4A
Wednesday, June 5, 1996
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
KU teaching assistants degraded by JCCC ads
The winds of disrespect were blowing across Jayhawk Boulevard last semester as KU students were assaulted by Johnson County Community College recruitment ads for summer enrollment. The ad featured a JCCC student who, after attending the community college during the summer, decided to continue his education there because he had "real" teachers, rather than teaching assistants or graduate students. This insulting insinuation that teaching assistants are not real teachers is a blatant violation of appropriate recruitment behavior expected in academia.
Julie Haas, director of college information and publications at JCCC, was responsible for producing the ad. She claims the ad is not representative of JCCC opinion and that the ad only reproduces the opinion of the student featured. Nevertheless, the fact that the college was willing to use the student's opinion in recruitment efforts says something about JCCC's respect for fellow Kansas educational institutions.
Despite pulling the ad after receiving a letter from the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition, the college is guilty not only of participating in an immature game of insults and accusations, but also of hypocrisy. The college, like the University, employs
THE ISSUE:
JCCC Advertisements
An ad insinuates that students could receive a better education from "real" teachers at the community college.
large numbers of part-time instructors while offering substantially fewer fulltime professors. According to the JCCC department of communications, the department employs 25 fulltime professors along with 58 part-time instructors.
Although both the University and JCCC employ more part-time instructors than full-time professors, the ad implies that teaching assistants provide inferior instruction to professors. The ad obviously supports this assumption and asserts that students may get superior instruction at JCCC because they employ more full-time instructors than the University. However, to assume that all teaching assistants provide inferior instruction is a gross generalization, for both good and bad teaching assistants and professors exist. Although there is no replacement for personal contact with a professor, teaching assistants provide the effective instruction and classroom environment on which the University prides itself.
JEREMY LIND FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Linear tuition will interfere with undergraduate research
Since the implementation of linear tuition at the University of Kansas, many issues have been brought to light concerning its impact on the University environment. While results regarding the chief aim of reducing add/drop activities each semester are still unknown, so are the potential negative effects of linear tuition on undergraduate participation in research projects.
Some academic departments at the University allow undergraduate students to explore their chosen fields through research projects. Many degrees require research activities for graduation. Many students choose to participate in research activities beyond the requisite number for graduation. The new linear tuition plan could have an adverse
Projects for undergraduates are inhibited by linear tuition.
effect on continuing participation in research because of the financial burden of enrolling in research classes for credit.
The University of Kansas enjoys a reputation as a top-notch research university. As such, the University must allow for students to participate in research projects for credit without the added burden of linear tuition. Otherwise, many students may be forced to go without the rewards inherent in research. The University's reputation could only be damaged by the loss of these enrichments.
NICK PIVONKA FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Jeff MacNelly / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Everyone seems to be down on Bob Doleately. Nothing he does seems to be right. Either he's too old, too grumpy, or his campaign issues are too unoriginal. Even stepping down to become citizen Dole hasn't helped him much.
Dole's legislative ability works for U.S. system
For example, a May 27 Newsweek poll, carried out after Dole left Senate, found that while 47 percent of readers polled thought Dole's Washington experience would help him as president, 43 percent thought he had been in Congress so long that he was too much of an insider to be a good president.
As a legislator, what's wrong with knowing the legislative process? Extensive experience in the field is virtually a prerequisite for anyone applying to be the manager of a business or seeking promotion to president in a corporation. Why isn't Bob Dole's experience in Washington more of an asset rather than a drawback as qualification for being president?
It all depends on what one's idea of a good president is. And the qualifications needed for good presidents, or heads of government, depend on the nature of the political system.
Some Americans wish the United States had a parliamentary system. They choose presidents based on the candidate's stance on single issues, thinking that the president will be able to pass legislation that represents his or her position on issues like abortion or welfare reform. And if America were a parliamentary system, this probably would work. The head of government in the parliamentary system is the prime minister, who is selected not by popular vote, but by the majority party in parliament. Therefore, any legislation that the prime minister makes along party lines is likely to receive the support of the majority in parliament and is passed with fewer delays or amendments.
The focus is on getting legislation passed. Whatever bills the prime minister proposes will be approved. It's that simple. For example, if Clinton were the
STAFF COLUMNIST
prime minister of the Uni ted States, there would be a Democratic majority in Congress (the Democ rats would ha v e selected him to be their leader), and he would fulfill all his
campaign promises in a couple of years because the Democrats in Congress would always support Clinton's legislation, thereby silencing minority Republican opposition.
However, the United States is the world's only industrialized nation with a presidential system. It is entirely different and much more complicated than the parliamentary system. The focus in U.S. policymaking is on compromise and incremental change. Here, the president is selected by popular vote as the head of government. There is no guarantee that he or she will be a member of the majority party in Congress, nor is it guaranteed that the members of his or her party will consistently vote along party lines for his or her policies. Only about 80 percent of all Democrats and 75 percent of all Republicans vote together on any given bill. In a parliamentary system, where there is rarely dissent from the party line, these numbers would more likely be 99 percent and 98 percent. Unlike a prime minister, it is difficult for a president in the U.S. system to steamroll any legislation through Congress. His or her proposed bill usually emerges from committees, subcommittees and floor debates with so many amendments that its original intent hardly remains.
The key to getting legislation passed in a presidential system is making negotiations and compromises to get it through each level of decision-making. When compromise cannot be made, decision-making becomes gridlocked.
A prime example of gridlock was the budget deficit reduction debate, which forced a government shutdown last year. Clinton presented a plan to reduce the deficit in ten years, and Newt Gingrich and his Republican supporters insisted it should be done in seven years. It took months of negotiation and weeks of government shutdowns to come to a working compromise on the issue.
If the United States had a parliamentary style of government, we could vote for a head of government with strong party ideals and be guaranteed that new policies would reflect those ideals. But our presidential system calls for someone who can negotiate and compromise with both political parties. That compromise usually creates policies that are more moderate than extreme. Bob Dole has a reputation in the Senate for being a negotiator and a dealmaker. As a senator, his focus has been to make compromises intended to pass bills into laws. He is not one to hold the hard Republican conservative line. During the great budget debate, Dole spearheaded a welfare reform measure that was amenable to both moderate Republicans and some Democrats.
Americans seem to want their government to move faster. A large number of people voted for Clinton in 1992 because he represented change. To achieve rapid change in a presidential system, the United States needs a president who is capable of compromise and who is experienced in negotiating. Electing a hardline visionary reformer as our head of state leads to more political division and government shutdowns than radical reforms. If Americans want to avoid gridlock and get things done, Dole's experience in Washington should be his greatest asset in his candidacy for president.
Rachel Wlese is a Stanley sophomore in Japanese and political science.
How to submit letters and guest columns
Letters: Should be typed, double-spaced 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 typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run. All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffier-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Kim Becka, editorial editor, at 864-4810.
Bob Dole makes another deal by quitting Senate
Nearly a month has passed since Kansas Sen. Bob Dole tearfully announced his decision to resign from Senate. An admitted CNN addict, I was glued to my television that Wednesday afternoon, transfixed by witnessing a truly historic moment. While I appreciated Dole's short-and-sweet approach to the speech, I was rather skeptical of his rhetoric.
Speaking of doing what's right, wasn't it big of Dole to demand an FBI investigation after accusations of money laundering hit his campaign recently? It seems that some corporations reimbursed employees and their family members for donations to the Dole campaign, which is a violation of federal campaign finance laws. The most recent scandal involved the Aqua Leisure Corporation and was uncovered by The Kansas City Star. However, this wasn't the first. From Gulf Oil to agribusiness price fixing scams, this kind of thing has been going on with Dole's campaigns for 25 years.
Dole asserted that our society judged politicians "as much by the manner in which they leave office as by the vigor with which they pursue it." I know this was meant to instill an image of Dole as a class act and a trooper for serving his country and bowing out gracefully. In my opinion, it only called to mind the image of a quitter.
STAFF COLUMNIST
Despite Dole's insistence that he did not use this unscrupulous tactic, the Wall Street Journal found that Dole had already paid in excess of $1 million to a company called Campaign Tel to smear his opponents. Because of this evidence, campaign representative Christina Martin was forced to retract Dole's original denial. She insisted the calls only restated positions from Dole's TV ads. I guess she was only trying to do what's right.
He has been lagging behind President Clinton by double digits in the polls for months. He has been able to pass none of the legislation that he so desperately needed to jumpstart his campaign, which has bored both the press and public. The legislative gridlock that he has used to constrain Democratic proposals since the so-called Republican Revolution has turned around on him like a rabid dog. What happened to Bob Dole the dealmaker? He has become Bob Dole the quitter. President Clinton still leads in the r
Dole also said in his resignation speech that he was one of the people and that he had overcome hard times. Give me a break. Dole has been in Washington since 1961. Except for his courageous and remarkable recovery from World War II injuries, what else has been hard for Senator Dole?
He gets free meals and gifts from PACS, he has voted himself regular salary increases and has better health insurance and retirement benefits than the majority of older Americans. He has corporate jets at his disposal courtesy of Archer Daniels Midland, U.S. Tobacco and Federal Express. He recently bought a condo in Florida for a fraction of what it would cost you or me. The list goes on and on.
dent Clinton still leads in the polls.
Dole said that his campaign was about telling the truth and doing what's right. That is an interesting twist given the fact that he lied to the American public in February regarding his campaign's use of push polls. These phony polls fed respondents misleading information and outright lies about primary opponents in an attempt to influence voting.
This is not the hard way, Mr. Dole. The hard way is the way my grandmother did it. She survived the Depression, an abusive upbringing and never finished high school. Despite her lack of formal education, she is one of the most intelligent and insightful people I know. She raised four children alone on a waitress' salary. And she's done it all with a dignity that commands respect. She probably sleeps better at night than Dole, too.
A recent ABC/Washington Post poll proves that Dole's baseless rhetoric has not deluded the majority of Americans. Nearly 60 percent of those polled see Dole as an "old-style Republican who'll cut taxes for the rich and cut social programs for the middle class and poor." Actions do speak louder than words, and it appears that the proverbial chicken has come home to roost for Bob Dole.
Channon Tauscher is a graduate student in social welfare.
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OUT FROM THE CRACKS
By Jeremy Patnoi