4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WEDNESDAY,OCT.17,2001
TALK TO US
Kursten Phelps
editor
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editor@kansan.com
Leita Schultes
Christina Neff
managing editors
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Erin Adamson
Brendan Woodbury
opinion editors
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opinion@kansan.com
Jenny Moore
business manager
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addirector@kansan.com
Kate Mariani
retail sales manager
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Tom Eblen
general manager and
news adviser
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teleblen@kansan.com
Matt Fisher
sales and marketing
adviser
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mfisher@kansan.com
EDITORIAL
Fall break nice but a full week would be better
A good thing could be great if students had a real autumn escape
Tomorrow begins what could be four of the most important days of the entire school year—fall break. As a new experiment implemented by Chancellor Hemenway, the University of Kansas is canceling classes tommorow and Friday to allow students time off from the grind of higher education.
As students, you have the opportunity to use these 96 hours weekend hours in a nearly infinite number of life altering activities. You can crank out the next great American novel. You can finally finish the fantastic Halloween costume you've been promising friends you'd create for years. You can start the outlines of the 1000 plus pages you need to read for this semester's finals. You can hit each and every one of the string of bars along Massachusetts Street. The possibilities are endless.
Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but is there any reason why the University isn't allocating an entire week off from school? This would allow more time for everyone to spend with their families or to actually take a true vacation within or outside of the United States. If we have the ability to do this in the spring, it's just as feasible to do so in the autumn in the interest of symmetry and student morale.
Well, almost. The problem is that 96 hours go by fairly quickly. This is especially true for students who will be commuting home by automobile. Those that live in nearby states or can't afford a plane ticket must choose between going nowhere for their break or spending up to 25 percent of their time getting to and from their destination.
A missed week, of course, would need to be made up somewhere along the line in the same semester. So school should start few days earlier in August, when it is too hot outside to really enjoy the time off anyway. Adding a week of classroom time at the beginning of the semester is certainly preferable to extra days at the end, as it is now scheduled.
Because of the fall break, the University is extending students' schedules to December 23 this semester. That means that some people will be done with their exams less than 24 hours before the busiest day of the year for airlines.
For students who cannot afford plane tickets, the only option might be traveling for nearly a full day on snow-packed highways just to spend the holidays with their families.
The editorial board is not complaining about a much-needed break from schoolwork. Moving extra days from the end of the semester to the beginning and expanding the break to a full nine days, however, would be immeasurably better for student morale and ultimately, student achievement.
dent achievement.
Just something to consider for next fall.
Dan Osman for the editorial board
PERSPECTIVE
Free speech applies to ads, too
A full-page ad that ran on page 5B in Monday's edition of the Kansan may have confused and even upset some readers.
readers. The ad with the headline, "End states who sponsor terrorism," was placed by the Ayn Rand Institute, an organization that promotes the philosophical doctrine of objectivism, and the KU Objectivists, a student group promoting the same ideals.
The ad presented the perspective of Leonard Peikoff, the founder of the Ayn Rand Institute. Peikoff addressed America's current war against terrorism and how the United States should handle the ensuing battle.
this ad, which appears in the form of an editorial, could have confused some readers who thought it was a news story or editorial written by a Kansan reporter or a columnist because of its appearance.
This same ad has created controversy on other college campuses around the nation, said Matt Fisher, Kansan sales and marketing adviser. In an e-mail from Candy Heckard, the business adviser of The Daily Collegian at Penn State, she said the ad created ongoing controversy among students after the advertising staff decided to run it
Among some of the controversial aspects of Peikoff's commentary, he wrote that a proper war "must be fought in a manner that secures victory as quickly as possible and with the fewest
Commentary
He also said, "The greatest obstacle to U.S. victory is not Iran and its allies, but our own intellectuals...The multiculturalists — rejecting the concept of objectivity — are urging us to 'understand' the Arabs and avoid 'racism.'"
Jonathan Ng
Reader's representative
opinionkansan.com
Although they were both apprehensive about running the ad at first, citing its potential to make some students feel uncomfortable, Mariani said it did not violate any aspects of the Kansan's advertising acceptance policy.
