A. B. C. D.
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4A
Wednesday, October 11, 1995
OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: THE LANGUAGE LAB
Equipment needs maintenance
The language lab in 4070 Wescoe Hall needs to make changes in services in order to make the center a valuable resource for the students who take foreign language classes at the University of Kansas.
One change the lab should consider making is allowing undergraduate students to check video-tapes out overnight.
Only professors and graduate teaching assistants may check out videotapes overnight and return them the following morning. Professors can reserve tapes for their students, but the students are not allowed to leave the lab with them.
The lab cites cost and copyright laws as reasons for not duplicating tapes. At Watson Library, students are charged $1 for every hour the material is late. With a similar fine policy in place at the lab, students would be deterred from turning
Language lab needs to keep equipment in working order and consider allowing videotapes to be checked out.
tapes in late. And copyright laws easily could be bypassed because the tapes are being used for educational purposes.
The lab also needs to keep lab equipment in working order. If tapes cannot be taken outside the lab, then keeping the equipment running inside the lab should be a priority.
The rule against checking out videotapes for home viewing,coupled with shoddy lab equipment, make the language lab an inefficient resource for students. Allowing students to take videotapes home overnight and making the maintenance and repair of lab equipment a priority would benefit the students who rely on the lab to supplement their foreign language education.
NATHAN TOHTSSONI FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
OPINION BRIEFS
Med Center deserves praise
The University of Kansas Medical Center's ground-break
Kansas Medical Center's ground-breaking treatment of Parkinson's disease should be applauded. Continued pursuit of such innovative treatments should be a priority of the Med Center. KU has one of the finest medical centers in the country an honor the University should wear proudly.
Although risks are inherent with any new treatment, experimentation
and evolution of procedures must continue for science to move forward. Gaining the approval to commence with the next step in the treatment of Parkinson's disease has distinguished KU among its peers.
The University should do everything within its power to continue to encourage and promote the development of new experimental procedures at the Med Center.
Rate increases are reasonable
The proposed increases in student housing rates are consistent with inflation. On-campus housing still would be a good buy even if the increases are ratified by the Student Housing Advisory Board.
The possible student housing rent increase is not as bad as it may seem. Rent for all residence halls, including scholarship halls, Sunflower Apartments, Jayhawker Towers and Stouffer Place apartments would increase by $8 to $96.
People hear the words
"rent increase" and immediately panic. For students who oppose the rent hike, do not allow it to discourage you from living on campus. Campus living opens up many doors. If the increases are accepted, the Department of Student Housing will be able to afford to improve student services and living conditions in residence halls.
Even with increased rent, on-campus housing at the University of Kansas still would cost less than it does at many other schools in the Big 12.
KANSAN STAFF
COLLEEN MCCAIN
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I have been trying to remember this rhyme I learned in grammar school that helped me to remember the significance of the year 1492. I am not sure that I have it quite right yet, but see whether this jogs your memory. "In fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, to rape and pillage and steal for you. Thank you Columbus, you scum bag." Off course, when I was a kid we used a different name starting with "s," but I think the main idea is clear.
This week, instead of remembering Columbus, remember the expense at which this land was won. Remember who died so that you can be an American. And remember who still suffers as the lies and oppression continue. If you find it bothering you, join Amnesty International tonight at 6:30 at the Multicultural Resource Center for a series of talks about the continued threat Native Americans face from our government and our people.
Columbus Day should be a day of national mourning
Join the discussion. Find out what you can do to help.
Todd Hiatt is a Lyndon senior in social welfare.
Columbus was a vile man whose position as "discoverer of the New World" has earned him an official holiday in our country. In light of our history, honoring a sadistic, money-grubbing slave master does make some twisted sort of sense, but for the sake of argument let's consider the perversity of this holiday.
encouraging their eradication. For example, Congress wants to tax profits made from gambling casinos built on sovereign tribal lands. These are taxes which they have no right to collect. Congress also wants to limit the ability of tribes to construct these casinos by requiring community consent. This is authority they don't have.
In the meantime, Congress has cut the Bureau of Indian Affairs' budget by 40 percent. This is money owed to the tribes by past treaties and pacts and provides health care, housing, and education to a people grievously wronged and impoverished by racism and genocide. We have no right to balance the budget at the expense of Native America. We have no right to welch on this debt.
Columbus landed on San Salvador in 1492 and found the natives too trusting and naive of European duplicity not to exploit. His first order of business was to steal all their gold. If an individual could not produce the required amount of gold, their hands were removed at the wrist. Those that tried to run away had their legs cut off. His next order of business was to send a few of the heathens back to Spain to live as pets and oddities for the court. He actually sent over a great many, but many of them died, chained below on decks and wallowing in their own excrement, so
STAFF COLUMNIST
only a few survived the trip.
Columbus,
obviously a hero,
returned twice
to the land of his
discovery
— enough to bleed
the natives dry
and open up a
whole new hemisphere
of exploitation and
over-consumption.
It only makes sense that
we now celebrate Columbus as the first true American.
The problems facing Native Americans aren't funny. As a nation, we continue to exploit them mercilessly, while at the same time
Personally, I don't think Columbus warrants his own day of celebration. While I am grateful to live in the United States and proud of its theoretical base, I am not proud of certain aspects of its history. And I am certainly not proud of its beginnings. First contact was inevitable and probably would have continued in a similar vein, no matter who who initiated it, but such a misdeed deserves no celebration.
Maybe presidential candidate Pat Buchanan is right. He says Native Americans were to blame — victims of their own "weak immigration policy." Heh, heh, heh. Very funny, Pat. Now shut up.
Towers residents upset about coverage
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I am writing in response to articles printed Sept. 25 and 26 in the Kansan concerning the parking situation at Jayhawker Towers. The Kansan is favoring the Parking Department's views and has ignored the tenants' viewpoints. The Kansan reported Sept. 25 that the department was scrapping the plans for a gravel lot that would hold 50 cars.
Towers residents were not informed of this decision and were given no opportunity for input in the decision. The basis for the decision was that plenty of spots consistently are available in the
I was one of the five people to be towed from Jayhawker Towers, but I got there in time to move my car before it was towed. I still received a $10 parking ticket — for parking at my place of residence! When I parked my car in that space in that lot, I saw no signs, no reason to believe my car would be in the way — or else I would not have parked there. I took classes in the
Templin parking lots. Why should towers residents have to park in Templin parking lots? There is no reason why towers residents should be unable to park close to their homes. I imagine that Donna Hultine of the department would not want to walk three blocks on poorly lighted sidewalks at night from her car to her home.
summer and lived in the towers. I watched as these lots sat empty for nearly three months while no work was done! Towers residents pay $35 for a permit to park in lots close to home. We deserve better service than the department is giving us. We were told to park in Burge Union (yellow) lots only to return to find tickets attached to the windshield. We have been asked to park in many lots other than the one we paid for. We have to walk through poorly lighted areas alone at night. Parking Department — either start giving us the services we are paying for, or refund the money we paid for services we are not receiving!
Michelle Poliquin
Toneka senior
Love is the only way to combat all the violence in the world
I have a small collection of bumper stickers hanging around my mirror. One of my favorites says, "Practice random acts of kindness and senseless beauty." It pretty much explains everything that I stand for. Be kind to others, and
STAFF COLUMNIST
somehow this kindness will be repaid.
Topeka has a program to promote random kindness that is sponsored by all three local TV stations and the newspaper. Every Sunday, you can flip through the Topeka Capital Journal and find a section about random acts of kindness, as
reported by fellow Topekans.
This section is very different from most of the paper because it is one of the few places you can find good news. From the front page to the classifieds, stories about murders, beatings and child abuse grab our attention. And these stories all have one thing in common: They all involve hate.
Hate is probably the most pervasive emotion in society today. It is invading our society without giving us a chance to fight back.
The first time I realized how much hate had entered my world, I was a junior in high school. I went to a small Catholic school and, consequently, I was fairly sheltered. Violent crime never came near my world; it certainly did not directly affect me and my friends. That is, until my friend Amanda died. She was carjacked, beaten, tied up and left in a field for dead. She was found by a child several days later on his way to school. The worst part was that one of the people involved in the carjacking worked with Amanda and was someone she considered a friend.
A year later, violence entered my world again when my friend Donnel was shot at a party. The killer said that he hadn't realized there was a bullet in the gun. His story would have been more convincing if he hadn't dragged Donnel to the trash cans and left her there. She died several days later, but she also was brain-dead when they found her.
After that, hate never left my world.
I doubt that it has left anyone's Violent crimes of all types are on the rise throughout the country. The result is that as a society, we are becoming increasingly desensitized to violence and hate.
We need to stop accepting the violence and hatred that is constantly force-fed to us, whether it is in the movies, on television or in the news. Real hatred cannot be fought by sitting back and saying "Violence bad. You stop now." It can be stopped only by attacking it with the opposite emotion — love.
Topeka's Random Acts of Kindness program is a good example of real love. Although the program is still fairly small, it is a step in the right direction, because it highlights the positive things people do rather than the negative. And a little bit of positiveness never hurt anyone.
Love gets a bad rap these days. It is often dramatized into lust, or it is seen as a sign of weakness. However, it is neither of these. Real love is concerned with caring and acceptance. It also relies on trust. And although real love is hard to find, once you come across it, you never should let it go.
Stacy Nagy is a Topeka sophomore in Russian.
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin