4A
Tuesday, April 25, 1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: TUITION INCREASES
KU deserves all tuition funds
Since getting money for higher education from the Legislature has become the economic equivalent of squeezing blood from a turnip, the Board of Regents has turned again to a more stable source for funding — the students.
The Regents have proposed tuition increases yet again. If approved, students at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University would face an 8 percent tuition hike for the 1996-97 school year. Students at the other Regents institutions would see a 5 percent tuition increase. Regents say the increases would help cover inflation and rising costs. In addition, the Regents have endorsed a conversion to a per-credit hour tuition-pricing system. The problem with this plan is that the Legislature has not guaranteed that KU will see all of its tuition money.
Only students' fees go directly to their respective institutions. Tuition from all Regents institutions is sent to Topeka and is allocated by the Legislature. If KU does not receive all the money it puts in, it is, as a result, subsidizing the other Regents schools.
It is likely that KU will not see a full return on the tuition given to the state. While students may have to pay more, they may not see more benefits for the University.
Students face rising costs in all areas of education and often are seeing very little for what they have paid for. If tuition is going to be continually increased, then there must be a guarantee to students that they will be receiving more for their money at their University.
The Legislature must publicly proclaim it will ensure that an 8 percent increase in KU students' tuitions will mean that KU will receive that 8 percent back when the Legislature allocates funds.
If KU students will face a larger tuition increase, they must be assured that their money will return to the university.
SPENCER DUNCAN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
THE ISSUE: THE CALL OF MONEY
Sports draft needs revision
Those who seek the limelight of amateur or professional athletics understand that those careers are usually brief, whether they play on intramural fields or in Hoglund-Maupin Stadium. Some also realize that a college education should be an integral part of anyone's life preparation. Kansan staff writer Tom Erickson last week discussed how the Major League Baseball amateur draft should be reformed because it hurts those players who choose to postpon their careers to go to college.
The baseball draft is structured to fill the vast number of spots in the minor leagues, which are the main proving ground for the majors. Baseball players can be drafted at several times before, during or after college. This practice has the effect although unintended, of hurting college baseball programs.
After high school, some players are lured away from college by enticing offers of lucrative salaries and the opportunity to live out their dream. Who
Draft lures baseball players away from school, causing some to postpone college for the chance to go pro.
could blame them? Many high school graduates realize that college will always be there; baseball won't.
Of course, a college education should not be required, but the draft should be restructured to penalize neither the student-athletes nor the schools they attend. Major League Baseball should do all it can to ensure that athletes will have a future after their careers. Professional football and basketball teams draft players straight from college, and because of skill or motivation, some players still choose to cut short their college careers in favor of a professional contract.
If something unexpected prevented these athletes from making a team, the real world is no place for an 18-year-old who chose playing in the majors instead of earning a college education.
Robert Tapley / KANSAN
The larger and more grand a title is, the more impressed people seem to be with it. American society somehow indicates power with the number of words that precede a title. This would explain the positions of executive vice chancellor and speaker of the House.
Shankel's efforts affirmed by dropping word 'interim'
But avery deserving person got his title shortened Thursday, and it did nothing to diminish the respect he has earned on this campus.
JOHN COLLAR FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Del Shankel has been interim chancellor since Gene Budig left last summer. This summer he will step down again, and the 16th chancellor of the University of Kansas, Robert Hemenway, will step into the role. Once Hemenway is in, Shankel, a microbiology professor, will disappear into his lab as quietly as he appeared to play with his microscopes and chemicals.
"Bout time, I say. "Interim." What a horrible word to have in a title.
Makes a person sound as if he or she is only a pretender to the throne, not a truly qualified head of state.
But the Board of Regents decided Thursday to ensure that Shankel becomes just a bit more than a footnote in future alumni magazines. In a unanimous vote, they declared Shankel chancellor No. 15, thus dropping the word "interim" from his title.
Shankel has proved, through his
STAFF COLUMNIST
service to the University, that he is no pretender. In fact, he has one quality that almost always indicates a great leader the ability to rise to the occasion. When the University needed an interim chancellor this year and in the early 1980s, Shankel stepped
up. When the University needed an interim executive vice chancellor in the early 1990s, Shankel once again stepped up. But when his time was over, he disappeared again into his lab to study and teach. Administrating was OK, his message seemed to be, but his true place was teaching in front of a classroom full of students.
But in one short year, I've met and spoken with Shankel several times. I sat near him once at a luncheon with the Haskell Indian Nations University Board of Regents. Sitting next to me was the student body president of Haskell, Walter Ahhaity, who asked me whether he could ask Shankel about getting KU men's basketball tickets for Haskell students. I told him it couldn't hurt. So he approached Shankel, who in fact was already aware of the Haskell interest and promised Walter he would see what he could do.
Gene Budig, in his 13-year tenure at the University, did some wonderful things for KU and the community. But to me, he never was a true leader. In three years I only saw the man twice, both times as he walked down the Hill at the tail end of the graduation procession. "Gene, you did it!" my friends and I would yell. "You finally graduated!" He didn't look too happy with us.
Shankel also "saw what he could" for several student groups at KU. Both the Black Student Union and LesBiGay Services of Kansas should thank him for getting the ball rolling on studies of their major issues when he was interim executive vice chancellor in 1991.
Budig was remote and uncommunicative; Shankel is open, visible and sincere, even to an anonymous loser student such as me. That is another true mark of leadership.
Robert Hemenway seems like an open and sincere guy already. But I hope he does ask for a few pointers from Shankel on how to run the Harvard on the Kaw.
