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Thursday, October 4, 1990/ University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Finney's call to provide 'immediate treatment' no viable option for victims of rape and incest
Women are fortunate Joan Finney did not become a gynecologist. Women and families are lucky she opted against a career in counseling. But voters are stuck with her as a politician.
Last week, Finney, the Democratic nominee for governor, emerged from her bunker of silence and spoke her mind about abortion She forgot to think first.
A strong opponent of abortion, Finney asserted that women who were victims of rape or incest had an alternative to seeking an abortion.
"Treatment," she said when asked to specify the alternative. "Immediate treatment. Immediate hospital treatment."
Such treatment does exist and is not considered abortion, according to John Calkins, interim chairperson of the obstetrics-gynecology department at the University of Kansas Medical Center. It involves the prescription of several birth control pills during the two days after intercourse. The high hormone levels prevent ovulation or prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the wall of the uterus. But he said the treatment did not always work.
Though medically feasible, Finney's proposal would be folly as public policy.
It's socially insensitive. For the treatment to work, a woman who was raped or was the victim of incest would have to report the crime immediately. But many people are hesitant to report these intimate crimes because they fear a stigma. Victims who
hesitated would be out of luck
The proposal is a legal nightmare. Investigators have to prove that a rape or case of incest occurred. That investigation would have to conclude within about a day so immediate treatment could begin. Hasty judgments beget errors.
The idea is impractical. If Finney's proposed treatment is the only way a woman could stop pregnancy after intercourse, false reports of rape and incest surely would be made. The result would be to waste valuable police time and to needlessly accuse innocent people.
rney's proposal would drag politics into counseling offices, treatment centers and criminal justice. It is inane.
But Finney didn't stop with one outlandish comment. She also asserted that improving women's economic standing would give them the power to stop incest in their homes. But incest knows no economic bounds; rich and poor alike become victims.
Except to say that they reflected only her personal views, Finney has failed to defend her statements. That's expected. Her statements are indefensible.
Peggy Jarman, a founder of the ProChoice Action league, said Finney's comments proved she was not smart enough to be governor. That was the most intelligent statement to come out of this affair.
Derek Schmidt and Kjerstin Gabrelison for the editorial board
Necessary evil
Increase in sales tax prepares city for progress
lawrence voters recently proved that raising taxes is sometimes the only option.
way to achieve results Aug. 7 primary, residents improved a sales increase that was initiated to upgrade the service of the city police and fire departments.
Nearly 65 percent of the voters, or 6,808 people, approved the half-cent increase, which this week increased the city-state sales tax to 5.25 cents for each dollar. The tax increase is expected to raise $2.7 million in the first year.
Both the police and fire departments have
been operating well below ideal staffing levels. Measures had to be taken to rectify the potentially dangerous shortfall. Of the $2.7 million estimated revenue, $1,465 million will be used to hire and equip 27 police officers and nine firefighters. The remainder of the money collected will be used to reduce city property taxes by five mills in 1990.
We support the Lawrence voters who favored this increase. All city residents use these services and thereby should be expected to support them to guarantee quality service when it is needed most.
Buck Taylor for the editorial board
Souter on trial?
Hearings should focus on intellect, not opinions
W when former New Hampshire attorney general and state Supreme Court justice David Souter was named Tuesday as the newest addition to the Supreme Court of the United States, moderates across the nation rejoiced.
Souter's two days of testimony before the Senate had generated a considerable amount of criticism from those who wanted to know his views about abortion. Because Souter will replace retiring associate justice and court activist William Brennan, the committee's confirmation worries leading abortion rights
advocates. Souter holds the key to overturning the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that prevents a state from restricting a woman from an abortion during the first six months of pregnancy.
This week's approval reminds us that Souter is a judge, not a politician, and should not be subjected to questions more appropriate during a legislative campaign.
Intellect and knowledge of the law, not political orientation and opinions, should be the defining criteria for judicial appointment, and in this case, was.
Sally Gibbs for the editorial board
our own Kansan. I can offer no more fitting a bueltion to Julie Mettenburg's Monday column than a letter to the editor from the Sept. 24 Time. Mettenburg "expresses the stereotypical myth of (White) American culture; applauds talent, intelligence. We can suspect that the audience about the woman who is making one-third less than a man for doing the same work, or a Black man with a college education earning 26 percent less than a
The backlash against the gains of affirmative action now appears in
Inequalities still remain
college-educated White man, or a family that is excluded from a particular neighborhood, or the professionals who cannot join the club because they are of the wrong religion or race? Our right to participate fully in this land of opportunity is being denied because some of us are perceived as being inferior and not quite human."
Thomas J. Berger associate director of affirmative action
KANSAN STAFF
DEREK SCHMIDT
Editor
MARGARET TOWNSEND
Risease manager
KJERSTIN GABRIELSON
MAGAZINE EDITOR
MINDY MORRIS Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Editors
Business manager
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
Business staff
TOM EBLEN
Editors
News. Julie Mettenburg Campus sales mgr. Cindy Disol
Editorial Mary Neubauer Regional sales mgr. Jackie Schmalzmar
Planning Pam Solnier National sales mgr. David Price
Campus Holly Lawton Co-op sales mgr. Deborah Salzer
Sports. Brent Maycock Production mgr. Missy Miller
Photo. Andrew Morrison Marketing director. Audra Langford
Features. Stacy Smith Creative director. Gail Embirider
Letters should be typed, double spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Kansas must include class and hometown, or faculty or staff position.
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photographed.
They receive the right to reject or edit letters, go column, columns. They can be mixed or brought to the Kansasan newsroom, 111 Suffer Flunt Hall, Letters, columns and cartoons are the opinions of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Kansasan. Editorials are the opinion of the Kansasan editorial board.
Don't mix Appalachia and Logic
The other day I was finally able to get the last word in my friend Phil O' Logic, which is a tough feat because he is one of those puff-b头顶ed, die-hard sensible men. You know, the type who utilizes math equations to find out how long the hand soap will last before they have to go and buy more.
Anyway, it was a day to be recorded in my memoirs. It started with Logic asking me what I had done over the
"I tutored illiterate adults in the Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky," I proudly said, waiting for his approval.
It didn't come. Instead I was given the third degree.
"I thought you were majoring in journalism and Econ-
sistry."
"I am," I replied, a bit puzzled as to the direction in which the conversation was headed.
"Well, then, how can you teach when you have no background in education?"
"Although it is true that I have no formal education in teaching, you must remember that I am quite familiar with the English language because I am majoring in English and journalism."
"Well, I can see that those qualifications would be a valuable asset when grading papers, but I assume that more qualified tutors did the teaching."
What do you mean by "question degree" or "degree in education"? The nuns who ran the program did "in education." I offered a question and answer.
What do you mean by qualified? I stalled.
"How about the other tutors?"
How about the other tutor's?
"What about them?" I blithely asked.
"Did they have college degrees in education?" Logic asked, emucinating each word.
"Well, did they?" Logic persisted
"Look. Some of them didn't even have high school degrees, all right? You don't understand how economically depressed this area is. Now can we drop this college business?"
"You're right. After all, what do those people expect after dropping out of high school - professionals?"
Who said they dropped out? "I just assumed that the people being tutored were adults and illiterate because they had dropped out of high school."
"What!" Logic yelped. "Oh, that's rich. High school dropouts are teaching high school graduates.
"Well, you assumed wrong. I said smuggly. "Almost all of the students graduated from high school."
"So why is the education system so screwed up? Lack of proper teaching equipment?"
Merceda Ares
Guest columnist
"No. As a matter of fact, they have some up-to-date equipment, such as VCRs and computers."
Home Remedies
"Well then, that only leaves one thing: a shortage of teachers."
"No, there are plenty of large families in Kentucky."
"What do large families have to do with having enough"
"money?"
"Where else are they going to find more teachers except from the relatives of the teachers already teaching?" I replied, reveling in the fact that, for once, Logic was dependent on me for the answers.
"Wow!" Logic exhaled. "There must be a large concentration of wealth in that area to be able to send all those people to college."
"Who said anything about college?" I asked, surprised.
"You can't tell me that the teachers in the public schools don't even have college degrees." Logic asserted, trying one last time to gain control of the conversation.
"Look. We've been all through this college thing." I said, growing a bit perturbed. "How many times do I have to tell you that college doesn't have anything to do with education in that area?"
Logic sighed.
"Why isn't the state doing something about the problem?" he asked.
"They're waiting until they find something better to replace it with."
Logic just walked away, shaking his head, leaving me with the sweet taste of victory.
"They are. In fact, just a few months ago the Kentucky courts accused the education system in Kentucky illegal funding for public schools."
and that "That's a good start," Logic said approvingly. "What new system have they implemented?"
"So why haven't they thrown it out?" Logic asked slowly, slowly trying to maintain his cool.
"But I thought you said their current education system was declared illegal."
> Merceda Ares is a Russell senior majoring in English and journalism.
The football and basketball programs were charged in May with 10 violations, including a lack of institutional control, improper cash payments to players and improper salary supplements. The university admitted to all of the charges except for the lack of institutional control.
The NCAA dropped that charge in August.
The NCAA has put the University of Florida football and basketball programs on probation for two years, with the goal of increasing a stiff penalty, it is not stiff enough.
Other Voices
Florida's price too low
The basketball program was stripped of two scholarships for the 1991-92 season and one scholarship for the 1992-93 season. In addition to requiring the Florida basketball program to pay back its income from the team, it also required that the NCAA Committee on Infractions ordered the school to delete the records of Vernon Maxwell, the Gators' all-time leading scoring. Maxwell brought sanctions upon his old team by contracting with an agent prior to the completion of his senior year, and the Gators competed in the tournament with an ineligible player, the school must pay back its proceeds.
The football team came off lightly. The team is not restricted from television appearances.
The NCAA should have given a tougher penalty to Florida. In this case, the death penalty was in order. This is not the first time the Gators were placed on probation. The Gators were placed on probation in 1984 for 59 NCA violations.
Imposing such a strict penalty may seem harsh, but it would have sent a stronger message to not only Florida, but also to Hawaii. It cannot be tolerated in a university setting, and that goes for athletics as well.
From the Tennessee Dally Beacon
By Tom Mlchaud
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