4A
Thrusday, October 5, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Nation's capital shouldn't be granted statehood
ZACKARY STARBIRD
Give Washington back to Maryland and solve the problem of statehood in a way everyone can accept.
It began as a murmur, barely more than a whisper, but each year they clamored louder. Slowly their voices rose above the din. Now, if you listen carefully, you can hear their battle cry. Their watchword is fairness, and their cause is statehood.
To hear the combatants you need not travel 50 or 100 years in the past. You need not travel to Puerto Rico. In fact, you need not travel farther than our own national capital. Despite significant opposition, Jesse Jackson, Washington's shadow senator, has raised at least one meritorious argument: the 573,000 residents of our nation's capital are not represented in either the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. The closest D.C. comes to congressional representation is a non-
voting congressional delegate, a situation closely and unviably paralleling the historical position of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the United Nations.
Opponents to statehood have offered four principal arguments.
First, the U.S. Constitution specifically provided for the creation of an independent enclave for the placement of the capital. Maryland and Virginia specifically ceded territory for this purpose, not for the purpose of creating a competitive state.
Second, persons in the district have known from the beginning that they would not be represented in Congress. The cry of the district's residents that the lack of representation isn't "fair" falls on many deaf ears.
Third, the district hardly merits two senators. It is a city of 70 square miles, 573 citizens and little industry.
Little Rhode Island has 1,214 square miles,950,000 people,a significant agricultural sector and is heavily industrialized.Wyoming,the least populous state with 453,000people,has 97,800 square miles and significant mineral extraction and agriculture industry.The district's population, economy and area are all too small to merit senatorial representation.
Fourth, Republicans and conservative Democrats are opposed to district statehood for political reasons: Washington is staunchly liberal. For them, supporting district statehood would only enfranchise the opposition. As long as it remains a city, however,
Congress retains the authority to step in and fix it. Elevating the city to statehood would magnify a national eyesore and remove all potential oversight.
Even though my solution requires all parties to compromise, it also accommodates everyone's concerns.
Although some of these arguments are persuasive, I am not insensitive to the plight of the district's residents. I have considered the problem, and I now magnanimously offer a solution.
The federal government should cede Washington back to Maryland. (Virginia doesn't get any of it because the United States already relinquished its portion in 1847.)
By reuniting the district and Maryland, the district's voters instantly gain
the congressional representation they have desired. At the same time the United States honors the purpose of the cession.
The district's voters would still get two representatives, but it may include some of Maryland's more conservative voters. Moreover, the liberals wouldn't pick up two automatic Senate seats.
Finally, as a city within Maryland, Washington would be subject to the oversight and corrective action of the state legislature. So you see, my solution is the perfect compromise. The trick will be to persuade Maryland to accept the district.
Zackary Starbird is a Topeka third-year law student.
VIEWPOINT
Heroism is a missing quality in our children's teachers
Lessons for educators and school administrators can be learned from the heroic actions of Clarence Notree. a Chicago physical education teacher who lost 20 percent of the use of his right wrist after shielding children from gunfire.
Education, where Notree works, appealed a decision that Notree should receive $13,000 in worker's compensation. Board members tried to reason
BRAVE TEACHERS
A teacher takes a bullet for his students and is told it is not his job. A typical sign of the way our education system is headed.
Notree typifies the type of teacher we want involved in the education of our children.
We need more individuals whose first and primary instinct is to honor the welfare and safety of our youngsters.
More educators like Notree, who delay immediate self gratification for long-term rewards, can assist in aiming America's educational and spiritual track in the right direction.
Notree's story is about more than just heroism; it is about educational and spiritual direction.
Learning occurs outside the classroom as well as inside, and we can be sure the schoolchildren affected by this incident will never forget this teacher.
Unfortunately, his story also is about the poor attitudes of educational administrators in many areas of this country.
The Chicago Board of
that protecting children from gunwielding lunatics is not why teachers are paid and that Notree was
not performing job-related duties when he was shot.
If trying to protect children from any kind of danger, whether it be a maniacal shooter or a fatal disease such as AIDS, is not part of a teacher's responsibilities, then what good are educators?
. Teachers should be able to demonstrate more than times tables and cursive writing.
They should show human compassion and a respect for the rights of others. If more teachers were encouraged to care about the well-being of their students, our education system would not be as deficient as it is.
Notree's case provides examples of both compassion and disregard for children.
Notree took a bullet for his students, and the Chicago School Board told him he was wrong to do it.
