4
Friday, October 3, 1986 / University Daily Kansan
Follow our leaders
No themes are so human as those that reflect for us, out of the confusion of life, the close connection of bliss and bale, of the things that help with the things that hurt, so dangling before us forever that bright hard medal, of so strange an alloy, one face of which is somebody's right and ease and the other somebody's pain and wrong.
— Henrv James
The U.S. Senate's stunning vote yesterday to overturn a presidential veto of sanctions against South Africa represents a turning point in the United States' policies toward a country that exemplifies Henry James "bright hard medal": the rights and ease of a white minority versus the pain and wrong inflicted on the black populous.
Although they faced presidential warnings and South African threats, 78 senators emphatically replaced the administration's weak and ineffective "quiet diplomacy" with sanctions that are destined to shake the government in Pretoria.
The bipartisan support that brought about the veto was the result of relentless campaigning by human rights groups from across the country. They elicited a mandate from the American people: Strong economic pressure must be applied to South Africa — regardless of the Reagan administration's ideas to the contrary.
It's time to apply this mandate at the University of Kansas.
For more than eight years, KU students have rallied, protested, sat-in, camped-out and screamed until their voices were hoarse; all in an effort to have the Kansas University Endowment Association pull its investments out of companies that do business in South Africa. They've met
with infinitesimal success.
In April 1985, the University Council approved a resolution that called for a complete divestment of KUEA South African investments; the resolution was the official position of University governance. Chancellor Gene A. Budig presented the resolution to Todd Seymour, KUEA president.
But little more than a week later, Budig renounced the resolution, saying: "Until our federal government acts, the lone opportunity for any meaningful improvement in South Africa rests with the American corporations that have operations there . . . I do not believe that total divestiture is the answer."
He also said the only chance for change in South Africa was with action sponsored by the president or Congress.
The Chancellor and Endowment Association now have the opportunity to reverse their positions and join in with renewed vigor to apply economic pressure on South Africa. In this situation there is no room to balk and hide behind vague statutory limitations such as the "prudent person rule."
Budig and the Association are at a crossroad; they must choose between the president and the mandate of the American people's elected representatives.
It's time that they retreat from the past and advance against apartheid.
Time will soon tell
As we enter the Rehnquist Era of the Supreme Court, a term that will undoubtedly last into the next century, it's interesting to note what has generated such vigorous debate over Rehnquist's move to the center seat, and the direction the Court's decisions will take in the future.
Somewhat more than either of the other two branches, the judiciary molds the moral boundaries and concepts of freedom and liberty. Reagan recognized this and has used his power of judicial appointment to load the federal judiciary with conservative minded, and in some cases in
In the past, selection of the associate justices was done, well, differently. It is widely known that Franklin Delano Roosevelt chose his justices because he owed them. Truman picked the guys he played poker with. However, Ronald Reagan is a keen-eyed ideologist who recognizes the Supreme Court's importance more than most of his predecessors.
competent. judges.
What's at stake? The progressive standards established by the Warren court, including Miranda rights and the exclusionary rule — the rule barring evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment — among others.
Also on the line is the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. If President Reagan gets the chance to appoint his third judge to the Supreme Court, it is doubtful that ruling would sustain another challenge.
The possibility of a clear shift from the liberalism of the past 20 years of Supreme Court rulings is disturbing enough. But when it is combined with the fact that the deed on a home owned by the chief justice has a restrictive clause barring ownership by "members of the Hebrew race," along with his outspoken views against women's rights and desegregation, it simply worsens the matter.
News staff
News staff
Lauretta McMillen ... Editor
Kadid McMaster ... Managing editor
Tad Clarke ... News editor
David Silverman ... Editorial editor
John Hanna ... Campus editor
Frank Hansel ... Sports editor
Jacki Kelly ... Photo editor
Tom Eblen ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
David Nixon ... Business manager
Gregory Kaul ... Retail sales manager
Denise Stephens ... Campus sales manager
Sally Depew ... Classified manager
Ise Weirmann ... Production manager
Duncan Calhoun ... National sales manager
Beverly Kastens ... Traffic manager
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words and should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. If the writer is affiliated with the organization, write it below the letter.
writer who Kansas reserves the right to reject or edit letters and guest posts. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansas newsroom, 111 Staffer-Fint Hall.
