4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WEDNESDAY,NOV.7,2001
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PERSPECTIVE
Commentary
Becky McClelland
Guest columnist
opinionakansan.com
The hall that cried "Fire"
PERSPECTIVE
It's 3 a.m. on Sunday morning. I don't know what you were doingperhaps partying, studying or sleeping — but I can tell you what McCollum hall residents are doing. We're shuffling down stairs amid the angry whine of fire alarms and the frustrated grumbles of other residents. As we get outside, sirens gradually coming closer blare over the noise of the alarm. Rescue workers, police officers and even pizza guys show up. The only thing missing is fire.
After spending half an hour to forty-five minutes outside, it's over. Now replay this scene at 5:30 am and then again at 8:30am, and you have a pretty good idea what it was like around "Big Mac" this weekend. Three fire alarms pulled in one night, seven in one week.
This is dangerous. Not just because lack of sleep can lead to bad grades and worse attitudes. And not just because any crazy on the street could attempt to get in when the students rush to their rooms. It's dangerous because rather than go outside, some students crawl under beds or in closets as if they were Jews hiding from the Nazis. It's dangerous because residents think of ways to punish the "pullers" rather than consider that maybe, just maybe, this is a real fire.
Such apathy might have contributed to deaths in Boland Hall dormitory at Seton Hall University. Seventeen false alarms there in the fall of 1999 preceded a real fire that killed three and injured more than fifty. Did students simply think, "Here we go again?" Would they find people trapped in hiding places if McCollum caught on fire?
This is a potentially deadly situation. It needs to be treated as such — by the residence and by the administrators. Even if you don't live in Big Mac, dorm life is all about community; people need to be willing to work together to stop the insanity. Until those who find this kind of prank amusing flunk out of school, residence hall staff needs the support of the administration to investigate and enforce punishments. They also need the residents to continue to cooperate, which means being willing to make another midnight trip to the parking lot, if necessary. The boy who cried wolf eventually got bit. Let's hope that never happens to us.
McClelland is a sophomore from Wamego
Tolerance is an attribute the campus should foster
I like to think that the University of Kansas is a very welcoming place for people of all backgrounds, religions, beliefs and morals. I still believe that it is quite welcoming, however, there are a few people that can ruin it for everyone.
Let me give you an example. Up until a few weeks ago, I was living in Lewis Hall. The people were very nice and respectful of me and what I did; all of them with the exception of my roommates.
I had considered telling them I was gay before I came to school, but figured that it was not of importance. Plus, I did not flaunt my sexuality in their faces or make it unbearable for them. One night when I had gone to work and left my computer on, one of my three roommates figured out the password to my screensaver and typed homophobic remarks. I was furious. I took it as discrimination and did not stay in my room for two weeks while I was being assigned a new room.
The University of Kansas is full of many homosexual people, whether others want to grasp that idea or not. Gay people are not diseased like everyone thinks they are. It's not a chosen lifestyle, believe me. If I could be straight, I would in an instant. We don't care if you think what we do is wrong; to us it isn't wrong. All we ask
Alan Emmons
Guest columnist
opinionkanans.com
Commentary
for is tolerance.
Tolerance, by definition, is the capacity or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs and practices of others. There are many things my friends do that I don't approve of, yet I'm tolerant of their actions and accept them for who I am. Being gay is not easy. I know that no matter where I go, there is always going to be someone out there who is going to make me feel bad for my sexuality. I can't get married to the man I love, hate crimes for gays still aren't punished in a lot of states, and I can't express my love for my partner out in public because it is not socially acceptable. However, the main reason that a lot of gay people don't receive the rights they deserve is ignorance.
really appreciate or comprehend what it means to be gay until they meet a gay person and get to know them. Once people understand that we are normal human beings like everyone else, and then we will receive the rights that belong to us.
Everyone has the misperceptions about gay people. Not all gay men are flaming, AIDS and HIV are just as much a straight disease as it is a gay disease and we aren't all into the happy pop music. I don't think anyone can
Tolerance doesn't go just for the gay society. It goes for every race, religion, and nationality as well. There are a lot of Middle Eastern people on campus and with the September 11 attacks, they have received a lot of discrimination as well. Next time you have feelings of hate towards someone, broaden your horizons and make an effort to get to know that person. Then, and only then, will you appreciate what it's like to be diverse.
In order for our society to become more tolerant of gay people, we must stop the discrimination now. Stop making fun of the gay lifestyle, watch your language because using the word gay often has a negative connotation, and watch your actions so that you don't upset a gay person. Using the word "fag" is just as bad as calling an African American a "nigger." Tolerance is all it takes, and it does not take a lot of effort.
Emmons is a sophomore in psychology from Loveland, Col.
PERSPECTIVE
Men need to be a part of healing
Womyn Take Back the Night is not as positive and empowering as it aims to be.
Among the arguments for segregation, the biggest is the need for women's safety in the women's circle. However, it is not men as a group that should be feared or excluded simply because of their gender. It is the attackers and abusers who should be ostracized. How can it be positive to exclude all men from our community because some may be harmful?
The problem of rape and domestic abuse needs to be addressed by our entire community, not segregated by gender. While both men and women have a place in Womyn Take Back the Night, we now look at the problem and discuss it as halves of a whole. Men and women live together, work together, learn and play together and need to solve our problems together.
