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OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED DAILY SINCE 1912
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CRAIG LANG, *Editor*
SUSANNA LLOF, *Managing editor*
KIMBERLY CRATTREE, *Editorial editor*
TOM EBLEN, *General manager, news adviser*
MARK OZIMET, Business manager
DENNIS HOAKT, Retail sales manager
JUSTIN KNUPE, Technology coordinator
JA STEINER, Sales and marketing adviser
Monday, May 5.1997
Jeff MacNelly / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Editorials
Meal plans force fed to students by University housing department
The University of Kansas Department of Student Housing requires students to purchase a meal plan with their housing contract. While the plan may seem to be in the best interests of the student, the department seems to put income ahead of the students' needs.
Meal plans must be purchased with a housing contract for residence halls because the contract is for room and board, said Kip Grosshans, assistant director of student housing.
Licensed dietitians work in every residence hall. So in theory at least, students' needs are being met. Only a note from a physician about special dietary requirements is enough to release students from their obligation to purchase a school meal plan.
Students should be allowed to eat when and where they choose.
This places far too many constraint on the way a student lives at KU. If students living in residence halls are unable to, or simply doesn't want to, eat in the dining halls, they shouldn't be required.
Using health reasons to force students to eat University food is taintamount to making sure students get enough sleep, drink lots of liquids and don't watch too much television.
doesn't cost the University. By making meal plans mandatory, even unused meal credits are paid for.
However, unlike these potential activities, getting five hours of sleep a night
Students should be allowed to eat when and where they choose.
If this means eating in a dining hall, then they should have that choice. But if a student chooses to eat at McDonald's or order pizza, he or she should not be penalized.
Dietary needs aren't enough to make a student eat University meals.
If a student could bring a lunch in high school and not pay for a school lunch, why is the situation any different now?
Like other aspects of campus living, choices should be given, not forced upon, unsuspecting students.
GERRY DOYLE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Tobacco, alcohol are both killers
Tobacco companies are public enemy No. 1 in America, and they have good reason to be. Smoking-related illnesses kill about 400,000 people each year. As a result, every newspaper mentions the results of another lawsuit, another report, another admission of the deadly effects of smoking. Many college students have joined the crusade by writing letters and posting fliers decrying the evils of smoking.
But through all the noise, one issue remains unresolved: tobacco is not the only killer drug on the market. In fact, there is one other controlled substance that many would argue is more of a threat than even the biggest cigar alcohol.
The alcohol question exposes the hypocrisy of many anti-tobacco advocates. They're willing to restrict, even eliminate, the drug they don't want, but all the while they crave another. They seek to create a law that affects everyone but them, while at the same time keeping their interests intact.
To make a difference people must control their own behavior.
Drunk driving kills more than 14,000 people a year. True, those numbers are lower than those associated with smoking, but the nature of drunk driving deaths makes them that much more meaningful. Developing lung cancer or another disease resulting from smoking can be prevented, either by stopping smoking yourself or by helping someone you live with break the habit.
violence, firearm accidents and the Exxon Valdez. If not for alcohol, these problems would be significantly reduced, if not eliminated. Smoking endangers the smoker; drinking endangers everyone.
So why is it that Americans are up in arms about Joe Camel and Philip Morris, but no one gives a second thought to keg stands and beer bongs at student parties? It is always easier to regulate others than to control oneself. That's the definition of hypocrisy.
But being killed by a drunken driver is completely random and unpredictable. Innocent motorists are in danger when someone chooses to drink. And drunken driving isn't the only harm which results from alcohol: domestic
The remedy to this hypocrisy is simple: either go all the way, or don't go at all. Tobacco should be controlled, and regulating its attempts to get people addicted is an admirable idea.
But in order to make a difference, people have to be willing to place rules on themselves as well and control their own behavior in addition to everyone else's.
KANSAN STAFF
ANDY ROHRBACK FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
NEWS EDITORS
LA TINA SULLIVAN... Associate Editorial
KRISTINE BLASI... News
NOVELDA SOMMERS... News
LESLIE TAYLOR... News
AMANDA TRUGHBER... News
TARA TRENARY... News
DAVID TESKA... Online
SPENCRER DUNCAN... Sports
GINA THORNBURG... Associate Sports
BRADELEY BROOKS... Campus
LINDSHEY HENRY... Campus
DAVE BIETTENSTEIN... Features
PAM DISHMAN... Photo
TYLER WIRKN... Photo
BRYAN VOLK... Design
ANDY ROHRBACK... Graphics
ANDREA ALRIGHT... Wire
LZ MUSSER... Special sections
AERICA VAZEY... Neeks clerk
HEATHER VALLER ... Assistant retail
JULIE PEDLAR ... Campus
DANA CENTENO ... Regional
ANNETTE HOVER ... National
BRIAN PAGEL ... Marketing
SARAH SCHERWINSKI ... Internet
DARCI McLAIN ... Production
DENA PISCIOTTE ... Production
ALLISON PIERCE ... Special sections
SARA ROSE ... Creative
DANA LAUVETZ ... Public relations
BRIAN LEFEVE ... Classified
RACHEL RUBIN ... Assistant classified
BRIDGET COLLYER ... Zone
JULIE DEWITT ... Zone
CHRIS HAGHIRIAN ... Zone
LIZ HESS ... Zone
ANTHONY MIGLIAZZO ... Zone
MARIA CRIST ... Senior account executive
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Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
How to submit letters and guest columns
Guest columns: For this semester are no longer being accepted because of time constraints.
Letters
All letter and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newroom. 111 Staufer-Flint Halt. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Kim Crabtree (opinion@kansan.com) or LaTina Sullivan (isuillian@kansan.com) at 864-4810.
KU's new e-mail policy is absolute idiocy
I am paying my daughter's expenses at the University of Kansas.
I only hope professors are teaching my daughter better decision-making skills than has been evidenced by the University administrators making such idiotic regulations, such as the e-mail matter in question.
Does this new policy mean that she cannot write her dad an e-mail message once a week, which has been her practice?
I attended KU during the mid- 1960s, and there were times when we were convinced of the absolute idiocy of the administration.
Has the current administration been taking lessons?
Buddy D. Baker Iola resident
Pet owners shouldn't leave dogs unattender
In a recent article, a student defended her practice of bringing her dog to campus by saying that she wouldn't do it if the dog wasn't friendly.
Apparently, many dog owners on this campus haven't stopped to think about this practice from another point of view.
There are people on this campus who are afraid of dogs, and they shouldn't be obliged to dodge the greetings of 'friendly' dogs as they arrive for class. Having a barking dog tied outside a classroom or office is very disruptive.
Students should consider the impact of their decisions on the dog. I've seen playful dogs attempt to get the attention of passby. Does it hurt their feelings to be ignored? Does it hurt their necks to repeatedly lunge to the end of their leashes, trying to get some affection?
I've seen dogs teased and hit by people walking by. Perhaps saddest of all are the dogs who are lying with heads on paws, looking up without hope that any passerby will be nice to them.
Don't confuse your dog's joy at your return with the idea that bringing him to campus makes him happy.
You don't know if he spends time in terror at being tied alone in a strange place. You don't know if an untidy dog has come along and started a fight. You don't know if someone has yelled at him for his barking, or if someone has confused his friendly overtures for an attack and tried to hit him.
Worse yet, you don't know if a prankster has let him loose to be hit by a car or get lost looking for you. It may be fun to have him to play with between classes, but does that really outweigh the risks of his safety while you're in class?
Jocelyn S. Martin Lawrence graduate student
Kansan didn't cover Earth Day adequately
As the first part-time employee of the campus recycling project, I was pleased to see the front page article about the new campus fee to finance recycling projects at the University of Kansas. Earth Week, as well, received coverage from the The University Daily Kansan.
However, that monumental, watershed event that occurred for the first time on April 22, 1970, Earth Day, received no coverage on its anniversary. Why was this?
There was an open house in the Kansas and Burge Unions profiling the University's green practices, KU's environmental groups, ecologically and socially responsible consumerism and there was even a table dedicated to the ecological virtues of the golf courses. But, despite the activities planned, the Kansan chose not to call it to the student's body's attention. Was this just an oversight or has the apathy that characterizes this wasteful nation as a whole planted itself on our campus?
If the latter is true, why do I and all other concerned students waste time going to school? We can learn how to become environmentally conscious citizens without paying for it.
Perhaps the reason we persist at the academic level, however, is to project our thoughts and
beliefs to other empathetic ears in hope that our message will, at the very least, be heard.
But despite pressing environmental problems, the Kansan gives little or no coverage to the green efforts on campus. It seem that these efforts are carried out in vain.
Personally, this is the feeling I get when our school newspaper chooses to run a front page article about dogs on campus on Earth Day rather than a piece that focuses on the national event.
True, every day should be Earth Day. But how are we concerned students, faculty and staff — to promote this notion if we do not get help from the most circulated publication on campus? The University has taken a green step in recently hiring a full-time environmental specialist, Victoria Silva, to oversee and coordinate recycling activities on campus.
Since filling that position, Environmental Health and Safety has succeeded in diverting one ton of newspapers. This is a great accomplishment, but it is only meager in amount when compared to the quantity of waste we generate every day. Because one ton of paper diverted in the past three weeks was generated by only three campus buildings, this should open some eyes as to the magnitude of the waste we are dealing with at the University.
