Thursday, March 30, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Now that the University no longer offers free cab service to students, designated drivers are essential.
Lawrence bars should join designated-driver program
The message not to drink and drive is everywhere. But places where driving drunk is most likely to occur are ignoring possible solutions.
In Lawrence, there are virtually no bars that offer special discounts on non-alcoholic drinks to designated drivers. In fact, several bars charge as much for a Coke as they do for a draw of beer.
The KU chapter of Boost Alcohol Consciousness Concerning Health of University Students, or BACCHUS, has proposed a designated-driver program, which would provide drivers with a special cup, entitling them to free non-alcoholic drinks.
The Lawrence nightclub Pizazz has taken a positive step by providing the BACCHUS cups to its patrons. It is the only one to have done so thus far.
to have some so that you Volunteering to be the designated driver is a noble and responsible action, one that doesn't always guarantee having a good time that evening. Having to pay full price for non-alcoholic drinks is no incentive or reward for those who choose to stay sober.
It is in the best interests of the bars to make sure their patrons get home safely.
University Council recently approved an amendment that would change nothing.
If we're serious about wanting designated drivers, giving them free soft drinks is a small price to pay for safety. No one has to drink to have a good time, but rewarding someone who chooses to stay sober for another's benefit should be as important as keeping drunks off the road.
Jennifer Hinkle for the editorial board
Council's syllabus proposal too weak to help students
The council voted to require faculty to inform students about course requirements and grade evaluation. But the amendment merely suggests that the guidelines be "preferably in writing," thereby nullifying any difference the change could have made. A formal syllabus will not be required, just as it wasn't in the past.
In passing the requirement, the council avoided taking meaningful action. Most professors verbally inform students what the requirements of a class are. The problem lies in getting professors to provide a concrete outline for the course Teachers who do not give students written guidelines are not about to start because of the council's weak suggestion.
A syllabus would protect the professor as well as the student. Both student and teacher would be clear about the course expectations. The guidelines are written insurance against any discrepancies in course requirements and grading.
But the syllabus need not be strictly followed; it is merely a tangible guideline for students. Informing students of requirements in writing does not restrict the teacher any more than saving them in class.
Sherr also argued that professors' academic freedom would be repressed by requiring a syllabus. If so, academic freedom has gone too far. Students have the right to know a teacher's plan for the semester. When students' rights suffer, professors need to rethink the purpose of academic freedom.
Larry Sheir, member of the Academic Procedures and Policies Committee and Chancellors Club teaching professor of business, said in support of the amendment that professors should not be roved into a contract.
Such non-action by the council is a discouraging example of University governance. The amendment will not help the problem; such lip service is not effective.
Grace Hobson for the editorial board
The editorials in this column are the opinion of the editorial board. The editorial board consists of Julie Adam, Karen Boring, Jeff Euston, James Fuargha, Cindy Harger, Jennifer Hinkle, Grace Hobson, Jill Jess, Mark McCormick and Mark Tillford.
News staff
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How to fashion an expert defense When money is no object, call the experts in persuasion
T the scenario: You're home, lounging in that oversized rocker-recliner, a cold one in hand, when suddenly the sound of strings fills the air. You turn to the living
That oversized rocker-recliner, a cold one in hand, when suddenly the sound of sirens fills the air. You turn to the living room window just in time to see police cars by the dozen screeching to a halt in and around your driveway. Car doors slam practically in unison as uniformed officers brandishing firearms leap from their vehicles and storm your house, kicking open the front door and pointing their Smith and Wessons at you from every direction before you even have a chance to put down your frosty mug.
Handcuffs are rudely slapped on your wrists or your Miranda rights are bellowed at auction-speed. Only after you're shoved into the back of a squar car are you told what's on going. A felon matching your general description has committed armed robbery — holding up the handcuff in the city and bagging hundreds of thousands in dollars in cash and safety deposit box valuations.
The driver's license you misplaced and thought lost forever several days ago was discovered just outside the bank entrance moments after the holdup took place. The getaway vehicle noticed at a glance by a handful of witnesses bears a striking resemblance to the vintage jalopy you were driving in the day before. I thought to be the only one of its kind within a 500-mile radius. You have no alibi for the afternoon and early evening — the spouse and kids are out of town visiting relatives. Feeling a
Bill
Kempin
Staff columnist
All the circumstantial evidence screams at the top of its lungs that you are guilty, even though you aren't.
tad query, you took off early from work that
you were supposed to attend. You yourself at your
own home, a fast one no one can corroborate
Fingerprints and mug shots out of the way, a cold and damp retaining cell waiting for your arrival, the police inform you that you have the right to one phone call — the most important phone call of your life. Your brother-in-law, the night school attorney who butted up your organ-bank will, won't do it this time. All the circumstantial evidence screams at the top of its lungs that you are guilty, even though you aren't. The mind races as you asses yourself and is available to come to your defense. Money is no object, not when you're trying to avoid a life sentence in the penitentiary. Whom do you contact? F Lee Bailey? Melvin Bell! Ramond Burr?
