THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
FACE OFF
PAGE 5A
Students reflect: to beer or not to beer? Verdict leaves campus high and dry University decision shows clarityv
Students and alcohol at the Kansas Union does not equal underage drinking.
There is always a possibility that some younger KU students will have fake IDs, but the average student wouldn't go to the bowling alley in the basement of the Union and risk getting caught just to buy some 3.2 alcohol percentage beer.
Administrators at K-State allow beer sales in the K-State Student Union and students don't discuss the alcohol sales like they lead to underage drunk drivers and massive orgies. K-State students think of the union as a place to go and hang out, get a sandwich late at night, watch games on TV and play pool while drinking beer.
If I had a choice of going someplace else where I can drink beer and bowl or going to the Union where I can't even drink Mountain Dew, then I'd gladly pay a little extra and take a drive.
Allowing alcohol sales may not make the Union a hopping place on Saturday night, but what about Monday night when you just want to relax, bowl and drink a beer with you friends?
Marlesa Roney, vice provest for Student Success, said selling 3.2 beer at the Union would be too
much of a risk. A risk of what? Selling to minors? Drunk drivers? Students being hit late at night by college professors outside of the Union after an intense game of bowling? What would we be risking?
The Union is a dead place to hang out at night, and adding alcohol may not cause instant fun, but it would create a more casual atmosphere that didn't make students feel like they are living in the 1920s during prohibition.
The reasons for calling an end to alcohol sales at the Union in 1997 were even more senseless than the office of Student Success' reasons for not resurrecting it. According to a story published in the Kansan last week, the Union quit selling beer after an off-campus car accident involving two KU students. The University of Kansas had nothing to do with the accident.
Some irresponsible KU student drank and then drove go into an accident. Why don't we just ban cars on campus? That would have solved the problem.
The office of Student Success may want us to succeed, but God forbid we handle an adult theme such as drinking beer at a bowling alley. They want us to act responsibly. Why not give us the opportunity
to prove that we can? Allow beer at the bowling alley and then let's see how many, if any, incidents occur. At least if there were drunken orgies, more students would go to the Union and they could learn about safe sex.
Dan Hoyt writing for the editorial board.
The KU Administration made a wise, if not popular, decision to maintain the ban on alcohol sales in the Kansas Union.
While bowling with beer may be more popular than without it, the possible risks of reinstating alcohol sales and consumption on KU property are too high. In 1997, alcohol was banned from the Union because KU students were part of
a car accident involving alcohol, even though the alcohol was not sold by the Union. Since then, the University has maintained a strict dry campus policy. While this has not been popular with all students, it does protect the University from being blamed for any other alcohol-related accidents and shows the public its zero tolerance stand on irresponsible drinking.
Graphic by Max Kreutzer/KANSAN
The university has made it clear it that it does not condone irresponsible drinking. Selling alcohol in Jaybowl might send the message that the University has changed its opinion.
Selling beer in the Union might also lead to other questions of alcohol on campus because it would officially lift the title of "dry campus" off the University. Soon students might be questioning why they couldn't bring alcohol into student housing as long as they were 21.
It may be convenient to be able to buy a beer while bowling at Jaybowl, but the revenue generated would not be enough to risk the public relations nightmare of reinstating alcohol on campus and having an accident related to it. The Union is not a place where many students hang out on nights
and weekends anyway. It is doubtful that the number of students who decided to bowl at Jaybowl because of the beer would increase significantly enough to make a substantial sum of money to justify the sales.
Another possible risk is that underage drinking would occur, which would look terrible for the university. Students who work at Jaybowl might serve beer to their underage friends, or not be able to recognize fake ID's.
Should underage drinking or drunk driving occurs, the KU Police department would have increased responsibilities on campus that could be prevented, and the university could be viewed as liable for accidents, not the Student Senate, who backed the bill to get beer back to the Union.
The administration was smart to reject the proposal for beer in the Union. It keeps the University out of trouble and in a good light in the public eye. It also shows students who drink on campus that the university does not condone the misuse of alcohol and that the best prevention is not to drink.
Anne Weltmer writing for the editorial board.
Free for All
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish, Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
Official compaient to the Kansan: Any crossword that isn't really mean will tell you when it's two words.
I lost my liscense plate, has anyone seen it?
So I was going to wear a skirt today, but I just didn't!
Beware of the bushes near Wescoe Beach, for they are very prickly and not quite friendly.
Did anyone else find it a little weird to see a Saferde van riding through campus at 2 in the afternoon?
Yeah, whoever stole my silver bicycle from Dillons on sixth and Lawrence, it was a silver Trek A-50, it wasn't worth money, bro, but sentimentally it was worth a lot, so I'll give you 200 bucks for it, no questions asked.
Copyright law isn't a bad thing, if I wrote a book, I wouldn't want everyone to get it free on the Internet. People made the music, and they have a right to own the copyright.
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You know what's weird? We didn't have class, and then we did have class, and then we didn't have class, and now we do have class.
I feel sorry for the girl who's boyfriend was working at Neon last Thursday.
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I just wanted to say that if you drop a bouncy ball from the 10th floor of McCollum, it will bounce back up to the 4th floor. I just wanted everyone to know.
So I'm reading the free food article, and I'm reading it again, and I'm thinking, is "mistaked" a word? And have I mistaken "mistook" for a word all these years? My God!
Do you think Saferide would give me a ride from my hall to the parking lot?
Why doesn't University Bookshop just change its name to Bend-Me-Over Books already?
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Family Monster seems to be a regular feature now, so congratulations, Kansan, you finally did something right!
Look, they already made a movie about it,
King Kong beats Godzilla, and for future
reference, Jason beats Freddy, and Batman
beats Superman, but only because he plans ahead.
Jesus, I knw it's a Monday night and everything,
but all the lame-asses won't come and party with us. What, everybody acts like school's important or something.
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So I have three of my classes in the same room of Wescoe. Is that weird? Has that happened to anybody else?
I just lost my keys in my car for the third time, but now I'm dating the Triple-A guy, give me a call Larry.
Call Larry
Want to know why my voice sounds funny?
Because I was screaming all night long at a Backstreet Boys concert! Backstreet's back,
all righ
--nation, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
Dear freshman girls, thank you for being hot. Love, Matt.
Is it sad that the highlight of the week will be the new Facebook.com update?
Uh, two questions. What exactly is a communications degree, and do I need to be in a fraternity or sorority to get one?
Konichiwa, bitches!
Louis Coppola/KRT Campus
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TAKING A STAND
Rights violated despite declaration
Slavery.Discrimination. Bonded labor. These are all part of our reality, in spite of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
Most of the population at the University of Kansas does not even know that this document, signed by countries such as China, Iraq and the United States, even exists. But, though the rights protected by the declaration are violated every day, we have the power to affect how many and where these violations occur just by becoming aware of the contrast between the 'perfect world' painted in the UDHR and the real world.
Article 4 of the UDHR: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Reality: According to Anti-Slavery International 20 million people are currently held in bonded labor, which basically means they will have to work long hours for scarce pay until the day they die. Many times, the debt will be passed on through generations. The "work," of course, lasts 12 or more hours a day with few, if any, days off, not even when sick.
ALAIDE VILCHIS
opinion@kansan.com
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working and periodic holidys with out pay.
Article 23 of the UDRH: Everyone, without any discrimination.
Reality: Women are paid 30 to 40 percent less than men for comparable work according to the National Organization for Women. Today, even in industrialized countries, women receive 73 cents to every dollar earned by a man. I know, it is hard to believe that these numbers are coming out of the 21st century.
Article 24 of the UDHR: Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working and
With all the advances we have made, it is outrageous that these numbers and stories exist. Few people care to do anything about it. As citizens of the world, we should demand our government's respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Many of the violations can be fixed by simply acknowledging the problem and enforcing laws.
Every number above has a face and story deeper than anything I could tell in this limited amount of space, but though this declaration seems idealistic, our government and world will never improve unless we, the people, ask for the best.
Reality: A report by the Asian Monitor Resource Center and the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, which was taken after interviewing sweatshop workers from a factory what made tennis shoes for Reebok and Nike, indicates that employees had to work 12 hours a day. Only after those 12 hours had passed could the worker receive overtime.
periodic holidays with pay.
Vilchis is a Shawnee freshman in Journalism and International studies.
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