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opinion
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I think I might have to check the bags under my eyes at the gate.
More like HaramBAE,
am I right?
I definitely judge professors on their efficiency at handing out papers
KANSAN.COM/OPINION | THURSDAY, SEPT. 8, 2016
Dear freshman, this isn't Zoey 101. Don't put your dorm key on a necklace.
2016: the year we drop the "Woooo"
Everyone forgets about the fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: PDA.
Thank you to whoever turned my credit card in to the lost and found rather than using it!
What kind of teacher makes an assignment due Sunday night, on a three-day weekend.
Pretty sure I am actually allergic to Anschutz library
Love when prof's assign out of print editions of books in other languages that can only be ordered through independent bookstores in other
Gorilla glue should be sponsored by harambe
countries!!!
College has taught me that I'm not judgmental, I just have agency
Nature is beautiful.
The hawk is the type of place to let in an 18 year-old Pokemon
This weather can stop literally any time now. A person can only sweat so much.
Camels do not directly store water in their humps as was once commonly believed.
Problem: never having cash, always wanting Hat Box cookies, $6ish card minimum. Solution: purchasing 6+ cookies, loving myself.
The spiral formation of seeds in a sunflower almost always follows the Fibonacci sequence.
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Bertels: We must learn from past mistakes
▶ ELLEN BERTELS @ellenbertels
Every time I walk someone around campus for the first time, I make sure to point out Wescoe Hall. In part, I do this because it is where I spend most of my time. (I've taken 24 courses in that building over seven semesters).
I also point it out to tell the story of Wescoe Hole.
We've all heard the rumors. We've all wondered about the strange architecture. As University lore goes, Wescoe Hall was supposed to be an impressive skyscraper, but along the way, something—funding, mismanagement, the war (which war? unsure)—forced construction to stop just after the parking garage was built. Thus, the dream of some magnificent structure was reconfigured into what we occupy every weekday: the lovable, albeit squat (and garage-like), Wescoe Hall.
A plaque in the Kansas Union, however, tells the truth. In the Traditions Lounge on the fourth floor of the Union, one of the
many plaques dedicated to recounting University history tells the full story of what was supposed to be a monumental 25-story skyscraper. Due to growing costs and a loss of federal funding, the four-story block of classrooms was created instead. Professors, historians and students agreed, according to the plaque, that the building had become a great scar on campus. During the two years of delayed construction, after the foundation was dug but before building began, the site was referred to as "Wescoe Hole."
The Wescoe we know today is an eccentric and lovable second home, and its past is a good story to
tell newcomers on tours. But is it still true that, as History Professor John H. McCool says, "the building is anything but an aesthetic nightmare that is truly unlovely to behold," or that it has earned "withering ridicule from faculty and staff alike" since opening?
Of course it's true. Trust me, I spend, on average, 3.5 hours in Wescoe each day. I know it doesn't have the grandiosity of Strong Hall or the sleek modernity of Capitol Federal. To act as if this is not a part of its history is a form of deceit.
So what story do we choose to tell?
This is not just a roast of Wescoe Hall. I'm not trying to be a cynic. Institutions
fail in small, and sometimes quite large, ways. Acting as though these failures do not exist does a disservice to our past and ignores the flaws that we could spend time fixing. Instead, we must talk about our failures with students old and new. We must allow those students to talk about these failures. We must erect witty plaques and write columns to help us remember these failures.
By publishing these criticisms, by acknowledging the failures of the past, we begin the slow process of improvement.
Ellen Bertels is a senior from Overland Park studying English and Italian.
Issawi: Don't ignore Kaepernick's motives
▶ DANYA ISSAWI
@danyasawi
Silent protest often speaks louder than words. It is often defiant and, as a result, often rebuked.
What Colin Kaepernick did was defiant: he understood what was expected of him, yet chose to refrain from fulfilling those expectations. And because of that, he has created controversy.
Kaepernick, the quarterback for the San Francisco
His actions, and his statements that followed, were incendiary. Although some, such as basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, have praised Kaepernick for taking a stand, others find his approach less than tasteful (Sean Hannity slung some harsh rhetoric at the football star).
49ers, recently announced that he will no longer stand for the national anthem as a form of protest. The quarterback said he no longer wishes "to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color."
We encounter protest (thank you, First Amendment) and defiance daily, whether it be on a personal or even national level, and yet Kaepernick's small gesture has created an uproar.
We must take into account why he felt the need to protest. We must take into account the intersectionality of Kaepernick's identity along with the identities of those athletes who set the precedents for protest before him. Yes, he is an American. Yes, he is black. And ultimately, at this moment in time, he feels as though those two identities cannot coexist as one.
Was what Kaepernick did wrong? Legally, no. We are lucky enough to live in a nation that allows us to speak and demonstrate freely. At most, it can be considered paradoxical.
We've seen it before: high-profile athletes exhibiting defiance in the face of the societal standards set for them. Muhammad Ali
refused to enlist in the U.S. army during the Vietnam War.Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in a black power salute as they stood on the Olympic podium in 1968.Even baseball legend Jackie Robinson wrote that 20 years after his first World Series game, he could no longer stand and sing the national anthem.
Sports have become our way of exhibiting pride in ourselves and in our country. We rely on events like the World Series and the Super Bowl to momentarily bring us together, to briefly replace the racial and cultural lines that normally divide us in order to forge new boundaries based solely on team affiliation. As a nation, we associate sports so closely with patriotism that
any act that severs the tie between the two is deemed borderline treasonous.
Kaepernick chose to take a stand by remaining seated. Is it a crime? No. Is he lucky enough to live in a country that allows him to exhibit defiance? Yes. And because of that, we should stop looking at the act itself and begin discussing the reasons that were behind it. If we don't begin dissecting the underlying and nearly explosive racial tension in this nation, then we have problems bigger than Kaepernick to worry about.
Danya Issawi is a junior from Kansas City studying journalism.
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