Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Julie Wood, Editor Brandi Byram, Business manager Laura Roddy, Managing editor Shauntae Blue, Retail sales manager Cory Graham, Managing editor Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Eblen, General manager, news advisor Scott Valler, Technology coordinator
Tuesday, October 12, 1999
Seth Jones / KANSAN
Editorials
Recommendation to reduce traffic on Jayhawk Boulevard is good idea
Jayhawk Boulevard long has been the center of activity on campus. The half-mile stretch of street and sidewalk caters to thousands of students, faculty and staff every day — making it at times the most densely populated part of campus. The campus core, the area of Jayhawk Boulevard from the Chi Omega fountain to Sunflower Drive, has become congested unnecessarily with student traffic, buses and service vehicles. The University of Kansas needs to take steps to increase campus beautification, improve student safety and to meet environmental standards.
A 1997 Physical Development Planning Task Force proposal to renovate and revitalize the pedestrian environment on Jayhawk Boulevard must be pushed forward. The plan would
Closing one lane of traffic would improve the campus
shrink the two-way traffic on Jayhawk Boulevard to a one-lane route for buses and bicycles during hours when class is in session.
By eliminating one side of the road there is the advantage of adding extra pedestrian space on the already-crowded sidewalks, as well as the rare opportunity to bring more green space to the campus core.
The largest concern to some in shutting down part of Jayhawk Boulevard is the inconvenience of removing the parking spaces normally used by administrators, faculty members or
However, the advantages of closing the boulevard to through traffic outweigh the disadvantages. Not only would students be allowed to walk in a safer environment on the boulevard, but also we eliminate the already illegal student traffic that makes our campus look like downtown's rush hour. Bicycle lanes also would be a nice safety and environmental improvement, effectively reducing pollution and auto noise. To find out more about possible campus improvements, please go to: http://www.ukans.edu/cwis/units/fmkuhtl/public_html/cmpuspln/content.htm
individuals with medical parking permission. The task force should consider working with KU on Wheels to solve this problem by increasing the number of stops buses make at parking lots.
Corey Snvder for the editorial board
Technical schools merit more respect
There are multiple choices to the question of what to do with one's life after graduating high school. A popular choice is a four-year school, but there are alternatives that are being overlooked. Other forms of education, such as technical schools, have been unwisely denigrated and underfunded, but these are the institutes that could prove most productive for the future.
There are about 1,000 students on waiting lists to enter public technical schools in Kansas today. The tedious wait is because of the small facilities that allow for only a limited number of students to attend each year. The logical solution would be to build more classrooms or look to existing educational facilities, which are underutilized.
John Lind, director of the Kansas City.
Programs provide valuable training, deserve more funding
Kansas, Area Technical School and president of the Kansas Association of Technical Schools, fears that an important reason for the underfunding is because of the stereotypes of students who attend technical schools and the belief that the education they receive is of lower quality than that of a four-year school.
On the contrary, a majority of students attending high-tech programs are postsecondary students, meaning they previously have attended a college. Some have attended four-year colleges only to attend a technical school to master the skills for new, higher-paying jobs.
Technical schools no longer should be looked upon as an easier, or just more affordable, source of education. These schools are responsible for the education and training of the next generation who will make up a large part of the world's work force. There is a high demand to improve these facilities and give students a chance to accomplish something unique and worthwhile.
Federal and state governments, which are so intimately involved in higher education in this country, need to be more responsive to educational trends and professional training needs. Increased funding or redirection of existing resources to technical education would be a good way to encourage and support the work force we will need in the next century.
Tabatha Beerbower for the editorial board
Kansan staff
Chad Bettes ... Editorial
Seth Hoffman ... Associate editorial
Carl Kaminski ... News
Juan H. Heath ... Online
Chris Fickett ... Sports
Brad Hallier ... Associate sports
Nadia Mustafa ... Campus
Heather Woodward ... Campus
Steph Brewer ... Features
Dan Curry ... Associate features
Matt Daugherty ... Photo
Kristi Elliott ... Design, graphics
T.J. Johnson ... Wire
Melody Ard ... Special sections
News editors
Advertising managers
Becky LaBranch . . . Special sections
Thad Crane . . . Campus
Will Baxter . . . Regional
Jon Schliett . . National
Danny Pumpelly . . Online sales
Micah Kaftiz . . Marketing
Emily Knowles . . Production
Jenny Weaver . . Production
Matt Thomas . . Creative
Kelly Heffernan . . Classified
Juliana Moreira . Zone
Chad Hale . Zone
Brad Bolyard . Amy Miller . Zone
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt." —William Shakespeare
How to submit letters and guest columns
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
Guest columns: Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stuaffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Chad Bettel or Seth Hoffman at 849-4924.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
Muddy feet and weaving bring home ethnobotany
Higinia González Maroto followed the muddy path to her house, umbrella in hand, the red clay sticking to her bare feet. "It's easier than cleaning your shoes all the time," she said, smiling. I looked at my own spattered shoes and thought the mud would feel good oozing around my feet.
Perspective
Higinia's home is on the Boruca Indian Reservation, tucked into the mountains of southwest Costa Rica. I was paired with her for breakfast shortly after arriving for a day-long visit with my ethobotany class. The scrambled eggs, rice, beans, coffee, fresh-squeezed orange juice and a hot corn-and-milk drink she placed in front of me were more than I expected.
Merkel-Hess columnist
oinion@karan.com
"It's all from here," she said. "No chemicals."
Higinia's house was simple
— concrete walls and floor, tin roof and four rooms. The dining/living room I was sitting in had a sewing machine, small TV, a picture of Jesus, a few school ribbons from her children and in the background, a radio playing soft rock — "Lady in Red." "Tears in Heaven" and "Yesterday." While eating, I watched a soccer game on TV with her husband, a man wearing a forest green Nike can.
After breakfast we returned to the Museo, a traditional Boruca building with wooden walls and a roof of thatched grass. Spread on tables and walls were crafts for sale including woven bags, hats, balsa wood masks, carved gourd shells, bow-and-arrow sets and drums.
Throughout the morning we learned about the labor-intensive weaving process — spinning organic cotton line by hand, natural plant and mineral dyes, and then weaving the simple, durable cloth. We were also told about the struggle the small community of 1,500 is facing. Deforestation of these Costa Ricans' land has led them to go farther afield to find plants for their natural tints or balsa to carve masks. Often, this involves paying private landowners for the materials, which is hard in this cash-strapped community where 95 percent of the money entering the reservation comes from the sale of these crafts. And in the marketplace, they compete with synthetic, industrially produced Guatemalan wares.
Besides the obvious ethnobotanic link between plants and crafts, our experience illustrated the problems of human impact on the land. The hunger for tropical hardwoods destroyed the Boruca forests and many more like it. Now we also face not just the loss of biodiversity, but traditional ways of life that depend on the forest. What appears valueless or obsolete today may be vital in the future. Who knows when we may need these plant species or ancient skills from the jungle.
After the talk and weaving demonstration, we looked over what was for sale and made our purchases. Afterward, I returned to Hignia's house for lunch, another locally grown, tasty meal. As I ate, I looked over the small village shrouded in fog. Houses were surrounded by useful plants — bananas, oranges, plantains. Confident and playful children roamed around, stopping to look us over and inspect our cameras and backpacks.
Ethnobotany, the study of the relationship between humans and plants, was brought to life at Boruca. This type of hands-on experience is the norm rather than the exception in the University of Kansas' Tropical Studies Program. For ornithology, our bird-watching laboratory is just about everywhere in this species-rich country
Later, as I said goodbye to Higinia and Boruca, I asked myself what I had with my fast food, suburban assault vehicle and hormone-injected culture that could offer them a better way of life.
Kansan far from perfect, but staff doing its best
Given the chance, I, too, would forsake my "modern" culture and sink my toes into the mud.
I hear a lot about The University Daily Kansan, not all of it good. People come up to me on a daily basis to talk about it, in fact. I seem to be sort of the public representative of the paper — not because of any special skill or position, mind you, but because I've got a funky hat that's easy for people to recognize.
Merkel-Hess is an Iowa City, Iowa, junior in environmental studies. He is studying abroad in Golfito, Costa Rica.
Usually it's just a, "Hey, I liked your column," which feeds my already bloated ego and makes me insufferably arrogant for the rest of the day. But, less often, people express their opinion about what an utter waste of dead tree and squid spit that stupid Kansan thing is.
I usually smile, ask why and then give a rebuttal as best I can. And because the problem they have is almost always the same one, I've gotten pretty good at answering it. I've even changed a few minds, which, let me tell you, is no mean trick in this hat.
Last Wednesday, however,
we had a different sort of criticism.
A columnist, one of our own,
attacked the paper with
the same arguments I've grown accustomed to hearing on Jayhawk Boulevard. It ran in the opinion page beside three letters of protest about a feature story.
It is the policy of the Kansan not to respond to criticism. Well and good. But I feel a need to address the issues raised, simply because so many of those critical of the paper use the same reason for
There are several reasons.
Loader
columnist
opining at kansan.com
The charge: Why does the Kansan ignore important world events in favor of boring University policy coverage that puts people to sleep faster than a bad economics lecture?
their scorn. They and the rest of our readers are at least entitled to an explanation, which they may either accept or wrap fish in, depending on how they take it.
First, we don't ignore them. I picked up four back issues at random. Of the A section, about two-fifths were devoted to wire service articles about world and national happenings. That's a pretty sizable chunk of the paper.
Second, we are the campus paper. You can read about East Timor in the New York Times, USA Today, Kansas City Star and Lawrence University.
If it happens on campus, chances are we're it. If we don't cover it, it won't get covered. Our job is to make sure it gets reported, because otherwise you'll never get a chance to read about it. You have literally hundreds of places to go for world news, but the Kansan is really your only source of coverage for the thing that probably affects you the most right now — the University of Kansas.
But let's assume that all of the above is of no importance, that world news is still the way to go. How can we cover it? Kansan reporters are students. They have 8:30 chemistry classes, just like you. They don't have the time to hop a plane to East Timor, and they certainly don't have the money. Covering the world while rarely leaving campus would result in mediocre stories, unconfirmed speculation and reheated wire briefs. The final answer, though, is one you might not like.
Do you need the level of coverage we provide? Not all the time. But a story that may seem like dull facts or no news fluff to you can be important to someone else. That boring article about the Regents meeting isn't so dull to people who just had a program they depended on cut. An easily ignored "fluff" piece about the 10th floor of McCollum Hall is proudly hanging next to the elevators, a handmade sign calling attention to it. These are the stories that people cut out and send home to their mothers, their names circled in ballpoint pen, for her to put up on the fridge.
World. You can get all of those on campus. If you're short on change, you can do what I do, and read the online versions. But guess what? The Times isn't going to cover the Athletic Center debate, and neither will any of the others.
A good newspaper does not change its content to meet public opinion — not when the editors and staff honestly feel that it isn't warranted. The Kansan is here to print the news, not to please students or columnists.
The Kansan is largely self-funded. Revenue comes mainly from advertisers. It is a newspaper put out by journalists at the beginning of their careers.
It's not your decision
It is a paper that strives to serve you, the truth and the ideals of good journalism. Sometimes it fails. Be charitable. Like you, we are learning our trade.
I'm proud to write and work for it.
Leader is a Henderson, Nev., junior in journalism.
Feedback
Adding bleachers a poor PR move
I was just back at KU for homecoming and saw the new renovations to the stadium. I was amazed at how empty the stadium was and incredibly disappointed how empty the Hill was.
Granted, the weather was bad, the competition not so great and the Jayhawks not having their greatest lineup, but why were there so few people at the stadium?
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In probably the worst PR move the University has ever done, the University has killed the Hill by constructing those temporary metal bleachers and poorly detailed metal score board.
Did the University really need the additional seating provided by those unsightly, temporary metal bleachers? Judging by the fact that less than 40 percent of the stadium was full during homecoming weekend, I would think not.
be on the 50 yard line.
By constructing those temporary bleachers, the University has banished the fan who stopped by to see who was in Lawrence, the fan who doesn't want to pay $300,000 for a liquor suite, the fan who doesn't need to
The views from the hill were not great, but the comradierie was. Even with the construction of the new 60-foot unarticulated, scoreboard with its butt-side facing one of the most beautiful spaces on campus — the Hill, removing those metal bleachers might bring the Hill alive again.
David Broz Class of 1997
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