4A the university daily kansan
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opinion
tuesday, may 4, 2004
EDITORIAL BOARD
Athletic board needed student vote; Good job Knopp
Athletics director Lew Perkins took away the student vote when he restructured the Kansas University Athletic
OURVIEW
OUR VIEW The Kansas University Athletic Corporation needs a student voice. Lew Perkins shouldn't mess with that.
ing that occurred in February cut the original 23 members down to five. The five new members are the vice provost for student success, a senior University administrator, the University's chief business and financial planning officer, a faculty representative to the Big 12 Conference and the athletics director as the chairman.
Corporation. This action upset many students, including Student Body President Andy Knopp.
The restructur-
But last week, students got their way. Perkins decided to reinstate a student vote on the KUAC board.
But the board for college athletics had no student representation.
Then on Friday, Perkins made the suggestion of adding back the student vote, a proposal that was made twice before by Knopp and was twice defeated.
Perkins said he thought it was important for students to have a voice because the board existed to serve the students. Of course, the student vote does not make much difference if the vote is four to one.
It is important that the KUAC board has a student member and that the vote be more than just a voice. The representative, which right now is the student body president, needs to be outspoken. The board develops all athletic policies. And because athletics are a huge part of the University atmosphere, it only makes sense that we have a vote in the process.
Student Senate will regain their student vote May 7, at the next KUAC meeting.
Zach Stinson for The University Daily Kansan
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.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com
think, "Hmm. Yes! I wish my vagina were pro-choice." This vulgar language not only alienates the opposition, but it makes people already a part of the movement, including myself, uncomfortable.
So I don't have the Internet, and I don't have hot water. Which utility is going to go next?
Only at K-State do you have two roads with the same name that intersect.
Ruck FesNet.
图
I was at the har in Ames, Iowa, and I walked around with a doll all night. There is actually a woman out there that chooses to be with me.
I was in Ames, Iowa this weekend,
and I was humping a light pole and a
parking meter, and a cop told me to
get off. It was a great weekend.
Wendy.Wendy.Wendy.
You are always playing with my emotions.
I used to love Britney Spears, but she just sold out on this last album.
My food is making me crazy.
My roommate's arm pits smell like cheese.
--think, "Hmm. Yes! I wish my vagina were pro-choice." This vulgar language not only alienates the opposition, but it makes people already a part of the movement, including myself, uncomfortable.
Happy birthday, Blair. Please put this in because I didn't get her a gift.
Sophis sucks. I'd rather have a virus on my computer than Sophos.
I am always the last to find out about anything. It started with my circumcision.
My dad just got banned for life from Templin Hall this morning. How cool is that?
I think KU is cutting money because instead of using mulch they are using dog poo.
ON POLITICS
Extreme signs change message Abortion is a serious subject
Last weekend, I joined more than 500,000 men and women in Washington, D.C., for the March for Women's Lives. More than 250 KU students took seven buses to our nation's capital to be part of what the media is calling the largest rally D.C. has ever seen. I must say it was inspiring to see such a large and broad coalition of people supporting a woman's right to choose.
COMMENTARY
What was not inspiring, however, was the abortion rights movement's rhetoric. Slogans such as, "My Vagina is ProChoice!" were shouted, printed on T-shirts and waved in the air on posters. "Good Bush, Bad Bush" T-shirts depicted the good bush as a girl pulling down her ... th, you get it, and bad Bush as our very own 43rd president of the United States.
I have a couple problems with this message. No.1, what does it mean? My vagina, for one, has no opinion on the matter. No more opinion than, say, my arm or my foot. No.2, what are slogans such as this really accomplishing?
Anna Gregory
opinion@kansan.com
Slogans such as "My Vagina is Pro-Choice!" were shouted, printed on T-shirts and waved in the air on posters. What does it mean?
They definitely aren't converting the unconverted. No anti-abortion advocate is going to read this slogan and
Women's reproductive rights is an important issue. Lives are on the line. It deserves serious consideration. A slogan such as, "My vagina is pro-choice!" only trivializes the issue.
My government should not make laws concerning my body. It should be my decision to do with my body what I wish. That is why I support a woman's right to choose.
The abortion-rights movement needs a new public relations campaign. We need to focus its message on the issue. Let's talk about rights. Let's talk about freedom. This is what the issue is all about. It has very little to do with my vagina.
Gregory is a Topeka senior in political science and history.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
'Emily Taylor remembered':
Good work, but forgot smile
Congratulations to the Kansan staff for good background reporting and an excellent editorial. Emily Taylor was an exceptional friend and mentor for generations of KU staff and students we miss her already.
Despite the talent evident in Zach Stinson's strong portrait of Dr. Taylor on Monday's opinion page, I wish he'd used a photo of a smiling Emily Taylor as his reference — because that's how I'll remember her.
"Dean Taylor" loved a good joke, was unfailingly gracious and welcoming as she greeted people, and had a smile that filled a room. And what a laugh — especially if she overheard someone refer to the Emily Taylor "Memorial" Women's Resource Center!
Kip Grosshans
Associate Director, Student Housing
TALKTOUS
The Kansan welcomes letters to the editors and guest columns submitted by students, faculty and alumni.
For any questions, call Meghan Brune or Johanna M. Maska at 864-4924 or email at opinion@kansan.com.
PERSPECTIVE
Censorship in cartoons reflects other bans
Ahhh, cartoons. So lovable. So innocent. So harmless.
But not according to some newspapers across the country that contemplated whether or not to print Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip that featured its lead character, B.D., having his leg amputated as a soldier in Iraq.
Iraq.
Some of the 1,400 newspapers in which Doonesbury runs, including the Lawrence Journal-World, debated whether or not to publish the comic strip because of some vulgar language it contained. After B.D. regained consciousness in the strip, he exclaimed "Son of a Bitch" when he found out about his amputated leg.
COMMENTARY
Ric Brack, managing editor of the Lawrence Journal-World, said the newspaper decided to publish the strip after a long discussion.
The Lawrence Journal-World decided to run the comic, Brack said, because the opinion page, on which the comic would be published, had different standards than other pages. The language fit within the context of the comic strip, Brack said.
Both The Wichita Eagle and The Topeka Capital-Journal printed an edited version of the strip. The
Travis Metcalf opinion@kansan.com
All of these obscenity issues have gotten out of hand from Janet Jackson's exposed breast to Howard Stern being taken off the air to be allowed to say "bitch" in a comic strip.
Journal white bookie Phillip Brownlee, The Wichita Eagle opinion editor, said the newspaper edited the cartoon because it
Wichita Eagle ran B.D. saying "Son of a b ___" and The Topeka Capital-Journal wrote "Son of a ..."
edited anything on the opinion page for language. A cartoon is no different, he said.
The editor of the Tallahassee Democrat said in an online discussion room run by the newspaper that his newspaper would not run the strip. However, when the strip came out on April 23, Jeremy Duff, an editor at the Tallahassee Democrat said the editorial staff had changed its minds.
its minutes. The newspaper decided to publish the strip because the day before it published a Mallard Fillmore comic that contained the letters "S.O.B." Duff said.
The Anchorage Daily News didn't run the strip because it felt the vulgar language was unnecessary. The Duluth News Tribune pulled the strip altogether.
Those newspapers that decided to run the strip in its entirety upheld their obligation to the First Amendment and their readers.
"People still knew, I think, what the character was saying." Brownlee said.
For the entire life of the comic strip, which Trudeau created in 1970, the political angle has pushed limits.
political single-member There was a series of strips in which Trudeau called Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) "Gropen-
All of these obscenity issues have gotten out of hand — from Janet Jackson's exposed breast to Howard Stern being taken off the air to being allowed to say "bitch" in a comic strip.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) has authored legislation to strengthen obscurity standards. Shouldn't the free market decide what is seen or heard and what isn't?
Let the free market decide if there truly is no place in society for minor offenses such as Trudeau's comic strip. If whatever is being shown offends people, then they shouldn't read the comic strip, buy the newspaper, watch the television show or listen to the radio show.
However, don't impede other people's rights to watch, read or listen to it.
Metcalf is a Wichita senior in journalism.
KANSAN
Michelle Rombek
editor
864-4854 or mburhenn@kansan.com
The First Amendment is supposed to protect all speech, not just popular speech.
Andrew Vaupel
managing editor
884-4854 or vaupel@kanean.com
Meghan Brune and Johanna M. Maska
opinion editors
884-4924 or op.hion@kanean.com
Fürher" referring to the allegations made in the Los Angeles Times of Schwarzenegger's alleged groped scandals during his campaign for governor and his father's relationship with the Nazi Party of Germany.
Danielle Bose
business manager
864-4358 or addrector@tansan.com
Stephanie Graham
retail sales manager
864-4398 or adsales@kansan.com
Matt Fieher
sales and marketing adviser
864-7656 or mfieher@kansan.com
Makcolm Gibson
general manager and news adviser
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Editorial Board Members
Editorial Board Members
Kendall Dix L Lynzee Ford Laura Francoviglia Amy Hammontree Kelly Hollowell Teresa Lao Mindy Osborne Ryan Scarrow Elizabeth Willy Paul Whitmoretone Zach Stinson Zach Newton Wes Benson Sara Hauneke Kenwin Flaubert Brandon Gay Zack Hemenway Alex Hoffman Kawipmwil Amy Kelly Cameron Koelling Courtney Kuhlen Brandi Mathiesen Travis Metcalf Mike Norris Jonathan Reeder Erin Riffley Alr Smith Kari Zimmerman