4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
TUESDAY, AUG. 28, 2001
TALKTOUS
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 adddirector@kansan.com
Kate Mariani retail sales manager 864-4462 or retailsales@kansan.com
Tom Eblen general manager and news adviser 864-7667 or tablene@kansan.com
Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com
The University of Kansas should allow pre-game tailgaters to drink alcohol, but should take precautions to ensure the safety of fans and students.
EDITORIAL
Bohl on track with proposal for tailgating
Allen Bohl, the new athletic director, has proposed granting an exception to the University's dry campus policy to allow fans to include alcohol in tailgate parties in University parking lots before home football games. He believes this will produce a better game-day atmosphere and draw more fans to football games.
Football would benefit from pre-game festivity
A pro-tailgating policy would accomplish these goals. It would almost certainly result in a greater turnout of students because the parties in the parking lot would provide an additional incentive to come to football games for the many students who receive football tickets with their sports package but never take advantage of them.
All of this would raise more money for the Athletics Department and would help avoid canceling smaller programs, as was the case last spring when the men's swimming and tennis teams were cut because of budget shortfalls.
But all these benfits must be weighed against the potential safety and academic hazards.
In addition, pre-game parties would ensure larger, louder crowds at the opening kickoff which could provide an important boost to a team in need of confidence. These benefits could feed off each other to produce successively bigger crowds and better teams.
The proposed policy change would only allow consumption of alcohol in a few designated lots on campus, and it would not permit consumption of alcohol on non-game days. With these provisions, the school's central academic mission should be preserved.
In addition, the policy change would allow the consumption of alcohol by tailgaters in parking lots prior to games, but would not permit the sale of alcohol in Memorial Stadium. If sobriety checkpoints were set up at the exits to the parking lots, fans could enjoy alcohol at parties before the games without endangering the safety of others on campus. The University should also provide phones for fans who need to call a sober driver and make Saferide available for students after games.
It should be noted that availability of alcohol does not necessarily mean that crowds will be rowdy and disorderly. Other universities have had success with pro-tailgating policies. At the University of Missouri, which decided to allow alcohol for pre-game tailgating two years ago, campus safety reports no more fights or rowdy fan behavior than before alcohol was allowed in the parking lots.
With campus security and respectful football fans, a pre-game tailgating policy would be a success. The concerns should be addressed and the policy should be implemented to benefit the football team this year.
Andy Davies for the editorial board
PERSPECTIVE
What you don't do at college will make all the difference
Above all else, Matthew Overstreet is a journalist. A man of integrity and moral strength; blessed with an uncanny ability to refer himself in the third person and not seem overly pretentious. With this in mind I have taken it upon myself to interview dozens of stoners, drunks and dropouts to find out what advice they might have for their fellow students.
It's only natural that I interview these seemingly insignificant groups of people. I figured if I asked so called "winners" for advice I would get stereotypically lame answers like "join a student organization" or "get involved in the community." Besides, my idea of an interview is getting drunk and asking my friends questions while playing Nintendo. Needless to say, this severely limited my options.
Matthew Overstreet
1. First off, everybody needs to eat. If you have a meal plan, but can't eat in the cafeteria, make sure you check out E's Express in the basement of Hashigear Hall. The school charges an
Carefully cut out this article and tack it to your wall. Besides being incredibly amusing it also contains many practical tips. These tips have helped my friends stay fat and happy for years and I'm sure they'll work well for any future group of stoners, drunks and dropouts—especially this year's freshmen class.
Commentary
Columnist
opinionakansan.com
ungodly sum for each meal whether you actually eat it. You might as well get a couple of sandwiches and a bag of chips out of the deal. Also, for a free meal every Thursday, head to the Kansas Union's "afternoon tea." I promise it is not nearly as yuppie as the name implies.
2. When it comes time to buy books, never, never pre-order them. This is a scam run by the University in cooperation with the publishing houses to get you to buy books you don't need. Unless you want to waste money, always go to your classes and get the sullabus before you buy any books.
3. I know kids today sometimes consume alcohol to become intoxicated. I'm not your mom, but I do want you to be safe. Here at KU there is a great service that will come and pick you (and your buddy who just throwup his spleen) up from anywhere in Lawrence and take you home. It's called Saferide, 864-SAFE. It's free. Use it.
4. Now that you know you'll have a safe ride home (864-SAFE), you can begin to make a decision about what to drink. I suggest a Drink of Kings, or as local romance novelist Eric Davis calls it, a William Faulkner. Take a full glass of ice water and add a shot of whiskey, preferable Kentucky Gentlemen. Not only is this drink super-cheap, it tastes like iced tea and because of its high water content is virtually hangover-free.
5. If you're underage you should never enjoy the Drink of Kings, but if you do and happen to be approached by a cop, put your cup down. I can't stress this enough. If cops bust a party and hand out MIPs, only the kids stupid enough to be holding alcohol will get in trouble. If someone even mentions the word "cops" put your cup down. Finding it later will be a lot easier then telling your frantic mother about your MIP.
It's not cool to run out of money, die in a car wreck, or get arrested. I hope these tips help a few KU students avoid such situations. What is cool, you ask? Reading the Kansan every single day, of course. That and Oasis, especially their new single due out in October.
Matthew Overstreet is a senior in communications and political science from Springfield, Mo.
PERSPECTIVE
Students the losers in Oread battle
The Oread Neighborhood Association is gearing up for yet another battle with the University of Kansas in order to protect the character of its neighborhood. In my five years at KU, I have witnessed the ONA take on KU administration and students about late night bar hours and unrelated roommate regulations.
The neighborhood group has picked numerous battles with the University and the students who live around it. Three years ago, it strong-armed The Hawk, Bullwinkles and The Wheel into limiting their hours to maintain neighborhood peace. Last year, it bullied the Lawrence City Commission into adopting a limitation on the number of unrelated adults that can live in a home zoned for single-family use.
Now, it seems the ONA is prepared to move past easy targets and take the University head on. It is a student's nightmare; should I root for corporate-gerant "KU Inc." or the ONA?
David Mitchell
Columnist
opinionkansan.com
Now, the ONA opposes the construction of new KU scholarship halls in the 1300 block of Ohio Street. The battle cry is nothing new: The University and its students create parking congestion and noise problems that would seriously alter the "fabric" of this "peaceful" neighborhood. The message is clear—middle-class families living in the Oread want a quiet and serene environment.
Commentary
This begs only one question. Why
On the other hand, the University of Kansas administration has been accused of violating the trust of many different communities and has taken to bullying tactics to advance its interests. University administrators have chosen to renge on the 1997 Campus Master Plan they agreed to, saying it is "not a legal document." It is clear that the University is not concerned with whose toes are stepped on in the process.
would you choose to move in next to a major public university? I am hardly sympathetic to any group that complains to the city commission every time they endure a "hardship" that should have been expected by moving into that neighborhood.
bers should consider the new hall an asset instead of a burden.
Caught up in the battle are the scholarship halls that are proposed for the property. As one of the few universities in the nation that offers this type of housing, the University provides a wonderful opportunity for low-cost, communal housing to students who promise to be strong academic performers. Oread neighborhood mem-
Unfortunately, the debate has not been framed in such a manner. ONA members want to scrap the current layout of Stouffer Place, family student housing, and create high-density housing on its 32 acres. The ONA would ruin housing for low-income families to save a part of their own neighborhood. Indeed, ONA members are most definitely interested in preserving quality surroundings for families — their families.
The Kansan reported that some residents of the Oread neighborhood favor the demolition of the houses, but will not speak publicly for fear of retribution by the ONA. This seems to fall right in line with ONA President Terry Riordan's comments in reference to KU. "(We) cannot tolerate the bullying and arrogant tactics of a powerful institution...(which should not) act unilaterally, but rather in concert must act responsibly in true concert with and in cooperation with organizations and citizens."
Perhaps the first step should be to move past selfishness and remember that preventing new scholarship halls means hurting students. Until then, the only losers in this battle that I'll be worrying about are those students.
David Mitchell is a graduate student in public administration from Haysville.
Free for All 864-0500
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.
Yes, I'd like to say congratulations to all the freshmen for not choosing K-State. Congratulations lads
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Yes, I have a question for all the Barbies that come working out at the Robinson Center. Um why do you wear so much makeup? Are you trying to look for guys or work out?
Hi there. I'm an ambitious young freshman from KU. I just picked up a brochure about Student Senate and I was going to get involved, but then I read the 12 typos in the brochure and now I'm completely detracted from that. So I don't want to do it. If they can't spell, then I don't want to be involved with them. I'm sorry. I just want to express it to Free For All because I just learned about this phone line.
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Although I died my hair blue for Delta Force, I'm now red. But I'm still Delta Force, Delta Force rules.
Oh man, being on campus, I love the scenery and I love girls.
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One day into the semester, I'm drunk, my best friend is wearing my pants, and my hair is blue Party on.
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I just had to help my best friend take off a pair of pants that are mine so that he could have sex with my roommate. Life is weird.
I have a pet dinosaur named Bruno.
How much will I weigh when I'm 50 years old?
You have no idea what you're talking about. Fight Club was definitively a great movie and Legally Blonde was definitely not. You have no idea. We don't like you.
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Yeah, is it just me or does anyone else think that the hippies that shut down Mass Street between Sixth and Seventh streets on Saturday night should just go buy some normal clothes from the Gap or American Eagle?
Thanks to the new recruitment schedule, I've yet to get my books and study for my classes. I thought the University cared more for classes than for Hawk Week.
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rean, what's the deal with the Kansan not listing movies? That's weak.
to the mass hippie protestors on Mass. Street pictured in the Kansan, why don't you all just go to a communist country like North Korea and find out first-hand why capitalism is best.
All right kids. Let's start the year's first Free for
all debate. Beatles or Stones?
The Beats are like an Olympic-size swimming pool with only an inch of water in it.
I just wanted to thank Mr. Burge for buying me lunch the yesterday, I was having a real bad day and it made me feel a lot better. Thanks,
Mr. Burge.
露
Girlies where's my fruit snacks?
day, biking on the sidewalks is illegal. Take
back the streets. It's your right to ride on them.
Talk about ugly. Ripped screen wire, pearing paint, graffiti, etc. Lindley can be gone!
So, does the editor actually edit the paper? Cause, heck, today's paper had at least two editing errors and a design error. Cause heck, though it was a real paper.
I'm really glad all of my out of stae tuition has gone to a beauty botique in the Union bookstore.
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Hi, after reading the free for all today, it makes me realize how many people on the KU campus are really weird. Write over me I would just like to say I'm a guy and I love telling women I like to play with vibrators.
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