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Friday, October 16, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Quiet riot
Those KU-Kansas State football games have been a riot the past few years.
But it hasn't been funny at all.
After the 1984 and 1986 games in Manhattan, crowds packed themselves into Aggieville, a shopping district that includes 18 bars, and got ugly. Bottles were thrown. Police officers were attacked. People were arrested.
Measures include fences to limit pedestrian access, age restrictions and prohibition of carrying bottles and cans in Aggleville. K-State officials have also designated Nov. 7 to be Parents' Day in the hopes that students will not start trouble with their parents nearby.
K-State officials and police and merchants in Manhattan don't want it to happen again. They are now working together to avoid repeating the mayhem Nov 7, when the Jayhawks will meet the Wildcats in Manhattan.
But whether the efforts will work depends on the people in Manhattan the night of the game. The fans from Lawrence who go, including KU students, and the fans from Manhattan who go, including K-State students, must be responsible.
The close proximity to one another of the bars in Aggieville makes the area conducive to mob scenes. An emotional game, lots of people and alcohol can add up to a mess, as we've seen before.
The fans must stop it before it happens.
Model agency
Perhaps the appointment of William H. Webster to lead the Central Intelligence Agency will end an era of spymasters groveling to launch covert activities.
Webster, a former FBI chief, said his first duty would be to restore the credibility of an agency reeling in the aftermath of the Iran-contra scandal.
In his new role, Webster has placed checks on covert activities and intends to perform intelligence work within the structure of the law.
Webster's predecessor, William Casey, was hardly a model of responsible bureaucracy, if such a concept exists. And Bob Woodward's book "Veil," or any other book for that matter, could never strike the vein of truth behind intelligence activities.
Truth and accountability were not prior to authority. Webster has already formed a committee to review proposed covert activities, and he said reporting activities had already increased.
Insiders worry that Webster will not be able to inspire subordinates as well as the flamboyant Casey. But Webster, soon after his appointment, stressed accountability to Congress.
In a recent interview, Webster articulated the shift from the Casey spymaster era to a period of responsible government, "I'm looking for risk takers, not risk seekers."
The Iran-contra affair taught the nation a lesson: Accountability serves the best interest of the United States in its activity on international soil.
Military modernization
The U.S. Air Force deals with some of the most advanced equipment and technology that the United States has.
So it's hard to believe that such an advanced organization could be so backward and behind the times when it comes to women and two-career marriages.
At the Grissom Air Force Base in Indiana, the wives of two senior officers have been pressured to quit their jobs. Why? Because their husbands' careers would suffer if the women continued working.
This finding was the result of a recently concluded Air Force internal investigation, which focused on the women's complaints of pressure to leave their jobs.
The investigation has sparked debate over treatment of women in the military. Wives of military men are not simply a part of their husbands' lives. They can and should have their own careers and their own lives, in addition to fulfilling the needs of their husbands' careers.
Asking women to quit their jobs is a form of harassment and should not be tolerated. The military should take a closer look at how it treats women, both military and civilian. The Air Force already has begun examining the treatment of spouses. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger also has ordered a group to look into discrimination and sexual harassment against women in the military.
looking into the situation is the first step. Then action should be taken to get rid of the old stereotypes, which would lead to an all-around stronger military.
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board.
News staff
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Students pick drinking styles
Armchair survey reveals five levels of inebriation
On recent road trips to Manhattan and Stillwater, Okla. places to find enlightenment, it occurred to me that alcohol is a universal feature of college life.
One count of Lawrence taverns will tell even the most naive observers that college students like to drink. One Friday night drive will tell them that making means more to many students than the law.
It quickly becomes apparent that alcohol consumption has been ritualized in one form or another by every student on the KU campus. And while it may be superficial, narrow-minded and asinine to classify all of a population based on one characteristic, I'm going to do it anyway.
Freud theorized that most behaviors were dictated by one's sex drives, but I think alcohol is more significant. In fact, I can testify that the sex drives are often dictated by alcohol intake.
I began observing my friends and acquaintances and arbitrarily decided they could be divided into five distinct groups based upon levels of consumption. Upon close inspection, I realized these categories revealed a lot about my friends. "just hope my friends don't demand to know
I shall begin with what is to me the most distasteful of the five groups, the "Never on Sunday" moralists. These people do not drink, but they are doing it in knowing that those who do are going to hell.
I must admit, however, that the "Never on Sunday" folks are responsible for much of the good that is done in the world. If they could just smuggle a few more cases of Bibles into the
I just hope my friends don't demand what's been revealed.
Soviet Union, for example, the world might finally know peace.
But as Richard Burton once said, "I have to think hard to name an interesting man who doesn't drink."
Amen.
Perhaps the largest group, at least where I live, is the "No Thanks, I Have to Study." drinker. They seek moderation in all things except grades, and they are generally a healthy, successful bunch. They like parties, for parties provide an opportunity to drink in the name of social moderation.
These students are generally admirable, the backbone of the American college. After all, someone has to go to those early morning classes to get the notes for the rest of us.
my favorite group, though, is the "Bar Dogs." These are the guys who know the bartender at their favorite tavern well enough to be extended credit. They also call the place by a shortened name, but they don't it. It's astounding much energy abbreviation saves if the bar in question is mentioned more easily.
Forgive me if I've been limiting this group to
males, for that's not entirely accurate. There exist female Bar Dogs, too, though I don't have to spell out what they're called.
Another class of drinker that is hard to swallow gives new meaning to the term "Conspicuous Consumer." These party animals are easy to spot because they try to be. Look for them before classes on Monday mornings. The guys will loudly proclaim, "Dude, I was so wasted!" the girls will just moan "Oh, my God. Did you see . . ."
The final group I have identified on campus is the "Functionally Intebrate." These are the pseudo-intellectuals who develop over the course of the day a peculiar drawl or a relaxed look in their eyes. I even suspect that some of our venerable faculty belong in this category.
The remarkable thing is that many of these people are so successful you can't condemn them for their unconventional habits, unless you happen to be a "Never on Sunday" type.
There's an old proverb that says,"A productive drunk is the bane of moralists." So I guess we owe our own sins to a moralist.
Having to admit I fall into one of these categories is difficult, but a little self-reflection never hurt anyone. It is obviously important to have a strong, great power to destroy your youthful potential.
As college students, we have the freedom to screw around and waste time. But we forfeit that freedom if we screw up and waste our opportunities.
Dan Houston is a Tuba, Okla., junior double majoring in journalism and political science.
Everything and nothing
been too busy amusing himself with the nontraditional hairstyles in the audience to pay attention, because he certainly missed Mr. Biafra's point.
Frankly, I am disgusted by Mark Tilford's gross misrepresentation of Jello Biafra's Oct. 12 lecture. The piece's headline, "Punk rocker lashes at Reagan, censors," is even misleading. Mr. Biafra was not lasling out Monday night; he was reacting. Perhaps Mr. Tilford couldn't make the lecture. If he did attend, he may have
our government take it away from us
Mattra came to Lawrence to talk about theocratic government, Western imperialism, corporate feudalism and their respective roles in the systematic nibbling away of our freedom. He came to talk about an apathetic population that is willing to sit back and watch the values America was built on fade into obscurity. He came to talk about fundamentalist ministers who have the gall to believe that they can define our morality for us. Most of all, he can warn us that it is the responsibility of free will that makes us truly human, and that we are letting
Mr. Biafra stressed to the audience that this is no "1844" pipe dream. Rather, it is happening right now. Censorship and the PMRC are only warning signs of what is to come. Another sign is the press, which, for one reason or another, is repeatedly failing in its moral obligation to tell the public what is really going on in the world. To experience firsthand evidence of this, one need only read Mr. Tifford's only too typical, cute, little article that tells us everything except what we really need to know: what the lecture was about.
John Arendt, Kansas City, Mo., junior
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed