4 Wednesday, October 10, 1990 / University Daily Kansan Opinion THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Racist vandalism Recent acts of vandalism should renew pursuit to prevent cowardly, discriminatory behavior A mid campus and community-wide efforts to increase cultural and ethnic awareness, several incidences of weekends have proved that we still have a long way to go. By Monday, four reports of the spray-painted letters "KKK" were discovered on buildings and private homes in East LA. Law enforcement was burned in addition to the lettering. Although some evidence suggests that the acts may have been committed by juveniles the effect of the messages should not be discounted. Regardless of the perpetrator, child or adult, the fact remains that an obvious problem still exists and can't be ignored. With this campus recently serving as an active forum against discrimination, it is unfortunate that local vandals could not manifest their hatred and fear publicly, as it is only then that their education will truly begin. These incidents have stirred anger and fear in the community — and rightly so. However, no one was physically injured by these acts, and cans of paint have erased the immediate damage. There is no sense dwelling upon the opinions of individuals whose actions are senseless and unworthy of widespread attention. The ignorance of those who choose to express themselves in this cowardly fashion should not merely offend us, but it should reveal the real reasons to stamp out discriminatory behavior. Buck Taylor for the editorial board Monster of racism Harassment must be reported to be remedied Last semester, an important chain of events made students and administrators listen to the monster of racism that refused to remain silent. must request a warrant. The Alpha Edition of hardcover in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity spurned students to show administration officials that demands for changes were not without merit. However, had a Black pizza delivery employee remained silent about the verbal slurs and physical threat she faced during Spring 1990, students and administrators could have kept their eyes closed and slept a while longer. Aces of racism, prejudice and discrimination take place frequently in the University community. It is imperative that these incidents be reported to keep administrators aware of and in touch with these frightening issues so change can take place and so the best support for victims will be available. "If we're silent about the discrimination we face, then nobody will know, and they won't do anything about it," said Andrea Mangiardi for Students Concerned About Discrimination. Katzman is a member of a cultural diversity task force appointed by the Lawrence City Commission to collect information about discrimination in order to determine the climate at KU, Haskell Indian Junior College and in the city. The task force is planning forums in which people can talk about the different types of discrimination they face. The task force will recommend to the city, KJ and Haskell. "There is no way people will do anything unless they realize the scope of the problem," Katzman said. We must continue to speak out and demand change. To report incidents of harassment, intimidation or discrimination, call: University Orbudsman, 864-465- University Information Center, 864-5306 To report harassment because of sex, race, nationality, age, physical disability, sexual orientation, or cell phone. nationality, age, physical disability, sexual orientation or religion, call: Office of Affirmative Action, 864-3686 Office of Minority Affairs, 864-3685 Office of Foreign Student Services, 864 3617. Carol B. Shiney for the editorial board Access for disabled University should strive to improve accessibility The opening of the Lawrence Indian Arts Show at the Museum of Anthropology in Spooner Hall last month reminded some that the University of Kansas is not completely accessible for physically disabled people and requires wheelchair ramps, lacks elevators to allow physically disabled people access to the entire exhibit. Too many campus buildings do not comply with section 504 of the national Rehabilitation Act. Passed in 1973, the Act requires equal access to all University sponsored programs and services. That translates into the need for wheelchair ramps, elevators, automatic doors, handrails, curb cuts, upgraded restrooms and widened doorways. The list of buildings lacking adequate accessibility is lengthy. The third and fifth floors of Dyche Hall can be reached only by staircases. Carruth-O'Leary Hall and the Military Science Building lack elevators. Murphy Hall has a similar problem, leaving the entire department of theatre design, including a design studio, costume shop and stage, inaccessible to students requiring wheelchairs. On the other hand, the University has made great strides in accessibility during the past two decades. Renovation projects in the Kansas Union, Snow Hall and Lippincott Hall brought those buildings up to federal code requirements. KU on Wheels, funded by Student Senate, provides on-campus transportation to physically disabled students. Allen Field House provides a specially disabled individuals and their guests. The recently constructed Doole Human Development Center, Anschutz Science Library and campus parking facilities offer the most modern accessibility to students, faculty and staff. Every year projects that improve everything from campus restrooms are planned by the Facilities Planning Office and completed by Facilities Operations. The improvement process is a long and costly one. The bidding process for state funds can take as long as six months, as it requires automatic doors installed in Summerfield Hall. But the 17-year-old law approaches adulthood. We urge the University to apply it with greater vigor. FELCH UNIVERSITY DAILY HAWK Homophobia endangers Scout morals I was saddened to read the comment by Andrew Kenyon in Monday's Kansan, in which he said that having gay men as Soutmasters or as other healthy, functional role models was absurd and contrary to the bylaws of the Boy Squats of America. While neither male nor a Boy Squat, I believe this issue is in danger of becoming clouded by the fact that the American Civil Liberties Union is enjoining a private organization to change its policy regarding homophobia. I issue isn't about the rights of private organizations; it's about overcoming institutionalized homophobia. Most offensive to me is Kenyon's insistence on perpetrating the myth that all gay men have a propensity to molest children. He even has the audacity to call this position common sense. Child welfare researcher E. P. Serafino estimated in the book, "Looking at Gay and Lesbian Life," that 92 percent of all child sexual abuse cases are heterosexual, i.e., men molesting female children. Also, Kenyon may have not considered that some of the factors leading to sexual abuse are an abuser's need to feel a sense of power over his partner. This could prevent him would allow healthy relationships with adults and frustration at being Liz Massey Guest columnist sexually abused themselves. None of these are problems restricted to any one sexual orientation. Kenyon also ignores that boys of all sexual orientations have been, are now, and will continue to be Boy Scouts. The only thing an anti-gay bias toward Scouts and Scouting leaders does is teach these young boys and men to hate a part of themselves. Does that promote physical, mental or moral fitness? I think not. Consider the positive aspects of accepting openly gay Scotmasters. Perhaps boys of all sexual orientations might learn tolerance for persons different from themselves. Gay Boy Scouts could learn much in the way of moral and emotional fitness from experience, in being strong, mentally sharp and who also happens to be in a committed relationship with another man. By continuing to not only ignore but actively advocate discrimination against a minority group that is less likely to participate, a percent of its members, the Boy Scouts of America is by example promoting unhealthy moral development. I have spent three of my four college summers as a counselor in resident and day camps in the Kansas City area and I couldn't agree more with Mr. Kenyon that capable, healthy adult role models are essential in assuring a good camping experience as well as promoting a child's character development. However, I believe character is not affected one way or the other by sexual orientation. Gay and straight people can learn much from each other when they don't let stereotypes surrounding affectional preferences get in the way I do not believe youth organizations lower their standards, as Mr. Kenyon insists, when they acknowledge and accept gay people in their ranks. Such groups do lower their moral standards, because they promote ignorance and uphold heterosexuality as the only morally acceptable sexual orientation. I support the ACLU's actions. In my view, encouraging homophilia is a greater danger to character development than exposing homosexuality ever could be. Liz Massey is a Mission senior majoring in journalism. Voting: it beats washing the dishes Today is Wear Blue Jeans If You Don't Don'T vote Day. It didn't be to be announced because only 20 have been invited to Allen Field House in the last election. The fact that so few students bother to vote in the town they will likely spend the best four to eight years of their lives indicates that KU either has an abnormally large number of commuters or that students have some Oedipal reflex to let others make their decisions for them. Society as a mother figure — quite a concept. Sean Swindler Because of this psychological abnormality, I propose what I like to call the "nose ordinance": every KU student will have their nose pierced and pin that says "I didn't vote." Only upon voting will this pin be removed. Guest columnist It's painful, it's ugly and it will probably cause massive cases of nose infection, but nobody ever said democracy had to be pretty. With all the non-voters singled out, it will be easy for those of us with normal noses to impose some stiff societal penalties for not voting: mouthing the noise ordinance, split the cost among your non-voting guests. Had more KU students voted in the last two elections, city commissioners would have been elected that day. But in ordinance single out students, but that it comes mighty close to being unconstitutional. Hosts, when your party is fined for Students, when your Physics 113 class (Applied Abstract Vector Gradients for Geniuses) is taught by a 21-year-old English Lt graduate (the $47 an hour tutor you'll surely need among the non-voters in the class. After all, had KU students voted in larger numbers in 1986, Mike Hayden would not have been given the same Excellence and drive all our professors to the University of North Carolina. Nature lovers, when you wake up one morning in the near future, decide to follow the south Lawrence bypass to the nearest wetlands and get hit by a bus while looking for cattails. Split the cost of hospitalization and/or burial/cremation with all your non-voting peers. If more KU students vote in the next election, the proposed South Lawrence trafficway will be defeated, and a unique and valuable wetland will be preserved. Future residents, when your child is struggling in a high school with a 68.1 student/teacher ratio, blame only yourself for not voting. Without KU support, the bond issue for a second high school in Lawrence will be defeated, destroying one of KU's most valuable resources: a community with a strong and vital school system. Don't make us stick pins in our noses. To register to vote, stop by one of the tables scattered around campus in places so convenient you'd have to be an apathetic masochist to miss 'em. Sean Swindler is a Lawrence senior majoring in education. KANSAN STAFF DEREK SCHMIDT Editor DEREK SCHMIDT Editor KJERSTIN GABRIELSON Managing editor TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser Editors Editors News Julie Mettenburg Editorial Mary Neubauer Planning Pam Solliner Campus Holly Lawton Sports Brent Maycock Photo Andrew Morrison Features Stacy Smith Business staff MARGARET TOWNSEND Business manager MINDY MORRIS Retail sales manager JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser Campus sales mgr. Chris Doolan Regional sales mgr. Jackie Schmalzmed National sales mgr. David Price Co-op sales mgr. Deborah Salzer Production mgr. Missy Miller Production assistant Jule Axland Marketing director Audra Langlund Creative director Gail Einbinder Letters should be typed, double spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's name, title, address, phone number, e-mail address, or a brief bio. The writer must include class and hometown, or faculty and staff position. Letters should also include a description of the 200 words. The writer will be contacted by email at letter@usg.edu. couset columns should be typed, double spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be reorganized. The Kanan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, goon column and cartoons. They can be maligned or brought to the Kanan newsroom, 111 Staircase-Flim Hall. Letters, column and cartoons are the opinion of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Kanan. Editorials are the opinion of the Kanan editorial board. Three Imaginary Girls Bv Tom Avery