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Wednesday Aug. 23, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Halting AIDS takes more than booklets
Sex won't be getting any safer at the University of Kansas this fall.
Judith Ramaley, executive vice chancellor, said last week that the administration did not support installation of condom vending machines on campus and would continue to go the education route.
She said that University officials were letting the issue "fizzle out."
That decision countered the April referendum put to KU students in which 2,006 students approved of having machines installed in the Kansas and Burge unions, residence and scholarship halls, libraries and restrooms throughout the campus. Only 538 students who voted weren't in favor of machines.
machines.
Maybe Ramalea hoped the students who voted to make condoms available on campus would forget about the vote they were asked to cast.
The KU Student Senate made a smart move last spring. It opted to finance the distribution of 10,000 condoms and 15,000 brochures about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. It was a step.
It was a step.
As Rebecca Newburn, chairman of the Student Senate AIDS Task Force said, the installation of machines on campus is the most logical step to curb the threat of AIDS.
have a logical step to curb the threat of AIDS. Three patients treated at Watkins have died from AIDS since October 1986 and a national study released in May showed that two out of every 1,000 students were infected with the AIDS virus.
It's not certain that the three deaths in Lawrence could have been prevented by campus access to condom machines, but it would have offered more hope than educational paragraphs in a brochure.
a brochure. While condoms currently are available at Watkins Memorial Health Center, more convenient options should be accessible. The probability that students will go out of their way to buy condoms at Watkins is slim.
condoms Education was the first step. Active prevention of AIDS and other diseases must be the second.
Deb Gruver for the editorial board
Haskell starts clean
The dark cloud hanging over the Haskell Indian Junior College got a little bit smaller last week.
Haskell begins fall classes with a new president and a good chance to rebuild its reputation in the Lawrence and American Indian communities.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs announced Friday that a committee of the Haskell Board of Regents unanimously chose acting president Bob Martin to lead the two-year school.
president Bob Martin to his wife. The selection of Martin, a member of the Cherokee tribe, will help to end the scandal and controversy that has plagued Haskell for the past year.
Martin stepped into the Haskell fray last spring and worked hard at cleaning up the mess left by former president Gerald Gipp. Martin took the role of peacemaker and earned the respect of the students and faculty. While Martin was acting president, from January through May, 52 of 57 faculty members signed a letter supporting him.
members signed a letter to former president Gerald Gipp has been cleared of charges that he tried to fix his daughter's grades and has been transferred to the BIA offices in Washington, D.C.
Brett Brenner for the editorial board
Summer staff
News staff
News Editor
Jill Jess ... Editor
Ric Brack ... Managing editor
Stan Diel ... Campus editor
Kelly Lamson ... Photo editor
Stephen Kline ... Graphics editor
Tom Ebm ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Business start
Scott Frager...Business manager
Jerre Medford...Retail sales manager
Lot Pembe...Campus sales manager
Adam Pfeffer...Production manager
Mike Lehman...Classified manager
Jeanne Hines...Sales and marketing adviser
Fall staff
News staff
David Stewart ... Editor
Ric Brock ... Managing editor
Daniel Nieml ... News editor
Candy Niemann ... Planning editor
Stan D'Angel ... Editorial editor
Jennifer Corser ... Campus editor
Elaine Sung ... Sports editor
Laura Huser ... Photo editor
Stephen Kline ... Graphics editor
Christina Winner ... Art/Feature editor
Conn, Ehlen ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Linda Prokop...Business manager
Debra Martin...Local sales director
Jerre Medford...National sales director
Eric Hughes...Creative director
Mila Lowen...Marketing director
Tami Rank...Production manager
Carrie Slaninka...Asat, production manager
Margaret Townsend...Consulting manager
Christal Dool...Classified manager
Amanda Blum...Sales and marketing advis-
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and less than 200 words and must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University of Kansas, please include class and hometown, or faculty or staff position.
faculty or staff positions. Guest will be should be typed, double-spaced and less than 700 words. The writer will be photographed.
writer will be photographed. The Kansas newsserver the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons they can be mailed or brought to the Kearna newsroom, 113 Stauffer-Flint Hall, Letters, columns and cartoons are the opinion of the writer or cartoonist and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University Daly Kansas. Editors, which appear in the left-hand column, are the opinion of the Kansan editorial board.
The University Delaware Kansan (USPS 650-940) is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Statler Fittin Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 6045, daily during the regular school, including Saturday, Sunday, holidays and finals periods, and during the summer session. Second-class postage is paid in Lawrence, Kan., 6044. Annual subscriptions by mail are $50. Student subscriptions are paid through the student activity fee.
subscription; Send address changes to the University Daily Kursen, 118
Praetorium-First Hall, Lawrence, KA 68045.
Editorial page serves as open forum
I saw a T-shirt recently that read "Welcome to the University of Kansas, five or six of the best years of your life."
I should know.
I should know. As I enter my fifth year at KU, I have seen a lot of controversial issues reported in the pages of this paper.
The University Daily Kansan, which is run entirely by students who have absolute control over its news content, has reported and editorialized about issues ranging from condoms on campus to the administration's refusal to sanction a Ku Klux Klan speech on campus.
This page, the editorial page, is reserved for opinion. The editorials which will appear on the left side of this page, are written by members of the University Daily Kansan Editorial Board. The board, which is comprised of KU students, votes on what stance the Kansan will take on an issue and the resulting editorial is a reflection of that view.
Student-written and syndicated columns will also appear on a regular basis. Two weekly student-written columns are already in the works and we are taking applications for more student columnists. Columns reflect the view of the writer and not the Kansan.
is not the Kansan.
Because our budget was cut in half by student government last year, you may notice a number of changes in the Kansan. The most obvious change on the editorial page will be the absence of a professionally drawn cartoon strip.
Stan Diel Editorial editor
Bloom County, the cartoon which appeared on the editorial page last year, is no longer being drawn and will not be replaced because of a lack of funds. Applications for a student drawn strip to replace it are being taken. The quality of political cartoons may also suffer because we can afford to subscribe to only one syndicated cartoon.
subscribe to a free and student-run campus newspaper is an important vehicle for free speech and has served well in the past as a watchdog for student government and administration policy. But without input from students, we cannot do our jobs.
out input from students, we can learn. When the administration ignores student opinion and chooses not to allow-condom machines to be placed in campus buildings or ignores the First Amendment rights of a group because they disagree with their views, or when student government makes questionable financial decisions, the editorial board of this paper will respond.
editorial board The purpose of the editorials and columns is to generate discussion. We will know we are reaching our audience if the editorials and columns we
publish generate reactions, pro or con
mish generate the new readers, including KU students faculty and staff, are encouraged to bring to our attention issues that they believe should be addressed.
The editorial page also exists to serve as a forum for our readers to express their opinions. Instructions for submitting letters to the editor and Guest Shot columns can be found in the lower left hand corner of the page.
Readers of this newspaper, whether they are KU students or not, are encouraged to submit letters, and students are encouraged to apply for cartoonist and columnist positions.
ist and columnist positions.
Without a student-run newspaper the University would lack more than a source of information. It would be missing a forum for free speech and the dissemination of ideas, an inherent function of any good newspaper.
With your help and input, this newspaper can be a tool that will make KU a better place to live and work. Without letters to the editor and guest columns, the views represented on this page will come from a relatively small segment of University society.
sary society.
Your interest is sparked by a story or you disagree with an editorial, don't limit your response to an argument with your roommate.
Write a letter to the editor.
Stan Dief is a senior majoring in journalism
New blood surges through Kansan Fall staff stresses fresh approach to news coverage, changes paper's look
I want you to look at something that's always been on the Kansan but that you've probably never noticed before: the volume number.
That's OK, go ahead and look now, but promise to turn back here. It's on page one, underneath and to the left of the word "Kansan."
That doesn't mean that the paper is 100 years old, however.
I will try not to bore you with the Kansan's long history. In fact, no one really knows enough about it for it to get boring. Suffice it to say that we're researching the history, and although a paper was published at the University of Kansas in 1899, can't be sure that it was the true ancestor of the Kansan you are reading now. The first paper named the University Daily Kansan was published Jan. 16, 1912, according to "The University of Kansas - A History" by Clifford S. Griffin.
Still, the look, the style and even the purpose of journalism at KU have changed dramatically during the past century. Those changes have affected both the students who work on the Kansan and the thousands who read it.
David Stewart
Beginning Monday, the first day of daily publication, you may notice that the paper looks different than it did in the spring. However, evidence of the Kansan's freshness goes beyond minor changes in
Editor
the style of reporters' bylines or the look of the weather map.
With 28, reporters, we have one of the largest reporting staff in recent Kansas history. They've been scouring the campus since Saturday looking for stories to fill our Leisure, Sports and News sections (The On the Town and On the Hill sections were produced by the summer staff. The Kansas City section was produced by the summer advertising staff and promotional writing classes.)
thing sum and prey, because Because of the size of our staff, we hope to increase the depth of our coverage. Of course, we'll still do the late-breaking straight news stories, but we can take the time to get the in-depth stories, the articles that expose the darkest, and brightest, points of the University of Kansas and the city of Lawrence.
Our copy editors also will add to the paper. They come from a variety of backgrounds, and many of them have previous experience as copy editors or
reporters.
reporters.
Reporters and copy editors work for the Kansan as part of their assignments in journalism classes. Our staff of about 30 editors, however, gets paid to work here, although it's not much (pay averages about $7 a week for as many hours of work).
Surprisingly enough, that amount of money buys us a stockpile of talented editors. Our editorial staff comes fresh to us from internships at papers such as USA Today, the Garden City Telegram, the University Daily Kansas Summer Weekly Edition, the Kansas City Times, the Associated Press, the Joplin Globe, the (Pittsburg, Kan.) Morning Sun, the Topoplea Capital-Journal, the (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press, the Olathe Daily News, the (Boise) Idaho Statesman, the (Salem, Ore.) Statesman Journal and the Detroit News.
I'm back in Kansas after 11 weeks at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Although the Kansan isn't as noted in journalism history as that paper, who knows what will happen during the next 100 years?
For now, I'm happy to be back as we try to breathe new life into the Kanwe. Want to leave it in good shape for its 100th birthday party, whenever that may be.
David Stewart is a Tulsa, Okla., senior majoring in journalism.
Nations unmoved by Beiruit's cries
Belirut is no more -- not the Belirut that was a synonym for wealth, worldliness and the good life;
"The sharkskin splendor of a Beirut business suit." City by the sea, it was a center of finance, an oasis of stability in an otherwise turbulent area. To think this ruined country was once styled — it can only be an ironic recollection now — the Switzerland of the Middle East.
Only dust is lifted now with each artillery barrage. "We're going down the drain," says a recent graduate of the American University of Beirut, Mahmoud Shamr*, whose degree is in engineering. "I'm trying to get out. I'll go to any country that will give me a visa."
On the other side of the divided city, a 22-year-old Christian woman tells a reporter: "We're living like rats underground, hiding in fear in shelters for endless days and nights. We can't take much more."
There may be 150,000 people left in a city that numbered more than a million before the latest round of fighting in the 14- year vlvisection of Lebanon.
Paul
Greenberg
Syndicated columnist
Nations that once sent help now only have sympathetic sounds to offer. The memories of their failures are too keen, their wounds too fresh. Each set out to restore Lebanon, found her troubles too much to overcome and turned back. Now they only listen to Beirut's last cries.
The old-timers in Hafia, Israel, remember when one could drive up the coast for a day at Beirut's beaches for an evening overlooking the sea. Now the Syrians have implanted their guns on the famed Corniche and the shells rain down. They're using 240mm mortars now. The besieged Christians fire back with 180mm field guns and rockets; their commander gives orders from two floors below the destroyed presidential palace at
Baada. The hospitals, the police, the firefighters long since have given up.
Now the hottest-selling item is not jewelry but sandbags. They go for between a dollar and a half each. "Packs of stray dogs, their ribs poking through their sides, scavenge through the piles of fly-infested garbage in the streets," reports Rodeina Kenaan of the Associated Press. "Housewives haul out meager fare. The men venture out when they can forage wood or anything that will burn."
Refugees stream out of the Muslim sector in the uncertain pauses between artillery duel; the roads are lined with their tents. There is no escape from Christian East Beirut except by sea to Cyprus, and that is not guaranteed. A family of four was trying to make it pass the Syrian blockade when their speed boat was hit by gunfire. The parents were pulled from the water separately; each thought the children were with the other. They didn't learn until they reached Larnaca in Cyprus that their two daughters were dead.