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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Monday, Oct. 28, 1985
On the sixth day, Dane Iorg smacked a miracle single to right field.
And on the seventh day, the Kansas City Royals reigned supreme: 11 runs, 14 hits, and a hallulet jahors chorus of long let-down fans reveling in a victory too good to be true.
The roller coaster Royals finally came through in the clutch.
The crowning touch
Today — on the day after the never-say-die World Series — the pandemonium has barely faded. The honking horns and popping champagne corks were heard last night from Westport to Lawrence's 23rd Street. The cheers of "Here we go Royals, here we go!" will echo well in this week.
Baseball fans must get back to business today, but it's a sure bet that folks will be raving about the Show-Me showdown for weeks to come.
About Most Valuable Player Bret Saberhagen, the proud papa of the pitcher's mound, who hurled stunning nine-
inning performances in Games 3 and 7.
About the Cards' four-run ninth in Game 2—riddling Charlie Leibrandt's flawless pitching and sending the Royals home, with two games in the hole.
They saw baseball fans at their Midwestern best, screaming and shouting with the best of 'em. Grandfathers in royal blue caps spending $100 for scaled tickets, teenage boys with their faces painted Cardinal red, housewives holding banners proclaiming "The Fat Lady is Choking!"
It was a Series for everybody.
And about Game 6 — the game that all Little Leaguers dream about.
The 1983 Series also will be remembered for shining the media spotlight on the Midwest.
Doctors at Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center implanted a new kind of artificial heart in a patient Oct. 18. As another step in the proliferation of heart operations, the surgery renews questions of medical priorities.
And now, on the eighth day, we all can rest.
The heart of health care
The patient, Anthony Mandia, 44, Philadelphia, received the first "Penn State" heart when doctors decided he might die before a suitable heart from a human donor became available. This artificial heart is meant for temporary use until a transplant can be done.
Saving a life is a good thing. But saving a life unfortunately is not the only factor in determining the worth of medical developments.
should be curtailed.
The cost of developing and enacting a program using artificial hearts or transplants takes money from other programs. Although that doesn't mean no one should pursue heart replacement programs, it does suggest that the rapid growth of such programs
In particular, the government and the rest of the medical establishment should shift effort to preventive programs. Heart surgery helps fewer people than prenatal and infant care, or teaching about diet, nutrition and weight.
Hospitals increasingly are competing for profits. They vie for dramatic, pioneering procedures because those procedures bring money and attention.
But that approach neither can control hospital costs nor provide the best medical care. Medical practices that emphasize surgery and treatment over prevention and health do not provide the best care for the most people.
Finally, the medical establishment must continue to help diminish unrealistic expectations that every patient can be saved. That sentiment is noble, but in a world of limited resources, it is flawed.
And hold onto the handrail when it's icy.
Pamphlet won't cut ice
Put one foot in front of the other.
After hours of thought, the Classified Employee Safety Committee has come to those conclusions and printed them in an employee safety pamphlet.
The pamphlet, "Walking Safely and Recommended Footwear," was distributed across campus last week to KU workers.
The intent of the pamphlet is noble. Snow-packed and icy sidewalks last winter contributed to 21 accidents, according to the committee. And someone was seriously injured in more than half of those accidents.
Save a few laughs.
But the new guidelines, which advise workers to wear rubber soles on snowy days, step around ice patches on sidewalks and refrain from carrying boxes or other items
that might obstruct their vision while walking, surely will have little effect.
Every manager knows that workplace injuries can add up for a company — or a university — in lost work time, workmen's compensation payments or even negligence suits.
But they also know that pinning "Be Safe" signs to the shop wall is no substitute for freeing their workplaces of hazards.
It makes one wonder: How much money did the committee spend in drafting, writing, printing and distributing the pamphlet?
Neither is publishing a pamphlet about how to get around campus in the winter.
Perhaps enough to make a down payment for facilities operations on a John Deere riding mower with a big yellow snowplow blade.
Rob Karwath
Editor
John Hanna Michael Totty
Managing editor Editorial editor
Lauretta McMillen
Campus editor
Susanne Shaw
General manager, news adviser
Duncan Calhoun
Business manager
Brett McCabe Sue Johnson
Retail sales Campus sales
Megan Burke
National/Co-op sales
John Oberzan
Sales and marketing adviser
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WILDER'S UNIVERSITY
DALY MANSAH
The quest for the right class
Professor the key to choice
The search is on.
Once again people are standing in Strong Hall passing out those innocent-looking Timetables. An anguished look begins to appear on many students' faces before they leave the building as they sift for the right classes to take.
The search becomes harder as we realize that an inspiring teacher can make even the most dreaded class actually look forward to attending.
After you've had even a few great teachers it's difficult to get used to
But from the day you get your KUID to the day you pick up your degree, you should be picky to the point of snobbishness about the professors you take classes under. Choosing professors should be approached with the same care used when buying a pair of shoes.
Trying to find a teacher who infects you with his depth or passion about a subject sometimes can be as chancy as the toss of a coin.
Often the success of a teacher's performance depends on the open minds in his audience. But a dynamic teacher consumed by what he teaches can reach into the睡iest mind and spark a flame of interest
Although the University or National has hundreds of competent pro-
more competence is the least to be expected by the time you reach college.
Every professor can't be a charismatic performer, giving a spelbinding lesson for 50 minutes or longer every day.
Michelle Johnson
Staff columnist
the ones who could squeeze blood from a rock more easily than squeeze enthusiasm from a class.
A teacher I have this semester does the impossible three days a week. He manages a 300-student class while teaching an untraditional subject.
'The value of the professor's class went beyond the subject matter. He made his students think that if he could care so much about journalism, we could and should care the same.'
The professor readily acknowledges that many students take his class because of its reputation for being softcore.
But he doesn't care. He says that as
long as his students learn more about his subject by the end of the semester, that what matters.
In my first class in the School of Journalism, I had a professor who scared everyone half to death on the first day of class. By the second week the teacher had more ardent admirers than a Sunday preacher.
His knowledge, respect and enthusiasm for journalism and for teaching were communicated to his students. Whether he discussed current events, journalism ethics or the way to write a basic news story, no student worried about the value of what was received in his classroom.
The value of the professor's class went beyond the subject matter. He made his students think that if he could care so much about journalism, we could and should care the same.
A committed teacher can make you care about any subject he teaches. He makes you not just want to read about the subject, but also to know it inside and out.
A variety of subjects catch my interest now that wouldn't have before I encountered a teacher whose fever for a subject caught on.
Even when, God forbid, you're taking a class just because you need an easy A, that's no reason to expect in a top-notch, enthusiastic professor.
It's hard to get even an easy A when the instructor's lack of enthusiasm and excitement for his subject lulls you to sleep.
Mailbox
Israel justified in wars
The letter in the Oct. 24 Kansan by H. Chami offers an inaccurate and biased view of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Chami asserts that the Jews simply "occupied Palestine, claiming it to be theirs, drove out some of the original inhabitants and massacred the rest."
In 1948 the U.N. created both the State of Israel and the State of Palestine. Arab countries — such as Egypt, Syria and Jordan — immediately attacked the new country. So the truth is that Israel had a legitimate right to the territory and fought of an immense Arab invasion.
Lebanon and Tunisia were attacked because of the PLO. The PLO continually raided northern Israel from bases in southern Lebanon. Israel ousted the troublemakers in an invasion in 1982.
Furthermore, Israel launched an air strike against a PLO base in Tunisia. The reason they attacked was that the PLO killed three innocent Israeli citizens in Cyprus - a fact that Chami never even mentioned.
The PLO and its allies are the same group of people that killed an American on the Achille Lauro. They are murderous terrorists who become angry when someone retaliates against their actions. Israel was completely justified in retaliating in Lebanon and Tunisia. The PLO and its allies are the true lawbreakers and killers.
Ezra Ginzburg
Ezra Ginzburg Overland Park freshman
Verbatim
The state of civil rights under Reagan
The Reagan Administration has been accused of compromising the gains made by minorities during 20 years of civil rights legislation. Burdett Loomis and Claude Rowland, associate professors of political science, were recently appointed to the Kansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Loomis was named chairman of that committee. In a recent interview, Kathy Flanders, staff columnist, talked with Loomis about the commission, minority rights and the Reagan Administration.
Burdeit Loomis
Why was the committee established?
'There clearly is an element of rural American society that is violent in its willingness to blame economic hard times on the blacks and Jews.'
LOOMIS: The basic reason for establishing state committees was to provide the U.S. Civil Rights Commission with extended eyes and ears.
What are the responsibilities of the committee?
LOOMIS: The committee examines civil rights issues in Kansas and prompts public discussion. The committee also suggests topics for fact-finding reports.
There's a small regional staff in Kansas City that serves Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas, and they do studies. We meet four times a year plus subcommittee meetings. One project — on bigotry and violence — is being considered by a subcommittee.
Were there any acts of bigotry and violence that prompted the formation of the subcommittee?
LOOMIS: There clearly is an element of rural American society that is violent in its willingness to blame economic hard times on the blacks and Jews. They say the Jewish bankers are behind the farm depression, or the blacks get all the federal funds.
I'm not an expert in the psychology of anti-regime movements, but these are deeply disturbed folks. They are taking advantage of the economic
One goal is to bring to the attention of other rural communities how radical and how dangerous these groups are. As of today, they are less public and more violent than the Klan is.
problems of rural America to swell the numbers of their groups. There has been a lot of recruiting. This area is fertile ground that economic hard times have produced.
That sounds like Hitler's Germany, LOOMIS: Sure. It's classic scapegoating. Sometimes there's this veneer of Christian evangelism, but stripped away, they are very violent groups. They are small, and we are seeking information on them.
We want to get to those who might be swayed and tell them how dangerous and out of the mainstream and ill-directed these people are.
Has the Reagan administration moved the civil rights movement forward or back?
LOOMIS; The Reagan administration has addressed the question of whether the lack of progress for
What are Reagan's policies concerning affirmative action?
Hispanics and blacks is merely due to discrimination.
At the same time, it has retarded meaningful discussion of civil rights issues because Attorney General Ed Meese considers his position on a "colorblind constitution" as morally superior.
In effect, many members of the Reagan administration consider reach girls or a timetable the adult woman segregation laws — Jim Crow laws.
The intellectual question is how do we deal with the past patterns of discrimination? One answer is to guarantee the results with quotas—hiring x percentage of minorities for any given job.
The Reagan administration clearly sees this as illegitimate and discriminatory against the most
LOOMIS: The one important debate now is over what affirmative action will look like in the 1980s — how we go about providing real rights to all people, but on the same time not trampling on the rights of other people.
qualified applicants for the job. Their solution is really to provide virtually no assistance to groups of people who have suffered discrimination in the past.
Has the Reagan administration taken the advancement of minorities backward?
LOOMIS: One key place to look is at the increased number of Americans living below the poverty line. One way this administration's policies have set back the economic situation that they have made it increasingly difficult for some minority members to compete effectively.
I don't think the Reagan administration is really concerned with the emerging American underclass that is not part at all in any economic recovery.
In large part, one of the goals of the committee is simply to keep the public aware that despite some progress, that despite the claims of the Reagan administration, that there are still some real legitimate civil rights issues that need to be addressed.