4A the university daily kansan
opinion
wednesday,november 12, 2003
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This goes to whoever compared a smoking section in a restaurant to a peeing section in a public pool. You are entitled to your opinion but that is the dumbest analogy I have ever heard in my entire life.
Mondays should not exist.
I am glad I got a bus pass to end up standing out in the rain and not have a bus come and end up having to walk home.
--perspective
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What is with the old dudes walking around naked in the Robinson locker room?
My roommate has been unknowingly sleeping with a dead mouse for the past three days. I let him borrow my Febreeze.
correction
In yesterday's face-off column "Decision Undermines Precedent," by Amanda Flott, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was inaccurately attributed with writing the Court's opinion in the Roe v. Wade case. The correct author was Justice Harry Blackmun.
letter to the editor
Protesting war essential
Arrah Nielsen's Oct. 30 University Daily Kansan column, "Protesting war now misguided," was another chapter in her quest to become a caricature of Ann Coulter, who is herself a caricature of a conservative. Like President Bush, Nielsen has reason to be frustrated these days, but she is wrong to take out her feelings on the people of conscience who are trying to save lives and stop the war.
The war in Iraq is in deep trouble, and the men and women who serve there are in even deeper trouble. Attacks on U.S. military personnel are increasing in number and intensity. More soldiers have died since our president assured us combat was over than were killed during major operations in the spring. On the home front, the administration seems to make another mistake or tell another lie every day. The most recent was the president's attempt to dodge blame for the "Mission Accomplished" photo opportunity in which he wore a flight suit and became a model for an action figure.
If Nielsen can remember that Harry Truman dropped atomic bombs on Japan, why can't she remember the sign on Truman's desk that read, "The Buck Stops Here" — meaning that the president is ultimately responsible for everything that happens on his watch?
Ray Pence Lawrence graduate student American studies
Ray Pence
Nate Beeler for Knight Ridder
Plague researcher's trial teaches chilling lesson
we need Thomas Butler to be fighting terrorism.
Unfortunately, he won't be doing that any longer. The world-renowned microbiologist and decorated Vietnam veteran just lost his job at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and if the justice department has its way he'll spend the rest of his life in prison.
COMMENTARY
Before Butler was indicted on 69 felony charges by the United States Department of Justice last September, he was one of the world's top researchers of bubonic plague bacteria. Plague bacteria were weaponized by the Soviet Union decades ago and were thought to be one of the most likely agents bioterrorists could use. Butler had been studying which antibiotics would work best to temper a plague attack when he was arrested. His trial began last Monday.
Rachel Robson opinion@kansan.com
Regardless of whether Butler is indispen-sable in the fight against bioterrorism, he must be punished to teach other scientists working with dangerous agents a lesson, prosecutors say. "If it doesn't get jail time," former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy told 60 Minutes, "then all scientists will continue to do it."
"There is no question but that Dr. Butler's isolation from the field acts detrimentally on our capacity...to respond to a plague attack were it to occur." Donald A. Henderson, founder of the Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies at Johns Hopkins University and chief adviser to the Bush administration, wrote on public health preparedness. The National Academy of Sciences sent a letter protesting Butler's treatment to the justice department, and one Nobel laureate is contributing his prize money to Butler's defense fund.
Lesson 1: Cooperating with the authorities. Butler is in so much trouble because he did cooperate. Last January, Butler noticed that 30 out of the hundreds of vials of plague bacteria he had in his research collection were missing. Fearing that the missing samples might have been stolen, he called the Texas Tech campus police, who then alerted the FBI. When dozens of FBI agents swarmed into Lubock, Texas, to question him, he complied. When his interrogators, after nearly a dozen straight hours of questioning, told him it would make everyone's life easier if he said that the 50 vials had been accidentally destroyed, Butler told them what he thought they wanted to hear.
What did Butler do, and what lessons does his prosecution teach?
"Doctor Butler felt he was on the same team, so he didn't bother to get a lawyer
- big mistake," William Greenough, a
friend of Butler's and professor at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, told The Washington Post. So Butler was accused of lying to the FBI, just one of the many felony charges leveled against him. No charges would have ever been made if he hadn't reported the vials missing in the first place.
Lesson 2: National security. Among the accusations pressed against Butler is the charge that he smuggled plague bacteria into the United States from Africa. In 2002, Butler went to Tanzania to collect bacteria samples from a plague outbreak. Plague bacteria are common all over the world, and can also be found in prairie dogs in the American southwest. Instead of having the samples shipped back to his lab — which would have involved the bacteria being handled by scores of people in several countries, with varying loyalties to the United States — Butler transported them back home in his carry-on luggage. This is now illegal, although the laws regarding the transportation of pathogens are new.
Lesson 3: Appearance is more important than reality. The swift resolution of the Butler case averted widespread panic, a self-congratulatory justice department
"It used to be very common practice for scientists to hand-carry specimens from the field to their laboratory," wrote Henderson, the leader in the worldwide eradication of smallpox. "Many believed it to be much safer ... than risking possible loss or destruction by commercial carrier."
press release on Butler's indictment reported. Never mind that that so-called resolution was based on a false premise.
"Law enforcement agencies...were able to calm the public by declaring that the report of the missing vials was false," the press release reads. But Butler told federal investigators only that the missing plague samples were destroyed because that was what investigators told him to say. Declaring Butler's initial report false does not make it so, even if that calms the public. We still don't know what happened to 30 vials of bubonic plague and never will now that this case has been "declared" closed.
Lesson 4: Don't do research on dangerous germs. This will have a chilling effect on scientists, Charles Carpenter, a professor of medicine at Brown University and a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine, told The Washington Post.
If convicted on all charges, Butler will be subject to 469 years in prison and a $17 million fine. His prosecution will definitely teach scientists a lesson. It's just a lesson we don't want them to learn.
"It will hurt further work on potential weapons of biological warfare," he said. Just when we need more research to counter bioterrorism, there will be less of it, thanks to this overzealous prosecution. That's good news for terrorists and bad news for us.
Robson is a Baldwin City doctoral candidate in pathology.
perspective
SLAB's accomplishments understated but many
The most effective way of reaching the ear of elected officials at the city, state and national levels is done through one-on-one meetings, developing strategy based on listening to the concerns of the faction you represent and being prepared. And this year's Student Legislative Awareness Board has been doing all of these things consistently since early summer, eagerly realizing projects and formulating a strong lobbying plan for the legislative session beginning in January.
GUEST COMMENTARY
The most obvious concern for the students of the University of Kansas is the need for increased funding of our institution without the burden of a tuition increase. Clearly, the purpose of a state-run educational institution is to create an educated citizenry. However, the mere act of going to Topeka and gasping about why academics are important on their face is not enough. You must have proof. Did you know that for every dollar that is put into higher education, $4 is injected into the state's economy? SLAB knows that most state officials are either not aware of or are unconcerned about the economic ramifications of funding higher education. Blake Shuart, legislative director, has been to countless meetings with Board of Regents members, state representatives, state senators and members of the state's executive branch in an attempt to open their eyes. And they've been listening. By the time KU students make the rounds during the 2004 Legislative session, increased funding for higher education will not be seen as good for financially strapped students, but it will be good for a sluggish economy that has relied for far too long on the instability of agriculture and the ups and downs of Kansas corporations.
James Owen
opinion@kansan.com
SLAB is also undertaking a massive effort to make the voter registration process a part of new student orientation and, eventually, the online enrollment process. Launching a large-scale voter registration campaign every two years takes an enormous toll on the student funded resources of SLAB, and it is time to increase efficiency while minimizing cost and tedious work. In addition to political concerns like these, Nick Sterner, community affairs director, has been working with the University and the city to build a recycling center on campus for students and surrounding neighborhoods. Not only will this make the University "greener" and more responsible; this will be a major step in creating a stronger working relationship between campus and the city. After months of research and meetings, the University will release an official estimation of the project this week.
That's not all. SLAB members are working with the graduate school to display graduate-student research beneficial to the state of Kansas at the state capitol building in January. Around that time, KU students will be invited to a lunch with lawmakers during the session to discuss issues such as tuition and academic freedom. Coordinated by SLAB member Tyler Longpine, this
event will be the University's first successful effort at helping students truly understand the governmental process. Blake Shuart, SLAB chairman, has been heavily involved with the Regents-wide effort to reformulate a statement on academic freedom as mandated by the Kansas legislature. This project will set a new tone for academic integrity issues across the state. We are also putting together a letter-writing drive to state newspapers that will reemphasize the importance and impact of higher education. Other planned events include a series of educational forums on the political process for area youth, debates among political candidates and many unique higher education rallies at the state capitol this spring. All of this year's accomplishments have come from hard work with little flair, but this is how real lobbying works. If a student has questions about SLAB and our activities, don't hesitate to call 864-3710 and ask. SLAB is working hard for the KU community — and we're ready to work even harder.
Gwen is a Springfield, Mo. law student.
He is graduate coordinator for SLAB.
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