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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY GANSAN
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011
opinion
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8341
FREE FOR ALL
To the two kids running happily down Naismith with broomsticks between your legs ... get me on your level.
I throw my skitites in the air sometimes saying "Hey-o, taste the rainbow."
We just beat Mizzou in Quidditch. It's time for a one-hour marathon of "We Are the Champions."
Good news for KU football this week. We have Legends of the Phog instead!
Stop hating on the defense. The offense didn't do anything either obviously.
Today, I learned that fashion models have a high incidence of testicular feminization syndrome. Not so pretty now are they?
If the defense could keep the other team from scoring as easily as I somehow keep preventing myself from "scoring," we'd never lose a game.
That awesome moment when you look around the full theater before you watch Lion King 3D and only see one kid under the age of 16.
I'm a freshman, and I don't run to catch buses. Beat that.
Defroster = Pop-Tarts warmer upper
If you have to lean over to roll your backpack, you probably shouldn't be using it.
Leggings + crop top that stops at your sternum = worst fashion of the day.
That awkward moment when people ask me what year I am and I don't want to admit sixth year senior.
Why is it that just because I'm hanging out with a girl it instantly means I must be banging her?
Dude, your wheelchair can recline. I think you're just lazy.
Dear men of KU, when you hock a loogie on campus, your attractiveness level plummets. Take note.
To the blue, purple and white monkeys just running through Wescoe, I commend you.
Hottest KU women's team: swimmers and divers, EASILY.
I was followed all the way down Jayhawk Boulevard by purple, blue and white monkeys. KU sure does keep things interesting!
No matter how hard I try, I cannot keep myself from crying when Mutasa dies.
Must ... resist ... urge ... to roundhouse kick ... guy in Georgia Tech shirt I passed on campus.
EDITORIAL
KU community should appreciate endowment
The University of Kansas Endowment Association recently announced that a $500,000 gift from the Topeka-based Capitol Federal Foundation was given to help expedite the University's plan to attach its name to a national cancer center. The University has been vying for a National Cancer Center Institute label for several years and with this donation, it intends to submit its 600-page grant proposal by the Sept. 25 deadline.
The University of Kansas Cancer Center officials have said that acquiring the national appellation would lead to increased research on new treatments and drugs for
cancer within the region. The contributions will also be part of the upcoming, "Far Above; The Campaign for Kansas," which will begin April 2012.
Generous donors such as Capitol deserve a collossal thank you for helping the University reach its $61 million fundraising goal for the 2011 fiscal year and bringing the year's endowment to $153.2 million.
While the donation helped endowment in its goal of a cancer center, students and alumni cannot forget to be grateful for the $112.5 million in gifts and pledges, the $39 million in deferred gift commitments and the $1.7 million in gifts made directly to
the University.
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little has said that state financing covers only about 22 percent of the University's total operating expenses, and that private gifts are essential to virtually all of the University's activities.
Despite the fact that we are living in the land of budget cuts and failing solutions, our endowment program has become more and more vital to our University's prosperity. These are financially ambiguous times and with unstable state funding, endowment money is more essential than ever. Although many institutions of higher learning have suffered from financial crisis, the
University's $1.05 billion endowment increased 10.4 percent over the previous year, giving it the fourth-largest endowment in the Big 12.
The University community should realize the effect of going to a tradition-rich institution. A large endowment allows the University to remain as a premier research institution. Thank the alumni who have contributed back, and thank the donating organizations that value the University's name.
Stefanie Penn for The Kansan Editorial Board
BY THE NUMBERS
$61 M: fundraising goal for 2011 fiscal year
$153.2 M: 2011 endowment
10.4 percent: endowment increase from 2010
Endowment breakdown:
$112.5 M in gifts and pledges
$39 M in deferred gift commitments
$1.7 M in gifts directly to the university
ETIQUETTE
Stop monopolizing class discussions
Once upon a time, there lived a pseudo-intellectual...
In any discussion class in that great bulwark of a building called Wescoe, you can always find that one persnickety, peeling person who monopolizes the discussion by ranting on about some odd concept or another and ends up talking more than the professor. But the professor is always too nice to tell them they talk too much and that half of what they are saying is absolute rubbish.
The worst part is when you gather enough courage to say something just to get discussion points and the aforementioned obnoxious person gives you a snooty look because what you said sounds so unintelligent compared to his or her argument.
I'm sorry, but I do not like slam poetry, I am not a fan of philosophy, and I do not spend my time getting into existential debates about the meaning of life. Occasionally, I do argue about higher pursuits, but I
keep my innermost feelings about deep concepts to myself. I prefer the practical over the quixotic and to remain in the realm of actual experience.
And that doesn't make me and those like me unintelligent.
Mohammad Ataie
Your unfortunate expedition into the haphazard world of class discussions will generally end in the following manner: the entire class gets embroiled in a giant discussion about some concept no one will remember five minutes later, and all the other snooty smart people
shoot glares at the one person who dares — dares, I say — to disagree.
There is a name for these wonderful, conceited children of academia who rove campuses around the world exerting their opinions with gale force winds: pseudo-intellectuals. Listen, here at college we are all about the opinions, and no one likes opinions more than an opinion columnist. But unless you have a Ph.D. and have spent more than seven years studying something, you are no more an expert than I am a professional body builder.
In fact, what do we even mean by the term "expert"? Compared to the infinite amount of knowledge this world has to offer us, I would say all of us are the most inexperi and flawed intelligent beings out there.
Please don't bash my opinions, arguments or reasons because they're different or don't agree with some (insert hoity-tooity intellectual) opinion. If your ego is the size of a small planet and you think you are smarter or better than everyone else, you probably have
some introspection to do. Look at everyone's ideas because they probably have something to teach you about yourself. I don't want to be in a place where we're all trying to one-up the next person for brownie points; I want to be in a place where I get to learn and speak without being judged.
— Knutsen is a sophomore in classics from Overland Park.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Blatant disregard of facts
On behalf of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center and the Commission on the Status of Women, we would like to respond to the letter to the editor on Friday about the new Office on Civil Rights (OCR) requirements.
First, this letter contained many inaccuracies about the OCR changes, among them the ways in which evidence is evaluated, the process for hearing complaints, and the ways in which decisions are made. There are too many inaccuracies to detail here, but it is clear that the author's concerns are driven by a deeper lack of understanding about sexual violence.
From the beginning, he assumes that all perpetrators are men and all victims women, referring to the perpetrator throughout his letter as "the man." Given his purported concern for the rights of men, it is surprising that he would employ such a gender stereotype.
Additionally, the author misrepresents statistics about rape and sexual assault while failing to cite his sources. He claims that "radical feminist organizations," which he does not name, widely circulate that 1 in 4 women will be raped in her lifetime. In fact, a report from
the National Institute of Justice found that about 1 in 5 women are victims of completed or attempted sexual assault while in college. Clearly, the author does not understand the distinction between rape and sexual assault.
The author also drastically misrepresents the number of false rape reports made. His suggestion that 41 percent of rape accusations are false is not accurate. Although he fails to cite his source for this information, it is likely a study completed in a small Midwestern metropolitan community from 1985-1994 with a sample size of 109. More scientifically rigorous research converges at a rate of about 8 to 10 percent for false rape charges.
The author's defensiveness about rape and his efforts to portray sexual violence as "overblown" demonstrates his lack of understanding about the nature of sexual assault as an abuse of power rather than a victim's efforts to cover up regretted choices. We invite him to educate himself by hearing the stories of women and men who are survivors.
Meredith Pavicic is a senior from Leawood.
GUEST COLUMN
Kansas City soccer fans epitomize sportsmanship
Coming from a nation where football (or soccer, as it's more commonly known in the United States) dominates most of the sports pages and is more a lifestyle to many than simply a game. I was not sure what to expect from my maiden Major League Soccer game. The trip to Kansas City to watch Sporting KC play in a buzzing Livestrong Sporting Park against the Los Angeles Galaxy, however, had a huge effect on me. I was impressed not entirely because of the match. What struck me were the fans and how truly supportive they are.
That may sound obvious, as people go to sporting events because they're supporters of a specific team or player, and MLS is no different. Over 20,000 fans of KC and LA witnessed an exciting Labor Day fixture, ending in a 2-2 tie. Coming from England, however, I was shocked at how civil the fans were to each other. European football is an institution with extremely passionate supporters, who display undying love for their own club and players — but pure hatred for their rivals.
Much like any major team,
Rob Cooke
editor@kansan.com
Sporting KC does have its fair share of die-hard fans, who occupy one side of the home stadium. While the U.K. may have larger numbers of these types of fans situated throughout the stadium, there were far more families and females at Livestrong Park than I have ever seen at a game in England.
In Europe, football remains a predominantly male social event. Across the Atlantic, the machismo attitude displayed at football matches can unfortunately lead to violence — more often than not fueled by alcohol. Two weeks ago, before a European Championship qualifying match between England and Wales in London, a Welsh fan was viciously beaten by other fans, leaving him with severe head injuries that killed him later that night. This is a shocking reminder of how passion can boil over into anger in sports.
The 2005 independent British film "Green Street Hooligans," for example, focused exclusively and
unashamedly on the hooliganism of rival fans in England, and the gang-type culture they promote, organising violent brawls following matches.
The Sporting KC game was therefore a breath of fresh air for me as a football fan. Fellow supporters championed the players they adore, willed them on and enjoyed the entertainment they provided, rather than focusing the same amount of energy into negative slurs toward the opposition players and fans. This gave the stadium an enjoyable, rather than intimidating, atmosphere. Naturally, I still love the English game, but my MLS experience certainly highlighted issues that I have with it.
As may be obvious, I couldn't recommend a day out to see KC at Livestrong Park strongly enough. Football is always a thrilling experience, and when it comes to the atmosphere at Livestrong Park, Kansas City soccer fans are the epitome of Sporting.
Cooke is a junior in American studies from London
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LETTER GUIDELINES
Length: 300 words
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Kelly Stroda, editor
864-4810 or kratode.kanana.com
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864-4810 or jeetendra.kanana.com
Jonathan Shorman, managing editor
864-4810 or jeetendra.kanana.com
Clayton Ashley, managing editor
845-6110 or edith.casan.com
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Vika Shanker, editorial editor
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864-7667 or mgjansan.com
Vikaas Shanker, editorial editor
864-4924 or vshanker@kansas.com
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Kelly Stroda, Jet Peterson, Jonathan Shannon, Vikas Shaker, Mandy Maite and Staina Penn.