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Friday, March 10, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Bush knows he should avoid strike situation or change law
The AFL-CIO would like President Bush to step into the dispute between Eastern Airline and its machinist union. But Bush, maintaining that management and unions should settle differences between themselves, has rightly stayed out of the dispute.
However, the threat of secondary strikes, which are illegal for most workers, might force Bush to intervene.
The transportation industry is governed by the Railway Labor Act of 1926, which still allows one company's striking workers to spread their dispute to other airlines and to commuter railway lines.
Eastern's 8,500 machinists no doubt knew the consequences of walking off the job. They have risked their jobs and the fate of the company to go on strike. The union, backed by the AFLCIO, now should not rely on the federal government to bail them out.
If Bush feels compelled to act, he should present Congress with a bill prohibiting all secondary strikes. The public should not be forced to become a pawn in labor negotiations.
Calvin Coolidge, as governor of Massachusetts in 1919, called out the National Guard during the Boston police strike, declaring, "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime."
Negotiations have been complicated by the National Mediation Board, which has the right to mediate the dispute, according to the Federal Railway Act. The Board has forced Eastern to keep flying, despite the company's huge losses. The union has no incentive to settle as long as the airline is being forced to continue its operations.
forced to continue its operation. Changes in the outmoded laws governing transportation are certainly in order. But as far as the machinists' strike is concerned, the government should not step in.
Unless secondary strikes threaten the public, Bush is right in staying out of the dispute.
Spring Break: Forget school, but remember to play it safe
Jeff Euston for the editorial board
Spring Break has finally arrived. For you, it may be time to let loose and spend money, time to make money or simply time to veg' out.
It is the time of year when college students make great memories and stupid mistakes. We get to take a break from books and tests, and we finally get to sleep late. But we don't have to stop being smart. Let's not drink and drive; let's not take any flying leaps off balconies. And if we have sex, let's use a condom.
The editorial board
Take time to relax. Take your mind off school commitments.
Make some great memories. And come back safely.
The editors in this column are the opinion of the editorial board. The editorial board consists of Julie Adan, Karen Boring, Jeff Euston, James Fuarquar, Cindy Harger, Jennifer Hinkle, Grace Hobson, Jill Jess, Mark McCormick and Mark Tifford.
Other Voices
Reilly a smart choice to head EPA
With the appointment of William K. Reilly to head the much-behagued Environmental Protection Agency, George Bush has broadcast a strong signal to the world that his administration won't predict, the environment.
neglect the environmental impacts of Bush deserves plaudits for the move. Reilly, who was president of the Conservation Foundation and Wildlife Fund, is the first professional conservationist to head the EPA. After enduring eight years of Ronald Reagan's exceedingly negligent environmental policies, this is an indication of a much-needed changing attitude toward the environment.
While answering questions at a hearing of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee. Reilly announced that the first item on his refreshing agenda would be to strengthen the Clean Air Act. He also revealed that a major component of that legislation would aim to curb rain pollution.
So far, Reilly has pressed all of the right buttons. Now we challenge Reilly and Bush to back up their statements with action.
Indiana Daily Student
News staff
Julie Adam...Editor
Karen Boring...Managing editor
Jill Jess...News editor
Deb Gruver...Planning editor
James Farquhar...Editorial editor
Elaine Sung...Campus editor
Tom Stinson...Sports editor
Jannine Swiatkowski...Photo editor
Dave Eames...Graphics editor
Noel Gerdes...Arts/Features editor
Tom Eblen...General manager, news adva
Business staff
Debra Cole ... Business manager
Pamela Noe ... Retail sales manager
Kevin Martin ... Campus sales manager
Scott Frager ... National sales manager
Michelle Garland ... Promotion manager
Brad Lenhart ... Sales development manager
Linda Prokop ... Production manager
Debrina Martin ... Asst. production manager
Kim Coleman ... Co-op sales manager
Carl Cressler ... Classified manager
Jeanne Hines ... Sales and marketing adviser
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Meal was not offensive
In response to the March 6 letter "Stereotypical menu," I would like to ask its author, "Where you ever raised in a black family?"
Obviously not, because if you were, you would realize that the items served on the Lewis Hall menu in celebration of Black History Month are in fact what black American families did eat, are eating and will continue to吃.
Furthermore, this celebration dinner was given in response to my complaint about not having a black history meal. This also was an educational dinner giving insight to those ignorant of some of the things that constitute a black middle-class family's diet. I was consulted about what appeared on the menu and found nothing offensive about its contents.
It matters not what you eat but that you eat. I do, however, totally agree with you that this University is an institution of higher learning and that fictional stereotypes have no place here. Nevertheless, it also is a place to learn what is fact and what is fiction.
Valerie Carnes
St. Louis freshman
Editorial abstinence
Many enlightening things could be said about the request to purchase condoms, but Julie Adam's March 6 editorial did not say them.
The student AIDS task-force studied the question since this falls before it requested the financing. The proposal did not originate in the maligned Student Senate Finance Committee.
matter.
They propose to make equal numbers of information packets available. Half will contain condoms, half will not, in order to inform, not offend. Editorial writers might consider that.
Not all students, or other members of the University community, know how to protect themselves from AIDS. Except in regard to recent editorsials, it is wrong to equate ignorance with stupidity. The editor appears to believe that because intelligent college students should know better, they should be immune to death from AIDS. This "logic" provides a conclusion that college students are also immune to unwanted pregnancy and substance abuse.
hazy and uncritical.
AIDS is one of today's most serious health threats, and effective means of informing the public are legitimate expenditures. The question of gimmickry is irrelevant. Consider the value of a single life. Is yours worth $3,400?
In my journalism class, we discussed an obligation to know something about a topic before we started writing. Perhaps this does not apply to editorials, but it should.
The Surgeon General said that next to abstinence a condom was the best protection against AIDS. If editorial misinformation about condoms promotes AIDS, editorial abstinence is KU's best protection.
Bill Haldeman
ing to an officer, this was two minutes after the KU police received the call. This in itself is excusable to me, but I also wonder how a leak can go undetected for more than a day
Security taken lightly
First-year law student
generators.
Thanks to an astute security staff, this spill was detected about 12:40 a.m. The staff called the KU police and the Lawrence Fire Department. Only after the KU police sergeant on duty arrived was the dorm evacuated. Accord-
On March 7, at 12:45 a.m., the residents of Templin Hall were awakened and evacuated by the security and resident assistant staff because of a diesel fuel leak. The fuel, used to run the generators for the hall, had been leaking for one and a half days. In order to residence hall director Dan Darland, there was fuel oil on the basement floor near the generators.
At 1:15 a.m., Darland told us it could take all night. We were told it was safe for us to reenter the building at 1:30. Whether it actually was safe or not, I don't know.
Putting someone in charge of 250 lives is a serious responsibility that I believe the security staff and management of Templin Hall has taken lightly. Members of the security staff, who are supposed to walk the halls at least once an hour after 11 p.m., rarely this more than twice a night somewhere wake up in the incimate's coffee. I pray nothing like this happens again, because I have no confidence that the staff here could get lucky again
Todd Kirkham
Larned junior
Gun control
When will the Kansan be responsible and get its facts straight? In her March 1 editorial about gun control, Grace Hobson not only used recent events to exploit the Kansan's anti-gun views but did not check her facts for her editorial.
Washington, D.C., has the most stringent gun control laws in the nation. The law-abiding citizen is not permitted to own or even have a gun within the city of Washington. So how are all these murders taking place? The criminal has no respect for the law, so they violate the
Last year, Washington, D.C., led the nation in gun-related homicides — higher than New York and Detroit. Those cities also have high gun-related homicides and gun-control laws that are supposed to stop the killing. Any police officer will tell you that a well-armed and well-educated public is the best crime fighter.
Why is George Bush against gun control? Because he knows that any gun control law aids the criminal. Why is the Kansan for gun control? It would seem so, then, that he will report about and so that there will be other editorials that are extrimental to society.
Sandy Wells Lawrence resident
Preparing students
I am an independent career counselor in Overland Park. During the past two years, I have seen countless KU undergraduate and graduates with a singular quest: help in determining what to do with a seemingly useless piece of paper called a degree. After spending thousands of dollars and hours in classrooms, this is a pitiful state.
Students evidently are not counseled, do not know how to apply the degrees they receive, do not know how to interview, how to write a resume or where to go to get help. Few understand that there is a Counseling Center on campus. Few still appear are aware of on-campus recruitment by corporations, or feel it is for the top 10 percent only.
I see students, who, if counseled as undergraduates, would know that leadership skills are sought by corporations when recruiting. Has anyone bothered to explain the importance of participation on campus as it would later relate to a career?
I help students write resumes for internships that zero in on the positive aspects of their education to date. I help students prepare resumes for first job searches. I teach students how to find out what companies are good for them, companies that could provide a future; and I teach interview skills. Doesn't anyone on campus take the time to do this?
campus take the time. Although I do provide a service, it bothers me greatly that there is such a desperate need and that very clearly this is not offered on campus. If it is, too many people know anything about it!
Knowledge of my service is spreading by word of mouth and I happily accept new clients regularly. But where is the University when it comes to putting its graduates into the
community prepared properly for career choices and search?
Marie Weingarten
Overland Park resident
Addressing drugs
Christopher Wilson's article on the war against drugs (March 1) revealed not only his ignorance on the subject but a total lack of understanding of the world he lives in.
First of all, it is silly to say that there is drug addiction in this country because cocaine is brought into the United States from Bolivia and Colombia. I know about a poisonous fruit that grows on marijuana. It never demands any way here simply because it is not demanded by anyone in this country.
To suggest that producer countries are "the source" of the problem is equivalent to saying that a virus is the result of the very illness it causes.
second, where did he get the idea that countries such as Bolivia and Colombia are doing "nothing to stop drug production?" if I were to enumerate the different factors that might be used to fight drug trafficking, this would turn into a very long list of courageous undertakings.
Wilson's simplicistic mind turns outrageously irrational when he proposes that the United States "must roll up (its) sleeves and unilaterally step in."
Has he ever heard the word "sovereignty"
If he has, he obviously did not grasp its
heart.
Miguel-Antonio Roca Chuquiaqo-Marca, Bolivia, senior
Coat-hanger medicine
I have always been uneasy with George Bush's adamant belief in anti-abortion, and although I am aware of his strong conservatism, I could not believe it could get a law passed making abortion illegal.
Editorialists such as Mark Tilford's on March 2 leave me angry and concerned at the possibility. I find questionable the apparent ease with which Bush and Tilford take such a stance on this issue, especially because the role of a pregnant woman is one neither man is likely to play. The their joint judge are likely claim on are not only the development but also those of the unhappily pregnant, most commonly young and single women.
In the 1950s, when abortion was illegal, there were still places a girl could go to terminate a pregnancy. For an exorbitant fee, she could find a back-ary "doctor" who guides a quick but effective operation leaving her physically torn, frequently sterile and sometimes dead.
I believe that when a woman makes the decision to abort, it is her responsibility and hers alone, both morally and physically. Distic Judge Malone obviously disagrees with me in his decision in favor of a couple suing the doctor who performed their abortion of choice. With that judgment, a new black cloud of fear descends on the medical profession. How many doctors will want to continue giving these operations if this lawsuit becomes a trend? A victory for pro-lifers, albeit an underhanded one.
understand if I do not believe abortion to be an acceptable form of birth control. I do think more emphasis should be placed on the use of birth control before the fact rather than taking away a valid option afterward. It is idealistic to hope that kids will wait until marriage to begin sexual relationships; the reality is that most do not. To think that putting an end to legal abortions will somehow also end the problem of teenage pregnancy is a sadly naive view.
I don't know the answer to the moral question, but perhaps we should all be allowed to rely on our own beliefs for guidance. I am not a scientist who can determine the precise instant when an embryo becomes an independent life-form in need of social coverage. Nor is it that we who can state with God's viewpoint on the matter. But I do have an opinion, and I believe that in this age of technology, no one should be forced to resort to coat-hanger medicine.
Kirsten R. Fasching Pasadena, Calif., senior
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed