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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY GANSAN
PAGE 4
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014
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opinion
TEXT FREE FOR ALL
Text your FFA submissions to (785) 289-8351 or at kansan.com
Getting pelted by dirt from the construction as I walk on Jayhawk Boulevard is always fun.
That awkward moment when your engineering GTA cannot algebra.
This kid that sits behind me always leans over my shoulder and whispers "somebody did their homework" every time we turn in our homework. I'm scared.
Just going to my 2 o'clock class with pillow creases on my face. Don't mind me.
Complaining about walking back from the Lied? Try walking back from Park and Ride ('cause the buses don't run 24/7, ya dig?).
Don't be "That idiot who's holding traffic up." Just turn right at Naismith and Crescent.
We win our first football game and the UDK sports section is still hypercritical. The support starts with you guvs!!
Editor's Note: The sports section isn't the team's cheerleader.
Read the UDK for the first time in 6 years tonight. Glad to see the Free-For-All section is still there. Sincerely, an '09 Grad.
If I had as good of WIFI in my room
as I did in the Pulse, I'd make my
own coffee every morning.
To the girl who just razor scootered down Jayhawk Blvd. I respect you.
I told myself I was going to be productive today, but let's be real. I'm trying to catch snorlax. #gottacatchemall
I met Amelia the news editor!!!
I'm ready for Halloween, crisp chilly air, and crunchy leaves.
Dear chancellor, the only thing your email taught me was that if I am raped on campus and want to be safe again, I should transfer.
How do the newspapers get put out everyday? Is there some sort of news Santa?
Editors Note: I don't even know...
The UDK Fairy?
Of course the Murphy fire drill is during my practice room nap.
If I could figure out how to apparate, that would be freaking fantastic.
"Dang girl, subtract those clothes like a math problem!" -math major boyfriend
If anyone is interested, the Granada is hosting Ultimate Midget Wrestling on Thursday. Yes, it's a thing.
Too old for free beauty and hair products???? NEVER
Campuses can't push sexual assault aside any longer
As a concerned student I am writing to all Jayhawks past, present and future. I am lucky I have not been sexually assaulted in my three years at our University, but I have been in situations where I could have been. Because of this, I understand the fear and shame women feel, just like the unnamed sophomore who rallied us together against the University's mishandling of an admitted rapist.
College campuses are too
who violently forced himself on you are both rape. As a community we need to take responsibility for this culture and change it. I'm sure we've all been to parties where someone has clearly gone beyond their limits with alcohol, but is that person always pulled aside and asked to leave? No. Not even when it's your friend, roommate, sorority sister or fraternity brother. It's hard to manage a situation like that, but we should be taught how to intervene as bystanders
permissive toward sex and alcohol — administrators deny that it's a problem on their campus while students accept the culture as if there's no problem. Clearly, entities like IOA get lost in trying to make a distinction between "non-consensual sex" and rape, yet there is no difference. The circumstances of a rape should not change how one is punished.
Regardless if alcohol was involved, rape is rape. A friend who took advantage of your trust or a stranger
to prevent problems before they arise.
The University should take responsibility for training all Jayhawks on how to handle these situations. First, we must have an open dialogue from which to start finding solutions. Tonight's forum at the ECM is your chance to share your stories and listen to others so we can all see this as not a "women's problem," or a problem that's representative of "a small minority of the
KU population." It's a nationwide problem, and we could be the university to lead the change.
A friendly reminder to KU administration: This forum is not for you to save face in front of students and media. We're watching and we won't let you brush this aside like you did last October.
Kaitlyn Klein is a senior from Bellevue, Neb., studying journalism
Voters should stay away from bandwagon during elections
Being an out-of-state student, the upcoming governor'
upcoming governors' race doesn't mean as much to me as it probably does for a Kansan, but that doesn't mean that it isn't turning out to be an interesting race.
Kansas seems to teeter-totter when it comes to who should be governor. According to the Kansas Historical Society, no two candidates from the same party have held the governorship in consecutive terms since the 1960s. The only exception was Mark Parkinson, a former Republican-turned-Democrat, to replace Kathleen Sebelius in 2009. Looking at recent polls, this trend is set to continue for the foreseeable future. Candidate Paul Davis currently leads Brownback by 8-10 points, suggesting Davis may be the next governor, but is he really the best choice for Kansas?
best choice for Kansas Though many Kansans look unfavorably toward Brownback, his campaign has highlighted several positive aspects of his agenda, most of them within the past few weeks. The Wall Street Journal reports that over the last four years, Kansas has increased its per-pupil spending,has seen a 2 percent annual increase in education spending and a 10 percent increase
in teacher pensions. The state's private industry has also grown substantially, with approximately 55,000 jobs added since 2011. Although Kansas' private-sector growth has been below the national average during most of Brownback's term, this past year has seen Kansas match the national growth rate in private industry. As a result, Kansas' unemployment rate has decreased substantially while Brownback has been in office. If elected to a second term, Brownback has pledged to add 25,000 new private-sector jobs per year over the next four years.
Despite Brownback's promises for increased funding for schools and increased job growth, Kansas has had its fair share of controversy under its current governor. The question I pose to you is: Do Brownback's successes, most of them recent, justify another term? Or has his overall performance since taking office in 2011 been so negative that you're willing to elect Paul Davis, a
newcomer that no one really knows anything about? It should be noted that this past week, Davis has refused to answer definitively how he plans on solving issues like education, instead responding generically.
Alternating between parties and ideologies will never help Kansas settle in and create a definitive path to achieve the state's goals. Unless you truly believe that he has what it takes to lead Kansas and put it onto a consistent path for success, you should not vote for Davis. Never vote against someone just because it seems like the popular thing to do.
Take the time to read the facts and look at Davis' voting record. Before you choose your favorite, find factual evidence on which candidates will benefit you. Wait for a debate to see how either Davis or Brownback plans on making Kansas better. Voting isn't supposed to be an emotionally driven act. Brownback may have weaknesses, but at least Kansans know what to expect with him in office. Little known or unqualified candidates who step into positions of power often don't work out like they're predicted to.
Adam Timmerman is a senior from Sioux Falls studying environmental studies
Shark Week provides questionable content
@KansanOpinion of course! What's the point of voting if I don't know who and what I'm voting for?
However, Discovery Channel did not seem to have the same guilty conscience in its programming of Shark Week. With titles like "Great White Serial Killer" and "Jaws Strike Back," sharks are depicted as killing machines rather than a vital, threatened part of our ecosystem.
The "Jaws" theme song is well known all around the world, whether you've seen the film or not. Sadly, the fear that accompanies the movie has also become the status quo for real-life encounters with sharks. According to National Geographic Shark Attack Facts, "For every human killed by a shark, humans kill approximately two million sharks."
@BWeezy42
Discovery Channel also had no shame in airing false, dramatized evidence in its programming about the gigantic (extinct) creature known as Megalodon. Megalodon was a shark that, as Charles Choi reports for livescience.com, was "at least 30 times as heavy as the largest of its living relatives, the great white shark."
Peter Benchley, author and co-writer for the screenplay of "Jaws," regretted the backlash from the novel and movie on human attitudes toward sharks. Serving as an avid conservationist for the latter part of his life, Benchley said, "Knowing what I know now, I could never write that book today. Sharks don't target human beings, and they certainly don't hold grudges."
Receiving backlash in response to their piece portraying a living Megalodon in the previous year, Shark Week Executive Producer Michael Sorenson said, "It's one of the most debated shark discussions of all time, can Megalodon exist today? It's Ultimate Shark Week fantasy. The stories have been out there for years and with
95 percent of the ocean unexplored, who really knows?"
The thing is, scientists really do know. Robert Boessencker, a paleontologist at the University of Otago, disagrees with myths of a surviving Megalodon.
"No credible records of Pleistocene (or Holocene) C. megalodon exist anywhere," Boessenecker said. "And if we cannot even prove that a giant shark survived past 2 to 3 million years ago, the case for C. megalodon survival is hopelessly poor."
Based on its established reputation, Discovery Channel has the responsibility to educate the public on nature and reality. Shark Week has fostered interest in sharks since 1988 and has created shark stewards throughout the years. However, the new trend of reporting false science and exaggerating the violence of sharks is unacceptable and detrimental to society and sharks alike.
Follow us on Twitter @KansanOpinion. Tweet us your opinions, and we just might publish them.
Jenny Stern is a junior from Lawrence studying ecology and evolutionary biology
Boissenecker also points out that Discovery Channel must've known they were "being intentionally misleading, or being hopelessly naive in thinking the public will be able to separate fact from fiction. ..." I saw this effect firsthand as a camp counselor at an aquarium over the summer. The week after Shark Week, almost every camper was convinced of a living Megalodon and took the programming as a fact.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
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Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Emma LeLautt, Madison Schutz, Cecilia Chan, Hannah Barling and Christina Carrera.
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