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Monday, August 31, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The University of Kansas has stripped from its students the precious right to shop around.
Shop 'til they drop
In the past, students have savored the chance to visit several classes at their leisure before facing an add / drop deadline. Students could check out classes, professors and class times before making a decision that lasts 16 weeks.
Friday will be the final day of the two-week add period. Some schools and departments have even earlier add deadlines.
But because University officials cut the time period to add classes from four weeks to two weeks, students will have to make hastier, and possibly unhappy, decisions.
University officials had said that students and faculty would benefit from the changes because students would set their schedules earlier, and faculty would not be burdened with late arrivals.
The deadline for dropping classes varies according to the school or college. Students can continue to drop classes until the date designated by their school or college. For many courses, that date is Oct. 30.
However, the new system probably has also indirectly ruined some students' opportunities to drop classes after the second week. Many students must carry a fixed number of hours to maintain their athletic eligibility, to receive a scholarship, to qualify for work-study or for a variety of other reasons. To drop a class, these students would have to add a class.
Sometimes, the first exam grade in a class determines whether the student will remain. That choice no longer exists for many
And most annoying is that students will modify their methods of shopping around by loading up on classes during enrollment, only to drop them at their leisure.
The library now closes at 10 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday. If there is ever a time when students need the peace and quiet of the library, it is on weekend evenings, when a tranquil spot to study can be hard to find. The library's schedule should cater to those who want to study, not those who don't.
A fine addition
Students who habitually board library books until semester's end will find that the cost of such tactics has risen considerably. Fines for almost every category of late returns — especially those more than 60 days overdue — have increased since last semester.
Perhaps the rate of timely book returns will increase so that students can make more effective use of Watson Library. But other improvements in library service would be welcome as well.
Students would also benefit from extended hours during finals. It is unfortunate that, although the students' workload and need for information are at their peak at this time, the library's hours do not accommodate them.
Perhaps the additional money generated by the new late-return penalties could be used to finance longer library hours. That would be a "fine" addition to Watson Library's services.
Good buv
Maybe the symptom is a nagging cough, a high fever or unexplained stomach pains.
For $56 a year, full-time students at the University of Kansas can be treated by a physician at Watkins Hospital — not just once, but as the need arises.
Not a bad deal, considering a single visit to a private physician often costs that much or more.
And now, Watkins will be even more committed to students complaining of minor health problems.
Dropping inpatient services will save the hospital $350,000, the amount necessary to maintain and upgrade equipment to treat patients who stay longer than 24 hours in the hospital.
Officials at the hospital decided to discontinue inpatient care, a move that will qualify it for accreditation as a primary health care center.
Maybe the reduction in inpatient services — used by only 15 students last year — will mean a more efficient system of treating minor health problems and no more two-hour waiting room stints.
Correction
Due to an editorial writer's error, the Kansan on Friday erroneously stated that the Lawrence chapter of the Rotary Club had no women members. The club has four women members.
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 Kahleinrine ... Sports editor
Dan Ruittmann ... 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 Dempferl ... National sales manager
Angela Clark ... Classified manager
Ron Weems ... Director of marketing
Jeanne Hines ... Sales and marketing adviser
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JIMBORGMAN ENGINEERING
GARY IN WONDERLAND
Democrats need heavy-hitter
The Democratic scramble for the presidential nomination is about as exciting as a penny-ante poker game.
And I can your 4 percent showing in the pools and raise my 5 percent name recognition."
"I bet my 4 percent showing in the polls."
"And I call your 4 percent showing in the polls."
*manage recognition*
    "I call your name recognition and raise my 3
percent approval rating."
"Hmmm. I call your approval rating and raise my new surge of support in Iowa, which is growing."
"Two farmers and their wives? You must be bluffing."
The candidates have had so little impact that a survey by a liberal magazine showed that if Gary Hart re-entered the race, he'd again be the front-runner.
The magazine thought this was significant. But if they took another survey, they'd probably find that Vanna White, "Fridge" Perry or Pee Wherem Heister could be the front-runner, too.
And it's unlikely that any of the candidates will be able to do or say anything that will send their popularity rocketing from 5 percent in the polls to, say, a dazzling 20 percent.
Joe Biden had decided he can become a household name by boldly challenging the Bork nomination for the Supreme Court. The only problem is that the vast majority of Americans don't know who Bork is and don't care what he's nominated for. Biden would get more attention if he'd arm-wrestle Bork on a cable sports channel.
Right now, Jesse Jackson has the most support, which is comforting for his ego. But unless he can slip something in the water supply of America, the Americans black, his support has already peaked.
And while the political journalists might find something significant about Paul Simon being greeted enthusiastically by 30 rustics at a church pancake breakfast in Cornpone, Iowa, it's not driving the nation's Democrats into a frenzy of Simonmania.
No, I'm afraid that this crop of Democratic candidates — while they're decent. bright.
capable people — seem to be chronic unknows. You ask somebody on the street who or what a Dukakis is, and the response might be that it's something a Greek parent says while pottytraining an infant.
So this should be a matter of serious concern to those who believe in the importance of a strong two-party system.
It should be of even more concern for those who consider themselves Democrats. Do you want to face a future with George Bush guiding the ship of state while wearing starched white yachting togs and sipping a gin and tonic?
Or, as Slats Grobnik said, "I had a dream about Bush being the commander in chief. He was over in the Persian Gulf lobbing tennis balls at the Avatollah."
No, it's time for the Democrats to recognize that what they need is a political heavy-hitter. And to persuade their one heavy-hitter that it's time for him to quit goofing around and to get into it.
I'm talking, of course, about Mario Cuomo, the governor of New York. He has been the logical candidate since the moment he finished his term. I spoke at the last Democratic convention.
He's still the most logical candidate for a number of reasons, the most important being that he can win.
Sure, months ago he said that he didn't want to run and didn't intend to run. But he said it early enough so that most people forgot by the next major sports event.
Besides, when Cuomo declined, it wasn't widely known that Gary Hart was the fastest
zipper in the West.
Since Hart's departure, the Democrats have been without a leading candidate. What they have is a bunch of guys who could finish in a seven-way tie for last.
So now Cuomo has a perfect excuse for changing his mind. He need only say that as a loyal Democrat, it is his duty to provide leadership, pull the party together and save us from four more years of not knowing what guys like Poindexter are up to.
I don't know why Cuumo said he woumnt I call. Maybe he was shrewd enough to know that if he waited, he'd avoid the indignity of trudging around Iowa trying to impress a few hundred farmers. Maybe he genuinely didn't want to get involved in the primary rat race, the free world's dumbest way of choosing a leader.
Or maybe, because he's more sensitive than most, he knows that there are a few louts who think that anyone with a name like Mario has to put up a fight. He doesn't want to put up with their bigged buff.
Whatever his reasons were, they're no longer relevant. If the Democrats hope to win, Cuomo has to be their candidate. He has the compelling personality, the brilliant mind, and, in a world of politics by television, the oratorical gifts. He's the right age, and he has the common sense not to let the extremists at either end of his party push him into dumb positions.
He's shown that he can do what most people want from a president: he can articulate his version of what our society should be. Sure, rock-ribbled Republicans and conservatives won't like it, but they won't vote for him anyway.
But my hunch is that his message will be welcomed by Democrats and the vast middle class that doesn't place much importance on party labels.
So it's time for the Democrats to end the penny-ante game. One push by a high roller and it's all over.
Clique rhetoric
In response to Jon Gregor's column on cliques at KU, I'd like to thank you very much for getting the annual column on stereotypes out of the way so early in the semester.
We all need to be reminded how silly we are in the eyes of others every fall; after all, isn't that what makes us self-conscious and keeps us in those great little cliques that you think we need?
It's so brave of you to venture forth so, offering new ways of looking at people and their social customs. It's all so fresh! Apart from your students, you also have a lot of students. I found your column very informative.
And I'm sure all the new freshmen will prosper as a result of your insightful humor. They probably burst at the mental seams when, in your second paragraph, you laid down some racist
katz
remarks about Naismith, sexist inuendoes about sorority girls and elitist yuppie dribble about the dedication of Hashinger residents.
I definitely agree that there is much humor in the observation of KU's different people. We all laugh at one another and it is generally accepted. But when you try to tell those vulnerable, clay-brained freshmen that "the worst that one can do is not be in any group at all," you have done us all a pretty fair-sized injustice.
Forest Bloodgood, Stillwater, Okla., junio
k. l. thorman
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed