UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorslals
Unsigned editors represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of the editor.
September 19. 1979
Opinion poll needed
A proposed revision of KU's academic calendar is slowly winding its way to the Kansas Board of Regents. Draftsman David Amber, vice chancellor for student affairs, has spoken on its behalf before the executive committee, which last week sent it to KU's calendar committee.
The calendar committee may choose to advance the proposal to the University Council, which may decide to petition the Regents. Only the Regents may give the proposal a final blessing.
The proposal tightens the calendar by two weeks without reducing the number of actual classroom days. Under the revision, residence halls will be a week later and enrollment would be condensed from six to three days.
The final examination period would be shortened to six days instead of 10. And final examinations would be two hours instead of three, permitting four exam periods each day instead of three.
Selected academic vacation days,
including the day between the last day
of classes and finals, the Wednesday
before Thanksgiving and the Monday
after Easter, also would be axed from
the calendar.
Ambler's revision, which was in response to a study that determined
KU had the longest academic calendar of any Big Eight or Big 10 school, is based on some sound reasoning.
He says operation, food and utility costs of the residence halls would decrease, amounting to a possible savings to the University of $100,000 or
But there is more to be considered here than just money.
"There are a lot of wasted days in the calendar that are not needed and are costing us and the students a lot of money," Amber has said.
SenEx Student Representatives Claire McCurdy and Steve Craver have said parts of the proposed calendar were disadvantageous to students. McCurdy has questioned the added pressures students might be asked to bear with a compacted final exam. The school's opening residence halls a week later would make it difficult for students to get organized for the school year.
Although the proposal's final destination is with the Regents' decision, students and faculty are the ones who will have to live with the revision. In this respect, it is important to determine exactly who will be affected by this proposal, and in what ways.
On its path to approval, the proposal should be stopped long enough for students and faculty to be polled for their opinions.
Child abuse blights 'civil' U.S. society
Regrettably and painfully they accept the blame for their broken bones or lacerations. Others have been severely burned. And still others have been mutilated, tortured or killed.
The above scene sounds as if it took place in World War II German concentration camp. But it didn't.
The scene actually happens right here in America everyday. And an even more
Child abuse has long been ignored in our country and it is only within the last few years that the closet door has been slowly opened and the skeletons revealed. But it probably won't be for you until someone with knowledge gets full attention it has long needed.
depressing thought is that this miltreatment involves a group of our fellow human beings who are the most innocent of innocent of our citizens—our children.
In 1978, about 1 million children suffered from parental abuse in America, and this is considered to be a common occurrence. There are thousands of cases that are not reported. That figure has grown considerably since 1971, when it was estimated that 250,000
In studies by psychologists, it has been determined that the primary reason for depression is uncontrollable anger resulting from every day life stressen rather than to maintain it. Depressed or frustrated, parents release their pent-up emotions on their children and leave them alone.
The impression the child receives from this abuse is mentally and physically scarring. Many of these children become psychologically dependent later become drug addicts. Still others are emotionally unstable and confined to their bedroom, stern toward others and life in general.
In order to prevent child abuse by parents, many non-profit organizations, the American Red Cross formed across the country, and several state programs have been started. There are many states in the United States in an attempt to make it easier for people to report cases and to offer help.
Some grade schools also are getting involved by offering assistance and advice to parents and by reporting abuse
John COLUMNIST fischer
cases. In addition, some hospitals across the country have been working with suspected parents in the prevention of child abuse.
Although these efforts have been helpful and are to be commended, they are not enough.
The number of programs remains insufficient and the programs lack adequate funding. There are legal deficits in the public little public awareness of this problem.
Many of the reported cases of child abuse are investigated by organizations and ages, but the agency's response because of insufficient staffs and funding. Because those are funds are not much, much resulting in the continuing abuse of some children who really need help and who
Most importantly, however, the public and needs to be made more aware of children in need and to eradicate it. Many people still do not consider child abuse to be a major problem in the United States, but their neighbors and friends could be child abusers. But these ideas are erroneous and have only helped create an environment in which perhaps through increased public awareness, more people will volunteer their services or report cases of child abuse.
Legal hassles and mixed intolerances discouraged people from reporting cases or have let child abusers go free, only to continue abusings defenseless children. In most states, court cases involving child abuse before the parents are found guilty, and there are still questions of what happened, where and when, also. Many people acting as witnesses, are apprehensive about the possibility of a lawsuit and consequently they don't report.
T thousands of children will continue to be maimed, sexually assaulted, threatened, beaten and tortured unless this illness is remedied. Through our continued ignorance of the problem we must learn how to avoid it as those who actually do the abausing.
But in an attempt to cure this ugly illness of child abuse that plagues our society, we need to become more aware of child abuse and its consequences. More aid and counseling is needed so that children has to be provided for these programs to be successful. Laws also need to be made to protect the child and his rights to a nurture.
There is no doubt that the cure will involve a great deal of our money and time. But isn't it about time we spent on our "precious" lime and money wisely?
BY THE TIME THE AMERICANS REALIZE WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE IN CUBA, IT WILL BE TOO LATE!
YES, THEY WILL BE INVADED FROM THE SEA BY HIGHLY-TRAINED SQUADS OF RELEENTLESS KILLERS BENT ON NOTHING LESS THAN TOTAL DESTRUCTION!
Oil gives Mexico bargaining power
The transformation from an impoverished agricultural country to a rich,
But no more. The discovery of billions of barrels of oil reserves beneath Mexican soil has transformed that country into an oil giant. In the same month soon on a car with Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Many of us who are avid followers of newspaper comic sections may have seen the Guinion strip published in many papers last Sunday.
The Mexican-drawn cartoon opened with a panel showing the American eagle in a drawing of our country's crest.
Our and relations with Mexico are the result of our poor treatment of the Mexicans in the United States, and describe in one column the effects of decades of second-class treatment Mexico has received from its big neighbor to the north. This has created a exploited Mexico's cheap labor force and has repeatedly pressured the Mexican government for good deals on Mexican goods.
The American eagle suddenly realizes the significance of the date (Sunday was his birthday) and asks his cousin, the eagle on the Mexican flag. The two eagle exchange pleasanties they sit together to watch the pump and fireworks that mark the Independence Day celebration.
correlations:
The message of the cartoon strip, of course, was a plug for good relations between the United States and Mexico.
But unfortunately, good relations are not what we now have. They border on the trivial—the result of American blunders and the economic power of Mexico's vast oil reserves.
john COLUMNIST logan
powerful nation began less than five years ago and is still going on. Five years ago there were only a few oil wells in Mexico, pumping out only a trickle of oil.
Then the came big oil discoveries. By 1977, Mexican natural gas and oil resources were estimated at 47 billion barrels. New discoveries came hard on the heels of the first and now Mexico has 87 billion barrels of proven or probable reserves. Unofficial estimates of reserves are close to 300 billion Arabia. That’s twice as much as Saudi Arabia.
So clearly, Mexico's days of being a second-class citizen in North America are almost over.
Not surprisingly, this has allowed the Mexican government to change its attitude in its dealings with America. They now find themselves able to negotiate from a position of power. And they are prepared to use that knowledge to address both policy changes from the United States.
One of the most important policy changes one is in U.S. immigration rules. For example, the new law flocked across the border to find work in the United States. Many of those workers have been treated little better than slaves and have to live as fiveles with no legal protection.
The Mexican government wants the United States to establish a program by which Mexican workers could enter the
United States on a temporary basis. While businesses along the border have come in of favor of legalizing the Mexican drug trade, opinions appear to want the migration halt.
The Mexican government also wants better access to the American marketplace for its crops. The United States wants more foreign trade and protect Mexican industry. Not surprisingly, American farmers are strongly opposed to the competition Mexican goods would create. But unless the goods are allowed into Mexico, Mexican probably won't reduce its tariffs.
Mexico may get its way in negotiations on the issues, however. Because behind all the negotiation efforts, Mexico is gold, the lifeblood of the United States economy. For America, having Mexico as a so脆弱 crude oil and natural gas we so desperately trade up to come true. We would not have to worry about the unstable condition in the Persian Gulf that has left our nation threatened to our vulnerable tanker fleet in the event of war. It would be a throwback to the past. But if we literally had an oil well in our back yard
Surprisingly, the Mexican government initially expressed an interest in dealing with the United States on a priority basis. In 2014, the Mexican government and United States and Mexico for building a pipeline that would pump natural gas from Mexican fields to Texas at a price lower than that currently charged by the Corporation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
But in a move of incredible stupidity, former energy czar James Schlesinger
stopped the deal on the grounds that the price was still too high. As a result of his action, the United States Import and Export Bank cancelled a planned loan to Mexico, which financed natural gas pipelines, including the pipeline to the United States.
The Mexicans are furious. Other nations, including Japan and western European countries, quickly stepped in to help the Mexicans consider future considerations. And natural gas, which could be used to heat American homes, is being burned off at a rate of a万亿 cubic foot a day by the Mexicans, a while earlier than sell it at the low price offered by us.
The rejection of the gas deal also bodes ill for the future of Mexican-Americanism. The wave of a defensive American feeling in the country made it impossible for the relatively pro-United States government of Laredo Porto to offer favorable terms to the United States
In two weeks, President Carter will fly to Mexico to meet with Fortiloy and try to mend this split between the two nations. But he won't be able to find a chance for any major agreements at the talks. They are describing the sessions as well as those of Fortiloy. Portiloy telling Carter what wants him.
Perhaps good Mexican-American relations are something we will be able to see only in the comics. They certainly aren’t anything we can laugh about. However, they can be interesting because a reciprocal relationship would be immensely beneficial to both countries.
Nuclear power support irresponsible
To the Editor:
As I began to read David Preston's onl-eal on the anti-nuke "fad" (Sep. 12), my first thought was that this person was just writing a sarcastic editorial to try to generate a flow of letters. After talking with him, I shoved it shocked to find that this was not the case.
This guy was really serious. He really be-
 believed that what he was saying was valid. Wid,
all I can say is Mr. Preston must be
looking for a job with Exon.
Mr. Presson begins by using *minus old*) statement. "No one has ever been killed by a nuclear accident," and said that what happened to Mikael Island was of no great significance.
This is like saying 'wrist is great as long as no one is killed or murdered.' Three Mile Island island was significant because it brought to light the problem of nuclear power plants. What Mr. Preston doesn't realize is that a serious nuclear accident need only happen once for permanent damage.
Even Mr. Preston was taken in by propaganda of the press when he stated that the Island was the worst nuclear accident we have seen, and that the band had begun to melt and was stopped right when the core began to soften. There are records of other incidents, but none published by the organization.
Mr. Preston asks those who protest to explain where we will derive our future energy. There are two possibilities. One, we can remain dependent on big corporations to provide us with our electricity as they burn oil, gas, coal shale, syrub, water, and we create its structures and anything else that will be paying them on a monthly basis.
The other possibility is the sun and solar energy, but as Mr. Preston states, this is much too expensive and unreliable to be feasible. This is only true because high
technology buffs like Mr. Preston believe so and refuse to invest any significant amount into the research and development of small-scale solar projects.
It is true that the government has allocated $127 million for alternate energy research but $144 million, or 81 percent of that, went to major corporations, federal agencies, and universities. A lot of those funds were to "small" business, which can have as many as 1,500 employees.
The money they do invest in solar research is used for high technology systems such as the multi-billion dollar solar power plant at the $130 million "power tower" in California.
Finally, most funds that are awarded to government agencies like the Department of Housing and Urban Development are subcontracted to large corporations. This makes it very difficult for the private citizen to develop an independent solar unit.
Mr. Preston has the audacity to state that storing nuclear waste is worth the technology. Mr. Preston to go live in or around a nuclear waste disposal site, then tell us it's dangerous.
Nuclear power plants are not technological advancement; they are technological suicide. Technology will only advance when it can be used in harmony with nature, not in nature.
Kevin Kennedy Topeka junior
President deserves respect, not criticism
To the Editor:
Unlike so many Americans, I respect President Carter for the job he's done. I voted in 1976 for a man who expressed a
KANSAN letters
faith in the American people's ability to solve any problem, overcome any obstacle. I want the president to want the next president to run the country, but to work with Congress. I want it this country, as much as this country.
As is clear from Stephen B. Young's editorial, reprinted in the Kansas Sept. 13, Americans no longer want that kind of president. Presumably, we want a return to the days when the president told Congress that all systems needed solving, and how to solve them.
Faced with the lack of direction and unity present in America today, many Americans have come to believe that "bring us back together again." I most regret his comments, and men who became president in 1988 on that vlog. Give me a poplain president, however "other-directed," "over that kind of leadership."
Gregory Halbe
Graduate student,
Slavic language and literature
Plant sale complaint based on faulty logic
To the Editor:
In regard to the recent story about Pence's complaint against the one week plant sale, I urge the community to take a hard stance on Pence's unfair competition to full-time merchants, surely a bake sale would put the pin on him. The fact that he is as concerned about the welfare of
businesses and not selfishly concerned with merely one local industry—the plant market. He can carry his complaint to equally applicable instances such as the business of his own Scout cookies. These are also means of income for other non-profit organizations.
Pence should try to imagine the economy of this town without the 25,000 students that attend Lawrence. Lawrence is able to support a huge fast food market, eight theaters and other such institutions. The University Lawrence will be receiving the third largest convention center in the state? All of these things bring a considerable amount of change, which just might make it to the plant stores.
Independence, Mo., junior
**USS 8644 (M)** published at the University of Kansai August 15th visit Monday and May 10th and Thursday August 23rd visit Tuesday and Thursday Bidayes, second-class student place at Lawrence, Kansas Bidaye
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