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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Friday, Sept. 27, 1985
Tax alumni association
All alumni associations are not created equal.
That's the opinion of the state Board of Tax Appeals, which last week denied a request by the University of Kansas Alumni Association for an exemption from paying nearly $65,000 in Douglas County property taxes for 1984 on its Adams Alumni Center.
In its decision, the board said that the KU alumni association was not a "true" alumni association because it allowed people other than graduates and former KU students to become members by paying periodic dues.
Furthermore, the board ruled, the alumni association should not qualify for a tax exemption because its center, located off University property at 1266 Oread Ave., is not used exclusively for educational activities.
The center often is used for weddings, business seminars, lunches, receptions and dinners — sometimes by groups without direct ties to KU, such as the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. It also contains a restaurant and a private club.
It is for this reason that the alumni association's request for tax exemption should be denied.
Brad Smoot, the attorney for the alumni association, contends that the board's strict definition of "alumni" would prevent many corporate contributors and parents of KU students from joining the alumni association. He plans to ask for a re-hearing, and may take the case to court.
A bill passed by the 1985 Kansas Legislature granted tax-exempt status to state-owned property. A last-minute amendment extended that exemption to alumni association buildings located off state-owned college or university property, but failed to include a definition of "alumni association."
But the point is not whether "true" alumni or "dues-only" alumni are members of the association. The point is that the center is being used for social activities, but its organizers are trying to avoid paying taxes by saying that the building is used only for educational purposes.
The Legislature should resolve this squabbling over the definition of "alumni association" when it convenes in January.
And the alumni association's check should be in the mail.
'Star Wars' snake oil
Remember "The Day After," the TV movie about the aftermath of a nuclear war? Imagine how it would have ended if laser-firing satellites had blasted the attacking missiles into the ocean. There would have been no movie at all.
That's the promise President Reagan croons in support of his Strategic Defense Initiative, commonly known as "Star Wars."
The plan was christened when Reagan first called for a defensive shield of satellite-based weapons designed to shoot down attacking missiles.
The shield, Reagan hinted, would be so effective that the United States would be safe from a nuclear attack, and its citizens would be free of the paralyzing fear of nuclear war.
A report released Tuesday by Congress' Office of Technology Assessment said that the shield provided by a satellite-based defense system would be porous at best, but
Implicitly and explicitly, this has been the administration's sales pitch for "Star Wars." Unfortunately, it's as true as the curative properties of snake oil.
that its existence would increase, not decrease, the risks of nuclear war.
In the world of arms agreements, nuclear war is deterred by the two powers' equal ability to blast each other into radioactive rubble.
Most of us deplore this premise. It's no way to live and has led to an arms marathon in which no one wins and no one catches up.
But it works. It works because neither country can afford to attack the other.
However, a space-based defense system, the report said, would provide the measure of safety to encourage one of the nuclear powers to strike first.
Reagan taps a widespread desire when he offers a cure to the arms race and the terror of nuclear war. Perhaps nuclear arsenals eventually can be shrunk to the point that strategic defense can work, especially to keep eager new nuclear powers honest.
But until then, "Star Wars" is little more than patent medicine that endangers its buyers with more harm than good.
Parks earns applause
A man or woman who achieves distinction in one field deserves aplause.
A man such as Kansas native Gordon Parks deserves a standing ovation for his achievements in many fields.
The first black director in Hollywood history, Parks will receive the Kansas Film Institute's Life Achievement Award Sunday during the third annual Kansas Film and Video Festival.
Parks, 72, has achieved fame in other creative endeavors — as a photographer for Life magazine, a writer and a compser.
Born in Fort Scott, the fifteenth child of a poor family, Parks has been described as an "individual whose insights into the human experience are beautifully — indeed, exquisitely — expressed through his films, photography and writing."
To Gordon Parks, a man who deservedly will be honored this weekend, much applause is given.
Rob Karwath
Editor
Duncan Calhoun Business manager
John Hanna Michael Totty
Managing editor Editorial editor
Lauretta 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 adviser
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Misadvising strikes students equally
The summer before I was a KU freshman, an adviser was assigned to me to help plot my first semester of classes.
