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Wednesday, April 12, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Everyone's vote important in Student Senate elections
Today and tomorrow may seem like any other Wednesday and Thursday, but some students will make it different. KU students could just go to class, have lunch, sit in the shade and study, or they could vote for the students who want to represent them in Student Senate next year.
represent them in action. Students could ignore the voting tables as they pass by the polling places that will be set up on campus, or they could stop and take a few minutes to fill out a ballot.
Everyone always hears the cliché "every vote counts," but this year that might be more than a cliche. Six coalitions and one independent candidate are in the running this year, and because KU has not had spectacular voter turnout in the past, a couple of votes could determine who wins.
The students running for Senate president and vice president have many of the same ideas and some unique ones about improvements on campus and in the governing body itself. If you support more emphasis on campus recycling, a return of tipsy taxis, ways toward better student representation, a campus escort service, more recognition of minorities or alternatives to advising, then you should take a minute to support those ideas at the polls.
Students who don't vote in national, state and city elections can come up with several excuses for not voting, ranging from issues not affecting them to not being registered. But students who don't vote on campus today or tomorrow can only use apathy as their excuse, which is as poor an excuse as saying that their dog ate their homework.
Julie Adam for the editorial board
KU sees a brighter future with financing of Margin
However, thanks to the Kansas Legislature, which last weekend passed the second year of financing for the Margin of Excellence program, the University of Kansas now will be closer to competing on the level of other top schools across the
In the past, the University of Kansas has had crowded classrooms, low faculty-student ratios and has lost valuable educators and potential students because of a lack of money.
The House and Senate on Saturday approved full Margin financing of $3.5 million for the second year. That amount was included in a $900 million allocation for higher education. Chances are now good that KU will receive the $224 million it requested for next year's operating expenses.
The Margin is the Board of Regents three-year plan to bring the total financing of its seven institutions to 95 percent of their peer schools and to bring faculty salaries to 100 percent of their peers.
When legislators passed that higher education budget, they sent a loud-and-clear message to their constituents: Kansas legislators know that education is a worthwhile expense and cannot be compromised.
"It is a success story, one that has restored faith and morale on the campus," said Chancellor Gene A. Budig. "Higher education has regained its rightful place at the list of state priorities."
Chancellor Budig, State Sen. Wint Winter Jr., R-Lawrence, students, faculty and others are to be commended for their hard work to bring KU and other Regents institutions closer to the competitive levels of the '80s and into the '90s. But as Chancellor Budig realizes, we still have a long way to go before we reach our potential.
"We are now in a better position to attract and retain able faculty and staff," Budig said. "Yet we cannot be complacent. It is time to focus attention on achieving more and still-needed success in year three of the Margin."
KU students, faculty and alumni must continue their drive for funds, not only to keep our nationally ranked programs above par, but to strengthen the University's weaknesses.
Education is too important to compromise.
Cindy Harger for the editorial board
News staff
Julie Adam...Editor
Karen Boring...Managing editor
Jill Jess...News editor
Dee Gruver...Planning editor
James Fuarhqi...Editorial editor
Elaine Sung...Campus editor
Tom Stinson...Sports editor
Janine Swiatkowski...Photo editor
Dave Eames...Graphics editor
Noel G尔德...Art/Feature editor
Tem Elber...General manager news adviser
Business staff
Debra Cole ... Business manager
Pamela Noe ... Retail sales manager
Kevin Martin ... Campus sales manager
Scott Fraga ... National sales manager
Michelle Garland ... Promotions manager
Brad Lenhart ... Sales development manager
Linda Propp ... Product manager
Debra Martin ... Asst. production manager
Kim Coleman ... Co-op sales manager
Cary Cressler ... Gaslessifier
Jamie Gassett ... Sales and marketing adviser
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MAELEYChicago Tribune
Students face challenge of GALA Wear Blue Jeans If You're Gay Day causes campus to confront fears
when you got dressed this morning,
w did you purposely wear shorts,
dress pants, sweats, a skirt or anything other than blue jeans? Or did
you arrive on campus in your Levi's only to find that you had forgotten it was Wear Blue Jeans If You're Gay Day? Every year during Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week, students are faced with a difficult choice: for or fortunately, every year homophobia raises its ugly head, and many students fail the challenge.
Homophobia is the irrational fear of homosexuals or homosexuality. It affects us all, gay or straight, in some way during our lifetime. Homophobia can include a miraid of things such as beating up people because you suspect that they are gay or lesbian, calling someone "faggot," "dyke" or "queer," telling jokes that are demeaning to gays and lesbians or something as simple as not wearing jeans today because you are afraid someone will think you are gay.
Society as a whole is just as guilty as individuals of promoting and perpetuating homophobia. Heterosexuality is presented as the only acceptable norm in nearly every television show, newspaper article or song played on the radio. Think about it; when was the last time you saw two women kissing on toothpaste commercials or heard a song on the radio about a same-sex couple? When you were in the bathroom with them, were stereotypical, portraying gay men as effeminate and lesbians as masculine, or it has something to do with the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome crisis.
Shannon I. Tauscher
Stereotyping gay and lesbian people is not new.
Guest columnist
More than 220,000 gays were murdered in Adolf Hitler's death camps simply because of their sexual orientation, a virtually ignored part of Holocaust history. In 1936, Nazi official Heinrich Himmler issued a decree which stated, "Just as we today have gone back to the ancient German view on the question of marriages mixing differen't races, we must acknowledge the fact that, as a symptom of degeneracy which would destroy our race, we must return to the guiding Nordic principle, extermination of degenerates."
True, that was more than 50 years ago. But does that kind of oppression and fear still exist today? Consider this: A group that called itself "Concerned Persons Against Fagotty" circulated anti-gay propaganda in the group encouraged other students to join in "creative" measures to rid the campus of the "lesbian and gay menace." They took responsibility for altering posts and other advertisements for events sponsored by the campus gay and lesbian organization. There was increased anti-gay violence and tension, and there were incidents where shirts similar to the Ghostbuster logo popular at the time. The unfortunate incidents and the school received unfavorable attention in Rolling Stone
magazine. Sound familiar? It should. The year was 1983 and the school was the University of Kansas.
Studies have shown that 10 percent of the population is gay or lesbian. Everyone knows someone who is gay, regardless of whether you are willing to admit it. We are your neighbors, your roommates, your sorority sisters, your fraternity brothers, your classmates, your friends and your family members. We come in every size, color, race, social class and profession. We want the same things from life that you do: love, happiness and acceptance.
If you are one of the many who didn't wear jeans today specifically because it's Wear Blue Jeans If You're Gay Day, I feel sorry for you. Your homophobia and ignorance may cause you great distress someday when you find out that someone close to you is gay or lesbian. If you accidentally wear jeans today, at least you can wear them without the depression and fear gay and lesbian people deal with every day. If you purposefully wear jeans today, whether you are gay or straight, thank you. If all of this makes you feel uncomfortable, stop and think about it. Consider attending a GALA Week function. Learn not only to tolerate differences, but accept them. Pulitzer Prize winning author Amanda Larsh and bitter root in one's life, bearing poisonous and gloomy fruit, destroying other life. Endurance is only the beginning. There must be acceptance. It can be transmuted into wisdom."
Shannon l. Tauscher is a Great Bend sophomore majoring in social welfare.
K·A·N·S·A·N
MAILBOX
For the last few weeks we've seen consider-
able press on the Student Senate's handling of
students' fees and their allocation to social and
educational needs, we see considerable prob-
lms with this system.
Pav it yourself
Nobody seems to like the amount they get. Many groups can't get financing. And many group
Plus half the students don't join groups. Why should they still have to pay for them?
obey no group should get Senate financing. Each group should be responsible for its own finances. Therefore, I propose an idea. Let the students themselves decide on their own student fees allocation. This could be done by either filling out a form during fee payment, or even better, have the University stop charging those extra fees (above services such as the Kansas and Wakimus Memorial Health Center) and let the student pay whatever they like.
Would groups lose money? Consider this:
Say you form a club of 100 members. Each member could donate $30 (less than half of your current ones). That's $3,000. More than
you would have gotten anyway. The best groups wouldn't lose money. Most would gain. But groups without committed members would lose. Sure, groups would have to compete. But competition forces teams to work harder and if a group fails, they could only blame them.
I don't like my taxes going for nuclear weapons, and I don't like my fees going for things like condoms ($1,500) and Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week ($700). We all have the adult right to our own opinion and to spend our money however we like. The first coalition or candidate that uses this idea would get my vote.
A rebuttal
Brad Hansen Olathe senior
Really, Michael McVey, rationality is a university student's primary attribute, and at your advanced level of education I would have hoped for a better display. A multitude of comments come to mind: "I want to move up the space, however is limited, so I will restrict my remarks."
Here is what you specifically requested. Male victims of rape, harassment or abuse can find assistance at the following open-minded organizations: Victim Assistance Network, KU Affirmative Action, Human Sexuality Network and University Counseling Center (you could also check here about mental health needs and misogynistic tendencies.)
it ought to be of comfort to you that none of these titles contain the threatening word "women." I would also suggest you search for a realistic perspective in your comparison of KU and Auschwitz. If you, and those who agree with you, could experience abuse and harassment, maybe your outlook would be more sensitive and enlightened.
Cynthia Bachofer Salina graduate student
Homophobes unite
It's that time of year again, folks. Time for all of us to come to terms with our sexuality or homosexuality). That's right, it's GALA week again. Let me state for the record that I don't discriminate on the basis of sexual preference. I'm wearing my 'Celebrate University' button as I write this quote about being used in the Wear Blue Jeans. If You're Gay Day today. This seems such a gross form of entrapment. It also seems ineffective, as a major effect of effort is to bring about rude jokes and jeers to those who inadvertently wear a staple of their wardrobe on the wrong day. Therefore, in response to this stunt and to guarantee equal time to both sides of the issue, I ask that you stop wearing blue jeans. Wear Blue Jeans if You are a Homophobe Day. I wholesheartedly apologize if I forget to wear shorts that day. Unless it's cold outside
Michael W. Gier Parsons sophomore
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed