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University Daily Kansan/Friday, December 6, 1991
OPINION
THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, PLEASE REMEMBER THE UNEMPLOYED.
Fulcher expulsion
Senate, judicial board did the right thing
On Wednesday, the KU judicial board decided that Student Senate acted properly when it removed student body president Darren Fulcher Sept. 12.
We approve of the board's decision. By allowing Fulcher's removal, the board recognized Senate's authority to expel a member, whether that person was a voting or non-voting member. It also enhanced Senate's autonomy as a body that represents students.
Having the power to make its own decisions allows Senate to operate independently from the University administration. Students need to have a voice on this campus rather than having administrators make all the decisions for them.
We support the board's decision that while the procedures followed by Senate were not fully consistent with due process, the Senate had the ability to remove Fulcher because it would not
Senate should have given Fulcher advance written notice of the motion to expel him. However, as Senate pointed out, Fulcher did have supporters who defended him at the meeting in which he was expelled, proving Fulcher and his supporters were aware of the possibility that a motion to expel him might be presented, even if written notice was not provided.
have acquired any additional information in a trial. In two meetings that took place in September, Fulcher refused to give any additional information about his situation.
While some students believe that the Senate's and the Judicial Board's decisions were racially motivated, we do not.
Rather than the decision being racially motivated we feel the confusion surrounding Senate's decision was a product of Senate's ill-preparedness to deal
with the impeachment of one of its members
As the Judicial board strongly recommended in its decision, it is crucial that Senate develop procedures by which to impeach members, whether they be voting or non-voting. A Senate committee has been working on new procedures.
The administration should be applauded for its efforts in trying to resolve this issue as quickly and efficiently as possible while still trying to ensure fairness to all involved.
It is important for the University community to recognize Alan Lowden as the new student body president and to work with him to achieve some of the goals that were set during Senate elections.
The Kansan editorial board
Japanese should not be bashed for Pearl Harbor
Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the bombing of the bombing Pearl Harbor, an event which stirs up many emotions in the United States. The attack caught the U.S. forces unaware, and this pivotal event still affects our feelings toward Japan. Both the United States and Japan need to come to terms with their respective roles in the conflict, learn to let past events be remembered but not begrudged and continue to strengthen relations. The two economies are so intertwined that effective communication is vital to both countries' survival and prosperity.
Critics say the Japanese do not teach the details of Pearl Harbor accurately. This is true, as the Ministry of Education still censures the textbooks. This needs to be changed.
Admittedly, history is biased, and no two people perceive an event in the same way, but the younger generation deserves to know more. They need this foundation of knowledge to understand why the United States does not have the capacity to properly plate compliance with the post-war wars. The United States practically wrote Japan's constitution after the
Ellen Kuwana Staff columnist
Likewise, the United States needs to include more discussion of the internment of Japanese-Americans during the war. These people were citizens, many second generation who had never been to Japan and did not speak English. They lost their land their possessions, their identity and their dignity.
war, limiting Japan's military to self-defense purposes only.
I visited the memorial at Pearl Harbor when I was 8 years old, and this past summer I visit the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. There is also a museum there which chronicles the bombing of Pearl Harbor and artifacts of the bombing. The bomb — the equivalent of 15 kilotons of TNT — killed 350,000 people. Seventy
The park and museum are tangible signs that Japan does not want to return to its militaristic past. Furthermore, Japan's defense budget represents only 1 percent of its gross national product.
uousand died instantaneously. Even
thousand died each year from leukemia.
My fear is that remembrance of Pearl Harbor day will act as a catalyst for renewed Japan-bashing, fueled by the pressure and worsening domestic problems.
I hope one day we can remember Pearl Harbor without anger for, and distrust of, the Japanese, but sorrow for the many lives lost on both sides.
■ Ellen Kuwana is a Lawrence senior majoring in organismal biology.
LETTERS to the EDITOR Kansan stance inconsistent
Read your editorial in Dec. 3rd's Kansan, had to write. Free speech? Yes! Hate expressions? No! What you're saying is that it'is OK for me to get in your face and scream profanity and insults at you because you don't fit into my personal groove. You have forgotten a basic premise, namely, "Your rights stop where my nose begins." Burning a cross on my property, property that I paid for and pay taxes on, is a violation of my rights, period. Freedom of speech isn't intended to give anybody the OK to violate another's personal rights. Public hate expressions using the justification of 'free speech' should be recognized for what they are, thinly disguised propaganda of the type Hitter used and the KKK continues to rely on.
You advocate total freedom of speech and expression, yet the Kansan was very diligent in blasting James Turner. Doesn't he have the same rights to free speech? What about the bus driver who was reprimanded for shouting at a couple of sensitive gays? Why didn't the Kansan support these two reactions as the basis of free speech? Somewhere your logic has a hole in it the Enterprise could fly through. Public expression of hate can only escalate fear and bigotry. 'Free speech' does have limits, and this is an important one.
America the beautiful is alive, ready to be explored
Butch Evans
Topeka junior
America is beautiful, and the one way to fully experience her rolling hills, sparkling blue streams, snow-capped peaks, red soiled bluffs and skies of azure through driving. Man is just as beautiful as nature, and one way to learn more about ourselves is by driving cross country. When asked the question, "Why drive to experience nature and self?" I can offer many reasons. America is in a state of ever changing movement, and her natural wonders and mystifying formations should be seen before you visit the vast America allows one to experience different settings as well as being able to interpret the unknown for the first time. Driving cross-country, man can empirically learn things about himself that have not risen to the surface.
Flying, taking a train or hitch-hiking are all good ways to see America, but with all their pluses come drawbacks. Each of these modes of transportation allows one to see America but leaves much of the trip at the mercy of outside forces. The best way I can see to explore nature and self is by driving. When driving, everything is seen around the highway and the option of stopping or taking side roads is always present. I must admit that some drives become boring and that some people do not enjoy sitting in a car for ten hours or longer, but there is so much to be learned. Not only have my views about myself changed through driving, but I have seen and done things I never knew existed and that I will never forget.
With the progression of man comes the destruction of nature. What was here today could be gone tomorrow. Pollutants clutter the blue skies. Industrial cities tear down forests as they branch out. The rolling hills give way to high-rises and living structures to accommodate our growing population. Little space is left wide open or untainted by man. I believe that the western United States is the most beautiful, unblemished land. I am not saying that the East is barren and desolate, but from my perspective that the west is the best. The desertes of New Mexico and Arizona contain picturesque settings. The winter in Utah is beautiful, and California can boast of clear lakes and a shoreline too incredible for words. With all of this, one can only wonder why more people do not flock to these states.
It may be that people are not able to take time out of their busy schedules to explore. They may not like to drive or their budgets may be limited. These are valid reasons, but I think that America is not explored because we do not know what really exists. We can watch television and see beaches and then we know what they look like. We can look in magazines and see pictures of deserts and think we know what they are like, without really knowing. What we get is someone else's interpretation. The only way we can truly experience these places is by driving through them.
An empiricist is a person who
Before the trip, I didn't know what nature really meant to me. Not until I saw the 700-foot high sand dunes in southern Colorado, the Grand Canyon, the red hills of Zion National Park, and the Pacific Ocean, did I truly realize how much I appreciated nature. When William Cullen Bryant wrote the poem "Thanatopsis," I think he had experienced nature and himself as I did. He wrote: "To him who, in the love of Nature, holds commun with her visible forms, she speaks a various language: for his gayer hours she has a voice of gladness, and a smile and eloquence of beauty; and she glides into his darker musing, with a mild and healing sympathy, that steals away their sharpness and ere he is aware."
I became inspired to drive cross country by a movie that followed a band on its North American tour. The film footage of the places they drove to and played was incredible. It made me want to go out and do exactly what they did. The only problem was that I did not have the train and so I recruited friends of mine and plotted a course west. We really didn't know what to expect from our trip because many of the places we were going to were new to us. During the first few days we all found it hard to live with each other. The differences in personalities and living and sleeping patterns led to many arguments. After a few more months everything out. As the trip progressed we learned more about each other in that month than we had in all our years of friendship.
His poem, which is filled with his understandings of nature and how it comforted him, reminds me of how I felt on my trip.
KANSAN STAFF
Exploration of nature and self by driving cross-country was a wonderful experience. It helped put a perspective on my life as well as giving me a sense of accomplishment. I have seen the rolling hills, sparkling blue peaks, red soiled bluffs and skies of azure and I feel I am a better man for it. I learned more about myself and nature than I ever thought possible.
HOLLY LAWTON
Editor
Christopher Wright Guest columnist
Christopher Wright is a Topeka freshman majoring in philosophy and English.
JENNIFERREYNOLDS Managing editor
believes that knowledge is not taught but gained through our experiences. I think everybody has a little bit of empiricism in them and all they have to do is act on it. This is what led me to drive cross-country. I wanted to feel, smell, hear and see everything that America has to offer. When I left on my journey I was not aware of what I was getting into.
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
Editors
News Erik Schultz
Editorial Karen Park
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Campus Eric Goraki
Sports Mike Andrews
Photo Brian Schoeni
Features Tiffany Harness
Graphics Melissa Unterberg
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JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
KATIESTADER Business manager
Business Staff
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Production mgrs...Jay Steiner,
Wendy Stertz
Marketing director
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David Haligher
Classified mgr...Jennifer Jacquint
RICHHARSHBARGER Retail sales manager
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I I'M OKAY, ADAM.
I REALIZE I WANT OFF
THE DEEP END - BUT YOU
SHOULDNOT HAVE PRETENDED
to BE 'GOOD', when I WAS
CLINK IN THE HOOPHOC ...
INSURING POINT...
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bv Tom Michaud
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