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 adviser Scott Valler, Technology coordinator
Thursday, September 16, 1999
Jamie Patterson / KANSAN
Editorials
Military help for East Timor is necessary to install democracy
President Bill Clinton said Monday that the United States would have a limited role in a United Nations security force in East Timor. If the U.S. really wants to support freedom and democracy abroad, it is right to Join the peace-keeping force.
A campaign of violence and terror by anti-independence militias has developed since an Aug. 30 election in which the East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia. Indonesia has controlled the island since 1975.
Putting aside issues of economic ties with Indonesia, the situation in East Timor is a clearly worthy cause that the U.S. should fight for. The violence of the past few weeks is a
Force is necessary to help Indonesia install a democratic government in East Timor
direct blow to a democratic process in which 78.5 percent of voters expressed support for independence.
If the U.S. abstained from a multinational stabilization force in East Timor, it would be turning its back on both democracy and human rights.
We do not mean that the U.S. should be the world's police officer, but it should acknowledge crises such as the one in East Timor and make a reasonable effort to help people who are fighting for their freedom. When the horrific violence and brutality is added to this conflict, how could the United States possibly turn the other way and let the madness continue?
The plight of the East Timorese shouldn't be solely the responsibility of the United States. Indonesian president B.J. Habibie has conceded that a foreign force is needed to establish order, and we should just be one of many nations supporting the effort.
Clinton is right. The United States can not, and should not, stand back and watch as other nations step up to stop this chaos and support democracy.
Kurstin Phelps for the editorial board
Renovated stadium performed well
A recent study in The Sporting News ranked the University of Kansas athletics program as the 25th best among 112 major programs nationwide. The survey took into account only basketball and football, and, as one would expect, the lack of fan support for football kept the University from achieving a higher ranking. Lack of fan support was definitely not a problem, though, at Saturday's football home opener.
The new-look Memorial Stadium impressed many fans who attended the game. The new MegaVision screen was a success, as views of the replays were greatly enhanced. The new screen, one of the biggest in the
Despite all the construction delays, renovated stadium performed nicely at debut
nation, is something that students can take pride in when they go to games. The new press box and suites also are impressive. Beautiful weather and a resounding victory added to the success of the day.
There were more than 33,000 fans at the game,a 700 person improvement ahead of last year's first home game. A free-ticket promotion along with the good weather greatly helped attendance.
Also present was a group named the Hawk Club, which was formed to give extra support to KU athletics. By having the club sit up front in matching T-shirts, the crowd seemed to get a boost of enthusiasm.
Despite the adversity the Athletics Department faced in the construction of the additions, there were few, if any, complaints at the first game. Though the paint just finished drying and the new facilities may need a touch-up here and there, all performed well in their first test.
As the season progresses, the enthusiasm should remain the same. The game on Saturday proved that attending a football game can be a fun, relatively inexpensive way to spend a weekend afternoon.
Kansan staff
Emily Haverkamp for the editorial board
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
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Thad Crane .Campus
Will Baxter .Regional
Jon Schlitt .National
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 Jenny Weaver .Production
Matt Thomas .Creative
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Advertising managers
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"Men has an inexhaustible faculty for lying, especially to himself."
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.
George Santayana
**Guest columns:** Should be double-
spaced typed with fewer than 700 words.
The writer must be willing to be pho-
graphized for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Staffer-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 864-4924.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
Perspective
pinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
I haven't written in about a week. I wish I could tell you that I haven't written because I was too busy being seduced by a beautiful heirs, thus fulfilling my lifelong dream of having a beautiful girlfriend and more money than God. I'd like to tell you that, except that it's totally inaccurate.
What I have been doing for the last week is reading my e-mail. It was a scant five years ago that I broke down and signed up for my first e-mail account. As a wide-eyed freshman, I was wowed by this miracle of instant communication.
No longer enjoyable, e-mail is e-rrelevant
Additionally e-mail used to be predominantly good news. Nothing is better than checking your e-mail and finding a message that says, "Nicholas, I enjoyed reading your message. Dad and I miss you. We'll send that money soon. Love, Mom."
I could devote no mental energy toward writing a message.
E-mail also was useful for a person like me with an attention span too short to write a letter. Here, unlike a phone call, I could ensure that I didn't say something stupid, but like a phone call,
"Guys, we really need to mobilize on this evolution issue. I suggest everyone attend our rally on..." DELETE
Nick
Bartkoski
columnist
coninion at kananai
"I think the previous message was silly. While we should be outraged at the actions of the BOE, we should instead attend my letter writing campaign at..." DELETE
For the past week I've been trying to weed through the mess that is my inbox — an inbox that gets irrelevant message after irrelevant message. This is what I've been going through for days:
But now I've found the seedy underbelly of e-mail — the listserv.
"Watching all of this evolution debate makes me realize that all of us could use a little moment of inspiration. I'm reminded of the story of two lesbian sparrows that wanted..." DELETE
I used to enjoy seeing if someone had written me, now I dread the words "You have new mail." My point is that the listservs I now find myself on are ruining the pure bliss that I used to have when checking my e-mail.
I suppose it's lucky I haven't destroyed my computer yet.
So to fix this, I think I'm just going to start ignoring my e-mail. I'll just refuse to check it. After all, any problem one refuses to acknowledge is no problem at all.
