UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, March 8, 1995
5A
Laws still needed for equal treatment
In Lance Hamby and Chris Vine's editorial in the Feb. 21 Kansan, the effectiveness of affirmative action was questioned. Their argument that affirmative action leads to quotas and therefore has resulted in African Americans and Hispanics in competition for "scarce resources" is assuming too much. For example, they wrote that "Congress should reverse its affirmative action laws and instead enact and enforce laws that maintain all people as equal." Affirmative action was created in 1964 in reaction to social inequities within the public sector, private contractors with the federal government and universities. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 also helped to create the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to provide for equal treatment among individuals. Thus laws were enacted to help achieve this equality.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The editorial also generalized by leading the reader to assume that affirmative action only has benefited African Americans and Hispanics, leading the two groups to compete for "scarce resources." They failed to state that the law also recognizes other minority groups, such as Asian Americans, Native Americans and physically and mentally challenged men and women. Hence these groups, too, would be in competition for "scarce resources."
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., had a dream that one day people would be judged by their character and not by the color of their skin. Have we honestly achieved that dream?
Walter J. Gomez Overland Park graduate student
Foreign GTA's need and deserve respect
I read with interest your Feb. 17 article "GTAs' accents confuse some students." I think this is a common problem in most, if not all, U.S. universities. For example, I experienced this problem as an undergraduate at the University of Colorado. For four years, 100 percent of my graduate teaching assistants were foreign. In fact, I still remember one calculus GTA who pronounced focus as "focus" (use your imagination ... let's just say my mother would be shocked). Like the students in your article, I
had no shortage of complaints.
no shortage of complaints.
Unlike the students in your article, however, I am now a graduate student. A few years have passed since my undergraduate days, and I am a little older and a little wiser.
As a GTA, I now observe the problem from a different perspective. I have worked closely with a number of GTAs from a variety of nations and cultures. Invariably each semester there are a few American students in each class who see the GTA, hear a few accented words out of their mouth and tune out. They've made up their mind about this person in all of about 60 seconds. For the rest of the semester, these students treat their foreign GTA with no respect. I have honestly seen this with my own eyes. I am 100 percent certain that some of you reading this have done it.
This has been an eye-opening experience for me. I have decided that this behavior is nothing short of racism, prejudice, call it what you will. This is all-too evident when these same students start complaining about their foreignborn professors who have been teaching in the United States for 30 years. This means I've had to face some hard truths about myself. I think what we are supposed to learn in college is how to think for ourselves, how to learn and that everyone should be given a fair chance. Some people are a little more difficult to interact with than others. They deserve a little extra effort on our part. In the future, I doubt very many of us will need to know the derivative of the cosine or the difference between an acid and a base. Treating all humans with empathy and respect ... there's a lesson worth learning!
Lesley L. Smith Lawrence graduate student Bible inquiry shows Jesus was role model
This is written in response to Julie Ann Baker's article, "Further Bible investigation would enlighten Christians," in the Feb. 20 edition of the Kansan. Baker makes the argument that Christians should spend time studying what the Bible has to say. I agree that Christians should study the Bible and be knowledgeable about its contents. As a Christian, I have spent much time reading the Bible, and I still have much to learn from
it. I don't have a background in Greek or Hebrew, but I do read from a current translation (NIV). From what I read in your article, it seems as though you have missed a few of the truths which are evident in the Bible. When you say that Jesus was, "Hardly a role model," I think you missed a few major facts of his life. Jesus was the perfect role model. He never did anything wrong. He was perfect in every way, being both God and man. True, he did hang out with twelve disciples instead of marrying, but when did being celibate become wrong?
Russell Caldwell
Colorado Springs, Colo.,
freshman
Writer has wrong idea about literature
I am writing in response to Isaac Bell's article from Feb. 20, and I would like to express my disappointment in this guy's attitude. I can sympathize with his view of literature's vast and intimidating nature and tradition, but then again, that's what being an English major is all about. We must deal with this massive body of art and, more importantly, make heads or tails of it. I'll give Bell credit for recognizing the task in front of him, in all honestly, he appears to be lacking in a true sense of scholarship. The question is not, "What's the problem?" but, "What does it mean to you?"
Without getting into an argument about canonical theory or deciding what is or is not literature (which I don't believe to be as broad of a subject as he makes it out to be). I would recommend that he start by rereading Shakespeare. If that's a narrow conception of literature, it behooves him to look up the word "universal" once more. And it will take more than one Melville novel to set things straight for him. It's all about history, tradition, culture, art, humanity and a profound respect for and interest in all of these things. I find Bell's assessment of our current literary situation vague, as well as disconcerting in its apparent insensitivity toward the very past which he is supposed to be studying.
Brian Bromwell Olathe junior
And this guy's an English major?!
At the beginning of this month, I got a call from a friend. He told me SUA was seeking a student panelist for a debate on Lawrence's proposed amendment to the city's anti-discrimination statute which would add the phrase "sexual orientation" to the list of protected groups. With some reservations, I accepted.
Source gives context to Biblical quotation
The Kansan quoted me the next day (quite accurately) as having stated, "The Bible declares homosexuality is a sin" (see, e.g., Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1: 26-27). What the Kansan failed to cover was the context of my statement. As a result, a rather nasty reply, aimed at me and my Lord, appeared as a guest column in this paper on Feb. 13.
I hope you will read this piece as a loving correction of the record, for so it is intended.
My argument against Lawrence's adopting pro-homosexuality legislation is fairly simple. The Bible calls homosexual behavior sinful. Therefore, anyone who practices homosexuality is a sinner. But read on. Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Why is that important? It is because Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
We are all sinners. We have all thereby earned death at the hands of God. Nevertheless, in his grace, he has offered us the unmerited gift of eternal, infinitely abundant life with him. This is the doctrine of grace. It is the meaning of life, for all you seekers of truth.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). No other way to reconciliation with God exists than Jesus himself.
Jesus preached repentance. To repent is to turn around, away from that which separates us from God (sin) and toward the way, the truth and the life. The problem with the proposed Lawrence ordinance is that it takes a particular sin and defines it as honorable. I don't quarrel with the social justice notion of the amendment, but repentance requires the understanding of our sinfulness.
Pete Miraklan
Oathe second year law student
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