BARBARA STREETS AND DONELLA HEARNE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
GTA's deserve a collective voice
Dr. Debicki said that classifying graduate teaching assistants as public employees capable of collective bargaining be to "hamper our system of apprenticeship." Furthermore, he claims that any actions taken by the GTAs to better their working conditions "puts our relationship into the context of a labor situation."
Eventually, because of the abuse of the "popolo minuto", or little *peo*
Ironically, I find the apprenticeship analogy precisely one of a labor situation. One historian describes apprentices in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance period as follows: "At the bottom was the apprentice, 10 to 12 years old, bound by his parents, for a period of from three to 12 years, to live with a master workman, and serve him in shop and home. In return he received food, clothing, shelter, and instruction in the trade."
I will resist making comparisons between the minimal wages and required length of service used to ensure the status quo. What I would like to point out is that apprentices were initially barred from joining merchant guilds, which protected only the "popolo grasso", or well-fed people.
ple, apprentices and other crafts persons formed their own guilds to protect the rights of working members and further the ends of the profession.
The efforts of GTAs has been to do precisely these same things, so let me make several points relative to our "system of apprenticeship" and collective bargaining.
1. The fact that training may or may not occur does not change the fact that we are publicly employed. Furthermore, since, in general, there is no requirement for degree-seeking graduate students to serve as instructors, apparently the apprentice relationship is distinct from the student relationship with the University.
2. The medieval guilds protected their profession as a whole. One of our biggest concerns is the use of GTAs to replace faculty. As University positions shrink and more GTAs fill them for economic rather than 'apprenticeship' reasons, the overall mission of the University is hurt. The only thing that will prevent this shift is for GTAs to get a fair market value for their labor. This will only be assured if
I might add that many GTAs are not trained but teach themselves on the job.
Some teach upper level classes including large lecture sections and even graduate classes. If this is training, I wonder what it's like to be a "master."
we can collectively bargain.
3. KU GTA's earn 2/3 of what GTAs get at their peer institutions. Although what we teach is not necessarily related to our research and studies as graduate students, the fact remains that the availability of teaching stipends is one of the primary ways to recruit students to graduate programs. Therefore, not paying instructors equitable salary and benefits hurts the overall quality of the graduate departments.
4. As the apprenticeship analogy suggests, we are workers who do a type of labor.
GTAs sign contracts, receive compensation and have teach obligations equivalent to those of the faculty. What we don't have are medical benefits, grievance procedures or equitable salaries. Even worse, we are unable to represent ourselves before the Kansas legislature or the University for purposes of collective bargaining and must rely on the paternalism of the University to weigh our interests.
Just as the purpose of the historic guild was to serve as a collective voice, so too collective bargaining will give us a place at the table to voice our own concerns as a unit.
Christina Sharp
GTA Western Civilization
Drinking age in Lawrence is here to stay
"Yeah, I am really excited. Tomorrow is Jeff's birthday (his younger brother), and we are going to hit all the bars in town starting with Camm's. I am so excited, this is going to be the greatest."
One of my good friends from home called the other day, and we started to talk about our plans for the upcoming weekend when something he said startled me.
"Um, what a minute. I don't get it. How are you possibly going to get him in? I know he is not turning 21, and you are not stupid enough to both use your ID. Does someone owe you a favor?"
"No, no, no. You've got it all wrong.
He's going to be 19, and around here
(the University of Illinois) that is old enough to get into the bars, remember?"
"Oh, that's right. I forgot all about that."
"Isn't it like that in Lawrence? I would figure in Kansas they would have it a younger age like we do. I mean, hey, if they can get their driver's license when they are 14, why shouldn't they be able to get into bars when they are 19?"
"Well, there are some places around town that will have an occasional 18 and over night."
"Well, veah. I guess so."
"Yeah, but they probably mark your hands or have everyone with ID wear a bracelet or something like that."
"That is totally stupid! Do you know how much business bars in college towns are missing out on by not catering to the younger students who don't have fake IDs? Tons! Think about it. More than half the students there, excluding grad students, are under the age of 21. Instead of going to the bars and spending their money there, they go to parties that are likely to end up disruption someone who calls the cops. I thought that school of yours was liberal-minded. What's more liberal than the age be 19?"
"It's not the school, it's the town.
Besides, it's a state law."
"Well, then, the state ought to take a look into lowering the age."
"I don't know. I never really thought about it. When I think of bars, 21 seems natural. Maybe it would be better if the drinking age were 19, but I would think that would cause a lot of problems. I don't know."
"Well, think about it."
Nineteen? Bars? Lawrence?
Kansas?
HUBIE
Hmmmmm...It would never happen.
Kathy Kipp is a Woodridge, Ill., sophomore in English.
By Greg Hardin