In recent years, abuse in lesbian relationships has surfaced as a concern. While female abusers are told they are not welcome in the circle, no one can force them to leave. Yet men are excluded because of a threat they pose? Just as all women aren't safe, all men are not unsafe. The finger should be pointed at abusers.
Commentary
Breeze
Luetke-
Stahlman
Columnist
opinionakans.com
Others will argue for exclusion of men because the aim of the march and rally is to empower women and prove that they can walk alone and be strong. But walking en masse down a well-lit
The event needs a revamping, and including men in all aspects of the event is the first change that needs to be made. Second, the focus needs to be better balanced between healing past wrongs and preventing future attacks. Today too much of the focus is on the past, rather than coming together to prevent it from happening again. We need to stand together and tackle drug abuse, the availability of health care, birth control, affordable counseling and most of all poverty.
street will not reinforce that ability. This isn't a concern just in Lawrence.
with friends and family. I could have benefited from it more, and more people could be part of it if we changed the focus. I can't be part of something anymore that denies the experience to others simply because of their gender .
Yes, I benefited from Womyn Take Back the Night. Four years ago I helped organize the march here in Lawrence. I co-organized again in the fall of 1999 and attended in 2000. Each time, family and friends joined me, and I participated in both the pre-march activities and the march itself.
For me, even though one of my best male friends dutifully attended every march in unity with us girls, he couldn't stand with me; and when my family all stood there and supported my speaking out, it was my family (mom, dad and four girls) minus my father.
I know my male friends and my father benefited from the men's circle, but the men's circle is not enough. If the event is about healing and empowerment, I would have gained more with the presence of those men in my life standing there and being with me, rather than in solidarity with me on the other side of town.
1 benefited because I was able to stand with members of my community and reinforce changes I worked for on a daily basis. Most importantly, I did so
The reasoning that other women may be intimidated by these men isn't a reason to exclude them. They did nothing wrong, and they need to be part of the solution.
It's time for something new. Rape and domestic abuse will not end until the social ills that provoke them end, and until we win that battle, we need to stand together, not apart, and shout what we demand.
Luetke-Stahman is a senior in economics and political science from Olathe.
FREE for ALL 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Not all of them will be published. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
My friends stayed up till 5 a.m. just to watch the Care Bears, and they weren't even on
I'm hot, take my word for it.
free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty
we are free of Terry Allen at last.
Goodbye, Terry Allen.
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My roommate called me fat, so I ate his pizza.
B
Last Thursday, I lost my small plastic con-
tainer of Play-Doh, so if anyone has it, I'd
like it back.
Yeah, I'd just like to say that I'm sick of mediocre football.
A polar bear walks into a bar and says, "Can I have...a beer?" and the bartender says, "Sure. Why the big pause?"
I wished I was a stripper so I wouldn't have to buy clothes.
And now, a poem:
Beer is good for you.
Beer is good for you.
Not as good as sex, but better than jail.
Hookers cost, and so does bail.
Bear is good for you.
I'm a senior and I'm finally turning 21 today.
Be happy for me.
Now that Terry Allen isn't our football coach, does that mean we have to change the name of Allen Fieldhouse?
To the girl walking up the Hill this morning
Thank you for letting me look at your boobs
This justin is in Best place to sling mud on campus:
Anschutz Library, lower level.
free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty
we are free of Terry Allen at last.
Yeah, we're driving in the parking lot behind Watkins, and we're staring down the Parking Department guy who just gave us a ticket.
Hey,I'm sleepy.
Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for shorts and sandals day!
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--free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty
we are free of Terry Allen at last.
Da Bears.
If you're reading this in the Free for All right now, scream real loud.
✓
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Please, Please, Al Bohl, get a good coach.
Spend a little bit of money.
To the Cowboys fan: The Oakland Raiders are superior to both the Cowboys and the Chiefs. So what do you think about that?
器
Jerry Garcia is God, and George Clinton is one of his cherubs.
Did Sigourney Weaver ever ride a horse in the movie Alien. That would be pretty cool because then you could say, "Hey Sigourney, what's up with that horse you rode in on in the movie Alien?"
I just wanted to say that I think we should give a shout out to the KU kockey team who beat Southwest Missouri State in Springfield this weekend. They haven't gotten much recognition and I think they deserve it. Way to go guys.
Wise man says a boomerang that does not come back is a stick.
I don't work on January the 8th, cause that's
Blix's birthday.
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Coach Allen, you are the weakest link.
Can we fire the football team? Getting a new coach isn't the answer. Getting new players is.
I just found out that Watson has decades and decades of *Playboy* on microfilm. Finally, a reason to go to the library.
I just wanted to make sure the sports desk knows that an NCAA game is an hour long, not 48 minutes like the article said today. What's un with that?
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I think Coach Allen should have been fired two years ago when the soccer player incident came to light. I couldn't care less about how many games he lost.
I just wanted to say that we are a house of GTA's. If you wouldn't act like jackasses every weekend, we wouldn't have to call the police on you every weekend.
I'm watching a badminton tournament on Fox Sports. What's up with that Hilla Rentala? Just like in Aliens.
The girl I was dating is going after my roomate. How depressing is that?
I'm a KU Alum calling from Atlanta. Thank you Al Bohl for making the right choice. Thanks for playing Terry Allen.