UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editors represent the opinion of the Kansan editor staff. Signed column represents the views of the authors.
October 25.1979
Stephan hurts plan
Kansas Attorney General Robert Stephan has announced that he will fight to bring down the walls of a newly developed community corrections program.
Stephan, who says he plans to the feeding with the 1981 Kansas Legislature now has KU law students analyzing alternatives to the program.
The problem with Stephan's battle plan, however, is that it seems to stem more from a long-standing dislike of community corrections programs than from the success or failure of the program.
THE NEW program was approved in 1978 after a long battle in the Legislature. But Stephan, who was cool to the idea during his 13 years at Sedgwick County district judge, already has deemed the program unworkable, and he plans to push for a minimum-security prison.
The fact is, however, that the program may work. The idea of community corrections is to release wrongdoers from a community to give them a better
chance of rehabilitation than in prisons, which often foster as much criminal behavior as they deter.
SO FAR, only Pawnee County has chosen to take part in the program. But state Corrections Secretary Patrick McManus said he saw it work in Minnesota, where he is from, and thinks the program should be given a chance here.
“When a state decides on something like community corrections, some people think you can legislate one day and implement the next,” McManus said. “You can't. It’s still too early to whether it will fail in this state.”
Corrections is perhaps the one area of our criminal justice process in which no one is an expert, an area in which our society has yet to find workable solutions. Putting nonviolent offenders back into their communities, instead of behind barbed wire, may be one of those solutions.
The state Legislature has committed itself to exploring alternatives. Perhaps Stephen ought to hold off his attempts to fight there is something to fight about.
Relations between America and mainland China, so delicately nurtured by the leaders of both countries, may be in jeopardy as a result of a melding U. District Court judge.
Judge threatens U.S.-Sino relations
In an unprecedented and foolhardy ruling, the judge, Olive Garcia, decided last week that the U.S. Constitution in announcing the termination of the U.S. mutual defence treaty with Taiwan last year. The termination of the agreement would build blocks in Sina-American relations.
Gassai said that any termination of the treaty must be approved by two-thirds of the Senate. The treaty was scheduled to die on Jan. 1, but Gassai tacked on an order to the ruler, prohibiting Secretary of State Rance from carrying out the termination.
GASCHS RULING came on a lawsuit against the law firm of 14 other conservative lawmakers, who had called Carter's termination of the Taiwan pact one of the "worst power grabs in Asia."
That "power grab" occurred late last year when Carter announced that the United States would seek a pact with the People's Republic of China. That normalization was based on an agreement reached by President Trump.
The decision to switch loyalties from Taiwan to China touched off a storm of criticism, with some verbal broadsides at the president, accusing him of abandoning a faithful ally for an
MANY LIBERALS were surprised by the call to action for any guarantees of a kurain's survival. Congressional leaders, meanwhile, were dismayed with what they called "a cavalier approach" in their response.
Kansas is used to being called a backward, water state back. It is learned to take the jokes and criticism in stride, because for one social activity or another.
Universities are usually the hobbies for women, but they are sure of enlightenment that supposedly irrevocable walls is attractive to people who support or oppose a cause that is not well thought out.
The University of Kansas is no disappointment. Through the years, its students have been involved in many a controversy.
Gay's direction confusing
ONE OF those controversies is gay rights. To some, that's a surprising issue for this part of the country.
The state's fame comes partly from a much-publicized struggle in Wichita over a gay rights ordinance. It was repealed shortly after a controversial gay rights referendum in Dade County, Fla., but it remains a publicable national attention. It was Kansas.
The University's fame in gay activism comes from its active gay and Lesbian student groups, some of which have existed for nearly nine years.
But now Kansas may be coming closer to that backwater stereotype than is comfortable, especially in the area of gay rights. A person who actively supports the Gay Rights League in Kansas suggest last week that a lack of leadership had made the group ineffective.
THIS IS inongroup with the recent National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. At a time when homosexuality was becoming a taboo, we need awareness and understanding, as well as
COLUMNIST
melissa thompson
political power, why have Lawrence's gay people been so quiet?
'Is gay activism going the way of other social movements—toward a more passive, service role? Or has it just become unfashionable?'
the history of the homosexual rights movement at KU is crowded with incidents. The headlines of past years reflect the novelty that the press saw in the issue. They also show how disruption, as political science that政治科学 professors say is effective, at least to a degree.
IN 1971, the Gay Liberation Front began an ultimately unsuccessful, three-year legal battle to gain formal recognition from the government to open the way for seeking student funding.
The Front brought suit against then-Chancellor E. Laurence Chalmers and several other officials because its petition for recognition had been denied. The suit began in federal district court, travelled through a circuit court of appeals in Denver and finally ended in a plea for consideration before the Court. The Court would not hear the case.
One of the attorneys involved in the case was William Kunster, a civil rights specialist. His previous clients include the Chicago Seven, Huey Newton and Bobby
IT'S HARD to lose with that kind of ammunition, but they did. However, the case
was more valuable than any win because it
would have allowed us to develop on campuses in Kansas and other states. That issue was how far a
Universities should go in supporting freedoms
It's interesting to note that while KU and the Front were arguing before a judge, the Board of Regents in Oklahoma was giving up on the same petition. Regents voted not to appeal a court ruling that said that homosexual students must be granted the same rights as heterosexual students.
COLUMNIST
In 1975, the headlines took on a different color. One read, "Area gay group no longer political." The shift of the group was toward service, not publicity.
There was a surge of activity again in 1977, when the Gay Services of Kansas, Inc. sponsored a "Wear Blue Jeans If You're Gay Day." The promotion was more a reflection of how people were forced to think of how they would react if others considered them gay.
In 1978, the surge continued as the GSKO participated in a realignment of the gov't's drug policy and was endorsed. And earlier this week members of the GSKO participated in an anti-discrimination rally on June 30.
The group is obviously not defunct yet, but the cryptic allusion by one of its supporters to ineffective leadership is disturbing.
Is poor leadership being confused with a lack of controversy? Effectiveness is not always measured in headlines.
Or is the gay rights movement—at least in Kansas—egress toward that placid, political calm that most social issues seem to be enduring?
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
important decision without consulting Congress.
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Managing Editor
Nancy Dressler
If that appeal fails, Carter will have to appeal the decision to Congress. Even if Congress does approve the cancellation, it will mean postponing the resumption of normal relations with China.
Editor
Marv Hoenj
What effects this will have on Chinese- American relations is unclear. The Chinese have been silent so far and the Carter administration has said it will appeal the decision.
Editorial Editor Marv Ernst
Business Manager Cynthia Ray
Presidential authority in the area of treaties is sometimes vague, but Carter said that Gachs's ruling is an unjustified and inane case of judicial medingl of foreign affairs. Foreign policy-making should be decided by experts and not in the American courtroom.
John logan
General Manager Rick Mussel
Advertising Adviser Chuck Cbowina
The University Daily Kansas welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be addressed to the university and not exceed 500 words. They should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. If the writer is affirmed in school records, they should include the writer's class and home town or faculty or staff position. Letters should also be sent to the right to edit for publication.
Letters Policy
However, despite the anger of Congress and the contensions of Goldwater and Gauch, Carter had a clear legal right to end a party's term, even if another party may terminate it one year after notice has been given the other party. Carter administration lawyers argued to Gauch that this gives the president the power to act alone—without consulting Congress.
There is also plenty of precedent on
their actions. A law passed in
down at least 11 treaties in 1815 without
congressional approval. There is also
absolutely no judge for a judge to veto a
collation.
EVEN ON a practical side, the treaty termination makes sense. The treaty is a relic of the Red Scar days of the 1900s and employs diplomatic efforts with mainland China and its nearly 980 million people. Freed from the numbersome entanglements, U.S. relations with China have little relation with China to a point where we now save more control than ever over the fate of Taiwan. Nonetheless, Gassch chose to rule in Goldwater and his conservative rew.
And we can make it live again!
Parking decisions exclude students
To the Editor
The University has acted to regulate the use of electronic equipment allowing for input from the student body. A notice of proposed rulemaking has never been issued to allow for comments before a final decision.
Paul A. Passman
Prairie Village graduate student
1 WOULD hope that the students would speak out and speak loudly to prevent any further regulations from taking effect without allowing for a reasonable period of time for comments from those persons who directly affected by the new regulations.
When a fine of $7.50 for backing into a parking stall is assessed to you, or a meter placed under your car, the amount time your vehicle has occupied a space, or when the cost of a permit park is raised again, or ... What happens next? When a fine of $7.50 will only get you by until the next time.
Many of you reading this will not be concerned until a fine is imposed on you. It'll probably be that you're trying to tight budget and find it necessary to shell out another $7.50 or more per violation. [see here, however, is not money, but creating regulations and enforcing them.]
