The University Daily Kansan emphasizes The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech. or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
JORGENSEN: Here are the most bodacious places to have sex on campus, as well as a couple of the worst. If you go for it, you've got to go all out. See kansan.com for more opinions and Free for All comments
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15,2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
PAGE 7A
》 OUR VIEW
Lower college costs now
You may not have heard of the Democrats' promise to make college more affordable, but it could profoundly affect how you finance your education.
The media mostly ignored the platform during the election season, but Democratic educational leaders pledged to make college tuition permanently deductible from taxes, to cut student loan interest rates and to expand Pell Grants. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, who will be Speaker of the House, wants to enact the six-point plan within 100 hours after the 110th Congress takes office in January.
Whether Democrats enact the plan in 100 hours or 100 days, students should demand that the
Democratic Party carry out its campaign promise of making college less expensive and more accessible.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, families who put students through college would receive a $3,000 tax credit. The plan would lower interest rates from 6.8 to 3.4 percent for loans taken out by students, and also cut interest rates for loans taken out by parents by about half. It also calls for increasing the $4,050 Pell Grant.
The election will restructure important committees that deal with funding to colleges. In the House, Rep. George Miller of California will probably lead the Education Committee; in the
Senate, Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts would lead, the Chronicle says. Students should expect these Democrats to carry out their campaign promises, but let's also hope that Kansas politicians play an active role in higher education.
The Democrats have little time to implement their promise to students and their families. By early 2008, they will have already begun to campaign again. If the Democrats fail to support higher education, students will know whom to vote out of office next election.
Steve Lynn for the editorial board
Don't make assumptions based on religious beliefs
COMMENTARY
Christian Muslim. Atheist.
Now that you have seen these words, please read them once more and think about what mental images come to mind.
I would like to have an open discussion about stereotypes of religious and non-religious people in the media and how they limit our daily interactions with one another. There are wars going on right now about how and where it is appropriate to express faith, who has the superior faith and what to do about those people who have no faith tradition at all.
We all know that the United States is a predominately Christian nation, but I must ask the question, what in fact is a Christian? Is it someone who believes that everything written in the Bible is literal truth and must be followed strictly? Is it someone who believes in miracles such as the virgin birth of Jesus, the resurrection and healings of sick people? This is how mainstream Christianity has been portrayed for decades.
Religious tensions have been building up these past few years as
However, placing all people who self-identify as Christians into these categories would be a far cry from the truth. I know Christians who believe in evolution, support gay marriage, believe in the separation of church and state and take the Bible seriously, but interpret it within its cultural context. The belief that all Christians are Bible-thumping fundamentalists is simply not true.
BY BETH RUHL
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINIONOKANSAN.COM
the United States has chosen to go to war with a country that is primarily made up of Muslim people. This is not to say that this is the only reason for the war in Iraq, but it is certainly a considerable factor.
Sadly enough, a recent column printed in The New York Times by Jeff Stein, "Can You Tell A Sunni From a Shiite?" showed us that many of the leaders of our country, including members of Congress, don't even know the difference between the two major sects of Islam that are on the verge of a civil war.
Whenever we see a Muslim person presented in the news it is almost always in reference to a "terrorist" plot by people who "hate freedom". When you are only exposed to one aspect of a people, you begin to believe that what you are seeing is the only way they act.
The simple truth is that the people who believe in the radically conservative sects of Islam, such as Wahhabism or Salafism, are a small minority compared with members of the rest of the Muslim world, who tend to be more moderate.
Now we come to the people who are often referred to as atheists, agnostics or those people who do not claim any specific spiritual affiliation. People of any faith are
often wary of these types because they suspect that if one does not believe in a higher power, he or she will automatically try to bring down religious institutions and encourage behavior that is contrary to religious teachings. I'm not saying that hateful atheists don't exist, but I've seen just as many hateful Christians as hateful atheists.
As human beings we must have ethics in order to survive. Because we are sentient beings, we have the ability to experience pain, and therefore recognize that other people experience pain as we do. The best way for us to minimize pain and maximize our survival is to act according to the golden rule, which means, for example, not stealing from other people so you will not be stolen from or not killing someone so you won't be killed.
Whether you come to this conclusion through religion or other insight, it must be realized that there are people in all three of the aforementioned categories who will understand this and there are some who will not. However, you cannot differentiate between them and say one group is better than the other. There are good and bad apples in every bunch.
It is very easy to make assumptions about people based upon their religious/non-religious affiliation. Making judgments about individual people based upon group memberships is a safety net that is used when we don't want to deal with people who are different from us.
Ruhl is a Lawrence sophomore in journalism and creative writing.
COMMENTARY
Grant Snider/KANSAN
Best,worst places to steam it up on campus
It should be your goal as a Jayhawk to have sex on campus at least once, and I don't mean in the dorms.
Why? Because why not. It spices things up, and then you have a story that will make your friends jealous. Plus, you're paying thousands of dollars a year to use this campus. Why not get your money's worth and use the facilities to their fullest potential?
Some have published their opinions on the matter, but now it's my turn. So here you go. Eric Jorgensen's top four places to have sex on campus (no particular order), and two places to avoid.
How gnarly would it be to piledrive in one of the tallest structures on campus as large bells make everyone look your way? It would be totally tubular (thank you Ninja Turtles for the vocabulary).
Are those bells they hear, or you grunting? Who cares! You're having sex in the Campaina and they're not. Just peak your head over the edge and give the onlookers the Borat two thumbs up. Very nice!
2) Allen Fieldhouse. How could
1) The top of the Campanile — at high noon. Whenever you're walking around campus and you hear the Campanile's bells sounding in all their glory, most of the time you look over at it.
BY ERIC JORGENSEN
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
I not put this on the list? The only problem is figuring out where inside the arena to make with the sex.
During the basketball season, thousands of screaming fans take their turn camping for the next home game. Many times the campers will bring inflatable mattresses to sleep on while they wait to be replaced.
This would be a comfortable place and a good time to check the fieldhouse off your "to do it" list. However, being quiet may be a problem, seeing as how every Jayhawk in the fieldhouse is a screamer.
3) The walkway between Haworth and Malott. I walk past this glass corridor almost every day. Every time I do I always glance at it as I pass. Just one of these times I'd like to be making the boring walk to class, look up and see a set of butt cheeks pressed against the glass.
cheeks pressed against me and ask I would walk up there and ask for autographs. If you actually do this, I will personally Windex the butt prints off the window.
In the event you manage to pull this one off, you have to get a friend to take a picture from the ground. You would have the single best Facebook picture of all time.
4) The second-story bathroom in Watson Library. This bathroom is perfect. It is quiet, hidden and is in one of the more obscure locations on campus. This bathroom has the advantage of being protected by something no one likes and what we spend most our college years trying to avoid: books.
With so many books around, there is no way anyone will come near you two, or three or whatever. What better place to lay the pipe than in a room built by pipes? It's fate.
Now for the opposites. Here are two places to never have sex at, in or around.
1) Anywhere in Wescoe. In a building with a mistaken identity as a parking garage, it would be your luck to discover the person you're about to boink with also has a mistaken identity. That's a gift that keeps giving — nightmares.
2) Memorial Stadium. A Jayhawk rarely scores here when it really matters.
Jorgensen is a Baldwin City senior in journalism.
FREE FOR ALL
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I just wanted to say: Happy 22nd birthday Nate.
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You know, in Arkansas the slogan for Priscilla's is,"Where fun and family meet."
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》 LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dave Ruigh, associate opinion editor
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Remember the strange days before Facebook, when we lived in the real world?
When I was in an undergraduate, we didn't have Facebook. We had to talk to people in real life. It worked pretty well, but we sort of had the feeling we were missing out.
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It was always so annoying when I would meet a perfect stranger and they wouldn't know my favorite movie, or even my "about me." Can you imagine?
If you are in a new network and your old friends never see how cool your new friends are, what is the point? You might as well have got a job. To help Facebook friends flesh out some of their half-baked
did you go to that party? Does it even exist as far as Facebook is concerned? No, it does not, and you are a liar.
This was before the news feed or mini新闻feed. And I went around for years not having a clue as to my social timeline. I had no idea the relationship status of the girl in poly sci.
Now you go to a party (or start grad school) and get new friends. But if you are at a party and don't put any pictures of it on Facebook,
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memories we finally have the memories chain letter, which is the best thing to happen in Facebook history. I never thought it was enough to have an entire Web site dedicated to myself. Having others write about me is much better.
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