UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editors represent the opinion of the Kansan
author. Signed columns represent the views of
only the writers.
August 30,1979
Mall talk too private
The announcement in July that a committee of Lawrence businessmen, citizens and KU administrators would examine the feasibility of a downtown development could be a good idea, and even a plus, for Lawrence residents. That was early in July.
By mid-July, it was announced that a 15-member Action 80 Committee had drawn up articles of incorporation and could legally prevent other Lawrence citizens from attending its meetings or making its negotiations for a downtown mail.
Warren Rhodes, committee chairman and president of the First National Bank, has said that as a private, nonprofit entity, the committee is not subject to the sunshine rule and would have to open its meetings to the public.
THAT WOULD BE fine if the committee were not discussing matters that affected many, if not most, of Lawrence's residents. Neighborhood organizations that have a vested interest in the town mall, such as the East Lawrence Association, are not represented at all on the Action 8 Committee.
The neighborhood associations are rightly concerned about the possibility that a downtown mall with three large department stores and 60 smaller retail stores could very likely cause problems of relocation of residents and increased traffic flow in their neighborhoods.
The real problem is that all of the preliminary planning of such a mail would be to left a small group of people who are interested in the applications of the mail are public concerns.
And it appears that the public will hear nothing of these secret plans until the committee is ready to make proposals to the city for government funding, rezoning or changes in any areas that would affect the city.
IN THE MEANTIME, the Action 80 Committee is working toward gaining $200,000 in private contributions to be used to contact developers, to conduct economic surveys and to travel to other cities to study their downtown
It seems Chancellor Archie R. Dykes feels that a downtown mall would have some effect on the University, as he chose Allen Wiercht, KU director of facilities and planning, to represent KU on the committee. Dykes' wife, Nancy, and Todd Seymour, president of the Kansas University Endowment Association, also are members of the committee.
The question of what a downtown mall would mean to the University and the city remains unanswered. The committee could help answer that question.
That committee must include neighborhood associations and the citizens of Lawrence now in decisions that affect their future.
John Charles Davis
John Charles Davis knew exactly what was happening to his body as his cells were being eaten away during the cancer attack by cancer. Cells were his life's study.
But Davis, who died Monday at the age of 33, knew he could not stop the process. The KU assistant professor of cell biology, died from malignant melanoma, one of the most intrusive types of cancer.
to write a paper on his now uncompleted research of reproductive cell systems.
Davis had begun to make an international name for himself in reproductive cell systems. He had published 12 articles on cell biology, was invited to a conference in Europe to present a paper and also was asked
The loss of Davis' zest and dedication to the discovery of some of the secrets of life's most basic elements—the cell-is a tragic loss for the University. His research is left unfinned, but the enthusiasm toward the research remains as two of his assistants plan to finish his work.
But his assistants know, as did Davis, that even their most vigorous efforts to learn more about cells will leave many mysteries unsolved. It was one of those mysteries, they realize, that was the cause of Davis' death.
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Drawbacks limit hope for oil shale
Synthetic fuel—the misnamed petroleum extracted from such natural sources as tar sands, coal and oil shale—is a major part of our energy and easy visit of an OPFC-independent future.
The President considers these fuels so important, in fact, that he has proposed an $88 billion federal investment that would provide all of the industry into full production by 1990.
With 1.8 trillion barrels of fuel trapped in oil shale deposits in the United States, 80 million barrels of which are used as energy technology, the President's enthusiasm may seem justified.
UNFORUNTELY, THE solution to our energy problems is once again not a simple one. Shale oil, as Colorado Gov. Diek Lamm says, is the "new solution to the nation's problem."<sup>1</sup>
That tune is being heard from many of the people sitting on this vast vault of petroleum wealth, including residents of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. And, for once, the representatives of the oil shale industry are claiming that these environments中最—at least one refrain.
Too much, too soon, they agree. The President's goals for the industry are unrealistic.
The master plan calls for the construction of eight plants near the vast shale oil deposits. The facilities would crush and heat the shale and extract and refine the oil
BUT THESE EIGHT plants would require a large labor force, and could cause an infliction of as many as 75,000 people to towns that now have only 14,500 resident.
lynn
COLUMNIST byczynski
The effect of such a population boom on community services, education and even social mores is staggering. In Colorado, where 70 percent of the country's oil shale, community officials are pointing to the tale of Rock Springs, Wymong.
The huge Jim Bridger Power Plant was built nearby, the small town was unable to handle the massive influx of people. Substandard and makeshift housing, overcrowded schools and insufficient community services resulted from the crash. The government, accompanied by dramatic increases in insurance, drug abuse and child abuse.
"THE NATION can ill afford to see repeats of the Rock Springs experience," said Harris Sherman, head of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
There are now no plants capable of producing 50,000 barrels of oil daily, the figure Carter sets as a goal. Union Oil Co. of California is building an experimental plant that will produce only oil since 1972 and that produces freeds since 1972. Occidental Oil Co. in Colorado has failed.
quickly enough to meet its 1990 deadline of full-scale production.
government insistence on commercial, production in what is now an experimental field could also halt the development of better oil shale recovery techniques.
"PHASED DEVELOPMENT" is the key phrase, even with industry officials.
"Most firms are not likely to build a series of plants-all with the same bugs in them—in an effort to create rapid production. Although the technology has been developed and tested, it is still an expensive commercial size," said T.W. Eyck, a representative for Blanco Rio Oil Coale Sho.
A recently-released study by the Center for Energy Policy Research that examined the nation's energy options, also advocated a more cautious approach to oil shale
It is at this point that the melody changes for the oilshire industry, and the environmentalists continue on solo paths. The hazards they warn of are numerous.
operations is already a scarce commodity in the West. Any excess water from streams in
the Colorado River Basin has been reserved for use in California and Arizona. That leaves only water that is now being used for other purposes.
**nowhere**, 90 percent of the water used was taken for irrigation. The problem can be solved by implementing an irrigation systems—now only about 50 percent efficient—but it will require more
Chemicals known to be toxic are emitted into the air and leached into the ground-water from the oil shale plants, posing a threat to plants and to plant employees.
In addition, the waste product of oil shake is huge. It can weigh 400,000 oil kilograms day for eight plants would be 200 million tons of spent shale every year. That waste would have to be dumped
But Congress will have more to consider than the timing and the environmental effects of oil shale development.
A commercial oil shale industry, at maximum capacity, would provide only 2.5 to 5 percent of the nation's overall petroleum needs.
Congress would be wise to consider better ways to spend 88 billion tax dollars. Spending it, for example, on hastening the sun on the day for 20 percent of our energy needs.
That, too, was a part of President Carter's vision of our energy future.
Bad planning jams Iowa Street
Those obsohnous orange and yellow barrels that have turned Iowa Street into a Mario Andretti school of driving course are the most popular in the winter, law enforcement officials say.
And the state chose not to consider that on six weeks behind this fall, thousands of football fans will swarm to Memorial Stadium for KU football games and related activities.
Don't blame city hall for the resulting troubles, though. The whole project, which includes wide-ranging traffic and a study of the State Department of Transportation. It is that department's carelessness in the timing of the project that will cause countless traffic headaches in the city.
In deciding when to go ahead with the $500,000 project, the state chose to ignore such considerations as the 23,000 students who would food the city's streets in August.
COLUMNIST
John
logan
NOR DID IT consider several home basketball games, each likely to attract a capacity crowd of more than 15,000 scheduled for November and December. That is not to mention other attractions, such as the ability to draw other hobbies of cars into Lawrence.
Instead of thinking about the consequences of tearing up looms in the fall, the company decided to cut two white barrels on Iowa to create the two line nightmare that now passes for one of the world's largest producers.
Testing law a consumer fraud
By DIANE RAVITCH
N. Y. Times Special Features
THE TESTING organizations devise questions that are pretested extensively, then used repeatedly, to provide a
NEW YORK—New York's new truth-in-testing law passes the state Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Carve, guarantees that anyone who takes an entry on a ride may be prosecuted. To keep a copy of the test, along with the correct answers.
Most of its advocates claim that public security will make college entry tests far easier and less subject to cultural bias against minorities. Some, however, have admitted that their reason for not putting students' bad looks to bear no burden on their validity and匀ustic colleges.
Anyone who understands the process of test-making have forgotten these results.
On the surface, the law seems unassailable.
IN REALITY, the truth-in-testing law will accomplish if we, if its intended purposes.
rassage of the law is a triumph for Kalp Nadar and his associates who have been campaigning against standardized tests in general—and the Educational Testing Service in particular—since the early 1970s.
It will create a bonanza for private tutoring services, which will now have actual tests as teaching tools, not just their own inventions. This will increase the advantage of those who can afford to pay for coaching.
As a result of the law, the cost to the student who the Educational Testing Service college admission test, now $8.25, is expected to increase substantially. This is because compliance with the law will increase the cost of the test.
Even more important, this process helps to isolate culturally biased questions when any identify student population consistently misses or misconstrues a particular test item.
basis of comparison among students. This kind of pretesting and retesting makes it possible to weed out unimportant students.
Dividing the answers at the end of each test will require the testing companies to hire more employees, and it will take time.
COLLEGEAS ASK their applicants to take standardized tests of verbal and mathematical skills because the scores are useful in comparing the aptitudes of students from all kinds of secondary schools - public, urban, suburban, rural. College uses the tests because they have some value as a predictor of future academicperformance.
So it is the consumer, not the corporations, who will pay for this so-called reform.
Nor is the law likely to have much effect on college admissions.
College admissions officers are professionals. They know that standardized tests have limitations; they know that such tests reveal nothing of a student's imagination, skills, interests, and so on, too. That some students freeze in test-taking situations.
The scores are only one element in the student's record, which is made up of high school grades, rank in class, extracurricular activities, teacher recommendations, work experience and a personal interview.
IF THE TESTS were abolished, very little would change.
The highly selective college, where applications online number plate by more than five to one, would continue to accept those who had completed entry tests, just as they did in the years before standardized testing. And more emphasis would be placed on applicants with a foreign education.
The fact is that with or without standardized tests colleges admit whenever they wish.
Those who have more applicants than places will continue to find some fits for selection.
Those who wish to increase their minority enrollment will do so, regardless of test scores or high school grades.
WHAT IS especially ironic is that college entrance exams will have less significance in the future because of the decline in national enrollment. Prospective college students who fail these exams will be the mountains of mail from colleges eager for them to apply.
With fewer students entering colleges each year, more and more colleges accept anyone who can pay the tution, which for most youth is a more formidable obstacle than for older students. That will continue to be selective is a shrinking minority.
The truth-in-testing law will not change standardized entry tests in any meaningful way, will not affect the college admissions process and will not increase the number of minority students in college.
back six feet on both sides of the road from 400 feet north of Harvard Drive to more than 1,000 feet south. It also involves moving all the utilities along Iowa back six feet, as well as installing new water supply lines.
GRANTED, WHEN finally completed later this year the students will do a demonstration of how the wheel is repeatedly clogged by cars trying to turn left on side streets. But until then, they'll have to wait for the cars.
What it will do is cost the student more for the same services.
In short, New York's law is a consumer fraud.
Diane Ravitch teaches the history of education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
These problems are going to be at their worst on game days, when ten of thousands are going to buy the team's football. Many of the fans from Kansas City drive to Lawrence on the new K-12 and will
But countless others will use the Kansas Turnpike. Those who do usually get off at the West Lawrence exit, but now the construction on Iowa and the renovation of the Sixth Street overpass that create a monotonous that will be nothing short of monstrous.
THE PROBLEM is going to be especially bad when games feature special attractions, such as Band Day, homecoming and of course, the KU-KState dead.
Surprisingly, city officials say they expect
no special traffic problems because of the construction and have no special traffic control plans. But it appears clear that unless a new road is built, the control must easily get out of the area.
The whole traffic mess could have been avoided so easily. All the state had to do was stipulate on the contract that the construction be done when there were few students in Lawrence or when no big draw can happen, as in dating late summer and early summer.
THERE IS a space on the transportation department's contract for just such a space as is available from the contract chose to leave the space blank, according to a spokesman for the Department.
The spokesman did say, however, that the construction crews probably would not be working on game days to help the traffic flow more smoothly.
Nevertheless, there is little we can do now. Students might tell parents and friends who plan to come up for football games to attend the game, or at least warn them of the construction.
we can hope that the project will be finished on time and that it won't be like the Kansas River bridges, which were supposed to last longer again but are still far from completion.
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