Carlos Tejada is a Lawrence senior in journalism.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Affirmative action limits discrimination
This letter is a response to David Day's naive views on affirmative action in the April 11 Kansan. It is absurd to believe that racism is an endangered species. Racism now is more subtle but still alive and well. Discrimination is obvious in the workplace, where minorities either are not hired or are not given a chance to advance. According to the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, only about 5.7 percent of managers in major industries are minorities. It is correct for Day to say that lessons are being learned, but to say racism is ending is wrong. The unbiased views are being passed on but so are racist views. If you are raised in a racist environment, you will likely become a racist no matter what history teaches you.
you relieve companies of the burden of law, they will not change their policies.
Day says that when affirmative action is dumped, employers will hire qualified minorities rather than see them hired by competitors. This is a very cheery dream but not often the truth. When faced with two similarly qualified applicants, the manager most often chooses the one of the same race and sex. If
Agreed, affirmative action is a type of discrimination, but it is necessary. Affirmative action offsets discrimination against minorities. "Education, job training, scholarships and family support" would be meaningless in a market that views race as an important qualification.
Michael Kennington.
Leavenworth freshman
Affirmative Action debate not so simple
It seems that even Adam Smith has entered into the debate on affirmative action and the meaning of discrimination. In an April 11 column David Day attempts to rationalize the destruction of affirmative action by hand reference to the "invisible hand" of economics — you've got to be kidding. Adam Smith used the term "invisible hand" to describe his belief that those seeking their economic self-interest actually benefit society more than if they would try to benefit society directly.
aware of is that this so-called "invisible hand" has a terrible history. Not so long ago in our country's past there were many qualified minorities eager to enter into businesses and universities around the country. Unfortunately, without government intervention, this "invisible hand" covered the eyes of employers and university officials and single-handedly malmed the efforts of minorities seeking to raise their communities from their segregated graves.
Of course society missed out on an excellent addition to their work force, but employers were willing to make that sacrifice. This is the nature of discrimination. Unregulated, it feeds on any opportunity that presents itself.
What Day doesn't seem to be
Discrimination may never totally become eradicated from our country, but let's recognize its role in society. Don't attempt to equate discrimination against white males with discrimination against minorities. Perhaps you should take the "invisible hand" from your own eyes and compare the economic effects on each group.
Matt Duran
Salina sophomore
Existence of violence not enough reason to give up hope
As I write this the news is on.
The Federal Building in Oklahoma City has been blown apart. Several children died in the blast. Dozens are missing. Other people will discuss the full story elsewhere. My job is to have an opinion about this.
Often these days people decry violence in all ways.
Fantasy violence, as in movies, to real, such as the violence associated with the federal building. It's all the same, many people say.
Violence has been with us for the entire history of the human species, more than that, the entire history of
the planet. This is not to say that violence is good, but it is a natural part of the world. You have a television, you can watch the nature shows. "Tonight, the mighty lion hunts down and kills something fuzzy and cute — again!"
Refusing to acknowledge violence as an option in any situation is equivalent to refusing to believe sex may occur. It is entirely reasonable to counsel against the use of violence and try to advise that violence is, at best, the absolute last resort to any situation.
Violence is not evil by its nature, any more than diseases or earthquakes are evil. It is something that exists, and we must deal with this violence. And when I say deal with it, I do not mean hide from the violence.
The problem with violence is that many people think the use of force somehow makes them better. You know them, the ones who stick their fists into the faces of others and gloat about it later. The "Might is Right" philosophy is everywhere.
Sticking our heads in the sand is hardly a rational way to deal with any problem. I have been in an altercation or two in my life, and in those situations there was no way to deny the existence of violence. I could have either fought back or been beaten.
Decrying violent movies is a popular activity these days, and I think that most movies rely on violence from a sort of creative laziness. But who will go out and hurt someone else just because they saw Wesley Snipes hurt someone?
Individuals who are ready to shoot someone because it happened in a movie would find a reason to do it anyway. After all, no one I know started being cruel to fish after seeing "A Fish Called Wanda," and I know some impressionable people.
A lot of people are looking for something to blame. The problem of violence is much older than the symptoms. Most of the entertainment world just shows the public what the public seems to like. Obviously, the real problem is that most people are willing to use violence or watch it in action.
I like action movies, and I've had the usual spate of violent thoughts. But I have yet to buy a shotgun and wander into a McDonald's. Either I am saintly and pure, with the remarkable ability to avoid the temptations of the world, or I just learned how to deal with problems without violence.
That allows me to breathe just a bit easier. If we keep teaching how to choose something other than violence, then maybe this debate will be completely unnecessary.
We can only hope.
Isaac Bell is a Lawrence junior in English.
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO
Editor
DENISE NEIL
Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH
Technology coordinator
News...Carlos Tejada
Planning...Mark Martin
Editorial...Matt Gowen
Associate Editorial...Heather Lawrenz
Campus...David Wilson
Colleen McCain
Sports...Gerry Fey
Associate Sports...Ashley Miller
Proofs...Jarrett Lane
Associate Photo...Phil Kortz
Features...Nathan Olson
Design...Brian James
Freelance...Susan White
JENNIFER PERRIER
Business manager
MARK MASTRO
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
Campus mgr ... Beth Poth
Regional mgr ... Chris Bramanan
National mgr ... Shelly Felvits
Coop mgr ... Kelly Connealy
Special Sections mgr ... Brigg Bloomquist
Production mgrs ... JJ Cook
Kim Hyman
Marketing director ... Mindy Blum
Promotions director .. Justin Frosolone
Creative director .. Dan Gier
Classified mgr .. Lissa Kulseth
MIXED MEDIA
By Jack Ohman