OPINION
November 29,1984
Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1880 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Dalkan Kannon, USPS 600-640 is published at the University of Kansas, Kansas Staffer Flint Hall Lawn, Kanon 6045, daily during the regular school year and Wednesday and Friday during the summer session, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and final periods. Second-class postage paid at Lawrence Kanon 6044 Subscriptions by mail are $1 for six months or $2 for a year in Douglas County and $1 for six months or $3 for a year in Douglas County. Mail addresses to POSTMASTER. Send address changes to the University Dalkan Kannon, 181 Staffer Flint Hall, Lawn, Kanon 6045
DON KNOX Editor
PAUL SEVART VINCE HESS Managing Editor Editorial Editor
DOUG CUNNINGHAM
Campus Editor
SUSANNE SHAW
General Manager and News Adviser
DAVE WANAMAKER Business Manager
LYNNE STARK MARY BERNICA Retail Sales National Sales Manager Manager
JILL GOLDBLATT Campus Sales Manager
JOHN OBERZAN Sales and Marketing Adviser
Time to talk
Everybody knows that talk is cheap. So why did the United States and the Soviet Union decide last week to meet in Vienna in early January for preliminary negotiations on arms control?
armis control. Secretary of State George Shultz is to meet with Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko for two days of wide-ranging talks. The announcement comes a year after the Soviets walked out of negotiations in Geneva on limiting long- and medium-range missiles.
Whatever brings them together this time is anybody's guess, and Kremlin-watchers are scrambling to figure it out. President Reagan might be inclined to think that his initiative to develop a defense system in space, including weapons to destroy satellites, has humbled the proud bear to the table. The Soviets have indicated a special interest in the anti-satellite plans. Or perhaps it was Reagan's decision to go ahead with the deployment of Pershing-2 missiles in Europe. He has certainly held the hard line.
Europe. He has certainly held the hard ground. So why go to the table? If presidential saber-rattling humbled the bear, it would have done so months ago. But the Soviets did not take a serious interest in talking with the United States until about four weeks before the presidential election, according to a New York Times story last week. That's when it became clear to even the Soviets that Reagan would be re-elected. And the prospect of four more years of icy relations is something the Soviets apparently decided they did not want to risk.
they bid him havoc.
Robert McFarlane, the president's national security adviser, said last week that "we enter the talks in January in the spirit of honest compromise and getting results." Reagan said the Geneva meetings would be "the first step on what will be a long and difficult road." Great expectations for the early rounds are not in order, however, given the insecure position of Soviet president Konstantin U. Chernenko within the Soviet bureaucracy and the hawkish stance Reagan has maintained.
Conventional wisdom holds that nuclear proliferation continues with or without arms negotiations. But if the Geneva talks can take the edge off the hardened rhetoric we heard so much of lately, they will have served their purpose. Maybe talk isn't so cheap after all.
Majority leader
Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kan., who only days before the voting for Senate majority leader had sounded pessimistic about his chance of winning, came through in the clutch.
As he has so often in the past, Dole, 61, succeeded when the odds seemed stacked against him.
odds seemed stacked against Dole was a pre-med student at the University of Kansas when he enlisted for World War II. He suffered a shattered right arm and a broken neck from a German machine-gun burst, and was in the hospital 39 months. His right arm is partially paralyzed. His wife took notes for him when he attended law school at Washburn University, and he was elected to the Legislature as a law student. Then he returned to his hometown, Russell; won election as county attorney; was elected to Congress in 1960, and ran successfully for the Senate in 1968.
He was chairman of the Republican National Committee when the Watergate burglary occurred, but survived the political fallout afterward. In 1976, as vice presidential candidate under Gerald Ford, his blunt remarks during the campaign gave him a reputation as a hatchetman.
campaign. In 1980, he became chairman of the Finance Committee, and has been a key figure in legislation on taxes and the federal budget deficit. He has already announced his plan to run for re-election to the Senate in 1986; he is rumored as a presidential contender for 1988.
Dole has quite simply had a remarkable career. Amid all his activity, he has maintained close ties with people throughout the state. He has visited Lawrence and the University often; in October he was here to promote the Human Development Center, for which he helped secure $9 million in federal funds. The center, to be built on campus, will focus on research and training for the handicapped.
