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LO: We all love hearing urban legends true, false or disgusting. With Halloween season nearing, now is the time to pass around these dirty rumors. See kansan.com for more opinions and Free for All comments
MONDAY,OCTOBER 2,2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 4A
OPINION
OUR VIEW
Tuition inflation fosters inequality
It is often said that there is no better investment, and no better reason to go into debt, than higher education. But this astonishing number means that the cost of a college degree has increased at 14 times the average rate of inflation during that period. This has not gone unnoticed, but has certainly been underreported.
The New York Times recently reported on the alarming rise in health care costs, which increased at double the inflation rate in the last year. The Times took a similarly alarmist tone when it reported on the staggering rise in insurance premiums in coastal areas, which have seen premiums increase drastically since last year's storms.
In a purely economic sense, universities are simply taking advantage of a favorable situation. As the earning power of a high school diploma has fallen, the significance of bachelor's degrees and postgraduate degrees
Both are fiscal issues worthy of attention. But the dramatic increase in the cost of college tuition in the last decade has been a quiet but severe strain on the bank accounts of both students and parents. A recent report in the Wall Street Journal noted that in the last 10 years, average tuition at four-year public universities has increased an astounding 42 percent, a full 10 points more than the increase at private colleges.
has risen, and schools can capitalize on that trend. But these cost increases are symptomatic of a larger cultural shift. The rising costs of colleges are leading to a widely segmented society, in which the educated information elites simply perpetuate their class by extending their earning power through innovation (see hedge funds), which allows them to pay for higher education for their own children. The cycle can then begin anew with another generation of educated elites.
To be sure, federal and private loans have gone a long way in leveling the playing field of universities. But the preponderance of loans simply creates mountains of debt, forcing those who utilize them to start their careers at an economic disadvantage. The educated elites rarely face such a problem, since they can usually afford to pay full tuition for their children.
The University of Kansas is as big an offender as anyone else in this dramatic tuition increase, and for what obvious benefits? Any time a fiscal cost increases at rates unseen since Soviet satellite states, something is amiss. The University must ensure that it stops getting caught up in the culture of yearly increases currently afflicting universities nationwide.
McKay Stangler for the editorial board
FREE FOR ALL
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansas editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
This is to the lady who came plowing through campus blaring her horn: Next time I'm going to drop kick your bumper.
My roommate's cat just walked up and sniffed my feet, then ran off and fainted.
Does Snow Hall constantly smell like old people?
The banana outside Hash: You probably aren't selling that many smoothies, but you are highly entertaining.
to emit a large quantity of sulfur gas to be able to light the fire. If a gerbil were actually in his anus, then enough gas to create a sufficient butt-singing flame would not be released.
Hey Free for All, want to know why the Watson stacks close at 11:30? It is prime sex time.
I just walked out of the Rec and there was a guy wearing really short shorts. I just wanted to say that is inappropriate. I don't want
Hey Free for All, I just busted a nut on the way to class. It was an
Can someone explain to me why my BK chicken fingers taste minty fresh?
Holy 'late pay off of the Iraqi war;
Batman. Gases prices are below $2.
I just want to say Squirrel is the best comic.
I'll tell you one thing. Those vampires at the blood drive aren't going to get my blood.
My coworker has coffee breath and that is not a good thing.
My friend just pissed her pants outside The Hawk. Now we are walking home.
A guy at the Underground just wiped his eye, then made my
I wish my grass was emo.
To the guy who fell in Budig 120
*oday*: You made my day.
Can people please not suck when they call into the Free for All?
If the guy that sits next to me in Thermo isn't going to brush his teeth, he should at least chew
I bet you $10 this won't get printed in the paper.
Luke Henry is the sexiest guy I have ever seen.
I just saw a girl wearing blue pants with pink written on the butt. I wanted to say,"Girl, your butt is color blind".
Teresa Lo rocks my world.
People who ride scooters are awesome.
Hey T.O., you couldn't win the Super Bowl.
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MCT Campus
Dirty urban legends, fact or fiction?
COMMENTARY
My friend Kat told me the most horrible story ever, claiming it was true because not one but two people had told her about it.
"There was this guy," she said, "and he stuck a gerbil in his butt. It got stuck, and he was too embarrassed to go to the hospital so he decided to smoke it out. He put a match near his anus, but he farted and singed his butt hair. He ended up having to go to the hospital anyway."
She expected me to believe this, and I actually believed her until 1, the research-obessed history major, looked up the facts.
I consulted a Senior Fellow in the Division of Gastronomy and a Board Certified Internist at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor to find out if it was actually possible to light a fire in that manner. Apparently, it is possible to light a fart on fire because the gas emitted is sulfur. He informed me of a larger man who ate too many beans and sat in an enclosed space. The man died from poisoning due to the quantity of his own sulfuric gas.
However, these cases are extremely rare, and one would have
BY TERESA LO
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
The point is that regardless of fact or fiction we love to share these dirty urban legends, and October is the perfect month to sit around a bonfire sharing stories, eating candy corn and wearing monkey costumes.
Already October has proved to be a devilishly dirty month. With recent news that Dustin Diamond, aka Screech, might allegedly have a 40-minute sex tape circulating with him and two women performing a dirty sanchez (if you don't know what it is, don't ask) I am reminded of how important it is to learn the facts before we completely believe what we hear. I particularly don't
want to believe this rumor because I find it hard to believe that Screech has sex, let alone with two women, let alone dirty poo-poo sex.
One of the most comprehensive urban legend Web sites is www. snopes.com, and one neat factor to the site is that not only does it list different legends, but it also debunks many. I preferred the true stories, and the following from the site are my top three:
1. ) In Japan, although rare, vending machines existed that actually sold schoolgirl panties. The reason for this is Japan's thriving "bura-sera" industry, which describes the males' fascination with youth and schoolgirl culture. This eroticism partly explains the Japanese style of looking girlish and cute in comparison with the western notion of looking womanly and busy.
2. ) In 1970, Rocky himself, Sylvester Stallone, starred in a porn flick called Party at Kitty and Stud's. Sly played Stud. He later told Playboy magazine that he was paid $200, and if you check out the Internet Movie Database, www.imdb.com, you will actually see the
cover of this marvelous-looking flick.
3. ) A certain anti-depressant can cause orgasms when its users yawn. Researchers found that the drug clomipramine, brand name Anafranil, caused some patients to orgasm when they yawned, and thus many patients found the drug to be "quite pleased."
There were plenty of false or non-provable stories on the site that I remember my friends and I had giggled about in junior high. Those stories include the infamous "girls dies masturbating with broom," "policemen have to tell hookers that they're cops if the hookers ask," "the fashion style of sagging began in prison to signal sexual availability," and so on and so on.
Unfortunately, it is too early to tell whether or not Screech's urban legend is true or not, but if you're interested in other legends, then check out the Web site and arm yourself with the truth. After all, people will believe anything as long as it happened to a "friend of a friend of a friend."
Lo is a Coffeyville senior in history.
GUEST COMMENTARY
Ryan Kanost put his friends before himself
I can't imagine what the last nine years of my life would have been like without Ryan Kanost. It is rare and indescribable to meet someone that you can love and trust like family.
I met Ryan in the summer after 8th grade and we got to know each other in band class. He played the trumpet and I played the drums. After much discussion and planning during classes and marching band trips, we decided to form a rock group. I have no idea what kind of music I had been listening to at the time, but I'm sure that it was embarrassingly awful. Ryan showed me music that changed my life. We began practicing in my parents' basement. Ryan played guitar while I drummed, speeding up and slowing down songs by The Foo Fighters, The Pixies, Nirvana and Cake.
Ryan's friend Travis Warner, joined the band and I was shocked by his and Ryan's musical ability. Ryan and Travis began writing original songs, and the three of us played together for years under numerous incarnations, lineups and levels of seriousness.
Even though he did not play in a band in college, he would always come to my concerts. I would try
Early in high school, Ryan introduced me to Scott Emery. Scott, Ryan, Travis and I connected, banded together and developed a bond that will last beyond years. They are my best friends. They are a part of me. They are a part of an essential and sustaining idea of home. I thank Ryan for showing me such friendship. Not only did he introduce Travis, Scott and me, but he cared for us, helped us and made our lives better.
We called ourselves "the family."
We had family holidays and parties.
Scott refers to Ryan as the "dad" of our group. He organized cook-outs and get-togethers, always with the intention of seeing all his friends under one roof having a good time.
Witty, cynical, at times self-deprecating and always clever. Ryan's sense of humor revealed his intelligence. He was unusually smart. He surrounded himself with smart people. I was intimidated by such intelligence and I still feel slow and clumsy in comparison. He was in the gifted program and he was a national merit semi-finalist. He studied biology — in his father's footsteps — and wanted to go to medical school. He helped me in my life and he helped many others. I am sure he would have helped countless people.
Travis, Scott and I would talk about Ryan's resilience, his responsibility and how much he had overcome. He was making a difference. His efforts coaching youth basketball and mentoring in after-school programs inspired those around him. He reminded me that if you give to others, you will be given back much more in your heart.
He is the only person ever to buy a work of my art, and the only person to even express an interest in
Ryan, Travis, Scott and I graduated high school together and went away to college together. We learned together and lived together. Our friendship gives me such happiness. Like the air, I breathe it in, and hold it inside of me, only partially aware that it is keeping me alive.
I was not with Ryan the day he died. But I had the privilege of spending so many perfect days with him, learning from him and finding comfort in him. He was a caring son, brother, uncle and friend. He remains with those who knew him, those who love him and those who are inspired by him. He still helps us. He still supports us. He is still with us. I love you Ryan, I love you, I love you, I love you.
He would make us roll with laughter. He talked about "keeping it real" to make light of many LETTER GUIDELINES
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to let him in for free, but he always insisted on paying. He always brought people with him, and he was always encouraging. The way he was always there for me makes it impossible to imagine life without him. I cannot think of a time when he did not support me or his other friends. He deserves credit for guiding my development in music and that of many other people, including his brother and sister.
Jonathan Kailing, editor
86454 or jeaakandingsen@kaiser.com
Erick R. Schmidt, managing editor
86454 or jeaakandingsen@kaiser.com
Gabrielle Soza, managing editor
86454 or spazacandingsen@kaiser.com
Frank Tankard opinion editor
86454 or jeaakandingsen@kaiser.com
owning a piece of my work, though he did not visit museums and he owned no other artist's work. I gave him two drawings and I let him pay me for the frames. He would explain with pride to his guests that his friend had made the pieces. He valued them as a part of me. He is worth more than I can give and more than I can express in any way. He has given me true friendship.
situations. When Travis and I were without dates to the prom, Ryan said we were "keeping it real." We took it to heart and waited for him to get home from the dance. He was always there for us.
Dave Ruigh, associate opinion editor
864-924 or drinhutkansas.com
Malcolm Gibson, general manager, news adviser
864-7667 or malcolm@kansan.com
Kylo Hoedl, business manager
864-4014 or khoedl@kansan.com
Undsey Shirach, sales manager
864-4462 or lshirach@kansan.com
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