4 Thursday, February 20, 1975 University Daily Kansan KANSAN Editorials, columns and letters published on this page reflect only the opinions of the writers. Common Cause OK Let's have three cheers of support and a prayer for victory for Common Cause. It needs support because, as a reform-oriented pressure group, Common Cause has taken on the role of reforming the federal bureaucracy. Even though the organization considers its five-year campaign to reform Congress a success, it denies that its new campaign means Congress is no longer in need of reform. One Common Cause official was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor as saying the change of emphasis was only "an expansion of our agenda." Some of the reforms Common Cause will press for in the bureaucracy are the same it sought in Congress, such as open-door meetings and disclosure of personal financial statements. Common Cause has other goals, as well. To stop improper influence from outside the government it would require federal officials to list contacts and explain relations with nongovernmental persons and groups. It would have officials get rid of financial holdings that might cause conflicts of interest. And it would try to end the arrangement that allows outgoing officials to step into top jobs in private industries they regulated before and vice versa. J. W. Gardner, chairman of the 325,000-member citizen's group, has said, "The whole executive branch is seriously in need of attention." Ten executive agencies are especially in need of reform, according to Common Cause. The three agencies that will get top priority are the Federal Energy Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management. Common Cause says it will use three tactics to reform the agencies: Pushing for Congressional legislation; seeking presidential orders or other actions directly to the affected agency's policy-making machine. Gardner has said it will take years to cut the red tape, stop the runaround and eliminate the duplication of the bureaucracy. Let's just hope that we all live to see it happen. —Pat Watkins BY STEVEN LEWIS Contributing Writer Liberal education revised The continuing exponential growth of knowledge makes life for the University of Kansas student much more challenging and complicated than it was 100 years ago. The students confronted with a vast mossgassbord of knowledge and is given little guidance in binding together the various areas of knowledge. Unfortunately, University programs don't adequately fulfill the professed aims of liberal education. Clearly, the reservoir of knowledge is so vast that no student can acquire all of it more than a tiny fraction of accumulated knowledge. If we want to make the most of that tiny fraction, University According to the bulletin of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, a major goal of liberal education is breadth of knowledge. The College bulletin says liberal education should be active and relevant in the most finely structured words, words, what we learn at KU should be useful to us for the rest of our lives. programs will have to be brought into the 20th century. prereq brought into the 20th century. Liberal education at KU seems to be wandering aimlessly between the age of the great philosopher and the scientific inquiry. Breadth of knowledge in the 19th century meant primarily that one had studied grammar, Latin, Greek, Aristotelian logic, French and other literary classics. This century has brought the social and natural sciences into bloom, but liberal education at KU has yet to fully adjust. As a rule, students little rhyme or reason to many University requirements. Advocates of the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program have long been critical of the disjointed nature of liberal education today. Their criticism is justified, although their attempt to retreat to the distant past is unfortunate. Instead of retreating to classical liberal education, the University should develop programs that seek to integrate the dependable, invariable knowledge about lives and values that they have carefully collected this century by social and natural scientists. There should be more, not fewer, requirements at KU. Instead of giving freshmen and sophomores the immense responsibility of selecting areas of study from the University morsgascard, the University should require them to gain broad understanding of the approach to knowledge and its applications in the social and natural sciences. Civilization requirement, it is difficult for that same student to leave KU without having read the great philosophers. By the time a student is ready to begin specializing, he should be acquainted with the trend in college teaching, so should be knowledgeable about Percy Bridgman, the late Nobel Prize-winning physicist, once wrote that the great mathematician Jeremy rigorously apply common sense to words. Unfortunately, words aren't things. Consequently, people often use them as are useful to the 20th century student primarily for en- There should be more requirements at KU. The University should require (freshmen and sophomores) to gain broad understanding of the scientific approach to knowledge. the culture concept, the mixed economy, the science of polling, probability theory, political behavior, research into race relations, the relationship of words to reality, etc. the history of Western philosophy, to be sure, shouldn't be ignored by students who seek the best information where we are. But instead of the present disjointed Western Civilization program, a more balanced and informed approach around the late Bertrand Russell's one-volume "A Students today can graduate from the University of Kansas without knowing much at all about the major discoveries in earth sciences. They can be applied to daily living. Thanks to the Western History of Western Philosophy." Russell was keenly aware of the pitfalls of language and the meaning of scientific inquiry. His integrated, critical analysis helped him to provide a solid historical basis for a the 20th century student. The foreign language requirement is another relic of the classical era. The memorization of foreign words, their meanings and their arrangement into sentences is a skill that they have developed many. Those who are invited by career interests undoubtedly find foreign language study exceedingly useful. that learning a foreign language at KU is unnatural, dull and of little purpose. The foreign language requirement should be set in its place so go courses in linguistics and cultural anthropology. If liberal education is really to be relevant to our future needs, it must provide a breadth of dependable knowledge about the world today. The world today is much different from that of 100 years ago. The world around us has changed, and it's about time we have new reality in our educational programs and requirements. 'System' fosters crime So far as crime is concerned, the whole New York metropolitan area remains a BY JAMES J. KILPATRICK For all the improvement in recent law enforcement in recent years, its relentless increase. Editors, lawmakers and angry citizens are forever asking why. A recently released study of police officers offers some sobering answers. jungle. In 1973, the last year for which FBI figures are available, the area reported more than 1,700 murders, more than 3,400 rapes and nearly 75,000 robbers. Except for a handful of cities in the South, only Detroit posted a murder rate that is lower than York's. Every five minutes, on the average, someone in New York is the victim of assault. Who or what it is to blame? The THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Published at the University of Kansas wiedoy during the academic year except holiday and examination periods. Second-class postage paid at the University. Students are admitted a semester or $15 a year. Student subscriptions are 91$ a semester, paid through the student activity. Accommodations, goods, services and employment expenses may be covered by credit, race, creed or national origin. Opinions expressed aren’t necessarily those of the Student Senate, but they represent the interests of the Student Senate. John Pike Associate Editor Campus Editor Craig Stock Dennis Ellsworth Editor John Dilee Associate Campus Editor Mike Young Associate Mergers & Influencers Chief Photographer George Miller Spirit Assessment Editor Katie Griggs Spirit Assessment Sport Editor Anna Kepman Ana Gardner Cynthia Coywer Bunny Miller Smith, Jr. Linda Wendler Bunny Miller Smith, Jr. Jacqueline McKeeley Wire Editors Contributing Writers Steven Lewis, Toni Billom, Photographers Rod Mikkelbar, Barbara O'Brien Business Manager Business Manager Advertising Manager Assistant Business Manager Darbart Jobberian Hows Howe Classified Advertising Manager Steve Brownhack Associate Advertising Manager Jeffrey Brownhack Assistant Advertising Manager Cindy Long Assistant Classified Manager Deb Lybaugh Promotional Manager Mark Nelson Marketing Manager Mark Nelson Letters Policy New York Police Department and the city's five district attorneys last week released the findings of a study of one critical aspect of the problem. The study concentrated on felony arrests. What resulted from these arrests? The short answer is that 80 per cent of the felony cases last year, the charges were reduced to misdemeanors, or were dismissed. Letters to the editor should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 500 words. All letters are subject to editing and condensation, according to space limitations and the editor's judgment. Students must provide their names, class designs and home town; faculty and staff must provide their names and positions; others must provide their names and addresses. Why did this happen? It happened because of "the system." Who is responsible for "the system?" Suppose, for the sake of squarely: We are. The immediate responsibility may lie on overburdened courts and overworked prosecutors, but the ultimate responsibility lies on all of us, as taxpayers, with sufficient funds to make a better system work. Mind you, this has nothing to do with the sapphedne notion that society is to blame for the failure of York and of every other major city across the land "the system" means the plea-bargaining system. This is the case where the charged with a felony, such as robbery, agrees to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, such as attempted grand larceny, in possession of evidence, introduction or probation. part of the judicial machinery can be held directly at fault. In 1980, New York's police made a decision that they had made nearly 102,000. The machinery of justice simply isn't geared for handling so great a volume of cases. There are prosecutors, enough jails. In a typical case, this is what happens. Willie Pointele, 48, is arrested for robbery and possession of a gun. These are felony charges, punishable by up to 32 years in prison. Pointele has been arrested 23 times after the deal: Gulley to pet larceny, and two months in jail. Done! It is over in three minutes. In a perfect system of justice, plea bargaining would have no place. Every defendant would be given the chance he had been heard, he would be found guilty or not guilty, and sentence would be imposed accordingly. If it appeared that arrests were made against or that prosecutors were presenting their cases poorly or that judges were fixing more cream-puff punishments, those were outraged and pulled out for public criticism. In another typical case, cited by the New York Times, 19-year-old Melvin Lewis is brought in on felony charges of possession of a knife. He has a record of 19 arrests. To bring him to trial may be costly and time-consuming. How about a plea of guilty to attempted murder? He gets 10 months in jail but is released on parole after three. He is immediately arrested anew for assault and a week later for wounding a police officer by lying on Frank J. Walker, a widow with six children. we have notung that approaches a perfect system of justice. As one consequence, no Nothing good can be said of "the system." It profoundly discourages the good police officer who may have risked his life. The system makes cynics of prosecutors and hypocrites of judges. Worst of all, it runs hardened criminals through a courthouse door and back to prison. We still face another on the streets. If our urban societies ever are to emerge from the jungle, we have to provide more judges, not less. Will we pay the bill? The bloody prospect is that we will endure the crime instead. Readers respond To the Editor: I could not help but notice your editorial, "A Modest Invitation," in the Wed., Feb. 5, Kansan, I remember the old saying I learned on my farm, which is a good response: "You never want to wrestle with a hog in the farmyard because you'll get filthy, and he'll love every minute of it." Edward F. Reilly, Jr. State Sen., R-Leavenworth Edward F. Reilly, Jr. (C) 1975 Washington Star Syndicate, Inc. Church, state To the Editor: For some strange reason, Stephen Buser feels that religion (read Catholicism) has a right to use the public schools in its indoctrination process. At least his school, "The Church of Jesus," Feb. 12 Kansan, would lead most readers to believe this. Unfortunately, that piece is just as full of inconsistencies, distortions and half truths as was his earlier article on Paul Hall in his book Rather. It is the aforementioned indoctrination process, which has canalized his thought processes from his earliest childhood, that is the true reason there must always be a high wall between church and state. When the framers of the Constitution wrote the Bill of Rights, one of their major objectives was to keep the worst abuses of European governments from recurring in America. They looked at Europe under the unofficial but effectively total rule of the Roman Catholic Church and saw pogroms, inquisitions, the suppression of knowledge and the burning of dissenters. Even fresher in their minds were the memories of the abuses of the Church Establishment, led to the earliest colonization of America. So, looking back on all that, they wrote in the First Amendment that "Congress shall make no law respecting an individual's religion." In other words, to set up a national church. A century and a half later the Supreme Court rightly interpreted this to mean that compulsory prayer in public schools was unconstitutional. Obviously, forcing a Jew or Moslem to pray in public should obey the Lord's Prayer every morning is to trample upon his right to practice his religion or lack of one. Senator recalls adage namely, setting up their own schools. Until recently, this system has worked fairly well. In the last few years, however, skyrocketing costs have threatened to close these schools. This seems odd, considering that the visible assets of the Roman Catholic Church, as of 1968, totaled more than $45 billion. Despite all this affluence, church leaders have proposed a "bargain" to help their impoverished schools: Either the states provide massive financial assistance (which just happens to be unconstitutional) or the church will (most likely because it has no choice but to close the parochial schools and flood the already overcrowded, understaffed and ill-equipped public school system with students from these schools. The term I would apply to this type of bargain is blackmail. Of course, this is merely the tip of the iceberg. The ultimate goal of Christianity is world domination, all in the name of God, of course. But, considering the global government, I get the distinct feeling that we are better off the way we are now. James J. Murray Lawrence Freshman Ombudsman To the Editor: With regards to your article on grievance procedures in the Feb. 14, Kanans, I would like to mention the KU Ombudsman said. This office has been set up as an independent mediator for all University disputes, including conflicts among the administration, the faculty and the students. We investigate complaints, clarify the facts and interpret all the parties and attempt to bring the parties together into a successful resolution of the dispute. Referrals are made when necessary. We agree with Dr. Balfour's suggestion that, should a student have some academic experience, discuss the grievance with the faculty member involved. If satisfaction isn't achieved, we next recommend communicating with the department. The KU Ombudsman Office is ready to provide counseling, informational and mediative services to any member of the family. Family hours are 11:30 a.m; 10:30 p.m on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays at B-108 Kansas Union. Our phone number is 864-360-397. Jed Bernier Director, KU Ombudsman Office Chairmen merit watching Every thinking American is wondering where the country is going, in terms of both the inflation crisis and the crash. For a clue, they would do well to look past the White House and keep an eye on two sharply democratic members of Congress. Congress' it these two men and their colleagues who will dispose of the numerous programs suggested for ending a deep recession and putting the brakes on inflation. One is Al Ullman of Oregon, the smooth, sophisticated new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who once was a fiery prairie liberal but has drifted to the right in recent years. He's also his friend, kindly refer to as Senator. Meaning that he figured the voters had drifted to the right. Both Long and Ullman were powerful man in Congress. He has seen his committee expanded from 25 members to 37, and thus liberalized, and then more conservative, as committee hearings over which he doesn't preside— mends. President Ford may propose, but in this heavily Democratic By Carl Rowan Copyright 1975 Field Enterprises, Inc. The other is Russell B. Long of Louisiana, the rough, tough, occasionally uncut chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, a man who abashedly uses every bit of his power to protect the oil interests that are so important to his state. Ullman, 60, heads the committee that must originate all legislation on trade, taxes, health insurance and unemployment and Social Security benefits, matters that touch the daily lives of every living American—and many who are dead. Americans that can rewrite, bottle up, dealloc or endorse whatever programs the House recommends. Ullman was saying on "Meet the Press" that President Ford's economic program was a danger to the nation and that the Congress was obligated to come up with a "comprehensive, realistic" alternative. He vowed that it would. Long was saying in an interview that his Democratic colleague "harum-scarum" proposals and "idiot ideas." Ullman has taken steps to assure Americans that he won't run Ways and Means in the autocratic, plantation-overlord manner that made Wilbur Mills, D-Dark., perhaps the most sounding off publicly recently, and what they said gives us a pretty good idea of what we can expect from each man. something Mills wouldn't permit. Long speaks contemptuously of the reform movement on Capitol Hill. He complains that people worship him as a leader in the Senate major leader Mansfield, D-Dont., is responsible for the fact that Long and his old Senate cronies aren't dominating the drafting of the Democrats' energy-economic program. Ulman stated categorically that he won't go along with President Ford's request that, in 2014, he set the year, the price of food stamps be raised, the increase in Social Security payments be limited to $350 billion and the release of $2 billion on social programs be canceled. Ulman says he Alt nucl said office --won't take some $8 billion out of the hides of low-income groups that have been used in other ways to hold down the deficit—like denying Mr. Ford the hefty increase in military spending the President has requested. G Thu Depa a fal Gertu Ca ment threw appe is Long has shown over the years that he has a disregard for the poor in general and a contempt for welfare recipients in particular. Given a choice of taking new toys from the military, holding up the plastic of the poor, Long will take from the hungry and then lecture them about how secure they're going to be. You may never hear a word from either Ullman or Long to suggest that these two chairmen are in bitter conflict. But the competition and conflict is inevitable. There has been a lot of talk about Ullman's "waning liberalism" because of his overwaste and duplication in program he once supported, but however much Ullman has moved to the right, he is still about a century ahead of the political views of Long. Watching these two men grapple to influence economic legislation will be almost as fascinating as watching Mr. Ford try to outwit a hostile Congress. And just as important to our long-term economic well-being.