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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY & ANSAH
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2014
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PAGE 4
opinion
TEXT FREE FOR ALL
College is such a racket.
Text your FFA submissions to (785)289-8351 or at kansan.com
The burden of proof rests squarely on the prosecution, regardless of the nature of the offense. "Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat."
Sitting on your phone and keys is a weird feeling.
All I want for Christmas is a competent football team.
Just passed a cop on a Segway on campus ...
I just realized I've never seen the girls in my Spanish class wear real pants. Leggings aren't pants ladies.
Finally get to see my boyfriend in less than 3 weeks! 27 weeks is too long! #marinecorps
OK, so that new Ms. Marvel comic? It's fantastic!!! Kamala Khan is probs my new favorite superhero.
Peeta over Gale all day...#babestatus
new goal: make my twitter handle and profile picture as inappropriate as possible and get published in the 'campus chirps back' section.
Wind + long hair + lip gloss =
big mess
I've lost track of how many extra credit points we're getting in gen chem. It's over 60. No kidding. My A's on the exams are meaningless.
It had been awhile since I'd seen unicycle man, but he just rode by me bundled in winter gear. Ride on, my friend.
I have absolutely no motivation for classes anymore.
SorryFinals
I kept telling myself that I wouldn't ever read "After", but I've let boredom get the best of me, and unfortunately, I cannot stop reading...
The cold weather is tolerable when the sun is shining! Stay forever!
Adnan Syed up for appeal January 2015! Yes!! All my Serial fans know what I'm talkin about.
Looking forward to everybody lookin their worst for finals week ... sweats all day every day.
nick Jonas" "Jealous" has been stuck in my head all day. I'm not even ashamed about this.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Proof of sexual assault varies between schools
By Preston Conner
@KansanOpinion
There are a lot of intricate factors at play with sexual misconduct cases. An issue that is particularly sticky for universities is the differences in the degree of proof required, including the appropriate due process. For breaches of university policy, only
preponderance of evidence is required, meaning that the school only has to be 51 percent sure the transgression occurred in order to administer disciplinary action. If the violation is of a sexual nature and the student is charged, then a higher standard of proof is required.
evidence (about 75 percent sure) or beyond a reasonable doubt (99 percent sure) is required to get a conviction, with rape requiring beyond a reasonable doubt.
Depending on the state and the specific charge, either clear and convincing
The reason so many colleges,including KU,dance around sexual violations is this difference in proving guilt. If a college finds a student guilty and dismisses the student,but the student is later acquitted
in court, the university could be financially liable to compensate the student for having dismissed them and it may be required to reinstate them.
Many colleges, including the Universities of Houston, Maine, Florida and Duke, among others, have all been sued in this scenario. Some cases were successful, resulting in the school paying the student tens of
thousands of dollars due to improperly dismissing students. If KU, or other schools, were to take a more aggressive stance on sexual crimes, they would be opening themselves up to a large liability risk financially.
Preston Conner is a sophomore from Independence, Mo.,studying business administration
Rolling admissions policies need to be revised
Applying to medical schools this semester has made me question the rolling admissions policies that are used widely throughout the nation. Rolling admission essentially allows for applicants to be accepted or denied while applications are still being accepted for review. As such, admissions committees make acceptance decisions before they've seen all applications.
Before getting deep into the admissions process, I didn't think too much about what rolling admission entailed. Now that the admissions cycle is coming to a close, I have started to wonder why rolling admission is considered an effective method for selecting incoming students. In fact, I've come to consider it totally contradicting to the purposes of admissions committees.
The role of admissions committees across the nation is to most effectively select a certain number of students for admission into their particular school, in accordance to their admission standards. For example, if a school's entering class is set at 100 students, then the job of the admissions committee is to comprehensively select the best 100 students out of all the applications it receives. Here, the key phrase is "all of the applications."
This is impossible if a school uses a rolling admissions policy. According to such a policy, the admissions committee begins to offer acceptances before receiving all the possible applications it will receive. This means those who apply earlier have
an advantage over those who apply later on. The earlier you apply, the more spots that are open for competition. I am still trying to figure out whether the speed with which one submits an application is a mark of intelligence — I haven't found any evidence for it so far.
There may, however, be some advantages to a rolling admissions policy. It may reduce stress for applicants, allowing them a longer time to submit their applications. It may even reduce stress for admissions committees, who, instead of receiving several applications at once, receive them continuously throughout a span of several months. Rolling admissions also benefit those who apply and are accepted early on, allowing them to know earlier on how to plan for the future.
Despite the possible stress-reducing advantages, the rolling admissions process only serves to harm
applicants by doing away with the simple fairness the application process deserves. If I submit my application the day before it is due, yet end up competing with many other applicants for only a few remaining spots, I can't think of any other word to describe the situation other than "unfair." Did I do something wrong by applying by the due date?
A fair application process requires a comprehensive review of all the applications in an applicant pool. If doing this all at once is a daunting task for admissions committees — which it certainly is — then there are some simple solutions.
Here's how I would do it. First, set slightly earlier due dates for applications materials. This only means that instead of turning everything in by the beginning of December, applications would have to be due by mid-October. This would
then allow the committee several months to review all of the applications (perhaps until January). Then. the best applicants would be chosen for interviews between January and March, and notices of acceptance or rejection would be sent by April.
the two major differences between this kind of process and that of rolling admission is that (1) this new process is fair, and (2) students would not know about their admission standing until late in the Spring semester. Fairness certainly trumps needing to know about admission status early on. Perhaps applicants and admissions committees alike need a lesson on patience. After all, I think it's better at reducing stress than rolling admission will ever be.
Sebastian Schoneich is a senior from Lawrence studying biochemistry and philosophy
Stop Day causes students to procrastinate more
The largest night of debauchery has not passed us yet. For all the freshmen out there reading this, you will soon experience the craziest night of the semester. I am not talking about when "the three Bs" (boys, booze, bars) ends, or even Halloween. Rather, I am broaching the topic of Stop Day and Stop
Day Eve. The week before finals, students only attend classes Monday through Thursday. Friday is Stop Day and classes are not held. This leads to a whirlwind of disaster in terms of going further than imagined, putting off studying for finals, and testing one's liver. Stop Day Eve leads to a den of inequity, alcohol-related infractions and other negative consequences. (We have three days off for Memorial Day weekend, but no one goes berserk then.)
I suggest we stop Stop Day and resume classes on Friday. It's unfair to our Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes.
that do not meet for the last session, whereas the Tuesday and Thursday classes do. Why don't we cancel Thursday classes as well? Having Stop Day would make sense if final week begins on a Saturday, but it does not. The first final begins at 7:30 a.m. Monday; there is no point in canceling Friday classes. This opinion will be unpopular because everyone enjoys a day off. But if thought about thoroughly, most would agree that having class Friday would be more productive.
Compared to other schools, KU is unique by having Stop Day. Some institutions
have "Dead Week" before finals. Although it varies by school, Dead Week entails all classes resume their normal schedule, but professors are not allowed to have exams or quizzes that week. Baylor and The University of Texas at Austin have finals scheduled on the weekends, but there are reading days spread throughout the week. On reading days, no final exams are held but students are expected to study for their subsequent finals. While this would drag finals week to be more than five days, it would be a better practice than having Stop Day. After Stop Day,
we have another two days to study. Having the study days during finals week would be more practical and useful. People would not blow off those study days as they do on Stop Day.
KU should change its finals schedule by ending Stop Day, or revolutionizing finals week and hosting finals on Saturday with study days mixed throughout finals week. The current status quo makes little sense.
Anrenee Reasor is a senior from Thayer studying economics and East Asian Languages and Culture
@BWeezy42
@KansanOpinion Are you kidding? I use stop day to sleep. All day. Every time.
FFA OF THE DAY
My body prepares around this time of year for all nighters at the library, coffee and sleep deprivation. Ahhhh finals are approaching.
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