OPINION
September 14,1984
Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kaanan UNPS 690 640 is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stuaffer FliH Hall. Lawen, Kanan 6045, daily during the regular school year and Wednesday and Friday during the summer session, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holiday and final periods Second class postage paid at Lawen, Kanan 6045 Subscriptions by mail are $15 for six months or $2 a year in Douglas County and $18 for six months or $1 a year in Richmond County. Mail should be addressed to PASTMER. Send address changes to the University Daily Kaanan 118 Stuaffer FliH Hall. Lawen, Kanan 6045
DON KNOX Editor
PAUL SEVART VINCE HESS Managing Editor Editorial Editor
DOUG CUNNINGHAM Campus Editor
DAVE WANAMAKER Business Manager
SUSANNE SHAH
General Manager and News Adviser
LYNNE STARK MARY BERNICA
Retail Sales National Sales
Manager Manager
JILL GOLDBLATT Campus Sales Manager
JOHN OBERZAN Sales and Marketing Adviser
Embarrassment
The problem is serious and embarrassing.
The problem is so great that An annotction Wednesday by the athletic department brought to 10 the number of football players who have been declared academically ineligible for the 1984 season.
decaled academically by the university. KU had about 80 players on scholarships this fall, and now 10 are ineligible; some Big Eight schools have more scholarship players, but none has lost more than two to academic ineligibility. Even with all the qualifiers anyone could muster, the figure is an embarrassment.
Behind the figure first lies the responsibility of the players, who agreed by accepting a football scholarship to play by the rules of the system of intercollegiate athletics, however flawed it may be. Whatever advisers or coaches or friends have told them, the primary responsibility to meet the academic requirements is theirs.
The athletic department and the University share their responsibility in a special way, because they profit from the talents of the players. Gate receipts are an important source of department income, and football is an important way for the department and the University to keep in touch with alumni who contribute to the Williams Fund and the Kansas University Endowment Association. Specialized academic services and advising are not too much to expect from the athletic department and University that gain from the players' success on the field.
Football players are generally strong people, but in the fall they toil under two full loads. The days are filled with classes, the afternoons and evenings with meetings, physical conditioning and practices. The strain is undeniable, and sometimes the result is overload.
Del Brinkman, faculty representative on the University of Kansas Athletic Corporation, said recently. "If you recruit athletes who are marginal students, then you have to step up the support services." Thus, student-athletes now have more academic services available, such as tutoring through Supportive Educational Services and special advising. But the KUAC board, in a report released Aug. 28, told the department that it hadn't been doing enough. "The present academic support program for student-athletes is perceived to be inadequate relative to need." In other words, the system is not working
And so it is that so many players slip through the system, their academic shortcomings not identified until they are into the season and primed to play. Other schools that have more established programs can perhaps afford to redshirt the marginal students and still field a winning team, but KU apparently decided to take a chance on its "marginal students."
For this season, for those 10 players, the chance didn't work out. For the rest of the season, for the next season, mere chance must be replaced by a commitment — from the athletic department, the academic support system and above all from the student-athletes — to make the grade.
NEW YORK — As the violence goes on in Central America and no sign of peace is in sight, something remarkable is taking place in Colombia, the country that connects South America to Central America.
Colombian effort shows way to peace
Colombia is more populous than all of Central America combined. It suffers from a multitude of social problems, and it has what may well be the most violent history in Latin America, especially during the past 40 years. Several guerrilla armies have operated there for years, and though they have never come close to seizing power, the Colombian armed forces have been unable to wipe them out in three decades of combat.
The armed forces are no closer than ever to a military victory. Yet the war seems to be ending. How has this happened?
The credit for ending the war goes to President Belisario Bettancur. Elected two years ago, Betancur immediately established a peace commission to negotiate a settlement, and he initiated a significant effort to improve the human rights situation.
That situation has been very bad.
Although Colombia is a democracy,
some regions of the country have
been militarized for years, and
abuses in them are very much like
those in El Salvador and Guatemala.
Extensive death-sequid activity
in the cities has been responsible
for hundreds of killings and disap-
pearances and considerable torture.
Such abuses have not been stopped, but they have been limited, thanks especially to the efforts of President Betanure a statutory general. Carlos Gomez, who inflicted 53 military personnel for deejay squall activity.
The indictments led to nothing because the attorney general lost a battle to bring the cases to civilian courts. The charges nevertheless placed the government firmly on record against such abuses and demonstrated its willingness to point the finer at those responsible.
