4. Monday, October 7, 1996 OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN VIEWPOINT Drivers should respect safety of traffic booths There comes a time in every student's life when the alarm doesn't ring or the bus is late, and the test starts in 15 minutes. When this happens, students are faced with myriad options. Often, they simply resort to breaking the rules. When students are in a hurry (or sometimes when they aren't), the logical solution to get quickly to their destination is to drive on campus, zipping past the control booths and ignoring the shouts of attendants. Not only is this wrong, but it also is disrespectful. The control booths are placed at campus locations for a reason. Pedestrian traffic on campus is heavy, and an abundance of vehicles threatens the safety of walking students. Bicyclists also are at risk when speeding drivers ignore the protections afforded them from the control booths. Instead of barreling past control booths, drivers are well-advised to consider the alternatives to driving on campus. There are many roads which provide access to campus buildings. Sunnyside Avenue, with its entrances to parking lots near Summerfield Hall and Anschutz Library, can afford access to students in a hurry without risking the safety of countless pedestrians. The scenic Campanile route along Memorial Drive is close to all buildings on Jayhawk Boulevard. Once on campus, students who ignore the control booths must realize they face parking tickets. But if this is not enough of a deterrent, repeat offenders may receive a visit from KU police. Ignoring the restrictions placed on vehicular access to campus makes for an unruly campus. Buses and authorized vehicles complicate pedestrian and bicycle traffic as it is. The next time students are running late, they should respect the closed campus and the parking regulations. Have a friend drive, and walk home. Fee for new child-care center is worthy campus investment ANN MARCHAND FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD Child care is an issue that affects many college students. Resources are scant for young parents at the University of Kansas, which is troubling. Fortunately, steps have been taken to remedy this situation. In 1993, a $2 student fee was implemented to aid in the construction of a child-care center at the University. This fee will expire in 2000. Student Senate and the University must make sure that the new center will be built. The fee should continue until 2014. The children also will benefit. What better place to have large child-care facilities than a university? The Dole Center for Human Development and Family Life has a great deal of expertise in the area. Many professionals in the University community have the training to give children a good start in life. Child care is not only good in that it allows parents more time for school, but it also provides a positive incentive for young families to become a part of the University. This adds diversity to the community. Students will benefit from exposure to people who have more to worry about than tests and jobs. Parents are literally developing the most precious resource on campus: human life. TOM MOORE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD KANSAN STAFF AMANDA TRAUGHBER Editor CRAIG LANG Managing editor MATT HOOD Associate managing editor for design KIMBERLY CRABTREE CHARITY JEFFRIES News editors DARCI L. McLAIN SARA ROSE Public relations directors KAREN GERSCH Business manager HEALY SMART Retail sales manager TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser JAY STEINER Sales and marketing adviser JUSTIN KNUPP Technology coordinator Editors Campus Susanna Loof Jason Strait Amy McVey Editorial John Collar Features Nicole Kennedy Sports Adam Ward Sports Bill Petulla Associate sports Carlyn Foster Online editor David L. Teska Photo Rich Devkins Graphics Neil Musk Andy Rohrbach Special sections Amy McVey Wire Debbie Staline Business Staff Campus mgr ... Mark Ozimek Regional mgr ... Dennis Haupt Assistant Retail mgr ... Dana Cantoro Marketing manager ... Heather Valler Special Sections mgr ... Heather Valler Production mgrs ... Dan Kopeo Marketing director ... Lisa Qobbaman Creative director ... Desmond Lavelle Classified mgr ... Shelly Wachter Jeff Victor/ KANSAN Mal Otetinger, in The Role of the Media, writes that reporters, editors and publishers are "forced to judgment on weighty issues in time for a morning deadline or a 6 o'clock news program. They make mistakes, and the victims of their errors tend to attribute bias to the perpetrators." When such errors repeatedly take place in our Kansan, it may lead to accusations of bias, racism and manipulation, which are attributes that we hate to be attached to our Kansan. On behalf of the Muslim Students Association of KU, I would like to congratulate the Kansan and its staff on the fine job it is doing representing the voice of all KU students despite their religious or ethnic backgrounds. But I also find myself obligated to inform the Kansan about any wrongdoing that may appear in the paper that may affect how its readers interpret the news presented. I feel especially obligated when such mistakes happen again and again. GUEST COLUMNIST The Kansan owes its diverse population of readers, whom we are a part of, to report its news as accurately as possible. And the Kansan Kansan sometimes fails to report news accurately should represent all views of events when they occur without taking sides. Consequently, its news selection should not be vastly different or alienated from all other national and international newspapers so that readers do not conclude that Kansan news is intended to manipulate and polarize KU students by spreading intelligent propaganda against people of other races and religions. It really hurts us as Muslims, Arabs and minorities on campus that many incidents of this nature take place in our Kansan, which is supposed to be our voice, not our rival. It especially hurts us when they occur because of the negligence of careless writers or editors, who escape with their misinterpretations and misrepresentations of our religion and culture because of our language barrier as non-native speakers of English, which makes it difficult for us to respond to them accordingly and accurately. Therefore, we lay the burden of maintaining unbiased journalism on both the Kansan's editor and faculty in the School of Journalism, who should find these kinds of mistakes by the staff and deal with them accordingly. Despite our language disabilities and our busy schedules, we would like to assure all readers that the Muslim community will not tolerate such carelessness in the future. Finally, we would advise the Kansan editors to watch CNN Headline News and other TV news programs, listen to the BBC's world radio news service, or at least read other national news publications to identify what news is worth publishing. Moreover, editors should get wider perspectives on the issues they intend to write about and not depend only on one-source or one-sided points of view for their content. Ahmed M.I. Zafer is a Medinah, Saudi Arabia, graduate student and president of the Muslim Students Association of KU. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 'Mohicans' statement was insensitive, wrong Jocelyn Martin, in an Oct. 1 letter, took Felix Moos, professor of anthropology — and the Kansan — to task for using "The Last of the Mohicans" as a metaphor in a story about the department of anthropology's 30th anniversary. She should have. In noting that he is the only founding member of our department still on campus, Professor Moos should have chosen his words more wisely. Such references, while taken for granted by non-Native Americans, at times offend Native-American people — as they did Martin. remains of [Native-American] ancestors to their tribes." We always have complied with federal guidelines on repatriation as set forth in the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (Public Law 101-106). We have gone to great lengths to inform federal and tribal officials and their repatriation-act representatives of our holdings. We already have repatriated materials belonging to some tribes and are working with others to complete the process in accordance with their wishes. On other aspects of Martin's letter, I must take exception. The department of anthropology has never refused "to return the Martin wrote that our department was invited to a protest of our "continued noncompliance with federal law" last spring, but we failed to send a representative. Not only were we in compliance with the repatriation act then—as now—but also we were not invited to this event. Before this protest, however, the director of the Museum of Anthropology and I did attend a meeting of the Native American Student Association to discuss these matters. And at the student association's request, we arranged for the human remains in our possession to be blessed by holy people of its choosing. I hope Martin's letter will serve to sensitize all of us to the potential for hurt that even innocent comments may hold. I also hope my letter will lay to rest false accusations that have circulated about the department of anthropology. Donald D. Stull professor and chairman of the department of anthropology Kansan aims for fairness in coverage of diverse groups Perceptions are important. And sometimes, we at the Kansan fail to realize that when we make mistakes, people get hurt. That leads to heavy criticism because people perceive us as being, at worst, racist and, in mildest terms, insensitive. The complaints raised in the column on this page by Ahmed M.I. Zafer, president of the Muslim Students Association of KU., are valid. KANSAN EDITOR He is right: In our attempt to cram in the most news we can about the campus and community,we often neglect national and international coverage. By way of explanation, so that we can understand each other as producers of the Kansan and readers of it. I offer to you some of the process and the framework by which we operate everyday. Above all, we try to report about events happening on campus and in the community. We are a local paper, not a national one. The amount of space we have to report these things is limited by the amount of advertising we sell. Because 92 percent of our production costs are paid by ads and the remaining 8 percent comes from your student fees, it's obvious how much we rely on ad revenues. Therefore, if we sell only enough advertising to pay for a 12-page newspaper, that's all the space we have on a given day. So we try to present national and international news in the form of briefs on the front page. We get those items from The Associated Press. Our problem recently has been in cutting those items to fit the space and sometimes omitting one side of the story. We apologize for this, and we are trying harder to be conscientious about that problem. We manipulate copy in the sense that we are trying to make it fit, but not in the sense that we are trying to spread a racist statement. Accusations of racism trouble me in particular. I haven't observed racist statements being made in the newsroom or any kind of collusion among staff members to produce a story or other published element in a manner that is demeaning to ethnic or religious groups. If I saw this happen, I would intervene because that is part of my job. Our policy states that racism will not be tolerated. We welcome constructive criticism in the form of letters or telephone calls. I handle reader complaints, and I'm happy to hear feedback. We don't know what you want to read unless you tell us. I encourage you to write, call or send me an e-mail message. We are committed to bringing you the news and entertainment features you want and to bring you the news of the day as best we can. Amanda Traugher is an Overland Park senior in Journalism and Kansan editor. How to reach us Send a letter to the editor: Letter to the Editor The University Daily Kansan 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall Lawrence KS 60045 Call us. Ask for the editor, Amanda Traughber. (913) 864-4810 Send us a fax. (913) 864-5261 Send e-mail to editor@kansan.com HUBIE By Greg Hardin 1