Dole might be tempted in his new role to forget Kansas or use his position to stage a campaign for 1988. He has said, however, that his priority in his new position would be the deficit. With a high position comes great responsibility. Dole has proved over the years that he is capable; the nation will benefit if he succeeds once again, this time as Senate majority leader.
The University Daily Kansan invites individuals and groups to submit guest columns. Columns should be typewritten and double-spaced and should not exceed 625 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. Columns can be mailed or brought to the Kansan office, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject columns.
GUEST COLUMNS
Sometime between the first day of class and today, the leaves have fallen.
'Fall had passed by without me'
I know I must have walked through the piles of fallen leaves during my daily trips to campus, but somehow I don't remember ever scuffing through the leaves as I have done in the past.
it was as if I woke up this morning and fall had passed by without me. Fall is my favorite season. The cool air and the brilliant colors seem to revitalize everything after the long hot summer.
How it passed without my notice was beyond my understanding. When I first came to KU, I took the long route home to walk down by the Campanile and Potter Lake. I took the notice and enjoy the world around me.
Ah, but like the seasons, I too have changed
I oay I take the shortest, most accessible path. Following the same route I have taken for years, rarely do I remember anything special about my daily journey — and often don't remember even the walk itself.
Yesterday as I walked to class in my reverie, a small group of women clustered in front of Wescoe caught my eye.
my eyes.
I smirked as I watched one tell her friends the latest gossip. Her animated gestures and glowing eyes led me to my first thought — FRESHMAN.
The scene was intriging. I slowed my pace to unobtrusively study the foursome longer. They had those obvious traits — impeccable dress, not a hair out of place and cheerful expressions.
They have to be freshmen. I thought
my observations were confirmed when one said, "I think you do your computer enrollment in Hoch." Yes, they were freshmen.
I relished that moment. As a senior, picking out freshmen has become one of my favorite pastimes. It is a game that most uppersclassmen indulge in as a form of ego gratification.
As I continued past the group toward my class, the scene kept racing through my mind. There was a message in what I had just witnessed, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was.
mind, but an uncomfortable feeling persisted. With much relief, I arrived at the door of my class.
BETH
BRAINARD
Staff Columnist
As I glanced around the room, the scene was very familiar. Tired
faces, ratty sweats and the always essential baseball hats. I was back in my element. I was with upperclassmen. Then the message that evaded me earlier began to become clearer.
For the past two years I've enjoyed chastising young, unsuspecting freshmen within the confines of my mind and never really understood my motivations. For the first time, I was beginning to understand.
anticipation that we all once had when we came to KU. Two emotions that are not as common with juniors and seniors.
It is not the freshmen who bother
me, but rather what they represent.
They have an air of excitement and
Granted, so much is new to them that their excitement is justified. However, for some reason as the years have passed, I have lost that air. Today I am less affected by the world around me, and in short, my life is becoming very routine.
Freshmen have something we all once had and often wish we never lost.
I'll bet they saw the leaves.
Sex bias lives on in unusual ways
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
mother took during pregnancy I assert that I am also protected by such policies from discrimination based on the fact that I am neither male nor female.
The University of Kansas commits itself to the elimination, in all University activities, of discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, disability, national origin, age (as specified by law), ancestry, marital status, parental status, sexual preference and Vietnam veteran status.
yet I am routinely subjected to such discrimination and harassment in the course of any facet of everyday
Everyone knows that a policy prohibiting "discrimination on the basis of sex" prohibits discrimination against men or women on the basis of being men or women. But this is only a partial interpretation. I happen to be neither a man nor a woman, most likely as a result of steroids that my
The University of Kansas Bulletin
These noble-sounding words are intended to assure fair and equal treatment of all students. Its purpose is not just to protect members of specific minority groups that have been discriminated against in the past, but to make membership in any minority group irrelevant to the way an individual is treated by an institution.
SIMHA RUBEN
Guest Columnist
I encountered this problem when I applied for a, Guaranteed Student Loan at KU. In accordance with federal law, I signed a statement certifying that I was not required to be registered with the Selective Service. The problem arose when I was told that the application could not be processed unless I indicated why I was not required to register
life that requires filling out a form and indicating one's sex.
The U.S. Congress has determined that only males must register; therefore, as a non-male. I am not required to register The U.S. Department of Education, however, has not included this reason on its form. The only sex-related reason it allows
reads. "I am a female." Because I am not a female, I cannot indicate this as my reason.
When I explained this to the appropriate University officials, I was at first told that my application could not be processed and that I could not receive a student loan. I pointed out that this constituted illegal discrimination based on my sexual status, and was told, "You have to be a male or a female to allege sex discrimination."
Later, I was informed that officials of the Selective Service would make a decision about my obligation to register if I provided them with a copy of my birth certificate. I refused, on the grounds that Selective Service officials have no business making such decisions, and that birth certificates are not required from loan applicants who are female, or from applicants who claim to be exempt from registration for other reasons.
I have been advised by a number of people, including attorneys and a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union, to provide the birth certificate or to claim that I am a female. Their reasoning is that this would be easier and more expedient than insisting that the Department of Education act in accordance with Title IX regulations.
This is undoubtedly true; it would also be easier and more expedient for a black family not to move into a
white neighborhood, for a female student to major in nursing instead of engineering, and for the holder of unpopular political views to refrain from expressing those views in public. It was my understanding that civil rights status maintained by ACLU existed to protect the rights of individuals who choose not to sacrifice self-expression for expediency.
EXPRESSION
The Office of Student Financial Aid has made numerous calls to Washington, D.C. on my behalf, and has now assured me that an understanding has been reached with the Department of Education The processing of my loan application should begin within the next week or two.
It has been almost three months since I submitted the application. The undue delays and complications I have encountered in connection with this loan, all of which have been inflicted on me solely because of my sexual status, are an example of the type of discrimination that civil rights legislation is designed to prevent
it such statutes are not applied equally to all people who encounter discrimination at any time, they have failed in their purpose, and this nation has failed in its mission to be a land of liberty and equal opportunity for all.
Simha Ruben is a Lawrence special student.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Compromise involves two opposing views
To the editor:
In response to the letter by Keith Hayes and Jim Clark (Nov. 26, "Campus Democratic group needs spirit of compromise, not bitterness"), I must first remark that as a former student in Political Science 111, I know that the claims of a current long-term economic recovery and of America's becoming stronger and more respected in world affairs over the past four years are debatable.
These debates, however, will continue only as long as people are permitted to have different points of view.
Hayes and Clark talk of compromise; compromising, however, does not mean laying down one's beliefs and taking up those of the opposition. Walter Mondale and Geraldine Fer-
raro both vowed in their concession speeches to continue fighting for the causes they believe in. As College Young Democrats, we will continue to fulfill our duty as U.S. citizens who love this country to provide healthy competition and opposition to the Republicans.
Compromise involves two opposing views in which each side concedes a little in order that each can attain some of its goals. Not speaking out for what we believe to be right is not compromise, but instead the abandonment of the people and the causes for which we stand.
President Reagan's victory gives him even more reason to exist and to become actively involved in the political process. I could only justify my claim that in six months people will feel differently about
Reagan with my strong belief that he is detrimental to civil rights, the environment, sustained economic growth and world peace. Without the pressure of another election, Reagan will feel free to implement policies that would have been politically damaging in his first term.
In their letter, Hayes and Clark displayed a bit of confusion in regard to the definition of "imperialism." There is a big difference between the application of economic sanctions to show our opposition to racist and oppressive regimes, such as those in South Africa and the Philippines (Carter-Mondale policy), and the Reagan administration approach of military intervention, terrorism (the CIA's mining of harbors and the CIA handbook) and direct intervention in the affairs of sovereign nations
These actions of the Reagan administration have been based solely on whether we perceived a country as being Communist.
College Young Democrats had an active part in the fall campaign. Many of our members met Mondale, Ferraro, Jesse Jackson and even Reagan, as well as many other prominent figures. Our efforts in educating voters here at the University helped achieve a significant turnout for Monday on this campus (including carrying the preincet that included JHP, GSP and Corbin). We are proud of our success thus far, and we will continue to be "a force to be reckoned with."
Kirstin Myers
Shawnee sophomore,
president.
College Young Democrat