University Daily Kansan / Thursday, May 4, 1989
Act dignified
My wife and I plan to attend this year's graduation exercises because our daughter will be graduating.
We have food memories of our exercises. We had a wonderful time with our parents and friends. All participants in the exercises conducted themselves properly. The exercises were dignified as they should be.
It has come to my attention that in the recent past some of the participants in the exercises apparently have thought it cute to "do their own thing," such as putting beer cans on their caps and generally acting in a foolish manner. There is a time and place for everything, However, the time to imitate is different. In my opinion, if persons graduating do not want to act in a dignified manner, they should not participate in the exercises but rather just pick up their diplomas.
this inappropriate conduct by some reflects poorly on the state, the University of Kansas and the graduates. I believe that those graduating should encourage their fellow classes to protect themselves properly during the exercises.
Thomas M. Tuggle Concordia resident
Defining life
I would like to give an opinion in response to William Dann's paid advertisement in the April 25 Kansan on the controversial subject of abortion.
one biological definition of life encompasses growth, metabolism, response to stimuli and reproduction. This begins as soon as the two haploid gametes (the egg and the sperm) join. But life exists even before the egg and sperm begin because they are already in the process, where they are produced from life and must be "alive" to fertilize or be fertilized. Dessicated sperm is not going to fertilize an egg. This phenomenon is a continuous flow of progression. The reason we feel that there is a distinct line that determines when life begins but does not search to it — don't know. The reason why not we are killing a life but whether we have a right to stop these individual processes.
Our society has an aversion to pain. We extol life and preservation. A consequence of this is accumulation. Life is progressive along a continuum. This
death and destruction, which we shy away from, is among the natural order of progression. As long as reproduction occurs, destruction must complement it or else we will squeeze ourselves to extinction. This is observable in exponentially growing population. Realistically, abortion is demographically beneficial.
We are trying to reduce fluorocarbon output at the Vulcan and Racon plants near Wichita. An accumulation of the chemicals that they are disposing into the atmosphere is causing detrimental effects on us. Aren't we the most destructive species, we who create the ability to flood our lands with these chemicals? Are they the biggest threat to ourselves. If we are trying to eliminate mortal threats, encouraging demographic stress is the most paradoxical choice that can be made.
We again have given a small group of individuals the power to decide our ethics. That is frightening. The choice is personal and must be made by you, your boss or your employer in a horrifying thought, abortion is not merely a matter of emotions but also of sensibility.
Regrets abortion
With so much in the media of late regarding the pros and cons of abortion, I wonder if there is room for one more opinion. Yet, as a woman who has experienced two abortions in her lifetime and regretted them both, I have given this matter a great deal of thought in the years since they were done.
My response to all of those who see abortion as a way out of an unwanted pregnancy is "Think again." You may feel that this is the most responsible, caring act that you can do for yourself, your unborn child and the rest of your family, but the pain and remorse are deep and sometimes lasting reminders that we have destroyed something that was a precious part of ourselves, whether or not we are willing to admit it or deal with it — to ourselves or anyone else.
As intelligent, responsible, caring human beings and potential parents, we not only have the right, but that we to ourselves and our children decide ifade it themselves and hardly to have them in our lives. I speak to men and women alike. And there is another way to make this decision that does not threaten the integrity of either parent or the life of a fetus: birth control. Bishie or female partner; it is available without prescription, it is much less expensive than an abortion and it works.
Maybe condoms, diaphragms and foams are easy for us to talk about
as abortion. I know that, at the time, it was the case with my partner and me. If we do not want or are unable to care for children, they need not be the inevitable products of our sexual activities.
Marilyn Roy Lawrence senior
The right to know
The public has a right to know. I expect that is the reason the Kansan last week sent a reporter to cover FBI Director William Sessions' presentation (April 28 Kansan). The reporter has neglected her responsibility and intently misled the very public she is employed to serve.
Approximately 95 percent of what was communicated at the lecture was neglected by the reporter's front page story. Unfortunately, her liberal sensational leannings were fed by one mouth out of a hundred press reporters her entire story on a man blocking the view on a man blocked before him, imposing his position on them. The man violated the very constitutional rights of others he said he was there to protect.
The Kansan reporter and the other press present literally ran to the man after the director's presentation. The man who was no running to interview the man who has dedicated dozens of years of his life to serving this country and the life he has devoted himself to organization in this nation. He wasn't sensational enough for the Kansan.
The public has a right to know what really happened! Editors, let's hold up her paycheck until she reports on what really happened at the lecture.
Terry O'Malley First year law student
Parking Control
In the April 26th Kansan, KU police reported that 18 parking signs were defaced with spray paint. Although I cannot condone such an action, this signifies a frustration that I have experienced many times.
Because I live off-campus and have to be at work both before and after my scheduled classes, I am forced to put up with the daily parking fiasco at this University. I have been tagged for about $100 this semester for trying to attend my classes. My frustration is further compounded by lot rezoning plans, which are an attempt to generate revenue by further reducing the number of yellow zone parking lots on campus. This needed to help pay for the new parking garage now under construction which, it seems, will do little to alleviate the student parking situation.
I believe the administration here at KU fails to realize that today's students will soon be alumni. The estimated $1,200 in damage to the parking signs will be an
inconsequential amount if the future alumni here remember the way Parking Control (formerly Services) has treated them. When the Alumni Association comes around and asks for donations just say, "Hey, I gave at Hoch."
Curt Davis Prairie Village graduate student
Curt Davis
Prisons in Kansas
Before we, the people of Kansas, build a "new" prison, each of us should realize that our chances of spending time in prison will be enhanced. (Assuming, of course, that the justice system of Kansas metes equal treatment for us all. If that's true, then, of course, no prison should be built at all.)
It's not hard to figure out. Just think about it. So let's say the only kind of prison we will build is a new prison. A real country club prison.
If country club prisons are good enough for the president's men, then county club prisons are bad enough for the president's men.
Douglas Hempler Lawrence resident
Hazards of styrene
Throughout this academic year, the members of Environs have worked hard to build a more stable campus environment. We have dug through garbage cans, turned off forgotten sprinklers, climbed trees about to be bulldozed, given presentational lectures on our knees to jelly, protested against chemical manufacturers, lugged recyclables from Wescoe Hall (when most people were home eating dinner), and stayed up late *raising the taste of stamps out of our mouths.* Though we do our best to have fun, we have a serious bunch of them + with good reason.
For the first time in the history of our species, the health of our environment is in serious jeopardy. It used to be that the word "environment" had something to do with endangered species in Africa, or the national park system. This year we have faced drought, a decrease in world food production, rising sea levels, rapidly increasing global temperatures, chronic health problems and vanishing landfill space. The environment has become as real as our bodies and our backyards.
One of the more visible problems that Environs has worked on is the use of polystyrene foam (styrofaum) on campus. Polystyrene foam is an environmental nightmare to grave. It is a chemical called styrene is changed to polystyrene, which is then "puffed" with the chemical pentane or a chlorofluorocarbon to make polystyrene
foam, Sounds harmless enough: a little
moaning, a little puffing. No big deal.
Hardly. First of all, styrene is a petroleum product, which means that it is non-renewable. Secondly, the manufacture of polystyrene results in a lot of hazardous by-products, which can potentially wind up in air and in air. In contrast, the flaked polystyrene fifth of 20 chemicals whose production generates the most hazardous waste.
Thirdly, polystyrene foam is a direct hazard to your health. Styrene, which is registered with the EPA as a hazardous and toxic material, is known to migrate into food from polystyrene containers. One study showed that a residual styrene concentration of 500 parts per million (ppm) in polystyrene foam containers produced concentration in foods that contain contact with the foam. The polystyrene used to make the containers in the Unions has residual contaminant concentrations of 320 ppm (the contaminants being styrene, benzene and other related aromatic compounds).
Furthermore, long-term exposure to stryene at levels as low as one to 10 ppm has been shown to have neurotoxic, hematological, cytogenic and carcinogenic effects in both Knoeping these patients help but wonder why the Surgeon General hasn't put a warning label on polystyrene foam cups and containers.
Finally, polystyrene foam is not currently recycleable, and it does not degrade in landfills. Each year at KU, we throw away 1.5 million polystyrene cups and containers. Hundreds of people move the cups to our stay at KU using the millions of hinge-lined trays, cups and burger boxes from lunches long forgotten.
If you think that polystyrene foam is a problem, you are not alone. While working on this issue, we were amazed at the positive response we received. We have been helped by faculty and staff; bers, students, faculty and families, sororities, students halls, student organizations, and even representatives from the chemical industry.
However, we are by no means finished. The Kansas Memorial Corporation Board will decide whether or not to continue the work of the Kansas Room at the Kansas Union.
If you are concerned about this issue, please come. As the stockholders of the Corporation, you have opinions that are not concerns to the members of the Board.
The greatest hope for the world of tomorrow lies in a common cause. One day soon, you might wake up and find such a cause in your backyard or in your body.
Brian Schwegmann Salina junior
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