4A
Wednesday, October 25, 1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Money motivates conference
The Big 12 conference is evolving into a power-hungry aggregate that abuses Big Eight universities.
In theory, the Big Eight's merger with four schools from the Southwest Conference (SWC) is a good idea. It combines top athletic programs, challenges rival conferences like the Big 10 and the Southeastern Conference and lures lucrative television packages. However, the reality of the conference is contrary to its theory.
Big Eight chancellors and presidents have exploited their own institutions for financial gain. One example of this greed is the appointment of Steve Hatchell, chairman of the SWC, as chairman of the Big 12. The decision was purely a financial one. Hatchell had the experience to negotiate big money contracts with the networks. It is appalling that presidents from the Big Eight would select a commissioner from outside the conference.
The ramifications of Hatchell's appointment are beginning to surface. Hatchell is interested in moving the Big 12's headquarters to Dallas. This move not only would strip the Midwest of a well-established institution, it also would hurt Kansas City economically.
Finances dominate decisions made by conference leaders regarding headquarters. conference chairman.
Next month, officials are expected to declare Houston the site for a Big 12 championship football game. This is interesting, given that two of Houston's professional teams, the Oilers and the Astros, have expressed desire to move out of Houston because of poor attendance. In addition, the Astrodome, where the game would be played, is in poor condition. St. Louis and Kansas City, two other cities that have bid on the championship game, have sold out every home game this season and have superior resources.
Power in the conference has been passed over willingly to Texas schools. One would hope Big Eight leaders would assume responsibility for their own schools before Texas owns the Big 12.
MARK POTTER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
THE ISSUE: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Event will focus on violence
O one out of four females will have been sexually
abused by the age of 18. One out of seven males will have been sexually abused by the age of 18. Fifty percent of women will be assaulted by their husbands, lovers or sons at some time in their lives.
These figures show how domestic violence and sexual assault continue to plague American society.
October has been designated Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Because education and awareness can lead to a renewed determination to stop domestic violence, the Feminist Collective Force has organized The Clothesline Project at the University of Kansas.
The display features shirts designed by survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault as a way to educate others and to promote healing.
The Feminist Collective
Feminist Collective Force to increase awareness about abuse by bringing The Clothesline Project to campus community
Force should be applauded for bringing the project to the KU campus. Events like this can help to raise domestic violence to the forefront of the public consciousness.
According to the National Victim Center, one in two women will be in a violent relationship. Accordingly, every woman and man at KU should view The Clothesline Project as an opportunity to learn about an issue that could affect them.
The project also will encourage women and men to speak out against domestic violence and sexual assault. Silence cannot end domestic violence Awareness, education and a refusal to accept violence against women can.
AUREE WITTMAN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Jeff MacNelly/ CHICAGO TRIBUNE
KANSAN STAFF
This is going to be a diary. A very short diary. It is being written with trembling fingers on a laptop computer.
Plane travel is easy if you avoid those dumb geese
Sunday, 9:40 a.m.: For the last 20 minutes, I have been strapped into a seat in a large metal tube. This tube is about five miles above the state of Colorado. It is moving in an easterly direction at about the speed of a bullet.
COLLEEN MCCAIN
Editor
DAVID WILSON
Managing editor, news
ASHLEY MILLER
Managing editor, planning & design
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
STEPHANIE UTLEY
Business manager
MATT SHAW
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
In other words, I'm in a commercial jet airliner, and I don't belong here.
That's because I don't fly. I have a phobia. Several in fact. I'm a control freak, and I fear heights, confined spaces and terrorists, both domestic and foreign.
The last time I got on one of these things was about 20 years ago. But that doesn't count because some friends poured an afternoon's worth of vodka into me, and I thought I was on a fast bus.
Business Staff
When I opened them, Iudged my wife and said: "Look at that poor guy. He either fainted or died of fright."
But this time I did it without even one drink. Which shows that sobriety is overrated.
SUMMER STAR
Campus mgr ... Meredith Hanning
Regional mgr ... Nathaniel Bermede
National mgr ... Heather Barbere
Special Section mgrs ... Noether Niehaus
Production mgrs ... Nancy Euston
Krista Nye
Marketing director ... Konan Hauser
Creative director ... Oblach
Creative director ... Brigitte Gillard
Classified mgr ... Heather Vallier
Internship co-op mgr ... Kelly Connexy
It's the fault of the sadistic blond woman sitting next to me, calmly reading a magazine. She loves flying and she bullied, cailed and shamed me into getting on this thing with her.
My life didn't flash before my eyes because I had my hands over them.
So what am I doing way up here, thousands of feet from the surface of the planet I love and already desperately miss?
By the time I changed my mind and decided to leave and catch a night train out of Denver, it was too late. We were already hurtling into the sky.
"No," she said, "he started taking a
Sunday, 11 a.m.: The door to the cabin has opened and a man comes out and talks to the stewardess.
News & Special Section...Deedra Allison
Editorial...Heather Lawrence
Associate Editorial...Sarah Morrison
Campus...Virginia Marghelm
Associate Campus...Teresa Vaezay
Associate Campus...Paul Todd
Sports...Jenni Carlson
Associate Sports...Tom Erickson
Photo...Mike Ware
Wire...Robert Allen
On-line coordinator...Tina Fassett
Sunday, 10:45 a.m.: My wife said,
"You don't have to keep your safety
belt on for the whole flight."
Sunday, 10:06 a.m. It still isn't crashed. But, then, there is always a calm before the storm. The stewardess came by and asked if I wanted something to drink. I couldn’t
COLUMNIST
"Like hell I don't. If the door pops open, I don't want to be sucked out. I still can't understand why we aren't issued parachutes."
"There's the pilot," my wife said
"What, some rookie kid? That's outrageous. If we make it alive, I'm going to write to the FAA."
"Then he must be that Imatic Chuck Yeagr."
nap as soor as he got on."
Sunday, 11:20 a.m.: The plane dips to one side. Then it starts to lose altitude. In my steadiest hysterical voice, I tell my wife: "I knew it. We're going down. We're doomed. Forgive me for not being a better husband. Or don't forgive me. What's the difference now. I'm about to become a charred lump."
some scotch and leave the bottle.
My wife said: "He'll have coffee?"
When the stewardess brought the coffee, I told her I would like to speak to the pilot. She asked why. I said I wanted to see his driver's license. She chuckled. I don't know why she thought that was funny. The pilot is an absolute stranger. How do I know what his qualifications are?
"Oh boy, that's when it always happens."
“Birds. All it takes is one dumb goose or even a sparrow flying into an engine, and we’ve all had t. I don’t want to end if that way, screaming the Lord’s prayer as we plunge toward a Nebraska campfire. I want to go out with dignity in my own bed, surrounded by my loved ones and watching their fares when I tell them they’ve been cut out of my will.”
Sunday, 10:30 a.m.: Neither of the wings has fallen off yet. I ask my wife to look out of the windowand keep her eyes peeled.
"For what?" she asked
"We're fine. Look, you can see O'Hare."
"Shh, relax, we're just landing," she said.
"What are those cars doing on the runway? This is insane."
Sunday, 11:40 a.m.: There is a tiny thump.
"That's the toll road, silly."
"My god," I said. "Who's flying the plane?"
Editors
The blonde snickered and said:
"Should I call a travel agent tomorrow?"
"Why not? It's a small world."
"We've had it," I moaned.
Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist with the Chicago Tribune.
The napping guy on the other side of the aisle yawns, stretches and rubs his face. So I yawn, stretch and rub my face. It's a guy thing.
"We've landed," she said
I open one eye. Then the other.
She's right.
Sunday, noon: We're in a cab. The driver asked: "How was your flight?" "Smooth as silk," I said. "Slept most of the way."
Program director offers enrollment tips
I am writing in reference to the Kansan's lead article of Oct. 18, 1995, "Western Civilization Seats Slashed." Since I was interviewed for the article, I want to set the record straight on several issues.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Those of us who work in the Western Civilization program are committed to making the course available to as many students as possible. Consequently, we encourage students to do the following:
2. Enroll consecutively. The majority of Western Civilization I sections are offered in the fill semester. Western Civilization II sections predominate in the spring. Students should follow this pattern when enrolling in the course ad not assume that unlimited sections of Western Civilization I or II will be available out of sequence. Some sections of both Western Civilia-
1. Enroll in the course during
main enrollment. Waiting until he add/drop period or attempting to change sections during add/drop may be frustrating. There is no guarantee that students who enroll late will be able to get exactly he sections or times they want.
For clarification or assistance with any of the above, students may contact the Western Civilization Program office.
Antha Cotten-Spreckelmeyer
Assistant Director
If are offered in the sum- mission each year, but a number of summer sections are limited. 3. Enroll prior to your senior year if possible. Graduating seniors are assured enrollment in the course, but are not assured that particular times, sections or instructors will be available. Conflicts often occur when students attempt to fit freshman-sophomore requirements into upper-level schedules.
Assistant Director
Melting pot ideal should not replace pride and respect
In 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed. America was recognized as a country. The United States Constitution was framed in 1787, ratified in 1788 and put into effect in 1789. We became "Americans" that and we developed
in who we were and where we lived.
STAFF COLUMNIST
Like no other nation, we have dealt with a world of differences—colors, religions, creeds. We were promised
With news of freedom, immigrants, packed in ships like sardines, came to claim their own freedom.
that these differences would not be held against us because "all men are created equal," and they are "endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights"
Throughout history we have failed to look past the others' differences, even while we remained proud to be Americans. We have been proud of being Native American, African American, Irish American, Mexican American. But when it comes down to it, aren't we all human?
Living in Guadalajara this summer, I had a chance to play diplomat. I had brought two suitcases full of clothes, a book of American poetry and a mind full of fear
We need to realize that America is brimming with people of different nationalities and races — this is what it means to be an American. We should respect the differences of other Americans as we do people from any other country in the world — welcoming the pride of all nations, and most of all, the pride of being human.
— fear that had been pounded into my head about non-United States cultures from childhood. Ridiculous fear.
After horrid culture shock, I setted in and made friends. And I came across some important realizations. Mexicans aren't trying to steal our jobs; Russians haven't been scheming to nuke us; German does not mean Nazi, and pride does not stop at the U.S. border.
I discussed with friends — Eduardo, Alvaro, Andres and Paula—the misconceptions our races hold about each other.
For a summer, my Mexican friends and I represented two different, beautiful countries, separated by nothing more than an imaginary line and those ridiculous misconceptions.
When people do feel forced to turn their backs on their cultural heritage, they latch on to their culture, furious and confused, while others say, "but aren't we all Americans?"
When I started to look past the subtle differences, I found a proud country — a country not much different from my own.
But pride without an open mind can lead to prejudice. So we pushed hard to talk with open minds and understanding hearts. And together we became proud of being human.
In America, we deal with little nations every day. No other country has so many different races living, in a manner of speaking, under one roof. And sometimes some forget that being American does not mean forgetting — or forfeiting — our original cultures.
Amy McVey is an Olathe Junior in Journalism.
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin