4A
Monday, March 4, 1996
OPINION
UN I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
VIEWPOINT
Academics should take priority above jury duty
Jury duty is an obligation we, as Americans, have to our judicial system. The question for students is whether we are obligated to serve during a semester and what to do if we are called.
The University of Kansas claims to assist student jurors with school conflicts, and area courts also state that they will work with students. But how committed are the University and the courts to ensuring that jury duty doesn't interfere with academics?
A KU student is facing this situation. Jennifer Murphey, Tonganoxie sophomore, has been called to jury duty. If she is selected for a trial, she could serve from three days to three weeks.
Although serving for an extended period of time is unlikely, the call comes at a bad time in the semester. Murphey asked for a deferment until summer, but was denied by a Douglas County judge. Murphey is on-call March 4-29.
Jury duty is an important obligation, but school must take top priority. The call to
THE ISSUE:
Jury duty
jury duty can occur during midterms or finals, which are particularly bad times to be interrupted. Students must make arrangements with their school if they are called for jury duty.
Instructors are required to make accommodations for students who must serve on a jury for five days or less. If the trial lasts longer, the student can talk to the dean of the school to discuss options. In extreme cases, students may drop some or all of their classes and get a full refund. However, students should not be forced to choose between their civic duty and school.
Students are not asking for a way out of their constitutional obligation. Courts should ensure that jury duty won't occur during the semester, and won't interfere with school. Courts also should allow students to serve during summer or breaks. Students can be affected more by time of service than full-time workers.
THOMAS PATTIISON FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Student sport clubs in need of their own practice fields
Recreation services should find a solution for the lack of field space for recreational athletic clubs before clubs are forced to disband and student support drops.
Health recreation personnel said that there are more than 800 students involved in sport clubs, and the number is growing.
Students are looking to the Anschutz Sports Pavilion for answers because no other KU fields will be available until late March. The field directly north of Watkins Memorial Health Center is being reseeded and is not available for club use, and the field south of Watkins is not safe because the playing surface is uneven. Shenk Sports Complex is off limits, recreation services personnel said because the fields could be torn up if they are used when wet.
Rick Rosenstengle, assistant director of recreation services, said that he was talking to Darren Cook, the facility manager of the Athletic Corporation, and that they were trying to incorporate students into the Anschutz practice schedule at least three nights a week.
THE ISSUE:
Club sports
Cook said many students didn't realize that Anschutz wasn't a KU building. Anschutz was built by private contributions solely for athletics and not for student recreation services. But the Athletic Corporation is willing to help recreation services even though it is also experiencing growth problems.
Club sports represent the University of Kansas in organized competition and should have access to fields close to campus. Recreation services seems to have a firm grasp on the limited space problem. By combining forces with the Athletic Department, it should be able to make sure that students receive the practice time needed to represent the University.
DOG W EINSTEIN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
DOGG W EINSTEIN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
HEATHER NIEHAUS Business manager KONAN HAUSER Retail sales manager JAY STEINER Sales and marketing adviser JUSTIN KNUPP Technology coordinator
Jeff MacNelly / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
States can't have more power unless citizens get involved
Business Staff
ASHLEY MILLER
Editor
VIRGINIA MARGHEIM
Managing editor
ROBERT ALLEN
News editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
Campus ... Joann Birk
... Phillip Brownlee
Editorial ... Paul Todd
Associate editorial ... Craig Lang
Innovation ... Tom Brandon
Sports ... Tom Erickson
Associate sports ... Bill Petulla
Photo ... Matt Flocker
Graphics ... Josh Mueller
Bird sections ... Revenues
Wire ... Terra Trenary
Illustration ... Misha Leaker
To steal a line from a famous Bono song introduction: There's been a lot of talk about this next topic. Maybe — maybe too much talk. But here it is, anyway: state's rights.
Editors
Campus mgr ... Karen Gorch
Regional mgr ... Kelly Connolly
National mgr ... Mark Olmstek
Special Boatmen mgr ... Norm Blow
Production mgr ... Rachel Gollhill
Marketing director ... Haverthaler
Public Relations dir ... Angle Adamson
Creative director ... Ed Kowalski
Cloestad mgr ... Stacey Wewngsten
Internship/oo-op mgr ... T.J. Clark
The Republican candidates chant the phrase as a mantra, state legislators are praying for more, and the people view more state power as a cure-all for society'sills.
they need them? Exactly where do you think the money from federal block grants should go and why? In which particular agencies should we place our monetary support and why? As responsible citizens, we need to be able to answer these questions.
But I have my doubts about the willingness of my peers to put forth this kind of effort. There was only a 15 percent turnout at the referendum last week concerning the establishment of a campus health club despite extensive, student-funded advertising. Any student senator will tell you that student participation in government is not abysmal.
As a collective, we don't care about what goes on in our own lives, much less in the lives of those with whom we rarely interact.
If you want more power for the states, be prepared to care. This means getting off the couch occasionally and paying attention to local government. This means turning from Friends to CNN. Power and responsibility go hand in hand. There is no room for ignorance when you are playing with people's lives.
