4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2002
TALKTOUS
Jay Kral
editor
864-4854 or kralk@kansan.com
Brooke Hesler and Kyle Ramsey
managing editors
864-4854 or bhesler@kansan.com and
kramsey@kansan.com
Laurel Burchfield
readers' representative
864-4810 or iburfield@kansan.com
Maggie Koerth and Amy Potter
opinion editors
864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
Amber Agee business manager 864-4358 or advertising@kansan.com
Eric Kelting retail sales manager 864-4358 or advertising@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson general manager and news adviser 864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
KANSAN EDITORIAL BOARD
Matt Fisher
sales and marketing adviser
864-7686 or mfisher.kansan.com
KU officials must continue to boost minority count
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies,and statistics.
Statistics are pliable. They can be manipulated to tell any story needed. This quote from Benjamin Disraeli helps explain recent headlines touting the 12 percent increase in minority recruitment at the University of Kansas.
While a 12 percent increase should be applauded and is a step in the right direction, other statistics, as well as hard numbers, tell a much different tale. Between fall 2001 and fall 2002, the number of minority students on campus increased from 2,326 to 2,606, a total of only 280
In fact, only 9 percent of KU students are minority students, a far lower percentage than the percentage of minority residents in Kansas, 15.5 percent.
To reach a level equivalent to the state's, KU would need to bring in an additional 2,200 minority students nearly double what's on campus currently.
KU ranks 10th in the Big 12 when it comes to minority recruitment. Only Iowa State and Kansas State have worse records.
One might argue that any increase in minority recruitment is beneficial. Any boost in diversity on campus helps to bring a wider range of backgrounds and a tolerance of more heritages.
While this could be the case, it's also true that KU recruitment has been struggling with this problem for well over a decade now. Not only has it been inadequately solved, in some cases it's worsened.
The number of African Americans on
campus has decreased from 781 in '83 to 701 in '99 to just 666 in 2001. No wonder it increased this year. There's almost no place for the numbers to go but up.
A few shining beacons can be found in this sea of turmoil. The minority retention rate is up which means those that came to KU last year chose to stay rather than dropping out or transferring.
Further, Provost David Shulenburger has set aside $150,000 in scholarships to attract minority students to campus.
But one of the biggest problems with this scholarship, and recruitment in general, is the definition of the word minority.
Minorities are African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and American Indians. That's it. They continue to overlook Middle-Easterners, Indians, South Americans and many more, claiming that those people fall under the category "international students." This ignores the fact that one can be both Indian and born in the United States at the same time.
States at the same time.
To pass over these students is to deny them access to deserving scholarships and to overlook them when it comes time to boost the numbers of minorities on campus.
This skews the statistics even more, and it's pretty clear by now just how easy that is to do.
So while we can congratulate KU recruitment for their baby steps in solving this diversity problem, that's really all they are: baby steps.
Dan Osman for the Editorial Board
Call 864-0500
Free for All
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com
I'd just like to say to the girl who was wearing the little shorts with the word Kansas on the back, you could've fit about another paragraph on the back of them, too.
love, though. Marshmallow Peeps are the perfect candy for a busy college student.
Low sales threaten yearbook? Well,
maybe that's because it's worse than my
old high school yearbook.
图
I just got a $92 ticket on my bike. Repeat, on my bike.
Hey, yeah, we were just wondering, why are there so many Oompa Loompas at KU? I think you guys know who you are. Most of you are freshmen, you've been tanning way too much, so you're orange, your hair is loaded down with two pounds of hair spray, flipped out like, so two years ago, you have so much makeup on you can't see your face, and you wear these ridiculous clothes that I would never even think about wearing out to bars, to class, thus making you look like an...
Uh, yesterday I was walking back from class, and outside Watkins some fool reversed from a parking spot and ran into a huge cement cylinder used for construction. And I just wanted to say, "Way to go, SUV. How'd you get a license?"
--love, though. Marshmallow Peeps are the perfect candy for a busy college student.
We have your fish. How much for the fish?
love, though. Marshmallow Peeps are the perfect candy for a busy college student.
BEELER'S VIEW
BY THE NUMBERS
43,978 Number of parking tickets issued during the 2001 fiscal year.
58,817
Number of parking tickets issued during the 1999 fiscal year.
231 Number of parking ticket appeals granted during the 2001 fiscal year.
720
Number of paking ticket appeals denied during the 2011 fiscal year.
$85 Cost of a yellow permit for the year.
$20
Cost of a parking ticket for illegally parking in a stall without a permit or wrong permit zone.
Source: Parking Department website
PERSPECTIVES
Student tackles sticky question examines allure of the 'Peep'
I'm dealing with a controversial topic today. This issue can only be seen in black and white—there is no middle ground, no room for neutrality, no shades of gray.
COMMENTARY
It evokes two equal and opposite reactions—either a great and profound love or an all-encompassing hate.
Lauren Stewart
opinion@kansan.com
There is no wishy-washiness when it comes to Peeps.
Yes, Peeps. The achingly (or, to some disgustingly) sweet marshmallow-esque lump shaped like a bunny, a pumpkin, or a Christmas tree, depending on the season.
These bite-size morsels of supercharged, sugar-coated candy originate in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, at the Just Born candy factory (also the home of Hot Tamales and Mike and Ikes).
However, in contrast to Hot Tamales and Mike and Ikes, Marshmallow Peeps provoke a visceral response: you are either a Peep lover or a Peep hater, no questions asked.
Much to the dismay of my friends and neighbors, I fall into the Peep lover category.
When my mom came up to visit me this weekend, we went shopping for my basic necessities and ended up with milk, paper towels, and a box of pumpkin-shaped Peeps.
Mine is not just a baseless, unfounded
They're economical, about $1 a box, indestructible (with an unbelievably long shelf life) and, most importantly, potent (containing oh-so-much sugar, you feel an immediate and energizing sugar rush after swallowing one).
Evidently, I'm not the only one who is fond of a little Peep action once in awhile.
According to the official Peeps website, www.marshmallowpeeps.com, the Just Born company ships out 1 billion Peeps a year.
Peeps a year.
I was previously unaware of the thriving Peep subculture of "Peephophiles," as one avid lover of Peeps describes herself. In an article on www.Salon.com, Lisa Gidley reported that Peeps are no longer merely a fun Easter candy, they have become icons of American pop culture.
People don't just eat Peeps. They take pictures of them. They make crafts with them. They write songs about them.
They put them on wreaths. They put them on pizza. They create parody porn Web sites for them. And some curious souls devote countless hours to Peep research, testing the effects of everything from heat to liquid nitrogen on the hardy little fertility symbols.
As reported by CNN in April 1998, two scientists at Emory University decided to try to find out just what it was they were eating, and conducted numerous experiments on Pees.
They found out that its hard to harm a Peep, which can either be oddly soothing or incredibly disturbing.
As documented on their Web site, www.peepresearch.org. Peeps were among other things, submerged in sulfuric acid and boiling water, microwaved and injected with acetone, all with little or no damage to the Peep.
If you haven't yet tried Peeps, give them a shot.
Trust me on this one.
Even if you don't like them, at least the sugar will guarantee your alertness in your next class.
Stewart is a Wichita sophomore in journalism and English.
Column was wrong: drinking not necessarily a bad habit
Thursday, the news broke that KU was on Playboy's list of Top 10 party schools.
Meagan Kelleher, the writer, stated that she doesn't drink and that she is the founding member of the "Yes, in fact, I remember what I did last night" club. She went on to position herself high on her sobriety soapbox and tell about how cool she is for not drinking and giving guilt trips to those of us who do choose to drink.
I was pretty happy about this, but I found it incredibly ironic that on the same day, The University Daily Kansan published the most ludicrous anti-drinking column I have ever read.
Hey, that's cool if you don't want to drink. But to have the audacity to try to
What about the people who drink responsibly, always have a designated driver, and drink socially? Yes, there are people like that. Not all people that drink are irresponsible, sloppy drunks.
spread the gospel of non-drinking by describing the drinking experience as "smelling like vomit" and "drowning your sorrows in shots" is just plain dumb.
If the writer's same argument were made with any other subject it would sound like this.
To talk about drinking and to bring up the extremes is just insane.
"I don't eat because I don't want to be an obese person addicted to food."
"I don't study because all people who study are gigantic nerds and they have no
GUEST COMMENTARY
Eric Borja opinion@kansan.com
social lives."
In opinion writing, we are taught to present both sides of the issue and not to let the column be just some forum to spout of invalidated opinions and rants.
I think you get the picture.
But I guess I'm up to bat because Ms. Kelleher forgot the other side.
I choose not to partake in such G-rated pleasures as Scrabble, Monopoly, and watching movies on a Friday night because I want to drink and hang out with my friends in a bar setting.
I did spend $100 on a fake ID and it was my smartest investment yet.
And yes, I have puked, I have drowned away my sorrows after a rough day and I have failed a test because I chose to party instead of study.
I am the president and founding member of "Yes, in fact, I don't really remember much about last night, but I am sure it was a damn good time" club.
But I don't feel sorry for myself so, Ms. Kelleher, I don't expect you to feel sorry for me either.
I never got an MIP and I have never spent the night in jalf. Just because you drink doesn't mean this will happen.
Drinking doesn't define who I am either. It just happens to be something I do.
So to everyone who chooses to drink: Go out and have some beverages tonight because it's a weekday and we have eight spots to go.
But obviously Ms. Kelleher's gospel is catching a lot of ears and making a big difference because we are only No.9 in partying out of every single college in this great nation.
I know I will
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Borja is a Springfield, Mo., senior in journalism.