When the indictments took place, the minister of defense, Gen. Fernand Landazalab Reyes, orderen to members of the armed forces to allocate a day's pay for the defense of the accused. Several months later, Betancur seized on another episode of public defiance by Landazal and
dismissed him. It was an important event in the assertion of civilian control over the armed forces.
ARYEH NEIER
New York Times Syndicate
Although Betancur's record on human rights is not perfect, the essential message he has conveyed is that his government stands for respect for law and for civilian control of the armed forces. Without
this, it seems inconceivable that he could have negotiated a peace settlement with Colombia's principal guerrilla forces.
treaty. The guerrillas are abandoning armed conflict to take part in the political process with no guarantee that they will escape violent reprisals by the armed forces. Their only protection is the military commitment to the rule of law and to civilian control of the armed forces.
The guerrillas have long contended that, if they put down their arms, the armed forces would simply execute them. That these fears have been well grounded was demonstrated on Aug. 10, when Carlos Toledo Plata, leader of the political wing of one of the guerrilla groups, the M19, was killed by several other M19 leaders were ambushed and wounded while they were on their way to sign a peace treaty.
That Betancur has been able to inspire confidence in that commitment is both a tribute to his leadership and an indication of what could be achieved if the nearby states were to demonstrate strong strate respect for human rights and civilian control over the armed forces.
Aryeh Neier is vice chairman of the Americas Watch and the Helsinki Watch, human rights organizations.
Despite these events, and some guerrilla violence that they inspired, a treaty was signed Aug. 24
Betancur did not agree to any power-sharing in exchange for the
Plans for how to use lottery winnings
(News item: A 28-year-old Chi
caper printer, Michael E. Wittkowski,
won $10 million in the Illinois lottery
Monday.)
When the winning lottery number was announced on television, there was moaning and swearing up and down the bar. But Herbert took it calmly. He shrugged and said, "Unlike these tools, I was absolutely certain I wasn't going to win."
Anybody with a ticket has a chance.
People like you?
"No, that isn't true. I don't know how it's done, but somehow things are ragged so that certain people can't win People like me."
"Well, let's start with Hawaii. I don't like Hawaii. I would never consider go there."
"We have certain characteristics. Such as"
"So this. About half the people who win a big lottery say the same thing; they're going to use some of their winnings for a vacation in Hawaii Never Paris or a villa near Rome. Why do people who suddenly get rich
want to fly thousands of miles to eat a pig cooked in a hole in the ground?
"Yes, and another reason I don't qualify is that I don't have a sister in California."
What does that have to do with it?
MIKE ROYKO Syndicated Columnist
The ones you don't go to usually say they are going to use
nier winnings to visit their sister in California. How's that for life in the fast track?"
I suppose it could be livelier.
"Yes, and I not going to buy any new furniture or a new TV set, which winners always say they're going to do. I would announce that I was going to burn down the dump."
Morn does a lot for you. She helps pay your way through college, she sends goodies in the mail, she complains when you hit her up for lunch and then goes to work. It's time to order morns for parent's weekend.
Just maybe the mum worn by mother is a symbol A symbol of another autumn and yet another year passing by A symbol of the beauty of motherhood, of never ending devation and love.
During the first week of classes, freshmen were treated to an evening to learn "how they could get a foot in the door" at this fine institution.
People don't rush to buy something when they can put it on until later. We are part of
Never has there been such a stampede of people as when the mum sellers come to your living organization.
Now I'm sure all the freshman think they know everything there is to know about life
But that stampede gives it away.
the "buy the ticket at the door" generation. Why spend the money now when you can spend a dollar more at the door in a few more days?
Ah, but Mom's mum. When they're taking the orders, something this side of guilt compels us to buy the mum that will make Mom's day.
DO dress the part for classes. Shorts and T shirts are OK, but not the T shirt with tiny
DON'T carry your books to class. Lugging a five-pound biology book on campus is the mark of a true freshman.
well, you're wrong, neophyte 'Hawks
After all, Mom has nurtured us from birth, spending all her energy to make us what we are before we cut the apron strings and dash off to college. A mum would be a small gesture that would say, "Thanks, Mom, for everything."
The following is some sage advice and collegiate tassus pas they may have neglected.
neses, this is the only time you can call Dad and say, "Hey, Dad, can you send money so I can buy Mom a mum for parent's weekend?"
Pot Shots
DON'T sign up for a tour of Watson Library. If you must, wear dark glasses and a camera, and maybe people will think you're a tourist. If you're a KU student, and you need Watson, you must be literate, which is all that is necessary to read the large print letters that identify everything in the building.
DO wear jeans on "Wear blue jeans in you're gay day" Show some self confidence on this yearly occasion People should not wear jeans they must prove their heterosexuality
names of every member of your high school senior class
These are just a few, but if you catch an upperclassman snickering at you, don't say you weren't warned.
Senabbausuhbesmouhfuhbasbill.
Excuse me. My keyboard was full of chewing tobacco.
september is the best month for baseball.
Love baseball.
Even in Cleveland, where St. Jude is on deck with two out in the outh, God bless
I love baseball.
God bless baseball.
Definition of football. If Mike Norseth has a good year, we'll finish seventh in the Big Eight. If Mike Norseth doesn't have a good
Even in New York, where George Steinbrenner is negotiating with a free agent - St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes
Pass the hot dogs
"Why not? Why can't they be jes, one lottery winner who looks into the TV cameras and says, 'I am going to quit my job, dump my wife, shed my friends, and use my wealth to do all the unspeakable things most of you dream about, but are ashamed to admit.'"
year, we'll finish seventh in the Big Eight. Don't shake it
But you can't just spend your life as a playboy.
down a blowerweir! Bob is thankful.
My God, man, get those behemoths in pads
off the cow pasture! Happens every Sep-
tember, folks.
God bless all Chicago Cubs fans, every where.
"Believe me, the world is filled with loving people. They would probably love me so much they would be willing to do light housekeeping and my laundry, too."
know whether they would have succeeded in life on their own. Naturally, they'll fail on their own, but at least through failure they will come to know themselves."
Football is winterly and hard bitten and macho. Baseball is summery and sensitive and graceful. Baseball is physics and grace. Football is a bulldozer looking for something to destroy.
to destroy
God bless Mit Griff, Jim Beauchamp, Phil Gaghano, Julian Javier, Wally Bunker, Eddie Watt and every bullpen coach who ever lived. Hisses on whatever circumstances recently cost Kansas its only professional baseball team, the Wichita Aeros.
"Oh, that's no problem. I would simply go to the French Riviera and put up a sign on my yacht slaying. I have $40 million. Do you love me?"
But how can somebody live without friends and loved ones?
Because that would discredit the lottery. It isn't intended to shatter marriages and turn decent men into sinful idiots.
"You might be right. So if I ever win, I'll revise my plan. I'll stay with my wife."
"Yes - and I'll get six mistresses."
That's the way.
Your wife wouldn't like that
That's rather callous of you considering all those years she's given you.
That's probably true. So I would also announce that I was going to retain the best divorce lawyer in America."
But what would your friends think?
"Actually, it's generous of me. It's not like I was going to hire someone to bump her off, which I could well afford to do if I won the lottery."
But what would your friends think?
"As friends, I hope that they would understand how to write them letters, telling them how I was going to save our friendship.
How would you do that?
"That would be a terrible thing to do to my friends. It would make them dependent upon me, which would be wrong because they would never
But wouldn't you share some of your new wealth with them?
How would you feel that?
How could something further to do with any of them.
"Of course it is. Human nature, being what it is, if I won they would all become terrily envious. This would cause friction in our friend's ship to save us from an attack. I would tell them that I didn't want to see them again. And if they showed up, I'd have my bodyguards throw them out."
That's not very friendly
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Story's quote out of context
To the editor:
I would like to respond to an article in the Sept 12 Kansan ("Black unrest causes riots in S. Africa") in which I have been quoted out of context.
First, the reporter wrote that I had said the only way to resolve the unrest was to increase boycots, rots and international pressure and for leaders to meet and discuss the dismantling of an unjust system.
Despite the fact that this quote carries a heavy sentence in South Africa, it gives an impression that I advocate riot - in essence violence.
as the only solution to the problem
What I meant to say was that increased roots, boycotts and international pressure will ultimately force white South Africa to discuss the dismantling of apartheid with authentic black leaders. I can only hope that this happens before too much blood is shed.
Lastly, for me to refer to the South African government as "our government" is misleading to the KU reading public. How can I say "our government" when I don't have the right to vote?
Paul Mamabolo
Johannesburg, South Africa junior
Student support necessarv
10 in the outer
An open letter to the students;
To the editor
Congratulations to those of you who were at the game Saturday. To those of you who sat on the hill, "come down" for the Florida State game! To those of you who sat in the stands for the Wichita State game, your lack of support is embarrassing
You have an outstanding football coach and staff. Your student.
athletes have been working hard under difficult circumstances. They deserve and they need your support. You can create the excitement and enthusiasm this team needs. So get psyched, get crazy, get to Memorial Stadium and yell like hell!
See ya tomorrow
J. David Holt '67 Kansas City, Mo., alumnus