4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
TALKTOUS
WEDNESDAY, AUG 29. 2001
Kursten Phelps
editor
864-4854 or
editor@kansan.com
Leita Schultes
Christina Neff
managing editors
864-4854 or
editor@kansan.com
Erin Adamson
Brendan Woodbury
opinion editors
864-4810 or
opinion@kansan.com
Jenny Moore
business manager
864-4014 or
addirector@kansan.com
Kate Mariani
retail sales manager
864-4462 or
retailsales@kansan.com
Tom Eblen
general manager and
news adviser
864-7667 or
teleblen@kansan.com
Matt Fisher
sales and marketing
adviser
864-7666 or
mfisher@kansan.com
EDITORIAL
Chancellor should act quickly
Don't let tailgating decision drag into football season
Chancellor Hemenway indicated Monday that he hoped to make an decision this week regarding the proposal to allow tailgating with alcohol before KU football games. This announcement is welcome.
At Big 12 Media Day in early August, KU's new athletic director, Allen Bohl, announced this summer that he would pursue lifting the ban on alcohol at football tailgate parties. Since then, there had no official reaction from the administration until Hemenway's comment on Monday.
Bohl argues that allowing alcohol at pre-game tailgate parties is an important element of filling Memorial Stadium each home football Saturday. He has set full attendance at football games as his primary goal as athletic director.
Obviously, attendance at the first game of the season sets a precedent for attendance at future games. It would defy common sense to introduce a key element to higher attendance after the start of the season.
Waiting until next season is similarly disagreeable. Terry Allen, the head coach of the football team, has acknowledged that his job is on the line this season after several disappointing seasons. He has also identified bigger, louder crowds as a key to the team's success. If the policy change is delayed until next year, Allen will face his pivotal season without one of the tools he believes he needs to succeed.
It is possible that the policy will be turned down. The administration has to consider the possible benefits to football attendance and athletic department revenue against the possible danger to campus safety and the primarily academic nature of the university. Our endorsement yesterday of the tailgating policy change came with cautions to protect campus safety.
The football team scheduled to open its football season at home this Saturday against Southwest Missouri State, so an announcement this week is the only acceptable timing.
However, even a decision against the policy would be more fair to the athletic director and the football coach. They will work towards their goals knowing that they are using all the tools available to them.
The unfair, unsatisfactory result would be a delay.
The athletic director publicy announced his intentions at Big 12 Media Day almost a month ago, and he has discussed it privately since he was hired. If the administration felt it needed a forum for public comment or a large study on the issue, that decision should have come earlier.
The announcement should come this week, and it should be to allow alcohol.
Mett Hubbard for the editorial board.
PERSPECTIVE
Reader participation needed for fair, accurate coverage
The media are powerful. They have the power to create perceptions, shape attitudes, reinforce beliefs and incite action. While the media are busy being watchdogs for the public, the public must act as a watchdog for the media.
The same is true for the Kansan.
The Kansan staff is striving this semester to provide coverage that can play a large part in shaping your view of this campus and your peers, and it may provide the foundation for some of your actions.
It is for this very reason that you cannot afford to be a passive reader, taking in every story at face value. As a consumer of the media, critical thinking is a must. If the Kansan hopes to report the news accurately and fairly, then it's going to need more than just its editors and reporters.
As your readers' representatives, Jenni Valadez and I will help you do that. We are your liaisons to the newsroom. We represent the Kansan to you, and you to the Kansan.
one Kansan has a responsibility to report the news as objectively as possible. In turn, you as a reader have the responsibility of make sure it is doing just that, and letting the Kansan know how it can better cover the community.
Here's what we'll be looking for all semester. And here's what you should be looking for as well.
Reporters. Pay attention to bylines
Commentary
Jonathan Ng
Readers' representative readersrep@kansan.com
Accuracy. Is your name spelled correctly? Are your class and hometown accurate? How are you identified? When applicable, are you identified properly in reference to your race, religion, sexual orientation and gender?
Content. Did today's paper tell you about something that concerns you? Do you care about the news being covered? Why did a certain story make the front page? Are headlines misleading? Do the organizations and living groups you belong to receive adequate coverage?
and call them about mistakes.
Accountability is key to making sure your news is being covered responsibly. Pay attention to the contact information provided at the end of each story. You can reach any reporter by phone at 864-4810 or by e-mail at writer@kansan.com.
It's the little details that will make all the difference in the world to someone. This also means you should always be checking for corrections on the second page to make sure the Kansan is following through on correcting its mistakes.
Question the relevance of stories and pay attention to their placement. Check for adequate coverage in all areas of your University.
Images. Once again, the media play a large role in shaping perceptions. This could lead to the creation and reinforcement of negative stereotypes and labels.
Responsiveness. Are we doing our job as your readers' representatives? Have you contacted us about an issue and not received any feedback? Are the editors responding to your questions and concerns? Check out the letters to the editor and guest columns.
Everyone has a role in the development of the Kansan. How you choose to exercise it will determine how well the Kansan covers the news. You do your part. They'll be trying to do theirs.
Pay close attention to the photographs and the messages they carry. Check the ads as well. What kinds of images do they portray?
part they were trying And we'll meet you in the middle.
Jonathan Ng is a junior in journalism and Spanish from Leawood. He and Jenni Valadez are the readers' representatives.
PERSPECTIVE
Ocean vistas of L.A. can't beat home
Being born and raised in the Midwest, the heartland has always been the center of my world. Small towns, good beef and friendly people are the norm. I had never been away from the Midwest for an extended time. So, when I went to L.A. to attend a film workshop for six weeks at the University of Southern California, I expected the natives to be accepting of the newcomer from the Plains.
