4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
TUESDAY, NOV. 6, 2001
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Kursten Phelps editor 864-4854 or editor@kansan.com
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Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com
PERSPECTIVE
Bumper sticker slogans don't bring us together
"United we stand."
And it means virtually nothing
It's a phrase that's repeated over and over these days. It's on bumper stickers. It's on window panes. It's on the lips of television commentators.
At times of struggle and stress, people try to find a common bond. Since Sept. 11, we've all looked. We've all tried to connect. But in a country of unparalleled diversity and contrasting opinions, true connection is difficult.
We've settled for a slogan. Some enterprising soul printed up slick bumper stickers with a flag and that phrase: "United We Stand." The phrase, the image — a country coming together in the face of an unknown destructive evil — struck a chord.
Folks snapped up the stickers. The slogan spread. Because it comforted us, and reassured us, we've believed it.
As for everything else — how to address the problem of terrorism, how to punish those responsible for destruction, how to deal with our enemies and allies throughout the world — little unity exists. As the weeks pass, it becomes more clear that the United States is less unified than ever before. People disagree violently about how the government should address the issue of security in airports, the threat of bioterror and the conflict in Afghanistan.
Yet the stickers don't mean we're truly united. Yes, we abhor the deaths of thousands in New York and Washington. That's common sense. I'd like to think we would abhor the deaths of thousands of people anywhere in the world. Such abhorrence shouldn't give us a sense of newfound unity. It should remind us of principles that have been there all alone.
Because these disagreements have the
Commentary
Clay McCuistion Columnist opinionkanans.com
events of Sept. 11 at their core, those involved can claim a moral high ground of trying to save lives or prevent future attacks. As time passes, the conflicts will become more severe. Criticisms of the government will multiply. People will argue about the best way to live.
These disagreements won't be solved by a slogan. "United We Stand" will not prevent terrorism. "United We Stand" will not give our leaders a coherent policy toward the Middle East. "United We Stand" will not make us safer.
This messiness isn't pretty. But this messiness is America. Bumper stickers don't do our country and its diversity justice. We will disagree in the months and years ahead. And we should. If we don't, there will be a price to pay that is worse than any of the terror we have seen thus far.
We will pay for "unity" with our freedoms.
We must stand apart. We must not let our unity get in the way of our differences. To do so is to ignore the strength and reality of American life. To do so is to let the bumper sticker win. We must be willing to stand apart — because that is how we will hold together.
McCquistion is a senior in journalism and English from El Dorado.
EDITORIAL
Jayhawks can learn from Hoosiers
Time magazine article highlights freshman retention success
At U.S. public universities, nearly 60 percent of students fail to complete bachelor's degrees within five years, and half of these students leave school during the first year. At KU, twenty percent of 1999-2000 freshmen failed to return for the following school year, and the minority (excluding Asian-American) freshman retention rate was 67.4 percent. Kansas has improved retention from lower rates in the mid 1990s.
Earlier this fall, Time magazine published a report highlighting colleges and universities and the programs they have implemented to ensure that freshmen receive contact early and often, along with support from faculty, advisers, and upperclassmen.
Though Time recognized several area schools, including William Jewell College in Liberty. Mo. and Drury College in Springfield, Mo., the University of Kansas was not. The University is well behind Indiana University, ranked one of Time's best public ubi-
versities, which has an overall freshman retention and minority retention rates of 85 percent and 82 percent, respectively.
Kansas can learn from these model schools. For example, at Indiana, most freshmen join "interest groups," where they live and study with students of similar academic interests.
Kansas does have initiatives similar to those for which Indiana was recognized. The KU Freshman Summer Institute is comparable to Indiana's Intensive Freshman Seminar, which acquaints a small number of students with professors and the college environment.
In addition, at KU, Mt. Oread Scholars and Honors freshmen enroll in small professor-led seminars where they receive personal tutelage. The Office of Institutional Research and Planning reports that such seminars have a significant impact on retention, increasing the rate by up to 16 percent.
KU should consider the addition of such programs that have had success at similarly sized schools to bolster the already improving rates of retention.
John Cathcart-Rake for the editorial board
2030 SUBMISSIONS
The opinion page is soliciting student and faculty projections of life at KU in 2030. Submissions should be sent to opinion@kansan.com or brought to 111 Stauffer-Flint. Call Brendan Woodbury at 864-4924 with questions.
