UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of only the writers.
SEPTEMBER 12, 1978
New fence is a waste
Like a putrefied levathan washed ashore, plans for the construction of a new "fence" around the south end of Memorial Stadium resurfaced last week.
FROM ALL reports that probably means the fence will be made of wrought iron and supposedly about the same height as the current fence. However, the new fence will have greenerv on top.
Nearly a year after the leviathan bellied up then sank after strong student opposition, its stench has returned—stronger than ever.
Don Baker, KU sports information director, heralded its return with a grim note: "There is no doubt that we have plans to replace that fence."
He said plans call for the fence replacement to be finished next fall. The current chain link fence, which somehow manages to serve its purpose, will be replaced, according to Baker, with "something that would be aesthetically appealing."
Perhaps out of state pride, the athletics department will use sunflowers as their greenery. Why not? The whole purpose of the project is to make the fence "aesthetically appealing." What crimson-blooded Jayhawk could object to the state flower adorning the south end of beautiful Memorial Stadium?
A notable change in the fence project concerns funding. Whereas last fall's
proposal would have used some student funds for the fence replacement, the athletics department has generously agreed this time to pay the bill, which is estimated at $15,000 to 20,000.
"The fence," Baker said, "is not intended to block anyone's view."
BY DOING that, it is thought, all legitimate student opposition to the project will be eliminated. In line with this attitude, it is said the fence is designed only as landscape improvement. It is simply to help beautify the stadium.
NO ACTION will be taken on the proposal until it is approved by the Athletics Board and Chancellor Archie R. Dykes. It can only be hoped that both will see the project's wastefulness, and reject it.
Nevertheless, the project still reeks as a waste of money. The athletics department and the University would benefit more if the $15-20,000 was funneled into scholarship funds for neglected sports such as track and field, gymnastics and swimming, instead of being used to build a more beautiful fence.
A new fence seems unjustified when compared with athletic program improvement, but that doesn't seem to matter to the athletics department. The stadium fence is to be a lesson to students in the power structure at KU. Guess who is at the bottom?
Grade appeals court merits approval
It's been almost a year since the idea of a grade appeals court came to the University of Kansas. It's still that: an idea. A grade appeals court has neither been established nor denied.
It's time to take action.
Last fall, the Student Senate's Academic Affairs Committee discussed and wrote legislation for a grade appeals procedure.
What added credibility to the idea was that the proposed court at KU was to be modeled after an established one: a lawyer who had served as the commissioner.
But Leben, whose term as president was nearly finished,
sent the petition back to SenEx unchanged, saying the
Senate probably wouldn't have time to work on the petition
that supposing.
After lengthy debate, SenEx gave the petition back to Steve Leben, then student body president, asking that it be approved.
In December, the Senate approved the petition, after it was rewritten. From there, the petition was referred to the University Senate Executive Committee, which is composed of student and faculty members of the University
IN NOVEMBER, the Academic Affairs committee wrote the original petition and issued it to the full Senate.
It was then that action on the proposal began to slow down.
LEBEN WAS WRIGHT. After a new Senate was installed last spring, action would have been slow. But the Senate's action, which has
The Wichita State court, which was established several years ago, handles only a few cases each year. Students who want to appeal grades must go through several steps before reaching the court and most cases are solved before proceeding.
SenEx reconsidered the petition and in late March referred it to the University Council's Academic Policies and Procedures Committee, which shelved the petition until fall.
After a summer of committee inactivity, Mike Harper,
student body president said last week he hoped the petition
to abolish the GI bill.
According to the policies and procedures committee chairman, Thurston Moore, the petition will be dealt with this semester, but he isn't sure when. The committee didn't know until the spring because it received it late in the semester, he said.
He agreed the petition was important, but said he couldn't describe it as one of the committee's priority items.
UNIVERSITY COUNCIL committees are organizing and the Academic Policies and Procedures committee will hear its charges at its first meeting, which Moore said he hoped will be this week.
Harper, a member of the committee, said he would make sure the issue was brought before the committee.
"I don't know what will happen with it unless we stay on ton of it," he said.
What the committee will discuss is whether such a court
is needed at KU and whether grades might be appealed through the University Judiciary.
Among the judiciary's powers are the traffic and parking
count, academic freedom and faculty tenure.
Because the University code is vague, it isn't certain whether grade appeals come under the judiciary's jurisdiction. At least academic procedures and policies should clarify the code.
EVEN IF the committee finds the judiciary can handle it, Harper said, a separate court still should be appointed.
"The University Judiciary deals with too many things," he said last spring. "It's not solely to deal with academic matters. It's time for a university of this size to take on the issue of rude anneals."
Separating the court from the judiciary also should be an assurance that grade grade appeal can be dealt with ef-
Moore said the committee would discuss the powers that William Balfour, University ombudsman, has in grade appeals. Balfour has supported the grade appeals court since its first mention.
AS OMBUDSMAN, Balfour has said, he can talk to the student and instructor and get them to start discussions.
After months of indecision and little action, other than passing the buck, it appears the grade appeals court may yet be established. At any rate, Harper and Moore have promised to deal with it.
It's time for a grade appeals court to be established at KU—even if, as it should, it benefits only a few students.
Students shouldn't have to walk through another semester not knowing anything can be done when they have
Begin's uncertain positions threaten chances for peace
BY COLIN LEGUM N.Y. Times Feature
JERUSALEM-Menchem Begin approaches the Camp David summit strongly apprehensive that he will face not one but two people who are seeking to unmake his premiership.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat has made no secret of his belief that Begin is the main obstacle to peace, and that no progress can be achieved without interest in cultivating the friendship of Israel's defense minister, General Ezer Weizman, and the opposition leader, Shimon Peres. He has set the tone for Egyptian attacks vilifying Begin the terrorist.
But does President Carter also share Satad's opinion that Begin is an insurmountable stumbling block in the search for peace? It is the firm impression of Begin's closest associates, including Moshe Davan, that he does.
for a Palestinian homeland, and a return to the 1967 borders with only minor changes— are regarded by the Israeli government and, as harmful to Israel interests, as harmful to Israeli interests.
It is clear therefore that Carter must do something to reassure Begin if the Camp David summit is to yield positive results, unless, of course, it is true that he shares
Sadat's despair of getting anywhere with Begin.
THIS VIEW of Carter's position goes so strongly against his public position, which is that he does not wish to dictate in any way to either side, that it comes as a surprise to discover how strongly this allegation is believed by respectable Israeli leaders.
ALTHOUGH AMERICAN officials here disclaim any such campaign, what matters is that Begin and his advisers believe it to be. so Israelis are understandably suspicious of the Galtum and have never been sure of their Carter stands in his attitude toward them.
They say the American Embassy in Tel Aviv is engaged in a CIA operation to undermine Begin. One specific piece of evidence they offer is that before Westman's challenge in the Cabinet, his staff gave dinner parties to six members of Begin's Cabinet. The same orchestrated message was delivered to all: it is time to supply Begin.
opponents, agree that Begin cannot be defeated unless the country is faced with a real choice between peace and security, or rather within the present territorial borders.
This raises the question of whether Begin should be or can be replaced. Despite his reputation as a strong leader, he is without question the weakest prime minister Israel has ever had, and not just because he is a sick man.
Yet most Israeli politicians, including his
His two public commitments—on the need
NOBODY SEEMS to know where Begin stands on Israel's future borders, one issue that remains a challenge.
Pro-abortion arguments ignore many facts of life
In response to John Whitesides' editorial last Wednesday, I object to the generalization of ororing pro-life compassion for compassionate and blind to any vision but their own."
Given the facts that at conception, there exists a fertilized ovum, at nine days nourishment has begun, and that following the continuum to eight weeks, no further organs will be formed, everything is present in those skills that will be found in the full-term baby.