Being a naive and trusting soul, I assumed the adviser would be well-versed in the basic graduation requirements.
My tipoff should have been that a newly hired French teacher was in charge of advising a pre-journalism major.
The first thing he told me was that Psychology 104 would fill my natural science requirement.
Well, I may have been naive and trusting but I hadn't just fallen off the proverbal turnip truck either.
I quickly changed advisers and found happiness with a sharp political science professor who gave me more credible advice.
Last week's announcement that three KU football players were suing the University brought my first brush with advising back to mind.
The players are suing on the grounds of improper application of the satisfactory progress rule, denial of the due process of law and being misadvised.
Michelle Johnson Staff columnist
I can't and wouldn't comment on the validity of the players charges because I don't know all the facts.
But that last charge should cause some guffaws for every student who has had a few bum steers along the way — and who hasn't.
Almost every college student complains of receiving bad official advice during their education, and those who don't probably don't know who their adviser is.
I know several people who would like to job a few legal stink bombs at the University because of bad advising.
One friend is a senior with a double major. While picking up a copy of her transcript in Strong Hall a couple of weeks ago, she discovered that 12 hours she has taken don't count toward graduation because of an
arcane technicality that applies to double majors.
My friend visits her adviser more than some people visit their parents, so I guess you could call her a victim of bad advising.
Last April, a usually sedate friend came to me in a crying fit because she had just been told she couldn't graduate the following month.
My friend's adviser had assured her that a three-hour course would count toward her major.
Well, the course didn't count and this woman cried her eyes out trying to think of a way to break the news to her family and friends who were planning to attend her graduation in a few weeks.
That story had a semi-happy ending. Graduation plans weren't canceled but her summer vacation before job hunting was.
We've all been hurt by the system at least once when it comes to KU drugs.
It's as inevitable as parking tickets, enrollment holds and long adddrop lines.
Maybe we should take the players lead and sue a few administrators on the grounds of bad advising.
To turn the screws even more we might make specific advisers eat dust for recommending an economics class when a human development and family life class would do.
Let's blast them all, from Chancellor Gene A. Budig on down to the dazed teaching assistant who thought he was Albert Einstein.
On the other hand, why bother?
With so many concerns to worry about anyway in four or five years of attending school, the system shouldn't be burdened with petty maladvising suits.
Time is money. And bad advising has unnecessarily extended the graduation date for some.
But we all have to take responsibility for getting that diploma slapped in our hands.
I could sue the well-meaning French professor for not advising me adequately.
Athletes who manipulate the system so that they can pass the pigskin in front of the thousands clutter the system for the rest who have legitimate gripes.
But I still don't think KU would let我 practice with the football team;
Registration resisters deserve no aid
Will the ridiculousness of the Kansan unsigned editorials ever cease?
Without sounding too presumptuous, why?
Last Monday, an unsigned Kansan editorial stated that those who refuse to register with the Selective Service should still get financial aid from the government
The editorial tries to distort the issue by saying that the issue isn't draft registration, but freedom of education. Logic dictates otherwise. Nowhere does the government deny any person the right to a higher education.
Why should the American people finance the education of cowards who refuse to defend the country and the people who are giving them the money in the first place? This is a clear case of biting the hand that feeds them.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other left-wing organizations also try to cloud the issue. They confuse draft registration with the draft itself. Only an act of Congress can reinstitute the draft.
The editorial said, "... the fact that a student is morally opposed to violent acts of aggression should not be sufficient reason to deny him the means of gaining an education."
I totally agree. But does the Kansan really think that if one registers with the Selective Service, he endorses violent acts of aggression? And who said the government is required to give loans to anyone who asks, especially those who are breaking the law?
It's the taxpayers' money. And the taxpayers decided (through Congress, which passed the Solomon Amendment) that those who wanted
Victor Goodpasture Staff columnist
financial aid must register with the Selective Service.
Is that too much to ask? Does that create any horrible hardship for the student or his family? Of course not.
The ACLU says students should not be forced to participate in acts of aggression yet they condone the murder of unborn babies. This kind of polluted logic is typical of bleeding heart and knee-jerk liberalism.
On July 5, 1984, the Supreme Court upheld the Solomon Amendment. 6-2, saying it was "plainly a rational means to improve compliance with the registration requirement."
The direct and guaranteed student loans provided by the federal government have been greatly abused. Instead of the loans going to truly needy students, well-off students have been getting the loans to beat inflation.
Two million students still owe Uncle Sam $3.2 billion. They include doctors, lawyers and businessmen.
Those who haven't paid back their loans are nothing less than thieves, making more money than those who lent them the money.
Those who want to reap the benefits of this great country, but refuse to partake in its defense, place their own self-worth above that of the United States.
If these yellowbellies want to resist, fine, but don't give them any money. There are more deserving students.
Mailbox
Freedom in Nigeria
Nigeria celebrates its 25th anniversary of independence October
Motherland
Motherland Motherland, Motherland Motherland —
Motherland, Motherland Motherland —
O, Womb that gave me birth.
I shall announce your beauty
in the Language of the air.
I shall tell it much louder
Than the voice of tropical thunder
The deaf shall hear
And the blind shall understand
How wondrous and dear you are.
I shall reveal your virtues
As the Sun reveals the sky,
So all that has breath
Might stand and applaud
The glory of my mother—Nigeria
Ewohimi, Nigeria graduate student
Quarter-time stipends
A recent article by Gary Duda that appeared in the Kansas noted that while half-time teaching assistants at KU received stipends of $5,394, those at similar institutions received $6,758 on average. It was argued that this difference in stipends might
adversely affect the quality of teaching.
Unfortunately, the article understated the discrepancy between stipends offered by KU and other universities. A large number of graduate students are offered only one year — "quarter/time" to teaching assistantships when they apply to KU. Because of this, a essential graduate student must choose between a stipend of $2,800-$3,000 offered by KU and one of $6,758 offered by other institutions when deciding which university to attend. This was a choice I had to make, and the discrepancy in stipends made me think twice before deciding to attend KU. It would be far more accurate to compare the size of the average stipend actually received by graduate teaching assistants than to compare the salaries of similar positions.
The size of stipends offered to graduate students affects not only the quality of teaching that students receive, but also the amount and quality of research performed and the quality of professionals produced by the various graduate programs. These in turn affect the prestige of various departments and the university as a whole. Prestige influences future funding and the quality of future graduate school applicants. Something should be done to provide better funding for graduate assistants. A better understanding of the problem is also needed.
Steven C. Funk
Tonoka graduate student
Civil disobedience
Phyllis Savage Lawrence senior
Defending Christians
The seven anti-aparthheid protesters who are appealing their convictions obviously do not understand civil disobedience. Civil disobedience requires that the protesters be willing to accept the consequences of their behavior. Paying a mere $30 fine seems tite compared with the punishment that South African protesters are facing. Why should the University listen to these people when they obviously enjoy the glory of newspaper coverage but aren't willing to stand up for their beliefs in court?
Islamic Center conducted the dialogue in an orderly, yet informal manner. It could have easily turned into a blood bath debate.
I attended the Christian-Muslim dialogue in the Kansas Union Ballroom on Sept. 23. I was glad that the
It was sad to see an apathetic response to the challenge from the Lawrence Christian community. Yet it was good to see a body of believers in the audience as support for Mr. Stoker. As Christians, we are exhorted by Paul to be ready in and out of season, to make a defense — gently and reverently — to anyone who asks for an account of hope within us.
I was a bit disappointed not to hear Mr. Miller's personal testimony of his conversion to Islam. When was he a Christian? What circumstances caused him to question Christianity and what convinced him of his need to change his religious beliefs? Why Islam?
The Muslims claimed that they had a fallibility test, yet the Christians didn't. Yes, they do! In I John 4:1-3, we are instructed to test the Spirits. Whether they be of God or not, every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God.
Naney Evans Lawrence resident