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Wednesday, June 15, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
48358
VIEWPOINT
Budig has bettered KU as a steady team player
Chancellor Gene Budig may not be a flashy superstar like his idol Joe DiMaggio. But when it comes to the university administration game, he's a consistent player who can keep a team in a bid for the pennant.
Now that the veteran Budig has traded teams, it's time to review his hits, runs and errors.
All major league players have to make road trips. One of Budig's strengths as an administrator has been his willingness to travel. In his first years here as chancellor, Budig visited all 105 counties in Kansas, orienting the rest of the state to a geographically isolated university.
Along with his impressive "away" record, Budig has sizable numbers at home plate. Campaign Kansas remains one of his greatest hits. In the early 1980s, the Legislature could not provide enough money to support the level of excellence that the University of Kansas needed and deserved.
Budig hit a grand slam against this bleak backdrop. He helped initiate the largest private fund-raising drive in KU's history. The five-year project surpassed all initial estimates by raising over $265 million. The success can be attributed largely to Budig's off-the-field and behind-the-scenes salesmanship.
Budig again drove in a winner when he went to bat for the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. As Budig took the chancellorship, the Med Center was mired in allegations of inept management. The Legislature had to provide funds every year to bail out the floundering institution.
Budig, who prides himself on picking the right people for the right job, appointed new management to the Med Center. Since that time, the Med Center has been self-sufficient and has continually surpassed profit expectations.
Budig has had his share of home runs. As far as specific errors go, Budig's own words provide the format for judgment.
An August 20, 1981 article in The University Daily Kansan documented Budig's claim that he would "avoid the criticisms of inaccessibility and aloofness that have been leveled at past KU administrations."
Actually, criticism of accessibility is one of the few strikes against the chancellor. A profile, which appeared in the Kansan in 1987, shared student concerns that the chancellor operated too much behind the scenes. Students complained they had little interaction with the chancellor.
An appropriate final critique of Budig's leadership comes from a promise he made to KU students in his inaugural address thirteen years ago:
"I believe within the decade of the 1980s the University of Kansas will be recognized as one of the top-10 universities in the nation."
Budig pledged his commitment to this goal. He also invited the students to hold him to this pledge.
The '80s have come and gone, and, while some proud Jayhawks would claim the goal was achieved, more impartial sources such as "Fiske's Guide to Colleges tend to disagree.
Any ranking of universities, however, can be slanted depending on the statistics used. The fact remains that the University of Kansas, whatever its ranking, has improved under Gene Budig's administration. His leadership, whether in the spotlight or behind the scenes, has added to the quality of this institution. We appreciate his intense work and dedication. We are thankful for all the times he's gone to bat for this university. And we wish him luck as he enters his field of dreams.
MATT HOOD FOR EDITORIAL BOARD
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A note to Budig: Major-league diamonds have lost their luster
It isn't easy being a baseball fan in Lawrence. People around here are downright rabid in their love of basketball. Few could even name the pitchers on the Royals starting rotation, and fewer still have ever been to a Jiahay baseball game.
Personally, I've never thought much of Mr. Naismith's invention. Basketball is for adrenaline junkies with short attention spans. It is a shrill and gaudy sport, full of bluster, hype and bombast, lacking the aesthetic craftsmanship of baseball. Basketball is to baseball what a *Three Stooges* episode is to a production of A *Midsummer Night's Dream*. Needless to say, this opinion has gotten me into more than one heated argument with fellow KU students.
So I rather savored the news that KU chancellor Gene Budig is stepping down to become president of baseball's American League. Like Michael Jordan, Budig has left the best basketball has to offer-in Budig's case, a university with one of the most prestigious basketball programs in the country-for the greener grass of the baseball diamond.
Good for him. We should all wish
Mr. Budig luck because, given the unfortunate state of modern baseball, he's going to need it.
There are no simple answers, and I'm not sure what influence the new American league president could have in this area. Mr. Budig must real-
Probably top on Budig's agenda is the looming major league player's strike. Baseball's owners, alarmed at the skyrocketing salaries produced by free agency, are expected to offer the players a salary cap arrangement by Sept. 1. The players are expected to reject it. I guess baseball fans ought to reexamine the merits of minor league baseball, because after Sept. 1 that is probably all we're going to have.
small market with limited television and merchandising revenues, the Royals cannot produce the kind of cash necessary to buy the services of a Ken Griffey or a Barry Bonds. If player salaries continue to spiral upward, the Royals will simply be unable to compete with rich franchises like the White Sox or Yankees.
ize that the sport is being slowly wrecked by the runaway train of free agency. Player salaries have reached absurdly high levels, but only for a relatively few individuals. Free agency is producing a baseball caste system, with some very rich superstars taking their slice off the top. Good players who lack name recognition languish in the background with little appreciation or job security.
The result will be mediocre baseball and empty seats in the House that George Built.
In fact, I think free agency is making baseball resemble basketball, God forbid. America's pastime is increasingly focusing its attention on a small cadre of millionaire stars who can do baseball's equivalent of the fast break and slam dunk. That is, players who can hit loud home runs or throw blazing fast balls, to the exclusion of all else. If we're not careful, baseball will soon consist entirely of megastars who can produce NBA-style flash and glitz. The players who do the subtle, everyday things which are the heart and soul of the game will quietly fade into obscurity.
