Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Julie Wood, *Editor* Brandi Byram, *Business manager*
Laura Roddy, *Manager, editing* Shauntae Blue, *Retail sales manager*
Cory Graham, *Manager, editing* Dan Simon, *Sales and marketing adviser*
Tom Elben, *General manager, news advisor* Scott Valler, *Technology coordinator*
4A
tuesday, September 28, 1999
Seth Jones / KANSAN
Editorials
Microsoft founder opens the gates of opportunity to minority students
Greed and envy are words often associated with Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Inc., by those who criticize his dominance of the computer and technology market. Others admire his brilliance in accumulating nearly $90 billion in net worth. Regardless of public opinion regarding Gates, most people agree that he is an insightful leader.
It is refreshing to see that in the current era of big profit in business, individuals are willing to step out of the mold to help others. Bill and Melinda Gates' recent donation of $1 billion for the benefit of minority students is not only important for the financial needs of future leaders, but it is also an important challenge to other foundations, corporations and the government.
Billion-dollar donation will help minority students
It is obvious that one of the main struggles for all college students is money. This is especially true for minority students who come from a low socioeconomic background. The Gates' scholarship fund will invest $50 million per year for the next 20 years in minorities seeking education in applied technologies and computer sciences. While these Millennium Scholarships will improve opportunities for minority students, they are by no means a
cure for the widespread disadvantages many college students face.
Every year billions of dollars are given out to graduating high school seniors and college undergraduates. But how will the future of the United States benefit if countless others slip through the cracks because they do not have access to major scholarships such as the Millennium Scholars Program? Bill Gates realizes from his success that the leaders of tomorrow will need a quality education to excel. More political and business leaders need to follow Gates' example and expand the horizons of not only minority students but also the average college-bound American.
Corey Snyder for the editorial board
Disabilities act shouldn't be abused
Individuals who have real disabilities and need assistance in everyday tasks, such as parking and entering buildings, also need distinct laws to protect and distinguish them. The Americans with Disabilities Act, federal legislation that makes it illegal for any public entity to discriminate in the provision of services and privileges, protects individuals with debilitating handicaps.
The Disabilities Act, ordinarily used for good intentions, is at the risk of being redefined. An Illinois high school senior is trying to use the Disabilities Act to protect his claimed disability of being an admitted alcoholic.
Seventeen-year-old Rickey Higgens was kicked off the Warren Township High School basketball team after the school found him ineligible to play in
Abuses could hurt the ADA's effectiveness in helping people with disabilities
the upcoming season for two alcohol-related offenses. Higgens filed a lawsuit against Warren Township High School, seeking $100,000 in damages and reinstatement to the team.
Higgens claims in the pending lawsuit that his rights have been violated under the Disabilities Act and that the school, a public entity, has discriminated against his impairment. The school argues that it has the right to set reasonable standards of conduct for its athletes. Attorneys from both sides, while not
agreeing on all the facts, agree this case could redefine the function of the Disabilities Act. If redefined, alcoholics or long-term drug addicts would be able to find shelter under the laws governed by the act.
The Disabilities Act was established to protect people with real disabilities. If Higgens can be protected for his irresponsible behavior and illegal use of alcohol, then the sky would be the limit for conditions that could be considered disabilities.
A bold, distinct line needs to be drawn between the definition of a legitimate disability and controllable conditions. Disability legislation has done its designated job thus far. It would be a joke to use its important function as a shield against illegal and often avoidable actions.
Attorneys from both sides, whil
Kansan staff
Tabatha Beerbower for the editorial board
Chad Bettes . . . . . . . . . Editorial
Seth Hoffman . . . . . . . Associate editorial
Carl Kaminski . . . . . . . . Nees
Juan H Heath . . . . . . Online
Chris Fickett . . . . . Sports
Brad Hallier . . . . . Associate sports
Nadia Mustafa . . . . Campus
Heather Woodward . . . Campus
Steph Brewer . . . Features
Dan Curry . . . . . . Association 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 Schiltt . . . . . 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
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
Broaden your mind: today's quote
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
- Oscar Wilde
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.
How to submit letters and guest columns
Guest columns: Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photocopied for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer Flint Hilt. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Chad Bettes or Seth Hoffman at 864-4924.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (apinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
Perspective
Few Americans realize what Iceland has to offer
ob Hustwit likes Iceland.
And who wouldn't? The tiny nation of 275,000 boasts the world's northernmost capital, the first popularly elected female head of state, more than 200 volcanoes — it even has a nightclub owned by Damon Albarn of the bipop
band Blur. Few Americans realize how much Iceland has to offer.
That's where Hustwit comes in.
Hustwit is the owner of the I Like Iceland! Web site (http://soli.com/ili.htm), devoted to spreading the word about iceland. When asked why he developed the site, he responded, "I really like iceland."
Hustwit never has visited Iceland himself.
Mark McMaster columnist
"I have only been to Iceland in my imagination."
opinion@kansan.com
ne writes. "Only in my imagination, and yet Iceland has held my attention for over 40 years. I hope to visit Iceland someday."
