A
4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2002
Jay Krall
editor
864-4854 or jkraal@kansan.com
Brooke Hesler and Kyle Ramsey
managing editors
864-4854 or bheleser@kansan.com and
kramesey@kansan.com
Laurel Burchfield
readers' representative
864-4810 or liburchfield@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
Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 864-7668 or mfshear@kansan.com
KANSAN EDITORIAL BOARD
Blackboard teaching aide doesn't make the grade
Blackboard, the online teaching and learning tool used at the University of Kansas, is supposed to be an asset to students, but needs to have a few bugs worked out before being truly helpful.
Blackboard was implemented at KU in 2000 to provide an integrated online environment for students and teachers according to Susan Zvacek, Director of Instructional Development and Support. Zvacek said that this fall 800 courses at the University are using the site.
While not all courses use Blackboard those that have it use it for providing information on grades, accessing online discussion boards and posting materials for students to retrieve including slides, notes and syllabi.
The unfortunate problem with Blackboard is that not all things posted are always retrieable.
Recently, Stephanie Dufner, a senior in Human Biology, spent over an hour on two different computers trying to download her notes for one of her sciences classes. After an hour of frustration, she gave up.
Some professors have even quit print ing syllabi for their students.
Instead, they request that students print syllabi and project handouts off Blackboard at the student's earliest convenience. This poses a problem for students that have trouble accessing a computer or downloading the information to be printed.
Call 864-0500
Free for All
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
and its another Victory FOR the big men who love to control your drinking, eating and living habits
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.
--and its another Victory FOR the big men who love to control your drinking, eating and living habits
Steve from the opinion page is the hottest piece of man-meat in all of Kansas.
and its another Victory FOR the big men who love to control your drinking, eating and living habits
I just wanna let everyone know that I am paying extra for the preferred view at Jefferson Commons. So if you wanna buy ringside tickets this Saturday, let me know
I am the complex badass and I park my car in backwards to prove it.
I just wanted to thank whoever lives in my old apartment at Lorimar for forwarding all of my mail, except for the Girls of Big 12 Playboy issue. Thanks a lot.
and its another Victory FOR the big men who love to control your drinking, eating and living habits
Blackboard is a great asset to students and teachers, but adjustments need to be made.
I'd just like to say to the girl who fell down the Budig steps today: sorry about your luck, sweetie. You might see me doing the same thing next week, it looked like a good way to meet guys.
Student Senate is on top of the game.
Senate just passed a bill to allot approximately $4000 to enhance Blackboard.
The money will go to integrating Blackboard with the student record system and to improving the performance of the service, Zvacek said.
and its another Victory FOR the big men who love to control your drinking, eating and living habits
She said that in addition to the upgrade, her office was working to help faculty to find the best format to help students to download files.
Making history makes my nipples hard.
She said many of the problems students experience in downloading information arise because the faculty does not know what file formats are easiest for students to use.
I just wanted to say congratulations to Chris Marshall and Ali for thier engagement. Go KU golf.
I'd just like to point out that I live in Templin Hall and its 1:15 in the morning and Ellisworth Hall is closed and I still had to park in the Lied Center. Thank you, KU parking.
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However, until these changes take place professors need to offer alternative means to acquire information.
Dufner said she would not have been nearly as frustrated trying to download her notes if she knew that they were available on reserve at the library. And until professors can guarantee the success of downloading syllabi and handouts, they should continue to hand the material out in class.
Bored college students. How do we relieve boredom? We speak in Haiku.
Until Blackboard can produce an ideal environment for all students, it still won't make the grade.
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Mandy German for the Editorial Board
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
"Parking Nazi" story distasteful
I hate to be the first to scold this year's new editors, but the satire by Mandalea Meisner ("KU Parking invades Poland") in *Tongue In Beak* on Aug. 22 was tasteless, thoughtless and just plain offensive.
I find the appearance of this satire particularly offensive coming within weeks of Sept. 1, the 63rd anniversary of the invasion of Poland by the Third Reich and the acknowledged beginning of World War II.
No matter how inane some of KU Parking's actions may be, those actions do not begin to compare with the atrocities which occurred in Poland and the rest of Europe following the invasion of Sept. 1, 1939.
As I have spoken with the The University Daily Kansan editor, Jay Krall, and received his apologies, yet not received an apology from either Mandalee Meisner or Adam Pracht, Tounge in Beak editor, am I to assume that this Jayplay writer and editor see nothing offensive in this article?
Perhaps the events of Sept. 11 in this country have not taught us anything about cultural understanding. I hope that is not the case.
When writing satire, care should be taken to not offend innocent parties by the use of such examples.
Michael D. Johnson Graduate teaching assistant for Slavic Languages and Literatures Graduate student senator
Don't Forget KJHK
I would like to comment on Megan Kelleher's Aug. 29 commentary on mainstream pop music. For the most part, Megan's argument was right-on.
Perhaps Megan forgot she was on a diverse college campus when she said, "All the radio stations in Lawrence seem to sound the same." Megan, shame on you for forgetting KJHK!
