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Thursday, September 14. 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Leaders not really at fault for spending-rule violation
We were outraged when we learned last week that University Judicial Board sanctions brought against student body president B. Jake White and vice president Jeff Morris had been suspended. They broke the rules, we thought, so they should pay the price.
We realize now, however, that our outrage should be directed at last year's Student Senate
During their campaign last spring, their coalition's spending exceeded the allowable limit as outlined by Student Senate rules. Those same rules stipulate that the punishment for coalitions that overspend is the loss of the coalition's Senate seats.
When allegations of overspending were first raised last spring, White and Morris countered that officials of the student government then in power had misinterpreted the rules for them.
After a Senate committee found that the coalition had overspent and fined it $150, Jane Hutchinson, then Student Executive Committee chairman, acknowledged she had supplied incorrect information to the coalition.
("They) should not be punished if you think it was my mistake." Hutchinson said.
It was that line of reasoning that influenced David Amber, vice chancellor for student affairs, to suspend the sanctions that were brought by the judicial board this summer.
"They overspent, but they acted in good faith on conflicting information given them by acting officers," Ambler said. "I found it curious that we were punishing Jake and Jeff."
Ambler called the present rules of the Senate unrealistic and questioned the integrity of some former student leaders.
But because the rules error was not directly the fault of White or Morris, Ambler correctly reasoned, why punish them further?
So, in place of the sanctions, Amber instructed White and Morris to rewrite the elections rules by Dec. 11 to ensure that future Senate elections will have something many past elections lacked: fairness and honesty.
But that leaves us with a Senate that is run by unenforceable rules and too often by people who apparently don't have the necessary skills to understand their own rules.
Let's hope that this first positive step will be only one of many in cleaning up the mess in student affairs left by previous student governments.
Ric Brack for the editorial board
Pell pledge misses target
But they refused to supply the ammunition.
Federal officials recently supplied university financial aid offices with a weapon against drug abuse.
Beginning this year, the federal government is requiring recipients of Pell Grants to sign an anti-drug pledge before receiving their aid. However, the government is relying on university financial aid officers to enforce this rule.
The pledge reads, "I certify that, as a condition of my Pell Grant, I will not engage in the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession or use of a controlled substance during the period covered by my Pell Grant."
If the federal government thought this addendum was important enough that students must sign, in effect, a contract, then federal officials should take it upon themselves to see that the contract is not broken.
Jeff Weinberg, associate director of financial aid, said he had no intention of trying to enforce the policy. He found it inappropriate and "absolutely ludicrous."
Most students, both users and nonusers, probably will sign the pledge without giving it a second thought. Still others will sign it with zeal, but they probably are not drug culprits anyway.
What, then, has the pledge accomplished?
It has effectively deterred a few conscientious students from receiving aid and completely overlooked the students to whom it was addressed.
Once again, the federal government has purchased a gun that shoots only blanks.
Craig Welch for the editorial board
News staff
David Stewart ... Editor
Ric Brack ... Managing editor
Daniel Niemi ... News editor
Candy Niemann ... Planning editor
Stan Diel ... Editorial editor
Jennifer Corser ... Campus editor
Elaine Sung ... Sports editor
Uma Hussein ... Photo editor
Stephan Kline ... Graphics editor
Christine Winner ... Arts/Features editor
Tom Eblen ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Linda Prokop...Business manager
Debra Martin...Local advertising sales director
Jerre Medford...National/regional sales director
Jill Love...Marketing director
Tami Rank...Production manager
Carrie Stainink...Assistant production manager
Margaree Townsend...Cook
Hughiel...Creative director
Christi Dool...Classified manager
Jeff Messey...Teamsheet manager
Jeanne Hines...Sales and marketing adviser
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U.S. money cannot buy democracy
The chances of Nicaragua becoming a little Cuba are diminishing. So is the support of Nicaragua by communist countries. It was reported in U.S. News and World Report in February 1989 that "Managuas' the Soviet and Cuban patrons have told
Kathy Walsh
Editorial board
President Bush's proposal to contribute $6 million to the Sandinista's opposition in Nicaragua is a waste of our money. It's time for the federal government to quit supporting Nicaragua's rebels and realize that U.S. money does not buy democracy abroad.
Since 1982, the counterrevolutionaries, or contras, of Nicaragua have been the subject of many debates in Congress. Proponents of financial aid for the "freedom fighters" argue that the Sandinista government, headed by Daniel Ortega, pose a serious threat to U.S. security, economically as well as strategically.
Supporters of the contras say that Nicaragua, with the help of Cuba and the Soviet Union, could easily invade Mexico and thus be knocking at our back door. In order to do this, Nicaragua would have to successfully invade Honduras and Guatemala. This theory doesn't make much sense, considering the disasterous economic climate of the country. Nicaragua is in no position to invade.
Proponents say that lack of U.S. access to the Panama Canal would have a serious economic impact. This argument sounded good to me when I read it in a pro-contra propaganda booklet in 1985. However, I quickly changed my mind after reading unbiased materials. Currently, the United States has only Panama and Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega to fear when it comes to access to the canal.
Ah, the election. The Bush administration would like to contribute $3 million to the opposition candidate, Viola Chamorro, in the February 1980 presidential election. In order to do so, however, the United States would have to put up $6 million because of a new election law in Nicaragua that allows parties to keep only half of the money contributed. The rest of the money will go into a common fund to be distributed proportionally among the parties based on their showing in the previous election.
Our country has already wasted enough money trying to promote democracy in Nicaragua. Congress voted in 1988 to cease military aid to the resistance after receiving international pressure. It was established in March 1989 that humanitarian aid would be given, at least until the election.
Ortega he must look elsewhere for help, preferably to the U.S. or Western Europe." This statement does not sound like an invasion is in the near future. The Soviet Union and Cuba probably are sick of spending millions in the region only to see the country deteriorate economically. When is the United States going to realize the same?
This would obviously favor the Sandinistas.
Therefore, it doesn't make much sense. The United States not only would be supporting the opposition, but the exact fact that it hopes to depose.
The date of the presidential election was moved to an earlier date after Ortega signed the Central American presidents' peace plan in February. The plan also called for the dismantling of the contra rebels and their expulsion from Honduras.
The climate in Nicaragua is still one of mutual distrust between government and opposition. The government slowly is implementing new policies that reflect its need for change. In the past year, the Sandistas have radically reduced government expenditures, including a 20 percent cutback in defense spending. The government also decontrolled salaries and prices in the private sector and significantly readjusted the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and its currency so it reflects true value.
Change, not promoted by the United States, is taking place in Nicaragua. It is time we quit interfering and allow the Nicaraguan government to re-establish itself. The process is going to be a long one, and the result may not be a democracy that resembles ours. It's important to remember that just because a democracy works for us, it doesn't mean that it's going to work for every other country.
Nicaragua has problems. It's going to take more than one election in that country before justice will prevail. But the initiative for change must come from the people of that country. An unhappy majority cannot be silenced.
Kathy Walsh is a Lee's Summit, Mo., senior major in Journalism.
Police do care about drug problem
On Friday, I wrote an editorial criticizing the Lawrence police for the way they handled the Mark Creamer case.
My editorial was harsh. I called the Lawrence police apathetic. I said they didn't take the drug problem very seriously.
You remember Creamer. He's the guy who walked around Sept. 5. smoking pot in conspicuous places such as the Law Enforcement Center at 11th and Massachusetts streets.
David Stewart
But allow me to present their side of the story as it was told to me recently by Chris Mulvenon, Lawrence police spokesman.
Mulvenon asked me not to talk much more about the Creamer case, but a couple of things Mulvenon said might make what happened that night more clear.
Mulvenon said that the officer didn't know what was going on and was afraid of turning the whole incident into a media circus, which is what happened. A crowd of media people, including a Kansan reporter and photographer, were gathered around Creamer the whole time.
First of all, Creamer said he called 911 and told the police that he was smoking pot. Police haven't verified that vet.
Creamer also went into the Law Enforcement Center and spoke to an officer who asked him, "Are you trying to get in trouble?"
Editor
Basically, the Lawrence police wanted to keep the whole thing low-key, Mulvenon said.
And it was that low-key attitude that I misinterpreted as apathy. I met one of the drug officers, and he locked his eyes on mine as he shook my hand. It wasn't an apathetic look. It was the kind of look you naturally would give some college kid if you were laying your life on the line every day to fight against rampant drug use and he said in print that you weren't doing your job well.
So of course I can understand the concerns of the police. They've got a tough job, and they are taking it seriously.
And as I've said, all the facts aren't in on the Creamer case. I saw him milling around the court area on the first floor of the Law Enforcement Center while I was on my way to meet Mvulenon. He still has a long history of things he didn't have some questions they need to answer about that night.
I still think,however,that there is a general
apathy about the drug issue. After I left the courthouse, I flipped on the television in my apartment and happened to catch the end of President Bush's speech to children about drugs. It was on Cable News Network.
During the speech, CNN cut to their cameras at a junior high school in Miami, Fla. A few students were watching the Bush speech intensely, and then one student leaned over to another, and the other broke out laughing. CNN immediately cut back to the president.
Bush's message was that drugs are no joke. The children obviously didn't think so.
But those are children. What about Creamer? Is what he did a joke; was he making light of the drug problem?
Possibly, but in his eyes, and the eyes of many others, the problem is that marijuana isn't legal, not that people are using it.
But as long as drugs are not legal, the Lawrence police, in conjunction with county and state agencies, will fight against them as seriously as they can.
I could see it in their eyes.
▶ David Stewart is a Tulsa, OKa., senior majoring in journalism.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Bicyclists ignored by city
Witnessing the wanton use of the "Bike Route" sign around Lawrence, my sentiments have gone from sheer bewilderment to frustration. Where I come from, the words "Bike Route" actually have meaning, referring to sectioned-off areas of roadway designated for the exclusive use of bicyclists.
Here authorities seem to think that installing these signs along residential streets or superhighways suddenly, magically, makes the pavement safe for bicycles, never mind that the road has no shoulder and is shared with everything from crott-crofts to rockets in semitrucks. Believe it or not, establishing a bike route takes more than pounding in a few stakes.
I am disappointed that a city with a substantial student population, a good number of whom are forced to bicycle because of the difficult parking situation at KU, does not accommodate the needs of its many bicyclists with the respect and financing they deserve.
Deb Greene
St. Cloud, Minn., graduate student
Skateboarders 'harmless'
It is a and day when the Kanman has to print an article like the one done by Joel Zeff. Since these young skateboarders like to ride on Wescos Beach in the late afternoon, why doesn't Zeff walk on the other side of the street if he is afraid of being "run over." These
kids are harmless; at least they are skating on campus after school, instead of doing drugs or getting into trouble.
If these young people get kicked off campus for skating, I hope that, out of lack of something better to do, they mug Jeel Zeff so we do not have to read any more of his dry, humorless writing.
Paul Fambrini Washington, D.C., senior
Insurance policy revised
The absence of a "stop-loss" (the point, beyond which an insurance company pays all medical bills for an insured person) in last year's student health insurance policy probably accounted for the large medical bills incurred by Barbra Joseph as reported in Monday's Kansan. Equitable, last year's insurance provider, decided not to offer a stop-loss provision
when it discovered that it was the only bidder for the 1988-89 student health insurance plan.
This and other shortcomings of the 1988-89 policy prompted me to join the Student Health Advisory Board in order to make certain that the policy for this year would be more advantageous for the insured student. The Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan for the present school year contains a stop-loss provision that would prevent a repetition of what happened to Joseph. The Board recommends that all full-time K.U. students not already covered by another policy enroll in the plan.
I would also be interested in hearing from any student who has had experiences with last year's plan similar to Joseph's. Any questions or comments about this year's plan are also welcome.
Mike Lambert
Chairman, Insurance Sub-committee of the Student Health Advisory Board