4A
Monday, October 2, 1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: TOWERS PARKING
Parking department to blame
The fiasco that the parking department caused residents at the Jayhawker Towers last Monday could have been avoided completely if the department had taken the necessary steps and time to adequately forewarn residents of the repairs planned for the garage.
The parking department failed to effectively publicize to tower residents that it was making repairs and that the residents had to move their cars. The cars that were not moved were towed. Many residents were unaware that repairs were being made or that they were required to move their vehicles.
The lack of planning by the parking department was unprofessional and inexcusable. The problems and inconveniences that it caused the tower residents whose cars were towed were unfair.
The parking department always notifies the public well in advance about parking changes for football games, basketball games and other major events. The tower residents deserve the same treatment and respect as anyone else.
Residents of Jayhawker Towers should have been better informed of changes in parking due to parking lot repairs
Parking already is a big problem for tower residents this year. The inconsistencies and rule changes that have occurred concerning parking are ludicrous. The parking department insists that adequate parking is available, yet residents claim otherwise.
In future dealings with tower residents, or anyone else for that matter, it is only fair that the parking department treats them with respect and goes through the necessary procedures to make sure all students are informed and aware of any and all changes.
TARA FITZPATRICK FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
THE ISSUE: SCHOOL RANKING
Top-ranked program boosts KU
The University of Kansas' special education department recently was ranked No.1 in the country by U.S.News and World Report's "1995 Guide to America's Best Graduate Schools".
Graduate students should make KU the first stop in their search for higher learning, partially because of this ranking. The high ranking, along with the strides the University has made in working with GTAs, will do nothing but improve the reputation of KU as a nationally competitive university.
This ranking probably came as no surprise to the faculty, staff and students of the program,as the program has been ranked No. 1 in at least one poll for each of the past 17 years.
But it was a surprise, however, to the majority of the students on campus. At a time when the University is making plans for the leap into the
Number one-ranked special education department is not alone as a highly ranked department at KU.
21st century and attempting to take the next step toward national recognition, it would seem appropriate to broadcast this ranking and the other top 10 or 20 rankings to the media, or at least to the Lawrence community.
When an opportunity for positive academic recognition presents itself, a learning institution should want to spread the good news. Many of the University's academic programs are recognized nationally. In fact, KU has 27 nationally ranked academic programs.
KU recently has taken many steps to streamline its operations. Now is the time to take a look at our national reputation and make a concentrated effort to recognize KU as a academically successful university.
CHRIS VINE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
COLLEEN MCCAIN
Editor
DAVID WILSON
Managing editor, news
ASHLEY MILLER
Managing editor, planning & design
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
Editors
Heavy & Special Sections...Dedra Allison
Editorial...Heather Lawrens
Associate Editorial...Sarah Morrison
Campus...Virginia Marghelim
Associate Campus...Teresa Vazeyx
Associate Campus...Paul Todd
Sports...Jenni Carlson
Sports Sports...Tom Relation
Photo...Kolz Kotz
Wire...Robert Allen
On-line coordinator...Thina Pasewitt
STEPHANIE UTLEY
Business manager
MATT SHAW
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH
Technology coordinator
Business Staff
Campus mgr > Meredith Honning
Regional mgr > Tony Duleo
National mgr > Heather Barnes
Special Sections mgr > Heather Nibbesa
Production mgr > Hanyc Easton
Marketing director > Krista Nye
Public Relations director > Beth Cabbil
Creative director > Stigg Bloomquet
Classified mgr > Heather Valler
Internship/oop mgr > Kelly Connealy
Shawn Trimble / KANSAN
Cosmetic changes may win approval, but they will not bring KU the greatness it deserves.
Chancellor's comments raise several questions
Dr. Hemenwav.
I am intrigued by your comments. As a two-term student senator with extensive experience dealing with KU's faculty and administration, I remain skeptical.
During my tenure as vice chairman of the Senate Executive Committee, I met with the Black Student Union in negotiations with KU's administration. In that meeting I asked why numerical goals were not set for increasing African-American enrollment at KU. We were advised that KU could not set numerical goals. You now insist you have set numerical goals. Clearly, both statements cannot be true. Which one is incorrect?
You extend your goal of increased minority participation to the administration and faculty. There has been no furor about KU's bloated bureaucracy. There are more minority administrators, faculty and programs than ever before, and African-American enrollment in 1994 was down 14 percent from 1984. In one department, graduate students were so cowed they were afraid to take up a public collection for beer lest they offend department leaders. And the last great campus-wide debate concerned the sexual exploitation of students by the faculty. What difference does it make who implements KU's not-so-benign neglect of student grievances or perpetuates the culture of abuse? The real problem at KU is not the content of your administration, but the struggle by the student body against the plantation mentality of that administration — race, gender and sexual orientation notwithstanding.
GUEST COLUMNIST
John Altavogt is a Eudora graduate student on-leave in sociology.
Organizations, public and private, are streamlining staffs, slashing bureaucracies, cutting costs and providing more services to consumers. While you have discussed cutting the fat at KU and evaluating the faculty, you again are hampered by a history of deceit. Why should taxpayers trust these new evaluations when it can be demonstrated easily that the recent evaluations of several deans were absolute shams? The creative student can virtually surf down the layers of fat coating the corridors of Strong Hall — assistant deans, associate vice chancellors, directors of this, coordinators of that — I guarantee you these are not "... simply the people who serve those we are here for—the students."
Students at KU de facto have no rights. The law provides few incentives for attorneys to rep
resent students in matters involving the University. Students pay for Legal Services for Students, but just as "Bull" Connor stood in the doorway of the courthouse denying Black folks the right to vote, vice chancellor "Bull" Ambler stands in the doorway leading to full access by students to the attorneys they pay for. The aggrieved student must wander alone through the maze of complicated and bizarre grievance procedures that pass for due process. The University's attorneys are not so constrained. They often step in and become a part of the network of oppression confronting the hapless student. Is it your contention that it will somehow be liberating to students if you change the person who is ignoring or adding to their plight, or will you give them their attorneys?
When I resigned from SenEx over issues surrounding the libraries committee, the faculty promised
more student involvement. Their promises proved to be a lie. The following year, student participation in and influence on that committee were cut. Also, less than three weeks after Jack Davidson, professor of physics and astronomy, screamed at the top of his lungs at undergraduates who had come to a libraries committee meeting, his colleagues elected him to University Council. Today, Davidson is the chairman of SenEx. Will your promises also prove to be so much flatulence?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Kansan coverage of Delta Chi hazing incident is fair
On Sept. 19, I read seven letters to the editor that criticized the Kansan's reporting of the Delta Chi fraternity. The central theme of the letters was either misrepresentation of Greek life or lack of positive exposure of Greek life.
First of all, I believe the Kansan reported the news with the facts that were available. Let's all think about what has been taking up space on the front pages of every paper in the U.S. and maybe even the world: the O.J. Simpson trial. Since June of last year we have been exposed to cartoons, editorial articles and every other journalistic feature possible about this trial. Has he been found guilty yet? No. This is one of several examples of other news events that are presented as they happen. The Kansan's coverage of the hazing incident is the same. Those two men were fortunate not to have suffered long-term physical damage. For all who wrote to cry foul, for you are naive about how journalism works. Another thing to remember about the cartoon and opinions expressed by the writers is that they were on the opinion page. This is where people are entitled to express their opinion in any manner they choose. I found the cartoon humorous — as it was intended.
Also, to write and say that the Kansan does not cover positive aspects of greek life is wrong. Rock Chalk Revue is covered in-depth from start to finish. I am in my fourth year here, and I have seen several articles published that tell the positive features of the greek system. I have seen articles that explain and cover greek philanthropic activity. It seems to have been forgotten when the Kansan came to the aid of the greek house that sponsored Wheat Meet last year. As I recall, the football team's practice schedule forced the event to be moved to another date at the last minute. A few articles written by the Kansan supported the events and questioned the actions of Coach Mason and the athletic department. How soon we do forget.
The truth is that the Kansan is one organized body campus that the greek system
does not control and cannot dictate to regarding what is printed. Greeks don't suffer from underexposure or negative exposure. Greeks are subject to complete exposure, positive and negative.
As a member of Phi Beta Sigma (a Black fraternity), I feel the fraternities and sororities of the Black Panhellenic council have more of a legitimate complaint when it comes to being underexposed. We get about two articles a semester (if we're lucky), and most of them are small, hidden or difficult to see. Most people on campus probably have never heard of the community services we provide or the philanthropies that we contribute to. Think about the total exposure Greeks receive compared to other groups on campus before talking about the Kansan's lack of positive exposure.
Maybe if a greek organization had not allowed pledges to do yard work for hours in 100-degree-plus temperatures, we wouldn't have to read about mistreatment or false representation of greek organizations.
Damian Glaze Chapman senior
Computers may be smart, but they are mean. too
I have my computer back from the shop, and it is driving me crazy. I used it for a grand total of a half day before it wigged out on me.
the four months
I hate machines. I think the television is the work of the devil with its hypnotizing powers, and
the four months I spent without a phone were the most blissful of my life.
STAFF COLUMNIST
But, somehow, through my overwhelming technophobia, I have forged a grudging respect and possibly even an admiration for computers — or at least a little fear.
Computers are the smartest and therefore the meanest and most willful of all machines. They have powers to destroy lives and sanity, of which the once-mighty car only can dream.
None of this was useful when my first college English paper was due, and I could not find a typewriter on campus.
I came to college as a computer illiterate. I had taken two computer courses in high school, but the only thing I remember is that two hyperactive, clueless people should not share a computer work station, the phantom g and Skaggs Alpha-Beta Singles Night. (Don't ask, it would be difficult to explain.)
A Mac god in the residence hall where I lived sat me down at the hall computer and showed me how to do this, this, this if you want to and print like this. Then he went to bed.
I spent four of the next eight hours trying to recreate what he had done. I had my first real computer lesson. There is a random death key that will spontaneously activate, causing great mishap to your document.
Where'd it go?
During the night, the sounds of a one-sided battle of wits poured from the computer room:
where did it go?
Give it back!
What the...?!
Stupid machine.
Still, when the ordeal was done, I was hooked. Despite the frustration, the paper looked better, had fewer typos and actually was spelled right. For someone who likes to write, the revision possibilities were addictive.
I soon would learn that I had a rare gift with computers. They do things for me that others find inexplicable. I cannot count the times I have been working, and the computer freaks out. I ask some computer-knowledgeable person nearby what happened, and they look at the computer in complete puzzlement.
"How'd you do that?"
Well, if I knew that, I would not be talking to you now. In fact, if I could repeat the process, I could become a really cool creator of computer viruses that would cripple the world and become the subject of a made-for-TV movie.
When my computer spazed this time, I called 1-800-SOSAPPL, and they sent out two technicians in suits and ties from Topeka. They took one look at my computer's new trick and one said, I swear, "How bizarre." The other said, "Well, we like challenges: it keeps life interesting."
And I am thinking, "I didn't do nothing; it's not my fault."
Once again proving that God has a twisted sense of humor, I am destined to work with computers all my life. They are a part of my career, and there is no escaping. It's life without a chance of parole.
So I have tried to make friends with them. There is no excuse for a college graduate not to have some knowledge of computers. They have become intertwined with most fields, and there is no getting rid of them. The horse is retired, the telegraph is tapped out, and the typewriter is history. Computers rule with an iron fist.
Go with the flow, and meet a computer near you. You'll be glad you did.
Don't worry, some are even abuser-friendly.
Jake Arnold to a Lawrence senior in Journallam.