OPINION
THURSDAY, AUGUST 26. 2004
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
EDITORIAL
www.kansan.com
Ranking boost should be noted but not glorified
Robert
Chancellor Robert Hemenway's dream to make the University of Kansas a top 25 public research university may slowly be coming true. After three years of tuition increases and two years of decreasing status among our "peer" universities, Chancellor Hemenway can chalk up a small victory. U.S.News and World Report recently proclaimed the University of Kansas to be the 42nd best public institution in the nation, two spots up from last year's historical low of 44th.
Hemenway has noted this as a major accomplishment despite decreased funding from the state. Not only does he credit students, faculty and staff for the accomplishment, but he recognizes generous donors as well.
While it is encouraging to know the University is well-respected by its peers in academia, one has to wonder whether their opinion should be used to gauge the quality of a KU degree. There are several reasons for not placing great belief in rankings compiled from strictly academic sources.
Professionally, there are detractors of U.S. News and World Report's rankings and other groups that release similar findings. Their complaints range from placing too much emphasis on certain criteria to changing around the various fields in order to help some schools score higher. This is not to say the University should not strive to be respected by other institutions, but
students choose their universities based on more than a general rating.
Factors of a largely personal nature can come into play. Proximity to home, financial cost and the quality of a specific program or department are just as much determining factors as retention and graduation rate. Even if an institution has an overall excellent reputation, a potential student may reject it if it does not suit his or her needs.
Employability after graduation is the true test of an institution's quality. If a student can't find a work after completing his undergraduate courses, what does that say about the university and its curriculum? Students' future employers, not a professor or administrator at another university, will need to accept their degree from the University as superior. Perhaps areas that U.S.News and World Report consider important at a university, such as funding and classroom size, are not as important to future employers, who are more concerned with what the students gained in talents from their particular university.
The rankings should be noted and filed away. We should not focus on the victory of rising two spots in the nation's eyes. Rather, the individual student and employers should remain in focus. As long as they perceive the University as serving their needs, the University the will be respected.
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"I, Robot," is playing this Wednesday night,
It's totally sweet!
--fall, like, five times on campus and then start fighting with himself. He had to be trippin' on something.
Milo is the cat and Otis is the dog
--fall, like, five times on campus and then start fighting with himself. He had to be trippin' on something.
This is to the guy whose wallet I found and turned into the bank in the Union: You're very, very, very welcome and thanks for the shout-out.
I missed my sleepy.
fall, like, five times on campus and then start fighting with himself. He had to be trippin' on something.
You know, what I'm really curious about is the person in the car ahead of me's stance on abortion. Wait, I'm in luck! They have a bumper sticker that tells me.
I can't be the only one who saw this guy
fall, like, five times on campus and then start fighting with himself. He had to be trippin' on something.
I'm having a mental breakdown! I love Texas boys, and I hate Kansas boys!
yeah, my parents just called and said that if I didn't stop calling the "Free for All" and charging up all the minutes on their cell phone bill, they gonna charge me for everything. So thanks a lot, "Free for All."
yeah, my parents just called and said that if I didn't stop calling the "Free for All" and charging up all the minutes on their cell phone bill, they gonna charge me for everything. So thanks a lot, "Free for All."
Snake Man's back, and he's ready to score.
Right now, it's thunderstorming outside and my friends and I are playing flashlight tag with Tower D and we're in Tower B. It's so much fun!
Hey, I would like to know what the anti- ResNet Web site is, because I agree with them.
Yeah, there's a tornado out and I think it's about time to crack open a beer. Have fun, all you guys!
Margaritas and storms are a good combination.
OK, so what's up with not having a horoscope in yesterday's paper? That's Monday, Aug. 23, and that's my birthday! Hello! I needed that! You don't understand; it could have been a bad day. We'll never know now, will we?
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Malcolm Gibson
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I really wish Gary Lezak would get the hell over himself and let me watch the Olympics.
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'Street speak' defines students
LANGUAGE RULES!
"English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment, and education — Sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street." — E. B. White
Luck helps, but there's more to language than occasionally getting lucky.
Hi. We are April and Lauren: seniors, English majors and students interested in the way you speak and write. Every Wednesday this semester we will discuss one issue of the English language. English is constantly changing, and there are as many opinions about its proper use as there are English users. We will use this column to present a thorough report on the state of English language and its relevance to your everyday lives.
it is easy to overlook the power and diversity inherent in English, the language KU students share. After learning the fundamentals of grammar, most native speakers stop questioning their mastery of the language in everyday contexts. At the same time, language is a big part of most people's identities. People tend to have strong reactions when an element of their speech or writing is challenged.
APRIL BENSON AND LAUREN STEWART
opinion@kansan.com
writing is challenging.
For instance, have you ever quibbled with your out-of-state roommate about whether the general term for a sugar, carbonated beverage is "pop," "soda" or "coke?" Or, while writing a paper, have you struggled to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition? Maybe you have accidentally offended someone by making an unfortunate word choice ("I swear I didn't mean 'bitch' like that!"), or maybe it just frustrates you that an instructor insists upon "perfect grammar" in writing assignments.
In fact, the University of Kansas has a language of its own. You are probably proficient in it if you've been here for a while. For new Jayhawks, however, expressions like "I hope to walk down the hill in 2005" or "I live in Watkins" may be confusing. By way of explication, "walking down the hill" is the common phrase used to describe the commencement activities held every May, when graduating students walk through the Campanile and down the hill into Memorial Stadium. The idea of living in Watkins is not at all unusual to students familiar with the scholarship halls, but the idea may seem absurd to a student who knows Watkins only as the place to go for prescriptions, shots and medical advice. (Both buildings are named after Elizabeth M. Watkins, a KU benefactor in the 1930s).
If you hear a more informal expression like "I'm hanging on Mass this afternoon," and you aren't sure if that means a religious service or some other place (such as Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence), ask someone who sits next to you in class, your resident assistant, an advisor, a professor ... ask SOMEONE. It's important to know these things—even if you feel uncomfortable asking at first—because all Jayhawks deserve to be a part of the KU community.
Language can bring people together. A shared vocabulary means some kind of shared understanding and knowledge. Using the University's lingo helps us communicate with each other and build a community.
The criteria that create this community also work to exclude certain people. KU lingo excludes people without KU connections. For example, your parents may not know what classes you're taking if you tell them you're in coms, organic or poli sci, though you know you're in a communication studies, organic chemistry or political science class.
Although being excluded from the KU community may not seem that tragic, language-based exclusions can be more severe in other situations. If people allow themselves to be excluded, perhaps by not seeking help from lawyers who can decipher legalese or from accountants who can understand the intricacies of the tax system, then the language is controlling them. Intentionally excluding others can be even more detrimental.
Language is more powerful than most people consider. Understanding the KU language means familiarity with the elements that make up the university community. In a larger scope, understanding a language — whether it's your first or third — is more than just fundamentals.
Benson is a Grand Island, Neb., senior in English and Music. Stewart is a Wichita senior in English.
Columnist's take on diversity offtarget and ill-informed
Dear editors,
In her ill-informed diatribe about diversity, Arrah Nielsen writes that if "the ethnic make-up of Kansas is mirrored in the student body, there would be hardly any minorities on campus."
U. S. Census data for 2000 show that about 14 percent of Kansans are non-white, and enrollment numbers show that there were 27,772 students enrolled at the University in Spring 2004. Even if you were to buy the idea that the University should be only as diverse as the state, that would mean 3,888 minorities should be on campus
— not a number that I would define as "hardly any."
Celebrating diversity does not lead to hiring blind people to drive buses. Here's a better example of diversity in practice: making sure the Kansan opinion page has many viewpoints, including someone on the conservative side. Will Ms. Nielsen argue against that?
Ehren Meditz
Shawnee
2004 University of Kansas graduate
It doesn't surprise me that Ms. Nielsen would assume to know what the "ethnic make-up of Kansas" is, and it is apparent from her writing that she has only a minimal understanding of what "celebrating diversity" entails. She argues that we should "extend the concept of diversity beyond race" and begin by "hiring blind bus drivers for KU on Wheels."
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THU
Diversitycolumnshowscore ofmisunderstanding,problem
I agree that the University is doing a poor job about diversity issues, but Ms. Nielsen's article, for the most part, celebrates ignorance.
She saves herself with the last paragraph, but the majority of her article exemplifies the core of the problem. She doesn't seem to understand what is to gain.
Dear editors
I was shocked to see that her major is Anthropology. Studying peoples
and cultures, I would think that shewould have a better understanding of this issue. Making a political point is one thing, but mocking the idea of intermingling people from different-backgrounds for educational enrichment is ridiculous. Where would we be if everyone we went to school with was simply a clone of ourselves? (K-State?)
When speaking of faculty, it is difficult to change the norm. When Democrats fund public education and Republicans don't, it's easy to see why our faculty lean to the left.
Michael Bittinger
Lawrence
2001 University of Kansas graduate
The Kansan welcomes letters to the editors and guest columns submitted by students, faculty and alumni.
Please refer to the Talk to us section for letter and column guidelines. Submissions can be mailed to The University Daily Kensan, 111 Stauffer-Flint, Lawrence, Kan., 60445 or e-mailed to opinion@kansan.com.