4A
Friday, April 14, 1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: CAMPUS ORGANIZATIONS
Individual at fault not group
The recent publication of Eric Moore's criminal record has caused quite a stir.
This disclosure about a respected and influential campus leader who has spent a great deal of time and effort supporting human rights has not only cast his personal integrity in doubt but may have also done irreparable damage to one of the groups Moore so vehemently supports.
Moore recently resigned as the director of the campus organization LesBiGayS OK. The group has been educating the University and the Lawrence community for many years. It is almost solely responsible for the advancement of lesbian, bisexual and homosexual education to the campus.
Therefore, the criminal history of its past director should not be taken to represent LesBiGayS OK as a whole. Many opponents of homosexuality have already jumped on the bandwagon and are using his mistakes to criticize this campus organization.
Eric Moore's actions shouldn't be a reflection of LesBiGayS OK. Judge him, not the group he was a member of.
Regardless of whether you accept homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle, it is inexcusable to use the faults of one individual to attack a group with which he was associated.
An appropriate analogy would be the case against Emil Tonkovich, a law professor who violated the University code of ethics. Did the students and alumni call for the removal of the law school? Did the law school become labeled as a haven for convicts and sexual deviants?
Even those who do not agree with the homosexual lifestyle should not attack a campus organization based solely on the past actions of one of its members. Judge Moore if you will. Judge the LesBiGayS OK organization if you will. But do not judge one based on the actions of the other.
CHRIS VINE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
HE ISSUE: SENATE CAMPAIGN PROMISES
Senate needs some direction
Many questions have been raised during the Student Senate campaign about the future of campus transportation. What has become obvious is that some Senate issues, especially transportation, cannot be handled in one year.
The new Senate should recognize the need for longterm planning and should evaluate the effectiveness of transportation goals five years at a time. This fiveyear plan could be shaped like Horizon 2020, Lawrence's plan for growth, except geared toward campus transportation and other pressing issues.
Student senators should encourage interested students, city commissioners, KU administrators and city and campus planners to sit on the transportation board. A five-year plan would be a good chance to get freshmen, who could offer long-term dedication, involved in the Senate process. Such diverse representation would guarantee that a complex issue such as transportation is handled in
Interested students should get involved in the transportation board to ensure better long-term planning.
a manner beneficial to all.
a manner beneficial to all. Both coalition leaders said that they would support having a five-year plan. Let's hope that the student body president-elect seriously considers implementing it.
The new student senators should also realize that the current transportation system at the University has room for vast improvements. Regardless of the transportation board's personal opinion, Senate should look into options other than our current system to ensure that students get the cleanest and most environmentally friendly system possible.
Complex policies surrounding KU transportation are not capable of being changed and implemented in a single administration. Everyone should hope that the new student senators will acknowledge this and act accordingly.
AMY TRAINER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSANSTAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO
Editor
DENISE NEIL
Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH
Technology coordinator
Editors
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
Photo...Jarrell Lane
Paul Kortz
Features...Nathan Olean
Design...Brian James
Freelance...Susan White
JENNIFER PERRIER
Business manager
MARK MASTRO
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing advise
Business Staff
Campus mgr ...Both Poth
Regional mgr ...Chris Branaman
National mgr ..Shelly Falevita
Coop mgr ..Kelly Connealy
Special Sections mgr ..Brigg Bloomquist
Production mgrs ..JJ Cook
Kim Hyman
Marketing director ..Mindy Blum
Promotions director ..Justin Froselone
Creative director ..Dan Gler
Classified mgr ..Lisa Kuseth
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Jeff MacNelly / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
One person's crime shouldn't hurt 'Equal'
Thursday, the Kansan printed an article disclosing that Eric Moore, former president of LesBiGaySOK, was convicted of criminal solicitation of a minor. This news came directly on the heels of a local election that left three of the five city commissioners supporting Simply Equal's motion to add "sexual orientation" to Lawrence's human rights ordinance. I have heard many people on campus, both in the gay and straight communities, wonder whether the news about Moore will change these commissioners' decisions.
It should not. If Moore was guilty of these charges, I find his acts morally and socially unacceptable. But Moore did not commit his crime as a gay man, any more than the man who molested me when I was 3 years old committed his crime as a straight man. It would be ridiculous for me to suggest that all straight men be denied the right to teach in public schools, father or adopt children or interact with youth in any other way just because I was scarred by the criminal acts of one straight man. Similarly, it would be ridiculous for the city commission to refuse to offer equal protection to hundreds of innocent gay men, lesbians and bisexuals in this city because of the crime confessed by one.
Individuals of all sexual orientations are innocent until proven guilty. Individuals of all sexual orientations deserve equal rights and protections under the law. The city commission should not be swayed by the sensationalism of one 5-year-old crime committed by one person. It should approve Simply Equal's proposal now.
Debra L. Stang
Lawrence graduate student
My greatest hope for society is that we become truly multicultural. I'm glad that I live in a world with people of different races, religions and sexual orientations. What makes this exciting is that people get to be who they are, and they get to share who they are with others.
Censorship not a part of multiculturalism
Political correctness is defeating its own cause. I am writing today regarding the politically correct ("PC") movement because of the recent events on this campus: Both the Eric Moore story that appeared in the Kansan last Thursday and the protest of that story which took place last Friday.
I am a bleeding heart. If I wasn't born this way, it came from every acre of rainforest I have seen burned in Central America, every step I took in the peace marches after the L.A. riots or every AIDS-related funeral I've attended. As a bleeding heart with lofty goals you may find yourself not liking people because they don't fit into a certain mold. But this discrimination is what you are fighting against.
Multiculturalism is just that: A world of multiple cultures. Not a society dictated by the whims of various angry subsections of society. PC should not mean that every colloquial or every news story should be censored if it offends any one person or group.
The people who participated in Friday's demonstration regarding Thursday's article wanted to be
guilty of the other most common error of the activist censorship. Publication of the truth is the most valuable thing a believer in any cause can have. Despite the best of intention, don't take actions that amount to censorship and discrimination.
Luke Norman
Last Thursday the Kansan was right in running its top story. If that story had been about the president of the Young Republicans and not LesBiGay OK, no one would have said a thing. The fuss was made because of the strength of the misguided PC movement. Further, Moore should have been immediately removed as a resident assistant. This University has a lot to lose by allowing a convicted pedophile to serve as an RA. This has nothing to do with his sexual orientation or his daring announcement of being HIV positive.
Lawrence graduate student
Stealing newspapers not a protected right
After reading the April 6 story about Eric Moore, then reading about the protests that took place that same day, I was disappointed and angry. I was disappointed in the display of ignorance by those who could only express their opinions by stealing stacks of Kansans from the distribution bins and angered by the fact it was done under the blanket of First Amendment rights.
I read the reasons that these "protesters" used for their justification of the theft of the Kansan, and I could not believe it. The Kansan staff was only doing what is their journalistic obligation as one of the top collegiate newspapers in the nation. That obligation is to report the facts. Nothing that was printed in that story was untrue. If you do not believe that, check the public records yourself. One protester was quoted as saying, "This story is destroying one person's life," but Moore destroyed his own life when he chose to commit sex crimes with a child. I wonder what the condition of that child's life is. The Kansan only printed the facts. As a voting student at KU, I want to know as much as possible about candidates for my student government whether they step down for health reasons or not. If a candidate cannot take the heat of media scrutiny then I would not recommend future political endeavors.
The thing that anges me about the whole protest is that it was done under the battle cry of First Amendment rights. Show me where in the First Amendment it says anything about it being OK to steal newspapers that the student body has paid for if you do not like the content. The First Amendment does, however, include freedom of the press. Perhaps the protesters forgot that part. I think it is also ironic that the protesters that were wasting papers, that student fees pay for, were candidates for Student Senate positions. Are these the types of people that should be representing the student body?
Matt Dorsett
Topeka sophomore
Money isn't only issue in GTA unionization
In their ongoing effort to persuade KU graduate teaching assistants to vote against collective bargaining, KU administrators,
pointing to salary and benefit levels, have once again suggested that collective bargaining has not benefited Pittsburg State University faculty (April 7 memo from Chancellor Del Shankel). Pittsburg State faculty, affiliated with the National Education Association, have bargained collectively for over ten years. They would not continue to bargain collectively unless doing so served them well. Faculty at Pittsburg State organized primarily over nonpecuniary issues. Through collective bargaining they have secured effective control over workloads, improvements in hiring and promotion procedures, desirable provisions governing summer teaching and pay and a system of pooling sick leave unique among Regent's institutions.
The Pittsburgh State experience suggests that one of the great advantages of collective bargaining is that it insures that as many good ideas get on the table as possible. GTA collective bargaining means that GTAs will not have to rely simply on the good will and unilateral action of administrators. With respect to a wide range of issues, including health benefits, it is imperative that GTAs have a meaningful voice in developing proposals and selecting among those proposals. Public sector collective bargaining works in large part because it provides meaningful opportunities for inclusion and participation otherwise not available to employees.
David Reldy GTA, department of philosophy
David Reldv
Retention remedies could help enrollment
KU suffers decreasing enrollment. Retention affects enrollment. KU should adopt creative and concrete remedies for retention.
A number of students don't know in what majors and courses they may excel. They gravitate to their area of excellence by trial. A failing grade in a course attempted becomes permanent record with indelible effect on grade point average. With widening distance to catch up with each failed course, the student quits.
One remedy for retention could include a "no record" transcript of failing grades, which relieves the student of this catching up. It will take longer to graduate — of no concern to some students.
Such a transcript affirms what a student is good at but is silent on what he is bad at.
Stanford and Brown Universities have both tried this. Stanford later dropped it for reasons of university prestige. Brown has it still.
A second remedy is timing. A student, instead of the excitement of his major — be it the mysteries of microbiology or the logic of engineering, philosophy etc. — gets thrust on him in the entry semesters the non-major requirements, as English composition, western civilization, etc. These cause some students to lose interest and quit. Such students should be started with courses in their major, postponing non-major requirements to upper-class semesters.
T.S. David
Lawrence graduate student
Those sneaky stereotypes: the best of us still have them
The thing I hate most about stereotypes is that they're becoming more prevalent all the time.
STAFF
COLUMNIST
Yes, I know the "correct" opinion is that we as a culture are moving beyond the petty basics of racism and prejudice. And, I agree that more and more often, matters of
meditate content,
religious beliefs
and sexual
orientation — the
two little words
that felled a city
commissioner —
are losing importance
in the snap
judgments of
today.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that's the end of it, though. When I say stereotypes are appearing
everywhere, I mean the sneaky ones, the subtle words and attitudes that most people never recognize. When President Clinton discusses the working poor of America, he's alluding to a stereotype, and when Rush Limbaugh says liberal, that's another stereotype.
You use stereotypes, and so do I, as much as I hate to admit it. When arguing with someone, I casually say the word "stubborn" or "unreasonable," and voila, the stereotype appears and saves me from having to deal with the individual as a person.
We have stereotypes for almost anything, and more appear all the time. A simple test to see if these previously determined conceptions of people have gotten to you: gang-banger, cyberberneld, fine-arts major, prunge, grumpy, sorority girl, Republican, lawyer, social worker, Democrat, rich, poor and bigot.
Did any one of these words bring an image into your mind? If so, then that's a stereotype.
OK, the really depressing part now.
See, I don't believe there's anything you or I can do about it. Everyone talks about the "global village" as if the world is small and comfortable, but I'll let you in on a secret I'm certain you've known for a long time.
The world is huge. There are more than 5 billion people in it, with more on the way every day. Each of us has our own personality, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and realities. And if we have even the slightest desire to interact with other people, we have to have a filter. It is physically impossible to interact with thousands of individuals and understand each one in depth. I think it's noble, perhaps even necessary, to try, but there is no way to do it.
So, we use shorthand. Some of us are frightened of certain behaviors and purposefully latch onto the stereotypes to remove ourselves from them. Thus, we gain words such as "fag," "homophobe," "spic" and "racist."
Just an aside here. I'm no prudue, and I don't believe most so-called swearing to have much impact. But the last sentence of the previous paragraph makes me feel like I should have my mouth washed out with Lava soap.
Assuming our fears are not so overwhelming so as to make us appear ugly, we still have our short-hand stereotypes. They make life easier, quicker, and in many ways, more comfortable. We refer to people as idiots or snobs, and we file them away to where we don't have to think of them.
Not every argument or issue could or should be dealt with this way, but it is easy to do so. There was a debate recently on this campus that was made much worse than it should have been because both parties used stereotypes to dismiss the other. Two professors, individuals I respect and admire, used the stereotypes of "homophobe" and "Nazi," while close friends referred to people as "loudmouths" and "ignorant." And, I was in the middle, slinging stereotypes with the worst of them.
So, what's the solution? Be offended by every word that comes along? Spend all our time learning everything about everybody to become "sensitive?"
No. The stereotype is ground into us from day one on this planet.
But we should fight it and resist it when we can. It isn't a great solution to any problem, but it's the only solution we've got.
Isaac Bell is a Lawrence Junior in English.