Those of us who are Kansas City Royals fans should especially appreciate this point, because our team is a financial black hole. Located in a
Surely no one is more keenly aware of these facts than Gene Budig, who sat on the Royals board of directors, and helped save the team for Kansas City after Ewing Kauffman died. Some sort of salary cap is necessary, whatever the short-term pain of limiting some players' earning power. Mr Budig has his work cut out for him in convincing the players of this. Let's hope he succeeds. Otherwise, we may someday find ourselves with a World Series which looks more like basketball's "March Madness." That's something some of us would not care to see.
Brian Dick is a Conway, Ark., graduate student in history.
Campus lessons fit Budig's new job
There is no joy in Hawkville, for the mighty Budig is moving out. Yes friends, good o'Chancellor Gene Budig, pardon me, American League President-elect Gene Budig, is set to pack his bags for New York City on August 1 to replace retiring AL President Bobby Brown. Sorry folks, not the same Brown who became famous in the late 1980s by discovering the word "prerogative."
The journey will take Budig from the Big Eight to the Big Apple, from Strong Hall to perhaps the Hall of Fame. This list of comparisons could go on for the rest of this column, but I will spare you from complete boredom by now stating my findings from several grueling minutes of research into this story over the past few days.
the incredible revelation I have come to is this: The job of American League president is quite similar to that of chancellor at the University of Kansas. How and why you may ask? It's very simple. Instead of listening to faculty and students complain about salaries and academic warnings, Budig now will get the same grips from the team owners and players
about salary caps and suspensions. Rather than trying to fill the classrooms of Mount Oread with students, he now will be faced with packing the stands at the 14 American League ballparks. As chancellor, he bargained with alumni and the Kansas Legislature for money. Now he will do the exact same thing with advertisers and the television networks.
Now that my comparison has been presented, I offer Dr. Budiga a few suggestions to help make the new job easier based on what he said following his election last Wednesday.
First and foremost, fighting must be curtailed in all major-league sports, and I definitely agree with that. Imagine sitting down at the TV in five or 10 years for a friendly game of "basebrawl," American Gladiators style. So, on top of the suspensions now handed down by the league presidents, why not also assign a thesis paper on the history of rage in sports or some other pertinent subject? After two or three such papers perhaps players will think twice before charging that mound wielding the bat like a samurai warrior.
My second point concerns the fans. I am not alone in my belief that silly scoreboard games like "The Great Baseball Race" at Kaufman Stadium have to go. If I wanted to play games, I certainly would not pay $6 to $14 (plus parking) to do it. Besides, this and other similar excuses for entertainment detract from the great battle between pitcher and hitter on in the game. In its place, keep people interested by providing the "Monster Truck Challenge" between innings. The roar of engines and screaming of crushed metal would certainly have any fan clamoring for the peace and quiet of a nice ball game.
Finally, don't bite the hand that fed
you, Dr. Budg, Why notaddtie"Rock Chalk Chant" to the 7thinning stretch festivities? You know, "ROCK CHALK, fill in the American League team of your choice," KU1" Also, offer all KU students and alumni a voucher each year for one free ticket to the American League game of their choice. In addition to showing support for the thousands who elevated you to the job, you will also pack the admissions office and alumni center here in Lawrence with people seeking a ticket to paradise in the form of a baseball game.
All kidding aside, Dr. Budig will finally realize his childhood dream of playing second base for the New York Yankees, except in this case, he will have a much better seat. This just goes to show that what my mother has been telling me for years really is true: persistence pays off in the long run, always have a positive attitude and always wear clean underwear. Good luck. All of us 'Hawks are pulling for you to hit a home run.
Tom Erickson is a Baton Rouge, La.
sophomore in Journalism.
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
D-Day message likens North Korea to Hitler
President Bill Clinton used D-Day to point to the dangers of nuclear proliferation. He was not being irrelevant. One of the lessons of D-Day is that if you do not stand up to a tyrant at an early stage—as the Western powers should have done in the '30s—the price of doing so later can be very high.
If they (world leaders) do nothing, North Korea will build its (nuclear)
North Korea, which is now edging to the top of Washington's agenda, poses a seemingly much smaller, but in many ways, more awkward challenge than Hitler.
bomb and give the green light to others to follow, thereby destroying the Non-Proliferation Treaty. But if the leaders confront it, they may drive North Korea into a corner and tempt it to react irrationally with the added disadvantage that sanctions would have little effect on its poor and relatively self-sufficient economy.
THE INDEPENDENT LONDON
Carrots and sticks have already been tried, but there is no obvious alternative to looking for a more effective combination of the two. Neither walking away nor an all-out confrontation seems to offer better options. The ultimate aim must be to persuade North Korea that it would be better off as a normal member of the international community. As
President Clinton has said: "We want them to become a part of our world." The dangerous part is getting them there.
Court's rape decision is backward, inappropriate
That is a pertinent question for men in general to address.
"What is it about the word 'no they don't understand?' a women's rights advocate said in response to a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that tossed out a man's rape conviction.
The state court ruled that a man who did not use physical force, but had sexual intercourse with a woman who said "no" throughout the encounter, could not be found guilty of rape because there had been no "forcible compulsion" as required by Pennsylvania rape law.
Such a decision is a step backward in time, for in other states courts are redefining the definitions of rape to deal with cases where outright physical force or threats of injury were not present.
As the definition of rape evolves, men need to listen closely when a woman says "no."
JOURNAL AMERICAN BELLEVUE, WASH.