4A
Tuesday, September 12, 1995
OPINION
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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: DANGERS OF HAZING
University should take serious action against hazing at KU
The University of Kansas has long pridied itself in being free of hazing.. Recent events should serve as a wake-up call to this University. The events also should encourage fraternities, and the Interfraternity Council to take a proactive stance to route hazing from KU.
During Hawk Week, which was Aug. 15-18, two members of Delta Chi fraternity were hospitalized for severe dehydration resulting from an alleged hazing incident at the fraternity house.
The fraternity is under investigation by the University and Delta Chi's international headquarters. It will be on interim suspension until the investigation is completed Thursday.
DEFINITION OF HAZING
Hazing is defined in a fraternity guide of rules and regulations as "action taken or a situation created, intentionally, on or off college or fraternity premises, to produce physical or mental discomfort, ridicule, embarrassment, or possibly cause mental or physical harm or injury."
This definition leaves much latitude in deciding what hazing is and what it isn't. But it is always best to investigate an alleged incident and then deal with the findings, rather than to ignore the situation.
The University should not be flexible when there is a possibility that someone has been the victim of hazing.
However, some students say that hazing is part of fraternity tradition. How can abuse be part of tradition? It definitely shouldn't be. Maybe it is time to develop new traditions.
THE HIDDEN SHAME
One of the problems in the greek system is that members are reluctant to report when hazing occurs. Fear of repercussions from fraternity members makes the
The safety of piedges and the reputation of the University should take precedence over the ties of brotherhood.
reports of hazing incidents few and far between. A misguided sense of brotherhood leads to this lack of reporting. The bonds of brotherhood should end when a pledge ends up in the hospital because of the actions of his fraternity brothers.
While the lack of reported incidents could mean that hazing doesn't occur at the University, recent events show that it likely does.
The Interfraternity Council and other fraternities should encourage their members to be open about hazing and to make sure that they report hazing anytime it happens.
Additionally, fraternities should hold each other to high standards of behavior. Pledges should have an avenue to anonymously report hazing to the IFC. And they should be encouraged to do so by the University and members of the greek system.
UNIVERSITY REACTION
If the University finds Delta Chi guilty of hazing, the punishment should be swift and severe. There should be zero tolerance for such activity.
A fraternity found guilty of hazing should have its charter revoked and be removed from IFC and campus activities.
Second chances should not be part of the solution. In cases of hazing, the rule should be one strike, and the fraternity is out.
While fraternities are a valuable part of the University, they mar its reputation when hazing occurs.
There is no place for an organization or group on this campus where humiliation, degradation and physical torture are hidden under the cloak of "tradition."
HEATHER LAWRENZ FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Robert Tapley / KANSAN
Students should take stand against aid cuts
This is a call for students on this campus who care about the future of their education and the future of their bank accounts to rise and let their voices be heard. Now is the time when we must voice our opposition to these proposals and must come together in support of higher education. We have an opportunity to do so Wednesday. I hope to see you there.
democratic process in this country
We cannot sit passively while our elected officials, especially Meyers, represent us in this manner. On Wednesday, thousands of students throughout the United States will participate in a "Death of Education" day of action, initiated by the United States Student Association. At KU, we will take part in the national call for action by marching from in front of Wescoe Hall to Meyers' district office at Ninth and Mississippi streets, beginning at 12:30 p.m. Our purpose will be to give Meyers a reality check: that we as students take the future of our education seriously and that we also care about how we are represented in Washington.
This year, Congress is proposing the largest cuts to student financial aid in history. Eleven billion dollars in student loans and $4.5 billion in elementary, secondary and higher education programs have been placed on the chopping block. More than $700 million in direct cuts to student financial aid are being proposed.
Jason Schreiner is a Wakeeyon sopho more in American studies.
This includes the elimination of the Perkins Loan program, State Student Incentive Grant, Harris and Javits Graduate Fellowship Programs, the National Service program, nearly a quarter of a million students from the Pell Grant Program and the Stafford Loan interest exemption and six-month deferment.
for the past six months, the U.S. House of Representatives already has passed these measures, and momentum is gaining within the Senate to do the same. Rep. Jan Meyers, who represents KU in the House, voted against higher education by supporting the House bill. Meyers also voted for an amendment that, had it succeeded, would have declared any student group that uses student fees for any lobbying purpose illegal. This would include almost every student group on campus, from Student Senate to KU Environments. These actions are not consistent with the goals of higher education nor the principles of
The elimination of the Stafford Loan interest exemption, for example, translates into an additional $3,407 that an undergraduate will owe if she/he borrows the maximum amount over four years. This increases the total in payments from $17,125 to $20,352, or an increase from $206 to $247 monthly. This is an overall increase of roughly 20 percent. For students pursuing a master's degree, the overall monthly increase is approximately 27 percent. Graduate students who borrow the maximum amounts over six years would see an additional $33,028 to the cost of the loan, a monthly increase of nearly 50 percent.
The threat of these actions is very real. Given the limited student activism
Ordinance issue needs more study
GUEST COLUMNIST
I appreciated the Aug. 30 Kansan article concerning the recent change to the city of Lawrence's Human Relations Ordinance to include the use of the words "sexual orientation." The purpose of this letter is to challenge the Kansan to further investigate and inform the public of the movement to repeal this advance in equal rights and protections under the law. Specifically three areas of interest are my target:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
1. Why is this issue to be reconsidered after passing in 1994? Who initiated this challenge and why? Are all amendments in city policy challenged and reconsidered annually? When advances in equal rights and protections under the law are made, must they be questioned thereafter?
2. Why was this not given front page placement? The classification of people in the city of Lawrence, or any city for that matter, should be of great interest and concern to all Lawrence citizens.
I am concerned with the movement to reconsider this advance in equal rights and protections for all citizens of Lawrence. How can this be brought up for reconsideration? What is the basis for wanting to take "steps back" after "strides forward" have been achieved? I sincere hope to see further coverage and consideration given to this in future Kansan articles.
3. A more thorough background on this issue and the reason for the challenge to the change in city ordinance would be a very interesting and educational continuing story. I believe there is much more to this story.
Cutting salaries hurts University
E. B. Shirley
In response to T.S. David's letter, the University of Kansas may pay its professors eight percent less than peer schools, as opposed to 20 percent less, but cutting professor salaries is not a way to improve KU.
Perry senior
One reason I came to KU was it funding available to Ph.D. students in either research or teaching. Funding graduate students — who are supervised by faculty — is cost-effective and supports higher salaries for professors.
If we pay our professors too little, all the good professors will leave. If we pay professors more, KU can attract better people. I vote for status quo or even increasing professors' salaries and using Ph.D. students whenever possible.
Lawrence doctoral student
Females who ignore issues hurt women everywhere
It always baffles me that at 20 years old, I still know women whose existences hinge on the mood swings of their boyfriends. These are boyfriends with whom they have no deep connection, unless an equal love of beer and
darts now qualifies as such.
It infuriates me that they can't shake this teenage mind set. These women reduce the women's move
Their inves are truly over if lover boy doesn't come by and share some Saturday-night smokes and a bottle of booze.
ment to a thorn in the sides of politicians and influential men everywhere.
These women ignore the fact that throughout the world women are being raped, beaten and involuntarily sterilized; their genitals are being mutilated; and their female fetuses are being aborted.
It's easier for these women to reduce the entire feminist cause to humorous banter.
When they say, "he won't treat me that way," he won't. They aren't full of empty rhetoric.
These women know what they want, and they work to get it. The world needs more of these women and less of the empty ones if the women's movement has any hope of success.
For example, I recently saw a message that vulgarly explained what the world would be like if men menstruated.
Another example is Betty Cuniberti's column in the Kansas City Star this week. She trivialized the U.N. women's conference by writing about a topic that she would like discussed at the conference: "What is being done about testosterone."
Then she really pulled it all into perspective, offering her wisdom that testosterone is "unregulated, addictive, annoys women and is destroying the ozone layer."
These are the same women who always talk too much in class, adding only fodder to class discussions.
These women call you up in the middle of the night sobbing because their boyfriends flirted with another girl at a bar. "And by God, he's not going to treat me that way. I don't have to take it." they vow.
This comment is typically followed by the infamous line, "All men are pigs."
All men are not pigs, and for any woman to make such a statement is reprehensible.
The women's movement focuses on making men see that sweeping, sexist generalities about women are intolerable. For a woman to do the same in turn is ridiculous.
They command respect, not by whining or fawning over men, but by being intelligent. They read. They seek to educate themselves, and they are strong. Men treat them with respect because they deserve it.
I am being harsh, but I'm not saying that all women are like this. In fact, I know several women who are exactly the type of women we need to be active in the women's movement.
Nicole Kennedy in an Overland Park sophomore in Journalism.
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin