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Tuesday, September 8, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The only thing that remains constant is change, to coin a phrase.
Loose change
The federal Commission of Fine Arts, however, would like to change change. One member complains that after 78 years, the penny, bearing the bearded face of Abraham Lincoln, is outdated.
So the commission has voted unanimously in favor of redesigning all five U.S. coins now being minted, from the penny to the half dollar. The new designs have not been decided, and artists may be invited to submit ideas to a design competition.
Conversely, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt "New Deal" nickel would hit the streets in abundance. Unfortunately, the sheer volume of these nickels would render them worthless.
The Ronald Reagan $100 coin could be minted and distributed much like the American Express Platinum card. Only a select few could carry the coin, with eligibility determined upon submission of tax and financial records.
Current-events buffs would be pleased with the Oliver North dollar. The same dollar bills that are in circulation now would be used, but they would be shredded into half-inch strips.
Of course the commission could just drop the issue — or pass the buck — and let the U.S. Treasury Department continue to mint the same Washington quarter, introduced in 1932, the Jefferson nickel, in 1938, and the Roosevelt dime, in 1946.
Nations must compete for economic gain and world attention, teams must compete for titles and honors, students must compete for grades and class standing and states must compete for financing and federal projects that affect their economies.
It's a competitive world out there.
Kansas has placed a bid to be the site for the superconducting super collider, an underground racetrack-shaped tunnel 52 miles in circumference used for physics research.
But don't bank on it.
A super idea
So we are glad that Kansas is in there competing.
It would be the most technologically advanced physics laboratory in the world. Indeed, it would be the largest machine ever built.
However, there is another side to the story . . . 24 other states have indicated a desire to become the host site for the superconducting super collider. Kansas by no means has it in the bag...
Kansas could definitely use the tremendous boost — both in economy and image — that a technological project would provide.
bag.
The other states have made extensive efforts, with considerable price tags, to come on top. Illinois has spent $4.5 million and California $4 million. And Kansas . . . $250,000.
Competition means assessing the opponents, gathering all your resources and giving it your best.
source is $250,000 our best? It's a start.
A child's colorful Crayola drawing belongs on display. And teachers and parents often decorate the walls or bulletin boards of classrooms and the refrigerators of homes with these precious pictures.
Dropping a bomb
But a child's drawing on the nose of a B-1B strategic bomber?
That's absurd. Unfortunately, it's no joke.
It's absurd. On foundation of recently, officials in Wichita and Derby suggested that elementary and secondary schoolchildren enter their creations in a contest to find a nose decoration for a B-1B. The contest is sponsored by the B-1 Bomber Arrival Steering Committee, which includes the chambers of commerce in Wichita and Derby.
The bomber, the state's first, will arrive at McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita in February 1988. Obviously, adult involvement in the event was not enough for the officials.
An outcry from critics, mainly parents, who thought the contest would be inappropriate for children convinced the sponsors to change their minds. Now the contest is open to all Kansans. The award for finalists of $100 in savings bonds still stands.
The fighter planes represent violence and war, and in some cases, destruction. Children could misinterpret the significance of the planes.
Children should invest their Crayolas and their time in more peaceful pursuits. Let's leave the bombing to the adults and send the children back to the drawing board.
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board.
News staff
Jennifer Benjamin ... Editor
Jull Warren ... Managing editor
John Benner ... News editor
Beth Copeland ... Editorial editor
Sally Streff ... Campus editor
Brian Kabertine ... Sports editor
Dun Riettlinman ... Photo editor
Bill Sket ... 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 Delfeff...National sales manager
Angela Clark...Classified manager
Jon Wesma...Director of marketing
Jeannie Hones...Sales and marketing adviser
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1988: RONALD REAGAN LEAVES THE PRESIDENCY WITH A $200 BILLION DEFICIT, $2 TRILLION NATIONAL DEBT AND 13697 CORDS OF FIREWOOD
Coach revered upon the Mount
It is now clear to me why Larry Brown is frustrated with college coaching. In the pros, winning coaches stay and losing coaches go. That's it. The fans don't care about religion, marital status or choice of lucky ties. And they don't even notice when the coach accepts big money to promote his favorite beer or bank.
Coach Brown has said before, on national television, that he coached in college because that's where the money is, not because he loved it. That is something the loyal fans in Lawrence just don't understand.
"Why would anyone as beloved as our Larry even consider leaving Mount Oread?" they ask. "Everyone in Lawrence thinks he's such a swell guy."
But last spring something happened to our humble, quiet father-figure. He let it slip that he was passively shopping for another basketball family. We'd all seen the scenario before: We were coming away from those who love him in the Midwest. The excitement of the coast was beckoning.
So all of Lawrence rallied to "Keep Larry in Kansas!" The University realized it had a mandate to do whatever it took to prevent the divorce from going through, even if that meant taking out a second mortgage on the football
program
prog am.
KU asked Coach Brown what he wanted, and he asked for lots of money and total freedom. His wishes were granted, and he agreed to stay another five years, or maybe just a week. Nobody really knows, so each morning we should thank God and the New York Knicks that he is with us another day.
Jayhawk fans have begun to see that our beloved coach isn't interested in becoming an institution in Lawrence as we had all secretly hoped. Instead, he wants to be a great basketball coach wherever the situation is most rewarding. While we find ourselves fans of fans isn't reward enough, Larry Brown has shown us that KU basketball is as much a business as a sport.
Suddenly Brown has become less than the
world's greatest sportsman. Though no one is calling him the Antichrist, he seems to have fallen from his pillar.
What a relief that must be. He will now be judged by coaching standards, not as a role model.
Larry Brown can now become whatever type of coach he chooses, perhaps in the Barry Switzer mold. Oklahoma fans worship Switzer as a winning coach and ignore his less-than-model private life. He could promote Japanese cars, Russian vodka and Gary Hart without losing the respect of an Oklahoma fan. He's an American hero because he wins. As long as he continues to do that, he can promote anyone or anything he chooses.
If Kansans expect Larry Brown to stay in Lawrence, they need to give him that kind of freedom. The University has given him total freedom in his contract; he can stay as long as he wants or leave whenever he chooses. Now the fans and media need to give him total freedom in his off-court pursuits.
Besides, I see nothing wrong with Larry Brown promoting Lawrence National Bank while he's still here. When he does leave and take all of his money to New York, Lawrence National Bank may find the vaults empty.
KU policy sends the smokers outside
Bothered by my smoke? If you don't like it, you can leave.
This is the attitude many smokers have. And until this summer the attitude was accepted. If the non-smokers didn't like it, they left to find nosmoking areas.
But now the ball is in the smoke-free court. A state law that took effect July 1 says smokers have to find a designated "smoking" area before lighting up.
It's about time. Too many times I have quietly gathered my books or my food after being smoked out by a human chimney. Too often, I have been sung by the cigarette of an oblivious smoker. For three years I have found ashes on the toilet seats in campus buildings. Now it's my turn to make the smoker take his butts outside.
That's one place where smoking will be permitted, according to a new campus policy outlined in a July 7 memorandum from Del Shankel, then acting executive vice chancellor.
The new policy is, in part, a response to the new state law that requires the proprietors of public places to post signs that show where smoking is permitted, as well as where it is prohibited. The proprietor decides where smoking is prohibited, other than in passenger elevators, school buses and public transportation vehicles, where smoking is already prohibited by state law.
but concern for the health of faculty and students is as much a part of the new policy as the new state law is. Shankel is encouraging faculty members to kick the habit by offering smoking cessation classes.
In order to comply with the new law, the University has begun posting signs that mark smoking and non-smoking areas.
Quitting will certainly be more convenient than continuing to smoke under the new policy. The smoking areas will be few and far between—the largest and best option being outside. There probably will be at least one smoking area in each building and in some cases one on each floor, according to Shankel.
But non-smokers can get away from these fog-filled rooms. According to the memorandum, smoking is prohibited in confined areas such as cashier waiting lines, elevators, restrooms, locker rooms, hallways, stairways, copy rooms and
employee lounges.
Non-smokers: You no longer have to share a cigarette with the person next to you while waiting to pay for your food, while walking down the hall to class, while getting dressed for gym class or while relaxing in the lounge. If someone lights up near you in one of these places, remind them of the new law. It's your right.
Smokers: you no longer get to share your smoke with your non-smoking neighbors. Find a sign that says you can before lighting up. It's a privilege, not a right.
Non-smokers have become more vocal since susceptibility to lung cancer and other illnesses from someone else's cigarettes have been clearly proved.
procedures. Smokers have become less vocal as they see the obvious harm in smoking. The American Cancer Society reported that cigarette smoking was responsible for 85 percent of lung cancer cases among men and 75 percent among women. It also reported that smoking accounted for about 30 percent of all cancer deaths.
How can you defend such a habit, especially when it is not only annoying but also dangerous to
Thanks, KU, for no longer defending the habit. Jerri Niebaum is a Lawrence senior majoring in journalism.
K·A·N·S·A·N
MAILBOX
Drop 'shopping'
I disagree with your editorial of Aug. 31,
"Shop 'til they drop," protecting the shortened
add /drop period. In the present enrollment system, shortening the period is the only way of keeping a bad situation from getting wholly out of hand.
Students already do sign up for courses they won't keep and they aren't always seriously shopping, since many don't ever show up, even the first day. Though this defensive measure is understandable, it makes first-day rosters meaningless.
*readings.* Drop / add printouts come too late to be
useful, and departments cannot call up whole rosters on their computer terminals but only individual students' schedules, which is a laborious process. Therefore, instructors in high-demand courses that are short on space or supplies (including textbooks), or that require enough writing to make class size crucial, have too little idea of the real class size.
William O. Scott, professor of English
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed