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Tuesday, November 24, 1992
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
IN OUR OPINION
Shorter exam period helps procrastinators
Several years ago the Regents mandated that KU increase the number of instructional days in the semester. The result was that our final exam period was reduced from nine days in Fall 1991 to six days this semester.
After studying several options, the calendar committee, which is made up of both students and faculty, found that shortening the exam period was the best way to bring the University up to the required minimum of instructional days.
One deciding factor was the result of an extensive study done involving other universities the size of KU. The exam period at KU was longer than any of these schools. Not only does a shortened exam period bring KU up to speed with other universities and answer the Regents request, but it also is more practical and beneficial than an extended one.
A longer exam period, if anything, lends itself to prolonged periods of procrastination and partying rather than more time spent studying and preparing for finals. An extended finals period also means more time spent stressing and worrying.
A shorter exam period will teach students the importance of time management and organization. In the end, the quicker it is over, the less painful it will be.
JENNY MARTIN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
Change must be made with careful concern
Whether it be candidates or favorite vegetables of candidates, this seems to be the year of change. Though the concept of change has been getting good press, the reality of it is much more complex. Human beings generally don't like change. Therefore changes should be proposed with careful consideration and regard for the affected people. The recent proposals concerning academic restructuring by the University committee are no exception.
Program changes that come as no surprise or that indeed seem welcomed by the professionals involved with them in fact may be positive, necessary changes. But others' proposals are more complicated, and so we carefully need to consider the arguments raised by those who oppose them.
Because no faculty will lose jobs over these changes, it is safe to say that opposition to the proposals is based on dedication and concern for the disciplines. These factors at least are as important as looming budget concerns. After all, because change can be so difficult, a view from "within" is a vital balance to the more objective view made from outside of these programs.
Change never is neutral — it is for better or for worse. Eliminating programs or departments can have both positive and negative effects. For example, allowing an independent major to be subsumed into an existing department as a concentration could change substantially the nature of both disciplines. Therefore it is essential that hearings regarding the negative sides of these proposed changes be more than procedural formalities.
So far it appears that those involved in the restructuring process are trying to make the changes as painless and as positive as possible by considering various inputs and by moving cautiously. This process must continue.
After all, if one thing does remain constant about life, it is change itself. But change for change's sake is only a move that may come to demand more radical changes beyond the immediate, in the more distant future of the University.
ANN JURCYK FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Military should decide on gays
There seems to be an abundance of expertise on the Kansan's editorial board and among its staff columnists as to how our fighting men and women should feel about living with homosexuals. Never mind what our generals say. Disregard the opinions of our experts who have trained fighting men and women for decades. What do they know?
Apparently, whatever they do know means very little to the Kansan and to President-elect Clinton. I find it interesting that our next commander in chief will hire a panel of experts to tell him what to do about the economy, but he ignores expert advice from the military community. I guess he doesn't need any help with this one!
The Kansan must not need any help either. I've been reading their calls for ending this "outdated restriction" on gays in the service. How can they be so quick to decide how our fighting forces should live? They never served in the military, and neither did Bill Clinton. Why hasn't anyone asked the hundreds of veterans on campus what they think about it? I'm talking about the proud few who fought and risked their lives for this country. Wouldn't they know better than anyone what camaraderie and morale means to an effective fighting force? Wouldn't they have some intelligent insight about this controversial policy?
As a Marine veteran, I couldn't help laughing out loud when I read the opinion page the other day. One of the columnists said that upon reinstatement of homosexuals in the military, if all the "bigtoped, unprofessional dregs" would "throw down their guns and go home," nobody would really miss them. I would like to see her face when she is told to put on a helmet and fight, because 90 percent of our soldiers just went home. I think she might start to miss them a bit. No, that's not going to happen. They will be rare individuals who actually leave the service because of this policy. The fact is, though, that an overwhelming majority of the fighting force is the "bigtoped, unprofessional dregs." And all of the friends I made in the service, I can think of none that would approve of this new policy. They are hardly bigots, however, and they are far from unprofessional.
I guess it's easy to decide what is the best policy for our military, as long as we are not a part of it. I mean, so what if our soldiers have to shower with gay men. That's not going to undermine morale. He, I don't want to shower with another man who looks at me, or one of my friends, and has sexual fantasies about it. "Oh, that's ridiculous!" you might say. Well, guff, if you had the opportunity to shower with a bunch of naked women (to think), you certainly wouldn't have your mind on homework. Yes, showering with a man who prefers me over Cindy Crawword would make me uncomfortable and upset. If that makes me homophobic, then I'm proud of it.
In the four years I was a Marine, I saw sexual harassment move from being no issue to being the top of the list of problems in the service. Now that homosexuals are going to be allowed to serve, sexual harassment will become a paramount issue. Gay men and women are going to get hurt, and some will even die. It's going to shake the military community from the inside out.
I don't think that Clinton has really considered the effects his decision will have on our fighting men and women; that's not what bothers me, thought! It's that he does not believe the military should decide what is best for itself. The military has every right to make rules and regulations about acceptable behavior. Let's not forget that it is the military's job to kill people and win wars. That's a dirty business that members of the military volunteered to manage. If they say that letting homosexuals in with them will hinder that cause, then we should get behind them, regardless of our opinion. Every state has the right to decide if homosexual behavior is accepted or not; why shouldn't our military be able to do the same?
Chiefs are OK not Redskins
Lance T. Lambert
Shawnee freshman
Enough already! Leave the Chiefs alone.
port a protest of the Washington Redskins. It is obvious to any intelligent person that identifying anything with a person's skin color, good or bad, is categorically wrong.
Let me just state that I have great pride in the Chiefs and that I also respect worthy Native American protests. For instance, I would sup-
However, a few protesters and Gov Joan Finney feel that the Chiefs should change their name. First of all, the Chiefs, formerly the Dallas Texans, were named after former Mayor H Roe Bartle. He was known as "Chief" to the people of Kansas City. Secondly, the Chiefs' arrowhead symbol is foremost a representation of war and/or hunting. Since professional football is played by relatively large human beings running, throwing, kicking and hitting each other to achieve victory, a warlike symbol seems an appropriate choice. Just ask the Vikings and the Giants.
If the Native American protesters reason that the Chiefs are derogatory toward the Native Americans, should the residents of Pittsburgh feel that the country thinks of everyone in Pittsburgh as a steelworker? Should the students at Notre Dame feel concern that the country thinks everyone attending Notre Dame is Irish? I don't believe that everyone in Dallas is a cowboy. I certainly don't see authentic cowboys protesting a successful team. I didn't see the University of Miami change their name when Hurricane Andrew decimated southern Florida. Why should the Chiefs change their name?
To Gov. Finney, I raise two questions: 1) When was the last time you attended a Chiefs game? 2) What state do the Chiefs play in? I believe the answers would be never and Missouri. I think she should stick to her own state.
What I'm trying to say is that Native Americans must have something better to concentrate their efforts on than the Kansas City Chiefs.
Incorrectly representing Native Americans with headaddress or war paint should be discouraged. The Chiefs however, should stay the Chiefs.
Howard Sacks Kansas City, Mo. senior
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Defeat is a blow to nationalists
The crushing electoral defeat of Vytautas Landsbergis, the man who led Lithuania to independence from the Soviet Union, is a bitter blow to nationalists and reformers in the Baltic states and elsewhere in the former Soviet bloc. They see in the return to power of Algirdas Brazauskaus, the former Communist Party leader, evidence of a growing hostility to market reforms, a hankering for the old ways and the intrigues of hard-liners in Moscow who have not abandoned hopes of regaining the lost empire.
The Times London
Budget deficits causing crises
The major developed nations are going through a paradoxical situation: The noisy and unexpected fall of communism frees the West from the nightmare of nuclear war and the need to allot enormous resources for military expenditures. ... But the "peace dividend" ... appears nowhere in sight.
In general, European countries should be trying to ... reduce their budget deficits. This requires being less generous in the inflated subsidies to the production and export of farm goods.
The principal cause of the crisis seems to be fiscal disorder. Budget deficits in relation to gross domestic products are substantial: 6 percent in the United States, 4 percent in Germany, a little more in Holland and Spain, 10 percent in Italy, 6 percent in Belgium...
The Japanese case has a different cause. Sustained surpluses in the balance of trade generated important investments in real estate and the stock market. ... And like everything that goes up too high, there eventually is a correction. ...
La Nacion
Buenos Aires, Argentina
New Russia may go way of USSR
The historical inheritance of the Soviet Union is becoming active. Barely a year since the fall of the eastern empire, the succeeding Commonwealth of Independent States is also seemingly propelling to its end. Even holding Russia together in its present form is meanwhile no longer certain, since by far the majority part of that state empire existed even before Bolshevik rule, because of expansionist crusist efforts.
The clearest signals of the dangers of further splintering are the background of the events in the Caucasus. Meanwhile, not a few of its political leaders ask — is Russia threatened with a new series of wars of attrition? These concerns are linked to the military conflicts of the 19th century, when the Russian colonialists ran into the strongest resistance in their desire to conquer the eastern labyrinth of northern Caucasus. There they broke through, above all, the Muslim mountain people, who were later particularly mistreated and pitted against each other by the Georgian despot Stalin, gesticulating for a greater Russia.
Frankfurter Allgemeine
Frankfurt, Germany
KANSAN STAFF
ERIC NELSON
Editor
ERIC NELSON
Editor
GREG FARMER
Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
Assst. Managing ... Aimee Brainard
News ... Alexander Bloomhoff
Editorial ... Stephen Martino
Campus ... Gayle Osterberg
Sports ... Shely Solon
Photo ... Justin Knup
Features ... Cody Holl
Graphics ... Sean Tevls
SCOTT HANNA
Business manager
BILL LEIBENGOOD
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
BILL SKEET, Technology coordinator
Business Staff
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr . Angela Clemente
Regional Sales manager . Marianne Tollip
National sales mgr . Wilkes
Co-op sales mgr . Amy Stumbro
Production mgrs . Brad Bradon
Kim Claxton
Marketing director . Ashley Lengford
District director
Classified job . Judith Stanfield
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Grace
By David Rosenfield