IA = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
FRIDAY,NOV.2,2001
TALKTOUS
Kursten Phelps
editor
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Leita Schultes
Christina Noff
managing editors
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Erin Adamson Brendan Woodbury opinion editors 864-4810 or opinion@kanan.sxu
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retail sales manager
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business manager
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Tom Eblen
general manager and
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KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
SUBMITTING LETTERS AND GUEST COLUMNS
The Kansan welcomes letters to the editors and guest columns submitted by readers.
The Kansan will attempt to run as many submissions as possible that conform to the guidelines below.
GUEST COLUMN GUIDELINES
Maximum Length:
650 word limit
**Include:**
Author's name
Class, hometown (student)
Position (faculty member)
**Also:**
Columnists must come to 111 Stauffer-Flint to get their pictures taken
LETTER GUIDELINES
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SUBMITTO
PERSPECTIVE
E-mail: hard copy:
opinion@kansan.com Kansan newsroom
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SHARE YOUR VISION OF KU IN 2030
The opinion page is soliciting essays, art work and even Free for All comments describing what life may be like at KU in the year 2030.
Submission ideas include a sketch of Jayhawks Boulevard, a diary entry from a freshman or an alternative use for Wesco Hall. Regular length constraints apply.
Submissions should be e-mailed to opinion@kansan.com. Call Brendan Woodbury at 864-4924 with questions.
Students should know their rights, use Legal Services to defend them
Well, we're almost done with our football season and so far, there have not been many reasons to head over to Memorial Stadium. We lost to K-State, we could finish last in the Big 12, and there is no hope of a bowl game this year. However, the one bright spot is the new tailgating policy outside the stadium.
While tailgating may draw more people to games, it brings with it a crack down on underage drinking and legal problems for students. Don't be fooled just because alcohol is now allowed does not mean that the alcohol laws don't apply. The Lawrence JournalWorld reported that Minor In Possession offenses have escalated this season to more than 10 times the level of last year at football games.
Know your rights:
Commentary
... it is legal to drink cereal malt beverages (that's 3.2 percent alcohol beer, the kind you can buy at a grocery store) with your parents.
The more surprising fact is that only about 25 percent of MIPs were given in the stadium parking lots. The others were given in the surrounding neighborhoods where many KU students live. That's right, more enforcement of alcohol policy for the stadium parking lots also means more enforcement of alcohol policy for students' front yards.
Casey Connealy
Guest Columnist
opinionkanan.com
There are some things that students should know about alcohol policy. Most of the people giving citations are not your friendly, everyday KU Public Safety officers. In fact, officers in plain clothes are doing most of the enforcement. They are from the Kansas Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, better known as the ABC. These officers will walk right up and cite you for underage possession without warning
I'm not trying to offer a loophole in the law, but students should know their rights and be able to exercise them, especially in a place they may feel comfortable, like their own front yard.
Here's a fact that many college students may not know: It is legal to drink cereal malt beverages (that's 3.2 percent alcohol beer, the kind available at a grocery store) with your parents. Let me stress the key ingredient one more time: You must be with your parents!
The most fool-proof advice is not to drink if you are underage. It's kind of like speeding. If you see a speed trap, you never start going faster, and if you know that officers are around, you never grab a beer. It's just common sense. You should wait until you are of legal age to drink. That's the law, end of story. But if you decide not to heed that
advice, and you get caught, there are people on campus who can help.
There are lawyers on campus that can help students with their legal troubles ... including a run-in with our friends at the ABC. Going to a lawyer doesn't cost students any more money. Student Senate created a law office paid for with student fees located in the Burge Union called Legal Services for Students. Students just make an appointment, and they get to speak with a real attorney about options for dealing with an MIP.
Use Legal Services:
Use Legal Services: Students just make an appointment and they get to speak with a real attorney about options for dealing with an MIP.
Heck, the lawyers will even help you with your taxes. Approximately 3,000 students took advantage of legal services last year and you can, too. Legal services' lawyers have handled hundreds of MIP cases and can tell you exactly what your options are.
If you decide to party and someone taps you on the shoulder and hands you a ticket, call Legal Services and see what your options are.
Connealy is a law student from Leawood. He is chair of the Legal Services for Students Advisory Board.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
SCHOOLTEACHESTERROR
Dear editor.
Dean editor,
When responding to Robert Chammerlain's column, "Facts, logic don't stop rotesters at the School of the Americas," we, as members of Latin Americanolidarity, challenge SOA supporters tophold the same rational standards theyexpect from others: support your ownargument with facts. The weight of evidence, based in facts and personal testimonies, demonstrates that graduates ofthe Western Hemispheric Institute for security Cooperation, the former SOA,ave and still are responsible for humanights atrocities in Latin America.
radiates:
More than 50 percent of the Colombian officers cited in a definitive human rights report on Colombia are SOA graduates, and 40 percent of the cabinet members under three brutal guatemalan dictatorships were SOA radiates. These soldiers are not just a new random psychopaths who coincidentally exhibit the same mental disorder that manifests itself in rape, torture, and repression of those with differing
Every time a human rights report comes from Latin America, SOA graduates are "front and center." Over twelfths of the Salvadoran officers cited by the United Nations Truth Commission report for human rights abuses are SOA graduates.
In this war against terrorists, the United States needs to account for its own training of terrorists in Latin America.
political perspectives.
Holly Worthen
KANSAS GOVERNOR'S RACE
Dear editor,
with members of Latin American Solidarity
Dear editor,
Kansas is a state where party infighting is the rule rather than the exception, and colorful personalities often dominate energetic campaigns. One of the more eccentric candidates for governor in 2002 is State Treasurer Tim Shallenburger, a conservative Republican whose antics are already providing entertainment for political junkies.
