4A
Friday, March 22.1996
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
President could use new liaison for personal agenda
A new proposal in Student Senate would remove the Student Legislative Awareness Board as the liaison between major governmental offices of the Kansas and Student senates.
A legislative liaison appointed by the student body president with the majority of Senate approving, would replace SLAB and report directly to the president and Senate on legislative issues.
This change in policy could prove to be dangerous. SLAB was created partially to try and remove the "spoils system" from University government. It was important to push student issues in government, and a coalition-neutral board was needed to do this.
However, one person acting as liaison presents an ethical question that must be answered: How does this avoid appointments as rewards?
The president could reward someone with this new position and use it to promote a personal agenda.
This important position should not be assigned by
THE ISSUE:
Legislative liaison
one person. Appointment by a board would be far more appropriate in this situation.
The majority of Senate will have to approve the president's appointment, but how much time will senators put into investigating the ability and intentions of the liaison?
The president has a much stronger influence on one person than he does on a board such as SLAB. The board should remain independent of the student body president.
Appointment of a liaison has some good intentions behind it. Having one person report to Senate versus a board of several could be more efficient.
However, the argument is that the liaison would not be lobbying at the Kansas Statehouse, which is one of the activities of SLAB. This could present a problem as well. The student body and Senate deserve to have a non-biased voice in the legislature.
DEBBIE THOMPSON FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Moving primary election date could insure greater turnout
Not much can be said about Kansas in August. It is hot and dull, and most who can go someplace else usually do - except for those running for political office.
Politicians and their attendant courts of staffers and press are about the only people who bother to travel within this state. In the past, primary elections have been held on the first Tuesday in August. Fewer people are around to vote, save a few political activists. Many more are on vacation.
Sen. Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, wants to change this situation. Her bill would change the date of the elections to the last Tuesday in August. For this year, that would be Aug. 27. She should be applauded.
There is some opposition of this proposal, mainly from Democrats. The Democratic National Convention is to be held the same week in which Sen. Praeger's bill would schedule primary elections. Dennis Langley, chairman of
THE ISSUE:
Kansas primary
the Kansas Democratic Party, complained that such action would be arrogant and that it would overlook the people of Kansas.
Langley contends that the National Convention would take more Democrats from the state and that there would be fewer of them voting.
"I think that is a rather parochial interpretation of what Praeger wants to do," said Burdett Loomis, professor of political science and government. "Changing the date means higher turnout."
"The high vacation season is over, and school has started. Turnout would increase."
Every single Democrat does not attend the national convention, and a larger turnout would be beneficial for both Democrats and Republicans.
Langley and others should think before they speak.
TOM MOORE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Jeff MacNelly / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Scraps turn to sculptures for cafeteria food artist
To many students living on Daisy Hill, Ekdahl Dining Commons — "Mrs. E's" — is one of the down sides of residence hall life. In fact, there are a number of people who would argue in favor of changing the name of the cafeteria to "Mrs. Sleaze," to more accurately describe the cuisine offered. Although I do often say I eat at Mrs. Sleeze or Mrs. Disease, rather than Mrs. E's, I don't think the food is really all that bad.
Granted. Mrs. E is not what you o call a gourmet chef — there are few things there I actually enjoy consuming, but the food is edible. The cafeteria has started offering pasta for a weekend brunch which pleases me because, as a vegetarian, I had a very limited menu on those days. It also has bagels and yummy fruit granola.
This may sound too bizarre for most, but I firmly believe that everyone should try it at least once. It is not wasteful if you use scraps that otherwise would be thrown away, and it makes the dining experience much more pleasant.
But the point of my column is not concerned with the edibility or variety of the food at Mrs. E's — it is about the fun you can have when you are finished eating. It is really quite simple: food sculpting. You don't have to be an artist. All you need are scraps from your plate and the plates of your friends and a little imagination. You can create people, animals, aliens, scenes from movies — whatever your heart desires. It is like a free art class in which you are both a teacher and a student.
STAFF COLUMNIST
I discovered the pleasures of food:
art a few months ago on a night that Mrs. E served those frightening s'mores bars. One bite, and I decided that it wasn't safe to venture any further into this weird concoction.
So, for lack of anything better to do, I began to play with the dessert. I found it to be quite similar to
play-dough in that it molded well and left nothing but a slightly greasy residue on my hands. As the rest of the people at the table watched with horrified expressions upon their faces, I proceeded to craft a yak. I then made my chocolate pet a crude shelter out of the remnants of my grilled cheese-like product sandwich and landscaped the shelter with some left-over pickles. It was the best meal I'd had in a long time. Not only did I satisfy my hunger, I also produced a work of art.
Hopefully after this column, more people will be able to make this claim. True, some may regard you as a freak, but ignore them! They simply don't know how to make the most out of their dining experience. I have noticed that in the past two months, I have actually looked forward to going to eat. Previously, I had dreaded mealtime. Not only does being a vegetarian limit me, but I also am incredibly picky. For the greater part of this year, I had been
convinced that Mrs. E was on a mission to poison me. I still have my suspicions, but since I have started sculpting, all of my stress regarding food has disappeared.
If you haven't already stopped reading out of horror and disgust at my strange hobby, I will give you some pointers on how to create the best possible sculpture: 1) You should sit with friends who are supportive of your work and will contribute their scraps. 2) Obviously, some foods work better than others. S'mores bars are excellent for molding, as are mashed potatoes and under-baked cookies. Oatmeal raisin or Snuckerdoodles are probably the best because chocolate-chip cookies tend to be messy. 3) Don't despair if your food is not moldable. I have created many faces out of foods you would not expect to use as art materials. Pasta, pickles, mushrooms, peppers and onions all are good for these types of sculptures. If you need a splash of color, purple cabbage works. 4) Don't get food solely for the purpose of creating art. This is wasteful. Table scraps are quite sufficient. Exceptions can be made for s'mores bars and no-bake cookies. In my opinion, these are not safe to consume and something needs to be done with them.
I admit this probably is too weird for the average student to take up. I say ignore convention and have fun! And don't worry about being shipped off to the loony bin — it hasn't happened to me yet.
Steph Brower is a Cary, N.C. freshman in pre-journalism.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Student agrees with new technology fee
I would like to respond to the March 14 article on student senators' responses to the Regents' proposed technology fee. I wish there were words for my profound disappointment at the sentiments expressed by student body president Kim Cocks and University Senate Executive Council members Grey Montgomery and Jason Anglian.
Some senators undertook a massive campaign to encourage us to require all students to pay for recreational facilities they might not use, yet a fee increase that provides immediate and direct support to the academic tools available to students is regarded as dangerous precedent? Have KU students absolved themselves of all responsibility for the quality of their education?
increases, but I am painfully aware of just how far behind the curve we are as an institution. As a student, I expect my education to provide me access to the tools I will need to use my degree productively. Quite frankly, when it comes to computers and technology, the University of Kansas isn't meeting my expectation.
I suspect that many of us have suffered in frustration waiting to print out a paper — at an inflated per-page cost — at the Computer Center but being unable to do so because of long lines and then have had to trudge across campus to find an open terminal.
I have no love for tuition or fee
I received my undergraduate degree from another Big Eight university that had none of these problems precisely because there was a nominal student fee for computers and technology. For $25 per semester every student was assured that a computer lab, open around the clock, was in your building or one
adjacent, was staffed by trained people to handle the deluge of questions efficiently and provided free laser printing to the students. Never in my experience there did I need advice, a program or access that wasn't available.
If we marry ourselves to the strict historical precedent of our fees paying for basketball and not our education, as Cocks, Montgomery and Anglian have, where will the additional money come from to bring this University up to the standards set by peer institutions? Where are the senators' priorities?
After the resounding defeat of the proposed activity fee increase for expanded recreational facilities, it seems obvious to me that students require more benefit than volleyball if they are going to be asked to open their wallets yet again. My education is worth the expense ... is yours?
Tobias Gisk
Overland Park graduate student
Speech codes can mask social issues that need to be challenged
Never mind freedom of speech.
Swastikas, Ku Klux Klan propaganda, the Confederate Flag — all of these symbols have been under attack recently, for obvious reasons.
In this country where all men (and we are to assume all women, too) are created equal, no one should be forced to live under an ideology of intimidation
Very few people want their eyes to fall continually on such expressions of hatred and oppression, especially in a world where survival is threatened daily.
Images of hate, filtered into the swelling mass of media-propagated soundbites that have become our connection to one another, can and do wear us down. The solution to such exasperating expressions?
Confrontation by people opposed to the deluge of bitterness causes the hate perpetrators to hide behind and rightfully defend themselves with the First Amendment. Freedom of speech, that sacred base of our nation. Once these supremacists are shrouded by the powerful document, even the most liberal minds are left questioning their positions in regard to the extremists. So what are we to do now?
Change the Constitution, perhaps. When an attempt to change the document fails, we can subvert it by inflicting "speech codes" and antihate verbage into local policies.
Get rid of it.
That's an understandable reaction to the frustration.
Speech codes, however, will cause more damage than the speech itself. Dangerous ideologies will be masked with politically correct gag orders, and flags promoting hatred will be left to hang in secret meeting houses in the woods.
We do not, nor will we ever, live in a perfect world. Pretending that we can is ignorant. Hate should be allowed to rise to the top where we can see it and treat it accordingly. It may be an ugly vision, but at least then we will know where the enemies lie, and our defenses can be up.
It sounds like an appropriate solution to the noise pollution that these people produce, but a shallow answer to the underlying problems. Covering the surface only allows the deeply-rooted social viruses to fester unchecked.
By keeping hate groups under close and careful watch, we are able to see the people involved for who they truly are. We also are able to receive their information and critically examine their rhetoric and in so doing build a suitable defense against it. Hate can be a subversive and powerful thought, and if a culture's defenses are down, the easier it is to creep into the mainstream.
Personal honesty should always be valued in our culture.
Rather than exist within a blissfully happy cocoon surrounded by all the pretty, pleasing sounds, we need to see the world for what it is, if survival is what we hope to achieve.
Speech codes and the like not only damage a free-flowing dialogue in our country, but also allow us to grow more homogeneous and naive.
Leslie Bowyer is a Lawrence senior in art history.
KANSAN STAFF
ASHLEY MILLER
Editor
VIRGINIA MARGHEIM
Managing editor
ROBERT ALLEN
News editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
Editora
Campus ... Joann Birk
... Philip Brownlee
Editorial ... Paul Todd
Associate editorial ... Craig Lang
Music ... Mike Levine
Sport ... Tom Erickson
Associate sports ... Bill Potulia
Photo ... Matt Flickker
Graphics ... Noah Musser
Special sections ... Novak Djokovic
Wire ... Tim Ternary
Illustration ... Miiah Laaker
HEATHER NIEAHUS
Business manager
KONAN HAUSER
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
JUSTIN KNUPP
Technology coordinator
Business Staff
Campus mgr ... Karen Geresch
Regional mgr ... Kelly Connexy
Mktmgr ... Mark Olmsted
Special Sections mgr ... Kerry McGrath
Production mgr ... Raechel Gahli
Heather Valler
Marketing director ... Heather Valler
Public Relations dir ... Angie Adamson
Creative director ... Ed Kowalki
Senior Writer ... Juney Wolfgang
Internship/o-o-p mgr
THE COMPLETELY POINTLESS ADVENTURES OF BRIGG AND FRO
Hero comes the editor dude, and he is pissed!
I can't draw it.
I've got way too much homework.