OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED DAILY SINCE 1912
MARK OZMKEK, Business manager
DENNIS HAUPT, Retail sales manager
JUSTIN KNUPP, Technology coordinator
JAY STEINER, Sales and marketing adviser
Thursday, April 10, 1997
Julianne Donovan/ KANSAN
Editorials
University employees' squabble embarrassment to entire school
Sometimes adults act like children. In a recent dispute between the Classified Senate and members of the Graduate Teaching Assistant Coalition, things got a little out of control. Because of an alleged derogatory remark made by University Relations Director Tom Hutton regarding the coalition, Richard Kershenbaum, a member of the Classified Senate, has tendered his resignation.
The Classified Senate is an organization that represents University employees such as KU police officers and some secretaries. Although the president of the Classified Senate tried to settle matters, the damage already was done. The resignation could have been prevented by keeping derogatory opinions to oneself, or at least not publicizing opinions of fellow University employees. People are entitled to their
University Council should be willing to work with, not against, other employees.
opinions, but the people involved in this situation humiliated not only themselves but also the University.
University employees have to realize that as such they represent the University. Employees should know not to speak poorly of other employees. More importantly, they should know how to resolve a conflict. This fight was absurd in the first place simply because it happened, but more so because it happened publicly.
Administrators also expect students to respect University officials and instructors. But apparently they don't even respect each other.
Dave Young, a member of GTAC, said it perfectly when he said, "The most important thing is that we are all employees of the University. Attacks are coming down at all levels on public employees. We have to work together."
University organizations should not feel that they are in a war or have to stick together for defense. University organizations should all have the same goal — to make the University a better place.
Everyone has lost this fight. The coalition has been slapped in the face with a remark that worsens the status of the already underappreciated GTAs. A University employee has resigned, the University has been publicly embarrassed and it will be a long time before the organizations involved will be able to work with each other in a professional and mutually respectful relationship.
CATHY PIERCE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
E-mail proposal infringes on rights
Some administrators at the University of Kansas are attempting to infringe on the First Amendment.
William Crowe, vice chancellor of Information Services at the University, has drafted a proposal that would align e-mail to the mission statement of the University. This would restrict students, faculty and staff from expressing religious or political views through University e-mail, and they could be penalized for receiving and sending information that Crowe or other administrators deem discriminatory.
This policy is a sad example of the administration's attempt to act as morality police on the information superhighway. The ideas behind Crowe's policy are flawed and must be revised so that people who pay technology fees and use computer services at the University aren't denied freedoms of expression.
Administrators want to punish users for sending discriminatory e-mail.
First, no students are on the committee drafting the proposal. This is deplorable. Students may not be the only people who use computers at the University, but it would be safe to say that more students use them than faculty and staff combined.
But what this policy is trying to achieve in the first place is also unclear.
Why is it important that the political and religious views of people who use the University's e-mail be restricted?
People all across campus put forth such views, protesting for religious reasons or running for Student Senate elections. Political and religious views are natural expressions of thought that should not be
suddressed.
As far as discrimination goes, who will be judging what is discriminatory? A panel of administrators?
By taking on this duty, the administrators drafting the proposal are overstepping their bounds. What one person finds discriminatory, another may not. People's opinions are constantly being changed and discussed. It's a joke that a few administrators are acting as if they've found answers to questions humanity has pondered for hundreds of years.
One would hope that this flawed first draft of restricting e-mail at the University was just a hasty proposal not thought out very well, rather than the result of a team of administrators wanting their e-mail clients to become faceless masses who aren't allowed to express themselves.
Suppressing rights doesn't help anyone.
KANSAN STAFF
IAN RITTER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
LATINA SULLIVAN . . . Associate Editorial
KRISTIE BLASH . . . News
NOVELDA SOMMERS . . . News
LESLIE TAYLOR . . . News
AMANDA TRAUGHBER . . . News
TARA TRENARY . . . News
DAVID TESKA . . . Online
SPENCER DUNCAN . . Sports
GINA THORNBURG . . Associate Sports
BRADLEY BROOKS . . Campus
LINDESE HENRY . . Campus
DAVE BRETTENSTEIN . Features
PAM DISIMMAN . Photo
TYLER WIRKEN . Photo
BRYAN VOLK. . Design
ANDY ROHRBACK . Graphics
ANDREA ALBRIGHT . Wire
LZ MUSSER . Special sections
AERICA VEAZY . News clerk
NEWS EDITORS
DVERTISING MANAGERS
ADVERTISING MEMBERS
HEATHER VALLER . Assistant retail
JULIE PEDLAR . Campus
DANA CENTENO . Regional
ANNETTE HOOVER . National
BRIAN PAGEL . Marketing
SARAH SCHERWINSKI . Internet
DARCI McLAIN . Production
DENA PISCIOTTE . Production
ALLELON PIERCE . Special sections
SARA ROSE . Creative
DANA LAUVETZ . Public relations
BRIAN LEFEVRE . Classified
RACHEL RUBIN . Assistant classified
BRIDGET COLLYER . Zone
JULIE DE WITT . Zone
CHRIS HAGHIRIAN . Zone
LIZ HESS . Zone
ANTHONY MILIAZOO . Zone
MARIA CRIST . Senior account executive
How to submit letters and guest columns
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.
Guest columns: Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
All letter and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Kimberly Crabtree (oplinion@kansan.com) or LaTina Sullivan (isulillvan@kansan.com) at 864-4810.
Column
The complete guide to being a bridesmaid
A strange metamorphosis happens to people in their twenties: marriage.
Or, at least, your friends get married.
This presents a lucrative opportunity for me as a writer.
Stop the presses! I'm writing a book. (Seriously, you would want to stop the presses if I were to actually do this.) And on what topic do I feel that I am expert enough to write about, you ask? Why, being a bridesmaid, I reply.
My qualifications, you ask? By the end of the year, I will have been a bridesmaid in five weddings, all within the last 10 years. It would have been six had one
reliant groom not decided to call off the wedding just two months before the nuptials. Still, that works out to be a wedding almost every other year.
It is almost as though as soon as I am finished sending one happy bride and groom off into the sunset, I am starting again with another. I attend a wedding and almost the next week I am at an engagement party. And so the process goes.
To whet your appetite for my book, here is a rundown on some things to expect as you journey down the aisle with your friend:
First there is the engagement party. Engagement parties are like mini-receptions, although often on a much more casual note. The crowd may be smaller, but certain key people are usually in attendance: the bridal party, the parents/grandparents/siblings of the bride and groom, a few close friends and, of course, the bride and groom themselves. This is usually an opportunity for everyone to meet.
Next there are the showers. Nowadays, showers come in all different forms designed to produce all kinds of different functions. Here are some that I have been involved with during the years.
Time-of-day showers: Each guest is given a time of day and is to pick out a gift that the bride could use at that time. For example, once I was given 7 p.m., so I got the bride a "foot fixer." You know, they're those little foot massage tubs that were popular a long time ago. Give me a break, I was 17 and it looked cool. Besides, it was for a family member. And OK, yes, I secretly wanted one for myself.
Lingerie showers: self-explanatory.
Vacation showers: Give a gift that would be appropriate for a vacation. My friends Tina and Kevin went to Club Med for their honeymoon. But for some reason I thought they were going on a cruise, so I gave Tina bars of soap shaped like starfish and some glasses with tropical fish on them.
She liked them anyway.
Couple showers:
The newest thing. The groom is invited, and the gifts are intended to be for both the bride and groom, which, knowing some of my male friends, still could consist entirely of lingerie.
Then there are bridal fairs.
This also is like a mini-reception, a "This is Your Wedding," if you will. It takes place in a carnival-like atmosphere with booths set up by photographers, florists, caterers, travel agencies, bakeries, tuxedo
Did you ever play the game "Around the World in Thirty Days," where you went around to different rooms in a house and tasting a different drink in each room? Well, this is similar, except if you feel nauseated afterward it has nothing to do with mixing your alcohol.
shops, stationers, wedding dress shops and more.
All of the representatives want you to visit their booths, so they entice you with gifts and chances to win vacations.
These are fun. You can look at a lot of pretty dresses, sign up for free stuff, sometimes get a goodie bag, and you get to try free samples (thus bringing me back to my drink analogy). But be prepared; you will feel like Jan Brady to your friend's Marcia as she is fawned and fussed over by a lot of people wanting to help make her wedding day "one to remember."
Of course, who can forget about the bachelorette party?
This is the bride's last hurrah as a single woman. The most common: the bar-hopping parade. The bride dona a white veil (make sure it is one she will have no qualms about discarding afterward) signifying to the world — or at least the bar patrons and bartenders — that she is leaving the world of the single for the world of the married.
It is usually the bride-to-be's ticket to free drinks, a standing invitation to dance and sometimes a free pass to the front of the line.
Often, friends in attendance enjoy the residuals of all this attention.
Bachelorette parties, and even bachelor parties, do not have to be wild affairs, however. I know of one groom, for example, who went on a golfing weekend with his groomsmen and other close friends.
One upcoming bride-to-be has never really liked the bar scene, so for her bachelorette party, we are considering going to a day spa to be pampered with massages, facials, manicures and more.
Then there's the Big Dav.
The Big Day Survival Kit: three pairs of hosiery—one for you, an extra one for you, an extra one for her (remember, the color for her is probably off-white); clear nail polish, in case you put a run in your extra pair of hose; a box of tissues; breath mints and yourself — on time, which is a challenge for some people, including me.
Despite the sarcasm, the truth is that you could dress me in lime-green-colored leather with suntan hose and white stiletto heels if you wanted to and I still wouldn't, miss standing up in Kimberly's, Tamara's, Tina's — or later this year, Lynn's or Vanessa's — weddings for the world.
It is a milestone in your friendship and one of the biggest days in her life. And it is truly an honor to be a part of something so special.
Which brings me to the bottom line of being a bridesmaid: Have fun and proudly stand up for your friend.
Elena Macaluso is a Sacramento, Calif., graduate student in Journalism.
Demand Robinson/KANBAN
Letter
Staff at SAC should be commended for help
As I read the letters to the editor in the April 1 University Daily Kansan, I was more than mildly surprised to see a letter berating the Student Assistance Center. As I read on I learned that the letter was from a student with disabilities who was offended by everything from the wording in her correspondence to the SAC staff acting as a liaison between instructor and student. I did, however, notice in the last paragraph that "providing the financing needed for quality services" was acceptable.
I am a secretary in the department of mathematics and I am also the parent of a child with disabilities.
As an employee of an academic department for nine years, I have had many contacts with the Student Assistance Center. I have always been impressed with their concern for students and I have never seen any indication that they did not treat their students with the highest respect.
I am quite aware of the pain that is often caused by a thoughtless word or expression. Having seen the manner in which a student's needs are addressed, when my daughter attends the University of Kansas, as she plans to, I will suggest that her first stop be the Student Assistance Center. Not because I think they will somehow punish her for delaying her visit, but because I know that at a university, the wheels often turn slowly, and the sooner she begins making arrangements
for anything other than standard accommodations the sooner her needs will be met.
Many students with disabilities exercise their right to contact instructional staff directly, although others prefer that it be handled through the SAC. Because the center strives to accommodate such a wide variety of concerns, no one way is right or wrong.
I commend the SAC staff members for the compassion and caring they have shown when requesting student accommodations. I hope students will look at the wide range of helpful services provided by the SAC and work with the staff on areas that may need to be strengthened.
Sandra Reed secretary, department of mathematics