4A
Wednesday, September 13, 1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE ISSUE: VANDALISM
Vandalism destructive expression
Spray paint on sidewalks and buildings, marker scrawling on bathroom doors and walls and desks marred with pen ink and deep scratches. At the University of Kansas, it appears that vandalism is the only forum students have to express their opinions. But the justification for such vandalism is nonexistent because students have several forums to choose from when they have a point they want to get across.
First, the University Daily Kansan opinion page is accessible to all students. The editorial board and the columnists are students from different majors and departments, not just journalism students. Students who find themselves reaching for a pen to scribble a political message across a toilet paper dispenser in a campus bathroom should consider applying for one of these positions next semester. If a full-time commitment to the newspaper is out of the question, then a guest column
or a letter to the editor provides another opportunity for persuasive writing. There is simply no excuse for destroying property in the name of expression.
Vandalism as a means of expressing an opinion is unnecessary when so many viable options exist for free speech
SARAH MORRISON FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
Regardless of someone's stance on an issue, everyone can exercise the aforementioned options of free speech. Resorting to petty vandalism as a means of expression not only costs money, but it strips the message of its legitimacy. It is impossible for others to take these messages seriously when the culprit obviously does not take his or her own message seriously enough to convey it in a way that is not destructive.
Off of the KU campus, the Lawrence Journal World,Pitch Weekly,and The New Times are just a few of the publications with local readership that accept letters to the editor.
KU wins with merit scholars
THE ISSUE: MERIT SCHOLARS
This fall, the University of Kansas enrolled 57
National Merit scholars a 50 percent increase over last year. KU should be honored that these students chose to attend the University because they reflect the quality of education offered at the University.
These scholars have several reasons for attending KU. One is the financial benefits that accompany scholar status at KU. Each scholar is awarded a $1,300 scholarship. Scholars who maintain a 3.5 grade point average can renew the award annually. Also, additional scholarships from sources outside the University are made available to
Acceptance to KU never has been extremely difficult. Even with the ease of entrance, however, many National Merit scholars are choosing KU.
The University should continue recruiting National Merit scholars because they improve the school's reputation
National Merit scholars.
Money, though, isn't the only reason for the increasing number of National Merit scholars attending KU. Scholars are realizing the value and benefits of a good education -- a top-quality education that can be found at a school like KU. It is important that KU is being acknowledged by these students.
The University should continue recruiting National Merit scholars. Enrollment of these students is advantageous to the whole University. By attracting more of these scholars, KU will gain an even better reputation as a serious academic university.
TARA FITZPATRICK 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
News & Special Sections...Deodra Allison
Editorial...Heather Lawrens
Associate Editorial...Sarah Morrison
Associate Campus...Vernon Vessy
Associate Campus...Paul Todd
Sports...Jennil Carlson
Associate Sports...Terrie Coburn
Photo...Paul Kotz
Wire...Robert Allen
STEPHANIE UTLEY
Business manager
MATT SHAW
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH
Technology coordinator
Business Staff
Campus mgr ... Meredith Hanning
Regional mgr ... Tom Dulce
Heather Barnes
Special Session mgr ... Naxon Easten
Production mgrs ... Nancy Easten
Krista Nye
Marketing director ... Konan Hauer
Creative director ... Briggs Bloomquist
Classified mgr ... Heather Valerian
Jeff MacNelly / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Packwood lacking basic Boy Scout honor codes
I don't have many good memories of years spent in the Boy Scouts. As the youngest troop, my buddies and I were terrorized weekly by the older boys. We would get locked in the bathrooms, they would steal our clothes, and on the yearly camp out we were the ones to have our tents brought down while we were sleeping so that the other guys could beat us silly. The den fathers thought this was hilarious. It built character, you know.
I hated the Bov Scouts.
I hated the hypocrisy. Every day we would recite an oath promising to be loyal, trustworthy and full of honor. Yet no one ever seemed to mean it, not even the adults in charge. In my hometown, Bob Packwood would have been a good Boy Scout. He can't seem to grasp what honor means, either.
Good riddance, ex-Senator Packwood. Enjoy retiring on my tax money. Maybe you can find a local Boy Scout troop in need of your enlightened leadership. But whatever you do, don't do it in my community. And stay away from my mother.
Packwood claimed to be doing the honorable thing last week when he resigned from the Senate. He was wrong.
Honor is maintaining personal integrity without being forced by some outside agent. Resigning to save your pension simply doesn't qualify.
Maybe if Packwood would have admitted that he was wrong from the very beginning, he still would have lost his job, but at least he would retain some semblance of
STAFF COLUMNIST
honor.
And ultimately I think that is why I am so disappointed with Packwood, a man who was once considered progressive on women's rights. He feels no shame but instead excuses his actions on the grounds that he was drunk. His continued qualified apologies are nothing more than an affront to those he so grievously wronged.
Instead, he proclaimed his innocence until the very end, apologizing only if he may have offended some unspecified person for some unspecified act. His apology had all the sincere repentance of the latest Jimmy Swaggart confession.
Packwood can't even seem to grasp what he did wrong. He thinks he was threatened with expulsion for ".not drugging, not robbing, but kissing." No. That wasn't it at all.
"maybe."
Is this a hard concept to grasp?
Kissing implies some sort of consent that was never given by any of his 17 accusers. He was, in fact, accused of sexual harassment bordering on sexual assault.
Obviously, I need to spell this out. Kissing is a consensual act of affection. Pushing a woman against a wall and sticking one's tongue in her mouth is not. Packwood claims he backed off when rebuffed, but this very rejection shows that his actions were not consensual. Any sexual activity, even kissing, requires consent. "No" never means
It must be for Packwood. He even stated that his actions were no more than awkward passes, but I have made awkward passes. They usually consisted of me talking with a friend, moving in for the kiss, and her pulling back looking at me as if I had just dripped ear wax on her shoe. Never once did I try to force her to kiss me, thinking she would melt in my arms like we were characters out of some bad Ronald Reagan movie.
I would be too ashamed.
Todd Hlatit is a Lyndon senior in social welfare.
Campus bike lanes would clog campus
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
I'm writing to respond to Matt Fey's editorial concerning bike paths. I think a clarification needs to be made between bike paths and bike lanes. Mr. Fey uses the terms interchangeably, but there is a difference. Bike lanes are typically part of the road, designated by a white line that separates motorists from cyclists. Bike paths, like sidewalks, are usually isolated from streets. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
Bike paths have more drawbacks. Ask most users of bike paths, and they may tell you bike paths aren't exclusive to cyclists. Joggers, walkers and pets also
enjoy using the paths. Cyclists on campus have already carved unpaved trails between campus buildings. It would be nearly impossible not to create these paths without crisscrossing them with streets, which still would have cyclists entering the roadway.
Bike lanes, if done right, are usually safer. The speed of a cyclist is closer to auto traffic than to pedestrian traffic, especially on this campus. Jayhawk Boulevard and most other streets on campus aren't wide enough to accommodate a bike lane in both directions. The placement of a bike lane would still conflict with people entering and exiting the multitude of campus buses.
Alternatives, solutions? Has the
Patrick Myers Kansas City senior
I feel cyclists should use the road wherever possible. There are fewer cars on the road than pedestrians on the sidewalk, particularly between classes. People aren't pylons in an obstacle course! Cyclists should obey the same rules of the road as automobile drivers. Cyclists should also be ticked off if they don't. When on bikes, cyclists should take more responsibility for their actions and ride more defensively. They should think twice about darting out into a roadway without looking or racing past a car to the next stop sign.
University studied the bus schedules to determine if the number of buses now on the road is necessary? I've noticed buses with less than six to eight people on board.
Richard Wright explored ideas about racism that still apply
The recent PBS special about Richard Wright is an important documentary illustrating the life and work of a significant American writer.
Wright, who wrote the autobiographical books "Black Boy" and
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"Native Son" exposed the ugliness of racism and the horrors of prejudice by telling quite chillingly of the plight of African Americans. In "Native Son," he showed white America a portrait of a young man so frightening that the reader can only begin to comprehend the character's motivations after a painful journey into his life.
With affirmative action and school desegregation under attack and the Fuhrman tapes being played, rewound, and played again, Americans hardly can say racism is dead. It is time to re-examine Wright's philosophy in "Native Son."
"Native Son," set in America before the civil rights movement, tells the story of the ill-fated Bigger Thomas, named, Wright once said, to evoke an instant relationship in the reader's mind to the N-word. This 20 year old is destined to live a life of misery because society dictates it. Bigger reluctantly takes a position as a chauffeur for a prominent white family, and when the young daughter and her boyfriend ask Bigger to take them joy riding, he of course complies, never thinking of saying no to his white employer's daughter. Later, as he helps the drunken girl to her bedroom, he is overcome with blinding fear when he hears her mother coming toward the room, and he frantically tries to quiet the giggling girl by placing a pillow over her face.
Their reasons for drawing these depressing conclusions are clear: They attend schools that are grossly inferior, live in broken-down, burned-out communities with no hope of resurrection and are surrounded by failure and death at every turn. Life for these young men becomes little more than a chance to envy, a chance to become bitter.
Wright died penniless, though his books now are required reading in many public schools. That he was unable to realize financial success may support the themes of injustice and inequality evident in his writing. The PBS special is the first step in the re-examination of Richard Wright, and perhaps the first step in acknowledging a need for change.
Donna Devila is an Overland Park graduate student in Education.
What happens next — her death, his grotesque method of disposing of the body, his flight and his ultimate fate — is the result, Wright's book asserts, of a country that cannot accept the humanity of African Americans. America created Bigger and his fear; thus, America is responsible for creating the animal he becomes. This is what Bigger's lawyer argues in the novel's final chapters.
Wright's portrayal of social determinism, or the idea that we are destined to become what society decides we should be, is a hauntingly current notion. There are many Bigger Thomases in urban America today, becoming only what American society permits and nothing more. Countless young men look at all that America has to offer and say, "I can't have that."
MARS
By Mike Boast