Vii
Tuesday, September 22, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Pins and needles
Children play in puddles, fields, parks, and woods. Everything is fun and games to them.
And a recent incident revealed that some children play in dumpsters.
Since children don't understand danger, adults have the responsibility to protect them.
Unfortunately, no one was watching two boys, ages 6 and 7,
when they were outside playing darts with used syringes.
Hospital officials have said that they seal hypodermic needles in containers and dispose of them in a dumpster. Since the incident, officials have replaced their topless dumpster with two dumpsters with lids. And the hospital is taking further precautions. For example, officials will keep the needles in the building until the truck arrives to collect the trash.
The safety measures are good, but a solution to the problem would be even better. The solution lies with a broken incinerator inside the hospital. The hospital disposed of needles and syringes in an incinerator until it broke down in June.
The incinerator should be fixed immediately, and then no one, child or adult, will run the risk of coming into contact with contaminated blood.
To be or not to be
The Bard will be on trial Friday, and it's much ado about nothing.
Three U.S. Supreme Court justices will decide in a mock court case whether Shakespeare actually wrote the words attributed to him.
It does not matter whether the masterful writing was crafted by Shakespeare or by someone else.
by Shakespeare's is by Shakespeare's. Through the years, credit for works known as Shakespeare's has been attributed to authors from Francis Bacon to Christopher Marlowe.
This time, Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, a 22-year-old undergraduate at Oxford University, argues that his ancestor Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote the words. Vere says Shakespeare was paid to pose as the author because writing plays was not suitable for an earl.
The debate is academic, and its solution will not solve anything. No matter whether the writer was born in 1564 and pursued an acting career or was born in 1550 and led the life of an earl or did neither, the works are masterpieces.
But meanwhile, the trial is scheduled at the Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., and two professors from American University's college of law will make the arguments.
The participants and those who watch should keep one thing in mind:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by another name would smell as sweet."
Righting wrongs
It was a move that Americans should be ashamed of.
In 1942, the U.S. government plucked thousands of people of Japanese ancestry from their homes and dumped them in detention camps.
Officials feared that the Japanese were spies for Tokyo.
Last week, the House began a long-overdue effort to compensate the internees. It passed the Civil Liberties Act, which would apologize for the interment program and authorize $1.2 billion for payments of $20,000 each to people whom the program moved, confined or otherwise deprived of liberty or property.
The act also designates $50 million for educational programs dealing with the interment.
It wasn't.
The opportunity to right a wrong should be embraced by government officials.
The House vote was split 243-141. And although the Senate is expected to pass the act this week, the Office of Management and Budget has said it would recommend that President Ronald Reagan veto the act for budgetary reasons.
Reagan should ignore that advice and do what's right.
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board
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JMBORGMAN CARNITENCHVIRGEE 2007
Charitable conversations overheard
During Greek Week, as I sat waiting for the bus in front of Bailey Hall, I observed two students, a male and a female, with white buckets full of money.
The sun was out, but a cool breeze made it the kind of day that makes people love Kansas weather. I overheard some people talking about starting the weekend early. Sounded good to me. I lazily looked through the paper, wishing I was going to read a novel. A bus approached the stop, so I looked up.
Two students were walking down the sidewalk toward the pair with the white buckets. They looked away, trying to avoid being approached. Undaunted, the woman stepped in front of them and smilingly asked whether they would like to make a small donation for the needy children of Lawrence. The students still didn't look at her and kent moving.
"Come on, it will make you feel better," she said, still smiling.
The two mumbled something, fished around in their pockets for a while and then plunked a few coins into the bucket. The female grinned at her partner and thanked the two students.
Across the street, a large group of students had gathered on the lawn. Some played Twister, ping pong and human checkers, while others took turns chasing each other in a game. Students carried more of the white buckets.
Jerri
Niebaum
Staff Columnist
Everyone seemed to be having a good time.
I watched the party until my gaze was brought back to my side of the street by a man who approached the pair and their buckets.
"Would you like to make a small donation for the needy children of Lawrence?" the woman asked him.
he told her that he contributed directly to charities. The man nodded and said that was cool. But the woman was more persistent.
"We're playing Twister for 48 hours," she informed him.
He smiled and continued on his way.
He shimmered and combed his hair. Later, a young man approached the pair. Clad in genuinely faded jeans, a T-shirt that was thin with wear and a ragged pair of tennis shoes, he looked like an unlikely contributor. They asked him anyway.
"We're playing Twister for 48 hours to raise money for the needy children of Lawrence. Would you like to make a small donation?"
"I am a needy child of Lawrence," he replied.
The man solicitor looked at the young man's
The young man looked at his shoes. "These are going on two years," he said, then turned and left.
going on two years, 'ne said, then darren and tert.
After he left, the male turned to his partner.
He turned to me, and put his shoes he could be a needy child of Lawrence, too,
he laughed. The two glared at the young man's disappearing figure. Some people just didn't care about other people.
The woman looked down the sidewalk and saw a friend. He would contribute, she said. He was cool. She ran down the sidewalk toward him.
"We're playing Twister for 48 hours to raise money for the needy children of Lawrence," she told her friend. The two laughed.
The friend was having a party that weekend and invited her. "Call me," she said, then remembered that she wouldn't be home to take the call. "I won't be home tonight. I'll be at
The two talked for a few more minutes, set a time that he could call her and parted. As she walked away, she called to her friend, "Thank-you for the 6 cents. That will really help."
Jerri Niebaum is a Lawrence senior majoring in journalism
The joy of giving.
K·A·N·S·A·N
MAIL BOX
If so, I disagree.
Bigotry plaques society
I applaud the efforts of the University Daily Kansan to characterize the problems of black and white relations at the University of Kansas. This week's "Tuesday Forum" was provocative because it recognized both groups' frustration and allowed each to voice that frustration.
my primary problem with this "Tuesday Forum" stems from its inability to recognize KU as commonplace in terms of this conflict. The problems that arise here at KU are not unique to universities in the United States, nor are they unique to universities.
However, the first step in solving any problem is recognizing that the problem exists. I am confident that if we as a society are determined to fight all forms of discrimination, KU and the United States will benefit.
Am I to understand from the "Quacks" article in the Sept. 16 issue of the Kansan that those believe in angels or ESP are, in Professor Hudson's opinion, quacks?
Narrow-minded professor
As a society, we can no longer allow the ignorance that leads to segregation and hatred to dominate our thinking. Isolated efforts are not enough; attitudes must change. Further, in order to make strides toward changing these attitudes, we can no longer view racial problems as black and white. It is sad to say, but all racial groups, as well as women and many religious groups, experience bigotry and frustration. We should be empathetic to any victim of discrimination or segregation, regardless of its foundation.
Michael Diggs, Wichita junior
Empiricism is an important way to look at life, but it is not the only way.
Mark Jost, Lawrence graduate student
Arafat's voice
Since September 1975, the efforts of Henry Kissinger, the U.S. has refused to listen to negotiations for the Palestinians from Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization until they accept United Nations Resolution 333 and acknowledge Israel's right to exist.
I find it somewhat mystifying that the Reagan administration can consider Iran's Rafsanjani a "moderate," yet it won't recognize Yasser Arafat. It is further disheartenting because there are other groups who distrust the distinction between the terrorist Abu Nidal and the PLO — of which Nidal is not a member.
Let's not forget that "Palestinians have human rights, too." And the Palestinian identity is an innate characteristic that will not disappear as it is passed from fathers to sons. The Palestinian Arab people have the legal right to their homeland, and whether or not others support the Palestinians as I do, it is time that we get to hear the voice on the other side of the Palestine . . . that of their fine leader Yasser Arafat.
Israel constantly gets away with twisting arms whenever negotiations are mentioned with Arafat because they, the Israelis, have successfully seduced key figures in our nation's administration into seeing Israelis as the great martyrs of the "Promised Land" at the mercy of the "terrorist" Palestinians, who act on the whim of Yasser Arafat.
Zeta Mattioni, Tulsa, Okla., junior
Perseverance
Dan Houston's article on Sept. 15 is clearly mistaken. He is blind to obvious problems in our society and distorts leadership's role in the African American community.
The serious problems dividing Americans are poor enforcement of voting rights, economic discrimination (particularly hiring practices) and still unequal cultural acceptance.
There are no "all-black social events" on this campus. Denying any student access to a campus social event violates University code. If your students choose not to attend, that is their choice.
This University may now be less prejudiced and more eager to welcome African Americans. The situation is still more close to atrocious than acceptable. Racism and cultural ignorance abound on this campus and in this country. African American students have studied white culture from kindergarten through college. Meanwhile, white students have overlooked the heritage of African American society. How can you respect a culture you don't even know?
To assimilate cultural values would be suicidal for African American culture. I am in a fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma. I know that Greeklettered organizations have provided a cultural base for African-American students for decades. We have been a significant source of leadership for our communities, nations and world. Unanimously, public service is our purpose. C and Panhellenic are "social" organisms, but not political. Public service includes, but is more than just, philanthropy. Our cultural values often lead us to be politically active in social change. Our counterparts obviously are not. Our organizations integrated membership decades ago.
African American culture has survived four centuries of institutionalized terrorism (slavery) and systematic degradation in this land. Yet, we persevere. I maintain we should preface and propel African American culture whether white students are comfortable with it or not.
Cedric L. McCay, Kansas City, Mo., senior
BLOOM COUNTY
bv Berke Breathed