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Friday, September 12, 1986 / University Daily Kansan
Opinions
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Help the homeless
Lawrence's street people will no longer have to seek shelter under bridges and in doorways during the cold months of winter.
It's a sign of the times.
Last week, the Salvation Army announced that it would provide cots and blankets for the homeless from the beginning of November until February
The more than 300,000 homeless people in the United States are concentrated, for the most part, in the major cities. But the need for a shelter in Lawrence shows that the problem is growing. In fact, many are predicting that by the end of the decade, shantytowns will appear and become as commonplace as the "Hoovervilles" of the 1920s.
But these new corrugated metal neighborhoods will be called "Reaganvilles" — testaments to six years of Reaganomics and an economic
recovery that has sputtered. Washington, it seems, has forgotten about the homeless. They're not as appealing as a drug war and they don't attract votes the way tax reform does.
But complaining won't solve the greater problems of the economy or the immediate problem of getting adequate supplies for a local shelter. Students have to get involved.
"I want to see what kind of support there is," said Lt. David Jones of the Salvation Army. "For me to be able to support the needy, I need the support of the community. Otherwise I just can't do it."
Consider Jones' words as you sleep soundly through a cold autumn night, snuggled under a down comfortor or electric blanket. Then decide to donate what you can to the shelter.
Show your support for those who can't support themselves.
South Africa's record of injustice is overwhelming.
World record in injustice
Hundreds of people have died there this year, and hundreds more probably will. The unrest is the result of a despotic regime's oppression and a system of brutal racism that has been enshrined in its laws.
This oppressive regime is tacitly encouraged and, in part, supported and financed, by the Kansas University Endowment Association.
"Oh, no," Endowment Association officials say, "we don't support apartheid. We could never support a system that is so morally reprehensible."
Why?
But the Endowment Association refuses to truly disassociate itself from the power in Pretoria by divesting from companies that do business in South Africa.
ing them gain justice.
Why does a corporation that helps so many people on campus refuse to do this good thing? Divestment will help blacks in South Africa by helping to notice me sleeping in that chair."
Instead, the Endowment Association has decided to hide behind a paper shield called the "prudent man law," a statute that probably would not survive a strong test.
Will the blood of the oppressed have to ooze from Youngberg and Strong halls before the Endowment Association again acts to take their last dollar out of the hands of the white minority?
Yes, if apathy remains strong on campus.
Students helped stop a war in Vietnam, and they can help stop the University's association with South Africa's war on its own black majority.
Students must organize, mobilize and act. The time for a renewed movement, full of new ideas, has come. Indeed, the time has come for anything, short of violence, that can help convince the Endowment Association to divest
Divestment is not an option; it is a necessity. The Endowment Association must see that.
Miss Meat Market
So what?
In an effort to make feminists happy, the officials of the Miss America Pageant announced last week that they are taking the contestants' measurements out of the pageant program. No longer will the tale of the tape be told for all to scrutinize. The media, pounding on the issue, kept us abreast of the news last week.
Pageant chairman Albert Marks said the elimination of the measurements is a concession to feminist criticism in the past. Marks thinks this will quiet the people who claim the figures are an exploitation of women.
Oh really?
If Marks really was concerned about exploitation, there wouldn't be a pageant at all. It just doesn't measure up.
Although the statistics are no longer vital, the finals and crowning of Miss America 1987 on national television tomorrow still will be viewed by many. It figures.
Americans just aren't ready to forgo the pleasure of ogling and drooling over the supply young bodies yet. Yes, this is the '80s, folks. Believe it or not. The pageant has survived the radical '60s and the feminist '70s, and what's more, it's still going strong.
It is just now, after years of runways, stiff smiles and 36-26-36 that the pageant officials are "cracking down."
Do those higher-ups in the wonderful world of beauty pageantry really think this trivial effort to take measures will appease feminists and quiet the protesting masses?
Or does anyone really care?
News staff
Lauretta McMillen ... Editor
Kady 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
Lisa Weemee ... Production manager
Duncan Callahoun ... National sales manager
Beverly Kautsen ... Traffic manager
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All of this has brought back memories of the first Harvard man I ever met.
At aae 350. you can expect senility
Harvard is celebrating its 350th year, and many newspapers and magazines are doing stories about its distinguished history and the great Americans who studied there — young men who would become presidents, senators, scholars, and giants of finance, law and literature.
One day the boss hired a new reporter fresh out of Harvard. Although he was inexperienced, he had a quality the boss admired — a wealthy and socially prominent father
I was about 25 at the time, and working as editor of the midnight shift at a local news service in Chicago.
After a few weeks of tagging along on the dayshift with experienced reporters, Charles was assigned to my shift to fill in for a police reporter who was on vacation.
At our first meeting I was impressed. He wore a genuine Brooks Brothers suit with a vest. Most underpaid young reporters looked like they shoped at goodwill outlets.
Most of us were intrigued by having someone from that school in our midst, because the closest we had been to Harvard was a fire we covered at 63rd and Harvard.
Charles turned out to be a pleasant young man, stout and prematurely balding, with a jovial manner and a tendency to refer to people as
The second night he was on my shift, midnight came but Charles didn't. At 1 a.m. he wasn't. At 2 a.m., still no Charles.
"chaps." And he assured me that he could handle any news assignment. I think he said it would be a "cup of tea."
Then the city desk phone rang and the absent Charles cheerfully said, "The most unusual thing has happened."
"Yes, you're three hours late for work," I said.
Chicago Tribune
Mike Royko Chicago
That in itself was unusual. Most young reporters carried late dinners in a brown paper bag.
"Right. you see. I went to my club for a late dinner."
"So, after dinner," Charles explained, "I went into one of the reading rooms and ordered brandy and was sitting in a chair reading the paper.
"I must have dropped off to sleep, and when I awoke the place was closed. Everything was dark. And I had to find the night watchman to let me out.
"You know, the evening manager of my club is a complete idiot for failing to notice me sleeping in that chair."
A complete idiot, I agreed.
A few days later, Charles was assigned to spend the night at police headquarters.
I sent another reporter to police headquarters to find out what happened.
About 3 a.m. I received a phone call from a detective. He asked me whether Charles was one of our reporters.
It turned out that the detective, who specialized in auto theft, had noticed an expensive new sports car illegally parked in front of police headquarters.
When I admitted to this fact, the detective said, "We have him in custody."
He went up to the press room and asked whether Charles was around
The color and model jogged his memory. He checked the license plate against his current hot sheet. Sure enough, the car had been stolen the previous day.
It seemed that Charles' father rented a fleet of those sports cars for his family.
Fortunately, Charles had an explanation. It was, he said, a perfectly understandable mistake.
"Pleased to meet you," said Charles, giving the detective a firm handshake.
"Suspicion of auto theft," he said.
What? Charles, our Harvard man,
a car thief? There must have been some mistake.
"For what?" I asked.
He looked at the windshield and saw a press parking card with Charles' name on it.
Charles' car had started making a pinging sound. Charles took it to the dealer who had provided the cars and told a mechanic to tune it up.
"Then," Charles said, "I took another car as a loaner."
Complete idiots, I agreed.
"I don't think so. I assumed they'd know that I needed a replacement and took one. Can you imagine? The idiots reported it stolen."
A few days later Charles left my shift. Within weeks he resigned his job. On his last day, he gave me a firm handshake and said, "This has been fun, but I've decided on law school."
"Harvard again?" I asked.
"Did you tell them that you were taking it?" I asked.
"You're under arrest," said the
cop.
That was the last I saw of Charles. But I later heard that he had joined a respectable law firm that had many respectable clients.
Good choice
So, wherever he is, I offer him a distant toast on the 350th birthday of his alma mater and to all of its distinguished alumni
And after he has the drink, I hope the manager of the club wakes Charles up.
Campus apathy makes life boring
Campus life in the 1890s has undergone a transformation. Idealism is dead, and materialism is in.
The aspirations of college students in the 1980s may be summarized in three words: money, status and class.
Christian Colbert
Columnist
No longer do students question big corporations, the military and politicians. Apparently they don't want to alienate their future employers.
These words equal success, and they are the driving force behind college students today. In correlation, students today are clean cut, obedient and conforming.
They have an unshakeable indifference to history, literature and politics. Instead they prefer soap operas, celebrity news and other pop culture phenomena. A typical student knows more about different brands of cars and clothes than about himself. This is unfortunate, because most of us have the potential to be more than mere consumers.
Instead, today's students passively receive an education, more concerned with how they look and who they meet than with what they think.
It's strange for this to be happening now, at a time when there is so much to be outraged about. Our country is being run by short-sighted and foolish people who are jeopardizing our generation's opportunities with their profligate spending ways. They have increased the deficit by more than a trillion dollars in this decade
This is more of a lament than an indictment. It's just that campus life is quite boring these days. Everybody wants to be alike and nobody wants to rock the political boat or be the cause of any controversy.
alone.
There is not even a prevalent counter-culture, like the Hippies or the Beatniks, to help show the way. There is no one to repudiate our narrow-minded pursuit of material things and our utter devotion to conventional wisdom.
Sure, there are still a few longhairs running around and even some purple-and-pink-haired people. However, there aren't enough of them to constitute a counter-culture movement. The long-haired people are, for the most part, integrated with society, and the people with pink and purple hair are more concerned with making a fashion statement than a political one.
Everyone wants money. Even the student artists are turning into Young Republicans.
Another thing we're seeing on campus in the 90% is a more prudent view of sex. I'm not suggesting that we're headed back to the Victorian age of sex, but students today exercise more restraint compared to their counterparts 10 or 20 years ago. This is partly due to the conservative times, but even greater it is due to the increased fear of catching a disease.
In many ways campus life today is reminiscent of the 1960s. There are a lot of Wally Cleaver and Sandra Dee types attending classes these days. They want nothing more than a well-paying job, a house and a family in the suburbs.
At any rate, I don't think there will be any changes on college campuses soon. Students' priorities will continue to be grounded in material success and conservatism while political apathy prevails.
I don't even think that a political crisis, such as a U.S. invasion of Nicaragua, could wake this sleepy bunch up. If it did, I was afraid they would all be wearing Rambo shirts and would be crying "go Ronny go."
Reagan relishes his last hurrah
"It's great to be out on the campaign trail, especially when I'm campaigning for someone else," says President Reagan.
It is Reagan's last hurrah. But the question of "what makes Ronnie run" is another story. He has
Kevin Thomas
UDL Commentary
embarked on an all-out campaign to retain Republican control of the Senate and has tied the future of his own policies to that effort.
"I didn't go to Washington to be a six-year president," he told a Denver fund-raising gathering. "I didn't seek re-election just to protect the gains of the first term.
"There are too many exciting challenges still before America, and too much business that still must be completed in these next two years," he added. "And I don't want my hands tied by a totally hostile Congress."
The president abhors the possibility that he may lose some political ground during the remainder of his term. So he is hoping his popularity will carry the day for GOP candidates who will be riding his coattails.
Reagan's speeches fall into a formula that has been successful for him. They are light, or totally lacking in specifics, and heavy on generalities and attacks on the Democrats with particular digs at the "liberal leadership" vs. the rank and file whom he is telling to change their party affiliation.
and peace, the nuclear threat, the deficit and South Africa will not have a place on the hustings. But it is doubtful that the president will be focusing on controversial subjects when it is easier to make the sweeping charges that his opponents want to turn the clock back to the bad old days when Democrats ruled the roost.
The heavy emphasis on a drug-free society is an issue all candidates can grab with impunity and be on the right side. That does not mean that the issues of war
Other presidents who see their time in office slipping away might be thinking about their memoirs, and a future out of the White House. But not Reagan. He has made it clear that he will be leaving with great reluctance and only because a constitutional amendment bars him from running again.
Otherwise, it is clear that he would be trying for a third term. Franklin Roosevelt did it four times, and Reagan, who was an FDR admirer at the time, thinks it is wrong that he cannot make unlimited bids for the presidency as long as the people want him.
In many ways it is refreshing to see a 75-year-old president still rarin't to go, and relishing the moments at the bunting-draped podium when he can rally the troops for his final battle.
The president will take a brief timeout Oct. 1 when he helps to dedicate the new Jimmy Carter presidential library in Atlanta. Politics will be set aside for a few hours for two men who have been more foes than friends in the past several years.
But Reagan soon will be joining that most exclusive club in the nation, made up of past presidents, and there may be some political mellowing as he becomes an elder statesman.