UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorsials
Unsigned editorists represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Signed column represents the views of the editors.
November 5,1979
Give faculty flexibility
The 1970s brought with them a surge in the specialization of dozens of fields—medicine, law, science. But the 1980s will likely bring an increased focus on public health, and it is a good sign to see educators here recognizing that possibility.
A chancellor's task force recently submitted proposals to Chancellor Archie R. Dykes that not only would enable faculty members to teach a greater variety of courses, but would encourage such a move.
With the grim prospect that declining high school enrollments today will turn into declining college enrollments tomorrow, there is sound reason for making sure that the University efficiently employs each student. Currently, that is neither the case nor the direction we are headed.
But sit back, and the possible problems of the upcoming decade may, in fact, become realities.
Instead, efforts to allow faculty members to take college courses or earn degrees at the University are blocked, says T.P. Srinivasan, professor of mathematics and member of the chancellor's task force. Barriers make it almost impossible for faculty members to take additional courses and work to share their knowledge with one another.
Open some of those barriers, the task force says, and the University may change its direction toward a more reasonable action for the 1980s.
If the faculty—and the students-of the coming decade are to survive, faculty members must become vested in areas outside their present highly specialized fields, as the task force has realized.
Exxon's 119% profits are necessarily high
It's such an easy target for those who like to think that they champion consumer rights.
"that goddamn Exxon," they scream madly. "they've got 119 percent profit increases over last year. Big oil is out to ransel us and our hard-earned money."
That, dear readers, is simpleton nonsense.
True Exxon recorded profits in this past quarter that were 119 percent above last year, compared to 85 percent at 131 percent. Congress and President Carter have been waiting for such disclosures to build support for the windfall profits tax and reverse an earlier decision to end gasoline production.
Anti-big oil rallies are popular. The companies are the hated bad guys.
BUT WHY DO the oil companies make such a great profit? Where does the money come from and where does it go? The annotators questions shed different light on the subject.
The oil companies cannot lower the price cut across the board to cut profit. To avoid this, the levels would lead to a demand from consumers that the companies would be unable to afford.
There is a limited amount of oil available and government handicaps have further assured this limitation by eliminating incentives to produce and explore for oil, which would be an extension of the Environmental Protection Agency, is incredibly expensive to produce and requires more crude oil to produce than does leaded gasoline. It also is not economically productive to explore for oil in terms of controls enacted by the Natural Gas Act.
THE INDUSTRY is caught in an unnive-
able position. It can't lower prices. To do so would destroy reserves and create gas
scarcity, which would have to be hide, thus the public's raiting.
So assuming that the oil companies cannot control the price variable—nor can they exchange rate changes, the whims of the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries and the tax impositions—the are essentially tied to the current price and profit situation.
david
COLUMNIST preston
But look at the profits. The profits go to the companies' shareholders—the managers on a fixed salary. The profits will go to the shareholders, just as they do in any company in the form of dividends or fund reinvested from the company through share appreciation.
THE SHAREHOLDERS? Almost 30 percent of Exxon's shares are owned by employee pension funds around the country. Shall we rant and rave about retired workers? Other shareholders are education providers, colleges and mutual funds. In all, 65 percent of Exxon's shareholders are institutions providing social services.
And look at it this way. Most of Exon's profits were gained overseas while the majority of shareholders were here in the United States. Few industries can claim to finance the wide range of benefits in which Exon is shareholders participate.
The oil companies would love to see new, alternative sources of energy to relieve their dependence on foreign oil, such as solar power or synthetic fuels. But nuclear opponents posture against nuclear power progress and environmentalists rage against it, and they are the two most immediate solutions for an immediate problem.
SO WHEN company after company embarks on government and the public begin to act irrationally, the windfall profit tax, a denomination of American business, is pendulous.
The same people who rant and rave about high costs of fuel are just as wasteful as any one else. The best way to combat the high cost of fuel is to restrict its use. If they don't like spending $3 for a brooks Brothers shirt, they can buy it from their spending $10 for gasoline; they don't have to buy it as often. It's as simple as that.
Letters Policy
The University Daily Kanran welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be in English and not exceed 500 words. They should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. If the writer is after a title, the letter should include the writer's class and home town or faculty or staff position. Letters should also be the right to edit letters for publication.
KANSAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
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It rests undisturbed in landfills, rivers, lakes and seas, waiting to be freed by time and Mother Nature. And when it is done, we move forward and spread outward, poisoning all that it touches and endangering the surrounding environment and innocent lives.
Toxic wastes lie waiting to attack
This sleeping mummy with such awesome power is toxic chemical waste. Although much of the millions of tons of it produced by manufacturing in the past 30 or 40 years has been recycled, still it will be a large amount that is unaccounted for and waiting to release its destruction.
There is a growing concern by government and the public about where some of the damage from hurricanes has been during those 30 to 40 years. Some of the dumpsites have been discovered, but only after significant damage already had been caused to public health and the environment.
JUST LAST year, more than 200 families were forced to leave their homes in Love Canal, a suburb of Niagara Falls, N.Y. The presence of toxic cancer-causing chemicals found in the soil and water. Many people had been exposed to these substances such as nervous disorders, which were thought to be caused by the chemicals, and millions of dollars have been spent in cleaning up.
The government now fears there are other awesome, undiscovered leaking dump sites. But there is little that the government can ensure that the little bit it is usually put down until it is too late.
The incident was the result of leaking containers holding the chemicals that had been stored in the truck, and were built. The land, it was found, had been a chemical dump site in the 1980s before it was leaked.
**there ARE ticking time bombs all over.** We just don't know how many potential Love Canais there are," said one of the Environmental Protection Agency.
But while the government may be blind in its efforts to determine where those dump sites are, it can do something about the amount of toxic chemicals of chemical waste. Establishing stricter
controls and setting aside certain areas for chemical waste disposal are just a few ways. But so far, the government has done very little along these lines.
John COLUMNIST fischer
Many states lack the funding and staff to ensure the proper disposal and treatment of toxic waste and enforce those laws.
Although state and federal laws have been established, they generally are weak and—worse yet—usually ignored.
New laws need to be passed that set strict requirements for proper chemical waste disposal. Strict enforcement of these laws requires that they be applied as the laws themselves. Those manufacturers that produce this waste should be required to account for all that they produce and that it is properly dumped at appropriate sites. The laws are liable against those who do otherwise.
Since I have been quoted in several recent Kanan articles concerning late paycheques and payroll system problems, and how, in the reporter's view, these problems affect the crediting of TIAA deductions for the accrual of interest. I believe the following applications and procedural changes have definite impact on KU's paying process.
FEDERAL REGULATIONS are weak, too, for the same reasons and because the
IF AN appointment, which must be routed through a伞量 of budgetary channels, is received after the due time (i.e. an appointment), the client will be received Oct. 5) it will be paid on the Sep-
Although it is too late to change what has been done in the past, it is never too late to learn from our mistakes and make changes to avoid those same mistakes in the future.
The inference of the articles has been that a "late" paycheck means a late TIAA deduction. Let's clarify "late": A person who was paid early (before the due date) was received after the due date; 2) the appointment was held up for funding problems and/or errors in the appointing agency; 3) the employee is responsible for office errors. With rare exception, the latter two types are paid on a supplemental payroll on or within five days of the first, and the other five days are credited in that month's TIAA reports.
Consequently, toxic waste substances continue to be dumped improperly and in places not appropriate by the government, causing chances of another Love Cancal incident.
government has been slow in implementing the laws.
As a father, I cannot adequately express the regret and remorse I feel to know that abortion is becoming an everyday "remedy to an everyday" problem. It has the power to end suffering and to dissipation of mortality in our society and the actions of our willingness to sacrifice.
