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Tuesday, September 1. 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
A book can be an open door.
Read it and weep
But new and challenging ideas frighten some people. They say some information should be withheld from students. These people try to ban the intruding thoughts.
Some say such suppression of ideas is increasing.
Around the country, books such as "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic," John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" and Alice Walker's "The Color Purple" have been the subjects of controversy.
The most eloquent arguments against censorship come from writers themselves.
In 1625, Francis Bacon wrote, "Reading maketh a full man." And in 1904, Franz Kafka explained that it was appropriate for readers to be uncomfortable with what a book said:
But in Tennessee and Alabama textbook cases, courts recently decided against the censors. These are commendable decisions.
In 1891, Oscar Wilde wrote, "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well-written, or badly written. That is all."
"We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the ax for the frozen sea inside us."
The fire-gutted house provides a graphic metaphor for the AIDS hysteria that is sweeping the country.
Let students learn about the world. All of it.
AIDS at school
Three children infected with the AIDS virus and their parents must find a new home after a suspicious fire destroyed their old one in Arcadia, Fla.
This family experienced AIDS hysteria in the classroom as well. And efforts to quell the hysteria must take place in the classroom.
related topic would be:
As for the controversy, say, if an AIDS-infected child were to attend a public school, KU's future teachers and administrators are taught to handle controversy in general.
Encouraging, however, is a new class, "Educational Conference on AIDS and other STDs (sexually transmitted diseases)," which began this semester.
classroom.
At KU, efforts to teach teachers how to address AIDS issues in the public schools have been general. One professor at the School of Education said AIDS issues were addressed in students' community health education class — just as any other health-related topic would be discussed.
which began this semester. AIDS education calms hysteria. And just maybe, AIDS education will stress prevention methods that will in time mean death for the killer virus.
Reward honesty
Psychologists coined the term positive reinforcement to describe the process of rewarding desirable acts. A dog that performs a trick correctly would be rewarded with a biscuit. A Scotch snack.
Let's hope President Reagan and the Senate are familiar with this basic theory of positive reinforcement.
Former national security adviser John M. Poindexter apparently wants to retire at the rank of vice admiral rather than at the rank of rear admiral, which he was reduced to upon leaving his post after the Iran-contra affair.
Poindexter's friend and trustee of his legal defense fund said Poindexter was concerned about the image of the U.S. Navy.
Simple application of the positive reinforcement theory to the military would mean that those who served their country witherve and honesty would be promoted.
serve and maintain the congressional hearings that he kept Reagan in the dark and destroyed documents authorizing the sale as a weapons-for-hostages transaction.
To reward dishonesty reinforces the acts of self-appointed military men with misguided missions.
Poindexter's request must first cross the president's desk From, there it requires Senate confirmation.
But a promotion for Poindexter would demote the image of the Navy, where he served for nearly 30 years, and a demotion of standards of conduct for our country's leaders.
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board.
News staff
Jennifer Benjamin ... Editor
Juli Wallen ... Managing editor
John Benner ... News editor
Beth Copeland ... Editorial editor
Sally Streff ... Campus editor
Brian Kabelline ... Sports editor
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Bill Skelter ... Graphics editor
Tom Ehlen ... General manager, news adviser
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OUR NEAR-MISS PRESIDENT
Scandal scars Reagan's term
There are those among us who complain when Congress takes the month of August off to regroup and re-establish ties with its constituencies. I have nothing but the deepest gratitude for any alleged supreme being that may be responsible for this.
I certainly have had my fill of Washington for one summer. No doubt many think Congress is suffering from overexposure. But the main reason I say this summer recess is particularly timely is not so much for the break from debauchery but more to give the political sides a chance to gear up for the ensuing battles this fall.
President Reagan, as promised, got the ball rolling with his post-scandal assessment a couple of weeks ago. The administration's aim in putting him before the cameras seemed to be an attempt to show that he is still capable of establishing an agenda.
Cutesy proverbs and sentimental anecdotes have always been the president's forte. A quick and syrup tale about some disadvantaged but courageous youngster has always paid off for the president. Soothing yet meaningless phrases like "rest assured" and "make no mistake about it" riddled his speech with reckless abandon that night and are the same sort of mindless pap the American public has fed on the last seven years.
The administration was very wise to put the president back on this familiar ground. Nevertheless, it was taking a big risk to put him on TV at such a fragile political period.
strangey, the formula didn't work like it had so faithfully in the past. According to an NBC poll taken right after the speech, more than half the people in the country still believed the president had knowledge of the diversion.
Maybe it was that grizzly, red blotch on his nose that tarnished the president's plastic image — to the point where reason prevailed over emotion.
Or maybe this country has finally grown tired of a man who has so much facade and so little ability to run a country. Stranger things have happened.
arms reduction. I have nothing but giggies for his hypocritical balanced budget proposal. But when it comes to Central America and the Supreme Court nomination, the president's policies will get an argument from me and, more important, a good fight from Congress.
Agendawise, the president has narrowed the focus of the last leg of his term to four topics: arms reduction with the Soviets, his balanced budget proposal, the contrasts and the confirmation of his Supreme Court nominee, Robert Bork.
I have nothing but applause for his attempts at
Both conservatives and liberals are now rallying their resources for these two crucial
The American Freedom Coalition has taken the initiative for the far right. A mere $10 will help it "expose the soft-on-communism left wingers in Congress" and buy a commemorative framed photo of Lt. Col. Oliver North being sworn in at the hearings.
photo of my very own? Oh, if only I could get it done on black velvet. And where could I go to find out about the soft-in-the-head, right-wing reactionaries who think the only way to deal with a problem is through blooded?
President Reagan is right when he says that it's time to move on past the Iran-Contra scandal; there are many crucial issues for Washington to decide before he leaves.
A wrong move now could mean U.S. involvement in Central America long after he leaves, and a confirmation for Bork could leave his imprint on politics well into the next century. How history remembers Reagan could linger on these last 18 months.
Jim Farquhar is an Olathe junior majoring in journalism.
Rejected woman learns life after rush
I'm one of the "400 or so" who didn't get into a sorority.
On Saturday, Aug. 15, I busted myself down to the Holldome to register for the University of Kansas' first fall sorority rush. One week later, I found out that I didn't get in. I was devastated. I thought my life would end.
At first, I was envious and even jealous of the 810 girls who made it into one KU's 14 sororities. Although I've always wanted to be in a sorority, I stopped feeling sorry for myself and realized that even sororites can be worthwhile groups to be a part of, there is life after sorority! I changed my attitude and am now sincerely happy for the girls who did get into sororities.
As a native of Ames, Iowa, where sorority rush has been in the fall as long as I can remember, I was thrilled to change back to fall rush. I can't tell
Despite the pros and cons of being in a sorority, rush week, humorously termed "hell week" by some of the rushes, was a worthwhile experience. The most obvious fringe benefit of going through sorority rush — especially in the fall, was meeting some of KU's approximately 25,000 students.
you how comforting it is to walk across campus and see the familiar face of a sorority girl whom you met, a fellow rushew whom you befriended throughout the week, or a girl on your residence hall floor whom you got to know through rush meetings and parties.
In addition to the friends that I, other rushes and sorority girls alike made, rush week also served as a learning experience. We learned to make decisions on our own (for the most part). We learned to savor our successes, and we learned to deal with disappointments. And, believe me, almost every rusher had to deal with disappointments.
I'd heard rumors about how cut-throat sorority rush was at KU, but no description can fully explain the emotional teeter-totter that most of the rushes experienced during the week of Aug. 16 through 22. Busting off to 14, five, five, seven and three parties a day, making polite conversation with strangers, trying to gracefully eat cookies and drink punch while maintaining a conversation, and getting up at 6 a.m. to find out that you'd been cut by a house that you had felt so comfortable at wasn't all fun and games — especially when it occurred, for most, more than once in a five-day period.
Most of us shed our fair share of tears during that week. Approximately 810 of us pledged a sorority, and I think all of us are glad it's over. But whether you pledged a house, dropped out of rush or didn't get asked to pledge, pat yourself on the back! You spent a week going to parties, meeting new people, and you learned how to deal with disappointments.
Margaret Townsend is a Ames, Iowa, freshman majoring in journalism.
K·A·N·S·A·N
MAILBOX
by contact with international students who are attracted here both by KU's high-caliber programs and by the affordability of going to school and living in Lawrence.
Education first
In regard to Dan Houston's editorial "KU can dump the bargain table," I would like to suggest that perhaps Houston has forgotten that higher education is not simply a business venture. Also, he may be unaware of the fact that the quality of the education received by Kansans at this University is augmented considerably by the presence of non-resident citizens, and further,
Standards for admissions at KU should be strict. However, further hikes in tuition costs for non-resident citizens and international students would do absolutely nothing to improve the image of this University. On the contrary, such increases would indicate that KU considers prospective students an exploitable market and the education process a money-making mill. Education is a service; students should be charged a fair price for this service. If the costs of providing this service go up, then the price for a KU education should increase accordingly. This logical implication is only valid ui-direc-
tionally.
If KU raises prices in order to improve quality, the University will have entered the era of the modern rip-off hype.
The results of such a move could conceivably include a more smoothly running, more efficient educational factory-like system that would prepare students to occupy various career niches in the world. However, once the value of a KU education becomes only a matter of dollars and cents, the boundary between a liberal education and vocational-tech training will begin to fade and blur.
Robert Bruce Scott, Great Bend graduate student.
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed