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KEALING: A recent instance of plagiarism in Jayplay is, unfortunately, not shocking, but it will not be tolerated by The Kansan's editor.
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 7A
》 OUR VIEW
Time for solutions,not sound bites
When Gen. John Abizaid, chief of the U.S. Central Command, visited the Senate last week, the nominal purpose of his trip was to answer questions of senators and address the increasingly strident public calls for withdrawal from Iraq. Unfortunately for him, Gen. Abizaid quickly became the victim of the latest round of semantic posturing by members of both parties.
Since the Democratic victory in the midterm elections, a war of competing talking points has
erupted. The Democrats speak of a "new direction" and a "change in course," while the Bush administration claims it welcomes "fresh eyes" but quickly denounces rival ideas as "nonstarters."
In the current atmosphere of scrutinizing media, shortened attention spans and wearisome attacks, the Iraq debate has devolved into little more than linguistic theater. Both sides try to stake out advantageous positions by designing ever more simplified sound bites, while in
the interim Americans and Iraqis continue to die in an increasingly gruesome conflict.
How did it come to this? When did political calculation supplant genuine discourse? When did the lives of Americans fall behind future election prospects in importance? We have for some time seen political concerns trump policy concerns, as in the 1995 government shutdown, but surely we have not had an issue of such drastic and mortal importance hanging in
the balance.
Now, students wonder if we are the only ones who see through this charade. The punditocracy invites party representatives on to various news shows, then sits idly by while the guests avoid answering real questions by offering tired platitudes about change and direction. The media become complicit in this political farce by pretending that these debates are meaningful, by ignoring the fact that the senators go straight to interviews
after the hearings to stake out one more political edge. Could it be that the cynicism of students, for so long lamented by government elites, has now become an advantage? Our jaded view of politics may be the very factor that allows us to see through this masquerade.
There is no more time for sham debates or affected gravitas. The period for political self-importance and profitable posturing is over, and we now know that illusory debates cannot replace
actual progress. The war presents real problems that require real solutions, and it is time that our leaders abandon the slogan war and focus on tangible, not linguistic, victories. Two roads diverged in Washington and our leaders took the one less consequential, and that has made all the difference.
McKay Stangler for the editorial board.
COMMENTARY
Turkey and talking points
I have a few things to get off my chest, none of which will fill an entire column. So, here are some ideas to chew on over Thanksgiving break.
》 It's amazing how America has changed since the day before Election Day. Prior to Nov.7, American voters — and particularly Kansans, according to Thomas Frank — were too stupid to understand how to vote for their own general welfare. But since Election Day, they've been wise arbitrators of American policy, and they've shown their fine judgment by turning the oppressive Republican Party out of office.
Prior to Nov. 7, we were still mourning the 2004 murder of American democracy at the hands of evil Republicans who had the gall to win elections. Today, American democracy has delivered a powerful victory to the heroic Democrats, just as democracy should. It's amazing how preferred election results can wipe clean the memories of formerly-indignant Democrats.
BY VINCE MYERS
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
Speaking of the elections, I do have a silver lining for the Republicans on campus who are still sad at the loss of both houses of Congress: If Republicans had managed to pull out victories in the
House and Senate, there would be nothing to stop the anti-Republican sentiments throughout the country. Voters would have continued to dislike the Iraq war and other policies, and it would have led to a defeat in 2008 with Republicans losing the White House as well.
Now, Democrats have two years to misinterpret this election as a mandate for a liberal agenda and to shut down the government, which will remind voters why they don't particularly care for Democrats.
The same thing happened in 1994 when a similar election put the Republicans in power in both houses of Congress. Republicans went too far, and a previously unpopular President Clinton was victorious in 1996. I expect the same thing to happen with this election. Losing in 2006 gives Republicans a much better chance to win in 2008.
Most people now seem to be in agreement that the minimum
wage needs to be raised, but far too few people seem to understand what the argument is about. People see minimum wage increases as simply a raise for people earning low hourly wages with no side effects other than taking a few bucks out of the business executives' pockets.
It's important to understand that the issue, like every other issue, is a trade-off. Increasing the minimum wage decreases the demand for labor, which increases unemployment. An employee whose value to the company is less than the new minimum wage will be fired. So while the minimum wage might help those who keep their jobs, it has an even greater negative effect on those who lose their jobs.
The effect the minimum wage has on poverty is also questioned because most minimum wage earners are between 16 and 24, and almost 60 percent of minimum wage workers live in families that are more than 200 percent above the poverty line. So the biggest beneficiaries of raising the minimum wage are teenagers from wealthy families. It's much less of a poverty-fighting tool than it seems.
Myers is an Olathe junior in economics.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Wildcats and goalposts go (down) together
In response to those critics of felling the goalposts, consider this: Kansas is now eligible for a consecutive bowl game, the first ever in KU football history. If that isn't reason enough to warrant rushing the field, consider this: After high hopes of a great season ended after heart-breaking losses to Toledo, Nebraska, Okalahoma State and Texas A&M, few of us really expected to win three of the remaining four games in order to meet bowl eligibility. But then it happened. Todd Reesing
helped KU hang onto a fourth-quarter lead against Colorado. We rolled past the Cyclones. All that was left was a victory over K-State. And what a victory it was.
Certainly, rushing the field after last year's expected victory over Mizzou was unnecessary, even more so in light of our subsequent victories over Nebraska and Iowa State. However, tearing down the goalposts to mark the end of one of the longest losing streaks in college football doesn't seem unreasonable,
nor does rushing following a late-season overtime victory over Iowa State, qualifying the Jayhawks for a bowl game.
Tearing down the goalposts has become an important part of the KU football tradition following a great victory. Who can honestly say that Saturday's win over K-State wasn't one of those victories?
Stephanie Hill
Shawnee sophomore
FREE FOR ALL
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to comment. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
Call 864-0500
The parking people won't let me park in The Union parking garage
It doesn't make much sense to complain about tuition and then tear the goalposts down.
39-20.
There is a name for people who do not like fraternities: Virgins.
so I can work on a class project.
When did football become more important than academics?
Here is the quote of the day:
Hey, give me a drink of that vodka.
I need to take my birth control.
To all the K-State fans: Thank you and come again.
EXCEPT
KRYPTOPHAN
Grant Snider/KANSAN
EDITOR'S NOTE
Jayplay plagiarism inexcusable
It seems like each semester I've been in a leadership position at The University Daily Kansan, we've discovered some instance of plagiarism in this paper.
Unfortunately, this semester is no different. Last Tuesday, as Jayplay editors Carolyn Tharp and Becka Cremer were preparing to send their pages to print, Cremer discovered an article with a passage lifted directly from a public relations Web site. While the passage was attributed in a quote from a person, it made the Jayplay editor and I nervous about the rest of the article.
BY JONATHAN KEALING
KANSAN EDITOR
EDITOR@KANSAN.COM
We reviewed the entire article, line-for-line, by pasting sentences into Google and searching for a match. Another passage popped up as matching word-for-word a portion of an article in AOL's Cityguide. The Jayplay editors pulled the article, written by Beth Breitenstein, and her personal essay, which was also slated to run. Well past deadline, they redesigned the magazine to incorporate those changes.
Wednesday morning, I asked them to begin a line-by-line review of all work Breitenstein has submitted to Jayplay and that had already been published. When that was completed, wed found two other passages taken from a Web site without any attribution and another instance of a passage taken word-for-word from a Web site, but attributed to a person.
After speaking with Breitenstein, Tharp and I concluded that she could no longer be a part of the Kansan staff. Breitenstein apologized for the information appearing in both articles and said she did not copy and paste the information. She did not, however, have an explanation for how the word-for-word reproduction could have occurred, except for pure chance.
Plagiarism is taken seriously by the Kansan and the School of Journalism. It's emphasized from the minute students begin taking classes and it's something no one will tolerate. While I wish we could stop every
Whether Breitenstein deliberately took the material or not can't be proven. The fact is, however, words appeared under her byline that were not her original idea and were not attributed. The fact is, her work did not comply with the standards of journalism we expect all of our writers to adhere to.
For that reason, she can no longer be a part of this staff.
While I'd like to think this is the last instance of plagiarism The Kansan will face for some time, I have a hard time believing that. What I do believe, though, is that the editors we have here will continue to ferret out plagiarism and deal with it when they find it.
instance of it, I know that, for some reason, students at this University try it and think they can get away with it.
Words are the currency of our craft. We expect everyone who works for The Kansan to know that, respect that, and work within those rules.
Kealing is a Chesterfield, Mo. senior in Journalism and political science. He is Kansan editor.
TALK TO US
Jonathan Keanling, editor
864-4544 or jeannie.keanling@kansan.com
Bryce B. Schrader, managing editor
864-4544 or eschidah@kansan.com
Gabriella Souza, managing editor
864-4544 or gozzalina@kansan.com
French Tankard opinion editor
864-4524 or frank.tankard@kansan.com
Dave Raugh, associate editor/editor
864-4924 or david.raugh@dhaman.com
Kyle Reed, business manager
864-4914 or kyle.reed@dhaman.com
Lindsey Shirak, sales manager
864-4462 or shirak@kansan.com
Makinim Gibson, general manager, news adviser
864-7667 or molibson@ansan.com
SUBMISSIONS
Jennifee Weaver, sales and marketing adviser
864-7665 or jeweaver@kansas.com
The Kansan welcomes letters to the editor and guest columns submitted by students, faculty and alumni. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length, or reject all submissions.
For any questions, call Frank Tankard or Dave Bugh at 864-4810 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com.
General questions should be directed to the editor at editor@kansan.com
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Include: Author's name and telephone number;
dass, hometown (student); position (faculty member/
staff); phone number (will not be published)
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(785) 864-4810, optiminkaman.com
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Include: Author's name; class, hometown (student); position (faculty member/staff); phone number (will not be published)
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Jonathan Kealing, Erick R. Schmidt, Gabrielle Souza, Frank Iankard, Dave Rugh, Steve Lynn, McKay Stangler and Louis Mora
I