Moreover, in light of this fact, perhaps the Kansan will take the initiative and provide some type of recycling receptacles with newspaper dispensers.
I can't stress enough how hard it is to get funding from a state or federal bureaucracy for projects like as waste management, which is all the more reason for the Kansan to take these issues more seriously: the more support and recognition waste reduction and green practices get, the less we have to worry about the funding disappearing under paperwork at the chancellor's office.
Perhaps more Earth Day coverage from the Kansan would have drawn more visitors to the unions on April 22 to learn what KU's environmental clubs and departments are up to. Nonetheless, in the future, we need the support from our newspaper to help educate and inform the University public so we do not lose what little backing we get from the University pursue and chain of command. I ask, perhaps challenge, the Kansan to heed this message.
Jayson Wylie Topeka junior
Senators' mistakes should be lessons
A final word on student senate elections. No really, this is it. The last ballot has been counted and the last complaint has been adjudicated, but controversy remains.
Why? Because students are not perfect, and they are not supposed to be. We are at this University to learn and not, just in the classroom. That means that we all make mistakes, even the junior politicians who run Student Senate. No one is immune to an occasional moment of rampant stupidity or poor judgment.
This doesn't mean students should not be held to the high standards of ethics and conduct like the rest of the world. It just means that mistakes at this level are to be expected. Student Senate elections are a perfect example. There has never has been a year when coalition or candidates have not violated elections code, nor has there been a year when the elections commission ran election flawlessly and to everyone's satisfaction.
The Student Senate election commission is made up of volunteers, who are appointed by the StudEx Chair. The commission is designed to provide effective student government through fair elections.
Great care is taken to ensure that this body of individuals will be unbiased. Many have had little or no contact with Student Senate or the elections process. The commission hires an elections commission who is responsible for the administrative aspects of elections and is a non-voting, ex officio member of the commission.
The hearing board consists of four commission members, a complaint adjudicator, and an
outside, unbiased hearing board chair. Only four commission members vote on the hearing board. The complaint is presented and each side is given an opportunity to speak and present evidence. The hearing board then meets in closed session to make its decision based on the elections code.
This year was unusual. There were fewer complaints, but they were more serious than in previous years. The fines administered for these offences were also greater than in past years. The board made those decision based on the information that was represented to them, direction from the code, and a firm sense of fairness to all parties in the he election.
As with any body that serves a large group of constituents, the elections commission can't please everyone. Instead, it must do what its members believe is fair and without prejudice. In this case, this year's hearing board and election commission were no different.
The board did reopen the discussion on the Travis Harrod issue, but only on the use of the fine, not whether a violation had occurred. After a lengthy discussion, the Board changed nothing. Although Sullivan and Walden presented a settlement agreement to the Board at the final hearing, it was rejected with no discussion.
Audrey Nogle
Audrey Nogle
Abilene second year law student,
elections commission chairwoman
Chancellor is available for Mortar Board
I'm writing in response to the Kansas May 1 editorial questioning Chancellor Hemenway's availability for meeting with student interest groups. I'm the faculty adviser to the Mortar Board, KU's senior honor society. I've been impressed and gratified by the chancellor's eagerness to meet with members of that group as they address academic and community-service issue.
He recently spent a weekend morning hosting a reception at his home for new members and their families. Last semester, he and Mary Burg, his executive assistant, made substantial donations of time, money and advice to help member of Mortar Board raise almost $1,000 for Lawrence's Head Start program.
Perhaps he could do more, but the students that I know are pleased by his efforts to work with them.
Charles Marsh associate professor of journalism
Drivers should pay attention to stop signs
When I saw the stop signs being set up at he intersection of Irving Hill Road and Naismith drive, my mind went back to the day a couple months ago when I almost became someone's hood ornament at that same spot.
I wanted to run after the drivers, but I was too numb to even get the license plate number.
When I saw those brand new stop signs, my initial reaction was to write someone a letter of unbounded gratitude.
But when I found out that the sign was placed there only after the chancellor saw a student lying on the street after she was hit by a car, I could only offer my half-hearted thanks.
As for the responsible, mature motorist who now have to put up with pile ups at those stop signs, my sympathy goes out to you.
But I'm sure you already know that while on campus you can never expect to get around too quickly anyway.
However it's sad that you must now suffer the punishment that only irresponsible drivers deserve.
To those people who don't deserve their driver's license, I suggest you grow up before a tragic accident, a costly lawsuit or a manslaughter conviction ruins your life and other lives.
Albert A. Gapud Los Banos, Philippines graduate student.