The Hill With It by john hill
I adjusted my muffler, turned my collar up against the sub-zero wind gusts, and paused in my trek across the frozen tundra of the campus to watch a sunbather.
"This may sound pretty silly," I yelled into the arctic gusts blowing across Potter's Frozen Lake, "but what are you doing?"
"S-S-S-Unbathing" chattered a pretty girl in a two-piece swimming suit, whose skin was turning a cold shade of fire-engine blue.
"But it's not spring weather anymore," I said. "A penguin saw its shadow or something, and now it's winter again. Sunbathing's not going to make it spring again."
"I don't care!" she said, holding a match under some sun-tan lotion to thaw it out. "I got all set for spring, and went sunbathing, and everything and the calendar says it's spring, so just because we're having a slight chill is no reason to—"
"Slight chill!" I said, gazing in the distance to where the snow had drifted high enough to completely hide Fraser Hall, which wasn't all that bad, come to think of it.
"Besides," continued the stubborn sunbather, "I've got lots of great outdoor-type plans for spring break, and I don't want the weather to wreck them."
"But sunbathing like it's still warm won't—"
"That's not all I'm doing," she said defiantly, fumbling around for her wrap-around sunglasses. The sky was so overcast that there wasn't enough light to see them clearly.
"I'm also planning to drive around with the top down on my car, fly a kite, study under a tree, wear cut-offs—"
"I hope there's room for you at Watkins Hospital," I said, continuing on my slow trek across the frozen wilderness, "but their Spring Fever Ward is getting pretty crowded. Good luck."
She waved good-bye and her arm froze, as I plodded on, hoping I didn't get another parking ticket on my snowmobile . . .
Reader defends Riehm
To the Editor:
Twice have I read the story on student petitions to keep an instructor and twice have I been disappointed! It seems as though the only consideration thus far has been the hard, cold, and unreasonable facts of the case; but surely any person worth his merit can look beyond this narrow facade and see the points concerned here which are of the far greater significance not only for the students as an influential body but for this University as an innovator.
Is this University going to react as all other universities throughout the nation by being unwilling to accept an even very modest proposal as the students have so honorably presented to them, or are they ready to take the bold step and move out from the precedent set by the crowd? I impress upon you that if this University is not ready to work with the students; what is the only alternative they leave for them?
The students who signed the petition for Professor Riehm feel that the students and the administration can work together and can work together in such a way as to prove beneficial for both groups. They petition for the simple fact that here is a man of worth, a man who has for too long been overlooked for his tremendous contributions to this University. What greater part can a man play than that of developing and influencing the ideas and beliefs of the future leaders of tomorrow.
Surely, there is more to consider here than the mere facts of the case or the opinions held of him by his peers. Have you not wondered how the students feel about him for after all they are the ones who really know him, but I should think their feeling for him and their concern over his dismissal has become blatantly obvious. The students are not unaware, unwilling to challenge a rule, unable to step out and set precedent, nor are they asleep to the educational needs of a modern society.
They feel the University can benefit by keeping Professor Riehm as a member of the faculty staff, and what is more important the University has their chance to set a meaningful precedent not hitherto set by proving to the nation that it is possible for students to make a contribution to their administration and that an administration can take heed of the worth of a student request and will not only grant to them recognition but approval. The students have taken that bold step forward, is the administration ready?
Charlotte Trowbridge Leavenworth junior
Baha 'u' Ilah Lord of the New Age Baha'i Faith 843-0978
Abortion law discussed
To the Editor:
An article in the Wednesday UDK reports the reaction of Francis Hesse (who appeared as a witness for the Kansas Catholic Conference) to the proposed abortion law, which has only these requirements for a legal abortion: consent of the woman involved, and provision that the physician be licensed. Mr. Hesse believes that this would make the doctor "the judge, jury and executioner" of an unborn child, thereby denying the child its right to due process of law.
This is garbage. To speak as though an embryo has full constitutional rights is an absurdity—an embryo cannot have freedom of the press. Surely Mr. Hesse is not serious when he suggests that due process of law is a right to be accorded to everyone, including children. If a five-year-old punches a neighbor kid in the nose, does the father have to wait for due process of law before he can punish his child? Must a young woman with cancer of the uterus await due process before she can have a hysterectomy (thereby "executing" many potential human beings)?
Mr. Hesse's argument is peripheral to the fundamental moral question involved in the abortion law, which is: should anyone be able to force his religion, morality or superstitions on another? Ignoring this, Mr. Hesse asks "Is there ever a time when the legislature should allow one
Kansan Telephone Numbers
Newsroom- UN 4-3646
Business Office- UN 4-4358
Published at the University of Kansas daily during the academic year and examination periods. Mail receipts rates: $8 a semester, 10 a year. Secondary age paid at Lawrence, Kan. 66044.age paid at Lawrence, Kan. 66044.age paid at Lawrence, Kan. 66044. employment advice services and employment advisement students without regard to color; creed or national origin. Opinions ex-ceed not necessarily those of the University of Kansas or the State Board of Regents.
Executive Staff
Editor-in-Chief Ran Yates
Business Manager Palm Flatton
Editorial Editor Steve Haynes, Robbert Edilbert Jr., Don Roberts, Marla Babcock, Sandy Zahradnik
News Editor Joanna Wiebe
Anne Wein Editor Tom Weinberg
Editorial Editor Alison Jones
Editorial Writers Alison Steinley
Judi K Diebelt
Sports Editor Bob Kearney
Ast. Sports Editor Jay Thomas
Feature and Society Editor
Marlinson Fry.
Asst. Feature and Society Editor
British Brimacombe
Photo and Graphics Editor
Linda McCreary
Arts and Reviews Ed. Bub Butler
Copy Chiefs Ruth Radenker
Judy Dague, Lainy Loidy, Donna
Schrader, John Gillec
Advertising Mgr. John Rheinfeld
National Adv. John Rheinfeld
Promotional Adv. Jerry Bottenfeld
Classified Adv. Patty Murphy
Scrimm, Robert Smith
Asst. Business Mgr. Gary
Member Associated Collegiate Press
person to kill another without due process of law?" I would ask: is there ever a time when the legislature should dictate what disposition a person can make with the functions of her own body?
Mr. Hesse would define an abortion as equivalent to a murder. By what standard? Why, by the Roman Catholic standard, of course—the same one that has in the past forbade childbirth anesthesia on the grounds that God intended birth to be painful—the same one that would sacrifice a Ph.D. scientist mother to a thalidomide-idiot child if only one of them could be saved during childbirth, on the grounds that the mother's "soul" is well-defined whereas the "soul" of the child is not. I reject such standards and such
morality, and to force them on me by law is to make me observe the moral teachings of a faith (as opposed to a rational ethic) in which I do not believe.
There are those who have Malthus on their mind who would make birth control and or abortion mandatory. Their voices are not very loud now, but they will be soon especially if people like Mr. Hesse give moral sanction to the idea that procreation is a matter of state policy rather than individual judgment. It would be ironic indeed if another pressure group were to cause legislation which removed a Catholic's freedom of choice, just as Mr. Hesse's predecessors have removed my wife's.
David Mvers
Chemistry graduate student
The Story Of Three Consenting Adults In The Privacy Of Their