"What are people like in Kansas?" "Springfield, Mo. where is that?" "And KU?" "How many people go there, like 1000?"
I was accepted with open arms, confusion — and lots of questions.
I was also greeted with statements like, "The Midwest has nothing," and "Kansas sucks." The only thing people knew about KU was that Eric Chenowith went there.
I found all these attitudes shocking because I expected people to know at least a little bit about where I came from. I had always heard that Kansas was fly-over country, but I had never expected people to actually know nothing. After this initial reaction, I was almost embarrassed to say I went to KU in fear of more dumb questions. I did not want to be typecast as the naive Midwesterner, so I tried to blend in. I donned a pair of chunky black sunglasses, board shorts and sandals, and I became a local.
I immersed myself in the land of
Columnist opinionokansan.com
Commentary
Eric
Boria
dreams that is Los Angeles. I quickly realized why so many people flock to L.A. and never leave — it is 75 degrees and sunny everyday, there is an abnormal amount of beautiful people and there is always something to do. By disguising myself as a local, I learned many important rules.
2. The coolest clubs have no sign, one door and big man with a clipboard standing in front of it.
1. They put avocado on everything.
3. You can get into the cool club if you are:
a. Wearing all black
b. With a beautiful woman
c. Connected to Tom Cruise by less than six degrees
d. All of which explains why I hung out at In and Out Burger trying to figure out all the secret meals that are not on the menu.
4. Most actors are larger than life on the big screen but less celestial in real life.
5. Never tell a stripper you have a debit or credit card.
7. Every person in the food service industry is an aspiring actor or actress.
8. No, those are not real.
9. The cheaper a piece of clothing looks, the more expensive it is.
But despite having the time of my life posing as a Californian, I began to miss Lawrence. For many of you who have studied abroad or had internships in big cities where life is exciting and new, returning to the mundane Kansas lifestyle is a difficult thing to do. But for me, seeing what I had been missing for the last 20 years just made me miss KU and Lawrence that much more.
Being in L.A. on my own was an amazing experience. I got to hang out at the beach almost every day and instead of being the only brown man in a 20 mile radius, I was actually part of the majority.
I have experienced the best of both worlds and I realized that Kansas isn't fly-over country — it's home. I realized I was glad that not everyone knew about Kansas. Kansas would become overpopulated and fake just like LA. But for now it, it's our little secret.
I missed cheap beer, every place being 5 to10 minutes away, clean air, nice people, real people and houses and shops without bars over the windows.
Eric Borja is a junior in journalism from Springfield, Mo.
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
The two greatest inventions are the bicycle and the low-cut women's shirt.
does anybody know what problem 2-14 is on page 27?
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Butter is the only thing that will get peanut butter out of your hair.
Road Rules is the worst show on T.V.
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Let's have the kick-the-hippies-off-Mass.- Streetrely.
does anybody know what problem 2-14 is on page 27?
All I have to say is people still with summer flings need to end it. Us single people are getting sad.
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Has it occurred to anyone that restricting the opinion page to just campus politics would make it kind of boring? I mean, what if people actually read the opinion page so they can hear what other students are saying about national politics?
Yeah, I didn't think I was on drugs, but I must be because I'm a senior in the engineering school and I haven't changed my major yet. I'm telling ya, engineering school is horrible. It's, it's so horrible.
--does anybody know what problem 2-14 is on page 27?
Why is the Kansan sports staff always on their high horse telling us we need to support the football program more and then they put a story about basketball recruits who may not even come to school here above the fold on the sports section? It doesn't make sense to me. Let's support the football team here, guys.
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Heck, I say bring alcohol back to the football games. It'll make the football team look better.
Yeah, I don't think Mass. Street was shu-
down last Friday. I think it was opened up.
Um, yeah. I just wanted to say that I saw one of the Mass. Street protestors wearing Levi's, and I just wanted to know what's up with that? Hypocrites.
Why does the partly cloudy weather symbol look like a butt crack in the sky?
OK, so I know you can be overwhelmed, and I know you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whewed?
frestmen, the Free for All is supposed to be funny. It's not supposed to be your therapist where you can just whine about everything.
The kid that wrote hippies should buy normal clothes from American Eagle and Gap needs a good punch in the face.
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Is my friend justified in wearing long underwear underneath his jeans with a rip in them because he's ashamed of his leg hair?
CORRECTION
The Kansan report card on Tuesday's opinion page failed the Department of Public Safety for losing a file. The file was unavailable, not lost.
LETTER TO THE EDITORS
RECYCLING
Dear editors.
The opinion of Lindsey Hodel ("Campus recycling doesn't do enough," Aug. 23) echoes concerns about limited recycling voiced by others over the past few years. I thank her and other committed students for being interested enough to raise some of those issues. However, I suspect her perception may stem from a lack of information about how much the program really has grown since its inception. In five years, we've gone from handling about 30 tons of recyclables per year with one staff person to about 350 tons per year with a staff of 10 to 12. That's about 70,000 pounds of materials being collected by student techs and diverted from the local landfill each month.
Our coverage of the campus is quite extensive. We maintain some level of service in nearly every building on campus, and we've worked with Student Housing to expand recycling for several years, with our biggest expansion occurring this fall, our third year of collecting on Daisy Hill. Continued involvement by students with KU Recycling and environmental student groups such SEAB and ESSA will help facilitate even more growth.
Victoria Silva Program Administrator EHS Office of Resource Conservation & Recycling
Victoria Silva