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EDITORIAL: The University has a responsibility to address controversial issues of the day. The time to teach Intelligent Design theory is now. See kansan.com for more opinions and Free for All comments
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 8A
》 OUR VIEW
Show some guts, KU. Teach intelligent design.
KU should teach I.D.
Conservative state legislators questioned Mirecki's intent with the class, and some even suggested withholding funding from the University.
Last fall, a religion class, "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies," drew attention after its professor, Paul Mirecki, wrote on a list server that the class would serve as a slap in the "big fat face" of religious fundamentalists.
So, under pressure, the University scrapped the class. Chancellor Hemenway sent the right message to conservative legislators who didn't want the class taught at all, saying clearly that it was being canceled because of Mirecki, not because of the content of the class.
The University needs to take on contentious issues, and there is no issue in Kansas as contentious as the evolution vs. intelligent design debate.
So what's become of the class?
Not much.
Tim Miller, chairman of the Department of Religious Studies, said he still wants to offer the class, but won't say when.
The spring 2007 schedule is already set, and the class isn't included. During the next month, the department will draw up the schedule for next fall.
So, go ahead and do it. The time to teach the class is now, while students are interested.
Miller said that if the class is offered, it would likely be team-taught by several lecturers to show the varying perspectives on the subject. But he said scheduling such classes was complicated, and he didn't know if the department could get it worked out in time to offer the class a year from now.
"If we can figure out these problems with it, and get everything lined up, wed like to go ahead and do it," he said.
The University needs to offer this class, and show legislators it's not scared to do so.
Frank Tankard for the editorial board.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
COMMENTARY
OPINION
Watch out for scams
Have you ever wished that while you were walking to class, an extremely attractive person would approach you and ask for your phone number? It happens to me all the time. But I'm not bragging; these people aren't really after me anyway, they are after my money. I probably sound like an egotistical jerk, but the truth is I'm not stuck up or talking about gold-diggers. I'm talking about magazine salespeople.
Every year about this time, these salespeople swarm all over campus. They claim to sell magazines for various charities or causes, and that if you buy magazines from them, they can earn points to go on a free vacation. Unfortunately, the charitable organizations they allegedly represent often never receive the money and customers don't always receive their magazines.
There is a growing epidemic of magazine sales scams going on at college campuses all across the country. At the University of Arizona, a student recently reported that magazine salespeople had scammed her out of money for a magazine subscription she never received. This summer, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire reported a magazine scam artist who falsely claimed to be fundraising for the school's football team. These are just a couple of the many examples.
Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of legitimate organizations that raise funds by selling things on campus, but the methods these magazine scammers use are deceptive. They will approach you on campus as though they are hitting on you, or they will act like your best friend. They do this for no other reason than to make you, the "customer," more likely to buy what they are selling. They keep up this ultra-friendly routine until you say "no." At that point, the other shoe drops, and your new best friend turns into your worst enemy. In fact, these unscrupulous magazine salespeople have cussed out friends of mine simply because they weren't interested in buying any magazines.
BY STEVE NICHOLS
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINIONOKANSAN.COM
Tim Norris, director of the KU Bookstores, said potential on-campus vendors must go through the Events Committee before receiving a permit to sell things legally. Student organizations receive permission to do so almost all of the time. If someone approaches you claiming to be fundraising for a student organization, ask to see their permit. Student organizations should not have trouble producing a permit to raise funds on campus.
So the next time an incredibly attractive person comes up to you and asks you on a date before giving you a sales pitch, remember the old adage, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."
editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed, Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded
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The new coffee place under Hash sucks. Whatever you do, don't
COMMENTARY
Conservatives are realistic, not heartless
For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine from K-State gave me a T-shirt ordered off the Internet. It's bright red with white lettering that reads, "Ice Cold Conservative," with "Conservative" printed in the Coca-Cola font.
My favorite thing about this shirt is that it characterizes conservatives as ice cold. Conservatives take a lot of pride in this characterization. We call ourselves heartless, as opposed to those "bleeding-heart" liberals who turn into a pile of mush at any sob story. We'll tastelessly joke to one another about how we sometimes punch homeless people for fun (we don't really punch homeless people, but we do occasionally make the joke). National Review's Jonah Goldberg once wrote that he "did what you might expect a conservative columnist to do. I told young orphans there is no Santa Claus." (He was kidding.) We really have a good time with this stereotype.
Free to all Callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansas
BY VINCE MEYERS
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
get the chal. It is watered-down milk with spice.
My name is the Lorax and I speak for the tress, and the trees are sick of you cutting them don-
While it's all right for someone like me or any other conservative
As you can imagine, these sort of remarks don't play well to a non-conservative audience that usually doesn't find them very funny (I'm sure The Kansan's mailbox is already full of hate mail about that previous paragraph). And before I dig myself into a hole and negate the whole point of writing this column, I should tell you that I'm really not heartless; I really do want to help the homeless, and Jonah Goldberg doesn't really hate orphaned children. But we'll all continue to make the jokes.
-
— or for conservatives, infamous
— line. "We have a responsibility
that when somebody hurts, government has got to move." This is why some conservatives have characterized Bush as a liberal, or at least a conservative who uses liberal methods — i.e. government intervention — to solve problems.
It's beginning to look a lot like game day.
wn. So start clubbing baby seals or something.
Most conservatives would say that somebody's pain should not prompt government to do anything. Government is ineffective and inefficient and should be more concerned with protecting freedoms than applying Neosporin to society's cuts.
Out on the campaign trail, however, that's not what people want to hear. Politically, it's easier to say that, once elected, you'll get the government to solve everyone's problems. Health care is too expensive? The government will create a universal health care program. Gas costs are too high? The government will put a price control on it. It's hard to live on the minimum wage? The government will raise it.
Liberals mistake conservative opposition to "compassionate" policies for heartlessness. Of course, this isn't true. But it makes for a good joke.
political junkie to call ourselves heartless, it doesn't translate well for politicians.
President Bush is the perfect illustration of this point. To combat the belief that conservatives don't care about the less-fortunate in society, he ran on a platform of "compassionate conservatism" in the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns. In 2003 he gave the famous
These promises sound good to constituents. These are the compassionate things to do. But most conservatives oppose them because these actions have costs, and the trade-off required to achieve those goals is often worse than the status quo.
Meyers is an Olathe junior in political science and economics.
To the girl from AGD that was at the TKE bid day party: I would appreciate it if you could drop my sunglasses by our house sometime this week. That would be great. Thanks.
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Adam wants to make out with Speef.
Free for All is severely lacking this year. You need to step it up.
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