4A
Wednesday, September 4, 1996
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Increase in computer fee brings improved service
The Computer Center server account fee increase for this academic year, from $30 to $50, has drawn criticism from dial-in users. Although no one enjoys shelling out an additional $20, the increase is a necessary evil to enjoy the same level of service to which users have grown accustomed.
The goal of the Computer Center is to make dial-in service more accessible to the average user. The fee increase accomplishes this goal with two strategies: reducing the online time of high-volume users and increasing the number of users that can be logged on to the system.
In the last couple of years, the Computer Center has experienced an explosion in the number of students who want dial-in Internet and e-mail service. An increased number of users requires more modem ports to avoid lengthy waits to connect to the server. Money raised by the fee increase reportedly will be used to purchase additional modem ports, allowing more users to be logged on to the system at any time.
The new fee system will result in a 50-cent charge for every hour of online time that exceeds 50 hours in a month, though users will not be charged extra until they reach 70 hours per month. Essentially, someone who logs 70 hours in a month will be charged an additional $10. This charge, though reasonable when compared to private online services, will act as a deterrent to those individuals who abuse dial-in service by leaving their computers logged on all day. A decrease in the connection time of high-volume users will result in less waiting time to log on to the system. All users will continue to enjoy ample online time — more than two hours per day
without incurring additional charges. Assuming a similar increase will not be instituted at the beginning of every academic year, the Computer Center fee increase is reasonable considering the benefits brought to the average student user.
BRENT SUTTER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
NCAA's attention to athlete compensation is good move
When NCAA Executive Director Cedric Dempsey suggested to a meeting of athletic directors in June that the association was considering compensating student athletes, he addressed a situation that demands attention.
Dempsey suggested that student athletes be compensated with low- or no-interest loans or receive proceeds from a trust fund tied to their share of endorsement money. While the solutions Dempsey suggested may not be the best plan for those students who do not become megastars in the professional realm, it is refreshing to note that the NCAA finally is looking into the dilemma.
While a full-ride scholarship does cover tuition, fees, books, room and board, many student athletes from less advantaged families are left with little spending money for such college necessities as laundry, an occasional movie or even an off-campus meal. A typical scholarship gives the average student $1,800 to $2,400 less than the total college cost, Sports Illustrated has reported. Because NCAA rules keep athletes from holding a job during the school year, they are left only with the choice of a Pell Grant, summer savings or parental funds to help support themselves during the school year.
Although the remedies that Dempsey proposed may not be the best of solutions, it is admirable to note that the NCAA is considering solutions to the problem. It is obvious that without scholarships, many student-athletes never would have enrolled in college. Universities should realize that by compensating student athletes, staying in school could be as enticing as a professional contract. Therefore, the NCAA and the universities should take it on themselves to reasonably compensate these talented and dedicated individuals.
ROBERT FLYNN 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
Public Relations Director
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
Campus ... Suenna Lófó
           Jason Strait
           Amy McVey
Editorial ... John Collar
Features ... Nicole Kennedy
Adam Ward
Bill Petulla
Associate sports ... Carlin Foster
On-line editor ... David L. Teaska
Photo ... Rich Devink
Graphics ... Hush Muster
Andy Rohrback
Special sections ... Amy McVey
Wire ... Debbie Online
Business Staff
Campus mgr ... Mark Ozmek
Regional mgr ... Dennis Haupt
Assistant mgr ... Randy Haller
Marketing mgr ... Krista Nye
Special Sections mgr ... Heather Valier
Production mgr ... Lisa Quessbemann
Marketing director ... Eric Johnson
Public Relations dir ... Rose Rose
Creative director ... Sesmond Harvey
Marked mgr ... Sheila Wachter
Jeff Victor / KANSAN
Adhering to strong values brings healthy skepticism
Editors' Note: A portion of this column was omitted inadvertently from the Aug. 23 edition. The Kansan regrets the error.
Dear first-year students . . .
snooze. No, this won't be another sedate orientation but some practical advice from someone who was a college freshman when you were in the eighth grade. As a graduate student, I'm entitled to pontificate about "how to make the most of your college experience." So here it goes.
The key to coping with the diversity at the University of Kansas is to be tolerant — a sort of laissez faire, live-and-let-life ethic. To most KU students, tolerance isn't so much of a well-thought out philosophy as it is an attitude.
Don't question another person's beliefs — that would be offensive. Don't criticize another person's lifestyle — that would be judgmental. Don't describe anything as wrong — that would be intolerant. You can hold passionate convictions, but please keep them to yourself.
As you explore your University community, you'll see all kinds of people, from guys who could have been in Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit video to guys who went to the Kiss full make-up reunion concert. You'll also see sorority girls from Johnson County and girls who could be nicknamed Teva Vonbirkenstock.
STAFF COLUMNIST
Tolerance sounds good on the surface. If we could all tolerate one another, we would live in peace in a little utopia on the Hill — a noble goal with a flawed approach.
It's impossible to be consistently tolerant unless you want to tolerate everything
including Nazis, racists and people who picket funerals of AIDS victims.
Most people feel compelled to express moral outrage at such activities, and rightly so. Yet, the definition of moral outrage is intolerance, the only thing a tolerant person can't practice.
voices in numbed agreement about a nonconfrontational approach to life.
As a new student, don't tolerate anything. Evaluate everything. Then, after some careful moral reasoning, decide whether something should be tolerated.
Therefore, it's impossible to be tolerant and be intolerant of injustice at the same time. This contradiction consumes the tolerance philosophy like a snake ingesting its tail.
Many people preaching tolerance appear diverse and sophisticated but are more like the Borg from Star Trek, assimilating new students into a culture of mindless conformity.
Tolerance attempts to create harmony in our world of differences, but only creates a dull monotone of
While tolerance encourages some good values, respect and compassion, it asks its practitioners to subscribe to an unrealistic view of the world — moral relativism — in which truth, or right and wrong, is defined by personal opinion.
Only by acknowledging a moral reality higher than our shifting attitudes, what the Bible describes as truth, or the Greeks cosmos, will our community become truly tolerant.
Genuine tolerance is an overflow of a conviction grounded in that higher reality that all people possess equal worth and should be treated with dignity, regardless of whether you agree with their lifestyle or beliefs. Of course, you can disagree with a person but still treat them with tolerance.
The overflow of academic tolerance, on the other hand, is indifference — apathy with a smile.
John Hart is a Shawnee graduate student in journalism.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Exchange program article misleading
Students need to know about the Haskell/KU Exchange Program, so the Kansan deserves credit for covering it Thursday.
However, the article misleadingly says that "this semester, there are only two KU students enrolled in Haskell classes. One Haskell student is taking a KU class."
Those low numbers count only the students in this new, little-known, official program. While the Haskell/KU Exchange Program is great and helpful to certain students, there is more to the picture; some students double-enrolled this way before the Haskell/KU Exchange Program started, and some are continuing to bypass the exchange program now. I think that's fine. It's important to have different avenues for students with different goals.
Contrary to the implication of the Kansan article, the categories of KU student and Haskell student are not mutually exclusive; rather, they overlap. That overlap should not be sold short. It's currently at least a dozen students, Td bet, and it includes some important student leaders here at KU.
Evan Heimlich
Program assistant
Office of Minority Affairs,
Multicultural Resource Center
Enrollment add/drop are evil twins of campus life
Some students are fortunate enough to avoid many of life's pitfalls, such as drug and alcohol abuse, extended prison stays and deportation. However, there is one pitfall from which no student is safe — enrollment. Yes, it is an inevitable event, occurring with the same regularity of the ancient Olympic sacrifices, only eight times as often.
STAFF COLUMNIST
Every semester, I have been hit full force by the KU enrollment system. Each time, hopes of mid-afternoon classes, so-called easy professors, meeting graduation requirements and maintaining full-time student status have been crushed within the confines of 151 Strong Hall
I was more satisfied with the results of my third semester enrollment compared to those of my first two. I didn't get all the classes I had wanted, nor any of the times, but I did break the 12-credit-hour barrier, which had eluded me in my first two attempts at main enrollment.
One myth is that enrollment is not so bad after freshman year. Another is that Elvis lives, residing in the vicinity of Russell, where he sings in the local diner to make ends meet. While I doubt both myths, at least there is photographic evidence to support the latter.
If nothing else, I walked into my first class on Aug. 22, with the confidence that the worst was behind me. Sure, there would be quizzes, papers and the ever-present possibility of expulsion from the University, but for the first time, there would be add/drop (the evil, illegitimate twin of enrollment).
This knowledge brought me to near euphrath, which lasted all of 20 minutes into my first class, at which time a faculty member stopped in to us know the class had been canceled because of the professor's retirement. So, to make a long story short, I spent the next day committing pages 29 to 73 of the Fall 1996 Timetable of Classes to memory, and the day after that traversing campus several hundred times in search of closed class openers.
If a problem does exist, what you might ask, can be done to fix it? If anyone could answer this it would be me, as I have spent enough time in the enrollment center to earn a Ph.D. in the field. However, I am certain there is nothing to be done but pray for a decent enrollment time.
When my add/drop time arrived, I walked into the enrollment center with enough permits and permission slips to get U.S. citizenship for a Libyan terrorist with leprosy and a heroin addiction. The computer terminal operator keyed in my requests, chirping merrily, "Sorry, that section's closed." But then, I whipped out the slips, and there was nothing she nor any computer could do to deny me. I had signatures.
So maybe the myth is true. Maybe all it takes is a deeper understanding of the system (blackmail, bribery, etc.), which comes with experience, to make enrollment easier. Maybe enrollment isn't that bad in the first place. Maybe I just have bad luck. Next thing you know, I'll get struck by lightning 37 times and win season tickets to Kansas State basketball.
Jeff Mudick is a Topeka sophomore in psychology.
THE AVENGING VARMINT
By Lili Barrientos