BEGINNING THIS HILL, parking meters have grown like weeds which thrive on quarters, and they feed on the students who use them. The department authorized the installation of these parking meters? The Kanans, in a report earlier this semester, noted that the meters would cut Parking Service's operating costs by 40%. They were working at the entrance to the parking zones. The employees' salaries have been absorbed, but unemployment has risen as a result of this action. Doesn't the person who owns the coins from the receipts receive a salary?
Indeed he does, and he enjoys the convenience and comfort of a new vehicle in which he patrols the parking zones, searching out yet another unfortunate victim of car theft. He is also on the bureaucracy. The traffic program is designed to provide "Use of available parking space in the best interests of the total University." Don't the students drive? You must be university! The Parking Services seem to request the students only as a source of revenue.
Personalized system of instruction needed
To the Editor:
As students we are subjected to extreme pressures of achievement. Do you have a fear that you will fail? Do you race in a course? Does fear tear at your heart when you've failed a test you thought you knew? Or when the instructor moves on to new material and you hasn't mastered it?
UNIVERSITY DAILY letters KANSAN
Maybe it's time we moved out of the dark ages of lecturing and into the new era of Personalized System of Instruction(PSI).
PSI divide the course into units of work that students complete in order. Students who have mastered Unit 1 can easily master Unit 2, which consists of 3, etc. Students do not move on to the next unit until they have mastered prior units. The instructor believes that students will learn more easily and more plausibly if they receive such new concept introduced in the course.
IF A STUDENT isn't satisfied with his test score at the end of a certain number of quizzes (chapters or units), he is free to try again, thus eliminating that gripping fear. The system can be adapted to any subject—such as math, language, or philosophy. Nothing is destined to be stuck in a lecture rut. The work is that of the student, and the instructor is the helper and organizer.
Aren't self-achievement and self-esteem worth some change in our University? Do you have any plans for paying teachers to teach you? You hold the voice of the students—speak out with correspondence. It's your future and your job. Can you imagine yourself—are you feeling the pressures?
Hutchinson junior
MECHA clarifies errors about rally
To the Editor
Members of the MCHA organization believe that clarification is necessary in regard to the article on the rally at Judy Woodburn on Dec. 27, 1978, written by Judy Woodburn on
The sentence "...marchers included Mexican-American organization" was very misleading. In the future, the Kansan should contact members of the organization to correct it.
MECHA did not endorse the rally, nor were any members present as representatives of the group. Only one member, on a statewide ballot, did not endorse and not members was stated in the article.
Ruben Murillo
Hutchinson senior
Steve Ramirez
Horton junior
KU MECHA
To the Editor
Goals of communists are not humanitarian
I noticed that the University Events committee approved an anti-recruitment strategy for a graduate Progressive Labor Party(PLP). Upon investigation of the PLP we find very similar characteristics.
The fall 1979 copy of the PLP magazine states:
"We, the revolutionary communi-
Progressive Labor Party, will march in
Harpes's Ferry and in Kansas to com-
memorate the historical example of John
Brown and his force violently fighting
and the unity that sustained that strugge-
"But we are marching for more than that. Racism is the blood that flows through the world, and it cannot be defeated without the other. As communists we recognize that capitalism will not be defeated unless racism is destroyed, and until racism is destroyed until capitalism is destroyed."
And we are supposed to believe that communists, who have murdered scores of civilians and humanitarians who are concerned about human rights, when in reality, their admitted goal is the destruction of democracy in our republic and our free enterprise system?
Communists, for years, are the ones who have been instigating and promoting strife between various factions abroad and in our own country, driving a wedge between men and women, and whites, parents and children—the "generation gap"—and men and women.
Rob Munyan Mission Hills graduate student
Kansan reader wants
Kansan reader wants no more black hands
I used to get black fingers every time we fingerprinted in kindergarten
To the Editor:
Later, I got black fingers when I sharpened pencils by rubbing them sideways on a piece of paper.
Now I get black fingers when I read the Kansan.
I don't want black fingers anymore
Please, do something. Bob Longmire Leawood senior
Leawood senior
Senator clarifies opinion on spending Deputy Killen
To the Editor
I feel that I must clarify a quote attributed to me in the Kansan on Thursday. Oct. 18.
The quote, "We have a fantastic amount of money, $45,000 . . . I think we give it to a worthwhile project, imply that we should be the Student Project and the Under Project $45,000. The fact is the Senate had this sum available to allocate to various campus organizations, and I believe we would use Usaiden Defense Program for $1,780 was not impossible or inappropriate. Claire McKinney
Lawrence senior