UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editors represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of
APRIL 3,1979
Students must vote
City Commissioner Barkley Clark remarked last spring that the most pressing issue facing Lawrence in the years ahead would be the question of growth vs. no growth—would the city continue to expand until it was overrun by a sprawling suburban wasteland, or be controlled? Law enforcement be controlled and orderly?
The first hint of which direction Lawrence may take probably will come in the city commission's vote on the bill, to be sent on mail on the southern edge of the city.
Covering more than 60 acres and providing about 1,000 jobs, the mall undoubtedly would have a major impact on Lawrence's future. The decision on whether or not to go ahead with the mall will be an important one.
AND TODAY, Lawrence voters will go to the polls to decide which commissioners will be making that decision for them.
There are five candidates for the three positions that are open on the city commission. Three of those candidates, Marci Francisco, a part-time instructor in the School of Architecture for Ford Drumset with The Griffin Shop, and May or Donald Binns already have their oposition to the mail.
ine two other candidates, Robert
Schum, a restaurateur, and Jack Landreth, owner of an insurance company, have declined to take a stand on the issue.
BUT DESPIE the importance of the mall, there are other issues that are vital to the future of Lawrence. Public transportation, floridation of the city water supply, and the continued growth of Lawrence neighborhood areas are all concerns with which the new city commissioners will be faced.
It is important that students participate in deciding who will make these decisions.
It is a popular myth that students are a transient population with little interest in civic affairs or local politics. But that myth holds about as much relevance today as the once-prevalent myth that nuclear power plants are impervious to accidents.
IN REALITY, many students consider Lawrence their home, and the student population at KU is an important force in the political landscape of Lawrence. Because voter turnout in local elections is often low, the student vote could have a big impact on today's election. All we have to do is vote.
Considering the importance of many of the issues that will be decided during the next two years, it would be foolish not to.
Khomeini's government grossly misinterpreted
To the editor:
Mary Ernst's editorial of March 23 titled, "Women's protest fuels Iranian strife," did nothing more than to perpetuate the grassroots campaign of fear and concern in the new government of Iran.
'first, Ernst implied that Ayatollah Khomeini has declared the traditional chador as the proper dress for Moslem women, and that the failure of women to wear the chador on International Women's Day was in opposition to Khomeini and to be a victim of discrimination. Aliqalization is absolutely false and has been created and disseminated by people unfamiliar with the meaning of Khomeini's recommendation to women to "cover themselves." In total ignorance, but being pressed to give some explanation, the press had misconstrued it to mean the women who wear the chador, which covers a woman from head to toe.'
Also, she failed to explain that the Koran encourages polygamy only under conditions in which a woman is without support and needs help. Even in this case the husband must be able to treat all wives equally and justly. In other cases, the Koran states that one should not save one's life to "save one wife. Polygamy is thereby encouraged only when it benefits the women.
In addition, Erment adply displays her lack of research when she tries to give impressions on how she likes the food.
Ernst also stated that it was unbearable that Khomeini "disapproves of the Family Protection Act of 1975, which grants Moslem protection for his children and protects them against arbitrary rejection or polygamy by the husbands." Clearly, she doesn't realize that such a law is absolutely superfluous under an Islamic government system. Instead, grants women the right to initiate divorce.
Fortunately, a few well-researched reporters have clearly reported the Ayatollah's statements, and explained them in such a manner that they are conducive to Islamic belief. The MacNell/Leerer report emphasized that Khomeini didn't command attention, but he is required that the governmental employees not attend work scantily dressed.
If Erat believes that this enlaces a woman, she would find it educationally beneficial to teach her students the campus who dress modestly so do totally voluntarily, and feel absolutely no bondage in doing so. The dress definitely reflects her desire not to cover, and it is not the traditional chador.
coeducation introduced in Iran only recently. The fact is that education in Iran has traditionally been separate and remained separate throughout the Shah's reign, but this situation has existed, up to the present, only on an infinitesimal scale, in only a few private schools, and in only a few large cities. Since so few schools were ever co-educational, abolishing co-education would have an impact on the Iranian educational system.