Opinions
The University Daily Kansan (USP5 650-640) is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stairford Flint Hall, Kaness, Kan. 60045, daily during the regular school year, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and finals periods, and on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with subscription by mail are $15 for six months or $27 year in Douglas County and $18 for six months and $35 a year outside the county. Student subscriptions are $3 and are paid through the student activity fee.
POSTMASTER. Send address changes to the University Daily Kansan, 118
Stuart/Fint-Hall, Lawrence, Kan, 66045.
Kansan staffers travel to Mudville
Well, OK, we promised them a story.
The Student Senate defeated the Kansan staff 14-13 in a softball game Saturday.
What follows is an account of the last half of the final inning, with apologies to Ernest Lawrence Thayer.
The cast is made up of John Hanna, campus editor; Chris Barber, former editorial editor, now a KU law student; Bill Reynolds, business reporter, who recently got a severe haircut; Brian Wheley, layout editor, and Eric Anderson, cops/courts reporter.
Etaoin Shrdlu
Columnist
It looked extremely rocky for the Kansan Ten that day. The score stood 13-14 with an inning.
Eric hates to be called Eric and usually goes by Ric. In the interest of fair play, it should be noted that he went two-for-four with a two-run home run
One more thing — we've challenged the senators to a rematch.
And so when Hanna got to first and Barber did the same.
A happy sigh erupted from the players of the game.
The senators, they held the lead; they sat there quite content. Because they thought the talent of the Kansas Ten was spent.
Kansan Ten that day,
The score stood 13-14 with an inning
left to play.
could get a whack at that.
They'd put up even money with Eric
The campus scribes thought if Rie
But Bill preceeded Eric, and likewise so did Whepley. And the former was a fuzzhead, and
And the former was a furzhure, and the latter was quite schlepply.
So on that tired multitude a stone-like stupor sat,
"Do you know what I am?"
And that layout artist Wnpley provoled himself a nerd,
But Bill lined out to second, sending Hanna round to third.
For they knew that migny Eric would get his chance at bat.
And when the dust had lifted, and they saw what had occurred.
there was Barber still on first and Hanna bugeg third.
Then from the worn-out multitude wont up a lovely call.
It surged upon Mount Otto bounced off Potter Lake. For Ric, the cops reporter, was advancing to the plate.
There was ease in Eric's manner as he stepped into his place.
There was mousse in Ric's short hair and a smile on his tan face.
It was heard in Stauffer-Flint; it ratched through Strong Hall.
back some of his banter.
And when responding to the cheers,
And when responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat, No stranger in the crowd could doubt, 'twas really Ric at bat.
And while the squirmring pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed from Ric's green eye — a skewer curled Ric's thin lip.
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurling through the air, Eric stood a watching it in haughty rapture. Close by the skimmy behind.
Close by the skinny batsman the ball unheeded sped.
"That's not my style," Eric said — "Strike one," a senator said.
"Strike one," a senator said.
From the sidewalk full of editors.
From the sidewalk full of edits, there rose a sulen roar. Like the scream of KU's whistle on Clinton's distant shore
"Kill him! Kill the senator!" shouted
And it's likely they'd have done it, had Ric not raised his hand.
someone from the stand.
He signaled to the pitcher and again the spheroid flew, but blond Ric still ignored it and the senator said. "Strike two."
"Fraud!" hungover writers yelled,
the echo answered. "Fraud."
But one scornful look from Eric and the audience was awed.
The sneer is gone from young Ric's lip; his teeth are capped and straight.
He rounds with vigorous violence his
He pounds with vicious violence his bat upon the plate.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain. They knew that Eric would not let that ball go by again.
And now the pitcher holds the ball,
and now he lets it go.
And now the air is shattered by the
force of strong Ric's blow.
Oh! somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright. The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light.
And somewhere men are laughing,
and somewhere children shout.
1. Which is the old tax code, and which is the new revised, simplified version?
But there is no joy on the Kansan Mighty Eric has popped out.
2. Why are these guys still smiling:
Backward Christian soldier
The way the story goes is that Robertson, a young second lieutenant, was on his way to Korea in 1951 with an outfit that was destined for the front lines.
Pat Robertson, the TV preacher who wants to be president, has been accused of using his political clout to avoid combat while he was a Marine officer during the Korean War.
Mike Royko
Chicago Tribune
But when the troop ship got to Japan, Robertson made a few phone calls, quickly was pulled out of the combat unit, and remained in Japan in a non-combat job while the others in his outfit went to the fighting.
The phone calls allegedly were made to Robertson's daddy, who happened to be a United States senator from Virginia.
Robertson's father is supposed to have called a Marine general, and the general had the young lieutenant switched to a job that would not involve Chinese bullets whizzing past his ears.
And, McCloskey says, Robertson said he was going to call his dad.
The story comes from a surprising source former congressman Pete McCloskey Jr., who happened to have been a young Marine lieutenant in the same outfit as Robertson.
McCloskey says that while they were on the troop ship, Robertson made no secret of his desire to avoid getting too close to any gunting commies.
Auror the calls were made, MeCloskey saw. Robertson smiled happily about having arranged for his father to protect his hide.
Robertson's spokesmen said that no such calls were ever made. But Marine records show that Robertson did remain in Japan while his outfit went on to take part in the shooting.
Later, Robertson did a brief汁 in Korea, but in the non-combac capacity of a division liquor officer, McCloskey says.
When this story came out, some critics said this meant Robertson still was another conservative who belonged in the ranks of those known as "war wimps."
This is a phrase coined by Rep. Andrew Jacobs of Indiana, a former combat officer in Korea, to describe sword-rattling tough talking conservatives who are now eager to send young men into combat, but took a sneak when they had a chance to see some fighting themselves.
In the days of World War II and the Korean War, it was not uncommon for the children of the rich and influential actually to do some of the fighting. The draft boards also took famous professional athletes and other public figures
The way I see it, if he used his father's political clout to avoid combat, Robertson was simply a man many years ahead of his time, a man of vision.
But by the time we got into Vietnam, it sort of became public policy for these privileged people to use a wide range of loopholes to stay behind, while the blue-collar whites and ghetto blacks did the fighting.
But I think that this criticism might be unfair to Robertson.
That made a certain kind of sense. After all, how could those well-born young men go on to positions of political leadership, in which they could talk tough to the Russians, if they were to be punctured at an early age by Russian-made bullets?
So if Robertson used his father's influence to keep him safe, all he did was show that he had the knack even then for knowing which way the wind was blowing.
And we also must ask whether the decision for Robertson to remain where it was safe was made by his father, or even by a Marine general. Or was it made by a much greater power?
Remember, Robertson strongly implied that it was God's will that he should run for president, that God wanted a good Christian Republican such as him in the White House.
If that's true, we must assume that God is not shortsighted — that He doesn't make snap decisions.
It's possible that way back in 1911, when Robertson was on that troop ship, God decided: "I have big plans for that fine lad, and they don't include him jumping into a foxhole with some hostile Chinese communist who might peel his skin."
8412 So maybe it was God's will that Robertson's senator-daddy called a Marine general and had Robertson installed behind a desk in the land of sushi.
That make sense to me, although it probably will cause cynics to cries. They'll ask why the Good Lord would pull Robertson off the troop ship while so many other fine young men went on to catch the bullets.
Well, maybe the others weren't as devout as his dad.
Mailbox
Fast for peace
Four American veterans are on an open-ended fast on the steps of the U.S. Capitol as an expression of a deeply felt desire to do everything they can — even giving up their lives — to stop the U.S. war with the Nicaraguan people.
These courageous men identify with the suffering our government inflicts upon the Nicaraguan people.
By fasting, even to death, they hope to bring attention to the reality of what is going on in Central America amidst a campaign of misinformation by our government. In a prepared statement the veterans made it clear why they were fasting.
"We are here because we want to make it absolutely clear that if our government insists on supporting proxy killers, if it insists on violating the sovereignty and right to self-determination of other nations, if it insists to violate Constitutional and international law, they are not going to do it in our names. In our fast for life, we want it known that our government does not speak for us. Nor does it speak for most Americans."
According to a poll taken before the congressional vote on contra aid, 62 percent of the American people opposed it. Nevertheless, Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and Sen. Nancy Kassebaum,
Wendell Wiebe-Powell Lawrence resident
voiced or it. To date, our senators have even chosen to avoid talking with the veterans about the issue. Still the fasters are praying for a change in the hearts and minds of our representatives in Washington.
Kansans, with their informational picket and fast, will be appealing to the consciences of our senators to listen with open hearts and minds to the veterans.
intrats why a group of Kansans will, be holding a day-long fast in support of the four veterans and their goals Monday, Oc' 6, at the Federal Building in Topeka.
UPI Notes from
Helen Thomas
Some notes and quotes of the week
Washington
The day after President Reagan's announcement that he would meet Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev next weekend in Iceland, an advance team headed for Reykjavik to plan for the get-together.
An expanded team followed after the initial survey.
Asked whether the Soviets also had sent in a group of summit planners, a White House aide joked: "They don't have to. They have more people in their embassy in Iceland than all the other embassies combined."
Some veteran White House reporters recall the last summit meeting in Iceland, but it was not an East-West affair.
In 1972. President Richard Nixon met with French President Georges Pompidou in the land of the Viking settlers.
Pompidou was very ill at the time and reporters were astounded at his appearance, but still the French press remained silent that he was a cancer victim.
*Nancy Reagan will not be going to the Iceland summit with the president although she is intensely interested in the East-West dialogue and is said to be pushing her husband on the peace issue as their time in the White House dwindles down.
When freed American journalist Nicholas Daniloff visited with the president in the Oval Office, Mrs. Reagan sat in on the call and heard first hand of Daniloff's ordeal in a Moscow prison where he was held on "phony" charges of espionage.
Miss Lillian was one of the most fascinating women to grace the White House scene in those days, calling them as she saw them, sometimes to the embarrassment of her presidential son.
■For those who covered President Jimmy Carter in Plains, Ga., and at the White House, there was a feeling of sadness at the dedication of the Carter Presidential Center because Miss Lilian, the president's mother, was not alive to see it.
But her cander was real and for a woman in her 80s quite acceptable
- At the dedication ceremonies, President Reagan had a final sally for former President Carter who marked his 62nd birthday on the same day — Oct. 1.
"Remember." Reagan told him,
"life begins at 70."
"You'll soon be saying life begins at 80," a reporter teased Reagan. "It does." he grinned
does," he grinne
The presidential motorcade leaving Atlanta after the dedication could not have missed a sign held up by three young boys "Daniloff Shamiloff. Free South Africa."
The Soviets obviously made a mistake in picking on Daniiloff, an articulate Russian speaking American reporter.
Daniiloff, whose grandfather was a Russian general and part of the Decembrist movement that tried to overthrow the Czar, also suffered in a Kremlin prison.
tranloff had been planning to write a book about his ancestor. Asked whether he still would write a book about the general's ordeal or was now prepared to write a book about himself, Daniloff told reporters, "I'll write one book. Our experiences were similar."
But Daniloff has work to do first. He will be covering the Icelandic summit for his magazine, U.S. News & World Report.