Hopeably, the government will do just that and act quickly and responsibly to control the future disposal of toxic chemical waste.
in view of the potential harmful effects on man and the environment, proper disposal of toxic chemical waste is very important. But like most issues facing the government today, it too has been neglected or has been caught up in the rest of bureacryum.
To the Editor:
GRANTED, THERE exists an obligation to the "deserving" poor to aid them in any rational and moral way possible. However, let us not presume the same obligation except to all poor to the point of financing the necessary lives (i.e., aborting unwanted pregnancies).
Michael Duncan Great Bend senior
Those who would have my government pay for the selective extermination of these animals, and to implied consent of such behavior are supplying salt for the wounds of those of us
Medicaid not meant to fund abortions
Pay officer explains why paychecks 'late'
To the Editor:
Because of the recent activity on campus calling for "safe and legal" abortions, I feel compelled to respond with my feelings. I think that it would be wise to wish to discuss the immorality or arrogant selfishness of abortion itself. Rather, my present concern is on the subordinate, but pertinent government funding of the program on Medicaid, and possibly beyond.
From those advocates of such funding, I, as a taxapler, must demand justification for the use of government funds in this matter. In practice, even if the humane grounds does the government have an obligation to finance the extermination of prenatal life? Or maybe better worded for those advocates, what obligation does the government have to abet a woman or a woman who desire to abet her child's life?
To suggest that there is a moral or human obligation to be commit emotional oversight. To suggest that there is commitment to the Constitution and violate its intent.
tember supplement around Oct. 18 and any TIAA deductions credited in the September regular and supplement payroll's October report. An unclassified appointment will be scheduled representing only a portion of the employee's salary will be added to the next month's regular paycheck and the portion of the remainder scheduled for payment will be on the first.
As our enrollment has grown, so has the current payroll system been strained by the growth in the number of employees we pay monthly. The University paid a total of 6,146 employees in September 1979, a total of 7,277 employees in July 1980, and a total of 7,351 in September 1979.
DURING EACH August and September, with the advent of a new academic year, the payroll office receives thousands of appointments and related documents hard-working and often underrated skills from all University departments.
Also with the addition of benefits options such as automatic savings bond and United Wyday deductions, voluntary tax sheltered retirement plans, etc., stress has been put on the taxation of personal assets to handle them. For instance, our payroll time sheet forms issued by the state accounts and reports office just a few years ago consisted of two lines per employee. As of Dec 1, four lines per employee is necessary. Yes, our lines per employee is required, by number and by legislated action.
We process these appointments with a low percentage of errors. However, one error is the inability to receive a paycheck because of it. We have designed our procedures, with improved efficiency our goal, and studying new payroll systems that could aid in streamming the process of the payment.
The payroll office will soon be presenting procedural seminars to be announced in the Oread (a publication for KU faculty and staff published weekly by University Relations). Any employee of the University is invited to become an income and constructive citizen.
Sherry Kopr,
Administrative officer I
Payroll office
Sherry Kopf.
Murphy temperatures confuse and frustrate
To the Editor:
The weather has changed and it's time to put away our summer sweaters and get our T-shirts ready for school. Sound crazy? Not if you attend classes in the east wing of campus.
we have to think that our tuition dollars are being spent to keep this building at water's edge. They were spent to keep us so very cold until two weeks ago. Of course, the only relief from these extreme temperatures is to open them and allow sunlight to come in enough to have windows keep them wide open. As the weather cools, the windows will close somewhat, but never all the wastelight.
KANSAN letters
We don't know why the temperature control system operates as it does. We don't know what problems, if any, exist in other buildings. We hope someone will answer this.
So if you see someone this winter carrying shorts, sandals, an electric fan and a box of throat lozenges, could be they're on their way to Murphy Hall.
letter and explain what can or cannot be done. We do know that the present system is terrifully wasteful of energy and money. The windows are grossly uncomfortable, and other rooms are bearable only if we open the windows and allow our hot, alien exteriors into them.
Tom Reel. Lawrence senior
100 free texts, 10 free hours,
and more than 60 others who signed this
letter in the two days it was posted on a
Murray Hall billboard board
'Shadow Box' play unfairly reviewed
My letter concerns the Oct. 15 review by the Kansan of the play "The Shadow Box," by Michael Cristofer.
To the Editor:
The review stated that the play was "plotless." Nothing could be further from the truth.
"The Shadow Box" is an in-dept play that deals with Dr. Elizabeth Kuker-Russ' stages of death and dying, which are anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Cristiefer does a brilliant job of portraying the indefinite death through his cast of characters.
Was any research done on Michael Cristofer and the "Shadow Box" box? prior to actually seeing the play? My guess is, probably not.
To say that you did not particularly enjoy the play is acceptable. But to say that "The Shadow box" is plosive is inaccurate. 1977 it won the Tony Award and the Pulter Prize. In my opinion, that is quite imprecise or a play that is supposedly "ploseless."
Richard Ramos
Richard Rattos
Leavenworth sophomore
Unimportant subjects prompt trivial letters
To the Editor
We are feel up and thoroughly disagued at opening our Kansans to the editorial page of The New York Times, a people complaining about letters other people have written complaining about your
Such people (the first-mentioned, that is) deserve to be sentenced making a 100 by 100-foot mural using only Teen Magazine covers while listening to non-stick discs
Sherree Wich
Lawrence graduate student
bachelor of science
Assistant director
KU language laboratory
Actually, we would like to see more letters objecting to everything. Keep up the good work producing the kind of items that encharek sletters!
KU police shirk duty, ignore illegal parking To the Editor:
I learned many things as a KU student. One of those everlasting truths is that the campus police probably are really nice people, but I wouldn't want them on the job.
For three years I lived at Stephenton Hall, and have been closely associated with it for many years. In recently as Oct. 27—I have seen the police steadily ignore any incident, even a place parking lot.
This past weekend, as have all other fall weekends before it, saw the lot filled with barbarians in their Wintempegge and station buildings. It was a busy day, and had a permit to park in the lot, which is posted as a 24-hour, permit-only lot. And after the officers finally came and soon went, as they always do, none of the cars were in a station for parking without a permit.
Stephenson backs up to the lot an undersize patch on a hiliad. That is how solitary he sits in the game weekends. The lot unfortunately also backs up to the Wagon Wheel, which can often find its patrons in a group of their beers and their butts on my cars.
The campers and many of the extraneous cars were parked where there were no spaces marked, such as the lot entrance doors. The officers chose to ignore the 24-hour regulation, that parking was still an outright violation, in any lot on any day. It's a hazard, even when the drivers are sober. A ticketman? Yes, but there were no tickets.
The handsome people drinking beer in the restaurant are not the ones scares the patrons. The lot is not one of the pieces of furniture upon which one can drink. State law says no. Intifden culture cops don't. No arrests, so there aren't any.
It's no secret that school hall residents don't get along with driver who parked their car in front of them. Think the residents are trying to get special treatment to persecute those drivers. In fact, the residents might be close to giving way to cars. There are investments in parking spaces and cars. Now, the residents don't live in glass dorms. The tickets the tickets will be either appaled.
One cannot say only bad things about the officers. True, it did take only four phone calls, but in the approach the drivers and drinkers. Another four probably would have led them to take their tickets books out of the patrol cars. And another four probably would have led them to 10 minutes- two hours after the game. And they did want a school bus resident to sign a petition for the state's laws "entering state and campus law."
But after all, there is not as much glory in rostuing a dozen dozes on the floor at the ballpark park as there is in sitting in the Memorial Stadium press box and scoping out misbehaving fans.
Leon Unruh Austin, Texas