Shallenburger's most recent accusation is nothing short of bizarre. He told The Kansas City Star that popular Gov. Bill Graves, a Republican moderate, was secretly plotting to resign early from his term in order to give a boost to his lieutenant governor, Gary Sherrer. Shallenburger further alleged that Graves, Sherer and the other moderate "powers that be" had concocted this "scheme" to protect themselves against a right-wing victory in the Republican primary in August of next year.
Of course, Shallenburger wasn't able
Shallenburger remains optimistic. During a speech made to the KU College Republicans, he predicted that he would win the Republican nomination with at least 50 percent of the vote. This is not an easy task, given that the field will include at least four candidates, but is clearly seen by Shallenburger as a must if he is to prevail in the general election.
Even more peculiar is the hypocrisy of Shallenburger's outrage, since he himself claims to have been "drafted" to run by a coalition of the most conservative elements of the Republican party.
to offer any evidence for his allegations outside of sources he refused to name
He also stated that he anticipates the endorsement of the AFL-CIO, which would be surprising, given that labor unions are traditionally staunch supporters of the Democratic Party. It remains to be seen whether either of these scenarios will occur, but Shallenburger deems them critical to the legitimacy of his campaign.
With the general election nearly a year away, the campaign for governor of Kansas is already interesting. Republicans are counting on organized labor for support, and accusing each other of shady, back-room dealings. Only time will tell what else the election holds in store.
Branden Bell Lawrence senior
NEGOTIATING SALARIES FAIRLY
Dear editor,
I agree with Chancellor Robert Hemenway that low salaries are not the reason that KU can't keep faculty. I also agree that a "positive" environment on campus would function to retain both faculty and students.
What I would like to see is a commitment by the administration to a truly "positive" environment on campus. This would mean negotiating in good faith with the GTAC, and ending harassment and termination of faculty who stand up for diversity and the principles of academic freedom.
As the new president of the KU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, I would like to see due process restored on this campus for faculty, and proper treatment of nontenu-track faculty and GTAs. Only when this happens will KU be able to claim a "positive and unique" environment.
Amy Cummins makes a strong case when she points out that working conditions for GTAs at KU are subpar. I have minority graduate students who cannot afford to live in Lawrence on the GTA salaries offered by some programs.
Raymond Pierotti associate professor of biological sciences
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.
I live on the same floor with a fat guy who doesn't wear pants very much. Hey, fat guy, wear some pants.
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To the gorgeous girl in my sociology class:
your beauty makes getting up for an 8 a.m.
class all worthwhile.
I love Britney Spears and KU Water Polo.
I just wanted to thank the guy who found my bus pass in front of Strong Hall. You're a life-saver.
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I know the answer to Wheel of Fortune.
These people are fools.
I was wondering if anyone else heard about the Jayhawks' practice being delayed because they found some white powder on the field. Well, they brought in the FBI, and it turns out that the white powder was the goal line.
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Hey you guys need to start tipping your Saferide drivers. They're poor college students, too.
Kudos to the UDK for some of the great commentaries lately.
If you're going to be full of something, be full of saltines.
Where's Waldol?
Waldo is with Dick Cheney.
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If you're not sure if you're dating me, you can start by paying for me.
For people who call for my roommate who is never here, no, I don't know where she is, and no, I don't want to take a message, and no, I don't care.
醋
I'm a girl and I kissed another girl over the weekend. It was a mind-blowing experience. My boyfriend thought it was pretty cool, too.
Let's hear it for breasts. Yeah!
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Good news everyone, when I asked the lady with the gas mask what she was doing, she said it was just a health precaution.
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They like to call me Snickers, because I really satisfy.
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Skateboarding is a crime.
I'm a man, and if I was pregnant, I'd be rich.
My girlfriend called me a pedophile, and I told her that was a mighty word for an 8-year-old.
This is the first day I've ever worn boxer-briefs. It feels so awkward, but fees so soxy.
My sorority formal is coming up, and I need a date. Does anybody want a date?
If Drew Barrymore married Drew Bledsoe,
would you call them both Drew Bledsoe or
what?
Margaritas for breakfast, think about it.
B
I miss my mom.
How's this for the worst first date ever: First, I didn't have any money because wouldn't work so I couldn't pay for dinner. Then the girl got really really drunk and started throwing up in my toilet, then dry heaved for 45 minutes. Then she started crying in bed, told me she loved me, and left.
Hey, I bet my friend 20 bucks that if I said this I would not get into the Free for All because you guys never print anything I say, so please don't print this.
In light of recent events, it's high time this university had a barbarian horde.
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Hey KJHK, good music isn't always obscure, and obscure music isn't always good. P.S. Monday and Tuesday beats are awesome.
Will someone please shut up that girl who's trying to hand out those free condoms on Wescoe Beach during the day?
It's that ironic how the people who were defended most by the United States are the first to turn their backs on us.
Hey, we've got new names for Afghanistan after the U.S. wins the war and we have to rebuild the country. First one: how about Jennifer Anistan, or not very Ralph Lauren-istan.
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What do you tell your roommate when he knows his gay, his roommates know his gay, everybody knows his gay, but he won't admit it.
I dressed as Dread Pirate Roberts for Hallowen and people kept calling me Zoro. Uncultured swine!
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Sometimes I task myself, "Myself, was I born to play Dr. Mario or are all my friends just Mongoloids?"