UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editors represent the opinion of the Kanan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of the editors.
MARCH 21,1979
KU needs fuel oil tank
Let's hope the Kansas Legislature remembers last winter.
If it doesn't, the University of Kansas could have a repeat of the energy problems brought on by the bitter cold.
In fact, if the Legislature's memory has dimmed too much the University might run out of fuel to heat the building. But some administration officials predict.
But if the Legislature approves a $300,300 request for a new fuel oil storage tank, the energy problems of this heating can, for the most part, be avoided.
THE REQUEST was sent to the
LEGISLATURE after being approved by
the Kansas Board of Regents last
year. The board voted to allow
gallons, which is about a 15-day supply.
Del Shankel, executive vice chancellor, told the Regents, "If we aren't able to get that tank, there is a certain amount of danger that we would have to close on a few days or a month in extremely cold weather."
Because the University has an interruptible contract with Kansas Public Service Gas Co., KU supplies are cut when the demand for gas is high. Fuel oil is then used to fire the University's boilers.
LAST WINTER gas service was curtailed for 58 days, beginning Jan. 1. But to compound troubles, two of KU's three fuel oil storage tanks were useless because they had cracks and leaked.
Left with a 230,000 gallon supply,
enough for 14 to 16 days, the University
squeaked through the winter. At times,
the amount of oil dwindled to only a
5-day supply.
In addition to easing supply problems, the new tank would allow the University to buy more oil in the process, when demand and prices are lower.
It should be clear to the Legislature that, in light of last winter's problems, the university must have the new storage tank.
Mail brings allurements of plastic money mania
Besides the usual array of junk one finds in the mail these days, seniors and those about to reach that plateau are finding out that someone other than a close friend or relative knows that graduation day is rapidly approaching.
This semester I've received letters from insurance companies, oil companies, retail chain executives and a bunch of buck. With few exceptions the letters read basically the same, such as the one I got earlier.
"Dear College Student: Phillips would like to congratulate you on your academic accomplishment and extend this you appreciation, become a Phillips 68 Credit cardholder."
Hmm. How did they find out that I am about to leave KU? I certainly didn't tell them. The price of their gas is a little more than I can afford.
SEARS, ROEBUCK and Co. the nation's largest retailer, used some of a perimeter fence around the building hoping to reach the graduating senior in the house, the letter was addressed directly to
"Dear Mr. Smith: You are invited to apply for a Sears Credit Card, one of the most useful and valuable credit cards a student can have."
Perhaps the best letter I've received is the one I got from New England Life. Life insurance, and all that goes with it, is a tool on my hands on the minds of most graduating seniors.
Not bad, they've managed to get my attention by calling me mister, which almost makes me want to continue reading. However, there is one problem with this book; it doesn't use a credit card three years ago, not now that I am about to finish school. What time?
BUT KNOWING that most college students are conditioned to accept almost anything that is free of charge, the insurance company, with its complements, offers a low-cost newest Rand McNally Road Atlas and Travel guide all who returned an enclosed card.
Incidentally, the insurance company went one better than Sears by addressing the letter to "Mr. Vernom Smith." These guys know how to make you feel important.
Before someone hastily concludes that I
dislike credit cards and other similar forms of buying, let me clear the air. I have nothing against the charge plates per se. They are good to have in emergency situations and generally can be quite hard. The problem with this form of buying is that the temptation to use the cards is just too many most people don't know how to handle it.
BY THE LATEST estimate, since the end of the last economic slump, Americans have added $1 trillion to their financial obligations. Today, government, corporate and individual investors pay $3.5 trillion, equal to nearly $16,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. This nation may run on credit, as the business world has become, but recently they have gotten out of hand.
One of the reasons for the increase in credit buying is that inflation makes credit appear less burdensome and threatening. Interest rates are falling, will keep rising and thus make it easier for them to repay their loans. On the other hand, if they want to save enough money to pay cash, prices will shoot up and they will have more debt to repay. They need an incentive to borrow, to beat inflation.
BUT ECONOMISTS are worried that the extremely high consumer debt in this country is unusually vulnerable position if a recession should occur. American families already faced with devoting a large share of their incomes to bills, would find the going even
I don't own a charge card, but there have certainly been times I wish I did. Try writing a check for an item that costs more than $20. Write it on the back of identification and see what a hassle it can be. But by not having a card I can't not temper myself. But I think I'll just keep putting up with the pain.
It's really easy to say, "Charge It." The hard part, as a lot of people are finding out, comes later when the bills start rolling in. That's not so easy to deal with.
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University of Kansas, Lawrence KS 6045
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Rick Murden
Mideast peace a complex challenge
That is the phrase that has been used by discontented Arab nations to describe a state of unrest.
A senarate peace.
Most boisterously, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, and more importantly, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, have all voiced their displeasure with the Israeli peace treaty. These and smaller Arab nations seek a "comprehensive" peace treaty that calls on Israel with willingness to establish a Palestinian state, the long standing, emotional and controversial issue, which for at least the past 31 years, has been the most peaceful between all countries in the Mideast.
The current treaty does not provide for the establishment of a Palestinian state, which must occur before the Arab nations believe peace exists.
Indeed, many believe that the possibility for settling the Palestinian issue will always exist, but the probability never.
SO THE WORLD could have peace between Egypt and Israel, but not within the entire Middle East.
That peace will only come with major concessions on Israel's part and a special treaty with the other countries the too often hostile and irrational Arabs, best exemplified by the military and diplomatic relations.
Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization.
But peace is nowhere in sight as the two sides remain staunch in their opposition to each other's interest.
The Arab nations, most specifically Jordan, continue to make three demands: Israel withdrawal of territories occupied since the 1967 war, mainly the strategic Gaza strip and the West Bank, a country and autonomy for the Palestinian people, and an end to the Middle East; and an international Mideast treaty that would involve all Arab nations.
But already Jordan has reaffirmed earlier resolutions to cut political and economic support with Israel; the sign on a wall is the refuge; Israel is war the only answer to solve the peace question; and Arafat's PLO is in no way interested in making concessions to Israel.
SAUDI ARABIA said it would not resort to economic cuts against Egypt but has promised to increase investment.
In the Israeli government, there remains a faction that seeks assurances the peace treaty does not lead to an eventual Palestinian state.
through a "just and comprehensible peace that meets the demands of the Arabs, the Islamic nation, and the Palestinian people."
Although the final draft of the treaty has been approved by Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin's cabinet and approval is expected to be ratified in parliament, the National Religious Party, the second-largest coalition in Begin's camp, is seeking assurances that no independent Palestinian state will result from the treaty. No compromise is in sight.
MOREOVER, PRESIDENT Carter and his aides will continue to negotiate peace, but this time for settlement of the Palestinian issue. This no doubt will cause U.S. ties to further accuse the United States of being in events that are none of her business.
The first step in achieving long-term Mideast stability, as viewed by many, was a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. The settlement is the settlement of the Palestinian issue.
A second consequence is being able to provide Israel with oil during the next 15 years in case of an Egyptian boycott. The pillon of oil is another treaty promise.
is the increased economic and military aid to both Egypt and Israel. At least $5 billion in aid was promised by the United States to help Egypt during the recent treaty negotiations.
OF COURSE, a compromise must be made. It must be noted that the issue will have a direct impact on neighboring Arab countries. The United States, with obvious political, economic and military interests in the Middle East, can act as a motivator for settlement of the issue.
Most important in this push for stability in the Mideast is the establishment of a slim border between Israel and the United States to counter the potential, nearby threat of Soviet invasions.
The consequences of an unstable Middle East for the United States are many. One
But for all the complexities of this issue, the solution seems easy: If peace is wanted then decisions need to meet that goal must be made and kent.
But this is the Middle East and the conflict is continuous. There have been four Arab-Issalil wars since 1948. The challenge for the Mideast countries is no more than in the past. To believe in peace and to live side by side in tranquility.
I call on faculty and student leaders here at KU and at all other universities and colleges in Kansas to give this matter serious consideration. There is no surer way to raise flagging spirits on this campus and elsewhere than to undertake some well coordinated action to dramatize the economic plight of the teaching profession.
Finally, because the only economic hardship would be focused precisely where it needs to be, namely on the big meat producers, who have warned the American public that within a year from now the price of beef will have doubled.
To the editor:
Beef boycott could lift low morale
I have read the article on aguaging faculty morale in the March 6 Kansan with great concern. It is disqualing in the extreme to be told by Chancellor Archie R. Dykes that excessive government regulation of the University is threatening its very existence.
While it may seem rather foolhardy for us to wrestle singlehandedly with the autocrats in Washington, we may be able to take some concerted action to solve a more immediate problem. Acts us, namely the meager salary increases we must look forward to next year.
Why not organize a limited boycott of Kansas businesses on behalf of higher education? By "limited" here I mean a boycott directed at a single product, more precisely, a single carefully selected product.
And the chances are that a boycott could be even more effective if it were restricted to a short period, let us say one business week. It would also be important for all friends of KU and the other institutions of higher learning in Kansas to have their students faculty, students, students' families and all well-wishers across the state.
May I suggest that an ideal product to boycott in this way would be beef? First, because it is no hardship to abstain from eating a kind of meat for a period as short as a week.
Second, because a boycott restricted to bewd would not appreciate accuracy in business and the loss of business reduction in beef sales would no doubt be amply made up for by increased sales of beef.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN letters
W. Keith Percival professor of linguistics
Faculty spirits low because salaries are
To the editor :
In terms of salary, my department has always ranked among the bottom two or three of the 50 major doctorate-granting universities in the country, though the Carter Report on graduate education rated it in the upper half of such schools. When you are at the low end, you feel low.
Your article on faculty morale in the March 6 Kansan is probably accurate on most counts, especially for salary. The University has been at the low end of major university pay scales ever since I can remember.
May I add another reason to those ad-
duced by Professor Srinivasan et al. in 1966, when I came here, and for some years after, the average age of the KU faculty seemed to be certain. Certainly it was in our department.
For a number of years the pattern in faculty was to bring in new people to teach and work in our schools. In 1966, seven of us new Ph.Ds replaced senior people who went to UCLA.
The gates closed in the early '70s, the chances for moving up declined. We now have an aging faculty—some of whom are bitter because they're aging—without much likelihood of the kind of chances for improving their lot that an earlier generation had.
The state of Kansas, which has treated our University so shabbily in the past, is faced with the choice of continuing to neglect us, if only by continuing to relegate us to the hopper with the state colleges, or of recognizing its responsibilities.
The people who have stayed here have become more experienced, and therefore mature. I know that this rich state is getting more university for less money than it ever has in the past.
Richard F. Hardin Professor of English
Student senator says his vote is his own
As a member of the former Imagination coalition and of the new Student Senate, I would like to voice my resentment to the president of the Kansan's junior-high journalists. I feel no compulsion to vote with any group simply for the sake of representing Berlin and New York ideals and programs.
To the editor:
I do however feel compulsion to be responsible to my constituents and not to the organization, which is sake of healing any election "wounds." I am in favor of the idea of an off-campus housing board, yet I question the duplication of services and actual effectiveness as I would.
Tim Trump
Salina junior
STATE U.
BY T. M. ASLA