WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 11. 200z
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
LETTERS
war story needed view of proponents
The article "Protest questions war" in the Dec. 9 issue has caused me to ask some questions.
I, and no doubt others, first need clarification on the status of one of your primary sources of the article. How exactly, unless I have not received the full amount of facts which would be a travesty in and of itself, is Chris White a "veteran" of the Marine Corps if he has been in the Marine Corps for only four years?
I have two friends who are Marines and they collectively have six years of Marine Corps experience, and one is an officer, but neither have been to a war or been involved in any kind of conflict whatsoever and yet, they don't consider themselves "veterans."
What is a veteran? If there is in fact more information on the credibility of this source, I as a reader deserve to have it, don't you think?
This gentlemen was used as a primary source in half the article without much of a corroboration of his military status other than a quick mention of his membership in that veterans' organization and an even quicker mention of his four years of experience. Are we readers just supposed to accept these small amounts of information as correct with no justification or corroboration?
This being the case, I find it very easy to write this article off as biased to promote an anti-war opinion. If I wanted that I would
have a subscription to The Progressive or some other leftist publication, not an open forum, university-sponsored newspaper. Try to keep it a little more fair and balanced, and maybe I'll keep reading.
Hayes Thompson Mission Hills freshman
Column misses the boat on KU rowing team
This is one of many, I'm sure, letters in response to Ryan Wood's anti-rowing tirade "Rowing gives glory to females" in the Dec. 9 issue. It's obvious he knew how inflammatory the article would be by his brief attempt to placate the women on the team by saying that "most of these women are very good athletes. They're strong as bulls..." Well, I'm afraid that paragraph didn't really placate me. I'm still angry.
Why direct his bitter rage toward women who even he admits work "until they puke?" These women have done nothing but seized an opportunity. And at KU, they have really seized it. The team has consistently been ranked in the top 25 in the nation, even with its high ratio of walk-ons.
If you are at all a supporter of minor sports, you should cheer the rowers' successes, not belittle their efforts because your sport is not funded. It's as if Wood is saying that the rowers are only competing to avenge some sort of failed high school athletics career. I can emphatically tell him that is not the case
Title IX did not cause the loss of the men's swimming and tennis teams at the University. Title
IX did not lead to the loss of men's wrestling, gymnastics and baseball at other schools. Athletic departments have budgets just like any other business. And when times are tough, athletic directors have to make difficult decisions. Title IX did not mandate how equality was to be reached.
I understand the need for strong football and basketball programs in order for the athletic department to bring in money, but you have to understand, those teams also have the largest budgets. Trust me, Mr. Wood, rowing isn't the place to look if you want funding for other men's sports; the rowing team has subpar facilities and a non-existent boathouse, the rowing team stays four women to a room on road trips, and the rowing team certainly doesn't have the kind of budget to eat dinner at Alvamar Country Club before every race. So please, direct your anger elsewhere.
I don't understand why it is a "sad day when one can walk in and participate in a sport for the first time at the Division I level." To me it is a great day, even an amazing day. These teams don't lower their standards just to fill a roster.
Yes, you may say I am biased. I am one of the women who has enjoyed the privilege of collegiate rowing. And trust me, we truly appreciate that privilege. I guarantee you that my teammates and I earned every penny of our scholarships and brought honor to the University. We trained with the U.S. National Team, placed in the top tier at the nation's largest regatta, and won the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship.
We are not "Miss Decent Female High School Athletes". We are Division I champions, and I'm sorry if that bothers Wood.
Laura (Hubert) Beightel Class of 2000
I went to class this morning and picked up a paper. At first glance of the sports page I thought, "wow, an article about how the rowing team works hard and competes, well, isn't that nice." Until I started reading this ignorant spiel that you call a commentary.
I was angry by the time I hit the third paragraph. To assume that just anyone can come to college and join the rowing team to become a Division I athlete is ridiculous. We yes hold tryouts for walk-ons, but they are very competitive and those that make it are the ones that are the best, the strongest and the fastest.
Every team at the University holds these tryouts to give others a chance to become a Division I athlete. So because the rowing team has the ability to give a few more people this opportunity than other sports, do you think that it is OK to pick on us?
How dare you call the rowing team a "love child of Title IX" and call us a "Division 1 athletics joke." Our program has been ranked in the top 25 for the last 4 years, so who are you to criticize a team that is actually producing results?
Our team is not just made up of walk-ons either. Currently we have 16 recruited girls from all over the states including 10 girls recruited from Canada including myself.
As for your claim that it is a sad day when one can walk in and
participate in a sport for the first time at the Division I level, why is it a sad thing that girls are given a chance to gain a little bit of respect and to show their skills as an athlete?
I can't think of any reason why you call rowing a ridiculous sport or say that we are tarnishing Division I athletics when we compete against the best and we bring home Top 25 rankings consistently.
Finally, you go ahead and give your little girl an oar to play with in her crib, but I will guarantee you one thing. She will never be given the opportunity to row for the University, not with a last name of Wood anyway.
Jennifer Van Royen
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, senior
This is in response to Ryan Wood's Dec. 9 commentary,
"Rowing gives glory to females."
First things first... Do you always like to talk about things that you aren't quite versed in? Is that a gift or is it something you work really hard to do? Sadly for you, you have just gone too far this time.
Rowing is an athletic joke? I suppose that you've tried the erg before, and you've been to a practice and seen what training is required. I guess you've gotten up at 5 a.m. every day to go practice, then returned in the afternoon to practice again.
I am offended by the complete ignorance you've shown in writing such an un-researched article, and I am not even a member of the KU team. I am a member of Cincinnati's rowing team, and I invite you to attend a practice and see exactly what the sport is about before you go
flapping your mouth about something you know very little about.
I, like many other rowers across the country, spent my high school years devoting myself to this sport, and yes, I am fully reaping those benefits now, and rightfully so. Just like John Crider, we all practice countless hours a day perfecting our skills.
But I suppose you knew that. I deserve to be a Division I athlete just as much as any male basketball player or football player across this country. Title IX wasn't meant to cause men's sports teams to be cut, all we asked for was to be given the same opportunities as men.
If schools cut some of the football scholarships, then men's athletics wouldn't hurt so much, but we can't do anything about that. That's a decision for the athletic departments to make. Not the athletes, so stop ripping on hard-working female athletes in a sport you know nothing about.
Once again I ask you to learn a little about the sport before you write again. Hundreds of people read this article and I can tell you that every female rower across the country will discover what an idiot you are for writing such a piece.
Come to a practice and get your butt kicked by a bunch of girls who are part of a sport that is such a joke and then talk. The only hope I have for your daughter is that she won't be as ignorant as her father, and will reap the benefits of a truly enriching and challenging sport.
Taylor Brown Student at the University of Cincinnati
Taylor Brown
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