Todd Hiltz is a Lynwood senior in social welfare
On the surface, it does seem appealing. The federal government isn't sensitive to the local needs of the nation, and it isn't hard to see why. Our own revered Bob Dole has spent little time in Kansas since we shipped him east 35 years ago. Most of his time is divided between Washington, D.C. and his condominium in Florida.
How can he — or any Beltway bureaucrat — possibly know what we need here?
Social welfare, education and even speed limits would be better administered by the local government, which knows and understands the issues and which has a feel for the people affected by them. But that's the hitch; the people have to know the issues.
Giving more power to the state places more responsibility on you and me to know the specifics about our community and ex-
STAFF COLUMNIST
the states were given the power to provide for the welfare and the education of the community, then we would have to make doubly sure that the states exercised that responsibility well.
actly how much power state government would have to change things. We no longer could rail against the Washingtonians for being out of touch. We no longer could blame bureaucracy for failing to provide adequate, effective governance. If
Young people don't seem to be particularly aware of legislative issues. A nonscientific survey conducted by the Kansas City Star found that 43 percent of high school students were not clear about the issues now being debated.
To me, that number seems low. Do you know how many women are helped by Aid to Families with Dependent Children? How long do they remain on the rolls? How many people benefit from food stamps, and why do
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
- Jen Militzer, Howell, Ill., graduate student about her old roommates personal hygiene problem.
Rodger Oroke, director of facilities management, about why pieces of old Fraser Hall were removed from the KU landscape one day after being placed by an employee to beautify campus.
"YOU CAN'T TELL SOMEONE THEY SMELL THE WAY YOU TELL SOMEONE THEY NEED TO VACUUM."
"I DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS. I GET PAID MEGA-DOLLARS TO GIVE SPEECHES FOR CORPORATIONS."
■ Wendy Damman, Williamsburg freshman, after a secret service agent allegedly questioned her about an e-mail message she received but hadn't read yet.
"IF WE CHOOSE TO SEND E-MAIL BACK AND FORTH, I THOUGHT IT WAS ONE-ON-ONE. I WAS VERY INCORRECT. IT CAN BE READ BY A THIRD PERSON."
Dick Vitale about his appearance in the Kansas Union on Monday. Vitale was not paid for the appearance.
"I WAS QUITE IRRITATED AND QUITE UPSET THAT THERE WAS AN IMPROVEMENT MADE, AND I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT IT. I WASN'T CONCERNED ABOUT THE LOOKS."
"ALL WHITE PEOPLE BORN, SHOOOLED AND RAISED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ARE RACIST."
Jane Elliot, researcher on racism, during her presentation last sunday at the Leid Center.
I was asked by a friend of mine how my life is. It is a simple enough question, and one that I have the same answer for no matter who asks me.
1
fine, but busy. And here, busy is the key word
Longer days would help relieve stress of busy lives
It is also the answer that I hear when I ask my friends the same question. It seems that everyone is
"Fine," I always answer, "but busy."
If you want to help this petition along — or if you have any ideas where the petition could be sent, because frankly, I have no clue who handles this sort of thing — you can e-mail me. My address is stasia@falcon.cc.ukans.edu. Good luck to all, and for goodness sakes, get some sleep.
OUT FROM THE CRACKS
And here, ousy is the key word.
Now, this may not strike you as a problem, but think about it.
Nobody is ever any better than fine.
Imagine the possibilities.
How many arguments do you have because you didn't get enough sleep? How much more would you learn if you could stay awake in all of your classes?
Realistically, I know that a 29-hour day is not going to happen. The proper authorities just would not go for it, and even if they did, they probably would make us work during our extra five hours. But if they did go for the extended day, think of what a better place the world would be.
Or if that doesn't work, we could just make the year shorter overall, and start a new system in which each day of the week has the sun rising at a different time.
Sure, there are a few kinks that need to be worked out, but I think that all in all, it is a good plan.
I think that it would make a great noble prize winning science project to find a way to change the rotation of the earth without causing worldwide death.
I am not going to change my behavior in this regard, so I propose a slightly different solution.
Of course, this poses a slightly different problem: that whole rotation around the sun thing and the difference we would need in day and night.
STAFF COLUMNIST
Twenty-four hours in one day just does not seem long enough anymore.
We have settled for mediocrity in our lives because we take on too much, just because we think it needs to get done. I know that
Stacy Nagy is a Topeka sophomore in Russia
For people who may have more than 17 hours worth of work to do, it is still possible to get eight hours of sleep after up to 21 hours of work, so I think that the solution is a solid one that can help even the most ardent of workaholics.
To counter this trend, I propose that we accept the idea of a good friend of mine. He thinks that we should adopt a 29-hour day. He chose 29 because he has found that if he sleeps 12 hours — which, if you ask me, is undeserved for one person in one night anyway — he cannot fall back asleep for 17 hours. So he has 17 hours to get everything done, and he still can get a good night's sleep.
After classes and work, and any other activities you may have going on, there never seems to be enough time for both a good night's sleep and homework. Usually — however unfortunate — homework wins.
By Jeremy Patnoi