My problem with Megan's piece pertains to her very first assertion.
WHITE'S VIEW
Coke says "Nope, you take that drink off the shelf blc it : competes w/us."
KU officials get smacked around
PERSPECTIVES
Monica White/Kansai
Atheist explains his 'cause'
GUEST COMMENTARY
Everything you will read in any of my columns will be true, and this one will be no different. I proved this idea correct after my first column last week in which I discussed how The University Daily Kansan serves as a better method of advertising your ideas than your clothing.
Because of that, some of my friends found out I am an atheist.
Steve Vockrodt
oninton@kansan.com
However, I realized I could just point out the very premise of their question as a major cause for why I am an atheist. They ask me for a reason I do not believe in God. Do theists always need a reason for everything?
Most of my friends do have some belief in God; so naturally at least one of them had to ask my reason for not believing in God. I have been over the topic of God so many times that I have countless logical, theological, intellectual, scientific, personal and even mathematical arguments at my disposal.
I hear this all the time from theists. Anytime anything happens in their lives or anyone else's, they must constantly assume there exists a reason, and that same reason must have been conjured up by God.
A classic example sounds comparable to: a young person who learns one of their parents is suddenly killed in an unfortunate car accident. After a great deal of suffering and turmoil, the person
thinks to themselves: "there was a reason God took away my parent, God took my parent away to make me a stronger person," or something very similar to that.
I find this sort of reasoning so unbelievably ridiculous.
Instead of searching for meaning and reasons for everything that happens, which ultimately proves meaningless and fruitless, how about considering there is a cause for everything?
There is no God who intends for another human being to die for the benefit of someone else. There certainly exists a cause for the accident. Perhaps someone did not stop like the red sign instructed them to, and the collision killed an unfortunate, innocent victim.
No reason exists for why it happened. It just turns out that person was awfully unlucky that day, and the cause was a bad driver. The death is not intended to be some sort of lesson or quest to be a better person, maybe only a better driver.
To think there is a reason for an example like that also sounds appallingly selfish. How could one think that if God existed, he would arbitrarily have a tragic event be interpreted as a benefit for another person?
That event surely had no benefit to the person who died. Why would God do such a huge favor to one person at the tremendous cost of another?
Speaking of selfishness, how about the notion of the same God creating a heaven and hell?
That idea calls for everyone to live a certain way and believe in something intangible to receive some everlasting eternity in bliss (or never-ending torture if you do not follow the plan).
This sort of reasoning leads people to live for no other motive than for their own afterlife, and thereby easily trained to live according to the framework of an entity no one can positively know exists beyond blind faith.
Any belief in any sort of a God involves nothing more than selfish motives to provide comfort for the insecurity of the masses.
For that reason and countless others it could never believe in God, and similarly it find hard that anyone else does.
Vockrodt is a Denver junior in Spanish and journalism.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Like the station or not, it is most definitely worlds apart from any other local radio outlet. Unlike corporate-owned stations, jocks at KJHK hand-pick each and every song that's played. The station does not restrict its content to an album's designated singles, nor to major label bands that the corporate world dictates are good.
Give KJHK 10 minutes, and then decide whether all Lawrence stations are identical.
Jodie Kautzmann
Bellvue, Nebraska senior
KJHK staff member
Protect yourself against date-rape drugs
In light of the recent article on Sept. 3 regarding a KU student drugged with gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), I am writing to provide some important information that may be helpful to your readers.
GHB and other drugs commonly referred to as "date-rape" drugs (including rohypnol, ketamine and methamphetamine) are often slipped in a drink unbeknownst to a victim. The effects of the drugs vary but can cause dizziness, nausea, muscle weakness, feelings of extreme intoxication, blackouts and amnesia.
Students can protect themselves by
obtaining their own drinks, avoiding leaving drinks unattended, not accepting offers for refills, avoiding beverages served in punchbowls and not accepting beverages in cans that have already been opened.
They can also help their friends by speaking up when they see something unusual and offering to help a friend who appears to be intoxicated.
There are many individuals on campus and in the community who are here to help if you need information on date rape drugs and sexual assault, or if you suspect you have been a victim. They include: Counseling and Psychological Services - 864-2777; Dean of Students Office - 864-4060; Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center - 864-3552; KU Public Safety Office - 864-5900; Lawrence Police Dept. - 841-7210; Rape Victim Survivor Service - 841-2345 (ask for an RVSS advocate); Watkins Health Promotion Program - 864-9570; and Watkins Memorial Health Center - 864-9500.
Kathy Rose-Mockry
The Kansan welcomes letters to the editors and guest columns submitted by readers.
Director, Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center
Sarah Jane Russell Executive Director, Rape Victim-Survivor Service
Melissa Smith Director, Dept. of Health Education, Watkins Memorial Health Center
Submitting letters and guest columns
The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length, or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Maggie Koerth or Amy Potter at 864-4924 or e-mail at opinion@kansan.com. If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the readers' representative at readersrep@kansan.com.
The Kansan will attempt to run as many submissions as possible that conform to the guidelines below.
GUEST COLUMN GUIDELINES
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