UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editors represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of only the writers.
OCTOBER 23,1978
Student voice shackled
Student input into the Student Senate's prepaid legal services program seems to have been shortcircited by the University of Kansas administration.
A letter last week from Del Shenkel, executive vice chancellor, to Mike Harper, student body president, approved a recommendation for the program and outlined areas of legal services the administration would accept.
It was a seemingly innocuous move. But Shankel's recommendation was announced before an official legal services proposal from a student legal services governing board was completed.
IN EFFECT, the administration has shackled the governing board, whose main purpose was to submit to the administration a proposal of the program's legal services.
Shankel's recommendation all too clearly specifies what services the administration will and will not accept in what is called Phase I of a three-stage legal service program.
Part of the blame for the current situation must rest with Harper, who should not have approached the administration with any recommendation except one from the governing board.
Whatever his intentions, Harper failed to represent the interests of the people.
Shankel said in his letter that the administration would approve of these services for enrolled students' legal advice and co-ordination, drafting and review of legal documents, negotiations with adversary parties or other efforts to settle cases on court, legal research, notorial duties and incorporation of student groups for nonprofit purposes.
HOWEVER, the administration said it would not allow the program to provide students a legal representative
in court, a service the governing board said it had hobbed to include in Phase I.
In light of Shankel's letter, the governing board apparently has little choice but to accept the administration's limitations on services.
Phase I, in other words, probably will provide only those legal services students want and the administration deems acceptable.
IGNORE THAT the services are for students and that the services will be paid for by student fees, about $1.50 a semester.
Phase I, Shankel said, should last at least one academic year and will determine whether the program warrants expansion.
In the meantime, KU students are to quietly fork out $4,000 of their fees each year for a program they had little interest in. In return, they will for only limited legal services.
One would have to agree with Mark Beam-Ward, governing board chairman.
It is disconcerting that the administration did not wait for the governing board's proposal before limiting the program's possible services.
"It's just going to be a person to talk and it's going to cost students $54,000."
The administration's move was a blatant and inexcusable shackling of the student voice. And Harper's premature recommendation was thoughtless and damaging to his constituents' interests.
At the very least, Shankel could have appeared in person before the governing board and discussed the legal services program, thereby getting some student input and perhaps negotiating a compromise.
Considering the source of funding and purpose of the legal services program, KU students deserve and should demand a greater voice in the program's planning.
Government meant well with 1976 innoculations
Without a doubt, the swine flu was a national nightmare two years ago. It still is.
The that shots, rather than the fua, caused the deaths was a fluke. But flukes do a lot of it.
The flu wan't nightmarish in the sense of its death toll—few cases were reported. But the nightmare came in the wake of a massive inoculation campaign to prevent the disease. The toll from the shots was much heavier than from the flu.
With the threat of a swine flu epidemic looming, a nationwide innoculation program was established. From the beginning, though, the program was
Twenty-three of the hundreds of thousands of people who were inoculated early that winter died from the polio-like Guillain-Barré syndrome shortly after they received the shots. Another 535 were paralyzed, but most have recovered.
UNFORTUNATLEY, those who recovered haven’t been able to forget what happened did.
More than 430 of the survivors have been released from the dormitory with damage suits. That补贴为 £200,000.
Among them is at least one Kansean, Les Toburen, a Salina high school teacher who has filed a $250,000 lawsuit. Toburen was given the swine flu shot Nov. 1, 1976, and was hospitalized about 10 days later for what doctors diagnosed as the Gullainafi infection was to hospitalized for 34 days and was not able to return to school for about another month.
Suits like Tobuenn's are unfortunate, but not to fewen. They are the result of a program that ultimately could have saved many lives from the many people from contracting flu fw.
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 telephone number. If the writer is affirced by someone else, they should include the writer's class and home town or face't or staff position.
The Kansan reserves the right to edit letters for publication.
Allen Holder
TOBUREN has said he be thought he was fortunate because his recovery was almost complete after going through a physical injury. The man still suffers from muscle atrophy, however.
Still, he wants a quarter of a million dollars for temporary and permanent disability, medical expenses, loss of wages and mental anguish.
All that he will have to prove, however, is that the paralysis resulted directly from the fu shot. Because of a decision made this week in the Supreme Court, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, individuals no longer have to prove government negligence in their lawsuits. If the suit is found in favor of the plaintiff, the case will be negotiated with the Justice Department.
ALTHOUGH HE insisted that the government had not been negligent, Califano said HEW dropped the requirement of proof because the government warned people they might become paralyzed and did not know such a threat existed.
Toburen says in the suit that his illness was a direct result of the manufacturer's negligence in the testing, manufacturing, sale and distribution of the vaccine.
It is difficult not to side with those persons who were the victims of the syndrome because of the shots. Temporary paralysis—and wondering whether it would be temporary—certainly would be an agonizing experience. But the federal government has been more than fair by the provisions of the proof of requirement. It almost invited the $700 million in lawsuits to take advantage of that fairness. But those persons who were given the shots knew there was some risk involved.
Toburn said he had tried not to be bitter about his temporary paralysis, but it had been difficult. He was reluctant to take the flu shot but did because teachers were encouraged to go along with the program. Toburn did doubts that he'll ever take another flu shot.
In June, when Califano announced that the proof of negligence requirement was being dropped, Toburen said he had talked about it before. He said it had but not made definite plans for action.
Amtrak deserves federal funding
For anyone who has ever experienced the almost total inptitude of Amtrak, the nation's federally subsidized passenger train service, the immediate reaction to its current troubles probably would be to melt down the engines and passenger cars and sell the whole thing for scrap metal.
nowever, we shouldn't let our emotions get the best of us.
During the 1976 presidential campaign, President Jimmy Carter promised the government's full support for a mass transit system that would reduce U.S. dependence on automobile as the primary means of transportation.
Nevertheless, Transportation Secretary Brod Adams recently recommended a cutback of almost one-third in Amtrak service, although Amtrak is by far the most energy efficient method of intercity travel available. The recommendation is indicative of the kinds of problems that Amtrak has faced since its inception.
ALTHOUGH PUBLIC opinion polls indicate an increasing popularity for train travel, use of Amtrak serviced trains is limited in part due to portation. Federal figures show that 86.5 percent of intercity travel is done by car, while 11 percent of travelers choose airlines and 1.5 percent travel by bus. Amtrak has also increased its reliance on bus, but it still handles only 40 percent of all intercity travel.
Vet, Aytamt estimates that if only an additional 1 percent of intercity auto travelers switched to trains, the number of new cars needed would be
With the Energy Department predicting a world oil shortage in the mid-1980s if basic energy policies aren't changed, renewed support of Amtrak would seem not only crucially curiously, Congress has shown antitaxy toward Amtrak.
SINCE CREATING Amtrak in 1971, Congress has given a financial assistance to him, and any support. In fact, the money he gets by guilt is already had situation by insisting that Amtrak introduce financially disastrous routes through the home districts of New York.
Another factor in Amtrak's difficulties has been the powerful highway, oil and automobile lobbies that have grown around it. The company is Amtrak, which has only its officials and one tiny consumer group presenting its case before Congress. Given the prediction in Congress to respond more readily to the economic damage it is no surprise that Amtrak is continually shortchanged.
It is, however, foolehardy. Amtrak is currently projecting an increase in passengers from 18 million to 26 million per year.
from $200 million to $482 million and would include handling 20 percent of intercity traffic in the northeastern outpost.
THAT KIND of growth would require a federal subsidy of about $4.5 billion over the next five years. In contrast, the federal government estimates that the highway system has cost federal, state and local governments $430 billion over the past fifty years, and it is estimated that it will need for expansion and maintenance in the next 15 years.
Of course, Amtrak has had a hand in creating its current troubles. It has become notorious for not meeting schedules and for management bungling. It has been guilty of occasionally announcing the abandonment of a route in an attempt to con Congress into supplying the necessary resources. It has also a confusing and discouraging one to potential riders.
But a Congress sensitive to pressing energy needs could easily alleviate the confusion by giving Amtrak enough money to solve its problems, thus making an energy efficiency of transportation more attractive to the public.
The fact that Amtrak has continually been operating on relatively small deficits is no reason to balk at subsidies. But it is also true that the subsidy system just like airlines and highways. It is a far sarner method of transportation at a time when oil consumption must be
Government should be working to improve and expand Amtrak's service, not cut it back.
To the editor:
Business serves itself, not the public
Judging by his Oct 18 column, Mr. Alm seems to be one of a vanishing species that holds the robor baron view of "What's good for business is good for America." In truth, he said, "We want companies that work."
In many cases, as Mr. Alm rightfully indicates, the country does benefit when the businessman seeks his profit. For example, deregulation of air fares has not only meant more dollars for the airlines, but also savings for the nasserse.
Ex-president favors Dread re-elections
Sam Appelbaum
Scott Faust
Prairie Village freshmen
Apparently, Mr. Alm seeks to defy the widen national interest encompassed by any of the 96th Congress' programs. He believes that he has given the powerful few at the expense of the many.
However, such deregulation must not be a knee jerk reaction, because the public and corporate interests often clash. For instance, the oil companies seek high prices in order to maintain their market position; wider national interest would call for conservation to lessen the trade deficit and maintain our quickly resupplying reserves. Moreover, high prices will not necessarily reduce consumption. Soaring gas prices in America's appetite for automobile travel.
As another example, in the area of social security, the interest of the private insurers is to make a profit, whereas the wider national interest would call for equal treatment, regardless of income—a benefit the insurer could not possibly provide profitably.
To the editor:
There has been a lot of controversy about the Oread Neighborhood Association elections. The recent decision of the former officers and board members was not to seek to Invalidate the October election nor to call for changes in the constitution, two courses of action would only result in two groups claiming to be the "real" ONA, to the great confusion of everyone.
There are a number of reasons for considering the October elections invalid. Some of these include:
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN letters
included, and some with the absentee landowners. There is some question whether elections could rightly be held before the corporate bylaws were ratified. Also, some members were not properly notified of the meeting and the election was not by ballot but by show of hands. The meeting even included a full slate of officers and representatives.
Furthermore, a number of friends, relatives and supporters (10 to 20 persons) are invited to the event, associated and voted, although they were not residents and there was no evidence that they were property owners in the area. Such people are invalid if not fraudulent.
Among residents of the area, a great deal of discussion has taken place on what to do. Suggestions have ranged from doing nothing to seeking legal aid and going to
Finally, and perhaps most important, the "new officers" do not represent either the Oread residents or the goals and purposes of the office. It is clear from their statements and actions.
at this time I fully support a simple and straightforward solution. It is this: The residents and property owners of the coal neighborhood should join to shoulder the association. They should go to the meeting Nov. 6 and pass a motion calling for new elections at the Dec. 4 meeting. They should propose whatever changes in their local legislature legitimate members vote at the December meeting. They should reaffirm their support of the goals of the association, especially by voting to support the neighborhood in consideration by booming commission.
My personal schedule calls for me to be in Washington D.C. working on a research project at the time of the November meeting, and unfortunately I will not be able to attend. I will, however, be at the December meeting. In the meanwhile, I will do everything that I can to support the neighborhood plan and the efforts to hold
James Flvnn
new elections to choose officers who will properly and conscientiously represent the government.
Former president, Oread Neighborhood Association
Women find sexism boring; unimaginative
With regard to Judson Maille's complaint of petty sexism, thank you Mr. Maille. You seem to be one of the few stumbling down the path of sexual harassment in sexism that is superficial and detrimental to the passage of equal rights. It's the attitude that blindly supports the continuation of these ads. The ads are surface level chunks floating everywhere above a base level of experience.
To the editor:
Maillie expressed boredom at being constantly reminded of this, which indicates that he must be getting the idea. But also it's as if he's saying: despite the possibility of equal rights, you women are still complaining.
He's lucky. Only since the advent of feminism have men been aware of these trite forms of expression. Women have had to put up with object use of their bodies and selfhood all of their lives. I'm real bored of it, too.
Breasts selling everything from beer to cars is boring. That people (men) persist in it only indicates a lack of imagination. That lack of creativity is not my fault.
Andrea Brookhart Lawrence graduate student
To the editor:
On Oct. 15 I had the pleasure of attending the 2014 Arabian Peninsula Student Club meeting in the Emirates.
Arab feast dances authentic, enjoyable
It was held in the Big Eight Room. The authentic and student-cooked feast of succulent stuffed lamb and spicy pulae were served over baked lava was a treat for the palate.
The songs and dances, traditional and modern; and the fashion show of gold and gossamer were equally authentic. But most Arab students came through from these Arab students to make further contact with Americans in an attempt to make us more aware of their cultural heritage. Arab students sad, but too often true, that to most of us the Arab peninsula means little more than a place from which we obtain increasing price.
I commend to all of the University community that when next the Arab people in our country make an effort to attend. You will, I think, be pleased with your experience. I know you can succeed.
Congratulations to all members of the club on an outstanding debut, especially Mr. Mohammed Alzufa, president of the organization.
Clifford P. Ketzel
Professor of political science
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