November 9, 1984
OPINION
Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University, Daily Kampan USMIS 60-600 is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stutterford Hall Fell Hall. Kampan, 60-600 daily during the regular school year and Wednesday and Friday during the summer session, excluding Saturday, Sunday holidays and finals periods. Second class postage paid at Kampan, 60-600. Subscriptions by mail are $15 for six months or $5 a year in Douglas County and $10 for six months or $1 a year outdoor the county. Student addresses must be submitted to the Office of Admission with a full address changes to the University, Daily Kampan USMIS 60-600
Networking
Ronald Reagan's landslide was announced to viewers of CBS, finally and precisely, at 7:01 p.m. CST Tuesday, at least an hour before polls closed in the western U.S. and long before votes had begun to be tallied.
There was no doubt, the nation was told. Reagan-Bush had captured at least 280 electoral votes. Exit polling had confirmed the result.
And so hundreds or thousands or maybe hundreds of thousands of voters flocked from the polls. But CBS and the other TV networks continued to broadcast, content with surveys and studies that show their exit polling had no discernible effect on the outcome.
Perhaps not
But a non-partisan study group reported Wednesday that early network predictions had a substantial effect on voter turnout, although a record 92.1 million ballots were cast. Broadcasts of a Reagan landslide resulted in fewer votes cast in many states in later time zones, a concern that the group, Committee for Study of the Electorate, calls "voter TV discouragement."
The new study and the old contentions are sure to liven the debate over exit polling, but most solutions proposed so far seem to be a restriction on the freedom of the press. Some have proposed that exit polling be outlawed or at least restricted, others say that the networks should be prohibited from releasing predictions before the polls close in all states.
It's difficult to ask the networks to voluntarily violate their journalistic instincts of getting the story first in order to ensure that our national elections are as fair as can be. But any solution must be just that — voluntary.
At the least, the networks must acknowledge the effect, no matter how slight, that exit polling has on elections and must try to prevent a rerun of 1984. And 1980. And 1976.
Devilish rumor
Jean-Noel Kapferer, a professor at the School for Advanced Business Studies in France, has just established the Foundation for Study and Information About Rumors.
"In spite of what anyone says, people will still believe rumors." Kapterer said. "Psychologically, people believe that reality is not that which is apparent. . . .
"Of 100 people who believe a rumor, perhaps 40 percent can be swayed by presenting the facts."
One can be certain that Procter & Gamble Co. wishes Kaplerer well.
It is a tragic truth that in ignorance there is strength, as the company, which is based in Cincinnati, has learned to its sorrow.
Rumors that the company's moon-and-stars trademark signifies the company is in league with Satan are cropping up again after being dismissed at considerable expense two years ago.
No one seems to know how such idiotic notions get started or spread. Maybe Kapferer can shed some light on that aspect.
The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union
Bedtime for Bozo
WASHINGTON — Bozo the clown may have been a victim of miscasting.
with his orange wig, light bulb nose, floppy shoes and red, white and blue suit, he appeared ideally suited to a politician.
He was a Tip O'Neill look-alike whose name was Tail-tail made for a movie marquee at a Ronald Reagan film festival. "Bedtime for Bozo" would have been a big hit.
Moreover, Bozo had that rare gift of making a 30-minute extemporaneous speech seem like it lasted four hours. Yet, in all the pre-election polls, he wasn't even
DICK WEST United Press International
mentioned. Maybe the country just wasn't ready to have a real clown in the race.
Considering his penchant for verbosity and circumlocution, he probably should have been run over by the reporter's write-in candidate for president.
Near the end of the campaign, Bozo, in real life Larry Harmon, returned to the scene of the crime for a news conference at the Press Club, where he announced his candidacy in March.
He took about 30 minutes to respond to several questions. That was truly a virtuoso performance. His act was fully as impressive as he could, or heard in the Senate chamber, also known as the Cave of the Winds.
Because he campaigned in a "Bozo bus" and wore a clown's makeup and costume, many White House staff and notices White House aspirations seriously.
Bozo patterned himself after Harry Trump and said he had logged more campaign miles than Trumid who in 1948.
"The bus stops here." Bozo asserted at cities he visited.
Incidentally, Truman was a senator before he entered the White House.
Bozo's abilities, as compared to those of Reagan and Walter Mondale, obviously were suspect. The couple of his campaign promises
Among other things, he vowed to eliminate the office of vice president and to support tax reform as a means to reduce human bengs instead of property.
Booz's biggest campaign issue was that only in 36 states and the District of Columbia his name could legally be written in
However, several of the states in which he tried to register his candidacy told him "No way. We had him trained about write-ins, he lamented
"Anyone with the ability should have the opportunity" to be president, reasoned Bozo
Perhaps he would have been less offended if they had told him "No go, Bozo."
Coalition seeks friendship, rights
I expect you to know the difference between style and substance. By polarity, an age of substance will come around. People are moving around too fast Start, slow down, taper off. There is no room for more belliency. Have you noticed the world is always saying something to you? Usually "yes" or "no"? Say, "Yes."
Nathan Collins
... some people still aren't very comfortable distrusting authority. And when authority is that strongest of living room voices, the gargantulectile believer of the tube, some people freak Mellow out. Take the cow by the horn. Some people depend on others to define the world, some people depend on the church, some people depend on the church, and so on an agreed-upon "reality", but verily I tell you I depend on my I-M-A-G-N-A-T-H-A-N. It gets me through the city, and it beeps Pepsi-Cola
For those who must go forward into the future peacefully, without the great official church, who must dream, who must be disillusioned, questioning the day, I tell you there is also no Big Brother; it is a self-creation. We must respect the ways of old and give all of ourselves to our time. It helps to love, and imagine with the heart.
Beyond our calm eye of the storm, we students must feed, cloth, house and heal the future. Be good and fair and patient; accept and adopt and discover and emulate all of the Americas the world’s people know, and prove us prosperous Honest Options Provide Enlightenment
chartered on friendship with no ulterior purposes — only the appreciation of the wonders of the here and now. We shall offer an alternative to remain, belligency and the treatment of others as material objects.
By tomorrow I expect we will all have improved somewhere. I expect
The Beautiful Day Commission is
DAVID NATHAN
SPEAR COLLINS
Beautiful Day Commission
peace to be a living force in Kansas
Lead the way, University of Kansas
Please hear David Spear's mes
sage.
David Spear
Today we make an appeal to everyone in the name of human rights and human dignity. This goes into the core of justice and humanity.
At KU, 52 percent of the students are women; 10 percent of the professors are women, and 10 percent of the high-level administrators are women. Of all professors at KU, 40 percent are women. In exact figures, 366 men earn more than $30,000, and 19 women earn more than $30,000.
These figures are from the report for the Equal Employment Oppor
tunity Commission titled "higher Education Staff Information" (EEO 6) for 1982.
If women in college do not have the opportunity to see role models, what can they use as a base of experience in their lives outside of college?
What must be done for equal representation? What shall be done?
The University would be made stronger with more women as administrators and as professors.
Unite and take part in management and political activity to improve the economic and political status of women.
Vote in elections for the many well-qualified women to lead in local and federal government
Go to the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center in 218 Strong.
Provide assistance to students; help them to organize in order to participate on equal footing in all levels of management
Our Student Senate should continue to call upon the whole University to become involved, to see that no student is divorced from equal opportunity and equal representation.
Protect your interests.
Use of the University hospital system should be at no charge to the student or KU employee. On a national scale, it is thought that within the next decade, medical expenses will be paid by the government, and nurses would should help take a leading role in this progress by means of example.
Nathan Collins is a Lawrence senior; David Spear is a Fairway senior.
Senate secrecy, bias must end
The Navy Jack Coalition seeks to provide the student body with genuine representation for the first time. The idea is majority rule with protection of the rights of individuals and minorities. In the past, the Student Senate has been used to further the causes of a small group of extremists and to pad resumes. Only a few members of student government have stood up against the unfeitable treatment of student organizers. They have been helped for their efforts. Special privacy funding and blatant breaking of the Senate Rules and Regulations must stop. Minorities are not being protected when special privileges are being dealt out.
trying to achieve this may suppress the freedom of speech of the members.
The Navy Jack Coalition seeks to conduct a Senate study of alternative activity fee distribution methods in use at other universities. From this study, the students would be offered several options giving them more control over how their money is spent. If the students choose to leave the funding procedure in the hands of the Senate, we will seek to make the system less subjective and more equitable. We will reduce the funding decision to a set of quantitative guidelines taking into account factors including the cost of their programs, money they raised in the previous year and an accurate estimate of how many students they serve, as determined by a well-designed scientific polling system. We need to reduce the operation of the Finance Committee to verifying budgets, memberships and services so as to end this shameful partisan bickering. We cannot always guarantee a non-partisan committee, and
If we choose to continue not funding religious groups, we must deny funding to all groups with religious cornetations. We must fines and ensure that we do not single out Christians or any other group.
Navy Jack recognizes the need for diverse groups on campus, including political groups. Political organizations such as Praxis or the Young Americans for Freedom belong if they have adequate membership to support themselves. Because these groups tend to serve causes instead of students, we think that the Senate Rules and Regulations forbidding their funding should be enforced. We would also special privileges to aid and persecution of, any student organization.
JACKIE TOM
HIRBE CRISP
Navy Jack
Students have complained of unfair grading that threatens their right to speak out on controversial subjects.
We think that there is a need to form a Senate Committee to hear, investigate and refer complaints. The committee could also compile important statistics to be presented at grade appeals. Other students have expressed reluctance to speak out for fear of slur campaigns perpetrated by the Kansan. Navy jack seeks to offer the students the opportunity to dedicate the three dollars a student a semester that normally is given to the Kansan to starting a second on-campus paper to be published once or twice a week. The new paper would include a summary of Senate activity. Students must not have to be "activists" to see whether their senators are indeed being representative. From studying other university newspapers, we think that the Kansan can support itself on its advertising budget, which is more than $440,000 a year.
Work on improving matters concerning campus safety, handicap facilities and the bus system can be centralized in the Senate. The students, however, cannot be expected to pay for the improvement of campus facilities and facilities. Navy Jack intends to form an in-house student lobbying group to deal with the University administration and local government.
We will end the secretive and biased practices perpetrated by much of the Senate. If you want more control over your own money and a personal say in the character prepared for your University, vote Nancy Jack.
Tom Crisp is a Lawrence graduate student; Jackie Hirbe is a Lawrence junior.
Stress on response to students
The Progressive Coalition is composed of a group of students running for Student Senate, concentrating mainly in the freshman and sophomore classes of the College of Liberal Sciences and the School of Engineering.
For a very good reason, we are running without candidates for student body president and vice president. We think that with most coalitions, students run to represent the views of the candidates for those high offices and, as a consequence, do the bidding of the president and vice president should they be elected to office.
Members of the Progressive Coalition are not interested in doing the bidding of a student body president. We are committed to the concerns of the students, and will work to further that goal. We just a single student who happens to be student body president Our issues
Class evaluation pamphlet — One of our most important ideas is the concept of a class evaluation pamphlet. This pamphlet will contain, in summarized form, the student evaluations for every course offered by the University of Kansas. Each evaluation will be composed of about 12 questions, with their answers averaged from all evaluations returned by students to their teachers. The evaluations will be reduced in size so that about 24 classes can appear on each page of the pamphlet.
The costs of printing the pamphlet can be drawn from the Senate unallocated account. This project has been successfully undertaken at several institutions, including George Washington University.
Bus shelter -- A number of the buses used by students make stops at unsheltered areas where bad weather can make it very uncomfortable to wait for the bus. Propose the construction of bus shelters at those stops where shelter from rain, snow, sleet or other adverse weather is not immediately available. This project could be undertaken in conjunction with the Lawrence City Commission, with funds coming either from the Senate unallocated account or shared between the Senate account and the City of Lawrence.
Campus referendums — We support a campus-wide referendum
concerning the funding of all student organizations Students would have the opportunity to cast their vote for each and every student organization on whether they think that the organization should be funded by the Senate. The referendum would be non-binding and would be submitted to the Senate Finance Committee before allocations are made as a way of supplying direct student input into those decisions.
College Assembly — The Progressive Coalition thinks that strong student participation in the College Assembly is vital to the interests of KU students. In the past, College Assembly has been known as a "blow off" resume filler for many students. We want to see this changed, and to show that our students have not students in theux number – running for seats on the Progressive Coalition for College Assembly.
We strongly think that the above issues have a profound effect on all students. The combination of our stand on these pertinent issues, and our unique position to respond to our constituents — not presidential or vice presidential candidates — should give Progressive candidates a solid background for effective student service.
Tom Shaver, Progressive chairman,
is a Salina sophomore; Andy
Jett, Progressive co-chairman, is a
Salina freshman.
Experienced leadership crucial
Take yourself back to the days, long ago, before the Student Senate AH College Committee on Foreign Policy was formed — back before 'self-serving elitists' shut the office doors and many students felt that they could not take their concerns to their government. You are now remembering what student government should be; students working together to address student concerns and solve student problems.
Frontier has put together the largest and most diverse coalition in recent years. We think that a massive, complicated restructuring plan does not need to be implemented to ensure diversity in Senate. All that remains is to make sure the part of the candidates to recognize the various sectors of campus.
Additionally, we have compiled students who have leadership experience throughout campus, especially in the Senate. Both our presidential and vice presidential candidates have been committee chairmen and student senators for the past year. This is an important experience that is necessary to a working student government.
When you look at the issues presented on this page, examine them closely and look for a broad base of concerns that the candidates have addressed. Frontier has proposed a comprehensive campus security package that includes additional lighting, later bus service to
campus during the week, more blue phones, self defense clinics and an escort service.
Frontier has also promised to work to implement a grade appeals board so that you can get an arbitrary grade changed. Frontier has also made a proposal to change the add/drop process so that it is easier for you to enroll in your classes.
JEFF WILLIAM
POLACK EASLEY
Frontier
Additionally, Frontier has come up with a proposal for an Off Campus Council to address the unique concerns of the vast majority of the students who do not have any form of governmental representation. Real estate developers often objected sector of the student body. Frontier has developed a plan of attack to help international students get accustomed to the KU
environment as well as paying their tees.
Not to neglect the important concerns of many students. Frontier has developed an innovative plan for the disbursement of the activity fee in such a manner as to help groups become self-supportive. What we present for the concerns of the finance procedure is a fair system that allows all groups a chance at fair hearing, not a prejudgment that some of the other candidates have made.
We have listed our platform in this manner to illustrate our conception of the various concerns that many of the students have. We realize that you probably don't care how Senate is structured as long as it addresses your concerns. We agree Our philosophy is that it's not the system that causes inefficiency, it's the people in the system. Frontier presents diverse, experienced leadership that resents a fresh alternative to the ignorant, misconceived promises of the other coalitions.
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Make sure you cast your vote for someone on either Nov. 14 or 15. If you want a student government that will address your concerns in a manner that will be both efficient and not demand a lot of your time, cast your vote for Frontier
William Easley is a Leawond junior; Jeff Polack is a Topeka junior.