- THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
TALK TO US
Kursten Phelps
editor
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MONDAY, SEPT. 17, 2001
Leita Schultes
Christina Neff
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Ern Adamson
Brendan Woodbury
opinion editors
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KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
EDITORIAL
Campus needs police presence to stop violence An increase in security would help discourage threats to students
Xenophobia has reached the University of Kansas campus. In the past week, students from the Middle East or of Middle Eastern descent, Muslim students, and even international students who aren't from the Middle East have been stared at, yelled at, threatened and pushed around on campus.
Some of these KU students stayed home from classes to avoid being confronted. Those who have attended classes on campus have not done so without fear and nervousness.
No KU student should ever feel afraid to attend classes, and it is the responsibility of the University to increase security on campus to combat dispicable acts. Increased police presence on campus would help prevent any possible acts of violence. And if any student were to betray the University community and commit an act of violence, police need to be ready to control the situation.
Incidents of discrimination against Muslim and Middle Eastern students at the University have included violent verbal threats and phone calls both to homes and to the University Daily Kansan's Free for All comment line. KU Public Safety reports show that on Wednesday evening an international student was assaulted in a parking lot by two Caucasian men. The international student was pushed, warned to return to his country and to "watch his back."
As long as tension exists on campus as part of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks last Tuesday, strict security is required. Accross the nation, security is being upgraded. KU Public Safety should be especially concerned with areas on campus where there are many international students.
A message called into the Free for All comment line last Tuesday — only hours after the attacks — called students to gather at a location on campus where many international students study. It threatened a violent act. This threat was immediately reported to KU Public Safety, which then took steps to make sure the threat wasn't realized. This threat, and not a desire to single out international students for police surveillance, is justification for increased security.
Security can be increased if police take more frequent trips around campus at night. Police should patrol parking garages or remote areas where it would be difficult for the victim of violence to call for help.
Fifty thousand U.S. reserve troups will be called into service in the next few days to serve within the nation's borders and provide strict security. Unfortunately, events on this campus show that the University community has the same need for security as the nation's airports, cities and borders.
Katie Hackett for the editorial board
PERSPECTIVE
Americans needed a moment to reflect on their tragedy
At 8:30 a.m. on the seventh day of the second month of each quarter, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announces the productivity growth of the American worker.
Before last week, Wall Street obsessed about this number. It is productivity, after all, that is the main engine of our economic growth. Americans can only become wealthier if, every month, they work smarter, harder and swifter.
But last week as the world reeled, even Wall Street slowed — at least momentarily
— to consider what is really important in life. Not so at the University of Kansas.
In the aftermath of the attack, the University's decision to not cancel classes and, in many cases, professors' decisions to continue with the scheduled curriculum, stand out as a triumph of the cult of work and a staggering failure of the University community.
I accept, often eagerly, that in modern America, life is normally a race to get the most work done. We go through our lives, our faces buried in daily planners, rushing to complete a succession of tasks. But once in a great while, we are shaken by a shock wave so powerful that it knocks us to the ground and wrenches our planners from our hands and our glasses from our faces.
In the presence of such an awesome force, we each respond differently. Some tend to their wounds. Some are frozen in shock. Some rage against the force. These responses are natural, and probably helpful. The response from those who run this University is not. They do not even glance at the source of the shock. Instead, they crawl about the ground, fumbling for the tattered shards of their schedule, cursing the valuable minutes lost and repeating the mantra, "Don't let it alter your routine." "Heal from attack" is added to the To Do list, to be completed as efficiently as possible when the day's work is done.
Lest the metaphor obscure what happened last week, I'll put it simply. The highest loss of life on this country's soil since the Civil War was sufficient to excuse students for exactly two hours from the relentless march toward being better workers.
Brendan Woodbury associate opinion editor opinionakansan.com
Commentary
The workaholics cloak their sentiments in the language of the psychotherapist. We've all heard repeatedly, "Life must go on." Our wise elders, with no more experience with terrorism than we, tell us "The best response to terrorists is to not let them change how you live your life."
The maxims are true — we all recognize their validity — it's just that they aren't the only truth. Yes, life must go on. The government should not collapse. Society should not disintegrate. People should not forever quit their jobs. I assure you these things won't happen and were never in any danger of happening. We are a resilient people, and it will take much more than Tuesday's attacks to introduce us to defeat.
"The highest loss of life on this country's soil since the Civil War was sufficient to excuse students for exactly two hours..."
For the rescue crews in New York and Washington and for those across the country who provide services upon which society depends, there is no choice but to keep working. Reflection and remembrance are unavailable luxuries. But those who work at this University think too much of themselves if they believe one day or week of curriculum is indispensable.
So, secure in the knowledge that life will go on, we need not focus our effort toward it. Instead, we should take the opportunity to forget about our work for a moment and remember why a tragedy like this moves us as it does.
We should savor the moment while our nation puts aside partisan bickering and remembers that there is much more that unites Americans than divides them. We should take pride in the feeling of tears swelling up at the sight of a flag at half-mast. We should wash away the pain of a smoking crater in our largest city by recalling images of a happier time: the Christmas tree and ice rink at Rockefeller Center or New Year's in Times Square.
Some professors did respond. Some had the courage to admit their struggle to come to grips with the tragedy. Some spoke openly and honestly, and their students are better people for it.
two hours ...'
The terrorists did change our lives. The odds have changed. We must live with that, and we will. That was the terrorists' goal, and they succeeded. Those who think the terrorists destroyed the largest office complex and largest office building in the world with all those people inside in hopes of canceling a day of classes may think that by refusing we denied them something. We did not. We only denied ourselves.
But too many did not. They went or with their lectures and their assignments, and their students are worse off for it.
So the greatest victim on this campus is the University's "KU community." When the University moved sorority recruitment to allow unfettered community building during Hawk Week, they were wrong. The benefits of Hawk Week are debatable and not worth the sacrifice of academics.
But last week, the students needed a community. As impromptu communities across the nation were banding together for support, the University provided nothing but a token ceremony requested by the president.
This week, the University needs to reexamine for whom and for what it exists. I believe it should be a place for students to be nurtured and open their minds while finding themselves. It should be a place to work, but first a place to learn and a place to live. Maybe next time it will be.
Brendan Woodbury is a senior in political science and organismal biology from Prairie Village. He is associate opinion editor.
WHERE TO WRITE
ELECTED OFFICALS
President George W. Bush
White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
(202) 456-1111
president@whitehouse.gov
Federal
U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (R)
303 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-6521
sam_brownback@brownback.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R)
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202)224-4774
U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore (D-3rd District)
431 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 225-2865
http://www.house.gov/moore
State
Gov. Bill Graves (R)
State Capitol
Topeka, KS 66612
(913) 296-3232
constituent@governor.wpo.state.ks.us
ARMED FORCES
U.S. Air Force Recruiting Office
2223 Louisiana St.
832-0124
U.S. Army Recruiting Office
2223 Louisiana St.
843-0465
U.S. Marine Recruiting Office
2223 Louisiana St.
842-5949
U.S. Navy Recruiting Station
1424 W. 23rd St.
841-4376
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. Any threats called in to the Free for All line will be immediately reported to KU Public Safety.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
Question to all the war happy people out there: If your country needed you to defend our freedom would you stand up for our nation or just be all talk?
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After the tragic incident that happened on Tuesday, what kind of stupid idiot would set a smoke bomb off in the elevator of C Tower, Javhawk Towers, at 3 a.m. in the morning?
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You know, I wouldn't mind taking my mind off the bombing for one day, like Sunday for NFL. Just for a little while, not think about the bombing, wouldn't that be nice?
If everyone believed in an eye for an eye, the world would be blind.
I'm tired of people forgetting about Washington, D.C., too.
To those of you holding signs for peace, I'm just saying that the only way we can achieve peace now is to eradicate those who condone violence.
I'm appalled that some students here are complaining about not getting a day off to "cope" with the World Trade Center attack. We need not gripe over having to go to school amid the tragedy, but rather count our blessings and not let it consume us. By the way, Nostradamus died in 1566.
just want to let the Muslim community know that we understand Osama bin Laden does not represent you or your beliefs. He is merely your equivalent of a Timothy McVeigh, and I apologize for those too ignorant to realize that. Thank you.
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Before this act of war, I supported the creation of a Palestinian state. Now I think their only homeland should be at the bottom of the Dead Sea.
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The Americans are the jury, let the power of the unhinged atom be the judge.
You know, I don't think it's a good way to preclude this day of honor and awareness and sorrow and mourning what not and taking advantage of this class and going out and getting hammered on Thursday night. That just kind of disappoints me about a lot of people.
The laws of physics state that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The time has come to determine whether our country can defy the laws of physics.
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I only have two words: Nuclear Justice.
I just got Snoop tickets, and I had to let everybody know: I'm going to see Snoop.
Is it too late to get a new roommate? My roommate is really pissing me off. She's laughing like it's funny, but I'm serious
We're playing Family Feud on the Internet and we just won against 300 people!
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Why, in the three days, is Sunflower Datavision unable to get my Internet servers up and working? They messed up something on their software. Why can't the get it fixed?
What is the benefit of using up an entire cover of the newspaper to compare Perkins to IHOP? It's not of use to KU students because it doesn't matter where you go because you're drunk or high or whatever. It just matters which one's closer so you can eat all you want.
B
I called in before with this statement and it didn't get it. And I think it definitely needs to be said. What is up with all the rockerets?
How to submit letters and guest columns
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 hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
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All letters and guest columns should be e-mailed to opinion@kansan.com or submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer - Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length, or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Erin Adamson or Brendan Woodbury at 864-4924. If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the reader's representative at readersrep@kansan.com