U. S. casualties, regardless of the countless innocents caught in the line of fire."
Kate Mariani, Kansan advertising sales manager, said she did not necessarily agree with the viewpoints expressed in the ad, but she and Jenny Moore, Kansan business manager made the decision to run the ad anyway.
She also said that the decision to run the ad was not based solely on generating revenue, but rather that the advertising in the Kansan provides readers with a different forum to express their opinions and should not be censored, just like the other aspects of the newspaper.
Mariani is right. If anything, the ad provided a different perspective on the recent terrorist attacks and America's reaction. Whether you agree or disagree with Peikoff is not the point. It offered a perspective about the war on terrorism not often presented by the Kansan. As long as someone chooses to pay for an ad and it does not violate any Kansan advertising policies, they should have the right to be heard.
This leads to another important aspect about the Kansan that often confuses readers. When a controversial ad runs in the paper, readers tend to email or call in complaints to the editors first, said Brendan Woodbury, associate opinion page editor.
The Kansan is composed of two separate staffs for news and advertising. The two work independently of each other, with each making their own decisions without the consent of the other. The news editors do not have any control over advertisements, and the same applies for advertising managers with news stories.
By understanding this unique relationship, readers will be better informed about both who exactly to go with concerns and how what they see in the Kansan every day is not the decision of just one individual.
Ng is a junior in journalism and Spanish from Leawood.
PERSPECTIVE
More perks with Fair Trade coffee
Coffee. It is the second most actively traded commodity in the world, behind oil. In ancient Arab tradition, a husband's failure to provide his wife's daily coffee quota was grounds (pun intended) for divorce. Voltaire was said to consume 50 cups per day.
Whether it is kochii in Japan, masbout in Egypt or a cup of Joe in the U.S., coffee is a staple beverage around the world. While coffee is a boon in our daily life, exploitative trading practices in the coffee industry have made it a bane for coffee farmers.
Though the world coffee economy today is worth $50 billion, coffee producers receive just $8 billion according to *The Guardian*, leaving coffee farmers steeped in poverty and unable to meet their basic needs. Many small coffee farmers do not produce enough to export directly and are forced to sell their crop through middlemen called "covotes" who siphon off the profits.
In addition, the market value of coffee is often too low to provide farmers with a living wage. As of April 2001, coffee was at an all-time low of 49 cents per pound. To make ends meet during the "lean" months between harvests, farmers must often sell future rights to their crops to the coyotes at below-market rates for credit, plunging the farmers into debt and perpetuating their poverty. Ironically, many coffee farmers do not earn enough in a single day to afford a latte made with the beans they harvested.
In the1950's, alternative trade organizations (ATOs) emerged with the intent to combat exploitative trade, promoting direct trade agreements
DayIn Cook
Guest columnist
opinionkansan.com
with producers that circumvented middlemen, thereby guaranteeing the producer a fair price. In1986, Equal Exchange founded the first ATO to deal exclusively in Fair Trade coffee, launching a movement that has gained popularity during the last decade, particularly in Europe.
Fair Trade coffee is purchased directly from democratically organized farmer cooperatives that guarantee farmers a floor price of $1.26 per pound (15 cents extra for organic), and Fair Trade farmers receive an additional 5 cents per pound above market value if it exceeds the floor price. In addition, Fair Trade farmers are guaranteed access to up to 60 percent of the contract crop value in credit prior to the harvest, which helps keep the farmers out of debt. Fair Trade farmers earn a living wage that allows them to meet their basic needs, afford health care, and keep their children in school.
at Jittermugs in the Market. The commission then took its campaign to Massachusetts Street with its first "Coffee Crawl," on Friday and visited local coffee houses and encouraged them to serve Fair Trade coffee. Three coffee shops, Henry's, 11 E. Eighth St.; the Bourgeois Pig, 6 E. Ninth St.; and Aimee's Cafe and Coffee House, 1025 Mass., already offer Fair Trade blends, and the other shops expressed interest in offering Fair Trade in the future.
Purchasing Fair Trade coffee is a small gesture on our part that has significant consequences for coffee farmers. In our global economy, we cannot afford to subsidize poverty by supporting exploitative poverty practices. It is in our best interest to be socially conscientious consumers.
Why choose Fair Trade coffee? Perhaps the more appropriate question is, why not? Because the middleman is eliminated, the price of Fair Trade coffee is comparable to that of non-Fair Trade gourmet blends. The growing popularity of Fair Trade means increased availability and selection, and you are supporting a higher quality of life for farmers.
Ask your favorite local coffee shop if they serve Fair Trade. Buy it by the pound at the Community Mercantile, 901 Iowa. Take this opportunity to support socio-economic justice. Juan Valdez would thank you.
In September 2001, the KU Green Party formed the Lawrence Fair Trade Coffee Commission to promote Fair Trade coffee both on and off-campus. In September, the commission successfully lobbied the KU Memorial Corporation Board to serve Fair Trade coffee in the Union, so look for it now served
Cook is a junior in piano performance from Colorado Springs, Colo. She is co-coordinator, KU Green Party
FREE for ALL
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.
864-0500
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
I just wanted to tell Dr. Dailey that thor
oughtly enjoyed doing my homework
assignment this weekend.
You can't spell drunk without K-U.
图
题
neismith Hall, more like Neismith doesn't-have-elevators that-ever-work-Hall.
I think just eat something poisonous. I'd better go to the hospital.
Regarding Monday's opinion page cartoon:
Afghanistan's not the enemy, the Taliban is.
If you only see one movie for the rest of your life, it should be The Hobbit.
I find it odd that in my film of the '70s class we watched four movies from the '60s. What's up with that?
rine Kansas Jayhawk is merely a puppet, a face for the voiceless public that drinks from the mouth of all the decrepit, wasteful lies that are being spent here for nothing but useless stuff. I like flowers, sometimes daisies, but mostly just dandelions, which are really weeds. Keep it real.
I just wanted to say to my math TA that it's nothing personal. I just think that you and I have a disagreement and we just need to work through it and let me pass your class. So just to let you, know, I still love you.
um, it's times like these when I really have to wonder, "Why am I just talking to this machine and not doing homework? But then again, I guess that's why I'm failing out of school. Anybody wanna go drink some beer?"
To the peace-loving tree-hugger that extended his First Amendment rights, just remember that people fought wars so you could have that freedom, and people are fighting wars again so that you can keep it. ironic, isn't it?
If you have any European descent in your blood and you are proud to be an American, then honor Columbus. History and human migration went on, and Christopher Columbus was not responsible for what happened to the Indians. The Spanish and English governments are. Thank you.
18
Uh, I just threw up on my roommate's pillow,
but I flipped it over. Do you think he'll still notice?
I don't think I should have to be rubbing sticks together over here at the Towers to stay warm. Maybe they could flip the darn heating switch on.
I read in the Journal-World that there were 48,000 fans at the game on Saturday, and about 7,000 were OU fans. That means 41,000 KU fans, and that's pretty amazing when you think about, Yay, KU.
B
Yeah, I'd like to thank all my teachers who gave me tests this week. I've got like four of them.
I would like to apologize to the girl who my roommate told was the most beautiful girl in the world last night at the bar because you're not.
Has anybody seen the new Brittany Spears video? I mean honestly, she has got my whole house entranced. It should be outlawed.
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I may be weird, but I'm only attracted to women with mustaches.
Hey, a little note to all the frat boys. It's October, you can stop wearing your flip-flops now!
Once again, we're making war against impoverished farmers. Would this be a good time to drop a few bombs on Manhattan, Kan?
Meghan Bainum's column is the result of liberal, post-modern, political correctness that has infiltrated this campus, among many others.
If'll be completely baked as I'm reading this tomorrow morning.
Sometimes I really just wanna swim in an enormous bowl of Fruit Loops.
Why would anyone schedule Fall Break the weekend of the KU/MU football game?
Keep it real, yo. Later.
LETTERS AND GUEST COLUMNS:
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Letters: Should be double-spaced, typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's name, address and telephone number plus class and home-town if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
Guest Columns: Should be double-spaced, typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
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