Opinion
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2009
United States First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,or of the press;or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
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--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
To the redhead on the treadmill around closing time:
You know who this is and you should know you're the only girl I've ever said that to.
But does she know where to buy pepper spray?
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
Brady Morningstar ... more like Brady Morningwood.
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
I think Easy Mac just makes me hungrier.
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
Brady Morningstar ... more like Brady Drunkincar.
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
I never fail to maintain my composer when falling in Budio
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
I'm on a mission. It's top secret.
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
My grandpa texted me today asking if I was the girl that the football and basketball teams fought over.
Brett Favre may or may not be the future father to my children.
Got drunk on Diet Coke this weekend. Don't ask me how.
It's a secret
I love knitting.
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
Now I'm drinking an energy drink called Bawls. From Co-caine to Bawls.
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
People with homophobia are hilarious! It's just so easy to push their cute little buttons.
The sidewalks on campus need passing lanes. Slow people stay on the right.
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
I have a dream: that one day, the vending machine will not discriminate against my numbers.
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
No, I do not want to become a fan of Kim Kardashian.
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
Do you believe in love at first site?
No, but I do believe in college students knowing how to spell "sight" correctly.
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
You know what they say:
Sometimes the cucumber tastes better pickled.
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
I'm going to rock this History 129 test.
Wasn't that test Monday?
--rigorous journalistic values. The Collegian is a training ground for writers, reporters, columnists and editors, as are thousands
EDITORIAL BOARD
First Amendment restrictions suppress student journalism
BY TIM HERRERA Washington Square News New York University
The University Daily Kansan has joined 32 other universities in support of the protection of collegiate First Amendment rights.
Los Angeles City College's student-run newspaper, the Collegian, is an award-winning publication that has been in continuous print for 80 years. Its staff of approximately 30 students works tirelessly to publish high-quality content while adhering to
other student organizations were cut only 15 percent.
But LACC's president, Jamillah Moore, has made calculated attempts to hinder the students' right to a free press.
She has tried to forbid a company working with the college from speaking to the student press; she has tried to pressure student reporters to sign releases for recording public meetings; she has violated California Open Meeting Laws by requesting that reporters identify themselves; and she has attempted to silence the Collegian by slashing its budget by 40 percent — when the budgets of
of other student-run publications that hold to the same principles, standards and ethics.
Adam Goldstein of the Student Press Law Center has called her "the single most repeat First Amendment violator in the nation."
And now, Moore is attempting to move the Collegian under student services, where the administration would have the option to edit all content, monitor stories and determine the direction of the paper.
An attack on free speech anywhere is an attack on free speech everywhere. That is why we the
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OPINION
undersigned, have come together to universally condemn the actions of Jamillah Moore and the actions of any administration
that makes deliberate efforts to break the free speech of student publications.
As students, we have been taught to expect an environment where freedom of speech will go uncontested. And as student journalists, we expect our administrations to understand that we strive to be an objective voice of reason
But we also recognize that any publication that disturbs the comfort of the comfortable will be challenged.
Student journalists at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of New Mexico and the University of Oregon, as well as countless untold others, have seen
such assaults on their rights. This cannot stand.
We, as student journalists, come together today with a single message:
We will not tolerate administrations that, for their own benefit, try to silence the voice of the student free press. We will continue to rebuke those in power who hope to trounce our right to free speech, and we will not be silenced.
This editorial was published in and endorsed by the following student-run newspapers:
POLITICS
The Collegian, Los Angeles City College; The Cornell Daily Sun, Cornell University; The Daily Orange, Syracuse University; The Daily Princetonian, Princeton University; The Daily Sundial, California State University Northridge; East Los Angeles Campus News, East Los Angeles College; FS View & Florida Flambeau, Florida State University; The GW Hatchet, George Washington University; The Ithacan, Ithaca College; The Maneater, University of Missouri; The New Hampshire, University of New Hampshire; Oregon Daily Emerald, University of Oregon; The Rocky Mountain Collegian, Colorado State University; The Roundup, Pierce College; The Stanford Daily, Stanford University; The University Daily Kansan, University of Kansas; Washington Square News, New York University.
MARIAM SAFIAN
Gay rights deserve more attention
I'm taking part in the University's political science program in Washington D.C. next spring, and, as a long shot, I'm applying for an internship at the White House.
The application prompts the potential intern to write a memo to the president about an issue of his or her choice, which got me thinking: What would I talk about if I actually had the president's ear for five or ten minutes? Health care reform? Climate change? Counter-cyclical fiscal stimulus?
Anyone who has lived in Topeka during the last couple decades can recall with grudging familiarity the Day-Glo placards of the Rev. Fred Phelps and his ilk anointing the intersections of that aesthetically challenged city with that hatefully tedious prognostication: GOD HATES FAGS
No, it would have to be the issue of gay rights, a policy issue that President Obama has all but neglected during his tenure in the White House.
Driving home from high school each afternoon. I would pass the Phelps family compound, the Westboro Baptist Church, festooned with an enormous banner proclaiming "GODHATESAMERICA.COM" and flying the upside-down flags
I think the vast majority of people in Topeka are disgusted by the Bhelps' public displays of hate. All things considered, their spectacle provides a great service for the cause of gay rights.
of America, Canada and Sweden, which, perversely, looks the same as it does right side up.
I credit the Phelps family for my early awareness of the controversy surrounding homosexuality and gay rights.
DANTHOMPSON
Not until I was older did I realize that the truly destructive bigotry isn't displayed on any street corner in Topeka.
I watched my gay and lesbian friends and family members struggle, as they still struggle, against this pervasive and pernicious bias.
Rather, it is ingrained in the legal and social institutions that hold straight to be the norm and gay to be the aberration.
If you're a gay kid growing up in America today, you know that you cannot be honest with others and serve in the military; you cannot be honest and still look forward to marriage and children and all of the benefits that straight kids like me have taken for granted.
Meaningful equality can only come with the elimination of government policies that maintain and reinforce this bias.
Right now, 22 of the 26 members of NATO allow gays to serve openly in the military.
The Obama administration has done nothing to reform the "Don't ask, don't tell" law.
Even more disappointing is the administration's active support for the Defense of Marriage Act, which, among other provisions, prevents the federal government from recognizing gay marriages in the states where it is legal.
For now, the issue of gay marriage should be left up to the states; the federal government should at least remain neutral.
It's a shame Obama has yet to make any meaningful changes to his predecessors' policies regarding gay rights.
Thompson is a Topeka senior in economics.
HUMOR
New 'service' makes relationships easy
Dear new Loveproxy client,
Congratulations, and thank you for choosing Loveproxy!
We at Loveproxy know that you tried in the world of love. Nobody can blame you for the humiliation you've undergone on the shockingly few dates that you have managed to wrangle. It's not your fault.
In the coming months, as you wait to be inserted into an exciting pre-established relationship full of love and mutual respect, you can relax and be confident that your days of loneliness are almost over.
Well, it was your palm sweat, your flatulence and high-pitched intestinal churnings and your opinion that the state should perform mandatory hysterectomies on any female who can't name the band that sang "Radar Love." But still, she didn't need to Taser you in front of the entire restaurant just to make her point.
Courtship and romance are painfully learned skills, and some people simply aren't psychologically or physiologically equipped to succeed.
That's where Loveproxy comes in. Leaving your love life in the capable hands of Loveproxy will put you in the driver's seat, after three months to a year in the passenger seat.
In the next week you will meet your assigned proxy. You will have several consultations with your proxy as you fill him in on the details of being you: hobbies, interests, criminal history, favorite movies and favorite ice cream flavors. (Your proxy and your sweetheart will be eating a lot of ice cream together).
Your proxy will then become your faithful representative, wooing your date on your behalf, but without the debilitating awkwardness and unfortunate verbal tics that have kept you so alone for so many years.
He will speak for you and make
all those little relationship decisions within the basic framework of your personality, taking only some basic necessary artistic liberties with your identity.
Because of last year's decision by the Ninth Circuit Court, your sweetheart-in-waiting must be made aware by the second date that the man she is consorting with is only a representative, not an actual partner himself.
Your proxy will of course be taller, better looking and a more coherent conversationalist than you are, but this is only to maintain your beloved's interest in the relationship until we can turn it over to you.
No more jumping through hoops to impress a date. Your proxy will do that for you. Then, once love and understanding are established, our proxies are trained to lower expectations ever-so gradually, so that the relationship transfer goes as smooth as possible.
She also will need to sign a contract stating that she understands that the relationship will be transferred to a Loveproxy client (that's you!) after a specified length of time.
Let's face it, the majority of relationships end up mired in mutual disillusionment, annoyance and open, unashed gas passing. And we know this is the part of a relationship where you thrive, and this is precisely where your proxy will手链 things over to you.
You have a lot to offer in love; let us do the bidding for you.
Unglesbee is a Overland Park senior in creative writing and economics.
Student loan program too important to cut
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The other argument treated out by proponents of the bill is that it will help students by increasing Pell Grants. This again fails on a number of levels.
First, far fewer students receive Pell Grants — about 10 percent of students at the University — meaning fewer people will see
A bill that would eliminate the Stafford Loan program has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is set to go before the Senate. This means if you receive subsidized government loans — around a third of University of Kansas students — you will see your education costs increase by a few thousand dollars.
The legislation is supposed to save the government $80 billion over the next ten years. But $70 billion of that is already promised to be spent elsewhere, meaning an actual saving of $1 billion a year, or 1/300 of a percent of the federal budget. Not exactly the kind of savings that will end the budget deficit any time soon.
the benefits.
Even if you hate politics (and justifiably so), odds are this legislation will affect you somehow. As someone who receives both Pell Grants and Stafford Loans, I can say that the loans have helped me far more. I would not be willing to pay thousands more in loans to see my grant go up a tiny bit.
Moreover, the proposed increase is only $150 in the maximum amount of a Pell Grant, whereas the vast majority of recipients never receive the maximum amount anyway. If you've checked your tuition bills lately you know that, if you're lucky, $150 might buy you one book.
I strongly encourage anyone interested in this bill to look into the student organization Higher Education for Lower Prices, write your Senator or talk to your friends about it. Do anything really. But do something, because as awful as politics often are, it's worse to simply complain about them and then do nothing to help solve the problem.
Alexander King is a senior from Wichita.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are members Havley, Jessica Sain-Baard, Jennifer Tornell and Caitlin Thorbughen and Michael Haltz.