4A
Monday, March 27, 1995
OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: MSSOURI ENROLLMENT CAMPAIGN
MU recruitment efforts work
We never thought we would see the day, but the University of Missouri - Columbia deserves our accolades.
Don't worry, this isn't about men's basketball.
It's about enrollment, and administrators at MU have figured it out. Apparently, the way to attract students is to treat them like people.
And KU finally has taken notice of the personal attention given to MU recruits.
Missouri's freshman enrollment has risen more than 30 percent over the last two years, and administrators there expect the trend to continue.
Why? Students and alumni call prospective students, parents of MU students call the parents of prospective students, caravans tour the state to talk to recruits and thousands of letters are sent.
In addition, campus visits combined with panel discussions staffed by students help to make the
KU could increase enrollment by learning from Missouri's efforts to personalize appeals to prospective students
campus appealing.
KU is beginning to see the results of a drop in enrollment. A drop in enrollment means a drop in University funds. And while some say we need less students, not more, the impact of dropping enrollment takes a different form than some may realize.
The most significant example of this is the policy that would potentially eliminate classes of less than 12 people, making classes bigger and more impersonal than before.
KU conducts campus tours and sends letters. And this year, students have volunteered to call prospective students. But more needs to be done.
Because the more we treat student recruits like people, the less likely they are to feel like a number.
MATT GOWEN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
THE ISSUE: CLINTON'S 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL' POLICY
Military still mistreats gays
It has been more than a year since the Pentagon imposed the controversial and inconsequential "don't ask, don't tell" policy concerning gays, lesbians and bisexuals in the armed forces.
The statistics show that this policy has had little effect in stopping the witch hunts to root out sexual minorities from the ranks of America's finest. As a hot-button issue, it has created a smoke screen that has diverted public dialogue from a more important issue: the role and the size of our military in the post-Cold War era.
The rate of expulsion from the armed forces based on sexual orientation has remained the same as it was before the new, ambiguous status of lesbians, gays and bisexuals: 0.04 percent yearly of all service personnel. In the Air Force, the numbers have risen from 111 airmen and women discharged in 1993 based on sexual orientation to 180 discharges in 1994.
"Don't ask, don't tell" clearly is not effective. No officials who have flouted
It's time for Clinton and the armed forces to change their views on the ineffective 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy
this rule have been disciplined. This compromising new policy has failed in the worst possible way. It admits that discrimination occurs, but has provided a nebulous canopy under which the discrimination based on sexual orientation in the military is perpetuated.
The honorable thing for the president to do is lift the ban in an executive order. Let Congress overrule it, if it chooses. It is also interesting to note, in the controversy surrounding this issue, that the military has gone beyond its role as delineated by the Constitution. By challenging Clinton's authority, the military has effectively assumed the role of a fourth branch of government. This civil rights issue has found no justice under this administration. "Don't ask, don't tell" is a well-intentioned but futile compromise.
JOHN BENNETT FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO
Editor
DENISE NEIL
Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH
Technology coordinator
JENNIFER PERRIER
Business manager
MARK MASTRO
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
Jeff MacNelly / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Growing up is hard to do; getting older is much easier
News...Carlos Tejada
Planning...Mark Martin
Editorial...Matt Gowen
Associate Editorial...Heather Lawnz
Campus...David Wilson
Colleen McCain
Sports...Gerry Fay
Associate Sports...Anishy Miller
Jonathan Lee
Associate Photo...Paul Kotz
Features...Kathan Olson
Design...Brian James
Freelance...Susan White
But growing up is something very different.
having kids. It is nothing more than a combination of biology and fate. Physically you get older, grow gray hair and develop wrinkles. I inevitably, as time goes by, you progress through life's stages, checking off the boxes of life like tasks you have to complete before you die.
Growing up has nothing to do with wisdom, experience or knowledge. Instead it is a matter of acting, Grown-ups simply know how to fake it better than the rest of us. They know how to make it look like they are in control when the world is crumbling all around them. Grown-ups are not easily frazzed. They seek advice, not help. It's not that they know everything, they just know how to make it look like they do without lying.
Business Staff
So where does that leave me? Well,
I think I can deal with growing older
since I don't really have a choice.
But growing up? For now I think I
am too honest to pull that off.
I know I need help, not advice, and
I am not prepared to fake it.
When I was 6, I thought grown-ups were the people who drove cars, cooked on real stoves and lived without their parents. When I was 14, I thought a grown-up was someone older than 18. When I was 18 I thought a grown-up was someone older than 21. Well, now I am older than 21, cook on a real stove, and live without my parents, but I don't feel very grown up.
Campus mgr ...Beth Pole
Regional mgr ...Chris Branaman
National mgr ...Shelly Falevits
Coop mgr ...Kelly Connexys
Special Sections mgr ...Brigg Bloomquist
Production mgrs ...JJ Cook
Kim Lyman
Marketing director ...Mindy Blum
Promotions director ..Justin Frosolone
Creative director ..Dan Gier
Classified mgr ..Lisa Kuleth
Heather Kirkwool is a Wichita Junior in magazine Journalism.
Just three and a half years ago, when I started college, the biggest event in anyone's life was a senior prom, the biggest crisis anyone faced was a zoology midterm, and the future consisted mostly of vague, idealistic goals that seemed light years away.
Now I socialize with people building homes?
A few weeks ago I was at a party when some friends of mine, a married couple, announced that they were go to start building a home. How old are these people, I thought to myself. Surely they are older than I realized. But they aren't ancient. They aren't even old. In fact, they are only three years older than I am.
My parents' friends are supposed to build homes. My friends are supposed to be poor college students who live in small rooms and subsist on Ramen noodles and Pepsi.
STAFF
COLUMNIST
—Noman Shah, Dhaka, Bangladesh, junior, referring to the annual student spring break pilgrimage to Florida and Texas beaches.
I know people get older, but I'm not supposed to feel old at 21.
I overheard a conversation last summer between my mom and my g r a n d m a .
Grandma, who is in her 70's, told mom she looked older on the outside, but on the inside she still felt as if she was 17. Of course she had accomplished and experienced more since she was a high school senior, but she was still the same person.
Somehow I thought that when you finally grew up, you obtained some sort of reservoir of wisdom. But now I am convinced there are people in their 40's, 50's or even 80's that have never grown up.
I have decided that growing older is a process of going to school, getting married, building a home and
"THEY TOLD ME I COULDN'T PARK MY CAR IN THE STREET BECAUSE THEY WERE PICKING UP BULLETS."
—John Nelson, Morningside Court resident, after a drive-by shooting in the 2500 block of Morningside Court March 11 riddled a house and vehicle with bullets. There were no injuries.
— Gayle Larkin, Douglas County assistant district attorney, on NCAA tournament betting pools.
"THESE PLACES ARE TOO CROWDED WITH TOO MANY LOUD PEOPLE. I SEE ENOUGH STUDENTS HERE IN LAWRENCE."
"IT'S NOT LEGAL — IT'S GAMBLING."
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Leaving student life requires changing spring break mentality
So, how was it?
"WE HAVE DIFFERENT CONCEPTS ABOUT LOVE IN PERU. HE TALKS ABOUT A LOT OF THINGS WE THINK ABOUT BUT DON'T SAY."
—Karen Gutierrez, Lima, Peru, junior, after listening to Jay Freidman, an internationally known sex educator, give a presentation to students about relationships March 14.
—compiled by Kansan staff the week of March 13
Grabbed your first tube. Found that seven-layer tan with only three layers of skin. Hit the moguls going 90 and found the bottom of a double-diamond black with all your limbs intact. Slipped down into the hot tub to steam your ski-weary limbs.
EDITORIAL
EDITOR
I guess I'm still trying to decide whether to envy you or to enjoy the distance.
You see, I never made it to the beach.
The nights are spent in one of those hot, crowded, musty, slimy bars in Padre or Ft. Lauderdale where table dances don't
even cost a dime, you can't hear the person next to you and you even get an umbrella in your beer. The days are spent lying comatose on one of those sticky, fleshy, trashy sand dunes where pre-med and bus-com majors try to bake off that nasty hangover using baby oil, Crisco, or whatever else is handy.
I never made it to the slopes, either.
The nights are spent in one of those cold, crowded, musty, slimy bars in Aspen or Breckenridge where hip-hop and house try to jolt the life back into you after your fifth Vodka Collins and the guys or girls at the next table keep asking where you're going to be skiing tomorrow. The days are spent aerobicizing down the sleek, white face of a steep Colorado incline trying to avoid the guys or girls at the next table from the night before.
But I've been there, done that, just like a lot of you. So instead, nearing the fruition of my fifth and final college year, I decided to do absolutely nothing. That is, other than work and think about the future.
No, I didn't even have some cross-country trek in a Winnebago, collecting Graceland Memorabilia and Alamo lore before perusing Bourbon Street or Canal Street in New Orleans, searching for the perfect blues.
This is the home stretch. The next six weeks will glide by like a well-oiled Indy car.
Tests, papers, assignments and final exams will come at you like sniper fire. And for those of us who are also graduating, it's time to start on a new frame of mind.
It may have been an empty gesture, but my first act as a real-world adult was to treat spring break like any other week.
Besides, I caught most of it on MTV.
Matt Gowen is a Lawrence senior In Journalism.
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 500 words.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or out-right reject all submissions. For any questions, call Matt Gowan, edited page editor, or Heather Lawrenz, associate editorial page editor, at 864-4810.
MIXED MEDIA
By Jack Ohman