UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of only the writers.
DECEMBER 8,1978
Property loss problems
It is both startling and unsettling to learn of the size of theft and inventory problems that plague the University of Kansas.
Between October 1977 and October 1978, the University reported $73,636 lost to theft. During that same time, only $2,719 of KU property was recovered. In addition, most University officials agree that the theft problems have worsened in recent years.
The reason for these problems, in part, some persons say, is because of KU's inventory system, which delegates responsibility for receiving and storing University property to individual departments.
Inventory, under this system, is only as accurate as each department makes it. Often this allows for an abundance of useless and forgotten property to accumulate in storage areas of University buildings.
"TVE GONE through a lot of buildings on the KU campus," Dwight Regnain, a former University storekeeper and security guard, said. "The waste and theft is so immense you can't believe it—a lot of it simply isn't reported."
Regnier is no neophyte to the concerns of inventory, either. He worked as a supply chief and taught supply and logistics for 15 years in the U.S. Marines. He quit his job as storekeeper last July, because he said he was frustrated with KU's property management system.
In the meantime, the University needs to take a closer look at its inventory policies and seriously consider an independent audit. A crackdown on departmental inventory methods would be a logical first step. In addition, a greater lobbying effort in the Kansas Legislature for inventory and security improvement funds is needed.
Considering the amount of property lost last year at KU, it would seem that any money used to reduce that loss would be well spent.
Book states possibility of bankrupt government
A fitting conclusion to the stormy year of Proposition 13 and chatter about tax revolving comes in a new book by Richard Rose and Gue Peterts, in its title, poses a question for our times: "Can Government Go Bankrupt?"
He recommends that the University create a central supply office and have an audit of KU property conducted by someone outside the University.
The authors use the word "bankrupt" literally, reflecting their concern about the fiscal consequences of government spending without limit, and figuratively, alluding to the political fallout from wild tax and spending policies.
Their answers score points-and,
ultimate measure of activity—about the proper
of government.
"There was a laxness in the handling of taxpayers' money." Regnier said. "A lot of the problem was that there was a great deal of time and money spent on materials that were obsolete or valueless."
Despite their apparent concern, a plan for such a central storage and supply stem is listed only 13th on KU's priority list of 25 needed projects, which means that it probably will be at least five years before the project is funded.
one literal answer to the title question is,
appropriately for the political scientist
guy you got.
State and local governments, they say, can end up flat broke if they overburden taxpayers to the point at which it becomes politically impossible to tax heavily enough policy.
ALTHOUGH KU administrators reject the notion of an outside "housecleaning," they agree there is need for both more storage space and a central supply system. But a lack of funding, according to administrators, is the biggest obstacle to making changes in the supply system.
CENTRAL GOVERNMENTS, on the other hand, need not worry about literal bankruptcy because they can always crank up computers and print enough money to pay their debts.
The authors' larger concern, however, lies with a bankruptcy more threatening. They conclude that a government that tries to do too much, as most have in recent years, will become "politically bankrupt" or cease to exert authority over the public.
Political bankruptcy may not send the world's governments to tapping like tenpins—indeed, Rose and Petra dollars are going to grow a "tyranny of weakness" in which citizens would become indifferent to their government's demands and would cease to rely on them.
Rose and Peters contend both financial and bankruptcy can be avoided in
In that world, the governed would struggle trottover to avoid the edicts of government, which they perceive as exorbitant themselves, and to wring out of paying taxes.
They want the state to reduce its size to save itself.
"JUST AS A Doctor may advise an overweight patient to count calories to lessen the risk of heart attack," they say, "so a social scientist may note that if politicians do not count the cost of public money then political bankruptcy can result."
Is the United States slipping toward political bankruptcy?
The politicians and pundits—and whoever doutts them?—have wailed incessantly for years.
Rick Alm
since August, when Californians repudiated their leaders with Proposition 13.
That loss of faith exists, all right, but the country shows signs of drifting back the other way, of intuitively applying the law. Politicians noticed the warning signs of political bankruptcy and in some startling reversals have began cutting taxes and reducing spending.
IT APPEARS, then, that the political system works with hydraulic leverage. If the government applies pressure by demanding too much in taxes, the people's rights are threatened the political existence of government. At that point, the state retreats.
Right now U.S. governments are backing away.
only for education, it's back to the book.
Like all good books, "Can Government Go Bad" is worth reading, although hardly original, one. Rose and Pete remind us that we must watch the size of government or it will grow until it can afford its citizens without militaristic methods.
The danger exists, however, that the flux of experience will obscure the lessons of 1978 and, when taxes no longer press so heavily, the experience will swing in the opposite direction again.
As a political primer for our times, then,
the book emphasizes that governments
ought not attempt more than they can
accomplish; that they should not run up
expenses that will prove unacceptable when it
comes time to collect taxes.
