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Wednesday, June 14, 1995
OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: HEMENWAY AND KU'S BUDGET CUTS
Budget cut would weaken KU
The cut of a doctor's blade can mean the difference between life and death. A budget cut can be similarly serious for any university.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway is learning this as he tries to trim KU's budget for the 1996-97 school year and beyond.
In April, KU learned that $3 million that already had been budgeted was not available. Now, the budget must be permanently reduced.
Hemenway outlines 15 principles for Lawrence-campus budget cuts in his letter, and they are good starting points.
However, in his first written address to the University. Hemenway said he wanted the campus to be stronger after the cuts. This is a good goal, but the campus wouldn't be better after budget cuts.
Improvements are too optimistic, especially after the drastic hiring freeze recently put in effect.
The 12th principle makes sense. It calls for a new
Students should remain the top priority in the University's fiscal future.
BUDGET: Hemenway addresses issue of cuts Page 1A.
task force to search for more efficient ways to run the University.
Budget cuts are similar to the doctor's scalpel. Few want to go under the knife, but sometimes a patient has no choice.
It could happen when student importance conflicts with fewer teachers. This would mean larger classes, and therefore, less individual, intellectual interaction.
Examining the administration's efficiency also is positive, and keeping the students as a top priority is important. But let's hope that Hemenway holds fast to the students, especially if two of his 15 principles should clash.
If Hemenway is careful and keeps the principles he has set, KU's budget wounds may heal with as little pain as possible.
GERRY FEY FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
THE ISSUE: FLAG BURNING
Freedom of speech a burning issue
The Supreme Court has ruled that burning the flag is protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and expression. And it should stay protected.
Hatch says the U.S. flag is a symbol of our society's ideas and of the history that has supported the growth and power of those ideas.
This is true and is precisely why flag burning should be protected.
But Sen. Orrin Hatch, RUtah and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is trying to change that by bringing the flag amendment to the Senate. This addition to our Constitution would make flag desecration a federal offense.
Speech is nothing more than the use of symbols to convey meaning. The flag does this inherently, as Hatch has said, and so does its burning.
The framers of our Constitution did not intend for the First Amendment to protect mainstream speech. It was meant to insure that those on the
Desecrating the U.S. flag should not be limited by another Constitutional amendment. Protection of expression is needed.
fringe of society could express their thoughts without fear of government retribution.
Libel, obscenity and words meant to incite violence are not protected.
However, desecrating the flag does not fit into those criteria. It may offend, but it also makes a point.
Certainly the flag stands for freedom and democracy, but to some it also represents an oppressive society that has subjugated women and minorities and has persecuted those who refused to conform to an accepted ideal. Flag burning illustrates these beliefs in a vivid way.
But some Republicans don't understand what the flag truly represents. If they actually believed in the freedom behind the flag, they would stop trying to limit the First Amendment by prohibiting flag burning.
KANSAN STAFF
GERRY FEY
Editor
ASHLEY MILLER
Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
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CATHERINE ELLSWORTH
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Editorial...Jamie Munn
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Campus mgr ...Courtney Bea
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Matt Hood / KANSAN
Classified mgr ...Heather Valler
Can you tell children how to get to Sesame Street? Not without funds
Cutting federal funding to the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program, forcing public television to support itself through commercialism and criticizing "elitist" programs are confusing prospects to me.
It all comes down to this -- attacking pubic television is like attacking my childhood, and eliminating funds means denying future children the joys I remember to this day.
The year I was born, 1970, is much more important for another birth. It was the year that Sesame Street began, bringing numbers, the alphabet and social skills to all American children.
Few Generation Xers can forget cozy up to the television with an after-school snack. There, Kernit the Frog sparked my interest in journalism with his news flashes about Little Red Riding Hood and the Boy Who Cried Wolf.
Counting to 12 was easy when you could sing along to the clip of a pinball machine bumping numbers along its psychedelic path.
Sesame Street even taught young children that women could fix their
STAFF COLUMNIST
own cars. I just wish that when my auto breaks down now, I could get out, open the hood and adjust the letter "r" until the car purred back to life.
Guy Smiley, the game show host, is still a better alternative for children than the flood of
trashy talk and game shows offered now.
