September 18, 1984
OPINION
Page 4
KANSAN
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kaman, UNSP 620-640 is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stauffart Flint Hall. Lancaster, Kan. 620-640 daily during the regular school year and Wednesday and Friday during the summer session, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and final periods. Second class postage帖受力。Kan. 6044 Subscriptions mail are $15 for six months or $18 for six months or $3 a year outside the county. Student subscriptions are $1 and $2 a month. Mailers and addresses change to t
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
SUSANNE SHAW
SUSANNE SHAW
General Manager and News Adviser
JILL GOLDBLATT Campus Sales Manager
JOHN OBERZAN Sales and Marketing Adviser
Have it your way
Despite the events of last week, the issue of fast food in the Kansas Union is still on the grill - and waiting for special orders.
The Student Senate last week failed to override a veto by the student body president and vice president of a petition requesting a corporate-owned franchise in the Union.
The Kansas Union Memorial Board, however, has been studying the proposal for several months, and is expecting to receive within a month results of an independent study of potential profits and the effects of a franchise on the Union's other food services.
The board already has determined that profits could decrease bookstore prices and that legal questions about the Union's tax status have acceptable answers.
The study will be considered by a board committee, which will make a recommendation to the entire board for a vote.
Both the Senate and the board know what percentages of sales are paid by franchises on other campuses, but no franchise, and understandably so, will give a specific figure until the board begins contract negotiations.
Moreover, although it would be helpful if the board solicited bids from corporations, an ethical, if not legal, question arises from accepting bids without knowing whether one will be chosen.
Under those conditions, corporations may be hesitant to offer bids.
The decision will depend on what will bring more business to the Union, a restaurant that is owned by the Union or an independently owned franchise. Statistics from other universities, however, cannot determine how people would respond to a McDonald's or a Burger King on this campus.
Among the factors that the board will have to weigh in its decision will be what the students and faculty want and what they will patronize.
The board's decision may be a close one. Student opinion could provide the edge, but students must voice that opinion. Hold the franchise?
Ferraro's finances
Like a persistent cold, the financial difficulties following vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro seem, at times, to linger beyond all reason or proportion.
After finally disclosing her husband's finances and subjecting herself to a 90-minute press conference devoted only to that topic, many said that candidate Ferraro had finally gotten the pesky bug out of her system and would be back on her feet in no time.
Now the House Ethics Committee has decided to take up the matter of whether Ferraro violated campaign laws when she said in disclosure statements that she did not benefit from, expect to benefit from, contribute to or know about her husband's business dealings.
To some, this seems like overkill; to others, too little, too late. The committee has acted slowly — perhaps too slowly — in seeking the truth, and any report before the election is unlikely.
However, Ferraro's detractors and supporters alike should welcome the committee's inquiry, because win or lose in November, it gives the candidate the opportunity to set the record permanently, officially straight.
Despite the disclosures to date, questions remain. Questions about the campaign loans she received from her husband, about how separate their finances really are and even about the sensibility of the disclosure laws themselves.
Two considerations rise above all others in this controversy. First, as a candidate for vice president, Ferraro voluntarily subjected herself to examination. As with all politicians, a measure of ambition is mixed with her desire to serve the public. Nothing's wrong with that, but public scrutiny, sometimes embarrassing, comes with the territory.
The second consideration is that no one should be allowed to sidestep the law, for whatever reason. Whether inadvertent or willful, any violations of the law need to be brought to light and thoroughly aired. Whatever honor and credibility our government officials possess demand nothing less.
LETTERS POLICY
The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten and double-spaced and should not exceed 300 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter should include his class and hometown, or faculty or staff. The Kansan also invites individuals and groups to submit guest columns. Columns and letters can be brought or brought to the Kansan office. 111 Stauner-Flint Hall. The Kansen reserves the right to edit or reject letters and columns.
All of us who were born American or were drawn to this country from elsewhere share a common love of freedom. Freedom and justice for all may not be uniquely American concepts, but in this country we enshrine these values as central to our way of life.
Passive support of apartheid wrong
Our forefathers held it to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Americans have always thought it to be their special duty to defend these values wherever they are threatened, be it in our own backyard or halfway around the world. When ever freedom has demanded protection, Americans have been ready to answer the call. We have done so by protecting anyone's freedom is threatened. America's freedom is also threatened.
In today's world, freedom and justice are threatened routinely. Be it in Iran, South America or the Soviet Union, human rights are being under the boots of repressive regimes under which consider these values worth defending.
Nowhere are simple human rights more grossly violated, however, than in the Republic of South Africa. In that country, the constitution calls for racial segregation and discrimination apartheid (pronounced a part hate).
Under this system, blacks are not allowed to vote, are allowed in the white areas of the country only at the pleasure of the white minority government, and are considered nothing units of labor. The South Africa name for it is apartheid. in America we call such a system slavery
In this country we repudiated slavery more than 100 years ago. Kansas can be proud of her free state heritage; slavery was never condoned here. And it is the ongoing policy of this country and this state to
ensure equal rights and equal opportunity for all
Is it not common sense for us to insist that our foreign policy reflect these values?
It may be common sense, but it is
CHRIS BUNKER
Guest Columnist
not common practice. The U.S. government supports the apartheid regime. U.S. companies are allowed to operate in South Africa and to profit by the suffering of its enslaved majority; the companies do this.
because black South African labor is cheap and white South Africans are wealthy.
Yet resistance to apartheid does exist, and is growing stronger. In this country and in this state, it is a grass-roots effort flowing from the strong moral core of our people. Individuals, not governments, are taking the lead in demanding that America adhere to its traditional values and withdraw support for apartheid.
Here at the University of Kansas,
this movement is actively working to
encourage the Student Senate to
require that its money - your money
companies that do business in South Africa, and they are requesting that each student boycott these companies.
not be spent with companies doing business in South Africa. Supporters of this movement are encouraging the Kansas University Endowment Association to sell its holdings in
We may not end apartheid, or even U.S. involvement, but we will be sending a clear signal to the world that KU supports traditional US values and that we are outraged disgusted when basic human rights are violated.
I have never met a person who consciously and actively supported apartheid. Let us resolve not to promote what we will not promote actively.
Chris Bunker, first-year law student, is chairman of the Student Senate Md Hoc Committee on South Africa. The committee and other organizations are sponsoring South Africa Week, which runs through Friday.
"The University would like to dispose of it" Allen Wiechert, director of facility planning, said.
KU administrators have said the reactor was not needed
"It outlived its uselessness," said Harold Rosson, chairman of the chemical and petroleum engineering firm in New York, the department responsible for the reactor.
KU reactor has outlived usefulness
During its early years of operation, the KU reactor was used to teach students nuclear engineering and to produce radioisotopes for laboratory
Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe proclaimed to a crowd of 200 that the reactor center represented "the beginning of a new era of collaboration in research among state and industry, industry and higher education."
Today, however the fanfare is gone, and KU administrators are busy burying their heads in the sand, trying to ignore the reactor and its financial time bomb costs of contamination and decontamination.
With the Student Senate University Affairs Committee considering a resolution to seek funds for the decommissioning of the KU nuclear reactor at its meeting tonight, now is an appropriate time to review the KU reactor.
A U.S. assistant surgeon general, a U.S. senator and prominent businessman came to the University of Colorado for ceremonies for the KU reaction
experiments. But in 1968, the state decided to consolidate nuclear engineering programs at the Kansas University and use of the KU reactor diminished
Now, only 10 or 11 radioisotope samples are irradiated in it each year.
The reactor has outlived its usefulness. KU administrators have
CHARLES
BARNES
Staff Columnist
said, but the problem is that KU has no money to dismantle it.
What a surprise!
KU administrators have never formally asked state legislators for decommissioning funds and they never made decommissioning a priority.
Too busy building high technology centers for the future, they have forgotten to decontaminate an aerial tank, and a previous high technology boom
Wake up, KU administrators!
Design a substantive decommissioning plan, ask for the funds and clean the thing in.
Perhaps they think that the funds will fall, miraculously, from the sky.
"Plans are vague at this point." Weichert said. "We have no money to do anything, but I think funds will come along."
Cost for decommissioning the
reactor have been estimated at $458,000 in 1979 dollars, according to a statement that KU reactor officials submitted in 1980 to the U.S. Nuclear Security Commission is support of a renewal of the reactor's operating license.
The inexpensive part of the process will occur within the first year of shutdown, when the reactor's 18 nuclear fuel rods will be removed and transported to a radioactive waste site for an estimated $38,000.
The rest of the cost will be incurred five years after fuel removal, once the irradiated interiors of the reactor have been given a chance to cool down
Reactor internals, irradiated reactor pool walls and 365 tons of concrete shielding that encapsulate the reactor then will have to be removed and buried at a radioactive waste site.
From start to finish, reactor decommissioning will take about five years. So if fuel were removed this time, the cost of expenses would be incurred in 1989
The 1980 KU statement said the costs at $43,000 in 1979 dollars; a more accurate assessment would be to project costs in 1989 dollars.
Rosson, however, said he doubts the reliability of the 1980 statement.
United Nuclear Industries, a company that specializes in decommissioning visited the reactor Resson. The decommissioning was done on the back on an envelope.
"We really have no concrete figure," he said "It was a pie in the skyl guess."
One thing is certain; the longer we wait, the more it will cost.
Who cares how much it costs $458,000 in 1979 dollars or, say, $1 million in 1989 dollars?
The taxpayers of Kansas are going to foot the bill for decommissioning costs, anyway. Moreover, they are going to pick up the tab for the taxpayer of the infliction because of indecision and on the part of KU administrators.
Let's ignore it, the administrators say, and pass the back to a future generation. The administrators need to use common sense.
They have seen that four years of public pressure at University of California at Los Angeles resulted in a decision by the University of California regions this summer to reauthorize the UCLA receiver's operating license Decommissioning of the UCLA receiver can now begin.
The only people who have taken a responsible stand on reactor cleanup are the Student Senate leadership and Dennis Boog 'Highberger
Higherberg introduced the resolution that will be considered by the Student Senate University Affairs Committee; the resolution calls on the board of Regents and the state legislature to provide money for decommissioning
The committee members should do their part to ensure that decommissioning funds are made available to protect Kansas taxpayers. By doing so, the committee will help future KU students of how to accept responsibility and take initiative
Low salaries imperil quality of education
Education, one of the most essential elements of our society, is in danger of losing the qualities that are important to the progress of our nation.
Education continues to feel the effects of the nation's unstable economy. Although it provides the knowledge that brings about the advancements of the nation, it is also the one profession that continually fails to offer what professors and teachers need to survive — money
The continuation of education is sadly determined by the value society places on it. Although most of us do not deny the importance of education, the dollar value placed on it does not reflect this notion.
national poverty-level income for a family of four
Teachers and professors make less money than almost every other professional in the business world. Their salaries continue to fall below those of union and blue-collar workers who have completed only high school.
Last week, the Kansas City Times reported that the base pay for beginning teachers in both Missouri and Kansas ranged from $13,989 to $6,000. Teachers are earning only $3,000 to $6,000 more than the
By the time they have been at the same job for 20 years and hold a doctorate in education, they can then look forward to $43,000.
The Times also reported that
Staff Columnist
ROBIN
PALMER
one-half of the nation's teachers left their jobs for better pay within five years. Eighty percent left for the same reason after 10 years.
In addition to departure problems, both Missouri and Kansas salary levels are below the national average of $29.31, according to the *Times* article. Missouri's salary level ranks nationally, and Kansas ranks 35th.
All of these factors combined have caused the purchasing power of teachers to drop.
Teachers, no matter how dedicated or how well educated, simply cannot
Again, this is hard to achieve, because society has not given teachers a salary equivalent to the importance of the job they perform.
afford to continue with their jobs or even remain in the education field.
Many educators support a merit pay program that would provide the incentive for teachers to excel in their particular area of expertise.
Teachers perform an essential task for society, they try to provide children and adults with the knowledge they will need to succeed in life.
Education is a great service one that only a select few can perfect. educators deserve much more than they receive.
defined, the solutions are harder to come by.
Although the problems are clearly
Despite the obvious importance of their jobs, society fails to pay them adequate salaries.
The field is left with teachers who either truly love teaching or just cannot make it through the currencies hum of a different field. And even of that, but remain, some take on other jobs to supplement their low income.
Teachers must complete four years of college, five years at the University of Kansas, and are technically considered professionals. Still, they lack the salary that will make them to stay in this profession.
Tax increases are another possibility, yet proposals to allocate funds to educational systems continue to tail in local and state elections.
So what happens to the students whose schools do not pay enough to keep the quality teachers around, and what happens to the teachers who leave the education field in search of higher wages?
The results are that education suffers from the mistakes society makes and that people face greater difficulty in learning.
These problems are recent ones. The education field still has many qualified teachers, yet I wonder how long the teachers from whom I have learned the most will stand by while the profession stumbles around with low salaries and less qualified teachers.
The education system and teachers themselves cannot continue this vital service if society fails to place a fair trust on an institution that serves us all.