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, September 14, 1999
Seth Jones / KANSAN
Editorials
Parking Department broke promise
The University of Kansas Parking Department has acted once again to further its reputation among students as a heartless bureaucracy with nothing better to do than mercilessly torment the average KU student.
Last Tuesday, residents of Watkins and Miller Scholarship Halls were informed that the 12 parking spaces allocated to them in the Blake Hall lot were being revoked. Residents of those halls watched the lot last year, determined that many of the spaces sat empty during the day, and presented a plan to the department that would allow scholarship hall students to use the lot. The department agreed, but construction has put extra pressure on an already strained situation.
Students who purchased $150 campus parking permits were treated unfairly
After receiving complaints from faculty members, the chair of the department of public administration and an e-mail from the Office of the Provost, the parking department decided to revoke the permits. So, residents will no longer be able to use the parking lot, and must return the permits.
While 12 parking spaces may not sound like much, they were quite valuable to the residents who paid the faculty rate of $150 each for the permits. These permits were also valuable as a safety measure for residents
who may not feel secure walking to and from the Alumni Place parking lots.
In the past, the parking department has had difficulty quelling student complaints about scarce parking. Parking officials have pointed out that the situation is tough for everyone on campus. However, that doesn't seem to be the case for faculty and staff who have the Office of the Provost in their corner.
The parking department acted reasonably when it allocated the spaces in the Blake Hall lot, but rescinding them after they had already been sold was a bad decision. At the least, the department owes these students an apology, and at the most it should return these spaces to the students who paid for them.
Jennifer Roush for the editorial board
Prayer before high school game should not have been allowed
The decision to allow Texas high school student Marian Lynn Ward to pray before her school's football game was a poor one. This allowance not only infringed on others' religious preferences, but more importantly, may set a precedent for other similar situations.
Earlier this month, a controversy arose in Texas about whether a prayer could be said before a football game. The prayer was to be given by Ward, who had been elected by classmates to deliver inspirational remarks before her high school football team's game.
Richard Ownby, Santa Fe Independent School District superintendent had warned that any student violating an appeals court ruling banning pregame prayer would be disciplined. However, just hours before the
Publicly funded events should not allow any type of prayer
game, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the school district from punishing Ward if she lead the prayer. Ward then said the prayer at the game.
Ward was elected to represent her school. This means that although it was a voluntary speech, it was also one that was supposed to be inclusive for all of her school. While the football fans were not forced to participate in the prayer, they were forced to listen to it if they wished to attend the game. Religious speech has no place at public school-sponsored events.
Ward was able to pray, not just because of the issue of freedom of speech, but also because she was a caucasian, Christian cheerleader, whose father is a pastor. It is doubtful that if she had been a student who practiced a more "un-American" religion, that the court would have allowed her to preach any religious message.
Prayer before school football games should be seen as a scary second step towards the incorporation of religion in public schools. The first alarm came last month when the Kansas Board of Education decided that religion also had its place in the classroom teaching of evolution. We must realize that while religion has its place, it is not in the public schools of the United States.
Heather Herrman for the editorial board
Kansan staff
News editors
Chad Bettes ... Editorial
Seth Hoffman ... Associate editorial
Carl Kaminski ... Neus
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 Ellott ... Design, graphics
T.J. Johnson ... Wire
Melody Ard ... Special sections
Becky LaBranch . .Special sections
Thad Crane . .Campus
Will Baxter . .Regional
Jon Schlitt . .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
Advertising managers
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
“A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you first
Letterers: 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 photo-
graphrated for the column to run.
thought of." —Burt Bacharach
Pan entrances and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stuffer-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.
Smarsh columnist
opinion@kansan.com
Federal student aid equation doesn't add up
I have learned many life-altering lessons since my arrival at the University of Kansas more than a year ago. I have become increasingly aware of where my car is parked, gained a profound appreciation for foods that do not involve starch, and realized that, like a presidential campaign, a college education requires more money than brains. I also understand that, in order to survive as a fashionable female student, one must own a pair of black thong platform sandals.
Perspective
But the most alarming lesson life away from home has dealt me is the fact that we are all governed by one and only one document: the FAFSA, or the Free Application for Funding Student Amenities.
This elaborate form I fill out in the winter is designed to fairly distribute federal
So where am I now? I'm struggling to finance my own college education, while my high school buddy who comes from an affluent family and a much more modest academic career drives his new car to Carruth-O'Leary Hall to pick up a refund check that could pay off the national debt.
Make me all the more bitter is the fact that, because I always have been on the lesser end of the money scale, I worked with extra vigor in high school to see that college would be a feasible goal by means of scholarships and federal aid. I graduated with a 3.98 grade point average, got a 30 on my ACT (that other piece of paper that affects the fate of the world) and was involved in pretty much everything except Future Homemakers of America.
The irony here is that this FAFSA thing, which basically has the power to dictate whether I will be able to afford food, goes back to the form that will govern our lives once we graduate: the W-2. Yes, the IRS already has wronged me, and I've never even filed a tax return.
Well, the only someone sending me a check is my employer. I've worked since I was about 2 1/2, but I've always been tax exempt. That's why someone else has been able to claim me. Clarified, all this means that I haven't qualified for federal financial aid for two years straight, although I am decidedly on my own and financially strapped.
Apparently the life I live and the life my paperwork reflected for so many years are two terribly different things. It's too bad that in the sea of people and paperwork that is the University, some people and paperwork must just slip through the cracks. Can't we find a way to more accurately reflect on federal aid applications the amount of help students get from home, rather than the amount the government thinks they ought to get?
I do have much to be thankful for, though. Those good grades paid off in the form of a few substantial scholarships, without which I would have little chance at higher education. And there's always hope for next year's FAFSA, when the only income listed will be my own. I have a feeling, though, that I'll never own a pair of black thong platform sandals.
money to those students whose parents have particularly shrewd accountants, or more often to provide financing, in the form of a refund check, for such necessities to college life as speed boats, narcotics and black thong platform sandals.
These conclusions are based on my first two fiscal years under the jurisdiction of the FAFSA equation: Estimated cost of education - Estimated contribution of leazal guardian = Need.
I have a problem with this formula, because a) my legal guardian has not been a major factor in the financing of my life since tight-rolling your jeans was cool and b) such a cut-and-dry approach to assessing "need" allows for many loopholes, one of which I have fallen right through.
See, the FAFSA equation doesn't take into account whether the legal guardian makes any kind of contribution at all. In my case and in many others, that legal guardian is remarried to a spouse of substantial income, which also is reflected on my application, thus giving me the federal shaft. This spouse of substantial income basically gets a bit of a tax break because of my legal status of dependent, and the world of financial aid assumes that someone is sending me a check every week.
Smarsh is a Kingman sophomore in English.
European Union faces division and decision
hat's ahead for Europe?
I visited some of the European Union institutions, the European Parliament and the European Commission. Most people in the
I spent June in Europe, most of it in Belgium. Besides speaking French, eating poisoned chicken, drinking Pepsi (no Cokes were available) and spending my nights at a cheap hotel in downtown Brussels. I also took a class that focused on the momentum of European politics and economics.
United States don't know what this European Union is all about, but it's an important issue for all Americans because this alliance will have a lot of influence in the United States.
The European Union was created by the Treaty on European Union signed in February 1992, by France Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Later the original countries were joined by Denmark.
Cássio Furtado columnist opinion of kansan.com
The primary challenge facing the European Union today is implementing the Euro, a new currency that will unify national currencies on the European continent starting in 2001. Europeans have strong national identities and accentuated rivalries (this is also associated with their currencies), so European citizens will need to have a lot of trust in the EU to accept the Euro. I don't think they have
Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Austria, Sweden and Finland. All those countries met the requirements to be in the EU. The requirements are simple: The country must be a democracy, an open market economy, respectful of human rights,and in compliance with a set of requirements established by the EU.
European institutions were not trustworthy in the past. Most of the European countries had ridiculously low numbers of its citizens voting for the European Parliament elections in June. Polls have shown that British citizens don't want their country to be part of the EU.
Another challenge the EU faces is its dependence on the United States stock markets and on the U.S. economy as a whole. When there wasn't a unified currency (the Euro is already a reality for the stock markets), the European Central Banks used to buy German bonds. Now the U.S. 30-year bonds, according to Larry Neal, professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, have replaced those bonds.
that trust right now.
This creates some problems for European countries, and I think that the problem is the dependence on the political, social and economical situation of the United States. The United States can benefit from that because it will be able to negotiate better trade agreements with Europe. It's obvious that the capacity of the United States to pay these bonds is directly associated with how well the economy is going, and this is very much related to the trade with European nations.
I wouldn't hesitate for one second to affirm that the crucial thing to be done by European Union officials is to create a European identity, because Europeans don't view themselves as members of the same continent, but as citizens of their countries. That is because of many wars and conflicts among those nations, and these rivalries have been there for centuries. Unless this bond is created among these citizens, the EU will not work towards a common goal — that is, the growth and integration of Europe — but will generate more conflicts than ever and will weaken the continent as a whole.
Furtado is a Pelotas, Brazil, junior in political science.
Feedback
Moses was a social, not religious leader
Thank you (Mike Loader) for some very good columns in the Kansan.
If I may I would like to point out a fact that you did not mention in your article about the KU seal. Back in the time of Moses he was not a religious leader, but a powerful social leader. Moses was not a preacher nor did he hold any of the religious offices of the time. He was not a religious
leader of the people, just as Dr. Martin Luther King was a social leader in the 60s, and he happened to be a preacher. Yet state offices all over America are closed for his birthday. Talk about separation of church and state! It is his social implications and victories we are celebrating, not his religious feats and sermons.
ed and focused only on making changes rather than do the research.
The same goes for Moses, one of the most powerful social leaders of our world's history. The story of Moses appears in more books than the Bible, but the ACLU is sometimes too narrow mind-
Keep up the good work!
Sam Hunsaker Staff, Production Control