UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kanast
Signed columns represent the views of only the writers
September 25,1979
The KU chapter of the American Association of University Professors is worried—and justly upset—about a financial exigency proposal adopted by the Kansas Board of Regents last week.
AAUP ire justified
Although the AALP is perhaps the most vocal of faculty groups on campus, other faculty members also worry that it will create a little worried about the proposal.
What has caused all the worry is a proposal that will allow KU administrators to make decisions on the matters they have with very broadly-defined guidelines.
ACCORDING TO the Regents definition, financial exigency is the formal recognition by a Regents school that prior reductions in budget or authorized positions have required the elimination of nontenured positions to such a point that more reductions would distort the academic programs of the school. When such a situation occurs, it would be necessary for the University to halt reappointment of tenured faculty.
But with such ambiguous guidelines, all that the KU chancellor must do is declare financial exigency as he sees fit under the loosely-defined guidelines and then explain to the Regents the reasons for such a declaration. The Regents do not have to approve the introduction of financial exigency in the effect of financial exigency to be in effect.
What the AAUP would like to see adopted is a proposal along the lines of
one adopted by the University Senate in December 1976, which defines financial exigency along tighter guidelines.
In the light of the possibility of declining enrollment in the future and the unstable financial condition that would go with such a decline, faculty members who are faculty alike realize that cuts in faculty positions may have to be made.
UNDER THESE guidelines, three conditions must prevail before a state of financial exigency is declared and tenured faculty released. The situation must be a crisis situation; must pose a threat to the survival of the institution; must cause a loss of faculty; or must be alleviated by less drastic means than the termination of tenured faculty.
But the AAUP and other faculty rightly demand a little more security for their jobs. And they are concerned that if this University does get into financial problems the administration will turn to the Regents broadly-funded facilities and thus release tenured faculty before it is absolutely necessary.
Despite the Regents approval of the guidelines, it is hoped that the chancellor would use the University Senate's code in decisions on the state of financial exigency. And it is hoped that the release of tenured faculty will occur only when the University is indicted by a criminal investigation—a threat that cannot be alleviated without cuts in tenured faculty.
Angry fear of rape haunts women daily
The sun set at 7:24 Sunday night, Sept. 16. An hour later, an KU student was attacked and raped on campus by three men in raidana, just south of Blake and Twente hall.
The report of the incident in the next day's newspaper said the woman had been jogging. The details of the story's description have been received and she must have seen the men clearly.
Some people undoubtedly shrugged when they read the story and rationalized the attack by saying she should not have been jogging by herself.
Most men cannot understand the fear and anger women feel about rape. They have no confidence in themselves and have no accurate frame of reference, no analogy or identification with the concept of rape.
That is probably true. But probability is no rationale for a question that haunts women; why should we have to feel fear and paranoia when we are not the criminals?
Imagine waking up every morning, facing the possibility that someone could shoot you with a firearm. Or you might have a physical attack; there is only a subsurface threat. You have no idea when or where the bullet will land.
The sniper will not be readily identifiable. He could be a teacher at the elementary school down the street, a clean cut man, a wizard of secrets, is there no war to tell who it might be.
This fear of rape is not only a ghost for some women, it also affects those who shift or attend other classes. It is a nightmare for all women. These days, it even dances in the back of our minds when we go to the school.
On the same page of the newspaper which reported the rape behind Blake and Twente, Mr. McCormick said he found obscene pictures and notes on the seats of his cars. They had been shopping at the mall.
Some people thought it was funny. I can only think of the sick feeling I would have had if someone had been watching me, I would have felt a lingering presence in the car. There would have been no physical contact but there would have been implied threat.
melissa
thompson
COLUMNIST thompson
THE FEAR does not fade when the weeks pass without a news story reporting a race.
You still worry. You live cautiously, adjusting your routine to the advice of rape prevention and advisory groups. You avoid paramour, but you are always aware. No tally of rape statistics could ever include a feeling with which many women live.
The statistical reality of rape is not illustrated by the number of incidents reported every year, but by the estimated number of women who remain silent.
ACCORDING TO THE KU and Lawrence police, only 10 to 15 percent of all rapes in Lawrence are reported. Half of those reports lead to arrests.
Of those arrested, 40 percent are not prosecuted. And 68 percent of the cases that do reach a courtroom end in acquittals or dismissals.
Those are not comforting numbers. You've probably read them in any newspaper or magazine on the stands. Rape makes a good story. So does murder, fire, accidents. The chiefs, car accident, and presidential chiefs of staff who might have used cocaine.
BUT DESPITE all the publicity and the expert advice available from rape prevention groups and law enforcement departments, 41 percent nationally in the last five years.
What is even more disquieting is the fact that rape continues to be an under-reported crime even though there is a change of mind in the minds of the police and the public.
People are beginning to sympathize more with the victims instead of feeling accusatory and judgmental. This sympathy can't appear soon enough.
Disquieting figure, isn't it?
For more information on rape prevention call:
- Douglas County Rape Victim Support Project, 843-8985
- Sgt. Jeanne Longaker or Officer Jerry
Pearson of the KU Police Department
- Headquarters, 841-2345
Gold fever triggers panic, inflation
Gold. Since the dawn of time the precious metal has been the object of man's breath. Men have lied with it.
A new wave of that greed has struck the world lately. Fueled by growing doubts about the strengths of the world's paper currencies, more and more people are buying gold now. The nation purchases have driven the price of gold skyward, drives of speculators have loapped on the gold wagon, sending them into a raging inflation, both in the United States and abroad.
Consider this. This 12 years ago gold sold on the world market for $35 an ounce. By July 777, the price of gold was $148 six months later, in January 1978, gold was up to $2006 and continues to climb until it hits $248 in October of that year.
A concerted effort by the United States Treasury brought the price back under $200 three months later, but since then gold prices have again skymacked to record highs. The dollar was $175 an ounce and prices were rising up to $2 a day.
The reason for the buying is a distrust of the world economy, particularly that of the United States. Arab oil countries and European banks, anxious to break their ties with the rapidly shrinking dollar, are among the largest purchasers of gold, but they have been by masses each anxious to capitalize on the booming markets.
John logan
PERHAPS THE largest amount of gold purchasing is inflowing into our nation's coffers at a rate faster than they can spend it. In the past, those nations have invested much of that money in the United States, but inflation has increased even more.
COLUMNIST logan
Discouraged, but not impoverished, the Arabs are pulling out of the United States.
For example, in 1974, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries invested $1.45 billion of their foreign exchange earnings in the United States. Last year, they paid $3.46 billion to United States. Much of that money has been repayed.
THE ARABS' willingness to buy gold at any price, coupled with the tight supply, has pushed the price up dramatically. Spotting the price rises, individual investors have been pouring into the market, buying up as much gold as they can. The result has been the dramatic increase in the past few months, hikes that show no sign of enduring.
"It's running wild," said one New York precious metals dealer. "There is a total unwillingness of anyone to sell it."
"Buyers seem to be coming from everywhere," said another dealer, the United States, Europe, the Arabas, and China.
THE CONSEQUENCES of the rise in gold prices are serious, for as the price of gold rises, the value of the dollar drops accordingly. Treasury officials say there is no specific connection between the price of gold and the value of the dollar, but trends appear to indicate the operating rate of the dollar on an ounce, the Swiss Franc was worth about 40 U.S. dollars when gold was at $170, it took 50 cents to buy one franc. Then, when gold hit $234, the franc had climbed to 6.5 cents.
Whether they publicly recognize the connection or not federal officials took action to curb the price of gold in late 1978. They announced that they would sell 750,000 ounces of gold at auction each month.
THE REASONING was simple. The government hoped to decrease the price of gold by increasing the supply. A decreasing price would encourage more furlough in the dollar and strengthen the sagging currency. The auction would have the additional benefit of attracting more money to the economy, benefiting in a small way the uneven balance of payments.
It worked for a while. The price of gold dropped and the dollar firmed against other currencies. But even 75,000 ounces of metal was not enough to satisfy the world appetite for the metal and prices quickly began soaring again and the dollar has gone into a downward spiral and been accompanied by the currencies of several other nations.
What all this means is that the stage has been set for another round of spiraling inflation. Because when the oil prices are rising, so too are the prices there may be another round of oil price increases because as the dollar declines, the OPEC nations aren't getting as much money in the oil market.
ALREADY NGERIA has indicated it wants to boost the sales of its own OPC nucies break the groups' price cloning, the others will quickly follow. And as we know from experience, when oil prices go up, so do most of the other OPC nucies.
So it appears that as long as gold prices continue to soar out of sight, we can look forward to double-digit inflation in the United States; inflation a battered United States economy can ill afford.
To the Editor:
Kansan should tell whole club story
Very few Third World people were actually surprised by your investigative style frontpage coverage of what you neglected with discrimination in Lawrence private clubs.
To be sure, people of color who have tried to enjoy themselves under the membership laws of local clubs, not for a news "scop" or social interaction, eating or drinking purposes, did not discover the degree of assimilation required and the humiliation experienced in most private clubs. The majority of club owners do not share their ownership with people and do not have or desire Third Word assistance in their operations.
Kathleen Conkey's article last year reviewing local discs, which included those in private clubs, revealed the mundane nature of disc culture. The group might expect to be produced for a mindless assembly line of drones rather than for the progressive cultural mix of people that live in
The club owners have historically thrived on a membership base of seven to eight members, who visit and cross visit and stay open seven nights a week. Recent inflationary spirals have reduced the number of people and nights on the town for local residents and students. The club owns warriors take their nights out seriously. I am afraid that in the course of enjoying ourselves we find people stepping on each other's shoulders and having conversations with bohemian boots. The result has been that those who can afford to frequent the clubs regularly have obviously expressed a desire to join the club and socialize with the owners and operators of the private clubs. In their eagerness to comply, the clubs quickly changed atmosphere, format, dress codes and with the inclusion of new members, the over-21 establishments made an attempt to show them they were listening and assured those who preferred not to be in the club would not face people that there would be more discretion.
The need for a distinction between
fraternity/sorority membership and membership for all others is only sophisticated racism, since we as all know, when you believe you'll find the Black Panhelenic organizations listed at the door of any club for reduced membership. So we've brought the issue of a few years ago involving race in Panhelenic organizations to town.
I don't want to imply that the owners are angels being misled, either, because they should realize that their long-range interests are only served by meeting the citizens in the community and customers the owners claim are running off to Kansas City are actually fleeing the cultural terrorism and oppression that exists here. They would glady trade in their car mileage and droopy eye nights on the street to avoid being a third a.m. in town without racial incidents.
UNFORTUNATELY then, the Kansan has actually assisted a cultural cover-up in town that has its roots in the traditions of elite campus and community group involvement. She said she and the private club owners play a role in the problem and the solution. Perhaps what needs to be asked is what we do hope to achieve by inflicting more exclusive social practices on an expanding cultural mix of students in higher education for in selective fashion? Even Justice Powell of the U.S. Supreme Court, in his major opinion on the case of Bakke vs. University of California, recognized that "cultural diversity was an admirable goal."
Therefore, I hope the Kansas and others concerned with the whole matter will investigate not only the practices that are inadequate but also those that were able to exercise their control and influence to create this situation. It goes much deeper than misinformed doormen, misinterpreted fire laws, vague references to the authority to supply of membership annotations.
Clarence L. Dillingham Instructor, School of Social Welfare
Nuclear waste, coal cannot be compared To the Editor
David Preston is right ("Ant-Nuke Fad." ... Kansas, Sept. 12). There never has been a bad like the anti-nuke fad—except perhaps the civil and gay rights "fads" or the anti-r war "fad." Would we dismiss these attacks as he does the anti-nuclear movement?
While playing down the problems involved with nuclear waste, Presston makes the key point that the area is associated with nuclear technology to those of airplane transportation and coal mining. Now, have we heard the last of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's highly radioactive water in the Three Mile Island containment building. In a speech at the event, his fellow missorian Gilakys stated that neither the NRC nor the Metropolitan Edison Utility had been involved in any of this water or the damaged materials in
the plant's core. Commission Galinsky also added idea how much data had been released and the date of Marvil 28 and the days following the Thirteen Island accident. See "Village Mines" (Marvil).
Preston prefers to ignore facts such as, "Apparently he would rather have us use nuclear weapons than the vested interests of the nuclear energy establishment. If Preston wants to write a book about nuclear energy,
Lawrence graduate student
Religious pollution ruins fall weather
To the Editor:
Isn't there some way to detour the religious pollution in front of the Union? Until today the harassment has been increased. We need to feel these questions really were not that deceptive—merely naive. But now these mongers have added loudspeakers and chairs to their artillery. It's a cautious infringement on the lighr and crise fall.
Mark Locke
Overland Park junior
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