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Tuesday, September 4, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Money well spent Tutoring program benefits minority students
A t last, an example of wise spending by the Legislature.
The Youth Educational Services program, developed by the Associated Students of Kansas in 1888, has fulfilled its promise to improve school children with a boost toward success.
By week's end, about five KU students will apply for each of the program's 110 openings. Those selected will tutor grade school, junior high and high school students in Lawrence. Topeka and Kansas City, Kan.
The simple success of YES, said Miriam Evans, YES student coordinator, is this: College students, paid $4.25 an hour for tutoring here and 75 cents more an hour for out-of-town assignments, earn money while teaching and offering positive examples to impressionable students. The childrens and teenagers receive special attention that often interests them in learning.
And the three communities in the program receive the services of a talented age group that is otherwise underrepresented in that area.
In addition, YES kindles interest in college among minority students, said Mike Schreiner, student body president; and Cory Anderson, B.B. Men of Today member and YES participant.
Many of the youths targeted for YES are minorities, such as the participants at New York Elementary School and East Heights
Elementary School. Those students often are paired with minority KU students. Successful minority college students, Evans said, leave a lasting impression with the youngsters, many of whom had not considered college before entering the YES program.
The Legislature this year is funding YES with a $5,000 grant to the Board of Regents, which last year was enough to pay for 9,547 hours of tutoring.
In Lawrence alone, about 600 youth will benefit from YES this year.
An ASK evaluation of the program completed during the summer revealed the expected. The schools involved in the program were, by and large, teachers; others are lobbying the Legislature for just that.
The KU lobbyists plan to discuss increased financing with the Legislature's Education Planning Committee late this month or early in October. Schreiner said that he hoped the committee would write a bill supporting further growth of YES.
ASK and Student Senate have shown their support of YES. In fact, Schreiner said the program had required half his office time since he became student body president.
In light of concerns about the quality of education and the small number of minorities on this campus and others, the Legislature should provide money to increase the scope of YES
Rich Cornell for the editorial board
Clarification
Because of an editing error, information was left out of an editorial by Mary Neubauer in Wednesday's Kansas. In the editorial, Neubauer discussed a lawsuit filed against the University of Kansas because of its dumpsite near DeSoto.
The editorial stated that perhaps the more testing by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment could be conducted to confirm plaintiff Jean Martin's fears of dioxane in her well water.
The Kansan apologizes for any misunderstanding this mistake may have caused
The editorial should have read "to confirm or dispel" her fears.
Former mascot in gulf
LETTERS to the EDITOR
EDITOR'S NOTE: William Sheehy,
a former KU mascot, graduated
in 1988 with a bachelor's degree
in political science.
Hello Javhawkers!
hand).
My name is Lt. William Sheehy,
and I am a graduate of the class of
1988, "Year of Champions." I am an
Airborne Infantry Fifteet Platoon
leader with the 82nd Airborne Divi-
cation and is deployed in Saudi
Arabia to protect both the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia and U.S. interests.
My soldiers and I are part of a battalion-size task force. The task force comprises 650 to 700 men; we were the first U.S. soldiers into Saudi Arabia and are currently the furthest north.
The conditions in the country are very different than any of you might suspect. For example, toilet paper is not used. Therefore, it is a custom never to accept or offer anything with one's left hand (the scrubbing
Women are subservient to men. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen a woman since I arrived here. And the temperatures are incredibly high — 122 degrees Fahrenheit in the sun yesterday.
To date, the men of the task force have pulled various security missions of key installations, have continued to prepare themselves for all contingencies of battle and have prepared themselves to the new environment.
I thought you might enjoy this quick note to let you know that the spirit of the Jayhawk has flown from Kansas to North Carolina to Panama and now to Saudi Arabia. Rock Chalk Jayhawk Go KU!
Bill Sheehy Former KU mascot
P. S. for any of you who have friends or relatives over here, here's the address, with an example in parentheses:
Name (Bill Sheehy), social security number (229-17-3262), unit (A Co., 432 AIR5, APO YN. 09656). If you want to send some reading supplies (Sports Novels or novels), there is very short supply or very high demand.
While reading yesterday's Kan萨,
I began to think about this entire issue of capitalizing the letter "B" in Black and what exactly this means. I am a White student, so maybe I do not have the proper perspective on black and what comes to me that there is a large difference between "Black" and "black."
Capital 'B' shows prize
Using myself as an example, if people make some comment about me, whether it be in praise or denigration, and say, "Steven Beauchem, how can you make this person are referring to me. If those people say, "Stephen Beauchem, a
Now, the reason you never see an example like the one above in print (or for that matter, the word "EuroAmerican") is simple: White Americans, for the most part, could not care less about their heritage.
White, they have intentions of making blanket statements concerning the entire Euro-American race.
But we have no interest in finding our roots. Sure, our parents may have mumbled something to us about our great-great-grandparents' nationality at sometime or another, but we certainly do not care about anchoring our past for something to anchor us while we move into the future.
Therefore, I see nothing wrong with granting the African-American nation their request for an uppercase "B" in Black We, as Whites, should be grateful to them for showing us what we have been missing in our lives; pride in our heritage. Let us remember that we are as Blacks fight for a better future.
I only hope that in the future people say, "so-and-so, a Black . . . the blanket statements they are making are indeed positive.
Remembering Mendoza
Steven Beauchem Marksville, Louisiana, junior
I'm writing this in response to Donovan Finn's column about Nikki Mendoza which was featured in the Aug. 28 Kansas. I want to thank him for the column, for I was a close friend of Nikki.'s. And I know how important it is to tell the people you love how much you care for them.
I have very fond and great memories of Nikki, but I also feel like I didn't get to tell her all the things I wanted to. Donovan, I want to tell you that if you treated Nikki with love and kindness while she was alive, then you've shown her your feelings without even knowing it. Nikki was really good at reading people.
Thanks again for writing the editorial. It was a beautiful gesture of appreciation for a beautiful person.
James Baucom, Topeka sophomore
THE FIRST MONEY REQUEST LETTER HOME...
SACMBACSAIR'90
What a child can't understand
at should I be doing?"
Those were the first words Doreen said to me. Unknowwhat to her, the answers to her question were far too complicated for this bright seven-year-old to readily understand.
When I initially turned to find the owner of the frail voice behind me, I was met with radiantly inquisitive, chocolate-brown eyes. The eyes were built into a slightly mishapen yet beautiful face. A closer look revealed two braided pigtails dancing atop a sparkling clean green dress. In Doreen's hand was a frayed ump rope.
As an ambulance attendant, I was waiting for an elevator so I could take her diabetic neighbor to the hospital. Elevators in housing projects are temperate and have a service at all. We were apparently in for a long wait.
Doreen lives on the garbage stench eight floor of a project on Chicago's near north side, about one-quarter mile from Rush Street's tourist bars. Through the chain-link fence erected to protect the residents, the city's dynamic skyline is visible, towering over Lake Michigan.
Real estate magnates have been eyeing the property for years, though none of them would ever enter this business.
The world here is a night-and-day difference from neighborhoods surrounding this high-rise brick complex. In reality, the chain link fences serve as a barrier between the haves and the have-nots. The metal distorts one's perception to that of a caged animal pondering its helpless captivity.
Doreen's mother was at work. She works double shifts as a security guard to pay the bills. Doreen must look after her little brother and do most of the household. She works hard to please her mother, and it shows.
Buck Taylor
Staff columnist
Not knowing me from a stranger, Doreen was turning to my uniform for advice. At the time she had first approached me, I was busy gathering information from my patient. I was caught off guard for the role of guidance counselor. There was no sight of the elevator, and I realized there was so much I wanted to tell her.
Behind her, she dodgy graffiti adorned the bare brick walls. The sickly odor of urine emanated from the stairwell to our left. I wanted to tell her how seven-year-olds should be able to grow up and feel safe jumping rope. But she played with girls I wanted her to know that her brother could play and be a Cub Scout. That is, if they were somewhere else.
I wanted to tell this excited young mind that less than six blocks away, children didn't learn to hit the floor when bullets spray their building. They don't have to learn that. They should never have to learn it.
I wanted to take her with me and show her hallways without caging fences and shooting in the night. She should be a mile away in Lincoln Park at a birthday picnic with her playmates. I wanted to produce the magical childhood that she deserves but tragically will never enjoy.
What should you be doing, Doreen? I wish I could tell you.
Individually, the uniform can't create miracles. ■ Buel Taylor is a Winneke, il. senior major in journalism
Governor race upsets party loyalty
Joan Finney's primary victory earlier this month promises to derail the best hard plans of both sides. The Republican party political machines.
A Democrat whose 15-year career as state treasurer has made little chance for either condemnation or praise. Finney managed to narrowly beat the smug former governor John Carlin, considered by many analysts to have a smooth path to November's general election.
Roger Simms
While Carlin was preparing for a verbal wrestling match with Gov. Mike Hayden this fall, Finn maintenance a low-key campaign based on experience in state-level government and several whistle-stop tours.
Because Carlin never forced Finney into taking an open stance on important issues that would affect
The lack of a vigorous campaign for the Democratic nomination was overshadowed by the media slugged between Hayden and Nestor Weigand Jr., a Wichita businessman With a reputation for real estate industry, Weigand tried to lay waste to Hayden's inability to deal with the property reapraisal "crisis" that protestors confronted state officials with last year. Hardly a smooth talker. Hayden managed to narrowly avoid becoming a lame demon in a campaign through a campaign that fell just short of name-calling.
Staff columnist
the state's voters, her stringent anti- abortion posture was known to few until abortion opponents proclaimed that they would be the day after her primary victory.
Although the difference between a Kansas Democrat and a Kansas Republican may be marginal at best, Republicans have enough to cause a wholesale detection of Democrats, at least in the race for governor. On the other hand, Republican support of Finney, who is the abortion issue, is already evident.
On Aug. 25, James Francisco, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, promised members of the anti-abortion group, Kansasans for Life, at their annual convention, that as governor Finney would sign any bill that restricted abortions. He also promised that she would line-item financing of abortions at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
The Weigand/Hayden battle has left many Republicans in the state dissatisfied with the candidate their party selected, and with good reason.
Hayden has waffled in the face of reappraisal opposition, he has been ineffectual at carrying out campaign prows of four years ago, and he has also been a major force in the Legislature. The conservative Democrat Finney with a strong fiscal background presents an attractive alternative to more conservative voters.
Democratic voters will have an even more difficult choice to make in November. Traditionally, their candidates have supported a woman's right to make a personal decision about abortion.
The ability to understand a wide range of fiscal matters is an important asset for a treasurer, and to some extent for a governor. However, Finney's concern with the botton line looms ominously over agent assistance. Social and Rehabilitation Services provide welfare assistance to families and children—hardly the place to implement program cuts.
Just as many Republicans will opt to vote for Finney, many Democrats will find Hayden the lesser liability in the governor's mansion. Four more years of leadership by the Legislature looks more attractive than four months would see the loss of individual rights and leadership by numbers.
Roger Simms is a Parker senior majoring in English and journalism.
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Home Remedies
By Tom Michaud