I hope grouchy politicians who want to balance the federal budget, such as Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, will be foiled too when they try and cut these educational programs.
nantly Republican Congress should support a children's society filled with guns but not educational television.
Speaking of TV garbage, you always could count on Oscar the Grouch and his trashy style to try and ruin things for everyone. Fortunately, he always was foiled by kind-hearted men, women, children and other puppets.
It seems ironic that a predomi-
And public television is not limited to children's programming like Mister Rogers, The Electric Company and Viva Alegre. Mom and Dad were right next to me watching public television too.
We would gather around the preremote-control set lured by the trumpet theme of National Geographic. As the shrinking golden square hypnotized us, we then watched Jacques Coutesteau take us on a journey into the ocean's depths. Learning about the wonders of watery sea creatures and treasures was captivating to all ages.
It is my fear that my children, when I eventually plan to have them, will miss these stables of educational entertainment. How will I explain to them that Sesame Street was once sponsored by the letter "E" and the number "10," not Mighty Biker Death Machines.
They might miss Sesame Street's multicultural influence of learning basic words in Spanish and world music. They might miss the sand bin
of imagination in Fred Rogers' back yard. They may never develop a respect for underwater and safari nature.
Many in my generation would not be able to support the kind of programming we have enjoyed if Congress cuts public television funding. It's difficult to think about supporting public television at a time when most of us have student loans, car payments and Ramen noodles in the cupboard.
For those of us who can afford to pledge money for programming, go for it. But if like me you have a limited budget, let your congressional representatives know that public television is a valuable part of American history and culture.
Calmly and politely call Sen. Bob Dole at 1-202-224-6521 and Sen. Nancy Kassebau at 1-202-224-4774 or fax them your opinions at 1-202-224-8952 and 1-202-224-3514 respectively.
My hope is that public television funding doesn't disappear à la peanut butter sandwiches.
Jamie Munn is an Enlid, Okla., graduate student in journalism.
Ambler learns by easing down road of life
By nature, I am a pedestrian almost any circumstance, almost any distance.
In ferocious rainstorms, during pleasant spring days, despite boiling sun or gently falling雪, I put on my worn out sneakers and walk.
I've been walking since I was very young, yet most of my life has been spent finding ways around it. Tricycles then bicycles, buses then cars were all ways to save me from having to put one foot in front of the other.
Cars always have had a somewhat adversarial relationship with me. And after my second bike was stolen, I resorted to the last available vehicle: my feet.
This campus encourages walking, though. The bus system is omnipresent, but standing in the cold, waiting to be packed like a sardine, soon loses its appeal.
I still drive when necessary — for
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groceries or the occasional trip home for free laundry and food — but I've learned something from strolling through life. The world is too big to worry about individuals. This is a society that works in terms of billions, with numbers overriding names
and evidence outweighing dreams
A constant flood of advertisements, information, money and opinions overwhelm each and every one of us, especially a certain person with old shoes walking down the sidewalk.
And yet there is an intimacy when walking — a harmony of ground to
foot to leg to body that creates a song of being. Questions and worries are always distant.
All that has substance is the stride and the surface. Daydreams are background; details the surroundings.
In a car you might never notice the kitten playing under a porch or the flowers blooming.
I create time for myself when I walk. If I'm late there is no way of going 55 mph down Massachusetts Street, I learn patience and relaxation. I think in terms of footsteps when considering travel time: five minutes to class, 10 minutes to go downtown, a half hour to my friends' homes.
And I take this time to consider where I am and what I'm doing, what I'll say and what I'll do.
Cars move past me. It's odd how some people can't deal with the sight of someone just ambling. I've
But I'm in no hurry. I'm enjoying myself, and these people always disappear quickly while I keep walking.
been honked at, yelled at and
bumped by a car.
Sometimes I wish I wasn't one of the only ones out there. There are others, such as the infamous "Chalk Prophet," whom I sometimes pass — me on my journey, he on his. Or the exercisers, who are there simply to feel better about their bodies and themselves.
Perhaps this is nothing more than rambling to you, 500 words about something pointless.
Then again, I am there to exercise my being, and who is to say which is more of a waste of time?
B beored if you wish. I'm still walking along.
isaac Bell is a Lawrence student in Engl. lish.
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 to edit, cut to length or outright reject all submissions. For any questions, call Jamie Munn, editorial page editor, at 864-4810.