OPINION
Coming Monday, October 1...
McLeod: The shirts we wear to athletic events are a representation of who we are.
Simmermon: Sexual health and awareness matter now more than ever.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2007
PAGE 7A
EDITORIAL BOARD
MAX RINKEL
Lessons learned from Virginia Tech tragedy
Potential Delaware disaster avoided by early warnings to campus, students
The recent report regarding this spring's shootings at Virginia Tech has generated a new round of demands for "accountability" from the university and police officials who responded to events that day. However, given credible information and rational assumptions based on evidence, there was little those officials could have known to do differently. Last week's shootings at Delaware State University, the first such major event since the Virginia Tech incident, incorporated the lessons learned from the earlier tragedy.
Most criticism of the Virginia Tech leaders' response focuses on the timeline of events. Seung Hui Cho shot two students in a residence hall, then left the campus before returning two hours later to shoot 31 more. Between the two events, critics say officials did not issue sufficient warning of the danger that still confronted students.
However, given the nature of the first event, there was little reason to suspect the second event before it happened. The first shooting appeared to be a personal confrontation and the shooter had left the area. Analyzing the scene using knowledge of similar incidents, there was no indication that the response was lacking.
The shooting at Delaware State had many similarities to the first half of the Virginia Tech incident. A seemingly personal crime targeted two people, then the shooter fled. However, administrators at Delaware State drew on their knowledge of what occurred at Virginia Tech and responded differently. Student notification began within 15 minutes and the entire campus was locked down. KU also has contingency plans in the event of a disaster, including mitigation, preparedness programs, notification of students and staff and facilitating third-party response units (such as police and
paramedics). As a direct result of the Virginia Tech tragedy, students and staff can now receive emergency notifications on their cell phones.
Students, faculty and family members who question the Virginia Tech response are demanding more from officials than can be reasonably expected. No one can predict the future; all that can be done is to respond against likely scenarios, and until the Virginia Tech shooting, the gunman's behavior was not a likely scenario. Prediction requires logic, and logic requires rationality. Few decision-makers are less rational than rogue gunmen. The recent report concedes that Cho's motives are still unknown. Without knowing motives, preemption becomes nearly impossible. This tragedy allowed Delaware State to better respond to subsequent events, but no event can be used as a case history to help guide the response to itself, and blaming anyone other than the shooter
for the extent of the Virginia Tech tragedy is not a fair solution. The best that officials can do is plan a response that keeps casualties to a bare minimum. Both Delaware State in practice and KU in theory have successfully done this.
Life is inherently risky, and we all play the percentages every day. Guarding against reasonable threats is prudent; guarding against every contingent is impossible. When government is perceived to "over-respond," as with some flight restrictions, the public complains of inconvenience. When an official response is seen as too lax, accountability is demanded. Instead of comparing the response to the following events, it should be compared to the knowledge possessed at the time. When judged thus, both the Virginia Tech and the Delaware State responses, though quite different, were each prudent and adequate.
THE DURBIN DISPATCH
Working and balancing school are a stressful, necessary parts of university life
Trying to make room for college jobs
College jobs. Most of us have them. Some of us have them for paying rent; others have them for buying beer on Friday night. Either way, we all have to deal with the stress, the crappy pay and the short amount of time we have to spend on anything else besides work and school. But the truth is, these jobs are what make college, college.
Working 40 hours a week is not something I want to do. In fact, I would much rather have more time to do laundry, go out with my friends and possibly
open my math book more then once a week. However, those hours are crucial to keeping gas in my car, supplying food for my belly and paying off those parking tickets I seem to get every week. So, after school every day I rush home to throw on my work clothes, grab a bite to eat, and speed to that 40-hours-a-week job. Every day it's the same thing. I go to school, go to work and then come home and do homework; it's an endless cycle of fun, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Now, I'm not saying I don't dread going to work every day, because I do. I bitch and moan the entire way there, and often continue on once I'm in the building. Sometimes this even leads to a giant bitch-and-moan fest for everyone on staff. Nevertheless, the truth is, work for me is an escape from the high amounts of pressure I get from school. It's a place where I can
take my mind off of those tests, those projects and those neverending amounts of pages I still have to read before the next class. Instead of school, I focus on mean customers, YouTube videos, and whose turn it is to the vacuum the store. I enjoy relaxing nights of angry phone calls, rock-paper-scissor championships, returns that don't belong to our store, cell phones that hate me and infinite debates on "good music." Unfortunately, this job is just a stepping stone into the "Real World," where YouTube videos won't be watched, rock-paper-scissors will not settle every problem and music won't be listened to, because we won't have time. I dread finding a non-college job.
I believe we should rejoice in the fact that most of us have these time-consuming jobs that we hate, because it's never going to get this good again. Let us cherish those angry customers,
that horrible minimum wage, those nights you just want pull your hair out and that afterwork beer you have with your co-workers, because in the end, it's just another day on our way to that nine-to-five job that will eventually take over our lives.
College is a special time on our lives. It is a time when three hours of sleep is amazing, 25-cent Ramen noodles are a feast and when dirty laundry gets worn more then one time. It's a time for us to grow, learn and discover that although we live our lives down to every minute possible, time is on our side. So, the next time you are on your way to that time consuming, stressful, full-of-bullcrap job, smile and think to yourself, "This job makes my life a little more complicated, but it's all part of college cycle."
Durbin is a Hays junior in journalism and English.
MOUNTAIN DEW AT MIDNIGHT
When faced with mounting expenses, enjoy life Eight simple life lessons to get more beak from your buck
When first faced with a financial burden like college, many students and parents begin to feel overwhelmed. They look at the bill, take a deep breath and then begin banging their head repeatedly on the wall. After all, now the family will have to live in a shack, kick out the family dog and at least one sibling will be sold for child slave labor in a Nike factory. But fear not, for at the University of Kansas you definitely get more bang for your buck (or in our case, more beak for your buck) than you can ever imagine.
That's right, boys and girls. In college, your tuition pays for more than just classes, student fees and powerful chemicals to fight off horrible odors in the dorm bathrooms; it pays for a college experience that will have you learning inside and outside the classroom. Some of the most valuable life skills won't be listed on your class syllabus (syllabus: a fancy word for Master Plan of Academic Crap meant to overwhelm you on your first day with a list of lots of projects and lessons that probably won't stay on schedule anyway. See, that's Life lesson #1: Don't get intimidated by fancy schedules; they're just for show (like Beware of Dog signs).
Life lesson #2: There's no motivation without procrastination. For example, I was wondering, "How can I work up the incentive to write three long-term papers I've known about all semester?" Answer: I waited until I had three weeks left of class. Also, I didn't sleep.
Life lesson #3: You can get a lot out of horrible classes besides bad grades and headaches. I've met a lot of my friends and co-workers in some of my least
favorite classes. It's a great way to bond with someone by having something you both hate in common. Complaining with your fellow classmates is often the best survival skill you can use in a bad class. And that class will end eventually; nothing lasts forever. Except your GPA.
Life lesson #4: Everything important will happen on the same day. All your papers will be due on the same day, that big test that's approximately 110% of your grade will be that day and also your favorite band will be in Kansas City the night before that big day. Irony is more powerful than gravity sometimes. Therefore, it's important to plan ahead, study in advance and find a way to clone yourself. Also, be extra lazy on the days when nothing happens (and don't complain about it or irony will come to bite you in the tushy with sharp, pointy assignments).
Life lesson #5: Parking and enrollment are competitive sports. Get fitted for padding and a helmet now.
Life lesson #6: There's no point in trying to explain to people what "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" means. Yes, there's some history behind it, but really, it's kind of sketchy sounding to me. Basically "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" means, "Hey! Our team is better than yours, and we can rhyme too!"
Life lesson #7: If you later become rich and are asked by the University's alumni association to donate money, PLEASE PLEASE'PLEASE donate your money for useful things. Make a note now of all the things at campus that bother you. For example, when I'm rich and famous I will donate a 20-storey parking garage, a couple of ski lifts and then a gold statue of myself (to help "beautify campus", of course).
Life Lesson #8: The youngest sibling is usually worth the most on the black market.
Hartz is a Stilwell junior in creative writing.
FREE FOR ALL: 864-0500 OR KANSAN.COM/FACEBOOK
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.
Free for All, I don't have to kill someone to get my glasses. They were found! I am ecstatic. I am amazed. I love humanity. I'm doing the biggest happy-jig you've ever seen in your life, Free for All. I love you.
Hey fat kid I almost hit on Jayhawk Boulevard, there's something called a crosswalk, and that's why I didn't stop for your suicidal ass.
My pee was so yellow, I think that me penis morphed into a high lighter.
Oh my God, that Erin Esurance girl is so hot right now.
My bus driver just drove one mile and hit the curb four times. Two of those were on the same corner
Free for All, I feel I must clarify something. This is the commenter from about a month ago who slept with fourteen guys in four months. By the way, it's not seventeen, but that's not what I need to comment on. What I need to comment on is everyone seems to think it is a woman who has slept with fourteen guys. I would like to clarify that it is an actual man. Yes.
this is a gay man calling in.
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