As I delved through the information about Iceland on the I Love Iceland! Web site and in other Icelandic resources, I discovered that I, too, like Iceland. There are many reasons to like Iceland, among them:
a. Iceland has the oldest legislative assembly in the world, called the Althing. It first convened about 930.
o. Iceland's population is exceedingly homogeneous. That is why the icelandic government recently negotiated to sell all its genetic records to a biotech firm for scientific study. Most icelanders look a lot alike, which could be confusing, but it sounds kind of cute, too, especially to us Americans who are accustomed to diversity.
c. Icelanders think alike, too, at least as far as their religious beliefs are concerned. Ninety-six percent of the population is loyal to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the official church of Iceland.
d. Icelandair is the official airline of Iceland.
e. Because Biork is from Iceland, and because
the population is so homogeneous, most of the population is similar to Bjork, which must be an extraordinary phenomenon. Imagine 275,000 Blorks on one island!
f. Speaking of elves, f. many Icelandic citizens believe in them. In fact, this Sunday's New York-Times reported that "in surveys, few Icelanders rule out the existence of elves, dwarfs, trolls, light-fairies, and especially 'hidden folk,' gregarious, human-like creatures that purportedly live in rocks. Often, they go out of their way to route construction projects around the homes of these magical peoples."
magnet po lond g. Iceland has first-rate health care and one of the highest standards of public health in the world.
h. The name Iceland is actually a trick: According to lore, the locals named it that so that continental Europeans would be turned off at the idea of a cold place and Icelanders could have their island all to themselves. Greenland tried the opposite.
1. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the Icelandic sagas are regarded as one of the finest literary achievements of the Middle Ages. In addition, salmon and trout abound in Iceland's many lakes and rivers.
j. ieland gets most of its television movies from the United States.
k. At the time of Iceland's settlement, the Norse people worshipped gods whom they called asses. Thor was the most popular ass.
Hustwit put a lot of effort into his Web site, but he doesn't expect to acquire fame or fortune because of his work.
"There's no charge, there are no fees, and no donations are accepted by us at I Like Iceland!" he says. "Just drop me an e-mail note saying that you like Iceland, too!"
Other informational resources about Iceland include the Web site of the Icelandic Embassy in Washington, D.C. (www.iceland.org), and the Encyclopedia Britannica article on Iceland, which can be found in the "Macropaedia: Knowledge in Depth" series.
McMaster is a Wichita senior in journalism, political science and humanities.
Don't let the government hack into personal lives
On any given day, there are anywhere from 20 to 40 million Internet users in the United States alone.
Television took more than 13 years to attract the same number of users that the Internet has in only five. We are experiencing the printing press of the 20th century. The country is changing, and the federal government is worried.
It is worried about this thing called encryption, which allows computer users to encode or scramble their files and communications. The FBI already has tried and failed to require that public
encryption keys be filed with the government. It also tried to implant what are known as "back doors" into computer systems and communications equipment. These back doors would allow the FBI to bypass encryption codes and have clear view into what you're up to on your computer. There even has been an attempt to outlaw encryption entirely.
Peter
Markatos
guest columnist
opinion @ kansan.com
So what's the big deal? Well, encryption protects your email and computer files from any thief, spy or criminal who
might want to seriously complicate your life. It also protects medical records, corporate trading secrets, legal documents, credit histories and credit card transactions. The Justice Department wants to put an end to encryption because it sees it as a threat to national security. With the advent of hackers breaking into sites such as the FBI, the Justice Department thinks that federal government should have the privilege to eliminate your right to privacy. One of the nation's most high-profile hackers, Eric Burns, also known as Zyklon, is just the kind of 19-year-old who gives federal agents nightmares. He has pleaded guilty to thousands of dollars in damages to more than 80 businesses and has tampered with government affiliated Web sites such as NATO's and the United States Information Agency's. The latter of these antics was simply to
As it stands now, Congress has not weighed in on this issue but will do so in late September. It is your duty to inform yourself and let your representative know how you feel about this bill. The Center for Democracy and Technology (www.cct.org) provides a great resource for doing just that. The CDT even has offered to have a chat session for Kansans to talk to their representatives online, but there needs to be enough local public interest. The Internet is knowledge, and your opinion is what makes the United States. Don't let this decision be made without you.
If the Justice Department has its way, it would be able to virtually break into your home or office and implant recovery devices. These devices would ensure the government's ability to read any encrypted messages that might be on your computer. The bill that would give the department the power to do this is known as the Cyberspace Electronic Security Act (CESA). Although there is a bipartisan movement against the CESA, known as the SAFE act, this issue is escaping the national dialogue. Fewer than half of the presidential nominees have privacy policies on their Web sites, and only one major newspapers I've found has done a recent story on this topic.
Markatos is a Wichita senior in psychology.
Teenage hacker love stories aside, this is not said to downplay the potential danger of cyber trespassing. There are other accounts of hackers wreaking much more havoc then our friend Zyklon. But because of these kids, the Justice Department wants to place our civil liberties in a state of ultimate fragility.
replace government Web pages with one of his own — a page dedicated to a girl named Crystal.
The worst thing about it is that you wouldn't even know when your privacy has been invaded. If you were suspected of criminal activity, the Justice Department (or some other investigative agency), would be able to obtain a sealed search warrant. This means that all the details of the search and the very existence of the warrant are kept secret.
Feedback
Americans are desensitized to violence
It is interesting to me to see that the editors are concerned about the apparent American desensitization to violence and concerned about the decision by the Board of Education to deemphasize evolution.
Brett Watson says in his editorial from Friday, September 24, that we as a nation are "pretty far gone if we need a law to enforce: respect for life."
It seems obvious to me that you can't teach children that we all came from nowhere, are responsible to no absolute authority and that morals come from common human understanding that may change from day to day and at the same time be confused about why we've gotten where we are.
The Utopian world where "NO ABSOLUTES" reigns supreme, has come back to haunt us because the standards we have chosen can't prove that any of what is going on is absolutely wrong.
Mike Brisendine Merriam senior
If you teach children that we evolved from animals and then they observe animals practicing social darwinism, then why shouldn't our children think that they should be allowed to operate the same way.
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