4A the university daily kansan
opinion
tuesday,november 25,2003
letter to the editor
Writer who dissed Keggy should get over himself
In regards to Matthew Dunavan's article about Keggy ("Students who consume alcohol hurt students, damage property, violate essential 'rule of law', Nov. 14, The University Daily Kansan). I feel that, as a Dartmouth student, I need to provide some clarification. First of all, there is nothing new to Dartmouth's dropping of the Native American mascot. In fact, that decision was made in the 1970s. The selling of Indian-related paraphernalia, however, is a recent move. What's more, no mascots "have been paraded" in front of us. As students, we have voted on several mascots, namely the moose, the Indian and the salty dog. Keggy was proposed by a humor magazine who, providing their own funds, created the mascot.
Yes, Keggy is popular, but as a novelty, no more than a joke. The fact is, college students drink. I know that people drink at Kansas just as much as they drink at Dartmouth, so do not for a second think that we are all drunks. In fact, if the Jayhawks beat Michigan State tonight, you can expect me to be enjoying the campus life in Lawrence, back for Thanksgiving break.
Secondly, you need to get over yourself. I mean that in the most polite way possible. I was, frankly, embarrassed when my East Coast friends showed me this provincial Midwestern viewpoint. To say that Keggy is an indication of a lowered culture is probably an accurate statement, I agree, but to imply that it is harming democracy is ludicrous. People drink, Mr. Dunavan, and if you can't accept that, you shouldn't be at college.
Quig Bruning Dartmouth College'07 Pembroke Hill School, Kansas City, Mo. Class of '03
stinson
editorial board
Zach Stinson for The University Daily Kansan
Students missing from 'rally'
On Nov. 18, Student Senate organized a panel discussion entitled "Rally for Higher Education." The turnout at the rally was disappointing, as most of the attendees were student senators who already understood the problems facing students because of increased tuition.
Marynell Jones, Student Senate executive secretary, said the panel was prompted by a rally at Kansas State University to protest shorter library hours ruled by funding cuts. Jones and other Student Senators had a table on Wescoe Beach Nov. 17 and 18 to promote the discussion. Two-hundred and fifty students signed post cards addressing tuition increases, yet only 10 percent of that number attended the discussion. What could be the cause of such a poor turnout?
First, improper planning may be to blame. A rally brings to mind images of someone holding a bullhorn on Wescoe Beach, gathering students to listen as they wander by between classes. It does not usually make one think of three to five panelists responding to questions that have already been asked countless times before.
Poor publicity may also have hurt turnout at the rally, but it was, admittedly, hard to publicize when no one was certain who would be on the panel
until the day of the event. Three of the five panelists were supposedly confirmed on Oct. 22, but none of those three people ended up on the panel. The provost, vice-provost for University Relations and a Kansas Congressman made up the panel.
Add-drop needs balance
Why wasn't there more diversity? Two of the panelists' jobs are to represent the University in a positive light and the third is concerned with re-election. Where was the independent analysis?
There are dozens of reasons to drop a class, from changing majors to failing tests. In the past, the excuse hasn't mattered as long as you figured it out in the first five weeks of class. That was the period of time after classes started that you could drop a class without it showing up on your transcript.
Despite the lack of planning or understanding of what, exactly, constitutes a rally, the editorial board believes the biggest fault lies with the students. Student apathy is present everywhere, but it is amazing that apathy carries over into the arena of tuition — arguably the most important topic to concern a student.
Patrick Ross for the editorial board.
However, Senate is not entirely at fault as the students were the impetus for this discussion, students who sent a strong message to our administration and legislature. That message said, "We don't care."
Next time Student Senate wants to plan a rally, perhaps they should be more organized and look into what the word "rally" means.
Recently, the University Council reduced this timeframe from five weeks to three. The divisions over the issue are reflected in the vote, which students lost "roughly three to one," according to The University Daily Kansan. The move was designed to prevent students from waiting until the last minute, thereby increasing the number of spots for those who need to add classes. How those two weeks constitute the crucial difference to a wait-listed student is unclear.
Those who opposed the move pointed to Ivy League schools, which allow significantly longer drop periods. The student motivation for opposing the rule change seems obvious. Dropping a class offers an easy recourse for classes that are poor or overwhelm the student.
The faculty needs to balance the needs of students getting into the class with those unsure of their placement in it. An alternative would be to provide monetary benefits for those who drop early when wait lists begin to grow. This would establish more reasonable reimbursement policies and achieve the desired balance between uncertain students and waitlisted students.
Perhaps the light at the end of the tunnel is the possible effect it will have on student grades by forcing students to remain in classes that don't suit them and thus increasing lower grades. The market value of an A might shoot up, and perhaps students will pick their classes with more care in the first place.
There's little to suggest that two weeks will open the floodgates to those disenfranchised, "waitlist" students.
Greg Holmquist for the editorial board.
Instead, we're left with a policy that encourages the same procrastination, albeit in a shorter time frame, while undermining those who have legitimate reasons to drop a class.
The procrastination date may be shifted, but three weeks is still too long to miss at the outset of a course. Students would have to be attending class anyway during this time, at which point the issue of a waitlisted student not getting in seems less critical.
Coverage of Lynch over other women effort to avoid violating comfort zones
perspective
Editor's note: Plummer is studying abroad in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The March 23 ambush of the U.S. Army's 507th Maintenance Brigade left three American women with three very different fates. Of those women, one African American, one Native American and one Caucasian, it wasn't hard to guess who would become America's sweetheart.
Through her death in the ambush, Lori Ann Piestewa, a member of the Hopi Nation, became the first Native American female soldier killed in war. Her death has left her two children without a mother.
Alexzia Plummer
opinion@hansan.com
The elevation of Jessica Lynch as a poster child for the war reveals a lackluster side of American journalism. Instead of giving audiences a complex or even complete story, media outlets around the country opted to tell a simple story: Cute blond girl gets captured by some awfully mean Iraqis, but luckily, the U.S. Army saved her
Her story may make the audience question a country that sends young single mothers to war. Or it may lead one to question how someone could fight for a country that has mistreated her ancestors.
Although the media had largely neglected African American Shoshana Johnson and Native American Piestewa, their stories are every bit as compelling as Lynch's. At first glance, their exclusion from the public spotlight may seem simply prejudiced. Upon further examination, it
To focus on the other members of her unit, especially the two women of color, would make for a difficult story that wouldn't fit into one soundbite. It seemed that the media let down its guard and became an extension of the Pentagon's public affairs department. According to John Kampfnieris "The Truth about Jessica" in The Guardian on May 15, the Pentagon released edited rescue footage and a ready-made story line about Jessica Lynch, which American journalists accepted with little resistance.
COMMENTARY
Shoshana Johnson's story also raises issues that aren't often discussed. Johnson
To examine the lives of these two other women wouldn't be as easy as a ready-made package from the Pentagon. Their pasts bring issues that may make people uncomfortable.
shows an even sadder feature of the American media.
Michele Weldon says it best in her article "U.S. Media's Impulsiveness Launched Lynch" in Newsday on Nov. 14: "It is a casuality of the profession that the media regularly sacrifices nuance, complexity and full accuracy for the sake of simplicity, speed, good pictures and provocative quotes."
was a POW for 22 days and sustained various injuries. Like a growing number of soldiers, she isn't a natural-born citizen of the United States. Her family moved to the United States from Panama when she was five years old. Her life may urge the audience to consider the motivations of immigrant soldiers. What drives someone to defend another country, especially if that country has had a sketchy past with their homeland?
But instead of these probing issues, the media picked the easy story, the all-American girl with blond bangs from West Virginia. Not even the footage of Johnson and the other soldiers while in captivity could sustain attention.
"The elevation of Lynch as a hero does important ideological work for us as a nation in ways that are familiar and comfortable. To know too much abut the inner lives of Johnson and Piestewa, on the other hand, would be to know too much about ourselves."
The media-makers have thought in terms of ratings and not in terms of quality storytelling. Instead of doing the unique story with alternate angles, it was easier to do the obvious story.
Kristal Brent Zook aptly describes this attitude uncovered by the ongoing Jessica Lynch fascination in the article, "We don't see the true picture of women in the military" in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 6:
Plummer is a Bellevue, Neb., senior in journalism.
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Thanksgiving is a day we give thanks. Did I forget to mention the millions of Indians that we massacred to take this land from them?
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Free for All
I am from New York and I see a whole bunch of people on campus wearing "I love New York" shirts and it really pisses me off because you probably have never even been to New York.
It should be like one of those Fourth of July popper things. You pull the string and confetti flies out.
michael Gibson
general manager and news adviser
864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
michael Gibson
general manager and news adviser
864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
Are there any virgins at the University of Kansas? I have three nerdy friends and they are all not virgins. Come on.
Do you know what would be nice? It all of the windows in Marvin Hall weren't broken so that it is not 50 degrees in the studio. It is kind of hard to work and move around when you are wearing your winter coat. You guys might want to get on that and get it fixed so that we are warm.
michael Gibson
general manager and news adviser
864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
My friends told me that I passed out last night and woke up and ate a lot of pizza.
The laundry room at Lewis residence sucks butt. It is really expensive and it doesn't even dry your 'treakin' clothes.
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