OPINION
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2004
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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University must address violence in larger picture
After the spike of reported violence on campus three weeks ago, many students and administrators discussed what should be done. Much of the discussion has focused on the responsibility for preventing crime is often with students who should lock their doors, watch their surroundings and drink in moderation, because there is only so much the administration can do.
But our culture of violence and fear obscures the urgent need to change attitudes regarding crime and violence. The University and all the members of its community must reevaluate their fear and challenge the attitudes that condone violence.
Yes, vigilance does prevent crime, especially when potential victims can outsmart would-be criminals. Measures such as lighting do dissuade criminal acts. But there is more that can be done.
The University desperately needs an honest reporting on and discussion of violent crime in its community. The spirit of the Clery Act, which requires the annual reporting of crimes on campus, is about raising awareness so universities can confront their crime problems and prospective students can decide to avoid violent campuses.
Most violent crime on campus is still out of sight. Rapes and assaults not reported within the framework of current statutes far outnumber reported violent crimes. Awareness is the first of many requirements to build a community that respects its individuals' rights.
Violent crime is a double terror. First, it's a terror on the victims, who we cannot blame for being so traumatized they cannot follow the dictum of the legal code requiring
immediate reporting. Second, it hurts the community, where everyone suffers, living in fear and spending time and resources to ameliorate the transgressions of its members.
Students and administrators must do more than recognize the size of the problem.
Punishment and more effective reporting, although effective in deterring some crime, are not truly effective in repairing our community's social fabric. Individuals who feel they can escape the view of the community will continue to rape and assault.
Measures such as the new camera security system on campus are only effective insofar as they prevent would-be criminals who know about them from committing crimes around the cameras (or adopting disguise).
Though a response is needed, such measures are only cosmetic approaches unless a larger problem is addressed. The University must create a comprehensive safety plan that honestly addresses and reports the bigger picture. It needs programs and measures that understand the problem of violence in our society and community.
The safety needs of students now is more important than the University's image for future recruitment.
Our society has taught many of its members that if their want — whether from anger, sexual desire or anything else — is great enough that they can transgress others. People must express their disgust for this attitude as well as discuss its devastating implications if the community is to take responsibility for its problems and change its ways.
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to the University of Kansas. Faculty and students should give AbleHawks every ounce of support possible so AbleHawks can make as great an impact on campus as its fellow organizations have nationwide.
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to the University of Kansas. Faculty and students should give AbleHawks every ounce of support possible so AbleHawks can make as great an impact on campus as its fellow organizations have nationwide.
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Disability organizations need you
National and local organizations have contributed a great deal to the advancement of rights for people with disabilities by pushing for legal changes and acting as watchdog groups. Without these organizations, very few people with disabilities would be able to attain an equal education, go to college or obtain jobs.
NOT UNHEARD OF
One such local organization is AbleHawks, a recently resurrected group that seeks to increase awareness about disabilities and advocate for people with disabilities on campus.
"Ablehawks can provide a resource for students, faculty and other people with disabilities or with an interest in disabilities to learn about each other and share their experiences," said Zach Coble. AbleHawks president.
Much as some people would like to deny or ignore it, the University is not entirely accessible to people with disabilities. Students and faculty with disabilities regularly face barriers. In some situations — the buses on campus, for one, are not accessible — the University is at risk of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
AbleHawks will help make people aware of these problems on campus and advocate for improvements. However, it can't change things by itself. AbleHawks is still a new and small organization and needs student and faculty help to make progress on campus.
AbleHawks follows in the footsteps of successful organizations and seeks to continue furthering the advancements they have already made and apply them
TARA SCHUPNER
opinion@kansan.com
Disability organizations, working in concert, helped push several bills, including the Americans With Disabilities Act, through Congress. The National Council on Disability wrote the first draft of the ADA. The National Organization on Disability and organizations for specific disabilities, such as the National Association of the Deaf, pitched in.
As a result, on July 26,1990,3,000 disability advocates looked on as President Bush signed the ADA into law.
The ADA is "the world's first comprehensive declaration of the equality of people with disabilities," President Bush said.
Deaf people can now get interpreters for plays, concerts, school board meetings, political rallies and recreational activities. They can also call other people using telephone relay services. People with mobility disabilities, with the help of lifts, ramps and elevators, can now access public transportation and buildings. Malls, restaurants, parks museums and other public places now have accessible bathrooms and parking spaces.
Because of these organizations' work, as well as their persistence in monitoring the enforcement of the ADA, people with disabilities have gained access to many parts of life previously inaccessible to them.
The ADA also makes it illegal to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of their disabilities, and requires employers to provide accommodations.
After the passage of the ADA, disability-oriented organizations have acted as watchdogs, helping people with disabilities when they face barriers in public spaces, education and the workplace.
You don't have to be disabled to participate in AbleHawks. Whether you have a disability, know someone with a disability, plan to work with people with disabilities, or just don't know anything about disabilities, you can still support AbleHawks.
Contact Zach Coble and go to the AbleHawks meetings. Listen. Speak up. Act. Help enable others to obtain an education here at the University. After all, students with disabilities pay the same tuition as you, so shouldn't they get the same access as you?
Help them make a difference on campus.
Schupper is a Lonex senior in journalism and English. She is deaf.
Swift Boat Veterans not credible
People all across the country are confused as to why the Swift Boats and POWs for Truth are coming out and attacking John Kerry now. Was he really the soldier he claims to be? Is he a fraud?
The more relevant question is: Why have the Swift Boat Veterans waited until now to question his bravery? Because they want to hurt him as much as they feel he hurt them.
John Kerry served in a swift boat in Vietnam. He won six medals, a bronze star, a silver star and three purple hearts. Kerry saved the life of another soldier by picking him up from the river and into his boat. He killed when the life of his crew was threatened, he chased a Vietnamese man who shot at his boat and killed him.
CONOR MCCARTNEY
opinion@kansan.com
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Kerry risked his life for his country, but was disillusioned at what the country was fighting for. Kerry came back after his stint in Vietnam determined to stop a war that he thought was wrong.
So he got together with an anti-war group and marched on Washington. He gave speeches at rallies and finally testified in front of Congress. Kerry talked about the horrors that he had heard from other soldiers. He painted a brutal
This is what the Swift boat veterans are really mad about. They feel betrayed by John Kerry.
picture of the Vietnam War to Congress and the American people.
This is what the Swift Boat Veterans are really mad about. They feel betrayed by John Kerry. They came home from a war and were spat on. They were called baby killers, and to them Kerry perpetuated that image of them. That is why the Swift Boat Veterans are attacking Kerry, not because of anything he did or didn't do in Vietnam.
So why don't they just come out and say what they are really mad about?
Because it would be very hard for anyone to understand how Kerry wronged them. They went to war with images of World War II still fresh in their minds, expecting to return to the states as heroes.
Instead they returned to a society opposed to a war that they fought in, and opposed to them for fighting in it. That was a double whammy to these soldiers, not only did they endure the hell of war but no one was grateful for the sacrifice. They killed and saw their brothers die only to be spat on by a bunch of hippies? That was hard for many soldiers.
There was Kerry, in front of Congress, perpetuating the negative attitude towards soldiers. All he wanted to do was to end the war. All he did was anger a lot of veterans. How could he do this to us? He is one of us? The dagger went straight to the heart.
Now it's 30 years later and Kerry is running for president boasting his war record, and the Swift boat veterans for "truth" are saying that he is a fraud. We need to ask ourselves if we can trust them as a reliable source.
McCartney is an undepended Madison, Wisc., freshman.
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