To the editor:
As this will continue to be the case, we need to step behind the misrepresentations and look solely at the issue in question and at our responsibility to it.
Unfortunately, as with other anti-movements, the extreme actions of some do obscure the true philosophy and intent of a great many pro-life advocates.
In light of this information, I believe it is presumptuous to state that a fetus is not a human being and that abortion is therefore morally acceptable Because no one can state with certainty the point at which "humanness" begins, we can only err on the side of mercy in refusing to kill a fetus that might be a human being.
As an anti-abortionist, I would encourage people to inform themselves of all the arguments and facts and to consider the more just alternatives to abortion.
Jill Dausman Yates Center senior
Morality of abortion pro-lifers' concern
To the editor:
*"While professing deep compassion for the unborn child, pro-lifers compassion for the mother are essential."*
You are trying to make living seem unbearable. Isn't it time to stop feeling sorry for yourself? Just because you weren't lucky enough to be one of the aborted, you will just have to endure people that remind you of human, moral obligations.
In the September 6 issue of the University
Daily Kansan. John Whitesides wrote:
"Dear Mr. White,
You seem to miss the whole point of the pro-life movement. The question is not where, when, why or how to have the abortion for a multiplicity of reasons. Not to
UNIVERSITY DAILY letters KANSAN
be confused with legality, the primary question is whether the taking of the child's life is moral. I apologize for being unable to phrase it any milder.
Perhaps upon serious consideration of this you will be able to comprehend the gravity of this question, which until recently was not even a question.
You seem to view pregnancy as a suffering that should not have to be endured, especially in this day and age with the expedition with which the operation may be performed. Why, before you can say it, are you doing so? It is about it. This philosophy is the type promulgated by Huxley in "Brave New World."
Perhaps we should just clean up this mess of code. We'll be taught for conditioning so we won't forget it.
to practice Malthusian drills tomorrow.
Shappar-la.
John Trausen
Overland Park sophomore
John Trausch
Tour would show unclean Smith Hall
To the editor:
It is certain that if Russell Mills and Rodger Oroke toured and inspected (see Page One Kansan article, Sept. 7) Smith Hall, 1300 Oread, they would not be able to give a satisfactory report on the cleanliness of the building.
Floors are rarely swept, waste washets are infrequently emptied, classrooms are frequently left unclean, the building is grubby! The washrooms are usually so dirty they are a health hazard.
Andrea D. Welborn
Sandra D. Department of religious studies
which he appears incapable of making up his mind.
THIS UNCERTAINTY extends even to Begin's oldest clones in his former Herut Party. Some suspect that their old "Commander" will agree to compromise on the West Bank under what they regard as Davan's "evil influence."
The prime minister's Cabinet colleagues appear to be as unassure as outsiders about whether he has changed his ideas about the limits of Israel's territory. Some seem to have formed the tentative impression that Egypt would suggest. They cite the ease with which he and Dayan were prepared to yield up the whole of Sinai once it appeared possible that Egypt would emerge as a peaceful neighbor. Others argue that his hide on the Sinai proves nothing since it is a country in the biblical land of Samaria and Judaea.
What is certainly true is that Dayan's is the only voice Begin listens to on foreign language.
This lack of clarity about Begin's stand on territory obscures the central issue in the search for a peaceful settlement. Do Begin try to prevent the "territory" as inseparable from "security"?
Letters Policy
If they cannot conceive of achieving their security without relinquishing control over most of the West Bank and Gaza then the arguments over border adjustments are irrelevant to the search for a peaceful settlement in the Middle East.
THE ONLY HOPE, therefore, of ever breaking the Middle East deadlock is by concentrating first on the question of Israel's proper security interests. Only when that has been clarified will it be possible to get agreement over the other border with Syria and final borders, a Palestinian homeland and the future of an undivided Jerusalem.
Colin Legan is a correspondent of TheObserver of London and a guest foreign official.
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 affiliated with the university, the writer's class and home town or faculty or staff position. The Kansan reserves the right to edit letters for publication.
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