Implicit in her argument is, however, the misconception that separate education for women means unequal education. Again, a lack of gender awareness encourages all people, men and women alike, to be maximally educated, and to use their knowledge in a socially beneficial manner. In no way does Islam, Iran's new government, Kohani, encourage women's ignorance.
Lastly, it is most ironic that we oppose a government's performance that, almost undoubtedly, will be popularly chosen March 30. We have no more right to oppose law enforcement under a popularly chosen government, than anybody has the right to oppose law enforcement in the United States, if it is supported and upheld by a majority.
Nevertheless, Ernst had taken it upon herself to denounce the banning of liquor and X-rated movies, even though these are often seen as a sign of disregard. It is ironic that Ernst is shocked by a government that punishes adultery since, even in Christianity, adultery is strictly prohibited. And this is why adultery in our society that is ignored or even accepted. But Islam teaches us a moral code that is above this type of abuse, so we must not lower these standards to anything.
It should become apparent to American people that the energy we spend criticizing another people's way of life could be far more constructively used by leading our behavior directly to a lifestyle in which their behavior directly reflects their moral conscience.
Nancy Haskins Lawrence junior
Black foe of divestment merits notice
Amid the calls for withdrawal of U.S. corporations from South Africa and divestment of investments in corporations that operate in that country, there is a lone cry from a black South African leader for Yankees to stav.
His name is Gatsha Butheleje. He is the chief minister of Kwa Zulu, one of the black homelands established by the racist South African government. Butheleje is founder and chairman of the National Cultural Liberation Movement. A local poll indicated that minister was recognized by at least 50 percent of the blacks as their leader in South Africa.
If this is true, his recent comments on divestment and withdrawal of U.S. corporations from South Africa merit attention. Mr. Browne also said in November, Butchele said that the evils and horror of aparthief must end. But for "superiliberals," as he calls them, to believe that elimination of American corporations will be a step toward the end of aparthief is false.
Says Buthelzi: "It is morally imperative that American firms remain active here and support us in our struggle — even though we may aspects may well present problems."
Buithezi says that as industry expands, propelled by domestic and foreign investment, the number of men is increasingly appearing, and blacks, out of necessity, are being advanced to more responsible positions. The black man thus benefits from opportunities he needs to function in South African society.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT creates jobs, jobs bring money to the blacks, who make up 71.6 percent of all industrial labor, and money means power, he said.
Moreover, he says, participation of the blacks in society reduces the chances for a bloody revolution, which neither the whites nor the blacks need.
Buthelezi advocates the implementation of the "Sullivan Principles," which are resolutions that compel U.S. corporations to modify their business operations in South Africa so that basic human rights are provided for blacks.
Through shareholder preagative, education institutions can adopt the Sullivan Principles, which company management must comply with.
The principles were introduced two years ago by Leon Sullivan, a Philadelphia clergyman and member of the board of the University of South Africa, to a substantial investment in South Africa.
- A call for non-segregated eating; restroom and work facilities.*
- THE PRINCIPLES include:
- Equal and fair employment practices for all employees, which includes the establishment of unions and collective bargaining;
- Equal pay for equal work for the same period of time;
- Initiation and development of training programs to prepare large numbers of blacks and other non-white for supervisory, administrative and technical jobs.
work environment in areas of housing, transportation, schooling, recreation and
- Improve the quality of life outside the
According to Sullivan, as of March 1979, 110 U.S. companies doing business in South Africa had signed statements to implement the principles; 75 colleges and universities have signed statements urging corporations to effect the principles.
Sullivan says that on-the-scene monitoring of corporations is essential. "Without monitoring, the program will fall," he says.
INDEED, opponents to the Sullivan menability may rightfully ask whether such resolutions rid black South Africans from the agony they endure because of apartheid. Separatism, exclusion, denial of advancement and advancement—in short, outreach to black Africans—has left black South Africans in disagreeable conditions that insult human ethics.
Some statistics of the apartheid malady:
The black population in South Africa makes up 70 percent of the total population, yet the homelands they live on comprise only 25 percent. Worse, the land is eroded and over-used. All of the urban centers, industries, mines, etc., lie in the remaining 67 percent of the country.
Although wages for blacks have increased, so too have the wages of whites and inflation. Economic woes continue to plague blacks, as they have in the past.
In September of 1975, black industrial workers earned $125 a month while their white colleagues earned $89. That same year, the poverty line for a black family of six was calculated at $149. Thus black families lived on an income considered
insufficient to meet basic necessities for survival.
MINE WAGES in 1752 were $878 a month for whites and $90 for blacks. Of the total income earned in South Africa, on the average, 43 percent companies occupy 15.4 percent of the work force.
And the question remains: To what extent do the 350 to 400 companies doing business in South Africa add to and sustain this racist government?
Will it change in ownership of stocks cause U.S. corporations to withdraw en masse? Or would they continue to invest?
Can Sullivan's principles realistically help bring an end to apartheid? Can his International Council for Equality of Opportunity Principles truly monitor corporate accountability and render negative economic consequences for companies that violate the principles?
Buthelezi wonders whether liberals in South Africa and elsewhere are trying to prove a political point rather than being truly interested in the welfare of South African blacks. He states that one must live with the people, in the dismal conditions to understand that American investment is essential for eventual emancipation of his country's blacks.
Apartheid must cease. It appears that U.S. corporations and educational institutions will seek a peaceful change in government rule through the use of the Sullivan principles. And that is the goal—peaceful change.
But can South Africans agree that the continued presence of U.S. corporations in South Africa is good or bad? Will South African blacks be able to bring about black majority rule through the courts?
Resume deception a crowded field
By JOHN SMITH
N. Y. Times Feature
NEW YORK—After the dismissal of a New York Times and the WCBAM-AM weather forecaster because he had misrepresented his academic credentials, friends urged me to write down this far-flung-unique 12-year-old story:
"Congratulations, John, you've got the job. We had more than a hundred applicants, and most of them were far and away the best, and samples were far and away the best, and I enjoyed our interview!" On the end of her interview, she said, "I felt very
STATE U.
"OH, JUST one little matter," the manager added casually. "Columbia seems to have misplaced its records of your journalism degree. Can you call them and straighten things out and bring your diploma when you come in tomorrow?"
I tried to keep my excitement from being too apparent. But after three months of unemployment checks, answering ads, visiting agencies and sending out resumes, it was hard to keep calm about a $15,000-a-year job. I almost shouted, "That's great!"
BY T. M. ASLA
personnel manager welcomed me on board as his public relations director.
My emotions hit the 85-degree drop on the Coney Island Cyclone without warning. "Uh . . sure." I managed as nonchlamy as possible.
There was no diploma, no graduate degree. It was something I had added to my resume after observing that potential students had a family to support and desperately needed a job. And after all, I had won a scholarship to the Columbia journalism school and had dropped out only because economic conditions forced me to go work. I didn't really much of a life.
Or so I had thought. Now the sweat came pouring out. Trapped.
THE NEXT DAY, after a sleepless night,
I arrive at my-handed, having decided to
sit here.
"You lied!" The personnel manager looked at me incredulously. "You just outright licked!" A pause, then: "I'm terribly disappointed!"
I knew from friends how common it was for people to exaggerate their qualifications. I knew people at top advertising agencies and leading universities who were hired on the basis of falsified resumes, and all public alike because of their job performance.
"I look..." I decided there was nothing to lose at this point—"I'm not trying to justify what I did. It was wrong and there's no excuse for it. It's because of my experience—and that's real—and you liked my clippings. Besides, lots of people elaborate on it. I bring it up when I review their resumes.
That night I slept soundly, relieved and reformed. Whatever happened, I had learned my lesson. I would never again lie on a resume. I would stand or fall on my own shoulders. That was worth the self-demigration. Despite this new self-respect, I could not help a certain amount of women next the morning as judgment.
THE PERSONNEL manager was somber. "I don't know. I'm sure you can do the job. But we've got to be able to have a relationship of trust. I just don't know." A pause, as grappled with morality. "I guess this over. Come back tomorrow-normally."
Thus, in the best tradition of happy endings, I got the job, and we were able to do it.
John Smith (a pseudonym) is public relations director for a New York City non-profit agency whose directors believe, "one's degree of competence is like a sheepkin
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Barry Massey
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