THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
MODERN DAY ROBIN HOODS
PAGE 7A
KU Info service valuable,worth saving
For 35 years, a comprehensive information service known as KU Info has had all the answers. The staff responded to nearly 700
MOLLY TUCKER &
ALISHA ASHLEY
OPINION@KANAM.COM
of your calls per day, providing you with information about academics, campus events, fitness, the weather, snow days, medical services, computers and technology, sports, community events, directions, graduation, buses, maps, schedules, enrollment, local religious services and anything else you might have wanted to know. Most calls were answered quickly; all calls were given an honest effort.
KU Info's staff consisted of twelve carefully selected, highly-motivated students, whose job was to sit by a phone and wait
for you to ask a question. Before answering your calls, however, incoming staff members went through three weeks of intensive training and rigorous spot-checking by senior staff members. This incredibly effective service was run with only two phones, two computers, and minimal office space for reference materials. Sounds great, doesn't it? Students and alumni had a service they could count on to provide accurate information at any time, about any subject, for a nominal cost to the University.
Last year, however, University administrators deemed this service inappropriate and elected to make some drastic changes, which many of you have already noticed. In the
future, only questions directly pertaining to academics will be answered. To handle this significantly reduced number of calls, the University actually intends to employ a larger, less well-trained staff who will have to divide their time between answering KU Info calls and performing other duties in their respective departments. Training a brand new staff that has only a cursory knowledge of the campus will create a need to transfer most calls to other departments, which frustrates students and wastes their time. These changes will eliminate the efficient, inexpensive, and dependable service KU Info offered for 35 years. KU Info has not been upgraded; it has been hijacked.
Implementing this watered-down version of KU Info will be very expensive, too. There is no cheaper staff than twelve
student employees. KU recently paid an Oregon design firm to create a new university logo. For the cost of our new logo, the University could have funded KU Info for two academic years. Considering the emphasis KU places on image, it is surprisingly willing to let one of its most beloved voices and traditions fall by the wayside.
KU Info is older than Baby Jay. It is older than the radio station, and was born the same year as Student Senate. It has been around longer than most students have been alive and longer than most administrative staff members have been employed here. KU Info is even older than Anschutz Library, the building that now houses it. This is not some fleeting organization—this is KU history.
When former KU Info staff members confronted University
officials last year concerning future changes to the service, one administrator said, "Things change. Get used to it."
But things shouldn't have to change if they work. KU Info has been around long enough to become an integral part of the campus and the community, and has remained virtually unchanged for over three decades. It is recognized by alumni around the world as a trusted institution and a point of pride. When it comes to KU Info, the University simply does not have the students' best interests in mind.
Our world is becoming less personal and more bureaucratic everyday. KU Info represented the highest standard of service, and was staffed by friendly, dedicated students who were as excited about helping you as you were about being helped. KU Info has
been saving your lives, your grades, your relationships, your sanity, and your pride for 35 years. And they've done it with a smile.
And now, after decades of proudly assisting the campus and community, we're asking for your help. We want to answer your calls again—all of them. If you see the "Save KU Info" petitions available on Wescoe Beach, in Mrs. E's, at the Recreation Center, downtown businesses, or online at http://www.petitiononline.com/kuinfo/petition.html, please sign them and let the administration know that you want the real KU Info back.
- Molly Tucker is a Prairie Village senior in political science and English. Allish Ashley is a Halstead senior in political science. Both are leaders of Save KU Info campaign.
THE MAX FACTOR
Max Kruetzer/KANSAN
▼ THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE
Yesterday's losers, today's trendsetters
I'm a strange k i d,
someti m es causing me to be mis taken
as drunken or dopey. My actions and lifestyle categorize me as a nerd, a geek, a weirdo; in short, someone who ultimately sniffs a different kind of glue.
Having been a true nerd from the beginning, I grew up in a world of geeky loneliness, comforted by only my fellow outcasts who sat with me at the losers' table and stood alone with me as the last children to get picked in gym class. I had the inch-thick glasses when I was 7, and in the fifth grade my dad cut my hair into a mullet, much to my mortification and my class' enjoyment. Eventually, I embraced being different, and true to form, I still do, sporting an "I" (heart) Nerds" purse and faking an accent whenever I order food in a drive-thru. I love to play chess, hate losing at online "Jeopardy!," and I'm completely obsessed with "Harry Potter."
But what, and who, is a nerd? The word first appeared in the 1950s in Dr. Seuss' book "If I Ran the Zoo," in which it represented just another strange animal in the zoo. It eventually came to be synonymous with an intelligent person who lacks appropriate social skills and doesn't seem to fit in, a defenseless stranger in a cookie-cutter society.
For years, the outcasts have fought an underground battle best exemplified in the "Revenge of the Nerds" movies.
Being bullied and put down, however,
has always fueled their inner desire
to show up at their
10-year high school
reunion with a babe
in one hand and
the keys to a brand
new Corvette in the other, and to have a silent snicker and shout "In Your Face!" at the beer-bellied plumber who used to give swirlies in the bathroom. Those of us who couldn't fight back with brawn were forced to use our brains, a choice that would have aided us more in the future anyway.
But now being uncoal is cool, and having some sort of quirk is the fad of the time. Sparked in part by monumental movie characters, such as "Napoleon Dynamite" and celebrated band Weezer, the nerd fad is quickly spreading to all corners of the United States, from the trendy hot spots in New York and Los Angeles to the insufferably Abercrombie-esque bar The Hawk, 1340 Ohio St., in Lawrence. Seth Cohen, the comic-loving, unbearable cute oddball from the popular drama "The O.C." has inspired the female population to find a Seth of its own and seek out the weird, diamond-in-the-rough type of guy.
Creeping up into the Hollywood A-list are icons such as Jon Stewart and Tina Fey, both self-proclaimed losers and shining stars for all those whose sense of humor nobody gets. Controlling the Manhattan social scene is real estate mogul Donald Trump, famous for not just his commanding income but also his geeky comb-over, giving hope to the tragically unhip. And then there's the man who could
destroy the world with the click of a mouse, Bill Gates: a hero in the eyes of computer nerds everywhere. Yes, it does seem like the formerly-madefun-of are finally taking over the world.
And so, I now find myself suddenly surrounded by self-proclaimed nerds, albeit wearing designer faux-geeky gear. Am I to take this as flattery, now that my kind is "in" and stunningly beautiful girls
are hitting on my socially awkward, once ignored buddies? Or am I to be repulsed, angry that these posers are at present encroaching upon my hard-earned lifestyle? Although I probably should feel threatened that these newcomers are intruding
motivation in the world. If nobody picked on David Letterman, would he have learned to use humor as a defense mechanism? If Bill Gates had played with a football instead of a computer, would we have half the technology we do today?
Former nerd now controls country from behind curtains.
KRT Campus
Now that the nerds have won their battle, shown the world and outrivaled their way to the top, what will happen next? The nerdy world of
on my turf, I don't because unfortunately, as all fads go, soon the "Vote For Pedro" T-shirts and Buddy Holly glasses will be replaced by the next cultural boom, allowing once again the true nerds of the world to sink back into invisibility and the posers to invade another group's existence.
But what if society's momentary decision that it's OK to be different sticks? What will happen to the underground nerd cult once it isn't underground anymore? Everybody can't be nerds, or else the purpose of being one is defeated. Without any driving force, there would be no
academia has been socially approved and the computer geeks are now economically relied upon. So what next will there be for the nerds of our generation to conquer? What will be our claim to fame?
When I was younger, I put in my hair on the bus. That whole afternoon, while
my mother tediously extracted the sticky mess from the back of my head, I swore to her; "Mom, I'm going to change the world one day." Will I? Probably not, considering the competition. But for now, I'll continue singing out loud at Target and sporting an "Einstein is My Homie" tote bag, not because it's fashionable, but because Einstein really is my homie. While it may be cool now, when the trend goes out of fashion, I'll still be a nerd, and damn proud to be one. You should be, too.
♦ Betsy McLeod is an Overland Park sophomore in journalism and French.
Free for All
+
Call 864-0500
Only four quotes in the Free-For-All today? And two of them are about Wichita State? They suck anways.
Yay! No more jaywalking across 15th Street! As a pedestrian, I hated people driving crazy. As a motorist, I hated the jaywalkers. Now it's better
for all of us.
*
Hey I just got done reading Monday's paper, and I was wondering if Bauer single 'nawen's a bit.
♦
Ah, Free-For-All, how I've missed you.
Did you know Bush promised to lower oil prices in 2000? That's just a fun
act.
Okay, so here's the quote of the day from Eva and Emily, someone needs
ing calls are recorded.
out. Get it straight!
I hate grumpy men driving on the road. Road rage!
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansas editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incom- calls are recorded.
to tell these freshman that drinking Natty Light is the equivalent of drinking urine.
Hello, the paper before school started said that Phi Kappa Theta was still an active fraternity, but last year, there was a two week period where like every headline in the Kansan was about how they were getting kicked
This is someone who's unhappy with the poster sale. Where's the B.B. King posters?
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It took Broadband-man a week to get to my house, and then he didn't hook the shirt up right.
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