Page 4 University Daily Kansan, December 8, 1980
Opinion
The year to come
Just as former Chancellor Archie R. Dykes' departure was the biggest KU story of 1980, the selection of his successor should be the most important campus story in 1981.
The next chancellor will influence all of the University-students, alumni, faculty and classified employees. To a significant degree, the future and direction of the University will rest in the hands of this important figure.
FACULTY SALARIES. Faculty salaries at KU simply have not been able to compete with those at comparable institutions of higher learning. A number of faculty members have sought employment elsewhere and eventually KU academic programs will reflect these voids.
There are other important issues that will surface often in the upcoming year. And most of them are familiar to the University community.
KU's dealings with the Legislature will be extremely important. If KU is to prevent the salary deficiencies from
TITLE IK. The results of a Title IX investigation of KU's athletic department could lead to some sweeping changes in the men's and women's athletic programs.
getting more out of hand, it will have to have success with the Legislature. That hasn't always been easy.
STUDENT SENATE. The new Student Senate will attempt to conquer old problems of apathy and communication. The Senate's fight to gain a new identity could affect much of the student body.
FREE SPEECH. The Kansas Board of Regents has given the University the final say on the banner policy, a policy that has caused controversy and disturbance. The University should decide the fate of the policy next year.
The University's commitment to free speech has been questioned and 1981 events should be revealing more about KU's commitment to free speech.
The year will be a pivotal one for the Senate and perhaps 1981 will be the decisive year for the Senate to resolve its problems.
Kansan emerges from year older, wiser, officially free
At last, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel dawns. It is welcome and warming. The Kansan finally is emerging from this difficult situation, and is growing, more than a bit injured, the patient is breathing.
A new editor is droopy-yed from hours upon hours of staff interviewing. The newsroom is abuzz with speculation about those he will choose, about those who will be trusted with the management of one of the best university dailies in the country.
These are important decisions to these young journalists. They have a big investment of time
CAROL BEIER WOLF Editor
and sleeplessness at stake. The speculation, such hopeful activity, is heartening.
Recent events have not been easy or dull. The redesign of the Kansan had its inevitable labor pains at birth. The campus desk sweated through the first few weeks of publication with only a dozen reporters, about 50 percent of the usual staff size. The Associated Press effectively pranced out of our budget's reach by increasing our weekly rate by about 400 percent. The Student Senate did not think the Kansan worthy of additional money to beef up wire coverage.
Then came the List. No single story has ever pushed so far toward the limits of the Kansan editor's freedom to publish.
A group of ardent, irate feminists demonstrated against a column and cartoon on the editorial page, and the Kansan endured a barrage of slings and arrows from outraged student body leaders who felt wounded by comment on page 4.
It all began quietly enough. The Kansan acquired a list of 165 people who were being considered for the chancellorship. Consistent with our editorial stance in favor of opening the search process, I decided to print the list as part of a story on its makeup. During the research for that story, staff reporters called several of the candidates.
It didn't take long for candidates disturbed by our planned publication to contact administrators. The administrators, in turn, made a request to the school, the Kansan's general manager and me.
They were not pleased. In fact, they were enraged. The Kansan was accused of sensationalism, irresponsibility, theft, immorality. But the plans were still go. I was, at that point, unmoved. Our lde editorials had repeatedly referred to the fact that the minister desired to know who was being considered for the chancellor's chair. There had been no change in that opinion.
The change in focus was painful. The dean, also chairman of the Kansan Board, which is made up of the student editor and business manager, the heads of the news-editorial and advertising sequences and a representative of the Student Senate, called a meeting.
But then critics' questions moved from the realm of doubting the sanity of the student editor into the realm of doubting the traditions under which the Kansan and the Kansan Board had operated for several years. "What does the Kanasan Board do, if it can't stop something like this?" "Once this is printed, who will be ultimately responsible?"
that meeting was interpreted changed the course of the game. I had been reminded several times during my many chastisements the chairman of the board had pulled an editorial once in 1970. The edit carried the headline, "The next night, the Kansas Union was ablaze."
After a fifteen night of agonizing, I decided against giving the board another precedent to be cited with a vengeance in my different student body. I was told by the board meeting by saying that I was willing to
concede the printing of the names on the list but that we would continue with our plans to print an analysis of its makeup. From the beginning, I was convinced that a large part of the list's news value was tied to its small percentage of women in their workforce. They had no vote to prevent publication. They had stopped jumping off the cliff they had so quickly run to.
Should the Kansan add another layer of news decision-making power? Does the buck rightfully stop at the student editor's desk? Or should it stop at an "adult" publisher's door?
That misconception of the Kansan as a University public relations tool is only one of its perceived schizoid personalities. According to its constitution, it also serves as a student newspaper, which implies that it is student-run, not hovered over by a hypercritical general manager or publisher. And the constitution provides that the Kansan should be a laboratory of communication and information. That role suggests that the newspaper has a responsibility to protect the school's interests, perhaps at the expense of covering some embarrassing news.
The analysis went to press a week later. Meanwhile the Kansas City Times, the Wichita Eagle-Reacon and KJKH did their best to sensationalize the Kansan's situation. Also in the interim, we printed an airight story based on public records about NCAA extra benefit infractions and the basketball team, only to be criticized again by hundreds of students who thought it treasonous for a student paper to report wrongdoing in the athletic department.
If that alternative is unsavory, can the board step out of its traditionally accepted hiring-and-firing capacity to take an active role as a publisher with prepublication news judgment power? Or would that kind of prior censorship be permitted if the board were After all, the board is an arm of the University, which equals the state." Congress shall make no law . . ."
These conflicting roles and growing doubts of the board members led to larger questions, which went way beyond the list story. Should the Kansan be a part of the school? Or should it be a school leader? The evidence thus eliminating midnight calls to Dean Brinkman from angry sources or readers?
Through it all, the Kansan staff has learned difficult, cynicism-producing lessons about power and politics and how to handle a sensitive story. The school and the critics have gotten a clearer picture of this strange and wonderful animal tapping away round the clock in Flint 111 and 112, including the inherent contradictions in its very existence.
The student editor has the final say on the news content of the Kansan. The same goes for the student business manager in regard to advertising. The board has no role in advising or recommending an individual member's right to advise the editor, regardless of whether the advice is solicited.
The newspaper's constitution, as it stands, offers no clear delineation of how the board and the staff should distinguish ultimate responsibilities for content in light situations. So after you complete your job, the board must move to make specific in that document what has always been assumed.
For the time being at least, the Kansan will continue to operate as it has, with all news decisions made by the editor or his staff members. What the board can do will be limited to postpublication review, even to the extent of requiring the editor whose judgment they did not agree with.
The makeup of the board also will remain the same. The dean or his delegate will continue to serve as chairman with the same other members in tow.
What's next? I don't know. I can only hope that good training from the journalism faculty, hard work and dedication will continue to produce content that's both informative and comfortable supporting—even in the crunch.
*am thankful for that much hope. Without that support, without that trust, the Kansan would never have survived.*
Moral Majority triumphs in election
By DAVE KENDALL
Guest Columnist
Politics became the concern of a vocal segment of Christians this year. They called themselves the Moral Majority and the Christian Voice, Dr. Jerry Failwell summarized the sentiment of this movement with a personal observation: "I'm convinced this country is morally sick, and will not correct itself unless we get involved."
Some estimate there may be as many as 80 million Americans who have become supporters of this evangelical thrust. In April, the United Methodist Church made $165 million in capital for a "Washington for Jesus" rally.
The message was clear to the politicians. Those who failed to support the conservative positions of the fundamentalists were up in arms for a valuable force. Some were forced out of office.
Ronald Reagan remarked while campaigning that separation of church and state had gone too far. He said, "I don't believe that religion means freedom from religion."
