4A
Tuesday, October 25, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
There is a solution to unwanted pregnancies
ZACKARY STARBIRD
Hey, what if we make every female get Norplant implants until they're 21? That'll solve the problem.
Republicans are an evil lot. They don't care. They don't care about the poor or the homeless. They don't care about minorities or about other people's health care. They're successful, Christian Caucasians, why should they care?
Sure they want to maximize freedom; they've always done well in the absence of governmental regulation. They oppose entitlements because entitlements even the playing field.
Thus, Republican legislators propose nothing and obstruct everything.
I know because I was one. I feel terrible about it, though. Can you feel my pain? I am a better person now; I care. I have therefore considered the
crises that face our nation, and I have dedicated this column to solving one of them.
Underage pregnancy and childbirth is an epidemic problem. We have children raising children. This phenomenon forces many young women to drop out of school, even go on welfare. Most fathers are unable or unwilling to provide financial or emotional support for either the mother or the child. Oftentimes this is the start or continuation of a cycle of poverty and dependency. In crafting a solution to this problem, I have discarded my misconceived notions of individual liberty and governmental distrust. The solution: Upon attaining the age of 11 years old, every girl will be
injected with Norplant at governmental expense. The government will repeat the implant at age 16. Norplant is effective for five years, so women will be unable to bear children until they are 21.
A new government agency will create and administer the program
Recognizing the need for some accommodation, we will permit women under21 to take a "Fitness for Motherhood" exam. The exam will test their knowledge of the cost of raising a child, child negligence law, child development, disciplinary techniques, etc. Those women that pass the exam may have their Norplant removed at government expense.
In days past I might have objected to
this plan for any number of reasons. It infringes upon a woman's right to procreate and to control their bodies. I would have said that it intrusively injects the government into our daily lives and that the government cannot create a fair, unbiased examination.
I would have said it infringes on the religious freedom of those who oppose birth control.
Now that I'm reformed, I know that this program is an unmitigated good. At a total cost of under $1,000 per female, we can virtually eradicate pregnancy and unwanted childbirth by unprepared young women.
Young women's lives will no longer be ruined by the fruit of their own indiscretions or the brutal acts of
rapists. For those women the cycle of poverty will end.
On purely economic grounds, the plan is unassailable. Imagine the reductions in all forms of welfare payments. Imagine the increased education and earning potential of those women. Think of the savings in reduced contraceptive expenditures.
The cost in lost freedom is trivial, its less intrusive than mandatory seat belts. We can trust the government to effectively implement this program.
Having solved the problem of under- age motherhood, I feel much better. It's good to care.
VIEWPOINT
Zackary Starbird is a third-year Topeka law student.
KU should support GTAs' status as state employees
according to the Pubic Employer Employee Relations Act of Kansas, a public employee is any person — excluding supervisory.
professional elected or confidential workers employed by any public agency.
The graduate teaching
consider before appealing the GTAs' status as state employees.
This decision will encourage more students to apply for graduate
GTA UNION
University graduate teaching assistants and administrators could repair their relationship by negotiating now.
assistants at the University of Kansas were finally defined as public employees last Tuesday — more than a year after hearings to determine the GTAs' status. It means that the GTAs at KU have the right to form a collective bargaining unit, which would allow them to negotiate contracts and benefits.
study programs at KU once the GTAs' negotiations with the University bring them better benefits and
There are several benefits to the University that the administration should
The GTAs possess a dual student-employee status, yet it is not a work-study program. This decision will have positive effects on both GTAs' educational purpose and teaching duties.
This decision is overdue; however, it is not too late for the GTAs to organize themselves and collectively bargain with the University on issues of benefits and working conditions to put the treatment of KU GTAs on the same level as those at peer schools.
improved working conditions. And with more applicants to choose from, the University will also be benefited from having high-quality graduate students who will contribute to the University through research and teaching. KU students also will benefit from having the best graduate students teaching them.
And by forming their own bargaining unit and negotiating contracts,the GTAs will have a clear idea of what their teaching tasks are and will take full responsibility according to the contracts.
Whether GTAs should form a bargaining unit has become an important issue on campuses across the nation, and the GTAs' success at KU will have an effect nationwide.
The University administration should show its support to the GTAs by not appealing the decision to include them as state employees.
JINGYAN WANG FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO Editor
CHRISTOPH FUHRMANS Managing editor
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH Systems coordinator
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
JEN CARR Business manager
CAMERON DEATH Retail sales manager
News ... Sara Bennett
Editorial ... Donella Heaven
Campus ... Mark Martin
Sports ... Brian James
Photo ... Daron Bennett
Mellasa Lacey
Features ... Trait Carl
Planning Editor ... Susan White
Design ... Noah Musser
Assistant to the editor .. Robbie Johnson
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Editors
JEANNE HINES
Business Staff
Campus mgr   Todd Winters
Regional mgr    Lauren Gauth
National mgr   Mark Mastro
Coop mgr    Emily Gibson
Special Sites mgr   Jen Penner
Production mgrs   Holly Boren
     Regan Overy
Marketing director  Alan Stiglic
Creative director  John Carton
Classified mgr   Heather Niehaus
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of California Press will not receive these letters.
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The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Matt Hood / KANSAN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Child molesters do not have rights
This letter is in response to your October 20, letter entitled "Child Molesters Have Rights Also."
What prompted Pauline Martin to write her letter to the Kansan? Was she fulfilling an assignment with an intent to enrage your readers? I don't understand her motivation nor can I sympathize with her argument.
Pauline is concerned with the rights of someone who consciously violated the sanctity of a child's being. She said, "The child molester has already served his or her sentence. According to the penal system, he or she has already paid for the crime." That is a load of crap!
Today the penal system is hardly fulfilling the purposes of its origin. Criminals sentenced "to life in prison" for such horrible crimes as murder are being released in as little as seven years. Often they return to their ways. Criminals are having their sentences reduced because of prison overcrowding. That's just great! Let's put known offenders back on the street. Maybe this time they can figure out how to not get caught. In fact, why don't you allow these criminals to be school teachers. What the heck? They've done their time.
What Pauline has overlooked in
her shallow defense of known felons is the victim of the original act—the child. The child is the person who must deal with the psychological ramifications of some sick-minded individual's perceptions.
Hemp advocates must address fears
Pauline argues that the Constitution should protect these criminals. That's a bunch of bunk. If Thomas Jefferson's children were being molested, he probably would have allowed for a provision where molesters would be put to death.
Brannon Hertel Crystal Lake, Ill., senior
As a person who has been smoking marijuana since 1970, I say, "Right on." to both Matt Hood and Greg Hardin for their cartoons about the hemp movement and to Laura Green — open your eyes.
Hemp may have all kinds of industrial uses, but I suspect the real reason they all want to see the weed legalized is not because they want to revitalize the economy but because
I have been hanging around pot smokers for 24 years, and I have observed that, although pot is not physically addictive like opiates or tobacco, it is certainly possible to become a strung-out marijuana junkie. They smoke when they get up in the morning, and do it 4 or 5 more times the rest of the day, every day, when they run out, they come unglued. Some people do use marijuana as a crutch. No "scientific evidence" is going to convince me of the non-existence of something that I have experienced more times than I can count.
they want to be free to get stoned. The reason it stays illegal is because many people are afraid of us getting stoned. Before we can achieve legalization, we must address that fear directly. Droning on about paper and cloth is not going to calm someone who is worried about their teenage kid.
The people in the hemp movement offer nothing in the way of solutions for problems like these. Even the liquor industry advocates will admit that drinking can bring problems and promote responsibility in doing it. The hemp guys present such a one-sided picture that I can't see how they expect anyone to believe them.
William S. Hirsch Lawrence resident
So, Pauline, go ahead and say,
"Let's let by-gones be by-gones."
I pray that your child never has to encounter such a person as you vindicate.
COLUMNIST
Junior varsity athletes need official support
When I hear the words "junior varsity." I remember my junior high school days. I couldn't wait to get involved in athletics, and the tennis and gymnastics teams were my sports of choice. I tried out for both and got mixed results. Gymnastics was an immediate success. But tennis? Well, that was another story. I quickly found out that a couple of summers' worth of lessons hadn't turned me into the next Jennifer Capriati. Still, I stuck with it. The next year, and the year after that, it was the same situation. I was stuck in the junior varsity rut.
By the time high school rolled around, I realized that tennis wasn't my thing. Still, I had enjoyed playing the game and the chance to represent my school. And being on the junior varsity diving team my junior year also helped me get the experience I needed to move up to the varsity level. Junior varsity competition was fun without as much pressure.
However, at the collegiate level things are different. Junior varsity teams are a minority. Now, thanks to a new Big Eight Conference ruling, they have been eliminated. Maybe JV teams weren't profitable. Maybe there wasn't enough interest. Whatever the case, I think it is an unfortunate decision.
A small notice in last week's Kansas caught my eye. It was an announcement for tryouts for the men's varsity basketball team. How intimidating, I thought, to try out for one of the top-ranked teams in the nation.
KU's junior varsity basketball games may not have had prestige around campus or received a lot of media coverage. But the players were athletes nonetheless — athletes who loved the game and the chance to play for the University at any level they could.
But the chance (however slim) to make the team certainly makes trying out appealing.
Unfortunately, most of those athletes will leave the tryouts without a place on the team. Yet if there was still a junior varsity squad, many of them would be wearing Kansas jerseys today.
Not everyone can be, or aspires to be, a varsity athlete at the collegiate level. But for some athletes, junior varsity can be a stepping stone to a higher goal, and for others, it is the only opportunity available.
It too bad that the Big Eight felt that opportunity wasn't important.
Erika Rasmusson is a Minneotka, Minn., senior in magazine journalism.
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin