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.
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EDITOR: Jonathan Kealing tells you what to expect in a new semester of The University Daily Kansan: a dedicated staff, new features and a brighter design See kansan.com for more opinions and Free for All comments
MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
》 OUR VIEW
A drunken driver in an old, beat-up truck weaves through traffic on a crowded highway.
Residence hall occupants who forgo ResNet connections and instead use wireless access points could cause similar havoc to the KU network.
Stealing Internet not cool
It was recently discovered that several students were using wireless routers to set up personal wireless networks in Templin and McCollum halls, and Watkins, Sellards, Douthart, Stephenson, K.K. Amini and Margaret Amini scholarship halls. By setting up a personal wireless network, one student can buy Internet service and then provide it to other students without charge.
OPINION
The truck smashes into another vehicle, causing several cars to crash. Minutes later, paramedics wade through the wreckage, attending to the wounded. Traffic backs up several miles.
John Lewis, director of network and telecommunications, compares the Lawrence campus' network to the U.S. highway system. Both have standards that must be followed to ensure security of their users and public resources. Lewis says the security of the cheap, student-installed wireless
access points can be breached in less than a minute.
Students using wireless networks would not be the only ones affected by a security breach, he says. Someone with baleful intent could infect multiple computers with viruses, which could lead to individual computer damage, campus-wide network shutdowns and incredible financial loss.
Residence hall occupants are getting a relatively good deal. ResNet charges only $83.25 per semester for Internet access, which costs less than Sunflower Broadband charges for a similar product. ResNet also provides free, on-call tech support, unlike Sunflower Broadband.
Students will get wireless Internet soon anyway. The University plans to install wireless access points in residence hall common areas probably by this time next year, Lewis says.
The University spends about $10 million dollars a year on computer technology. So don't be that drunken driver who crashes our information highway.
Steve Lynn for the editorial board.
FROM THE EDITOR
Of a million ways to read The Kansan, here are a few
It's a Web site: Kansan.com.
I've got news for you: The University Daily Kansan isn't just a newspaper.
It's entertainment: the crossword and Sudoku...
It's your voice: Free for All and letters to the editor.
It's sports: A reporter covering each KU varsity sport as well as reporters dedicated to club sports and intramurals.
It's a watchdog: 15 news reporters looking out for students' interests and catching those who would misuse the power they have.
It's information: Thousands of words, hundreds of stories, dozens of pictures produced for students by students every semester.
Bottom line? We know you turn to us for what we provide, not the way it looks. But in order to get that information, you have to be able to find it.
The Kansan has put a lot of time into the physical appearance of all its products. We've redesigned our printed product to be more inviting to the eye and so the stories jump off the page. We've redesigned our Web site to put content out front.
We want to be the place you turn to for information about campus and the community. We offer you information presented with a unique perspective: the student perspective.
All of our staff go to class, many of them work other (paying) jobs and all of them sacrifice sleep and time for studies in order to put this paper together. No one here is working for the money and it's certainly not for fame or recognition.
People who work at The Kansan do so because it's their way of contributing to the community. It's their way of being involved with campus. And frankly, it's often a lot of fun. That being said, the sense of in-volvement and the fun we have pales in comparison to the responsibility we take by becoming
BY JONATHAN KEALING
KANSAN EDITOR
EDITOR@KANSAN.COM
members of this staff.
We truly believe we owe each of you our best efforts to report the news fairly and accurately, to keep an eye on school officials and to entertain you before or during class. And the only way we can know if we're succeeding is if you take an active role.
Let us know your stories by calling our newsroom at 864-4810. Tell us how you think The Man is keeping you down by sending an e-mail to editor@kansan.com. And always feel free to stop by our newsroom in Stauffer-Flint Hall to ask us questions or share a tip you think we might find useful.
This is your newspaper. The work we do is subject to the approval of no one but me. No administrator can tell us what to print Almost all of the money we spend is generated from student-sold advertising.
We're proud to be your newspaper and we're proud of the independence we have and which we are forced to defend every day. In the last year we've come under fire by forces both man-made and nature-induced, yet we have continued to put out a paper every day.
The Kansan is information, and every day that classes are scheduled, the paper will come out. That's my promise to you. All we ask in return is that you participate in our coverage and pick us up on campus or visit us online.
Kealing is a Chesterfield, Mo., senior in Journalism and political science.
Welcome back to KU.
Oh, those birds, bees and STDs
COMMENTARY
My parents, conservative Chinese immigrants, never felt comfortable talking to me about sex. The only real discussion about sex that I remember my father and I ever having was when he pointed at a scantily clad woman in the mall and told me she was "nasty."
Years later, my older sister, a medical school student, took it upon herself to teach me what she felt was essential when it came to the birds and the bees. Her way of doing this was as heartfelt and tender as an after-school TV special. When I was a freshman in college, she showed me medical school text-books with pictures of various STDs and asked me to study them.
"You can get Chlamydia in your eye," she said as casually as one would comment on the weather.
"No way!" I said.
"You can get herpes in your eyes too."
When I cringed, she continued with vivid stories of disgusting, infected penises and vaginas that she saw during her week working at a sexual health clinic.
BY TERESA LO
KANSAN COUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
"Don't have sex," she said seriously as I stared at her, terrified.
Looking at the United States' abstinence-only education, it appears that my family was not in the minority in this country when it came to an uneasiness about the topic of sex. 'The current sex education curriculum consists of advocating abstinence until marriage and
does not provide information about contraception or STDs.
Apparently adults are not only prudish about their children's sexuality, but their own as well. Sites such as www.inspot.org provide an example of this. Through this site, one could send anonymous e-cards to past sexual partners, informing them that the sender has an STD and that the recipient should seek immediate testing.
Imagine checking your e-mail to find an anonymous message stating, "You have The Clap and possibly syphilis!" You might be tempted to discard it the way you would if you read that someone could increase your penis size to rival Ron Jeremy's or that you won a billion dollars and an iPod. Yet, you might also be incredibly terrified.
The idea of the site is noble enough, but one important problem with it is that because of its anonymity, there is no way to monitor e-mails sent as pranks. Furthermore, I question the ethics of a site such as this. Although contracting an STD may be humiliating, is it really fair to your partners to send them an anonymous warning instead of telling them it was you who possibly infected them?
Another thing that bothered me about this site was that it didn't have any statistics of the people who used it, which made me wonder, are tons of kids my age using this? Or worse, are they not bothering to tell their past lovers at all?
How alarming. After all, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 19 million new STD infections a year and that half of those infections occur in the 15-to-24-year-old age group.
What can we as college students do? The best solution is to practice abstinence or be in a monogamous relationship, but for those whose horiness just cannot be contained, a HealthyLife guide provided by the KU Web site lists a few suggestions:
For one, always use condoms or latex dams, and don't use oil-based lubricants. Next, don't have sex while drunk or high and limit your number of sexual partners. Lastly, discuss your sexual history with a new partner and avoid anyone whose health status and past are unknown.
One can choose to follow these tips, or one can choose to have drunken sex with some hairy dude from the bar. Please choose the former. It would suck to get that www.inspot.org e-mail for real.
Lo is a Coffeyville senior in history.
FREE FOR ALL
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded
Call 864-0500
Whoever it is who thinks Kentucky runs south, take a compass and walk your ass down Kentucky with traffic. Then call me back.
along, please?
In response to liberals not having morals: I think what that person said is just as prejudiced as what Ben Wilkins says about conservatives. Can't we all just get
When I have something funny, why don't you print it?
So you know, I am really high or I just saw a guy in a giant bunny outfit walking around. Worcester, ma.
ing about buses.
To the idiot who put the soap in the Chi-O fountain again, do you know how much that costs to clean that up?
wescoe be
All right, so you have an article in the paper about how they found a stash on the floor in McCollum.
ing about buses.
I just want to say to the girl who dances every Tuesday and
Thursday at 2 at Robinson, she is so cool. She is always happy and dancing. I wish everyone could be
I still think people debating about which way Tennessee runs is far more interesting than reading about buses.
I left the roses on your bed.
Dude, no more Pluto? I feel like I've lost one of my toes!
Hey, I just wanted to say to everyone that saw me eat pavement today in front of Snow Hall: I'm OK. thanks
Forget "Snakes on a Plane." It sucks.
COMMENTARY
Don't forget to have fun
BY SAM SCHNEIDER
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
We're at the beginning of a new school year and the sidewalks on campus have filled with masses of people. The drive across town is once again punctuated by red lights and congested streets. The empty shops and relaxed feeling of summer have fled and the need to study grips us all over again.
So, as we prepare to dash through another semester of stress and late nights at Java Break, I want to offer a reminder that we should be careful not to lose our focus about the important things in life. Though we should certainly work hard, we shouldn't spend a ridiculous amount of worry on achievement.
Somewhere in the middle of each semester I begin to think that all this stress of school will make me more successful in life. When I sit at my computer in the early morning, punching out the final edit for some paper, I remind myself that it will be worth it in the long run, that I'll be a better person for having done the extra work.
I was on my way to class the other day, caught no doubt in the midst of pursuing another day of academic success, when I chanced to look up at Allen Fieldhouse. At first, I admired the way the new addition blends into the structure, the stone work, and the classic statue of Phog Allen.
So here's what I think: While we should work hard, we should also slow down a bit. Maybe we ought to volunteer for fewer organizations, maybe study less for a test every now and again. Let's focus on tending to those simple, happy moments. Certainly there is a time for work, and in that time we should work hard, but let's be careful not to allow work to dominate times that should be for other things.
How fitting a place, I thought, to host such a thing as Kansas basketball. Then I lowered my eyes away from the stone and down to the stretch of lawn between me and the Phog.
I certainly agree that hard work has its benefits. Yet, in thinking back to my favorite moments here at the University of Kansas, none of them have been success-related. I have rarely found true joy in passing a final, but quite often experienced intense happiness in seeing the upper windows of Allen Fieldhouse ablaze with the excitement of 16,000 people.
Apparently the University and I both forget to care for the little things sometimes. The entire lawn lies cracked and broken, shot through with weeds. Here stands this majestic structure, yet when viewed from a distance, it appears shabby and unkempt. It looks this way not because of a single problem with the building itself, but because of a lack of care for something as simple, but important, as a stretch of grass.
I am not advocating flunking out of school, only that in the midst of trying to be successful, we should remember that life consists of far more important things than success.
Schneider is a Topeka junior in English.
TALK TO US
Jonathan Keating, editor
864-4854 or jkoaling@kansan.com
Dave Rulgh, associate opinion editor 864-4924 or drulgh@kansan.com
Erick R. Schmidt, managing editor
864-4854 or eschmidt@kansan.com
Gabriella Souza, managing editor
881-4854 cr.gouza@kansan.com
Kyle Hoedl, business manager
584-4014 or khoedl@kansan.com
Lindsey Shirak, sales manager
864-4462 or lishirak@kansan.com
Frank Tankard opinion editor
684-4924 or ftankard@kansan.com
Malaom Gibson, general manager, news adviser 8748-7687 or kamanen.kansan.com
General questions should be directed to the editor at editor @kanan.com
SUBMISSIONS
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser
864-7660 or jweaver@kansan.com
The Kansan welcomes letters to the editor and guest columns submitted by students, faculty and alumni.
The Kansas reserves the right to edit, cut to length, or reject all submissions.
For any questions, call Frank Tankard or Dave Rulgh at 864-4810 or e-mail oplin-
For any questions, call Frank Tankerd or Dave Rugh at 864-4810 or e-mail opinonj@kansen.com.
LETTER GUIDELINES
GUEST COLUMN GUIDELINES
Maximum Length: 200 word limit
Include: Author's name and telephone number; class, hometown (student); position (faculty member/attach); phone number (will not be published)
Maximum Length: 500 word limit
Include: Author's name; class, home-
town (student); position (faculty mem-
员/staff); phone number (will not be
published)
Also: The Kansan will not print guest columns that attack a reporter or another columnist.
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EDITORIAL BOARD
SUBMIT TO
Jonathan Kestling, Erick R. Schmidt, Gabriella Souza, Frank Tankard, Dave Rulgh, Steve Lynn and Louis Mora
SUMMER PO
111 Stuffer-Flint Hall
1435 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 68045
(788) 894-4810, opinion@kenaan.com
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