"Your stance on evolution shows me that you momma must be so fat that..." Save to the folder titled "jokes to steal later for my column." DONE.
The only question that remains is how will I communicate?
It's a simple case of writing letters. It will be good to flex the creative muscle in letter writing, plus it will give the Norton Anthology people something to add to their Nick Bartkoski section in between their 3000th and 3001st edition.
"And I laughed, and I laughed and I..." DELETE
"Are you an idiot, it's only through direct
Besides, I can't think of anything better than getting mail that reads, "Dear Nicholas, I enjoyed getting your letter, here's the money you asked for. Love, Mom." Well, nothing except hooking up with that beautiful heiress.
action that we..." DELETE
"As a third party, I've been watching the two of you debate. I can't understand how wrong you both are. First off..." DELETE
"I haven't been a student at KU for about five years, but I'm still on your list. Watching this evolution debate from afar just made me laugh and laugh..." DELETE
Bartkoski is a Basehor senior in English and journalism.
Faculty salaries should match peer institutions
To see just how little we pay our professors, contrast their paychecks to those of their peers at the University of Missouri, a similar (albeit inferior) institution. A tenured professor makes an average of $83,300 there, but only $68,000 here. To make matters worse, the study points out something that students already know: Lawrence is an expensive town to live in. Professors' salaries don't stretch as far here as in some other college towns.
On the first day of class last year, I listened to one of the school's most esteemed professors gripe about the embarrassingly low salaries and benefits given to our faculty. Throughout his career he received job offers from schools promising far bigger paychecks. The offers were tempting, he said, but he knew he belonged at the University of Kansas. He loved teaching KU students, working with his colleagues on campus and living in his restored old house near downtown Lawrence. But like many other professors, he couldn't understand why the University didn't offer more incentives for quality teaching and research.
It was reassuring to know that one professor gained the recognition (and cash) that he deserved. Unfortunately, though, there aren't enough Kemper awards to cover each faculty member on campus. And even a $5,000 bonus every year wouldn't make the University's pay comparable
It was just when he had finished saying this that
Mark McMaster columnist
It was just when he had him a group of men in suits walked into the classroom and presented him with a $5,000 check. He had won a Kemper award for teaching excellence.
opinion@kansan.com
to salaries at similar institutions outside Kansas. A recently publicized study found that among 80 comparable schools, our professors' salaries ranked in the bottom 10 percent.
Our school is a great place to teach at, and that helps us retain quality professors like the one I mentioned earlier. But as these pros retire, will
Students need to realize the extent to which our faculty are underpaid and let the administration know that they have our support for increased salaries. Hopefully, when we take our message to the state, they will realize the importance we place on talented professors. This school has a tradition of excellence to uphold, and to do so we must do more than renovate dorms, build skyboxes on our stadium and open a new ree center. The reason that we are here is to be taught, and so the very core of our institution is our teachers. We're doing a poor job maintaining that critical resource.
In addition, our schools and departments may turn elsewhere for support, which could have unfortunate effects. Many professors already do consulting for outside businesses to supplement their income. Some state schools have resorted to taking on corporate research (which is not released to the academic community) to help pay for their costs. A few schools even have professorships funded by corporations when they cannot afford to hire new faculty with state funds. If you think having a Coke monopoly on campus is bad, wait until Microsoft pays the salary of your computer engineering professor.
McMaster is a Wichita senior in political science, journalism and humanities.
University seal is religious but harmless
Although most everyone is aware of this discrepancy and agrees that our professors deserve more, this has yet to become a serious issue on campus. If students, and especially student government, would rally around a pay increase for faculty as much as they bicker about who gets to drink beer where, we might be able to convince the state to allocate more money for our professors. It's critical that we support this cause. If we can't convince the state to better support our institution's employees, teaching and research will inevitably decline in quality.
we be able to recruit young Ph.Ds to fill their shoes? While the University has a good national reputation, it's likely that young professors with loans to pay off will choose more financially promising schools. The University of Texas, perhaps, which pays its assistant professors around $52,400 compared to our offer of $43,300.
Feedback
A controversy recently started over whether the university seal is too religious — whether it is a symbol of religious oppression, whether it's harmless, or whether it should be kept with reverent dignity.
I'll admit that our seal is religious; it comes straight out of Exodus. However, as a religious emblem, it is loosely connected with religion but highly connected with revelation. As background, Moses was herding sheep when he glimpsed a burning bush. Out
To most KU students, the seal is harmless. How many can read Latin? How many even looked at the seal? If the ACLU is defending civil liberties and not digging for dirt, then why did they pursue an issue which doesn't appear to affect anyone?
of scientific curiosity and awe, he went to see how a burning bush might not be consumed. This was the beginning of the inspiration which led him to be a great and wise leader.
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The seal is more than a mere emblem. It is a piece of history that is inherently part of us — would we pave over the Lincoln memorial or move the White House? No; these icons, from
another time, must be preserved.
As the ACLU has noticed, the seal is a symbol of our university. Are we now going to sever ourselves from all those who graduated in the past? Unlike the Confederate flag, our seal represents no unjust cause — unless we seek to oppress the search for enlightenment. Let us not seal our seal in the tomb of disgrace. Requiescat in pace, non tumulo.
Daniel Herring Andover sophomore
V