Ideas:
Essays
- The future of corporate sponsors
- The appearance or disappearance of academic departments
- Your organization in 30 years
Art
- Jayhawk logo
- The view looking down Jayhawk Boulevard
- Drawings for new campus buildings
Creative:
- An entry in a freshman's diary
- A class syllabus
- An ad for a bar on Massachusetts Street
All Jayhawks are created equal
KU2030
At that time, blacks were barred from: the swimming pool, intercollegiate athletics, the glee club, the band, the orchestra and the debate team. They could not join ROTC or student council. They could not live in Corbin Hall or any of the fraternities or sororities. Seating was segregated at basketball games, conerts and the cafeteria. Most Lawrence businesses refused them service.
In 1927, KU student Noel Gist, writing in the alternative campus publication the Dove, lamented the lot of Black students at the University: "the Negro student is . . . virtually segregated, entirely socially ostracized, discriminated against and shunned by the 'superior' Whites."
Over the succeeding decades, Chancellors Earnest Lindley and Deane Mallott publicly opposed the segregation publicly but did not act forcefully against it. As a result, progress came, but slowly.
Seating was desegregated in the cafeteria in 1940, and Blacks were admitted to University dances in 1943, then University athletic teams in 1947.
In 1954, Chancellor Franklin Murphy threatened to begin showing first-
During the next 10 years, students became frustrated with continued progress, so in 1965, the Civil Rights Council and allies staged a sit-in in Chancellor W. Clark Wescoe's office. They demanded that he end discrimination in fraternities and sororities, cut University ties with all discriminatory organizations, and compel the Kansan to reject ads from discriminatory landlords. The students at the sit-in, pictured at right, were arrested and suspended, but their demands were largely met.
run movies on campus unless Lawrence movie theaters stopped segregating Blacks. The theaters desegregated and shortly after, so did the Eldridge Hotel restaurant. In 1955, Chancellor Murphy proclaimed discrimination to be "virtually eliminated" on campus.
2030 will mark 65 years since the sitin. Will KU be doing enough to create equality between the races? Too much?
Write your impressions of equality at KU in 2030 and submit it to the Kansan.
This information was taken from the book The University of kansas: A History by Clifford S. Griffin
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Students at this March 8,1965 sit-in were arrested and suspended for demanding for an end to University-sanctioned discrimination.
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.
Man, I had to share a ride in Safe Ride with some people in Naismith. Is it just me, or are those people really spoiled?
vude,where's your car?
I think bowling is the greatest sport ever, since sliced bread.
I'm your sister. I'm your sister.
I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK. I work all night and I sleep all day.
Monty Python is the greatest, the most funny of all..shows ever.
rnink Tootsie Pops are the greatest invention ever.
The thing I don't understand about them wanting to put a school hall down on Ohio is that the environment down there is nothing close to being scholarly or studious. Go down there on a Thursday night and you'll know what I'm talking about.
When Israel is do it's a targeted killing.
When Palestinians do it it's
murder.What's up with that?
to all those people who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. You're disgusting, wash your hands.
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To my English teacher: I may not be able to write an essay, but my life will never suck as bad as yours.
Hey guys, here's a tip. If you ever want to scare away an annoying sorority girl, just tell her you're poor.
to all those people who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. You're disgusting, wash your hands.
睛
If beer and tailgating can help a losing football team, imagine what it can do for a winning soccer team.
Why is it that people feel we've outgrown slumber parties? Wouldn't this be a more appropriate age to have them, especially if they were coed?
At this time last year, if you bought $1000 worth of Nortel stock, it would now be worth $49. On the other hand, if you purchased $1000 of Budweiser beer and refunded all the bottles in California, you'd have $79. My advice: Start drinking heavily.
脂
Are you naked? Maybe you should be.
I've come to the realization today that the only thing athletic about me in my athlete's foot.
To all the freshman girls: if you're gonna go out to the bars four nights a week, you have to go work out or else you gain the Freshman 15. OK?
I would just like to say congratulations to all the Rock Chalk directors who made the turn-in date. Everyone did a great job.
KU inform rocks. They know that there's 125 international Korean students on campus. That's amazing.
I've been thinking about this lately, and there's nothing funnier than a guy getting kicked in the nuts.
is it considered getting stood up when the person who wrote the note on the bathroom wall doesn't show up?
暑
Enrolling for classes should be like getting a table at a restaurant; there should definitely be a smoking section.
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He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
A wise man once told me, "Son, all women need therapy, just avoid the ones that need medication."
I just had cybersex, and let me tell you, it was amazing.
I work at Robinson, and I get paid to call the Free for All.
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I just came from the KU vs. MU women's soccer game and I must say it was a satisfying experience watching fit girls kick a ball around a field.
Damn the 'Huskers. Damn Nebraska.
Damn Lincoln.
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I was walking through Murphy Hall, and I heard a girl talking about the cool band jackets they were going to order for next year. Isn't cool band jackets kind of an oximon?