OPINION
October 26, 1984 Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kansan (USPIS) 550-640 is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Staffer Flint Hall. Lawen, Kanzan (6044), daily during the regular school year and Wednesday and Friday during the summer session, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and final periods. Second class postage mail at Lawen, Kanzan (6043) Submissions by mail are $1 for six months or $2 if a year in Douglas County and $10 for six months or $3 a year outside the county. Student mailing address changes to the University Daily Kansan, 118 Staffer Flint Hall. Lawen, Kanzan (6043)
DON KNOX Editor
PAUL SEVART VINCE HESS Managing Editor Editorial Editor
DOUG CUNNINGHAM Campus Editor
DAVE WANAMAKER Business Manager
LYNNE STARK MARY BERNICA Retail Sales National Sales Manager Manager
JILL GOLDBLATT Campus Sales Manager
SUSANNE SHAW
General Manager and News Adviser
The evolution of the University of Kansas from an academic outpost on the plains into the institution it is today has been more than a century in the making. Just as it's evolved in the past, it's evolving now.
Welcome back
JOHN OBERZAN Sales and Marketing Adviser
Returning alumni will take note of pronounced changes in the University's physical appearance. The new alumni center has been open for more than a year now; the endowment center will have an addition; an addition to Haworth Hall will give the life sciences relief from overcrowding; and the Anschutz Sports Pavilion will soon add to KU's network of athletic arenas.
Indeed, student petitions have been in the news more than once this semester, reflecting the institutional as well as physical evolution of the University.
add to KU's network of universities. Other improvements still on the drawing board include a new science library to be built in the space occupied by the Military Science building. This latest plan for expansion is now the object of a student petition to relocate the building site to preserve that "green space" on campus.
A recent petition concerning Student Senate funding of Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas has sparked a campuswide debate over attitudes toward homosexuality. In addition, the student body president and vice-president have questioned the future of the Senate itself.
However, some traditions remain steadfast; it's still "Rock chalk, Jayhawk, KU!"
Space dilemma
An announcement last week said that astronomers had photographed for the first time evidence of a previously unknown solar system. The vast swarm of solid particles, the scientists said, surrounds a star twice as big and 10 times as bright as our sun.
orign as our sun.
The scientists said that though they couldn't prove that planet were around the star, the indications were fairly good that they existed.
"Other solar systems exist, and other planets," said Bradford Smith, one of the astronomers, "and, if one wants to extrapolate that, that other life exists."
The possibility of the existence of another planet like Earth is an exciting one. Further research of the new solar system could lead to an exploration for evidence of life.
However, such expensive research and exploration present a moral dilemma. Should billions be spent on the gathering of valuable information in space about the future when serious problems here on Earth need attention?
I read the story, and immediately saw why Rilling had sent it to me. Although the story ran under the byline of one of the Army base's
Plagiarist's motives puzzle victim
I bring this up because the other day I received a letter from Lt. Col. Henry C. Rilling, of the Fort Huachuca Army base in Arizona The letter was quite apologetic; enclosed with it was a story from the base's newspaper.
The journalistic and literary sin that has always puzzled me the most is plagiarism.
He said that he was embarrassed and sorry about what had happened.
So it was, the other night, that I called the man at home and introduced myself.
I think that I know a little bit about why people write, and I have never understood why a writer would resort to the stealing of another writer's words. It's not so much a moral issue; after all, the world has plenty of people who murder and burglarize, so we ought to understand that some people have hazy ideas of morality.
However, to be a writer, I have always thought, a person must have a healthy ego. If he is presumptuous enough to choose to sit down and put words on paper with the hope that other people will read them, he should have a good amount of self-confidence. To plagueize — to print someone else's words under one's own name — is to admit that one's own words and thoughts are deficient. I have always wondered how any writer could do that; if he thinks that way about his own abilities, then why is he a writer in the first place?
employees, I had written it; it was virtually the same story as one by me that had appeared in a national paper only a few words had been altered.
I called Riling; I told him that I had no interest in bringing any legal action against the man who had "written" the story. However, I said I had one favor to ask: I had never been able to understand why a person would plagiarize, so I asked whether he could put me in touch with the man, so that we could talk. I really wanted to know what had gone through his head as he had typed up that story.
BOB
GREENE
Syndicated
Columnist
intensely personal topic. I felt a
tummy feeling, seeing my emotions,
in my own words, expressed under
under man's name.
Rilling said in his letter that base personnel had discovered the plagiarism only after the story had appeared in the paper. I read the story over several times; it was on an
I asked him how it had come about
I asked him now it had come about. "I am 50 years old," he said. "I retired from the Army as a chief warrant officer in 1975. Now I'm a civilian working on the base and do clerical work.