I was unkinking of predicament last night as I watched the Academy Awards on television. Whenever I view the Academy Awards, the Grammys, the Tonys or the People's Choice Awards, it only reinforces in my mind what I would do if I had to pick the one person whom I would want most to defend me in a court of law. As much as I respect Bailey, Belli and Burr, it would not be one of them. Nor would it be Judge Wapner from "The People's Court" or judge Keane, who presides over the case. No. I would not on one and only phone call to call the person responsible for designing most of the fashions that most women end up wearing to those awards show.
Here's my reasoning: Those actresses are, let's admit, some of the most beautiful women on the face of planet Earth. And they got that way not only because of genetics, providence and good old-fashioned luck, but because they are extremely conscious at all times of looking their finest and putting forth the best image possible. So, if a fashion designer can convince you incredibly attractive to wear the most admirable attire and grotesque outfits ever created in front of a live audience of thousands and a television audience of millions, surely this fashion designer can convince a jury of 12 of my peers that I am innocent of any and all heinous crimes charged against me.
**Bill Kempin is a Lawrence graduate student majoring in journalism.**
Commendable efforts
Just before Spring Break, the "Art of Zen" exhibit at Spencer Museum of Art came down. While it was extremely well attended and dutifully reported in the Kansas and the Lawrence Journal Journal, it is certain that Lawrence's Lawrencities fully understand the scope of the exhibit.
This was a truly magnificent effort on the part of the Spencer staff. Many of the paintings had never left Japan; some had never out of the collector's or the temple's possession. The task of cajoting them out of the hands of suspicious and protective owners, both public and private, was enormous in itself. But when you add these magnificent paintings and the 26 separate events that accompanied the exhibit — a Zen preacher, a martial artist and a shakhashi from Japanese Japon, tea ceremony specialists, calligraphers, poet Gary Snyder, specialists on Japanese gardens, texiles and philosophy — you get a five-week program that was superior to anything ever before attempted by a university art museum.
Omiam of the Art History Department and Spencer Museum staff deserve a tremendous note of thanks from the Lawrence community for putting together a memorable exhibit of historic importance. Does Topeka need any better example of the incalculable benefits that the University of Kansas provides to our state?
G. Cameron Hurst III Director, Center for East Asian Studies
Steve Addiss, Pat Fister and Anne El-
Deceptive proposal
In the United States, 24 million human lives have been taken in the holocaust of abortion since 1973. Sadly (God help us), Kansas has led the way in this slaughter, being the first state to legalize abortion on demand. Now another anti-life bill, SB91, the so-called "Parental Consent Bill," has passed our Kan.-Tenn. governor and the House of Representatives. This confusing bill purports to be pro-life, but in truth is not prolife. A few of SB91's drastic errors:
1) It mandates that a minor could not obtain an abortion without her parents' consent. First major flaw: One has the right to give consent to the murder of an unborn human
2) But, if the minor declines to obtain her parents' consent, she can go through court and get the abortion without it! Parents of even a 13-year-old child do not have to be mother of the infant. It is wise for parents anyway, hindering them from saving the life of their unborn grandchild (which, under present
law, they can do through a court of pregnant mother to bill makes abortion consent of pregnant母亲 mandatory in the schools — "to inform the minor of her rights." That plays into the hands of pro-abortionists. The school is taking authority in moral matters and can influence a girl against her family's principles in something that must be concealment of the child, her family and her pastor.
Pro-life citizens who know that abortion is murder should write or call their state representative at the State Capitol Building in Topeka. Tell him or her that SB91 is not pro-life and encourage him to mandate school interference in private family matters. Urge him to vote against SB91.
Mary E. Gentges St. Marys resident
Calls for violence
Isn't it funny how the Kansan supports censorship of Cat Stevens' music because he supports censorship of Salman Rushdie's book? And how, by censoring Stevens' musical pleas for peace, we are left only with his calls for violence.
Steve Dinneen Lawrence resident
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed