4A
Wednesdav. June 21. 1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: KANSAS COACH SUES
Vitale should rule this court
Theoretically, Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington's lawsuit against basketball announcer Dick Vitale is a well-aimed shot at sports media. Legally, the lawsuit for defamation may be an air ball.
In a paragraph previewing the Jayhawks in Dick Vitale's Basketball, writer and co-defendant Joe Smith said the 1994-95 team was "loaded with talent with swingman Angela Aycock and guard Charisse Sampson heading the list. But coach Marian Washington usually finds a way to screw things up. This season will be no different."
Washington answered the slight by filing a $10 million defamation suit against Vitale in October 1994. And although no court date is set, these players will face off in a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Washington's anger is understandable, but winning this game may be difficult. To receive damages, she must prove that she is not entirely a public figure. Just by being Kansas' women's basketball coach, Washington has put herself into the public eye, accessible to both praise and criticism. The growing popularity of women's college basketball has widened this spotlight.
Washington's lawsuit against the announcer lacks legal strength, but her target is a well-chosen one.
WASHINGTON: Lawyers say suit is questionable. Page 8B.
Ultimately, Washington's reason for the suit is more important. She is defending her role in a sport that still doesn't get the respect it deserves. She is challenging the dismissal of her coaching ability.
But suing an opinionated broadcaster like Vitale in this case is nonsense.
JAMIE MUNN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
Even if Washington is able to do this, Smith and Vitale probably would be protected by explaining that the words were fair comment and criticism, recognized as opinion or editorializing.
She also must prove that Smith used actual malice, either knowing the information was false or using reckless disregard for whether the information was false.
THE ISSUE: AMERICAN HEROISM
Downed pilot is authentic hero
He finally made contact, and within five hours, the helicopters found him.
Bad weather kept U.N. planes from the heavily-armed Serbian area where O'Grady was shot down, leaving him to fend for himself.
It is honorable to die for one's country. But being a hero meant more last week when Air Force Capt. Scott O'Grady was rescued from death. Heroism meant trusting in himself, his comrades and perhaps a higher being to bring him through a crisis alive.
O'Grady survived six days in the hills of Bosnia as the target of a Serbian manhunt. Covered in mud, eating bugs and drinking rainwater, he sent numerous unanswered signals with his survival radio.
"God, he protected me," O'Grady said. This was one of the ideals that inspired him to fight for his life, and this should be recognized and respected.
He also praised the
American fighter pilot Scott O'Grady trusted in himself, others and a higher being to survive in Serb-held territory.
Marines who made the early-morning rescue mission. O'Grady said that these people were the real heroes who risked their lives to save his.
This selfless attitude toward O'Grady's ordeal and his faith in other's help are examples of American heroism more than any celebrity in music, the movies or sports.
It is unfortunate that it may have taken an American soldier in jeopardy, in a war-ravaged country and at the mercy of others before we re-evaluate our ideas of heroism.
O'Grady worked toward a heroic life rather than die an honorable death.
He put his trust in himself, his fellow Americans and faith. He came out a real national hero.
ULLIE HAEST FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
GERRY FEY
Editor
ASHLEY MILLER
Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH
Technology coordinator
GERRY FEY
Editor
Editorial ... Jamie Munn
Campus ... Jenni Carlson
... Virginia Marghelm
Photo ... Jay Thornton
Design ... David Johnson
Graphics ... Noah Musser
Copy Chief ... Melinda Dia
J.J. COOK
Business manager
MATT SHAW
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
PAT BOYLE
Accountant
Campus mgr ...Courtney Becks
Regional mgr ...Jody Groton
National mgr ...J.J. Cook
Special Sections mgr ..Stephanie Utley
Production mgr ..Anne Loeper
Marketing director ...Matt Shaw
Creative director ...Anne Laurenze
Classified mgr ..OHeather Valler
Matt Hood / KANSAN
Bad habits are lousy excuse to chop useful affirmative-action programs
It always had been my opinion that racism, interpersonal as well as institutional, had limited minorities' economic and political progress. Imagine my chagrin upon finding out I was wrong.
Speaker Newt Gingrich has figured out the real reason behind the disproportionate number of African Americans living in poverty. In an ingenious bit of insight, he said it was because of their bad habits.
I should have realized the answer was that simple. If only our country's various minority populations would work on improving themselves, their opportunities would be limitless.
I don't know what I was thinking when I looked at the nine Georgia school districts under federal investigation and saw racism. It was only bad habits that placed most Black kids in tracks for low achievers.
It certainly wasn't their test scores since they surpassed many white students whose scores placed them in high-achiever tracks. And it couldn't have been racism since, in last week's opinion on affirmative-action programs, Justice Antonin
STAFF COLUMNIST
lation being Black. It is bad habits.
So Blacks are twice as likely as whites to be unemployed? Bad habits. Blacks with a college degree are three times as likely to be unemployed? Bad habits. Twenty-five percent of Black men between the ages of 20 and 29 are incarcerated? Bad habits.
Are you buying any of this? I'm not
It would be wise if we could reduce the problem of racial inequality to the simple statement: "It's your fault. Fix it." But we can't do that.
We can't escape the fact that in the
past 20 years our society has spent more time trying to rectify the past and insure political and economic equality than it has spent trying to develop social equality and justice.
According to a 1991 report of the 21st Century Commission on African-American males,50 percent of African-American children grow up below the poverty line.
Their quality of education is dismal due to a reliance on property taxes for funding and racist policies within the educational system. What do they care if someone has guaranteed them a place in a university? Chances are very good they won't see anything but manual labor and more poverty anyway.
And what if these children do manage to survive the nihilism of their youth and make more than $8,000 a year? Will they find a society of love and acceptance, one that can't see the color of their skin?
No.
In fact, if tomorrow we were to abolish all forms of affirmative action, we would find that we had done nothing more than create a false sense of progress. We do see
more minorities in government and in higher education, but how many of them would be there without the past benefits of affirmative-action programs?
Of course, affirmative action should only be a temporary solution
But I see hope. Every time I see my niece bring home a friend with a different skin color than hers I think maybe one day we will see Justice Sciala's vision come true — one race in America.
— one that rectifies past inequities
— while we concentrate on fixing
the root of the problem. But as long
as we ignore the underlying causes
of racial inequality, we make affirmative action a permanent necessity.
Then I hear someone like Gingrich talk and wonder how many old men and old ideas must die before that vision becomes a reality.
We already have wasted too much time and lost too many lives to political rhetoric and temporary solutions. It is time to try something new.
Todd Hlatit is a Lyndon senior in social welfare.
Math enrollment can calculate one's future
The student needed just one more class to graduate: Math 106. For three semesters, he tried to get into the class.
He walked into the enrollment center, crossing his fingers. He faced the enrollment center workers who seemed to possess all the power in the world.
"Can I have your enrollment card please?" an assistant asked.
"Yeah," he said, trying to sound casual yet confident.
It was up to these workers to set thousands of KU students free for graduation. They had complete control — like holding a TV remote or a car steering wheel.
"It looks like you've got all your classes this summer except for one: Math 106," said the enrollment worker. "It is closed."
The student's face turned bright red then蓝 as he fell to the floor.
STAFF COLUMNIST
"I need it to graduate," he said sobbing. "I must have it to graduate. I just want to graduate."
Many KU students go through this stressful scenario every semester. It is always a struggle to get the courses they need.
Many general classes that are closed every semester make it difficult for students who try to plan for their graduation.
When students cannot get the courses they need, they end up spending more time and money at KU.
This affects their future schedule; prolongs their original graduation date; and in the end, puts major financial pressures on their families who pay for the extra time.
This also is stressful for students who support themselves. These students have the least money and no time to play Russian roulette with KU course work.
I too have had this problem.
When I enrolled this past spring for my final summer and fall schedules, I found that the only class that was closed was one of my summer requirements, Math 106.
When I explained to the computer operator that I must have Math 106 to graduate in December, she said there would be no problem.
She told me to go to my instructor the first day of the class and explain my situation.
She said, with my December graduation plan, I would have no problem getting a closed-class opener.
Not that easy. Thirty students were in my same situation: trying to get into this closed class.
The instructor did not grant me a closed-class opener card at first. I actually was sent to Johnson County Community College to enroll in an equivalent math course
in case I could not get into the one at KU.
Being a KU student and paying out-of-state tuition, JCCC should not be a part of my options list.
I pay to go to school here, not to travel an hour and a half every day to a school in another city. After many hours of questions, calls and emotional outbursts to the deans of the math department, I finally got into Math 106.
It is difficult to see where students fit into the scheme of class scheduling. It would be helpful to get a better idea of how many students need each class before enrollment instead of afterwards when students have few options.
This issue has been a great concern of mine since I started at the University. With some careful planning, the enrollment process will change from hopeless to hopeful.
Shelly Falvits is a Chicago senior in Journalism.
Emmie Hsu/ KANSAN
How to submit letters and guest columns
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the authors signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
Guest columns: Should be double-
spaced typed with fewer than 700
words. The writer must be willing to
be photographed for the column to
run.
All letter and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the absolute right edit, cut to length or outright reject all submissions. For any questions, call Jamie Munn, editorial page editor, at 864-4810.