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Kansan
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Thursday, October 1, 1998
Editorials
Language barriers can collapse easily
Students should stop complaining about language barriers in the classroom. Instead, students should participate actively and responsibly in the sharing of ideas with their non-native, English-speaking instructors.
While they are taking classes at the University of Kansas, students may attend classes instructed by people whose native language is not English.
Many of these instructors hail from nations on the other side of the world, and students may not be aware that their instructors are probably experiencing similar communication difficulties as those of the students.
However, before instructors are given the green light to teach at the University, they must prove their proficiency in both the course material and the English language.
According to Regents policy, all faculty must be interviewed by three persons affiliated with the University, one of whom must be a student.
During interviews, if any exceptional language problems arise, appropriate recommendations are made for the improvement of the instructors' language skills, such
Foreign instructors take an English proficiency exam before teaching.
By the time they are a class, instructors command the English language with more skill than most students can manage with any foreign language.
as concurrent enrollment in an English language course.
Non-native English speaking graduate teaching assistants have proven their language fluency by taking a standard English test used to evaluate the test-taker's English speaking ability at institutions worldwide. According to a University policy set in place in 1995, GTAs must pass the test with a minimum score of 80 percent.
Even though instructors officially are proficient in the English language, sometimes accents cause misunderstandings. When students listen closely and inform their instructors of unbearable communication problems — a voice too soft or too quick — language problems usually are solved. Other problems may relate to styles of teaching rather than
those of speaking.
Often instructors accommodate students by altering their teaching styles for those students who reveal their motivation to participate in the learning process. If shared anxiety is the only form of dialogue between instructors and students, there is less of a chance for learning and maturing than if concerns are consistently and appropriately voiced.
Students already should know the appropriate moments for bringing up issues that deal with the teaching or speaking style of their instructors. Approaching instructors during their office hours, after class and through email are all convenient routes through which to voice concerns.
When students corner instructors during class to argue for grade adjustments or chatter through a lecture, students show disrespect for both their instructors and their classmates.
If students show their willingness to listen, learn and participate, and problems persist, students are encouraged to voice their concerns to the heads of the departments.
Kris Olsen for the editorial board
Feedback
Williams shows class by talking to students
A couple of weeks ago, my friend and I decided to go to Baskin-Robbins. While we were sitting outside eating ice cream, Roy Williams pulled up in his car. He got our of his car smiling and talked with us for a few minutes. He was very
friendly, and we really appreciated the few minutes he took to say hello, since I'm sure he just wants some peace and quiet sometimes.
a couple of KU students. It's little things like taking a few minutes to talk to us that make Williams such a classy man. Best of luck this year to our basketball team, and we will be cheering for you from the top bleachers in Allen Field House.
When he came out, we were shocked when again he talked to us about the football team, his recent recruiting trip and our KU basketball team.
This letter is to thank Coach Williams for taking some time for
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sroaden your mind: Today's quote
How to submit letters and guest columns
"One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty councils. The thing to do is to
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and home-town if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
supply light not heat." — Woodrow Wilson
Jonathan Huskey
 opinion @ kansan.com
Guest columnists: Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Staufer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Ann Premer (premer@kansan.com) or Tim Harrington (tharrington@kansan.com) at 864-4810. If you have general questions or comments, email the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4810.
Not all pro-life people are religious extremists
From the murders of abortion doctors to the puritanical ranting of anti- abortion rights activists, to be pro-life is thought by many to be an insensitive
bigot. No wonder: Fire that would make Dante whimper came from the eyes of many on campus last week. A collective "how dare you" sprang from pro-choice activists.
Perspective
However, the open-minded who ventured to listen instead of relying on defiant slogans that didn't apply, were confronted by arguments from a compassionate and respectful group.
You see, abortion is not a religious issue, it is about life, or as Donald Marquis states in his seminal paper, a "future of value" that a fetus possesses just as anyone does. Professor Marquis, is not a religious rabble-rouser to say the least. He is thoughtful and educated and so too is the pro-life position, but you won't be convinced of that unless you are willing to listen. For some (especially those who like to four-wheel on Daisy Hill) that is to much too ask.
"Diversity and understanding are great"sav
Lets dismiss another non-issue. Some prochoice individuals have the strange opinion that morality can't be legislated and perceive pro-life arguments to be essentially religiously backed. First, you would be hard-pressed to find a law not rooted in some form of ethic. If we can legislate laws against parking in a handicapped zone, I don't understand why not on abortion.
I would encourage pro-choiceers to debate abortion instead of making periphery arguments. Don't give me a lecture on how prolifiers are anti-female or intolerant. Some are, but many aren't. But this doesn't even address the topic.
the bastions of mainline campus liberalism, but oh how the "enlightened" embrace ignorance when concerning the issue of abortion. Most exhibited the typical prochoice idea of discussing abortion by ignoring pro-life viewpoints, opting to stereotype pro-lifers as religious zealots and woman hating idiots.
The founder of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, Gregg Cunningham, is an unusual leader of the pro-life movement. Although he has connections to militant factions that would just as soon beat you with a Bible than a reasoned argument, he chooses the more thoughtful path.
Cunningham stated that he didn't need to pitch Biblical curve balls (though he is a Christian) to win, and he is right because the pro-choice movement bats with a feather at the philosophical plate.
It would be slightly less reprehensible had this crash-test dummy voiced his opinion and organizers of the protest had sritten him with scripture and damned his evil soul. Having listened to the way Cunningham and his staff discussed abortion in a polite and philosophical manner, it's most likely this guy just lost all rationality and succumbed to his own frustration.
Why did someone attempt a hit and run on the center's display (admittedly ugly but effective)? I can't be sure of the motivation, perhaps it was a combination of anger and reulsion. What is clear is that he didn't care to engage in any meaningful dialogue.
Well, on this campus at least, resort to an attack on every issue but the one that brought you into the ruckus: ABORTION. I have not heard one pro-choice person actually discuss abortion in the Kansan, on the sidewalk or in a sign. Usually, pro-choice arguments hover around absurd parallels that treat the right to an abortion like it's a lifestyle choice on the order of whether to be a vegetarian. Unfortunately — and conveniently — for them, this kind of logic ignores the other life involved.
It wouldn't be surprising because to be pro-choice and debating a rational pro-lifer is an exercise in frustration. You expect them to be conservative, anal jerks intent on proscribing biblical interpretations into every nook and cranny of our pluralistic
Most of my friends are pro-choice, and I understand the issue from their perspective, but I have concluded that abortion is a morally unacceptable practice that we as a society must outlaw. People probably don't like abortion and may think it to be wrong, but they won't allow their own instinct or reason get in the way of inconsistent and irresponsible moral arguments that accept the legality of abortion.
society. Then when that doesn't happen,
what's a normal pro-choiceer to do?
Will pro-choicers that read this vilify me, just like the center? I hope not, but I fear many will. Disagree with me, but give me something to disagree with; come up with some philosophical ideas about abortion that don't rely upon any other issue.
Tough, isn't it.
Huskey is a Salina senior majoring in political science.
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Administration ignored students with displays
Rodger Woods
opinion @ kansan.com
Yet, the University administration must also shoulder the blame for what happened. The fact that the displays would be disturbing and probably lead to confrontation should not have come as a surprise to anyone. If it did, then our University administration is in a much sorrier state than I had believed. The University should have taken action before the displays were put up to reduce the possibility of violent confrontation.
I, in no way, condone the violence that occurred last week. The individuals involved should be held accountable for their actions. If that involves criminal prosecutions, so be it.
last week, the University of Kansas administration took the important step of imposing fines on any person that would dare put an unauthorized flier on a classroom billboard or newspaper box.
We are fortunate indeed to have an administration so keyed on the important issues affecting all KU students. Thankfully, the disturbing trend of having unauthorized fliers posted on classroom billboards has been brought to a halt.
Although the University administration was protecting us from papers taped to lamp posts on Wescoe Beach, one of the earliest episodes to occur
on this campus during the last 10 years was taking place. I'm talking about the anti-abortion displays on Daisy Hill and Strong Hall.
In addition to the mission of providing an education to students, the University has several other important functions. Foremost among these is to provide a free and open forum to discuss any and all issues. Certainly a public university should be on the cutting edge of First Amendment rights. However, free speech on the University campus is not an end to itself. it is merely a necessary part of the education of students.
This is not to say that the KU Christian Legal Society should not have been allowed to bring in the displays. Rather, the administration should have used reasonable judgment.
This University is not just a soap box that any group with an agenda can jump on anytime it chooses. Instead, it is an institution of higher learning that uses free speech to further the learning process. Clearly, if the free speech rights of one group interfere with the ability of others to live and learn in a peaceful environment, it is incumbent on
the administration to step in and stop the interference.
First, the displays never should have been placed on Daisy Hill. For better or worse, Daisy Hill is home to many students. The residence halls are, of course, state property. But the students living there have a reasonable expectation to live in a peaceful environment. I can't believe any student signed his or her residence hall contract with the expectation that large displays of a most graphic nature would be placed outside the windows and in front of the dining room.
Third, it is reasonable to have groups bring in displays such as the one we were blessed with last week? At the same time, it wouldn't be difficult to tell from looking at the displays beforehand (someone did look at the displays beforehand, didn't they?) that certain groups on campus would be very offended by their content. Knowing that, perhaps it would have been better to have a discussion with those groups and the group bringing in the displays before they are put up, rather than just letting it all be one big surprise for everyone.
Secondly, there are limits to what may be displayed at the University. Suppose, for instance my new student organization SAP (Students Against Pornography) wanted to set up displays on campus. Is it likely that the administration would allow me to set up my 10-foot still shots from the latest pornographic movies, so that everyone would know exactly what pornography is all about? Of course not.
The University owes the students on Daisy Hill an apology and a commitment to be more diligent when it comes to groups using Daisy Hill for propaganda purposes.
Nobody has a right not to be offended. It's a tough world, and there are difficult, even ugly questions to deal with. However, someone was asleep at the wheel on this one. The University administration must make a greater effort in the future to avoid or defuse confrontational events beforehand, rather than allow the University to receive a black eye and the educational mission to be disrupted.
Woods is a Hutchinson second-year law student.
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