4A
Wednesday, September 7, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Virgo columnist looks to the stars for advice
DAVID JOHNSON Horoscopes can apply to just about anyone so long as you solicit the help of an "important"
"expert."
Announcer: Good morning and welcome to "Star Talk," with your host, master astrologer Gene Dixon of the National Requirer." Gene's guest today is David Johnson, certified Virgo.
Gene: Welcome to the show, Dave.
David: That's David Gene.
G: Typical Virgo. Well, thank you for joining us today. Now, I understand that you're a Virgo.
D: Yes, I am. And I've got my card to prove it.
G: No need for that, I can tell. So, let's have a look at the Star Chart for your birthday. Hmmm, Aug. 23, very promising. Celebrities born on that date include actress Barbara Eden of "I Dream of Jeanne" fame and political satirist Mark Russell. Let's start
with a reading of your finances. I see that Jupiter is in your house this year, which means you can expect a major purchase to pay off in the long run. Well?
D: Oh jeez, that's so true! I just bought a new microwave.
G: And ...
G: Great! Let's move on to your family life. I see that a relative has shown unusual patience and understanding about something you have recently revealed.
D: Well, you know. ... I used my Discover card. So I'll get cash back, and I'm saving money with the variable rate!
G: It takes one to know one, and I'm an astrologer. OK, how about business. I see that you are moving up the corporate ladder. New responsibilities give you a better grasp on your career.
D: Hmmm, I can't think of anything right ... Oh, wait! I just came out to my parents! They were great. I mean, the
stresses and fears about having a son who's a "liberal." Yeah, they handled it great! How did you know that?
D. Well, I just made assistant manager six months ago. Hmmm, new responsibilities ... well, we just revamped our transaction engineering line, which I helped oversee.
G: Wow, impressive! And what does this line produce?
D: Transactions ... OK, it's just a cash register, all right!
G: I see. Let's move on to your love life. The letter "C" is giving me a very
strong reading. Anyone in particular?
D: Oh, that's close!
G: Glenn Close?
D: No, you're in near proximity:
Cuba.
G: Are you positive?
G: Cuba? You're husting after Cuba?
D: No, Pedro, on MTV's "The Real World." He's from Cuba.
G: Moving on, let's take a quick glance at your outlook for next year. You seem to have health concerns. But these will be eased by the resolution of a greater problem.
D: No. But he is.
D: What a coincidence! I had this nightmare last night that the health care plan passed Congress without a hitch. After everything was in place, I
G: OK, that's all of the time we have for today. Thanks for joining us on "Star Talk."
got my neat plastic card (with my name embossed in gold on it) and then, for some unknown reason, I happened to live in the part of the universe that isn't covered by universal coverage. So, I and the rest of the 5 percent of America went to protest. But before we left, Kurt Loder was on MTV News saying that Lisa Loeb and the members of her band, Nine Stories, were killed in a freak bus accident and now we were all covered ... [keeps rambling]
VIEWPOINT
David Johnson is a Coffeyville senior in magazine Journalism.
Universities need to cater programs to today's grads
In many cases, the first two years of university study are little more than a fifth and sixth year of high school.
This may be the result of our deteriorating secondary education system. It also may be the result of the outmoded concept that university graduates ought to have
market too competitive for this system. Today's programs ought to be more vocationally oriented. Course requirements not designed to promote the professional competence of a degree candidate ought to be eliminated.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Universities should stop educating in Renaissance Man mold and provide more vocationally oriented courses.
a well-rounded education Whatever the rationale, it is out of sync with the needs of the modern student.
No longer should prospective high school French teachers be
A university education is too expensive and the job
required to take biology with a lab, for example. The KU should take notice of the faults of the present system and take the steps necessary to change them.
ZACKARY STARBIRD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Canceling arms embargo is the best course for Bosnia
The recent Serbian referendum in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in which the Serbs rejected a peace proposal to partition Bosnia among
the Bosnians and themselves, leaves the international community no proper course of action except to lift the arms embar-
ty's naive and ineffectual policy of peace-at-all-costs should be scrapped. A more realistic policy should be implemented in which Bosnia has the
BOSNIAN ARMS EMBARGO
The international community should lift the Bosnian arms embargo to allow the Bosnians to defend themselves against the Serbs.
right to defend itself against a brutal aggressor through arms purchases. Rather than selling-out the Bosnians by dividing their country.
go against the Bosnians. After 28 months of war in which about 200,000 people have been killed, the international communi-
the international community should allow them the means to defend themselves by lifting the arms embargo.
MICHAEL PAUL FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
STEPHEN MARTINO Editor
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**Letters should be type, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the university signature, name, and contact information affiliated with the University of Kansas or a middle class and homestead, or faculty or staff name.**
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LAST WEEK BOSNIANS VOTED "NO" ON A PEACE PLAN...
Matt Hood / KANSAN
Aliens" star would whip the University into shape
Why do we call the head of our university the chancellor? Is it a coincidence that the only elected position held by Adolph Hitler was that of chancellor?
Why did our own student body president, Sherman Reeves, use the term "uber" when referring to the qualifications of the chancellor? Was it a slip of the tongue or does it reveal the guiding principle under which the search committee is operating? Is this committee attempting to find a qualified candidate or are they engaged in a search to find that elusive, Nietzschean "ubermensch" who will lead the University through the twilight of the 20th century and into the dawn of the 21st?
Would this "uberchancellor" push for qualified admissions? Would the campus be overrun by hordes of blonde, blue-eyed Aryan youth?
I offer a dissenting opinion on the issue of the "ubercchancellor." I believe that the administration of the new chancellor should represent a total break with the previous course of the University. In addition, this new chancellor would break the stranglehold of male dominance that has characterized the position of chancellor at KU and in the university
COLUMNIST
NICOLAS SHUMP
Yes, I submit that instead of looking for an "ubermensch" the University would be better advised to find an "uberfrau" to lead the University into the next century. After careful deliberation, I offer for your consideration as the next chancellor of the University of Kansas: Sigourney Weaver.
system as a whole.
Now, before you dismiss her candidacy, let me enumerate the qualifications and advantages that her chancellorship would bring to KU.
As Gene Bucig demonstrated, one of the primary tasks of the chancellor will be to raise revenue for the University. As an actress, Ms. Weaver would be a perfect choice. She would be able to use her charm and acting ability to convince major boosters to
Another advantage to her ties to Hollywood would be the opportunities that it would open for students in the theater and film department. Weaver's pull in Hollywood would allow students to pursue internships that would not normally be open to students at a Midwestern university.
As for her administrative acumen, her performance in "Working Girl" shows that she can be hard-nosed if necessary. Also, it will be to the chancellor's advantage to be a person of strong will. Well, for anyone who watched her in "Gorillas in the Mist," it is obvious that Sigourney Weaver is no pushover. After spending a few months in the mountains of Rwanda with a bunch of 500 lb. primates, the Kansas Legislature will be a piece of cake. Come on folks, this is the woman that took on that mother of an alien and kicked some butt! I personally think Sigourney Weaver would wipe the floor with old Norman.
donate more money to the University. Furthermore, I am confident that she would be able to attract a new group of supporters through her Hollywood connections.
Nicolas Shump is a Lawrence senior in comparative literature
Recently I have been inundated by the ads for Oliver Stone's new film, "Natural Born Killers." From what I understand, the movie is about two people committing grisly murders and the press that follows them around. It is Stone's anti-utopian view of our future.
I can see where he gets his prediction. This summer, I, embarrassingly, was one of the millions who followed the O.J. Simpson case. I am embarrassed because I contributed to the reason so many reporters engaged in poor journalism to get "the scoop." Four news helicopters following a suicidal man down the LA freeways, endangering themselves and others in trying to outdo each other was vulgar. The empty speculation that went on throughout the summer (and continues today) makes me sick. I don't think our nation has seen such a case of "yellow journalism" since the Spanish-American war, which popularized the phrase.
However, it seems that Stone is preaching to the choir. The people who would be affected by the violence in the picture probably already agree with him. While the people who he needs to convince will be just as entertained as if they had seen "T2."
DAVID ZIMMERMAN Stone's film shows dark side of society
Couldn't Stone have created a movie with the same moral but without the graphic violence? It would be hard to be as creative, but the result would have been a better film, without violence.
This is only half of Stone's prediction. He also is drawing on the increasingly violent tendencies of our society. Not only is this violence infesting our neighborhoods (where violence is the leading cause of death for young males), but it infects our entertainment as well. When I was a freshman, I went to see "Terminator 2" at the Union midnight movie. As I left, my stomach was churning from the last two hours of constant violence. I can't believe so many people liked this movie.
Even though I find myself agreeing with Stone's premise, I don't want to see this movie. From what I have heard, "Killers" is an extremely graphic film. By using violence to criticize violence, Stone is shooting himself in the foot (pun intended).
Some have told me Stone is trying to use the graphic violence in his movie to create shock value. The shock value he creates would give people an emotional pull toward his moral — that we don't want to be like this.
David Zimmerman is a Wichita senior in communication studies
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin