Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
June wood, editor
Laura Roddy, Managing editor
Cory Graham, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser
Brandi Byram, Business manager
Shauntae Blue, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Scott Valler, Technology coordinator
Monday, October 18, 1999
Seth Jones / KANSAN
Editorials
Kansas students should stand up, be counted as residents for census
With spring enrollment just around the corner, students are gearing up for the fight to get good classes. This school year, decisions about what classes to take will be coupled with the decision about whether to validate Lawrence as students' permanent residence on census adjustment forms.
Regardless of where a student calls home, every student should mark his or her college address as a permanent residence on this form. We should not be forced to make this decision in the first place.
Every 10 years, the federal government conducts a census to get a measure of demographic indicators. The state of Kansas 'adjusts' its census figures to reflect movement of college students and military personnel. Kansas is
Kansas' adjustment system needs to be eliminated
the only state to do this. With an adjusted census, Lawrence and other college towns lose the political clout originally intended by the head count.
This arcane practice is unnecessary and, in the long run, costly. While the purpose might be to project a more accurate count, it only serves to muddy the ideals of the census. The census is important in providing a picture of how populous areas are. By adjusting these figures, areas lose their identity. For instance, Lawrence ceases to be a college town when college students are subtracted from the mix.
In the last adjustment, Douglas County lost 12,038 people. This number could have meant one more state representative for the county. One extra representative means one more voice that can reflect student concerns.
The state of Kansas should join the rest of the country in ending this practice of census adjustment. In the meantime, students can lessen the impact of the adjustment form, which will be delivered to students sometime before April of this school year. It is imperative that they answer "yes" to the question, "For purpose of representation in the Kansas Legislature, do you consider your college address to be your permanent residence?" In doing so, students become a more important contingent in Kansas politics.
Jeff Engstrom for the editorial board
Full employment good for students
A story in the Lawrence Journal- World stated that Lawrence businesses are facing the area's lowest unemployment rates in 20 years. According to the article, "In Douglas County, the total number of jobs has increased by 4,000 during the past five years, to 46,000. That's up 9.5 percent, compared with only an eight percent increase in the number of available workers since 1994."
This is good news for students, or anyone who's considered searching out part-time employment opportunities. In the meantime, fast-food managers and retail chain associates scramble frantically about, looking for the best possible employee incentives they
Abundance of part-time jobs is good news for students looking for employment
can offer. This surplus of jobs coupled with a lack of employees poses a problem.
Fast-food restaurants have been quick to address this problem, as they seem to suffer the most from the current state of "full employment." This however, doesn't seem so shocking, as anyone who's ever worked fast food can attest to, it can be pretty unappealing.
the rapid razing of land happening due East of here. Sometimes it's scary how close Lawrence is to Kansas City. Maybe those wanting to migrate west to our hip oasis can pick up some of the slack of our employment dilemma.
Lawrence is growing fast. Our city's progress may soon resemble
Granted, it's a pessimistic view. But full employment seems like a scary mirage under which to conduct business. Surely not everyone in Lawrence who needs a job to live above the poverty line is employed. But nevertheless the cry has been made public, and with employers currently offering more incentives than ever to potential employees, it might be time again to don the apron, and start shoveling fries.
Matt Dunehoo for the editorial board
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Perspective
Solution for handguns: the 28th amendment
We should ban handguns. No exceptions, no loopholes, no nothing. We should ban handguns.
The United States is the only country in the Western world that allows almost unlimited access to handguns. Canada, Germany.
Erin Simpson columnist opinior@kansan.com
many, Britain, Japan and Australia all have substantially stricter regulations on handguns than the United States. It is no coincidence, then, that CNN reports that there are six homicides per million in Canada, two in Germany, one in Japan and 62.4 in the United States. Our homicide rate (even with a substantially larger population) is 10 times higher than our northern neighbor.
There is no Canadian
There is no Canadian equivalent of Columbine. There is no Jonesboro in Japan. Why not? Kids around the world suffer from the same teenage angst as Americans. Hollywood and Silicon Valley have done a remarkable job making sure that you can watch the Matrix or play Quake around the world. What makes America so gruesomely special?
Guns, guns, and lots more guns. Recent tragedies in both Britain and Australia have led to a strict tightening of gun control laws. In the aftermath of Columbine, however, we in the United States are subjected to Dan Quayle's plea to not use this tragedy as an excuse to strengthen gun control laws. The Economist has reported that in the last two years more than 30 students have died as a result of violence in schools. And Sarah Brady, president of Handgun Control Inc., notes that 14 students are
killed each day as a result of gun-related violence. We should handguns.
Wait, you say. The second amendment of the Constitution guarantees individuals the right to bear arms. Actually, it doesn't, according to a slew of court rulings.
For those still not convinced, I offer a solution: the 28th amendment. An amendment to ban handguns.
The second amendment says: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." The Supreme Court ruled in U.S. v. Miller (1939) that the purpose of the amendment was to assure the continuation and render possible the effectiveness of the state militia. The Court has twice ruled that militia refers today to the National Guard. Furthermore, the Court has allowed local laws banning handguns to stand.
