Opinion
Kansan
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Wednesday, October 14, 1998
Editorials
Fall break, winter intersession plan need approval and student support
As the proposal for a fall break and winter intersession at the University of Kansas faces scrutiny from the Board of Regents, students should express their support for this well overdue schedule change.
A fall break would allow for a two-day break in October by shortening finals period. Provost David Shulenburger sent the proposal, which University Governance already approved this past March, back to the Calendar Committee.
In addition to a fall break, Shulenburger requested the Committee add an intersession, which would extend winter break by one week and potentially allow for study abroad and shortened courses.
The Board of Regents remains skeptical of such an idea, as it requires the University to schedule 160 teaching days, 10 of which are devoted to finals. Regents have expresse concern about extending the school year because it would push graduation into Memorial Day weekend.
Students could study abroad or take classes during a longer winter break.
Bill Tsutsul, chairman of the Calendar Committee and proposal supporter, said one problem with the plan was making the extended weekend provided by fall break into an excuse for taking an entire week off of school. He said, however, that there is nothing stopping students from doing that now.
During the course of the fall semester, students attend about 75 uninterrupted school days until Thanksgiving break. Even then, when students return, they almost immediately have to begin finals preparation. There really is no time for a breather, and a break right after the stress of midterms would be appreciated. The University begins its semesters earlier than any other Regents institution; surely, if other schools start
later, we should be able to have two days off. A similar proposal at Wichita State University was killed last year.
One of the few problems with an intersession or an extended winter break is that the spring semester likely would start after Martin Luther King Day, and some groups worry this would take away from the day's significance.
This aside, the benefits of interes sion are promising. It would allow students to take part in short study abroad and research classes, providing more potential for focus and less stress usually experienced in a typical semester.
This debate is far from finished. Though persuading the Regents will be difficult, the board will listen to students. Therefore, students and campus organizations must come together for a compromise on the issue, and then present a united front to the board in order for a fall break and extended winter break to become reality.
Chris Borninger for the editorial board
Not sorting recyclables can be costly
Upon noticing the heavy usage of the 48 recycling bins across campus, Victoria Silva, the resource conservation manager, has written a proposal to the University asking for funds to purchase 50 more recycling centers. The cost so far for recycling containers is $2,700 a center. Sending the recyclable materials to the plant yields about $31 a ton.
The KU community should be proud of its recycling efforts. But successful recycling mandates the proper sorting of materials. It may
A KU specialist has requested funds for 50 new recycling centers.
seem innocuous to throw a University Daily Kansan into the typing paper bin. Yet a minor mistake — or symptom of laziness — like this can cause major problems. If the slip goes unnoticed, the entire load of recyclables becomes contaminated. The recycling company then pays even less for the load, not to mention the extra time and effort it takes the recycling staff to search for the contaminants
So far, this program has earned about $3,700 for 125 tons of newspaper, plastic, and typing paper. The overall success and profit margin of the recycling program should not be hindered by careless sorting. The recycling program will continue to work and receive necessary funds only if members of the University community use it correctly.
Kansan staff
Kathryn Jensen for the editorial board
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority." — Horace Greeley
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Perspective
Graves' opposition to STARS plan puzzling
If you had to decide who should receive more than $60 million in lottery profits, who would you choose; college students or big corporations? Gov. Bill Graves has already made his
choice. To him, corporate giveaways are more important than college scholarships. I don't know about you, but I have to wonder why the governor would side with big business instead of Kansas students.
Jack Martin
Guest Columnist
For those of you who haven't heard, Tom Sawyer, the Democratic candidate for governor, is proposing to use $42 million of the nearly $60 million in profits from the Kansas Lottery to finance college scholarships for hard-working Kansas students. The plan is simple: get a B, go to school tuition-free.
Unfortunately, this 75 percent figure is inaccurate, coming not from a scientific study but rather a survey administered to high school seniors. In reality, many of these students end up not attending college because it's beyond their financial means and more students don't finish college because the price is just too high.
It could be Bill Graves is opposed to STARS because lottery dollars are already going to an important program. If that's true, it shows you where his priorities lie. Right now, profits from that lottery ticket you bought go toward two programs. One program builds prisons; the other is for an "economic development" program. In fact, it's little more than corporate welfare.
I'll give you an example of what your lottery dollars are being used for. A businessman in Texas received a grant to build a tire recycling plant in Kansas. Sounds good, right? Wrong. The fact is he built the plant in China instead of Kansas and still got the money. I'm pretty sure that although the original intent of the program was to create jobs, those jobs were supposed to be created in Kansas, not mainland China.
Graves' opposition to Sawyer's plan is puzzling. It's not as if Sawyer's STARS plan is untested. The STARS program is based on the highly acclaimed HOPE scholarship program in Georgia. HOPE has been in place for more than five years, and the program has been a resounding success. High school dropouts are down and parents' involvement in their children's education is up, with little evidence of grade inflation. I would like to see numbers. How much has the dropout rate dropped? How do you know parental involvement has increased? What evidence do you have that says there is little grade inflation?
Perhaps Graves' opposition comes from his belief that college is already affordable for students. Did he say that in a speech? Where is that coming from? Well, it may be affordable for people from the governor's income bracket, but for the majority of students, paying for college is difficult. Many students graduate tens of thousands of dollars in debt and many don't graduate at all simply because they can't afford the cost of higher education.
Maybe the governor's opposition comes from the fact that he thinks enough students are going to college. He and his followers routinely say that 75 percent of Kansas students already go on to college or vocational school.
According to Christy Crenshaw, director of student financial aid for the Kansas Board of Regents: "Kansas has not been a leader in terms of funding for student financial aid. If we are to have a well-educated work force, we have to make it financially possible" (Lawrence Journal.World.Sept. 19,1999).
To further contradict the governor, members of his own administration are saying that Kansas has done a poor job of helping students.
Unfortunately, Gov. Graves is out of touch with the needs of Kansas students. Paying for college is difficult for a lot of people, and the state can and should do more. Contrary to Graves and his followers, the STARS program is a solution to a problem that definitely exists.
Students have a choice Nov. 3: corporate giveaways or college scholarships. The choice is clear: If Bill Graves wins, Kansas students lose-
Martin is a Abelene junior majoring in political science.
Analyzing the motivation of the loud music listener
Residence hall living has its drawbacks, as anyone who's ever experienced it can tell you. One of these is noise. It's not just laughing and shrieking outside your
door at two in the morning the night before your big test. Nor is it only the hippies down the hall pounding on bongo drums 24/7. The most common offense simply is playing music too darn loud.
For example, a girl on my floor last year had a bass system that was quite amazing. I could hear her music's rhythmic thumping even when I had my air conditioner, fan and television on. It drove me nuts. It was like Poe's The Telltale
Carrie Johnson
opinion@kansas.com
I often wonder what compuls college students to play music at a level that slowly deafens the listener. Is music more pleasurable if it rattles the windows and makes spackle fall from the ceiling? Probably not.
Heart, except the constant heartbeat came from next door, not from under the floorboards. And I hadn't even killed anyone to deserve such punishment, though sometimes I felt maybe I needed to.
My theory is this: People play music loudly to make a statement such as, "Look at me! I have a good stereo system!" or "Look at me! I like a rap!" or "Look at me! I bought the Armageddon soundtrack!" The purpose of such statements are threefold.
Purpose one: attention-getting. Would anyone really play music at such a level as to damage one's hearing if it didn't elicit a response? Not necessarily a bad response (in the form of a noise citation from the RA), but perhaps a positive comment from a hall passby. "Hey, you like Green Day? Me too! Let's be friends." The behavior is reinforced by recognition from peers.
There's nothing wrong with enjoying music, but problems arise when that music is forced upon others (for whichever of the reasons listed above). Not everyone in your residence hall may appreciate the finer aspects of Wu-Tang, and making them listen to it — through the walls, floors, ceilings, or doors — is inconsiderate. So do me and every other studying or sleeping person a favor. Keep your music only loud enough for YOU to hear it.
Johnson is a Oklahoma City sophomore in English.
Feedback
Political column was unfairly biased
I wish I had the open forum Huskey had last Friday to write a blatantly biased and subjective column to advance my more reasoned political views.
Purpose two: image-association. If someone were to play nothing but Marilyn Manson or Nine Inch Nails, he or she would be hoping people will think of him or her as a tough outcast from society who wears black and likes playing with road kill — or something like that. As Dick Clark so aptly put it, "Music is the soundtrack of your life." When you show everyone what your soundtrack is like, they tend to get a sense of the image you want to project.
It's a sad state when so many people like Huskey come out against tax breaks. If Clinton had the courage to support the Republican tax cuts, Americans would have more disposable income to pump into an economy that appears to have taken a turn for the worse. As for Huskey's assertion that our military is over-financed, I
I'm not saying that everyone who has ever turned up their stereo is a troubled individual. Everyone has done it at one time or another, without really thinking about how it might bother others. I'm talking about the habitual offenders here: People who blast music again and again and probably have enough blue write-up sheets to wallpaper their room.
Purpose three: rebellion. How many freshmen in their first semester at KU have gone out and done everything they could that would unset their parents?
They get tattoos, they get pierced, they stay up until three in the morning, they go out drinking (on school nights, even), they have sex with four different people in one week, and they don't eat a good breakfast every morning before class. Although some of these wild behaviors lose their kick after a few months of college, other habits stay. Playing loud music is one of them. "If Mom were here, she'd yell at me to turn my music down. Well, hah!"
As a good liberal, I question why Huskey would want government subsidizing culture through the National Endowment of Arts. The potential for those mean-spirited Republicans to suggest decency in art must be terrifying.
won't even attempt to rebut such ignorance.
The notion that Republicans are preventing campaign finance reform may be the most absurd, overstated and misleading talking point Democrats have ever spun. The Republicans advocate immediate disclosure of all campaign contributions, whereas Democrats just want to limit the
amount individuals donate. Under the Republican plan, we all know who is financing every campaign. The Democrat plan limits individual donations so they can still reap the millions contributed by unions. I know the Democrats are worried about reform when the party planned on paying $1.5 million in fines even before they were levied for the '96 campaign.
Hopefully I've clarified the truth for all but those "left-wing extremists."
Scott Shumard Clinton, Iowa, graduate student