OPINION
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2004
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Free for All Call 864-0500
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Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Standerous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
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To the person that said John Kerry is the answer to a stupid question. Let's all remember there are no stupid questions, only stupid people. Like George W. Bush.
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Isn't is bigotry to call all Republicans bigots?
If you have a roommate problem, I feel bad for you, son. I've got 99 problems, but Jasmine ain't one.
Ugh! Hippies all around me! All they want to do is go out and save the earth, but all they do is smoke pot, ugh!
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Since when is the society of open-minded atheists completely close-minded?
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So I always see the same girl on campus and I see her twice as much as every other girl on campus and I notice her. So one day, I go into Biology and there's two girls and it's a girl. She's a twin and there's two of them. No wonder I see her twice as much as every other person.
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Seven fire alarms from McCollum. Looks like we're going for the record.
To the girl that I called an ugly stepsister: I'm sorry!
How does the U.N. enforce international law?
America can do better. Help is on the way!
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Yeah, this is for the person who called in asking if flipped-up collars are dorky: It not just you, man. They really are dorky.
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Neither Kerry nor Bush should be the next president, it should be Al Pacino. Vote Scarface!
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When I graduate, I want to be a sexy decoy on "The Maury Povich Show."
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This is to all the wonderful people at ResNet: I hate your wonderful, precious little Sophos.
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Monday is the new Friday! See you at The Wheell
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I am the Mother Duck.
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How old are the Beastie Boys?
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Actually, it's every three seconds that men think about sex.
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The University spent a ridiculous amount of money on Law Perkins. Instead of trying to tell us how much money they spent to bring him here, they're now spending even more of our money to go to court to prevent from telling us what we have a right to know. Does this make sense to anybody?
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You know, I'm walking around campus and I am just appalled at the number of people who wear white shoes after Labor Day.
This is to the person who thinks that the whole world should speak English: How ignorant can you be? No wonder the United States gets such a bad rap around the world, because we have citizens like you who are claiming we're in charge. How about you study for your Spanish test, learn the language and discover a culture different from your own?
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Usher. What's the big deal with Usher?
I've decided that it's ignorant to call yourself a liberal or a conservative or an independent or a democrat, whatever. All it means is that you make up your mind up about issues before you even hear them. How ignorant is that?
I bet the Wrestling Club would be a whole bunch more popular if it was the Jell-O Naked Wrestling Club
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I'm driving on campus and this kid in front of me on a moped has got to be drunk because he is swerving all over the place.
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TALK TO US
Henry C. Jackson
editor
864-4810 or jhackson@kansan.com
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This is to that kid complaining about paying $2500 this semester: I'm out-of-state. I pay like $14,000 to go here. So, shut up.
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Makolm Gibson
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There is a giant ice cream cone costume sitting in front of the Dairy Queen on Mass Street and I just have to say that's the coolest thing I've ever seen.
Stephanie Graham
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Hey, what side of the body is the appendix on? Because I think mine just exploded.
So, what happened with the not being able to smoke within 20 feet of the entrance of the building? That's just disgusting and I don't want to smell it.
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Dude, Chipotle is giving out free burritos and stuff. Lawrence rocks!
I love Chipotle. They had free burritos today.
And you know what else? It came with free guacamole. That's right, free guacamole! And you know what else I love? I love the girl with cat ears on campus. She's a complete hotie, Yeah, that it's.
Since when does Tony Danza go to KU and what's with those sickening sideburns?
Anna Clovis and Samia Khan opinion editors 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
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Yeah, me and my roommate were the first in line to get cut off for the great burrito giveaway. That hurts. That hurts bad.
Is this Gumby's Pizza? Hey, I'd like a Big Ass Pepperoni. Hello? Damn!
Bronovan Atkinson and Andrew Vaupel
managing editors
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To all the girls with the huge, colorful quilted coats: Who wants to admit to stealing my grandma's knitting bag?
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Malcolm Gibson
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The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to
There's a chalking across from the Union advertising Open Trivial Pursuit. I'm gonna go, just so I can beat the guy who wrote the chalking and spelled it T-R-I-V-A-L. You bet I am!
STINSON'S VIEW
For any questions, call Anna Clovis or Samaia Khan at 8642-8944 or e-mail at opinion@ kansan.com. General questions should be directed to the editor at editor@kansan.com.
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It looks like KU's going to lose its court battle to keep Athletic Director Lew Perkins' salary a secret. But we won't know for sure until October. If you can guess closest to what we pay Big Lew on top of his $420,000 salary, $100,000 media income and perks, then I'll draw you in a cartoon when we find out!
Rules: KU students only. Bob Hemenway and Lew Perkins not allowed to enter. You must be willing to appear in a future cartoon. Email name, contact info and your guess to: GuessLewsSalary@hotmail.com
THU
Zach Stinson/KANSAN
Tiger-sized scandal may ensue
SHEIK UR BUTI
There are a number of differences between University of Kansas and University of Missouri sports, such as, say, a winning basketball program. But news emerging from the KU athletics department reveal that we may be on a slippery slope that will bring us down to the level of one of our biggest rivals.
to the level of one in Douglas County District Judge Jack Murphy ruled Monday that the University should release all of Athletic Director Lew Perkins' compensation records.
What the public already knows is this: Perkins has an annual base salary of $420,000. He has a disclosed agreement worth $100,000 in multimedia payments. He owns two contract-guaranteed vehicles and holds membership at two country clubs.
We know that Perkins makes more than Chancellor Robert Hemenway, which may be enough for most Kansas taxpayers, but we still don't know what the "contingent supplemental compensation" of Perkins' contract entails.
AHSAN LATIF
opinion@kansan.com
In court arguments held before Labor Day, the University argued that it sought to protect the rights of agencies
State law mandates that the University disclose the records of all its employees, but Perkins also counts on a paycheck from the University of Kansas Athletic Corp., a nonprofit group.
to protect the privacy of public employees through a loophole in the law. As the University's lawyers, Wyatt Wright and Sara Trower, pointed out, there is an exemption in the Kansas Open Records Act that allows agencies to refuse the disclosure of performance ratings, personnel records or other "individually identifiable records" that concern its employees.
But considering the compensation plan as private personnel records is debatable.
Established law says all state agencies must release individual salary and compensation records, said Ted Frederickson, professor of journalism.
Frederickson, who teaches a First Amendment class, added that the University must still release public information with private information deleted if the two were mixed in a document.
"I have to admit that the University's
position on this issue is embarrassing to many of us on the faculty, primarily because it strongly suggests that University leaders and the athletic department are hiding something that would be embarrassing to them," he said.
What could be so damaging that the University would go to such lengths to hide it from the media — including being taken to court by The World Company, which publishes the Lawrence JournalWorld and operates 6News?
Look at it this way: Perkins has been an enormously successful athletic director. The Jayhawk continues to be a revered symbol, and the department has avoided the kind of publicity that its biggest rival, the University of Missouri, has consistently attracted.
Is there enough at stake to risk a Tiger-sized disaster by withholding documents the public clearly has a right to view?
If the University hoped to avoid public discomfort by circumventing accepted legal practices, it's most likely in for a serious wake-up call.
When I enrolled at the University, I took pride in attending a college that was above the cloak-and-dagger politics of Missouri.
I'm just hoping this court case isn't a sign of things to come.
- Latif is a Lexington, Mo., senior in journalism.
Spelling made 'eezyer' over time
Why does McDonald's have a drive-thru and not a drive-through? Why isn't Miller Lite spelled Miller Light?
Simplified spellings such as "thru" and "lite" have an unshakable presence in modern English, especially in the commercial world. Nick at Nite, Yello Sub and Sizzors Hair Salon all differentiate themselves by incorporating non-standard words in their names.
This practice makes a business's name unique and reflects societal acceptance of alternative spellings.
LANGUAGE RULES!
After all, couldn't English use a good scrubdumb? Maybe some of those nasty 'gh's (though, night, rough, etc.) and silent 'b's (lamb, debt, etc.) could disappear to make spelling more straightforward. The day in the middle of the week could be Wensday instead of Wednesday. Wouldn't that maek speling the werd eezyer for peepl?
APRIL BENSON AND LAUREN STEWART
opinion@kaans.com
The idea of simplifying spelling may entertain a casual English user's mind from time to time, but there are active groups that advocate all-out reform. these groups agree that written manifestations of English words are needlessly complicated and unreasonable.
have advocated During the American revolution, dictionary authority Noah Webster believed that Americans should reform written English to reflect a new identity, one separate from Britain. Webster called for a radical revision of English
complicated and unrealistic These aren't new concerns. In the past, noteworthy and influential people have advocated for spelling reform.
spelling, for example, using "masheen" instead of "machine," but over time he became more conservative. The linguistic remnants of his reforms show up in words such as "theater," "color," "music," and "check," which retain separate, American spellings.
o much nuance and appeal. Today's reformers are just as passionate as those of yesteryear, but they lack the social and political clout to make their message publicly meaningful.
separate, American speeches. In 1906, President Teddy Roosevelt challenged the traditions of the written language by ordering the official use of 300 new simplified spellings in executive documents. Within four months, Roosevelt retracted this order because of much ridicule and opposition.
Their cause seems to have advantages, but the movement is generally impractical. The lack of unity among reformers is one of many factors that prevent the movement's success.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle facing simplified spelling is the actual process of standardization. Language is far from static, but such wide-scale,
artificial changes would be nearly impossible to carry out. Language has become so much a part of human identity that people protect and monitor its development. Outside pressures therefore have difficulty instituting change—even when the president gets involved. English does not have one all-powerful authority to demand stasis or transformation. In this text-centered society, linguistic change must happen naturally.
English users have augmented their vocabulary with new spellings, but they retain the capability to alternate between traditional and "lite" forms.
between traditional spellings that have remained in the language have not replaced traditional forms wholesale, but have been alternates. The Department of Theatre and Film's name, for example, retains the older form of today's more Americanized "theater." Illegibly reformers want to erase traditional spellings and rely wholly on new, simplified ways.
Spelling reform seems like a good idea on some levels, but it just wouldn't work.
Mark Twain, though a one-time spelling reform advocate, admitted the idea was inherently flawed, remarking "it seemed to me to merely propose to substitute one inadequacy for another."
Benson is a Grand Island, Neb., senior in English and music. Stewart is a Wichita senior in English.
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