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Monday, November 16, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Unnecessary tea party
Responsible citizens participate in local government. Then, if the system is unfair, they take action.
Last week, members of the Student Senate student life subcommittee proposed that the Lawrence City Commission add a non-voting seat for a KU student. The students asserted that KU needed the seat to be properly represented.
The proposal was rejected.
The commission contended that students are adequately represented because they can vote for city commissioners and that the public forum is open to students.
Lawrence High School is represented with a non-voting seat on the city commission. Most high school students cannot vote. The purpose of the school's seat is for students to learn about the workings of government.
The purpose of the KU seat would have been to increase representation in government.
But are KU students ignored by the commission? Have there been instances in which student opinion was rejected? Is the current representation faulty?
It is admirable when students participate in city government. However, having a non-voting seat on the Lawrence City Commission would not amplify a soft student voice. When students have concerns for the commission, they must act responsibly as do other Lawrence residents.
No one should depend on someone in a non-voting seat to represent them.
Poisoned
Wade Roberts betrayed his mother
The 22-year-old U.S. Army private defected to the Soviet Union and has now returned to the United States. His mother, Alta Worley, is demanding an apology before he returns home.
Wade Roberts betrayed his country.
When he chose to wedge his body into the trunk of his girlfriend's car, Roberts subjected himself to a harsh lifestyle than he had weathered during his Army tour.
His defection landed him a job collecting venom from poisonous snakes to be used as anti-venom. Needless to say, his was not a coveted career. But he tasted the bitter poison of meager dwellings void of luxuries and comforts common in the United States.
Upon returning to U.S. soil, Roberts requested lax punishment so "he can get on with his life." The Army concedes that his position and defection posed no threat to the security of the United States, nor did he have access to confidential information. It was a whim
The Army's decision to charge Roberts with desertion or the lesser charge, AWOL, absent without leave, is important.
But when a citizen has enjoyed and rebuked the comforts of his country's laws, services and protection, he should exhibit some degree of remorse.
He should apoloize to his mother—and to his mother country
Keeping time
Why have students been getting the short end of things lately? This semester the add period was tightened to two weeks and proposals to shorten the drop period and pre-enrollment advising were examined.
Fortunately, the University Senate Executive Committee made a wise decision concerning pre-enrollment.
The calendar committee rejected a policy that would change pre-enrollment advising from a period of two weeks during classes to two days without classes.
In this case, everyone will benefit by retaining the status quo. During a two-day stretch, a few people, whether students or professors, would always be absent from the University. This would make it difficult for all advisers and advisees to match schedules. It has sometimes proven difficult to accomplish in two weeks, but at least there has been sufficient time to assess one's advancement toward graduation.
And how enthusiastic will a professor be to help students at the end of a day filled exclusively with the frustrations of advising? Advising can be critical in a student's academic life because it can affect not only his schedule but his graduation date as well.
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board.
News staff
Jennifer Benjamin ... Editor
Juli Warren ... Managing editor
John Benner ... News editor
Beth Copeland ... Editorial editor
Sally Streff ... Campus editor
Brian Kaberline ... Sports editor
Don Rieutmann ... Photo editor
Bill Skeet ... Graphics editor
Tom Eblen ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Bonnie J. Hardy ... Business manager
Robert Hughes ... Advertising manager
Kelly Scherer ... Retail sales manager
Kurt Messersmith ... Campus sales manager
Greg Knipp ... Production manager
David Derftelt ... National sales manager
Glennerhart ... Guestlist
Ron Weems ... Director of marketing
Jeanne Hines ... Sales and marketing adviser
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"I HAVE A NEW SUPREME COURT NOMINEE, BUT HE WON'T COME OUT..."
World teaches higher education
Last week, I read a story of a woman whose father gave her a choice between attending college and sailing around the world alone. He would finance whichever she chose. She chose the world.
For 21% years she received the higher education that the ports of the world and the sea itself had to offer. She capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, passed through the Panama and Suez Canals and crossed three oceans — all alone.
Throughout my 17 years of schooling and during my four years as an undergraduate, education has been berated as being too aesthetic and too concerned with the "feelings" of students. "Back to basics!" the strict strip-pinced educators cry
Suddenly, college seemed ridiculously tame.
