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Friday, March 31, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Senate should not penalize schools for unpaid loans
The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill this month that would penalize colleges and trade schools with high student loan default rates.
The bill is attempting to address the increasing problem of unpaid student loans, which are expected to cost the government about $2 billion in 1990. However, the Senate is placing the responsibility for defaults into the hands of those who have no power to enforce repayment.
KU's default rate is 13.5 percent.
The bill would require colleges and schools with high default rates to develop programs aimed at decreasing the rate. A school's default rate would be too high if more than 25 percent of former students didn't pay back their loans.
The bill's proponents suggest that those schools extend student counseling programs so the student understands that the money must be payed back and that deferments are available if the student is out of work.
That part of the bill is sound. But if after three years the school's default rate remained too high, the loan guarantee agency could cut federal funding to the students, although it might be lenient with students of low economic status. The bill would be unfair to the schools because such institutions have no real leverage to force former students to pay their loans.
Schools don't have the resources and the bill doesn't give them the resources to hunt down and prosecute former students who aren't paying. That is the job of government law enforcement agencies.
The purpose of the Senate bill is valid. Studies show that 2,354 institutions have default rates higher than 20 percent. However, denying federal funds to institutions for former students' defaults would only hurt the present and future students who need government aid.
Cindy Harger for the editorial board
Americans laugh at North but forget 8 U.S. hostages
Americans like to make fun of Oliver North's claims of dedication to country, love of God and blue-blooded patriotism
But as a decorated lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps, North also spent several years on the battlefield, where he learned that loyalty could mean the difference between life and death.
Maybe instead of poking fun at North's ideals, Americans should take a lesson in recalcitation against the hostility in booths as their hosts were admired.
Right now, eight Americans are being held hostage by Israeli terrorists in Lebanon, and report Anderson was possibly involved in captivity.
But ask any citizen on the street to name just two of the eight captives, and probably 90 percent could not provide the answer. That's because the hostages' worst nightmare has come true. Their countrymen have forgotten them.
Who would have dreamed that the people of a nation that kept the 52 Iranian hostages at the front of their minds for 444 days would think of the Lebanese hostages only once in a great while?
And who would have thought that there would be no public pressure on the presidential administration and on Lebanese leaders to set the hostages free?
All diplomacy failed when an arms-exchange deal collapsed under the criminal allegations brought forth in the Iran-contra affair. And laws should not be broken again to free hostages.
But if this nation's strength is not built on honor and willingness to spend at least part of their time trying to secure their fellow countrymen's liberty, terrorists and hostile nations the world have found a weak point of ours that they can exploit.
Maybe as Americans we should hang our heads in shame because we are part of a nation that, as Terry Anderson said, "can free two whales, but cannot free eight human beings."
Mark Tilford for the editorial board
News staff
Julie Adam. **Editor**
Karen Boring. **Managing editor**
Jill Jess. **News editor**
Dab Gruver. **Planning editor**
James Fuarquh. **Editorial editor**
Elaine Sung. **Counselor editor**
Tom Simpson. **Sports editor**
Jannine Swiatkowski. **Photo editor**
Dave Eames. **Graphics editor**
Noel Gardens. **Arts/Features editor**
Tom Ellen. **General manager, news adviser**
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MICHAUD ©1989
Legislators ignore voters' wishes
In my mind representative government does not center on one's own convictions, religious or moral, but rather on a motion of the people. However, when the
citizen representation. However, when the highly volatile issue of capital punishment comes to the forefront of the political process, some legislators have disregarded the concept of representative democracy and substituted their own beliefs
In surveying the recent history of capital punishment in Kansas, a startling political paradox is uncovered. Despite being part of the electorate, the elected representatives of the people consistently have voted it down.
In past years when death penalty legislation passed both the Senate and House, four times to be exact, the bill was vetoed by the governor. More precisely, Democratic Gov. John Carlin, who ran on a platform in support of the death penalty, killed the bill all four times.
The rhetoric and action earlier this session, both on and off the floor of the Senate, paled in comparison to past sessions. Nevertheless, the outcome was the same: no death penalty!
Almost every public opinion poll conducted in the past 10 years under the Carlin and Hayden administrations shows that about 70 percent of Kansans approve of a death penalty. For example, in a recent Kansas City Times poll, the public's approval of the measure peaked at more
Guest columnist
Lynn McVay
unan 70 percent. In another independent poll, conducted in the 3rd Senatorial District, which includes Leavenworth, approval rates surpassed 75 percent. With such formidable support for the death penalty, why have Kansas citizens been repeatedly ignored?
More significantly, the bill could lead to a death penalty. The Senate passed the current version of this bill in early March, and it will be sent to the House for further consideration before the end of the 1989 session in April. Because the House is the chamber most noted for its approval of death penalty measures, it is not unforeseeable that the House might amend SB 77 into a
Some representatives have not forgiven their solemn oath to uphold the constitution and are looking into alternative options. One such option is Senate Bill 72. This bill, if made law, would impose a 40-year mandatory prison sentence on those convicted of premeditated murder. The current law requires a person to serve only 15 years before being eligible for parole.
capital punishment bill and pass it to that House members are on record as supporting the death
In addition, a new twist in reinstating capital punishment was introduced in the Senate chamber. Senate Concurrent Res. 1616 was introduced by Sen. Roy Ehrlich, R-Hosington. This resolution recommends that a constitutional amendment allowing the people of Kansas to vote on the reinstating of capital punishment be placed on the next general election ballot.
It will be interesting to see how legislators respond to this new approach to an old issue. If they vote down a possible constitutional amendment, they would be accountable in their votes come election time.
In general, if one is not being represented properly, what does one do? The solution is very simple and applies not just to the death penalty but to all issues. The very basis of our government provides citizens with an alternative to irresponsible representation: the constitutionally guaranteed right to vote. Constituents are the ones whom representatives must please, and if legislators are not exercising prudent judgment on publicly endorsed policy issues, then disgruntled constituents can express their opposition in the voting booths.
*Lynn McVay is a Wichita senior majoring in political science.*
Food is not as healthy as it used to be
A after the waiter took our orders, the blonde stared across the table at me and coldly said, "Why did you do that?"
Do what?
That's right. I love veal shanks. That's why I ordered it.
Do what:
"You ordered the veal shank."
"But you know it isn't good for you. It is high in cholesterol."
I nodded and waved to the waiter. He came to the table, and I told him I wanted to change my
"What will you have?" he asked.
I said I wanted the pork shank instead of the veal shank.
When he left, she said, "Why did you do that? Do what?
"You know perfectly well what. The pork shank has even higher cholesterol than the veal shank."
Then you should have left well enough alone when I ordered the veal shank.
"That's not the point. You shouldn't be eating any of that stuff. Pork shank, veal shanks, red chicken."
I slammed my fist down on the table, causing the silverware and bread basket to bounce. I said, enough is enough. I am no longer paying any attention to what any experts say about anything I eat. From now on, when I want a pork shank, I eat a pork shank, and to hell with hell.
Ob. sure. Ask the doctors. I suspect that they will own only all chicken farms and fishing boats. That's what they do.
"You should eat fish or chicken. You know that, Ask your doctor. Ask any doctor."
Mike Royko
Syndicated columnist
There are chemicals in chicken that cause mice to become impotent or get cross-eyed or something like that.
But when I picked up a magazine, what did I read? There are chemicals in chicken that cause mice to become impotent or get cross-eyed or something like that.
And there are things in fish that, if you eat enough of it, will cause your nose to fall off.
Even the apple, that most humble and American of all fruits, is suspected of being dangerous
We have tested this, tested that, analyzed,
studied and made life miserable for millions of
Just the other morning, I was shaving while having my first cup of coffee (more than four cups a day increases the possibility of a heart attack), when I heard a terrible scream from the
My heart pounding, I ran downstairs, expecting to do battle with a burial.
The blonde was standing there staring at a
elastic bag of grapes.
I asked her why she had screamed.
I asked her why she had set forth.
She said, "These grapes are from Chile."
Have you eaten any of them?
"No I bought them yesterday." Then why are you screaming?
Then why are you screaming:
"Because I could eaten them."
I seized the bag, tore it open and shoved a handful of grapes in my mouth. Then another. I stuffed so many grapes in my face that juice was oozing down my chin.
"What are you doing?"
I told her what I was doing. Those grapes weren't going to kill me. What might kill me, though, was hearing loud shrieks of terror even before I had my first cup of coffee in the morning.
What will kill me is the stress of looking at every item on a menu and trying to remember if the latest scientific studies had shown it is dangerous to mice.
To the best of my knowledge, my father never ate one of tuna packed in water. (I suspect that doctors own all the tuna packing plants. too.)
No, the old man ate pork shanks, pork chops,
slice of beef smothered in gravy.
At age 80, he diked it out in a bar with two young punks who weren't a day over 65, and he
No tuna eater would have done better
No funa eater would have done that. When the waiter伯爵 came my meat kink. I requested him to eat me.
The blonde said, "You know what they say about too much salt."
I called the waiter over and told him to bring another pork shank.
Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist who writes for the Chicago Tribune.
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed
...THERE AIN'T NO 'EQUAL HUNKING55' RIGHT IN THE CONSTITUTION.
YES THERE IS I SURE OF IT.
.