"I don't have any legitimate excuse for what I did. I've been trying so hard to get recognized and be accepted in my job, and I haven't been doing that well. I thought that to be a news reporter would be an ego trip. I thought that people would see it, and that they would think well of me.
"I had intended to write something of my own, but then I saw your story, and I liked it. For some reason, I just changed a few things and put my name on top of it. I knew that I was doing wrong, but I did it anyway."
I asked him whether he had had
a miracle when he bequeathed it in
I asked him when he was, any misgivings he be turned it in. "I don't think I've ever felt this great on a hole life," he said. "My original intention was that I hoped some of the people in higher ranks would like the story, and would recognize my name if my name came up for a good job in their offices. But then the newspaper came out, and I started to get a good response to the story, and I couldn't sleep at night. I felt that I had taken something from someone else; by but this point I didn't know what to do."
I asked him whether he had thought about confessing what he had done.
"I may have thought about it, but I
didn't do it — until I got caught, of course," he said. "I wasn't used to the kind of recognition I was getting. People came up to me from whom I had not even met, and they were commenting on the officer who was talking to me in the time because the people were noticing me — but part of me realized what I had done."
I asked him whether he had even considered turning in some of his own work, and seeing whether it would be accepted for publication.
"I think that was my intention, at first," he said, "but I'd been having some problems — my fiancé and had just broken up — and what can I say? I turned in your story.
"I truthfully don't think of myself as a generally dishonest person. I know that what I did was wrong, but I was at a point in my life when I wanted some positive attention put on me, and I didn't get for my sense of pride, and this seemed to be a good way to do it. I guess I didn't analyze it; I just did it."
He apologized again, and I told him again that I had no desire to take any action against him. He told me that he was afraid he was going to face disciplinary action on the Army base because of what had happened. He asked me whether it would be all right to have his immediate superior call me and talk about the conversation we had just had.
I said sure. The older I get, the less certain I am about what makes this world of ours go around.
Social Security dogs Reagan
WASHINGTON — The campaign was heating up and the final countdown to Election Day under way. Ronald Reagan was angry.
"In recent weeks, my opponent has been using distortions and half-truths in an effort to try to frighten Americans into believing that the United States is notNothing could be farther from the truth." Reagan said.
The place was Miami. The time: 1980.
After almost four years as president, Reagan is again on the defensive, denouncing "distortions" of his position and suggestions of a "secret plan" that could darken the financial future for millions of Americans.
Through selective recall by the candidates and a bit of election-year inuendo, the future of the Social Security system has attracted attention in the presidential campaign. The subject is not to be taken lightly. No one knows that better than Reagan.
Chatting with reporters in 1968, Reagan, who four years earlier had proposed that the retirement system be made voluntary, was asked whether he would discuss the issue in future campaigns. "You can't run against Social Security," he replied.
Like a ghost from the past, Social Security re-emerged to haunt Reagan in the aftermath of his Oct 7 debate against Walter Mondale in 1982, and his plea to benefit the benefits of current recipients appeared to leave doubts about what future retirees might expect.
The remark, delivered off the cuff, seems prophetic today.
The issue dogged Reegan during a whistle-stop trip through Ohio, throwing a wrinkle into what came off as an otherwise flawless
exercise in political imagery. Three steps into his day-long trip on "The Heartland Special." Reagan sought to put the issue to rest by changing his benefit sanctity to future as well as current Social Security recipients
NORMAND D.
SANDLER
United Press International
The relief, however, was not lasting. News accounts of a discussion of "private alternatives" by Social Security Administration officials in June added fuel to the fire by rekindling memories of past Reagan statements on the subject.
Reagan wasted no time shooting back. Although he had questioned the future of Social Security for more than two decades, Reagan assured college students in Alabama that the retirement fund would remain solvent for more than 50 years.
In a statement issued jointly with Rep. Clade Pepper, D-Fla., House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill said, "Ronald Reagan had had a chance to work with Social Security. He now appears ready to start scratching again."
One need not search far for an understanding of why Reagan, when probed on the issue of Social Security, has displayed such sensitivity.
As far back as 1961, Reagan was sounding the Social Security alarm bells, concerned not only about its actuarial fragility but also about what he saw as a dangerous trend in his government supplement to welfare program.
He opposed compulsory participation. Yet, as president, he
considered forcing federal employees to enroll in the system to strengthen its financial footing
In the famous "Time for Choosing" speech that he delivered in 1964 on behalf of Barry Goldwater, Reagan said Social Security "is not an insurance program, but a welfare program, and Social Security dues are a tax for the general use of government."
Reagan now bristles at statements that he will cut Social Security, but the record is clear. In 1981, he proposed a package of sharp reductions designed to top 22 percent off long-term outlays and keep the retirement system solvent.
The doubts and criticisms he has dispensed over the years seem a far cry from the tune Reagan adopted in 1980 when he told the crowd in Miami that the Social Security part of the American way of life.
The reforms were consumed by a political wildfire. The administration next approached the idea of benefit reductions during the 1982 budget, with the result that the GOP turned against the GOP in mid-term elections that fail.
Reagan refuses to be blamed for past attempts to cut benefits. A White House official said that the president had responded to an immediate crisis — the impending bankruptcy of the retirement fund
The official sad, "Anything that was done or proposed before that crisis was resolved is irrelevant today, because everybody was looking at everything. The Demo Party has to grip with the issue then, and now they're trying to beat us over the head with it."
- that eventually was resolved through a bipartisan package of benefit cuts and tax increases.
Limo service taken for ride
When Rich talks about how he wound up spending a night in a jail cell, a look of disbelief sweeps across his face.
It began when he was sitting in the office of the small limousine service he manages, and the phone rang.
"It was another limo service. They said they were booked up, but they asked whether we could take care of a customer. They said she had a car in New York or something like that. A big spender. Naturally, I said OK."
"I sent a driver and one of our best limos over to pick the guy up at some North Side address where he's staying with a friend white
"Now, this guy — his first name is AI — hints to my driver like he's with the Mafia in New York. He flashes some financial records at the driver that show big transfers of money from banks or something like that.
Anyway, he says he wants to go to his bank in Chicago so he can transfer some funds, but he needs $200 right away for pocket money until he can get to his bank. Well, we advance him the $200 cash and put it on his bill, and we take him to the bank.
to the house.
"After he stops in the bank, he goes out for a night on the town. He's on the go for 15 hours. He bits bars all over the North Side. He goes to some fancy restaurant."
"It's after 3 a.m when he finally goes back to his friend's apartment, and when he pays the driver, sure enough, he's a big spender. He gives him a chevron at $1,200, and that includes a $450
Ah, the big spender called the next day and said he'd again need a limo and driver.
*This time he starts the day off by going to some hair stylist on the*
North Side and getting his hair cut and died orange and blue. He tells the driver to pay for it and put it on his tab.
"Then they started hitting the night spots again, and he kept going for 22 hours. When the driver
MIKE
ROYKO
Syndicated Columnist
drops him off, he pays him with a check for $1,500.
The next day. Rich tried to cash the checks. They bounced higher than a tennis ball.
"It turns out out that what the guy did was this: Remember that $200 we advanced him until he could get to his bank? Well, he used the $200 to open a checking account. The bank gave him checks. Then he paid us with those checks."
"He told us he didn't know where he was, but he'd like to know, because A1 stole his microwave."
Quickly, Rich and a driver went to the North Side address. The resident of the apartment turned out to be nothing more than a saloon acquaintance of Al.
"So we went to the Aurora cops. They told us they knew the guy and he was bad news, but they said they couldn't do anything because he had written the burn checks in Chicago.
However, the man was of some help because he was able to give them AI's real name and said that he thought he lived in the suburb of
"Well, I decided we'd have to take care of it ourselves. Me and one of my drivers asked around
some of the seedy bars and in one of them they knew a guy with blue and orange hair They told us where he lived.
"So we went to this dump of an apartment house and found him with his wife. She looked like the front end of an old Chevy.
Al the big spender appeared impressed. He said that, if given several hours, his wife would raise the money.
"We push our way in and we tell him that he owes us $2,700. Then I figure I'll use his trick. I kind of hint that I'm connected with the Crime Syndicate. I'm not, but figure maybe that'll scare him."
"So I take him back to my limo office while his wife is supposed to be raising the money
"Then that night, we go back to Aurora. When we get there, the old lady doesn't have the money, but she says she's got some fur coats and stuff. She goes into the student buildings and snacks away
"Then the Aurora cops grab us and they give me hell. They ask me who I think I am, impersonating the law.
"The next thing I know, they charge me with unlawful restraint. They tell me I'm lucky I didn't get booked for kidnapping.
"I wind up in a cell. That bum gets turned loose. I was there until the next day when somebody got me out on bond. Now I have to go to
"I'm not too worried about that, because I'm sure that lousy bump won't show up. He's probably blown town by now, but it's crazy — he screws us out of $2,700 and gets to walk 1 wind up being tossed in jail just for trying to collect our money."
There is a moral to your story
It’s never a good idea to trust a guy
with orange and blue hair
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