On the other hand, it has become obvious that a generic student who has done little creative thinking will contribute little to a society that loudly touches the uniqueness of the individual. "Let them journal about the humanities — and discover," say the corduroy scholars.
Recognizing weaknesses, finding an effective path to change and pursuing that path with vigor - such should be the purpose and process of education.
However, there is much disagreement on the purpose of higher education. Is it an elevator to financial success, an isolation tank in which
maturity can be reached or an apprentice shop in which to master specific skills? Perhaps the purpose depends on the learner.
Despite the division about purpose, we seem united in believing that higher education occurs only at college.
No single method of higher education can serve all adults. The challenge for educators of all sorts is to encourage and enable learners to choose their educations well
How do people choose their paths? Are we products of our environments, doing what our parents do or what they wished they had done themselves? Or do we simply adopt some occupation that appeals for no apparent reason — one that we can conquer academically?
Perhaps it is only at the juncture where the choice is recognized as our own and the necessity
for self-reliance and responsibility to society are in focus that the choice can be made.
I went through four years of college and walked across a stage to claim a certificate that stated that I had completed my higher education. I realized then that the process had only begun. In college I learned more emotionally, socially and spiritually than I did academically or occupationally. I learned what I needed to learn at the time.
I am lucky. I have a second chance at formal higher education. After a short stint in the "real world," I am back in school. This time I know better than before. I'm confident and recognize my skills more readily than before.
As I pursue another degree, I have begun to see the danger in viewing higher education as something that has an ending. After graduate school, I plan to pursue higher education of a different sort.
painfully bigger collection of a different sort
— perhaps mastering more of the classics of literature. Or fulfilling a lifelong desire to learn to drive a dogsled team
Don't misinterpret me. I belong more to the "back to basics" side of the education question than to the "life is educational" side. I have simply decided to interpret the educational options as broader, the needs of the individual as more important than the accepted pattern and the learning as unending.
Karen Boring is a Lawrence graduate student
K·A·N·S·A·N
MAILBOX
Lighten up
I think the Kansan has better things to do than lambaste Don Johnson. He came to Kansas, and he seems like a pretty nice guy. Just because he didn't choose your path to success doesn't mean KU should be ashamed of him. And if Johnson says he learned valuable fundamentals here, why should we question him? I think Johnson deserved the award because he came to Kansas and didn't make fun of Kansas. He also spent a night in Kansas and probably spent a couple of bucks while he was here.
So what if adolescent girls like him? So what if he never went to class? So what if his show is full of sex and violence? The Kansan should lighten up. Everyone complains about how this University needs money, but when a well-known actor
comes to town, which certainly can't hurt the University, and generates a little publicity for KU, you people complain about it. You were more than happy to write nice, big feature stories about Jello Biafra, the most prominent and intelligent social commentator of our time, but when Johnson comes to town, you want to convince us that it's a travesty.
Johnson deserves the benefit of the doubt. I think the fact that young girls would rather watch his show than read this paper shows remarkable taste and maturity. Hey, it could be worse. We could have a mediocre actor as the president of the United States.
Anthony J. Nownes, Lawrence graduate student
Fight paternalism
In her letter Nov. 9 to all KU faculty, Executive Vice Chancellor Judith Ramaley urges faculty members to vote in the upcoming election. Although careful not to tell faculty members directly how to vote, Ramaley makes clear her opinion that unionization is not for KU and would interfere with programs being pushed by the administration such as the
Margin of Excellence and a major fund-raising drive.
Ramaley obviously believes that after a few months' presence on the KU campus she is better able to decide watt's best for KU than the faculty. While she has been meeting with administrative heads of units, word is that leaders of University governance have been unsuccessful in convincing her to consult with rank-and file faculty who are the teaching core of the University. One wonders how many faculty from the lower end of the salary scale have been invited into the chancellor's suite to provide their perspectives on the state of the University and its needs.
Although she assures faculty of her commitment to its welfare, Ramaley's concept of collegiality is clearly of the "parent knows best" variety. Unionization is the only way to be heard in the face of this kind of paternalism, which is rampant among KU administrators. My vote is for KU-NEA.
Sandra L. Zimdars-Swartz, associate professor of
religion studying
religious studies
katz
k.l. thorman
LATER,AT KUPD HEADQUARTERS..
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed
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