In deciding which benefits to provide to the public—and to themselves—governments should not tend to undervalue or ignore cost. High cost with limited benefits should be avoided, even if it means having some blaemes on the body politic.
IN SOME WAYS, Rose and Peters anticipate somewhat the political creed that could emerge in the United States as more and more citizens question the size of government after they receive their tax bills.
Finally, it should be emphasized that the worst part of endless government problem solving is the larger problem it creates: a government without limits.
And an unlimited government destroys a free society.
KANSAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Publicized at the University of Kansas daily August through May and Monday through Thursday during June and July except Saturday, and Sunday and holidays. Second-class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas 60454. Subscriptions to mail are $15 for six months and $20 for nine months. Student subscriptions are $2 a semester, said the student activity fee.
Editor
Steve Frazier
Business Manager
Don Green
Advertising Advisor Chuek Chowina
General Manager Rick Musser
There it was, screaming at me from a page of the New York Times. I didn't want
Biorhythms hit new low in credibility
*Should you, or shouldn't you?* Personal pocket-size BIORHYTHM COMPUTER reveals his and her compatibility on any device. You can do anything to it in a full year in advance.*
The National Enquirer, definitely, Guide, probably. But the New York Times?
"Sigmund Freud suspected it, today's scientists investigate it, five NFL teams monitor it, 3.5 million people swear by it, some of the world's largest companies rely on it. Now you can determine your own life cycles..."
Allen Holder
AM I TO understand that, for $10, postage. I'll learn whether I should get up tomorrow, bother taking final next week or take a trip next month? It's safe to say I'm a skeptic and biorhythmia are one of those including astrology, that I just don't believe in.
This prophetic computer, it said, "may tell you tell a bit about your peaks, poops and perilous days ahead. $10 plus $1 postage and appropriate sales tax, if any."
Birthythms have been around awhile, but only recently they received much
national attention. A 1978 edition of
the book, *Dictionary doesn't even
have the word listed.*
Well, then, what is this theory of biorhythms all about? Jennifer Bolch, in a Reader's Digest article last year, called it a "theory to explain what the difference is between low, good and bad days," and a "theory to appear ebb and flow of energy."
According to Bolch, there are many kinds of body rhythms, but three are the most commonly known: the physical, emotional and acoustic rhythms, which are used to determine body rhythms.
THE CYCLES begin on a person's day of birth and are repeated again and again, with different lengths of time for each cycle. Each cycle has its high and low points, as well as critical points, which fall right in the middle.
For example, a person who is on a
physical peak supposedly will be energetic, strong and full of vitality. When he's at the low point in the cycle, he's tired and run down. And in the middle, when the physical cycle crosses the critical line, anything can happen. And that is supposed to be dangerous.
Biorthythm proponents don't argue that the theory predicts what will happen, but only that it "tells us our tendency to behave in accordance with the laws we can overcome by awareness and willpower."
Biorythm supporters have, of course, all sorts of examples to back the theory.
"Lee Harvey C. swaled shot John F. K. Lee when Oswald bottomed on physical and intellectual rhythms, and was shot the first time he was also on an emotionally 'critical' day
"The Washington Redskins, favored to win over the lower-rated New England Patriots lost instead. . predicted by biorhythm experts."
Gee, there must be something to those biorrhythms.
I prefer to remain skeptical and believe people who at least sound reputable. Andrew Aighen, a professor at the University of Minnesota, said biorhythms were "basically a put-on with no scientific proof whatsoever."
"MARILYN MONROE and Judy Gurland be committed suicide on their critical days."
Amazingly, many people readie believe things like biorthryms with few, if any
And Michael Persinger, a professor at Laurentian University in Canada.
questions. Businesses, oddsmakers and sportswomen are said to reheart heavily when asked.
I doubt that I'll believe in biohythms unless I see one lot more evidence to back the claim.
ALTHOUGH I don't believe the theory is accurate, I'm still just a little bit interested in this research. It's a lot of work over weeks ago, and, because a computer that could determine biothymes was available, I can check it out.
What I was interested in, of course, was how I would be functioning during final exams. And, if I remember correctly, I am still very good at math. I'm relieved, but I still think I had better study.
And, if one day soon I hear that the Rev. Jim Jones and about 000 of his followers were on physically, emotionally and internally, a couple of weeks ago, I still won't believe it.
'Practice paper' funds should be cut
To the editor:
Three cheers for Norman Krite, Keith Seveidge and Brian M. Farley. In their letters in the Kansan Nov. 28, we find that the Kanan is the epitome of capitalism—"Profts motive behind advertisements," cries the headline.
I suggest that funding for the Kansan from the student activity fee be immediately halted. Let anybody who wants the paper buy a subscription. If circulation goes up or so, that's no problem. A single book is produced as sufficient for a practice paper.
That's fine. It is obvious they need the practice. But why should I pay for it? I don't ask journalism students to buy me comics. That's because art supplies are fine art students.