Opponents will claim that guns are necessary for self-defense. But statistics tell a different story. According to the FBI, there only were 176 instances of justifiable handgun homicides in 1996 compared with 9,390 handgun murders. And the New England Journal of Medicine reported in 1998 that a handgun in the home was 22 times more likely to be used against someone you know than in self-defense. Banning handguns would help shrink these numbers.
Why do Americans continue to avoid this issue? We should stop blaming the media, the movie industry and computer games. We should stop relying on counseling and early warning signs. We should stop wringing our hands about violence in America.
We should stop misinterpreting the Constitution. And start banning handguns.
Simpson is a Lenexa junior in political science and international studies.
Golden Key won't open a stairway to heaven
Back in the old days of the Church, long before the Pope turned his back on the Holocaust but after holy men stopped killing Muslims for sport, there was a substantial bit of money made in the selling of indulgences.
But what about the peasants that couldn't afford to buy their way to heaven? And why am I adopting the tone of a bigoted anti-Catholic? It is because in today's mail I received an invitation to join the Golden Key National Honor
The idea was simple: Pay your local priest an amount commensurate with the weight of your sins, and you've bought yourself a stairway to heaven. Until Martin Luther came along and made a fuss, the system functioned smoothly. The rich folks could relax, confident in their otherworldly salvation, and meanwhile the divine coffers filled with gold, financing many decadent orgies in the halls of the Vatican.
Golden Key National Honor Society.
Mark
McMaster
columnist
opinion @ kansan.com
At first, the letter sounded pleasing: It told me I was talented, a hard worker committed to academic excellence—I'm not sure if all that is true, but those are things I don't mind hearing. Especially when printed on official University of Kansas stationery. "Sure, if they want to honor me with a membership in their club, I'm up for that," I think.
But then I get to the bottom of the letter. To accept the
privilege of membership it costs $60
How much honor does $60 buy you? You can list "Golden Key Honor Society" on your resume as often as you like. You can choose from a range of "official Golden Key pins, charms, medallions and honor cords," and accessorize your outfit with a hint of scholarship. When you're having pangs of insecurity, you can reassure yourself that you're among 600,000 of the world's more talented students.
So who gets invited to share in the honor and who doesn't? The criterion is simple. If you rank in the top 15 percent of your college class you get the invite in the mail. So I wonder, couldn't you just tell potential employers you have a good grade point average? If you really need to advertise to your peers, you can make some t-shirts with
your class rank on them.
Honor society devotes would likely say that I've missed the point. Honor societies aren't just about resume building, they'd tell me, but about bonding with a group of talented young adults and cooperating to help the community. I'm sure Golden Key is much the same. But do you have to qualify for one of these societies to do volunteer work? I could easily devote my time to a homeless shelter or Habitat for Humanity without paying 60 bucks for the privilege. Plus I wouldn't have to go to tedious monthly meetings.
McMaster is a Wichita senior in journalism, political science and humanities.
So this time I've decided not to accept the membership to the Golden Key Honor Society. I appreciate the offer, and I know that there are sincere people involved who believe in the values the organization was founded upon. I certainly don't aim to offend them by writing this. But I simply can't afford to spend $60 for a line on my resume. If I need to impress future employers, I'll just dig out some paperwork from high school and boast that back in 1995, I was known as "Who's Who Among American High School Students." That fact may not get me into heaven, but I know that somewhere up there, God already knows I made good grades my junior year.
Much like Martin Luther, I've had a distaste for honor societies for a while now. I remember the days of National Honor Society back in high school, and even then, I thought the idea of a club for smart people was a bit silly. I recall holding back giggles as we lit candles in unison and chanted a solemn oath to the principles of Scholarship, Honor, and Service as our parents looked on proudly. And there were always a few kids who really got into it. They were organization men. One day they'd be Shriners. I hated those kids.
Even in college, I've been lured into honor societies. It's hard not to feel guilty rejecting the chance to be recognized. My sophomore year I was a member of some organization—it had three Greek letters in its name, but I forget which ones. The initiation this time was even worse than NHS. It took place in the Danforth Chapel, giving the whole ceremony a creepy, almost sacrilegious atmosphere. I couldn't help but think, "What is the point of this? Why am I doing this again?" But at that point I had already paid my membership dues.
Feedback
Wilt Chamberlain won't be forgotten
The untimely death of Wilt Chamberlain is something that is saddening to the world of sports, but even worse for us here in Lawrence. Wilt the Stilt can be argued as the greatest man to have ever played the game. While he attended KU for only two years, those years were magical. Setting school records for most points scored in a game, most field goals in a game and most rebounds in a season. He lead the "Hawks to one of the greatest games in NCAA history, the title game against North Carolina that Kansas eventually lost 54-53 in triple overtime. Wilt went on to a prolific professional career. Setting unbreakable records with one hundred points in a game on March 2, 1962 and fifty five rebounds in a single game. Aside from all of the records, he was a great person as well.
Lawrence should be proud to have been home to such a man. Something should be done in remembrance of him. Perhaps the team could wear a black band on their uniform, or a small patch on their jerseys bearing his number. It
was wonderful that he was able to make it back during KU's hundredth year anniversary celebration to see his jersey retired. Wilt was a man whose game, courage and wonderful personality will never be forgotten.
Eric Boedeker. Lansing, senior