Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Jodie Chester, Editor
Gerry Doyle, Managing editor
Ryan Koerner, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news advisor
4A
Marc Harrell, Business manager
Jamie Holm, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Wednesday, September 2, 1998
Editorials
Libraries need handy book drops
The University of Kansas libraries should step up their attempts to implement book drops on campus.
Most libraries offer book drops that don't require patrons to go into the library. Watson Library, the most heavily used on campus, does not offer this service and it should.
Returning a book quickly is difficult. Someone returning a book must find a parking space, often far away, and walk to Watson's entrance. There is a book drop at the back door of the library, but few use it. Both drops require the climbing of stairs or traveling up ramps. This can be a hassle for people with disabilities.
A book drop along Jayhawk Boulevard and in both Unions would offer convenience for students and help the library get books back into circulation faster.
Watson should have a place away from the building to return books.
William Crowe, dean of the libraries, is aware of this. He said the libraries have discussed putting book drops at various campus sites, but that there are a few concerns.
Many book drops, Crowe said, are hard on the spines of books. As they fall on one another, the books tend to get damaged.
Crowe also said that a book drop on Jayhawk Boulevard could cause traffic problems as cars stop in front of it.
These are valid concerns, but can be easily addressed.
Library, which has a book drop on the street, said damage occurs, but it is not severe. The employees said the convenience to patrons outweighs the minimal damage.
Employees at the Lawrence Public
The traffic problem seems the most valid. But if the library put the drop on the road next to the parking areas in the back of Watson, cars could slip in and out without disrupting traffic
Crowe said that book drops were on a list of things to do but that they were not a priority and there was no timetable for implementation.
With more than one million books each year checked out by students, there is a need to get books back into the library as soon as possible. Book drops would do that.
It's good the libraries are a aware that students want book drops,but now they need to create them.
Spencer Duncan for the editorial board
KU should continue to attract minorities
This fall, the University of Kansas welcomed a record number of minority students. Last year, KU minority-student enrollment was about 9 percent. This year, that number is expected to be at 10.6 percent. This is clearly a step in the right direction, and the University should be commended for its efforts to create a more diverse campus. These changes don't occur by accident.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway has made it a top priority to recruit minority faculty members and bring in more minority students. Robert Page, Coordinator of Multicultural Recruitment in the Office of Admissions is one of the people working toward that goal. He attributes the increase to two primary factors: Financing and community.
When potential students weigh
A record number of minority students came to the University this fall.
their options, the ability to receive financial aid greatly increases the chances they will come — but no additional money was pegged for minority students this year. The students the University sought were more competitive — many of them National Merit Scholars — and as a result, a record number of minority students received scholarships.
primarily different than themselves. Building a sense of community among minority students is important because it is easy to feel out of place. The Office of Admissions, the Office of Minority Affairs and several minority-oriented organizations have focused on reaching out to minority freshmen through programs such as Colors of KU and Hawk Link.
Money is important, but the issue minority students regard most highly when deciding on a university is community. Minority students face the challenge of trying to identify with a student body that is
these programs, Page said, were the core reason that the University was becoming more competitive in attracting minority students. There always will be a desire to see the University become more diverse, but recent efforts to meet that challenge are impressive. If KU continues to embrace minority students, this campus will be much more palatable to all students.
Leonard West for the editorial board
Kansan staff
Ann Premer ... Editorial
Tim Harrington ... Associate Editorial
Aaron Marvin ... News
Gwen Olson ... News
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness." — Aristotle
How to submit letters and guest columns
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 hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
Guest columns: 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-Film 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.
Perspective
Critics of the President should look in the mirror
I would like to go on record here and now as saying that, as far as consenting adults are concerned, I don't care where Bill Clinton puts his son's.
puts his penis.
I figure that that is among him, Hillary, his con-
Figure that that science, and maybe his spiritual beliefs. If I cheat on my partner, that's between us. It is not the business of my classmates, co-workers or clients, and Clinton's indiscretions, however morally bankrupt, are not salient to his iob as president.
V. Meredith
*Toenjes*
oinon@kanan.com
I really try to avoid the news, but to my understanding, there's been no charge of sexual coercion on his part. At the most, his behavior was tasy and inappropriate. It is not cause, however, for impeachment.
As for the so-called perjury, the charges brought by Paula Jones were dismissed, and whether he had a consensual sexual relationship with Lewinsky should never have been a part of the proceedings. Charging him with perjury is tantamount to the police harassing someone for no reason and then charging him with resisting arrest when he wishes to know why the police are there to begin with.
None of his behavior is new to the office. Nixon lied, and his lie was about criminal activity. JFK apparently schuptupped just about any woman who stood still. Thomas Jefferson might have had an affair with a female slave. Not only did Franklin Roosevelt likely have an extramarital affair, but Eleanor may have, too. Frankly, I'm surprised that there's anyone left who thinks that there was any honor left to the office of President of the United States.
office of. However, I'm not surprised that the ones who do are younger than 23. In the last dozen years I've registered people to vote in poor urban areas, attended multiple Kansas City, Mo., city council meetings, and worked on several political campaigns. In all of that time, I've not encountered even a handful of politicians in person or by reputation
that I trust, like, or would want to spend time with.
In early 1992, I was flipping channels when I stopped on a man making a speech. He was good-looking and saying all of the right things. I quickly figured out that he was running for president, and by the end of the speech I found out that, although I agreed with everything he said, I didn't trust him an inch. I voted for him twice and I still don't trust him. He was just less distasteful to me than the other options.
I certainly don't approve of his behavior. Frankly, if I were his wife I'd be at my mother's house. As a husband, a father, and a man, his behavior is morally reprehensible. But as president, I take much more issue with his backing out of campaign promises and using the powers granted to him during his first term to suck up to moderates in order to get relected.
Honestly, I don't feel that Clinton is any more or less honest than any other president, just that we've gotten consistently better at uncovering dirt during the last 30 years. I also feel that all this prurient attention being paid to the president's life is in the same vein as the tabloid journalism that was so vilified this time last year after the death of Princess Diana. The only difference is that this is on the front page of The New York Times rather than The National Enquirer.
I propose that if we truly think Clinton's behavior is inimical to our national ethics, that we instead examine ourselves and our own standards.
Frankly, whether or not we voted for Clinton our toleration of this type of behavior among our political officeholders is why a man like him could become president in the first place. If his behavior and ethics were really beyond the pale of the average politician, he never would have gotten this far in the first place.
So the next time you feel tempted to rail on the president, turn off the news and examine yourself. How many of the things he's accused of would you do if you thought you wouldn't get caught or you became President? If the answer is yes to any, maybe Kenneth Starr should be knocking on your door before you go into politics, too.
Toenjes is a Kansas City, Kan., senior majoring in History and Psychology.
Retaliation bombings help curb other violence
It seems rather odd to me that some people think it's wrong for the U.S. government to destroy a chemical weapons factory and a terrorist base belonging to the terrorist group that
factory and a terrorist b the terrorist group that bombed two U.S. embassies.
inese terrorists killed and wounded thousands of innocent civilians. The arguments used to criticize the actions of our government seem even stranger. They include accusing people in the government of harboring racial hatred and a desire for revenge.
David
Perico
opinion @ kansan.com
For one thing, the military did not order the attacks. The order came from the president.
Some have said that the president ordered the military strikes because he didn't want to give the terrorists a fair trial. Two of the people suspected of involvement in the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kenya, however, have been extradited to the United States to stand trial.
All of this criticism of our government's response to terrorism is having the effect of trying to bring the credibility of our own government down to the same low level as that of the terrorists.
it's important to remember that the terrorists are murderers. They don't represent the majority of people in that region. The people who live in the Middle East are victims of terrorists' murderous tendencies more than anyone else, so the terrorists should not be thought of as some sort of hard luck, third world heroes.
The embassies in Africa were bombed for no other reason than to help a bloodthirsty millionaire increase his political influence among political extremists in the Middle
Linya's ruler al-Qaddafi is a perfect example. Before the U.S. Air Force bombed some sense into him, it seemed as if he was never going to stop his increasingly violent attacks on Americans. Now, he keeps a sizable distance between himself and the actions of terrorists, even if he does sympathize with them.
The terrorist bombings planned by Osama bin Laden didn't strike much of a blow against what he calls evil America. This terrorist attack slaughtered hundreds of African women and children and wounded thousands more. He possibly targeted the embassies in Africa because he knew that people in America were so used to scenes of awful suffering in Africa that the attack on the embassies would not create enough outrage to prompt an overwhelming military response.
East.
We live in a violent world. If rogue nations or people like bin Laden think they can get away with violent acts, they will carry out their plans to commit such crimes.
On the other hand, western nations tried for years to bring Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic under control with sanctions, threats and attempts to put him on trial. Meanwhile, the Serb-led genocide of Muslims in Bosnia has continued. [2]
Although it's necessary to examine the actions of our government, insulting members of the administration and the military will only serve to weaken the resolve of the president to protect the lives of innocent civilians in the future.
Besides that, there really is no doubt about who bombed the embassies. Bint Laden has openly bragged about his desire to kill Americans, and members of his organization have openly discussed their involvement in the bombings.
Perico is a Lawrence sophomore majoring in English.
Feedback
Sorority or not, tolerance needed
As I read the opposing views of KU's sorority rush in Friday's paper, I was reminded not of my own Rush experience, nor of the preconceived notions about sorority girls I once had, but rather I was reminded of a message that I received while attending KU's summer orientation. The message was one of tolerance, of learning to accept those that are different from you and appreciating instead of condemning that which makes them unique.
I pledged a chapter and couldn't be happier with my decision. But don't think I'm writing this merely as a defense of the young woman who wrote about her rush experience, or as a criticism of the article published that compared sororities to cults. I am writing to encouraging all students to find their niche. Everyone has the right to find the environment that suits them the most adequately.
If all students did was go to class everyday, this school would lose its flavor. KU would no longer be the institution of higher learning that offers a ballet, a football game, a concert, a poetry reading,
and a party all in the same eve-
ning. It would only be school,
and how many people really
come to Lawrence for that?
Student involvement and the desire to make a difference are two components that help make this university one of the best.
I know I won't like or understand everyone, but I will try my hardest to accept everyone. So whether you're a musician, a technician, a basketball player, an educator, and yes even a sorority girl, I hope you find something that makes you happy.
Erin Day
1
Francis freshman