rather was a one-sided, negative, irresponsible piece of inflammatory reporting.
Sara Snyder
Panhellenic president
house, it certainly is no guarantee of a spot in that house's pledge class. Many women, especially those from out of state, do not know many sorority members, and they stand at the bottom of the house based on their qualifications and the impressions they make on house members during rush parties.
Praise for reporting
The Kansas's recent series on racism in KU's fraternities and sororites was outstanding, and I congratulate you on running it. One of the most important tasks of any newspaper is to investigate and expose wrongdoing in social institutions, and you have done it well.
To the Editor:
Racism at KU, in the fraternities and sororites and elsewhere, is nothing new. In 1965, the KU administration chose to arrest some 110 demonstrators who protested KU's support of racist policies and practices, including racial insults and abuse towards that we had made some progress on that front, and it'd disturbing to learn that we haven't really advanced at all.
Thanks again for an excellent and revealing report job. I hope you carry on with further progress on your work.
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Tim Miller Lecturer in Religious Studies