4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY,AUG.27,2001
TALK TO US
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 teblend@kansan.com
Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com
OPINION EDITOR'S NOTE
Advice to those who know it all
I have no advice for incoming freshmen.
Freshmen, take heart. You will not lack for guidance. From the looks of the opinion inbox, it appears that self-appointed mentors will be gracing these pages through at least mid-October. And who am I kidding? I would love to wax philosophical on the essentials of college and drinking for 600 words. But not today. My target audience today is already old and wise and jaded to advice columns, and at least 90 percent of them could drink me under the table.
could damage me for the veterans. I'll call it "What I Wished I Knew in the Fall of 2000" (the start of my first senior year).
I know you know how to drink. I know you know not to sign up for Friday classes. I know you know how to run this school better than it is being run.
So what could I possibly tell you that you don't already know? Well, it's about that last one. After a couple of years, most of the students here have interacted with at least one university department or student group enough to have an idea about what they could do better and how they could do it.
You should put those ideas right here. In this column. On this page.
1 anticipate two objections. 1. "The Kansan opinion page is for columns on abortion and taxes, not student groups." 2. "I'm not in the J-school."
1. I know that for your time at KU, the Kansan opinion page has often been the playground for the College Republicans and Young Democrats to debate national and international policy. Now, with the New York Times available for free in the Union, we're leaving national policy debate for the national newspapers. We cover KU better than anybody, so that is what we will focus on.
2. The Kansan represents the work of students in the journalism school. But this page is supposed to represent the opinions of the entire student body. We want non-journalism majors.
I signed up for editorial board on a whim last spring because I had done journalism in high school and because I have opinions. It turned out that the journalism experience was useless. All I needed were opinions and an interest in KU. That's all you need.
Brendan Woodbury is a senior in organisational biology and political science from Prairie Village. He is associate opinion editor.
I envision the editorial board developing into a biweekly meeting of the students from across campus discussing the issues that confront us and representing student opinion in a way that Student Senate never has. This semester is the very beginning of a move toward that vision, and I need your help to reach it.
This semester we hope to run a series on students' ideas of life on the hill in the year 2030. We hope to run columns and editorials on sorority recruitment, expansion into Oread neighborhood, the tailgating policy, the renovation of the Union and many other topics. We need knowledgable, interested students to debate and write these pieces, so come write for us if you've had experience with any of these issues. And if you haven't, well, I guess we could always use a few more freshmen advice columns.
KANSAN REPORT CARD
PASS
FinancialAid.com
"Kids today have it so easy." But that's good because we're the kids. And now we can avoid the refund line and have our refund checks direct- denoted.
KU Celebrity Recruitment
We may have lost out on Britney Spears, but Home Improvement's Taran Noah Smith is living in Lawrence and thinking about enrolling next semester.
NCAA Champion Movers
Finally the average student gets some benefit from the weight room-Athletics Department personnel help freshmen move in to residence halls
Couches Against Cruising
A group set up couches on Massachusetts Street on Friday to protest commercialization. We don't care what you protest, but we support anything that keeps those teenagers in pickups out of downtown on Friday nights
Online Makeover
The University's redesigned Web page just looks better.
FAIL
Moving Move-in Day
Move-in day should be moved back to Saturday. Yes, it's nice to finally get away from the parents. But it's also nice to have time for parents to buy a bunch of stuff for you before they go.
Lane Closed - Merge Left
We're not city planners,but it seems like it makes more sense to resurface 23rd Street before all the students come back.
Obligatory Phone Options
Caller ID on campus: last year an impossibility; this year a requirement. Caller ID is nice, but in budget-conscious scholarship halls, every fee counts, so new services should be options.
Our Lady of the Parking Garage
The St. Lawrence Center is collecting $1.5 million to build a parking garage. Isn't there a better way to ease the suffering in the world than making sure people don't have to carpool to church?
This is Supposed to be the Easy Stuff
KU Public Safety lost the police report from Thursday's break-in at the Chancellor's house. Criminals take note: if the cops are after you, hide in a filing cabinet.
PERSPECTIVE
Students should come out and support KU football
Toward the end of every summer, anticipation builds for college football ... tailgate parties, rivalries, upsets and school spirit. That is, unless you attend the University of Kansas.
The frenzy that surrounds college football elsewhere has somehow skipped Lawrence. Each week, while other schools celebrate game day like a religious holiday, KU fans count the days before basketball practice starts.
I was oblivious to how much fun college football could be until I ventured out to watch the 'Hawks on the road. There were thousands of the other team's fans tailgating and getting pumped up hours before kickoff. They brought couches, grills, stereos and their favorite beverages. My challenge to you is to create that frenzed atmosphere at Memorial Stadium.
Students can help turn KU football around. The support of exuberant fans can make the difference between winning and losing. A raucous crowd can induce delay of game and false start penalties and cause unwanted timeouts. In addition, the noise from the crowd reduces the opponent's ability to change a play at the line of scrimmage.
We can fire our team up and rattle the competition. Moreover, basketball and football recruits attend every football
Ryan Gerstner
Columnist
opinionkanan.com
Commentary
game and the game atmosphere shapes their impression of our school.
So what can you do? First, you can start by creating the pre-game atmosphere for which college football is famous. If you live anywhere close to the stadium in a house or an apartment, you should be having pre-game parties. I can't imagine a student body that was ranked as a top 10 party school being incapable of throwing a good party before a football game. Second, wear a blue shirt. KU is the only school in the Big XII with blue as a school color. Every other school puts on their school colors for a few hours and so can we. Third, get into the stadium before the band comes out. Being a part of the
There is not one good football program in this country that wins without good fan support; how can we expect our football team to turn it around without our support? We can't.
alma mater, the rock chalk chant, the fight song, and the team running out is a part of the KU tradition. Finally, the students have to take the lead and create crowd noise on every down the opposition has the ball. Our alumni are notorious for sitting on their hands. It is our responsibility to make Memorial Stadium an intimidating place to play.
The air in Lawrence is different this year. We have almost an entirely new coaching staff stocked with proven winners. Our new athletics director, Allen Bohl, is committed to putting people in the stands and having a successful football team. Our alumni have reopened their checkbooks to support KU athletics. Are the students ready to make Jayhawk Saturday the most fun day of the week?
day of the week. Sooner or later, KU will be in a bowl game again. Imagine taking a bowl trip with a group of friends and having the time of your life. Imagine the camaraderie of thousands of Jayhawk fans flocking to support our beloved Jayhawks.
Gerstner is a senior in business administration from Franklin, Kan.
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.
Yeah, I just found out my roommate doesn't like coffee or beer. This year is going to suck.
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I'm disapointed in the Kansan again. They have no story on Gary Condit. Now, if he were a Republican, that would be a front page story. Now can we say liberal bias in the media?
Yeah, I don't think I'm too sure about the new film critic. Fight Club sucks, but Legally Blonde is pretty cool?
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Hey, this is a message to the frat boys out at Clinton Lake the other night. We know what you were up to and that's disgusting. Oh yeah, and Delta Force rules.
So, I was thinking that next semester we should all go on a book strike. No one on campus should by books. Hell man, they just can't flunk 20,000 people.
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I'd just like to thank the spaz in my class who jumped over a row of seats in order to open the door. That crackhead really made the day interesting. Thanks a lot, buddy.
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So is Mrs. E's serving cupcakes with sprinkles any time soon?
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Why don't all old guys look like the Monopoly man?
I just want to say that I love the newspaper readership program, and I love Student Senate.
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Does anybody else find it fitting that Jason Alexander is a representative for KFC?
Do you ever get the Mighty Ducks theme song running through your head? I love it when that happens.
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It's been a great college day. I've laid on the couch for five straight hours, only to get up to go to the ligour store.
Where's Waldo?
Also, how were parking passes going to go up and the number of parking lot spaces go down?
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You can tell school is back in session when you get stuck behind some freshman with an out-of-state license who stops every time he should go,and goes when he should stop.
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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.
Pippi Longstocking rocks
Coming from a man, it is funny to see so many people referring to women as "chicks."
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.
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.
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.
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If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the reader's representative at readersrep@kansan.com.
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