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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Tuesday, Oct. 15, 1985
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Business assumptions
It's a case of unfortunate assumptions.
The School of Business last week disenrolled about 80 students in undergraduate business courses because the students hadn't met the prerequisites.
The school traditionally has allowed students to pre-enroll in upper-level business courses even if they have not met the prerequisites. The school worked on the good faith assumption that students would pick up the requirements in summer school or by correspondence.
But many students don't take the courses they need. They return to school, pay their fees and take the classes without having met the requirements. The school doesn't screen their enrollment during registration to see whether they have the prerequisites.
So the students assume that if the University permits them to pre- enroll in these courses, it also will notify them of their disenrollment — and early enough to allow them to add other classes or get refunds.
This year, the business school didn't mail disenroll-
ment letters until a week after Sept. 27 — the last day the University allows students to add classes.
Consequently, some students have seen their academic loads shrink from 12 and 15 credit hours to 9 credit hours. Some may have problems keeping financial aid if they have slipped below full-time student status.
The business school assumed students knew the rules of the game. They're spelled out in the undergraduate catalog and the timetable — students may be disenrolled in courses above BUS 475 if they have not fulfilled the admission requirements for the School of Business.
Students are ultimately responsible for meeting course prerequisites. But if the school is going to enforce these requirements, it makes more sense to do so at the start of the semester and not after the deadline for adding classes.
Such screening would open class space for students who had met their requirements and would give those who hadn't the chance to revise their schedules before it's too late.
Up and down the court
The University of Kansas was back in court last week. For the second time this fall, the issue was athletics.
Last month, two football players sued the University, arguing that academic misadvising led to their being declared academically ineligible. That case is pending.
The latest round of Sports in the Courts arose after KU decided to cancel its Jan. 6 basketball game against the University of Detroit.
The University of Louisville, a perennial basketball powerhouse, has an open spot on its schedule. The Jayhawks, who, with Detroit, have a full schedule, would rather race up and down the court with the Cardinals than the Titans.
The reason is money.
A KU-Louisville game would generate thousands of dollars in ticket sales. More important, network television would
ache for the chance to broadcast it.
The tussle with Detroit proves again the reality of big college sports in the 1800s: TV rights and gate receipts are as important as field goals and free throws.
Detroit's reasons for suing KU are no more noble than KU wanting to escape from its contract. The Titans want the money that KU, ranked No. 10 by the Sporting News, would bring by packing their stadium.
The contract between the two teams allows either to buy its way out. But it also says the other team can take the matter to court if it thinks it deserves more money.
The Titans say they do, and they've appealed to Wayne County Circuit Court for an answer.
So once again it will be a judge deciding the fate of a KU sports team. Not a player, a coach or a referee.
Prescription for peace
Preserving world peace will require more than one charismatic voice. It will take teamwork.
The committee passed up dozens of prominent politicians and social activists to recognize this relatively unpublicized organization, which was founded in 1980 by two cardiologists, one American and one Soviet.
This seems to be the sentiment of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which on Friday awarded its 1985 Peace Prize to a team of peacemakers - the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.
This year's prize also recognizes that the world's most pressing peace issue is one that affects all of us: the prevention of nuclear war.
Bernard Lown, of the Harvard School of Public Health, and Yevgeny Chazov, of the USSR Cardiological Institute, say they founded the group as part of their professional commitment to protect life and preserve health.
More than 135,000 physicians in 41 countries now are members of the group. The group's goal, its leaders say, has been to prepare a medical prescription warning the world of the consequences of atomic warfare.
Although the group's co-founders said Friday that they were overjoyed to receive the award, the prize is not enough.
"An even greater prize for us and for humanity as a whole," Lown said, "would be if everybody stopped nuclear explosions."
Rob Karwath Editor
Duncan Calhoun
Business manager
John Hanna Michael Totty
Managing editor Editorial editor
Laurette McMillen
*Campus editor*
Susanne Shaw
General manager, news adviser
Brett McCabe Sue Johnson
Retail sales Campus sales
Megan Burke
National/Co-op sales
John Oberzan
Sales and marketing advise
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Media blitz opens door for Soviet TV
Since Mikhail Gorbachev became top dog in the Soviet Union in March, the world has watched the Russians warm to the Western press. Now that they have a leader not in danger of keeling over at any minute, they are understandably eager for all of us to see that they aren't so awful after all.
Under Gorbachev, the Kremlin has been more obliging in briefing Western journalists. OI' Mik gave Time magazine an extended interview. He met in Moscow with French journalists before his triumphant trip to Paris earlier this month and while there, had a joint news conference with President Francois Mitterrand. What was really heartening was that it was reported in the Soviet press.
This is very encouraging. "Jeeps!" the West exclaims. "Those Soviet fellows aren't so different after all?" Why, if they have learned the fine art of media type, they would soon be treated to more Soviet performances, including TV programs, Western-style:
- "Dialing for Dachas," Watch, with ordinary Soviet citizens in the studio audience, as ranking Party members spin the Wheel of Fortune
to win perks and privileges such as that country hideaway, an extra pair of shoes or a fresh pork chop.
"What's My Line." Queue up and ask questions later is the name of the waiting game for Moscow shopers. Contestants join in the fun of guessing what coveted consumer goods await them at the end of their six-hour wait. Bread? Potatoes? Toilet paper? Or will the cupboards be bare? Anything can happen in this game of chance!
"Gilligan's Gulag." Hilarity reigns after that sassy sailor and his crazy crew of castaways are picked up by a Russian trawler only to be marooned again in a Siberian labor
Sarah J. Nettels
Staff columnist
and the Howells reduced from riches to rags.
"Meet the Propagandists." Party officials take the hot seat before a hard-hitting panel of Pravda and Izvestia reporters. The incisive journalists aggressively listen to prepared speeches, which they will daringly print verbatim under Page One headlines: Modern Soviet Technology Boosts Toaster Output
the day-to-day drama in this special psychiatric hospital as dedicated Soviet doctors valiantly work to cure "socially dangerous individuals" such as writers and historians, of such deranged notions as truth and freedom. Share the joys as drug therapy rids schizophrenics of the tendency to complain about working conditions.
"Moscow Mishaps and Mess-ups." Sneak a peek at behind-the-scenes bloopers of those Kremlin klutzes. Chuckle at those zany xenophobes as they mistake commercial airliners for menacing spi planes. Shake your sides at their angry antics as they try to convince Afghan rebels that they're there by invitation, not invasion.
' "What's My Line.' Queue up and ask questions later is the name of the waiting game for Moscow shoppers. '
camp. See Gilligan to shape up or ship out permanently by his new Soviet skippers. See the Professor worked and starved alongside other dissident scientists. Watch Ginger
Ninth Five-Year Plan Hailed By Central Committee Despite Disastrous Harvest. Hungry But Contented Workers Eat Toasters Happily.
- "St. Electroshock." Experience
"Blears." Chronicles of a neighborhood liquor store in Everytown, U.S.S.R. Co-workers congregate after work to toss back a few bottles of viola before trying to find their way home.
Yes siree, Gorbachev's triumph on the tube could turn the tide against Western propaganda. With some innovative programming, at last the world could see Soviet life as it really is.
Preachers' motives remain obscure
Evangelists sow doubt, reap ridicule
A chilly October afternoon provided a backdrop for a group of traveling evangelists on the lawn next to Wescoe Hall.
Although the crowd-drawing speakers obviously entertained the group, what did they expect and what did they want? I suspect that, even if they did not intend to, they raised a number of questions in people's minds.
More than 200 adrenaline-filled students participated in a discussion about sin — mostly students' sin.
A woman clad in dress and hat, waving her arms and pointing her fingers at students, informed them they would "burn in hell" if they didn't change their ways soon.
It was obvious that the evangelists weren't getting any serious responses from the crowd. Instead they provoked anger and inspired fist-raising.
Was this what they wanted? Or did they want the crowd to draw in, little by little, to meet the sitting evangelists in one-on-one confrontation. There was the meat of the revival, in prodding the audience to change from humor to anger.
I don't know what made me pause and think about stopping. I should have known better. Quoting Scripture would not make them see my point of view. They were no interested in debate.
The main reason, I think, was to present their own views, their laws — the only true way.
Kimberly Hurley
Staff information
Staff columnist
A Bible-clenching student quoted Scripture, trying to confront the evangelist. The evangelist molded the passage to fit her own beliefs, and the girl became visibly confused.
The evangelist's first question was, "Are you born again? If one said yes, she would ask how it was known. If one said they didn't know, she explained that all worldly practices and possessions must be given up.
Next question: What church do you go to?" This was a trick question — whatever the answer, you were doomed to burn in hell. The evangelist refused to give her religious affiliation, maybe because no church would have her, I thought, or maybe because she didn't want us to judge her church by her deeds.
I had satined twice than far. According to her, I didn't know whether I was "born again," no matter what I had answered, and I had the wrong religion. What else?
Another sin: I used the dreaded “D” word — damn. But I certainly feel better using “damn”
than calling someone I don't know a "whore" as she did repeatedly.
"You can't argue with her," a wise person in the crowd said, adding that this evangelist knew she was right and we were wrong.
Things began to look grim. It looked as if no more than five people were getting into heaven, all of them evangelists.
Because of this conversation, the wise person explained, we would go home and question our faith — the very thing that this woman wanted
The intense feeling of anger and protection of what I knew to be right had, in fact, risen to the point that I could think of little else for the next hour.
Had this been the evangelists' motive?
should be evangelists motive?
Why would anyone want to roam the country, only to be made tun of, be yelled at, lowered to a pin-tail-on the donkey party game?
How could they feel any sense of accomplishment? Most people seemed turned off by their zealous beliefs. And I hadn't considered for a moment to tell this woman what I had thought.
There is no resolution, only the knowledge that they'll be back with the same accusations, the same speeches. The only changes will be a few added lines in their faces, more graying hair and a new group of students waiting to see the show.
The rest of us will remember our first meeting with the evangelists and walk on.
Mailbox
No more resting on laurels
Enough is enough. I've put up with rubbish written on how "Rain inspires sleep" and "Condoms no big hit here with women." I've read about all the tripe churned out on the opnion page I can handle. "Pen-borrowing?" "Sorority Hazing?" You may think these are relevant opinions, but I think it's 'off.'
I've endured an irritating number of stories which were chopped off at the last minute, leaving the reader dangling and thinking. "And . . . ? Surely the story doesn't end here." But it does, ending abruptly and awkwardly in order to conserve space.
The blunder in the Oct. 10 issue is the last straw. A brief story was written on the "Memphis Women's Invitational Tournament."
This is just another example of what seems to be a decline in the quality of the Kansan. Last year's Kansan received honors and awards it rightfully deserved. On the whole, the stories were well-written and newsworthy; the heartfelt commentaries were confined to the Friday feature "Slush," and the space-saving axe was wielded with discretion.
Because terms such as "par-73 course" and "low team honors" were included I gather it was a golf tourney that was attended, although the word golf was never mentioned in the story.
But don't try to rest on the Kansan's laurals,
Mr. Karwath. You've got to earn the honors as they've been earned in the past. Demand substantive, solid stories from your reporters.
and do them the courtesy of editing their stories rather than hacking off the last few paragraphs.
As for the staff, no one is expecting perfection from you. But you've got to take it upon yourself to see "soldiers" is not spelled "soliders," especially when it's in a headline. Also, make sure the articles you submit are on subjects worth reading about and the information you present is accurate.
I realize my suggestions aren't especially novel or unique. On the contrary, they're all part of the basic journalism practices taught here. Show readers what you have learned. Your homework is being distributed campus-wide, so take some pride in it.
Jeanne Flavin Cawker City junior