4 University Daily Kansan/Wednesday, November 20,1991 OPINION MARELY Amcage Titlene BEATING the Recession THING: The Bush Method AIDS is pervasive, doesn't discriminate Join the fight On the day Magic Johnson announced his retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, many people in the nation found themselves coming to grips with a disease that they had refused to confront or believe would affect them — AIDS. Since the early 1980s, the facts about the HIV virus and AIDS have been hammered into the brains of U.S. citizens, but until Johnson announced he had HIV, few really took the disease seriously. President Bush, Congress and other U.S. citizens need to concentrate on finding a cure to the disease. Some gay-rights activists fear that Johnson's admission will help heterosexual victims but will continue to divide the AIDS fight along the lines of sexual orientation. AIDS affects all types of people, from homosexuals to intravenous drug users to heterosexuals. Like Bush and other individuals, corporations besides the ones Johnson promotes need to donate as much time and money as they can to find a cure for the disease. Unlike people, AIDS does not discriminate. Until the country is willing to acknowledge the fact that this disease is an epidemic that needs to be stopped, millions more people will die. While some of the companies Johnson endorses have said that they would keep him as a promoter of their products and that they would give money to find a cure Wake up, America, and help put an end to AIDS. for the disease, it is a shame that the help did not come sooner. Karen Park for the editorial board Adrenaline rushes through my veins. a shake of reality ever present in the air, mind speeding down the confusion why is there any humor in all this, we all know what it is. what mystique does it hold that makes it saturous, this sick phantom hidden in the far theft recesses, an ever-tiring alter ego. this beast of humanity roams wild, why do we warrant childish behavior supreme, I grow sick of it all, this twisted sense of humor. It distorts all of reality! Leave me to my thoughts... This is what is going through my mind. Where is the humor in calling in bomb threats? Why is it too irresistible to refrain from phoning in a prank call to the police? I find myself at a point that I need to speak out. On Nov. 9, I was at the cateria in the Kansas Union, taking a break from my studies to eat lunch. It was extremely crowded because of the Curtis Spencer Guest columnist After purchasing my food, a woman from the administration explained to me that I must vacate the building. Someone phoned in another bomb threat. I found myself eating lunch outside Watson Library because no dining facilities were available. Watson would not allow me to bring my lunch inside. I had to return to my benchside as a good place as a thank youwoever called in the bomb threat a bunch for the cold lunch. football game that soon was to begin. All the alumni were there finishing their lunches and preparing to leave the stadium to support Kansas foot- After studying, I decided it was time for a break and a change of scenery, and I left campus for home. Upon arrival at my apartment, I was greeted at the door by a blast of warm air that smelled like beer. Accompanying The story doesn't end there, folks. It gets even better. this odor were my two roommates, drinking a few beers to unwind from a long week of study. I don't have to tell anyone that drinking and studying are not conducive, so I decided to leave for office, where I would continue to study. Well, I get to my office, sit down and return to my studies. About 15 minutes later, there is a knock at the door. It was the police. Both officers had their hands on their firearms. Apparently, a couple of drunk college students had phoned in a prank叫 that someone had broken into this office. My office's blinds were closed, the lights were on and noise could be heard coming from inside. It was me. You can imagine my surprise when upon opening the door, two officers were standing there looking at me with suspicion. All I could see for the first moment was their weapons, and it startled me. After establishing with the officers that I was the assistant manager and I was doing some studying, we deduced that we were the victims of yet another practical joke. The officers traced the phone call, and they left to talk with the suspected perpetrators. was the reason for the officers' apprehension as he asked me. One of the officers said that someone might have been hurt I opened the doon abruptly or ignored the knocking, and another would during closed office hours. I found out later that the officers received the call in the middle of an armed robbery. They then were dislabeled and the investigators investigate a supposed break-in. This Where is the joke? Did I miss something? Would it have been funny if I had been shot because of a practical joke? Guys, get a clue. Get a life. I'm here at the University of Kansas to become a lawyer. I suggest that all you mad bombers and pranksters re-evaluate your priorities. If you are not here to get an education, then leave. I know that my professors give me plenty of work, and you are not making things any easier for me or anybody else attempting to make something of themselves. Why not try putting some of that energy to positive use? Your grade point average will probably improve, and I will be more appreciative. Thanks for a few moments of your time. I would like to thank the two officers and the Lawrence police for responding so quickly. If it had been a real terror, the criminal would have been apprehended. - Curtis Spencer is a Topeka sophomore majoring in philosophy. LETTERS to the EDITOR AIDS is a reality we can't ignore The Student Senate Finance Committee decided not to finance the remaining portion of the money needed to bring Jeanne White, the mother of Ryan White, to speak on our campus. Ryan fought against ignorance about AIDS so he could return to school and became one of the first people to bring national attention to this deadly, incurable disease. Like most people, I thought that getting AIDS couldn't happen to me and went on without much more thought. But I now realize that it could happen to me. Anyone who has had unsafe sex within the last five years (which is probably most of the people reading this) could have the disease. Magic Johnson made the fatal mistake of assuming it couldn't happen to him. The committee has made a grave error in not financing this speaker. The two reasons given for not financing White were "fiscal responsibilities" and "the amount of education the public is receiving from television about AIDS is adequate." As a member of the finance committee, I believe that fiscal responsibility is a main objective of the committee. But to assume that we are spending too much money on AIDS education risks all of our lives. The "adequate" education television gives us about AIDS is obviously not enough, since the disease is still spreading at an alarming rate. How long will it take until we decide to take AIDS seriously?" it could happen, you know for sure that you won't get it. Are you willing bet your life on it? Tonv Carr Tony Carr Student Senate Finance Committee member International students need more consideration Although there are nearly 2,000 students from other countries at the University of Kansas, many administrators and faculty have little knowledge about this large, multinational student body. There are several misunderstandings which prevent this cultural exchange from being fully successful. Some administrators approach students from other countries as if they were one more minority group. They are not, because international students have very different concerns and backgrounds. There is no reason why large numbers in recruitment and retention of foreigners should be important to international students. These numbers happen to be high because international education apparently has many advantages for U.S. universities. Foreign students come to study and to be part of a cultural exchange, not to serve as ethnographic curiosities or to serve any political purpose. There is no reason for the use of students from other countries in "sensitivity" programs. It is safe to assume that any student who has graduated from high school and has been accepted to a decent university knows some basic facts about the world. If we were leaving our countries with the hidden agenda of getting employment, we would not have chosen to come to the United States because this country is in recession and has a high unemployment rate. Perhaps some U.S. companies could hire foreigners with high qualified foreigners who attend U.S. universities to stay and help to keep this country competitive, but the United States is becoming an unattractive place to study or work. If KU is attracting the best foreigners for educational purposes, then these international students are overqualified to perform menial jobs or in outside the University. To limit opportunities of employment to low skill jobs would be waste of resources for the community. KU is using large numbers of foreign students to run some services such as cafeterias and custodial services. The use of students from other countries as cheap labor probably is not part of any University policy. However, if it continues, we will have to question the University's commitment to cultural exchange, international education and good will among our countries. If this employment issue is not tackled in the near future, we will have to assume that large numbers of foreign students may actually be recruited to serve as inexpensive labor. The issue then would be very serious. The information mailed to foreign applicants should explain the different policies and regulations of the University. The information also should describe the campus environment in Fernando Aracena Guest columnist general so that applicants from other countries can make an informed decision about coming to KU. If this information is complete, then there is no reason why foreign students should arrive in the United States unprepared and prone to suffer disappointments and preventable hardships. However, if this information is incomplete and does not accurately and honestly describe the conditions in which foreign students will attend KU, should consider the possibility of suing the University for misleading them. Although we respect the way that U.S. citizens classify themselves (by color, region of origin, etc.), it is important to remind you that this criteria for classification is often irrelevant on a larger international scale. A Japanese student, for example, is very different from a Chinese student or a Korean student. It would be a mistake to lump them together, call all of them "Orientalis" and expect them to be similar or to identify with each other. These may or may not offend foreign students, but such mistakes just should not be made in a University, especially by administrators or by professors. Students from other countries should be referred to by name or country, not by region of origin or by race. The International Student Service office is working hard to provide many different kinds of services to the international students, but the ISS office's high responsibilities are not matched by their little impact on policy making. The financing that they receive does not compare to the approximately $100 million that 2,000 international students will directly spend in this community during the four years that they need to graduate. Most of these difficulties are certainly not limited to KU. Our relations with KU are very good, and we consider KU an outstanding educational institution that is important regarding international students need to be redefined as soon as possible. These issues are very important, and there is nothing controversial about these concerns because they are based on years of observations. We hope that the responses are serious and not "political," because our investment in time and money to come to KU is less important than necessary time to engage in political games with any sector of the University. ■ Fernando Aracanla is the secretary general of the International Council and is a senior from Bolivia majoring in advertising. 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