Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Julie Wood, Editor Laura Roddy, Managing editor Cory Graham, Managing editor Tom Eblen, General manager, news advisor
Brandi Byram, Business manager
Shauntae Blue, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Scott Vallier, Technology coordinator
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
Seth Jones / KANSAN
Editorials
Rape victims should be able to sue attackers and recover damages
The Supreme Court will decide this winter whether rape victims have the right to sue their attackers in civil court. The case is complex and seeks to determine if Congress was acting within its authority when it enacted the Violence Against Women Act in 1994.
The general issue of suing people for rape needs to be addressed, though.
If the Supreme Court finds that this is not a federal issue that Congress has jurisdiction, each state should take it upon itself to create laws which allow rape lawsuits. Thirty-one states, including Kansas, already support the federal act.
Rape is a horrible crime that often results in a he-said, she-said scenario
The burden of proof is lower in civil trials. Perhaps more rape victims will report the crimes.
in criminal trials. With civil suits, where the burden of proof is lower than in criminal cases. Perhaps more rape victims will feel safe to report the crimes committed against them because they will be more likely to win the case. Of course, opening up the possibility of suing people for rape may result in some cases of false charges, but the possibility for creating more justice is worth the risk of innocent people being sued and found guilty.
People often complain about too
many frivolous law suits being brought to court, but civil suits can be a very effective form of justice, because of the stiff monetary penalties generally awarded to victims. It only makes sense that if a woman is raped, she should have the option of suing her attacker. After all, people can already sue others for some violent crimes, such as wrongful death suits. If we have determined that someone can be sued for homicide or manslaughter, why not rape and sexual assault?
A woman who is raped endures a severe violation of her privacy and must live with haunting memories for the rest of her life. A monetary sum seems like a low price her assailant should pay.
Kursten Phelps for the editorial board
Merit pay for teachers is a good idea
Last week, Kansas Senate President Dick Bond, R-Overland Park, unveiled his school improvement plan, which included eliminating tenure for K-12 teachers. His proposal presented another solution to reward teachers: merit pay. Even though many teachers spend their whole career working for tenure, merit pay is a much better solution, as it purges, by a very fair process, teachers who are not fit to educate.
What the education system has done is detrimental to all Kansas students. Currently, K-12 teachers in Kansas are evaluated by how many years they have been teaching in their district instead of how well they educate. Therefore,
Ending tenure would purge unqualified teachers to ensure only the best are rehired
underqualified teachers that have tenure cannot be let go, and, as a result, the quality of education in the state of Kansas has been undermined.
It is about time that the Senate realizes that tenure is not an effective way to evaluate educators. Some teachers are staying in their jobs only because of tenure, and educating students actually is secondary to their interests. As a result, students may be ill-prepared when going to college and rank
lower in standardized testing and national college entrance exams.
The passing of this proposal would benefit everyone in the state of Kansas. Good teachers would be able to prove themselves based on ability instead of how long they have worked for a district. The education system overall would improve, as there would be competition among teachers, and only the best would have the option to stay. Students would have an equal opportunity to receive instruction from quality educators. The teachers' union already has spoken out against Bond's proposal. But if they were truly good educators, they wouldn't have anything to worry about.
Rupali Limaye for the editorial board
Kansan staff
News editors
Chad Bettes ... Editorial
Seth Hoffman ... Associate editorial
Carl Karnskiens ... 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
Becky LaBranch . . . Special sections
Thad Crane . . . Campus
Will Baxter . . . Regional
Jon Schilt . . . National
Danny Pumpelly . . Online sales
Micah Kafitz . . Marketing
Emily Knowles . . Production
Jenny Weaver . . Production
Matt Thomas . . Creative
Kelly Heffernan . Classified
Juliana Moreira . Zone
Chad Hale . Zone
Brad Bolyard . Zone
Amy Miller . Zone
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
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Perspective
Aaron Major columnist opinion@kansan.co
Columnist says Kansan lacks substance, news
As a change of pace I would like to start by thanking some people. I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time this semester to write to the Kansan and criticize them either for its trivial news coverage or its unsubstantiated editorial positions. I only wish that I would see more of it.
always-trivial 'hill topics' section that uses a full page of the paper not to explore any issues of substance in detail, but rather to talk about funny-looking cars or addictions to lip balm. And if that's not enough, we always can enjoy those front-page photos that visually depict how sunny or rainy it was one day — as if no one knew this.
Now I want to think that people are interested in things that are more important than the few examples that I have mentioned above. A few students already have taken that incredibly important first step to express their displeasure with the paper, and I would like to add my voice to theirs.
The Kansan, as the student paper for the University of Kansas — and perhaps the only paper that many students read — finds itself in a privileged position: Through its selection of news stories and their placement in the paper, the Kansan has the power to decide what is important to the students at the University.
Internationally, this country continues illegal embargoes against Cuba and Iraq, and nationally, many alternative political parties are running candidates for president. These are (to me) of some of the profoundly important things that I would like to see on the Kansan cover.
The Kansan is not a sacred institution that cannot be changed but rather is a product of the students of this campus. As students we need to demand that they actually provide material that is of interest to students, instead of working off of a set of base assumptions about what students (as if we were all alike) want to read about.
I've been told by some of the editors that the Kansan provides material that is of
interest to the student body, and while this is a common argument, I would like to suggest a new way of looking at our student paper. By relying on the judgment of a small group of students to decide what is of 'interest to students,' the Kansan does not provide material of interest; it tells us what material is of interest.
This is a case where your displeasure is easy to register and can have a meaningful effect on an important part of student life. Write letters to the editor whenever the paper uses fluff instead of substantive news, and let them know what you would really like to see covered in the news. With enough people registering complaints, perhaps the editors will reevaluate their methods of story selection and make the Kansan a more responsive instrument for students.
After all, this is our paper. It does not belong to any single group of individuals. Write to opinion@kansan.com, or visit www.kansan.com and register your complaints. In this way we can make our paper live up to its ideal of providing the news that is of interest to students.
This indeed is a very special privilege, and yet it also carries with it a high level of responsibility that the Kansan does not seem to want to accept. As the only voice of the student body, they have the responsibility of informing the student body of issues — campus, local, national and global — affecting their lives. This is a big responsibility, and many people are probably thinking at this point 'but they only have so much room in the paper, do you honestly think they have room for all these things?' Of course I do. Once you throw out the fluff and trivialities, I think that you'll find that there's plenty of room.
Major is a Deerfield, N.H., senior in sociology and American studies.
One only needs to look back a few weeks to when the power going out in Stauffer-Flint not only made the paper twice, but one day actually was a front-page story. Or how about the
Feedback
NASA's visior isn't narrow
This letter is in response to Erik Goodman's editorial "NASA should share its wealth to help mend problems on Earth." I believe that the editorial board ought to have done a bit more thinking before deciding on his article. NASA's loss of a $125 million probe will cause people to take notice, but it is a knee-jerk reaction to recommend cutting its budget in an attempt to remedy some of our more glaring societal lills. If throwing money at the problem is the solution (which is usually not the case), may I remind the editorial board of some of the enlightened spending in the US: $12.7 million for a Swine Research Center, $4.2 million in Wood Utilization Handicrafts, and $2 million for Outreach for Socially-Disadvantaged Farmers, to name a few. In 1998, NASA received $13.6 billion dollars from the government. In contrast, defense spending was almost $280 billion. In short, NASA's budget is not the panacea for social and political problems.
Erik writes, "The value of conquering space is rendered fairly empty when compared to the aforementioned problems," demonstrating a rather narrow vision of NASA's mission. NASA's mission to Mars is not so much a conquest as scientific research, exploration, and the expansion of human knowledge. If NASA's value is based on consumer goods like Velcro, then of course it will pale in comparison to hunger and homelessness.
The editorial board's decision to do just this belittles NASA and the intelligence of its readers.
Michael Kaufman McPherson senior
Stripper photos were unnecessary
It was pretty disturbing to look at the paper this morning, being the Weekend Edition to find such a trashy photo on the front page of the Kansan. What are you students thinking when you put this out? Please think of your audience and the reflection of your school the Kansan is portraying. Are any of your parents coming to the game this Saturday? Will you be proud to show them this? What does a seedy strip bar have to do with the news at the
Thanks, KU Band
Rose Wagner Upward Bound
I think a lot should be said to the pep band who played last Saturday night's volleyball game. First of all I want to say that we have been to a lot of other college games and no one plays, sounds or dances like the KU Pep band we have here.
University of Kansas? And this is a repeat of a cover photo of last week of a male person flashing someone. Did you think about the possibility the person your article was about wanted just that, just to be noticed? Boy, did he get that from you. Is this news reporting or just a Jerry Springer attempt to sell papers?
We understand that the cheerleading squad will not be performing at the volleyball games and the band did great playing the songs to keep to crowd going and they entertained the crowd with their tuba marching and leap frogs that was great.
Lazer not important
Where are our priorities? I hope there were at least a few other folks who were sickened as much I was by the article on the Lazer T-shirts. In a world full of suffering, greed, genocide, and injustice the best cause the Templin Revolution can find to support is the "change the Lazer back" bandwagon? Give me a break! Why not support something locally that has some merit? Perhaps the Revolution might consider making and selling shirts to support Habitat for Humanity or Jubilee Cafe or any number of local humanitarian efforts. Is the Lazer such a big deal? How hollow are our lives that the worthiest cause we can find to support is the asinine programming of a radio station that wasn't that good to begin with? If the students at KU would expend as much energy as they have recently on this Lazer "issue" on problems with some substance then maybe they could actually make a real difference in someone's life, rather than engage in a meaningless assault on an empty social frivolity.
Pep Band, you're a big asset to these women's games and were glad that
Mary Sharp Department of Student Housing
you find yourselves getting so envolved in the games.
Story was offensive
I am disgusted. How could supposedly one of the best college newspapers in the country sink to this level? Obviously your reputation is little more than talk. The article that I'm referring to is that digusting piece that made the front page of the Kansan on 10/1/99.
Not only was the Outhouse article offensive to me as a woman, but it showed a total lack of respect for the parents and alumni that will be in town for homecoming. Do you really think that the alumni will be pleased when they pick up a paper to see what's going on in their old alma mater, only to be regaled with the plight of one of the blights on the community? Pictures of strippers? On the front page? Is this what constitutes as news in the perverse minds of the editors?
I am a graduating senior, and never have I been as ashamed to be a Javhawk as I am now.
Thanks so much for making my last year a memorable one.
Pictures should not have been printed
Meri Stoklosa Lawrence senior
I am writing you in response to the pictures displayed along with the article "The Outhouse Skinny" from the Kansan on October 1st. I am greatly outraged that these pictures were printed. It seems to me that they were unwarranted. The article was about the business and the opposition that it seemed to be getting from the police and local officials. The article never once mentioned a girl lap dancing. I'm outraged that in order to draw attention to the article you found it necessary to allow degrading pictures of women. It is unnecessary pictures like these that allow male pigs to continue to see women as mere objects. You could have written the article and gotten its information across just as nicely without printing the degrading pictures.
Amanda Tyson Lawrence junior