Maybe, if we're extremely lucky, the
Excellent! I'm all for our journalism students learning about the American business system. When they move on to the real world and start work for the Kansas City Star, Lawrence Journal-World or Wichita Beacon, they should be well trained.
Obviously, the quality of the paper is no justification. There hasn't been an intelligent student editorial in the paper since Diane Wolkow left. Announcements of her work are printed after the event. AP and UP releases are duplicated in local papers.
The important question is what is the main purpose of the Kansan? I contend that its main purpose in recent semesters has been to train paper for journalism students.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN letters
But wait a minute! Since when does any real newspaper have a guaranteed circulation of 20,000? Don't real newspapers have to sell their product to the public?
If the Journal-World goes through a period of mediocrity, I can cancel my subscription. When the Kansan goes to hell, I'm stuck. Sure, I can stop reading it—but that makes little difference to the Kansan. I got my money, my opinions be damned.
When hundreds (thousands?) of students were offended by a concert review, what could they do? Cancellation or cancellation of methods of influencing a paper. Why is this right denied to the students? The largest appropriation is the one from Kansan. Are they deserving of such funds?
paper will improve to the point that money for thousands of subscriptions will flow into the Kansan coffers. At least it will be because of the quality of the paper, not the quality and quantity of lobbying in the Student Senate.
Max Coe
Assistant instructor of computer science
American pleading for anti-shah support
To the editor:
Because my country is responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Iranian men, women and children through its support of a terrorist organization, I be more ashamed to call myself American.
The Shah has acquired power over the lives of 35 million people, not through the people's support, but solely by the military and financial support of the U.S. govern-
I am ashamed because we have always prided ourselves on the belief that people should be responsible for the determination of their government, yet we forcibly imposed upon and maintained a king over 35 million people.
I am ashamed because we have prided ourselves on defending the liberties of people of all nationalities, yet our government has supported the Shia in their artworks and tortures mercilessly anyone who is outspoken against his regime.
I am ashamed because we have always prided ourselves on helping groups of underdeveloped countries improve their lives, yet millions of Iranians live in nightmarish squail, while our American dollars find their way into the pockets of Shah Pahlavi and his family, and into his enormous military arsenal.
I am ashamed because it is perfectly clear that the Iranian people oppose the Shah for his intense, unrelenting cruelty and a claim its support of this man. I am ashamed because
our government defends a man whose soldiers shoot peaceful and unarmed people, whether they are demonstrating or praying to God.
I am ashamed because, as an American, I must share in the responsibility for what we have done. The government is our political arm and we, as the body to which that arm belongs, are as much responsible for what it does as we individually are responsible for what we do to others. There are no exceptions to this rule. We are no scapegoats upon which we may place the burden of our guilt. The guilt is surs because it is our government.
I must wonder what has happened to us. Throughout our history as a nation, we have been forced to force their government and lifestyle upon another people. We fought against them because we were firm in our conviction that all people should be forced to determine their own direction.
However, President Carter hasn't excluded the possibility of sending American soldiers to Iran to force the Shaig's regime to withdraw. That is why their opposition to him. Certainly, we must realize that fighting with the goal of making people free to determine their own political destiny would be immeasurable more noble than what Americans have always been proud of.
President Carter was elected under the promise that our foreign policy would be directed by "human rights." The campaign promised to fulfill the. The campaign promised to help their hearts and minds, if help them in their struggle against the cruelties of Shah Pahlavi if we so choose.
I am not urging war in any sense. But everyone at least can give support to the Iranian people in their hearts and minds. My policies must be changed is not unjustified.
Consequently, Americans must immediately give their support to the Iranian people, because they are the oppressed, as we have seen. Consequently, to many oppressed people before them.
But that decision depends upon all of us, and it is a decision that each of us inevitably will
To the editor:
Nancy Haskins Lawrence junior
I have a complaint regarding the sports department at the University of Kanaa. I feel there is some discrimination going on in this case, in students with children.
Children of students need bleacher seats
I am a 28-year-old sophomore and have a four-year-old child. I also have a season ticket to the basketball games. When I called the ticket office to see if there was anything I could buy, so I could send my little girl, Sunit, to the game with me, I got a very strange answer.
The woman I spoke to was on the verge of being rude and informed me that I could, she guessed, buy a high school ticket for $2 for my four-year-old. But she stressed that she would not stick to sill in the student section, and I should really buy her a reserved seat for $5.
Somehow I cannot see myself seating my 4-year-old in the reserved section and seating myself in the bleachers. This practice is unfair to those of us who have children, and yet still want to participate in sports and other events at K.U.
I would like to suggest that there be a $1 ticket for children under twelve.
Lawrence sophomore
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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 telephone number. If the writer is afilmer, a list of addresses should include the writer's class or home town or faculty or staff position.
The Kansan reserves the right to edit letters for publication.