The separation of church and state was tested in a case reviewed by the Supreme Court this year. The posting of the Ten Commandments in public schoolrooms was ordered by the Kentucky legislature earlier in the year. But when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the statute was declared consistent with the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.
While some pushed for a return to the basic teachings of the Bible, others called for a shift.
The authority of the man reigning on the Roman Catholic Church was brought into question this year. But it was another man, not a woman, who questioned his authority. This opened another conflict within religious institutions.
The male-dominated imagery of the scriptures was challenged in a symposium at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Discussions focused on the concept of "God the Mother." It was pointed out that this notion is an ancient heritage of many cultures and that some have equally emphasized the feminine and feminine qualities of the Divine.
This discussion of symbolism paralleled a similar discussion at a conference in the Midwest. Women of various faiths asserted their right to become priests and rabbis and to hold high offices in religious organizations. This was followed by the male domination in Christianity and Judaism.
Hans Kung, a West German professor of
STEVE DICK/Kansan
theology, challenged the doctrinal infallibility of the Pope. The Vatican promptly declared Kung unit to teach Catholic theology. This led the Vatican to permit reluctant and allow Kung to continue teaching.
This year has witnessed conflict between the old and the new, the traditional and the putative.
theology at Union Theological Seminary, but this conflict into perspective: "At its root, contemporary unrest in Christian thought has to do with the value to be placed on what is learned through experience against what is learned from Bible, established doctrine and other ecclesiastical vehicles of divine revelation."
Iran, hostages top news story of year
By STEVE BASKA and DAVID GOSOROSKI Guest Columnists
The impasse between the United States and Iran over the fate of the 52 American hostages, was the top news story of 1980. The status of the hostages, who began their second year in captivity on November 4, remained indefinite as a diplomatic search for their release continued.
Iran also spawned other important stories. The war between Iraq and Iran over the use of the Shatt-Al Arab estuary threatened to spread into other Middle Eastern countries and interrupt oil exports from that region. Six Americans who escaped the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran and hid in the Canadian embassy for three months, returned to the United States with the help of the Canadian embassy staff, which provided forged visas.
November general election. Voters elected conservative Republican Ronald Reagan as president and returned a Republican majority to the Senate for the first time in 25 years. Reagan won 44 states of the smallest turnouts in U.S. election history—52.5 percent.
The crisis remained in limbo throughout the year as the result of repeated delays by the Iranian Parliament in considering the hostage situation. The intransigence of the Ayatollah Khominei's Islamic government prompted President Carter to order a rescue attempt on April 25 that resulted in the deaths of eight servicemen in the collision of a helicopter and airplane. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance resigned in opposition to the attempt and was replaced by former Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine.
The second biggest story of the year was the
The third biggest story was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Russia's neutral southern neighbor. The invasion took place in the final days of 1979 and was intended to protect the tottering Marxist regime of Hafjullah Amin against native rebels. Amin was later executed and replaced by Babrak Karmal, a Soviet proxy. The result was the occupation against Russia as a result of the occupation, and U.S. Olympic teams led a boycott of the Summer games in Moscow. Unable to defeat the rebels or leave the country unguarded, Afghanistan became a no-win situation for the Soviets.
4. The continual downturn of the economy, which combined double-digit inflation with recession and high unemployment. Inflation topped 18 percent and unemployment in the heavily industrial states reached 25 percent, compared to the national average of 8.5 percent. Interest rates of 20 percent depressed the housing and construction industries.
Other top news stories of the year were;
5. The Polish labor strikes led by Lech Walesa.
Strikers demanded wage reforms and ousted Communist Party Secretary Edward Gierek. The strikes resulted in the legalization of independent trade unions for the first time in any Communist bloc nation.
6. The eruptions of the volcano, Mt. St. Helens. It erupted for the first time in 123 years on March 27 and became the active active volcano on the U.S. continent in 57 years. The continuing series of eruptions killed eight people and caused $1.5 billion in damage by sweeping ash into surrounding states.
7. The heat wave, which lasted from June until September, Temperatures were consistently over 100 degrees and resulted in 1,200 deaths and enormous losses of chicken and cattle. Texas and Missouri were the hardest hit. Damage to crops amounted to billions of dollars.
9. The arrival in Florida of 125,000 Cuban refugees who sought freedom from the Castro regime. The United States initially agreed to accept 3,500. Eventually, boatloads of illegal immigrants from Florida coast. They were housed, fed, medically examined and relocated across the country.
Six the BABC scandal (short for Arab scam). Six U.S. representatives and one Senator were indicted for accepting bribes from FBI to support the war against Arab sheiks seeking congressional favors.
10. Terrorist seizures of the Dominican Republic embassy in Bogota, Colombia and the Iranian embassy in London. The Dominican embassy was held for over 60 days last spring, and a daring raid by London police captured the world's attention. Terrorism bombings included a Jewish synagogue in Paris, the Oktoberfest in Munich and a train station in Bogota, Italy.
Entertainment the word for 1980 movies
By ROBB EDMONDS
Guest Columnist
If there is something to be said for the movies of 1800, it is that they fulfil the singlestom essential requirement of movies—they entertain.
With that in mind, Intel Lucas's "The Empire Strikes Back" can make a serious claim to be the best movie of the year. For 18 minutes, the empire' forces every viewer to the edge of his face.
In "Empire," the saga begins in "Star Wars" of the courageous rebels fighting the villainous Lord Darth Vader continues. Princess Leia remains the Rebels' inspirational leader, although in "Empire" she becomes preoccupied with her own inspiration, namely in the form of Hans Solo.
That leaves the spunky Luke Skywalker to fight the forces of evil.
"Oak Mineer's Daughter" was the biographical sketch of Loretta Lynn. She emerged from the coal-mining mountains of Butcher Holler and sang her way to the top of the country-western world. Sissy Space, in the starring role, sheed her "Carie" image in a magnificent performance as Lynn. She also proved herself quite talented: she did all of the singing.
In June, John Travolta officially traded in his disco shoes for cowboy boots as he two-stepped his way across America's screens in "Urban Cowboy."
"Ordinary People," Robert Redford's first attempt at directing, touched many with its dramatic treatment of a high school boy finding himself after attempting suicide. A crusty Jewish psychiatrist was the boy's salvation as neither of his parents could help him. Mary Tyler Moore played the boy's anesthetized mother and Donald Sutherland played the boy's father.
"My Brilliant Career" was the story of a girl growing up in Australia in the 1890's who refuses to accept her role as a female and instead becomes an expert in cooking. It gives an exhilarating performance as the girl
Among the other movies, "The Big Red One," "Rough Cut," "The Great Santini" and "Melvin and Howard" stand out among the best. From Germany came an excellent film, "The Tin Drum," the story of a young boy who, as his way of resisting the rise of Nazism and social collapse, refuses to grow up. "The Long Riders," the story of the James and Dalton gangs,
received favorable reviews, but the film's violence almost made it obscene.
Like any other year, 1880 was not without its meat hooks in the groin and bodies hanging in the hall closet. Among the more pitiful were "Motel Hell," "Prom Night," "He Knows You're Alone." Don't Go In the House" and "Terror Alone." During the thrillers, "Dressed to Kill" was the best.
And like any year, this year has its disappointments. "Stardust Memories" "The Shining" "The Friendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu" and "Little Darlings" all had the cast and storyline to be favorites, but all similarly fell into the murk of mediocrity, at best.
Like any year, 1980 was blessed with its surprises, among which "My Bodyguard," "The Black Stallion" and, in the "Animal House vein," "Caddyshack," were the best. It was "Caddyshack," along with Miller Lite beer commercials, that helped catapult Rodney Dangerfield into what seemed like every comedian's routine.
Critics had a field day in 1980 with what admittedly was an unusual amount of all right films. But to the casual moviegoer, who was seeking only to exchange his $3 for a few hours of simple entertainment, 1980 was a glowing year.