OPINION
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008
9A
THE UNIVERSITY OF HARRY KANSAN
Affirmative action debate requires tact
Professor Tim Grosseclose at the UC:A resigned from the Admissions Committee this fall because he thought the university was illegally admitting black students, specifically unqualified black students. Grosseclose claimed these students would not have been admitted had they not mentioned their race in their personal essays and wanted access to 1,000 of the essays so he could statistically analyze them. After UCLA rejected his request on privacy grounds, Grosseclose resigned. Black students compose only 5 percent of UCLA's class
According to an Associated Press article from Aug. 31, "Grosseclose said he supports offering pref
erences to recruit and admit more black students." But even if Groseclose intended his request to review applications for suspected bias and eventual resignation to be a critique of the selection process, the ramifications of his shortsightedness are inexcusable.
By the time Groseclose had resigned, the damage had already been done, and it did not matter that he did not have any facts to support his hunch. That hunch had already become a big story in the media and had brought question in the minds of the 235 black freshmen that will start school at UCLA whether they really earned that right. Worse still, Groseclose provoked public skepticism about the legitimacy of an entire demographic of students at the university.
OUR VIEW
Grosseclose should have had the sense to foresee these consequences and plan his actions more carefully, especially if he is concerned with minority students, but UCLA should also have had more foresight to know a subject as close to a person's identity as race would find its way into personal essays.
Lisa Pinamonti Kress, the director of the Office of Admissions and Scholarships at the University of Kansas, said the Kansas Board of Regents, like the state of California, prohibited
public universities in Kansas from considering race as a factor for admissions, but that the University had avoided the controversy UCLA was experiencing by
UCLA's biggest mistake was keeping the admissions essays personal when Proposition 209, which prohibits affirmative action, went into effect. Its second-biggest mistake, though, was hiring a professor to an admissions committee who would thoughtlessly diminish the value of admittance for 235 freshmen by publicly scrutinizing the problems these essays created. Discussing affirmative action is important, but when doing so we must always take into consideration the lives that may be affected by it. In this case, words do matter.
not requiring a personal essay from its applicants.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The editorial board
Illustration by Catherine Coquillette
I'll admit it; I was raised as a Kansas State fan. Some of my best childhood memories were going to K-State football games with my father, and this was back when K-State was one of the best teams in the country. Based on this, I have to be honest. K-State has better fans than KU (at least in football).
Jayhawk fans should abandon offensive chant
KU is now an elite football program, one of the best in the country, and I think it's time for us to get rid of the childish kickoff chant. This kind of behavior might have been okay back in 2005, when KU was just another program at the bottom of the Big 12 North, but now, we're better than that. You don't see fans at top football schools like USC, Ohio State or Nebraska saying things like that. Take
Nebraska fans. They don't yet profanity as an entire section or do anything like that. They actually clap for both teams as they leave the field. While I'm not expecting us to do that, I do hope that we can at least lose the chant. I was watching the game this weekend on FSN, and the chant was clearly audible for the entire nation to hear. I would rather KU develop a reputation for its football play than for its fans stupid behavior.
Remember how childish K-State fans were during the KU-K-State basketball game in Manhattan last year? We are now a top-notch football program, and I think it's time for us to act like that, because I would hope that we are better than Kansas State.
Dan Holmes is an Olathe senior
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Tyler Doehring
Plastic surgeries just not worth the health risks
We live in a society that has figured out how to insert new breasts through your bellybutton. Last year, more than 240,000 people received brand new eyelids. A plastic surgeon wrote a book for kids ages 4 to 7 called "My Beautiful Mommy," which features a bandaged Barbie doll-type mother who is "even more" beautiful than before (after her nose job, tummy tuck and hinted-at boob job). Celebrities get Botox injections in their armpits so they don't sweat as much. Plastic surgery has become the popular elective epidemic that has replaced sending your assistant to Walgreens to get some damn deodorant.
Why are we obsessed with cosmetic surgery, and why is it more than 90 percent women who get these surgeries? Bringing up the subject to a group of women in their 20s generally gets a couple of different responses. They immediately say what they would get done if they had the chance. I had other friends say, "I want to get rid of this" and then grab the skin under their neck, pinch their belly fat or slap their butt. Those who don't want to get rid of anything say, "I want more of this," followed by pushing their breasts together or puckering their lips. Women I've talked to of my mother's generation
tend to respond by tightening the skin on their face, signifying their desire to get rid of wrinkles.
Women also said they just want their clothes to fit.
According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2007. Of this incredible number botox was the most popular non-surgical procedure at 2,775,176. The highest numbers in surgical procedures were liposuction and breast augmentation. A total of 8,395,851,754 dollars was spent just last year on cosmetic surgeries. Possibly one of the scariest statistics is that 205,119 of these surgeries are performed on children under the age of 18.
"Wonder bras just don't work. I'll feel better about myself. Everyone always thinks I'm doing it for guys or to make people look at me. It has nothing to do with what other people think, because I've never gotten any complaints," said Erin Dunlap, junior from Overland Park.
This desire to inject, suck out, smooth down and cut off is wrong. Women should not have to feel like their bodies are inadequate or in some way less than those of other women. Have you ever hear the expression "you're beautiful just the way you are" and thought well that's a load of crap? Me too. The majority of people at some point in their lives have had self-esteem issues but going through painful and often dangerous procedures to change your appearance is not the healthy solution.
I'm not talking about people who are opting for surgeries because of medical reasons, cancer, fire, disfiguration, or another extenuating circumstance. If you do not need new breasts it is not worth the risk. A list of possible risks just looking at breast augmentation states it is not "exhaustive" which means there are more they chose not to list.
The ones listed do include deflation, permanent numbness, nipple numbness, heavy scarring, hematoma, bleeding, asymmetry (which means your boobs are lopsided), implant leak, interference with mammography (so if you do have breast cancer its harder to tell), rippling (think waterbed), rupture of the implant (so no more dodge ball), sloshing (yes it really says that) and symmastia, which means your breasts merge into one mass (think how much harder it would be to go bra shopping). The list continues.
You can have your bellybutton removed, your vagina reconstructed, and you can get a medical loan of up to 25,000 dollars to do this. I applaud technology and science for giving us a way to treat and help victims of trauma, but in the case of elective cosmetic surgery science has gone too far. No matter what magazines and music videos are saying I think your eyelids, butt, breasts, armpits, smile lines, ears, stomach, nose, lips and calves look fine the way they are.
Thornbrugh is a Lenexa senior in journalism.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Palin's theological certainty endorses irrational proposals
National Public Radio has reported a series of thought-provoking and disturbing facts about Gov. Sarah Palin:
1) During her tenure as governor of Alaska, she as a parent objected to certain books being available in her children's libraries. She went first to the school board, then to the libraries, to try to have the books pulled off the shelves. When that did not happen, she tried as governor to have the librarians in question fired.
2) Although it is not one of her "governing priorities," Palin is a creationist and supports the deemphasis of evolution in state standards for science classes.
To this, I would add that in evangelical circles, especially Pentecostal circles (Palin's family is Pentecostal), the Bible can be used to argue for a whole host of propositions that cannot be derived from the reason we use to negotiate the everyday world.
3) Despite Bristol Palin being pregnant, Palin supports the teaching of abstinence-only sexual education in health classes.
1) Palin believes that it is acceptable for a government to actively censor books. This is so, despite the fact that the First Amendment expressly bans Congress abridging the freedom of the press.
believes that the consequences of creationism express scientifically true statements — consequences like "abortions cause breast cancer" or "the earth might be getting warmer, but it has nothing to do with human activity." Consider the claim about abortions: Scientific studies have shown no possible link between having an abortion and any type of cancer. The purpose of this claim is to express a thinly veiled theological threat against women (since God is pro-life. He will condemn women who have abortions to hell by giving them cancer).
These four propositions concern me in the following ways:
2) Being a creationist, Palin
ASSOCIATE PRESS
3) Studies show that knowledge about contraception helps prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Studies also show that among teens who have heard only abstinence-only education, the rate of pregnancy is almost as high as in underdeveloped countries. But Palin supports abstinence-only sexual education.
4) Leviticus 18:22 declares that it is an abomination unto the Lord for a man to lie with another man. Therefore, "End of debate: homosexuality is sinful." But Leviticus 25:44 reads, "You may purchase male and female slaves from the nations around you." So is it acceptable for me to purchase Steven Harper, the Canadian prime minister, to be my valet, and what is an appropriate bond price to do so?
If you don't think these propositions entail a contradiction, I encourage you to endorse the McCain-Palin ticket.
I am sick and tired of theological certainty being a required principle of governance for the presidency. It worries me that, if one presses a believer in certainty on these or similar issues, they themselves believe that God encourages and endorses their irrationality. All I see is a reason not to take their beliefs seriously. Therefore, even though I am a registered Republican, I will not and cannot vote for McCain-Palin. I encourage you to do the same.
Nathan Roser is a DeSoto graduate student in philosophy.
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Is it really that hard to use your blinker?
every day.
Does anyone remember that really hot bus driver from last semester? More importantly, does anyone know where he lives? I miss Hot Bus Driver. I want him to come back so I can look at him, he gave me a reason to go to class and ride the bus
Joan Rivers' smile on the QVC commercial reminds me a lot of Heath Ledger's really creepy smile as the Joker.
Last spring, I was quoted as saying my boyfriend is incredible between the sheets in the Jayplay. I would just like to say that he is even better now than I thought he was then.
I have one word for you:
chagaggagugmanchug-
gagughabunamagog.
German soap operas are so much better than American soap operas, even if I don't know what they're saying.
--miss it
--miss it
Shaving my legs in the dorm showers is impossible not to mention painful.
--miss it
Awesome. Glad to see there's a part of the newspaper reserved for relationship moping and three-year-old Internet jokes.
There is a lot of depressing shit in FFA lately!
--miss it
I'm going to be mad if you choose the slutty freshman over me.
--miss it
Facebook is going to be the reason my roommate and I fail out of college. We suck.
My roommate has to wake up for Air Force ROTC at 5:30 a.m. Every time I hear him leave I laugh. I hope he reads
--miss it
I'm from out of state and thought we would be having at least a couple more weeks of summer weather. I AM FREEZING
Seriously KUPD, $130 for rolling through a stop sign at 5 miles per hour. On a BIKE!!!
--miss it
I lost the game.
Today I noticed two guys kiss before departing for class and then they looked back at each other. Seriously, it was the sweetest thing I've seen in weeks. Thank you for reminding me about mutual love; I
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