OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
7A
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2008
》 FROM THE DRAWING BOARD
》 LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Gun advocates getting concealed,carried away
Promoting armed students and faculty within the collegiate environment establishes a culture of fear in anticipation of a shooting.
Many of my fellow students cringe at the sight of these acrid anti-weapons signs which our many of our buildings and stores now must post in order to secure ourselves against the legal presence of weapons.
The Board of Regents took responsibility in banning weapons where our State Legislature played sycophant to an aggressive gun lobby and dangerous ideology of Sen. Phil Journey (R-Haysville).
I would prefer we focus our efforts on securing our campuses to greater ends rather than granting anyone the false sense of security derived from a meager band of students and faculty armed mostly in callowness. Such actors would likely endanger themselves in their hubris, concomitantly jeopardizing the safety of their peers.
These students were lucky they were not mistaken for possessing weapons, and I hope any student who feels threatened by their rash display does not hesitate to contact the police.
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I would prefer a campus be primed to raise an alarm at the sight of weapons than grow accustomed to them.
We must be cautious of the notion that killers willing to sacrifice their own lives will be deterred by any physical means, as most of these shooters seem to seek death both for themselves and others.
To destroy the culture of violence we must not promote it in another manner, but we should eradicate the motivations of those who perceive the use of deadly force as a solution to their troubled hearts and minds.
—Marc Langston, Wichita senior
BLOGS@KANSAN.COM
Pennsylvania Primaries
Sen. Hillary Clinton. Clinton is
The polls in Pennsylvania are about 40 minutes away from closing, but CNN is going over early exit polls. Newly registered voters backed Sen. Barack Obama while late decision makers v
PRIMARY
COLORS
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likely to do better in rural Pennsylvania, where she plays well with blue collar workers. Obama is likely to do well in large cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
late decision makers went for
— Kelsey Hayes
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CONTACT US
Darla Slipke, editor
864-4810 or dslipke@kansan.com
Matt Erickson, managing editor
864-4810 or merickson@kansan.com
your time and money if you cheat yourself from learning? I think the answer is obvious, and students that cheat simply have not contemplated those questions."
Dianne Smith, managing editor 864-4810 or dsmith@kansan.com
Katy Pitt, sales manager 864-4477 or kpitt@kansan.com
Bryan Dykman, opinion editor 864-4924 or dykman@kansan.com
Lauren Keith, associate opinion editor 864-4924 or keith@kansan.com
Tsoflias is teaching a class this semester with more than 500 students in it. During this class's exams he has a minimum of 10 proctors and hands out different versions of the test.
Malcolm Gibson, general manager and news adviser
I haven't had a teacher make me put up folder tents like we did in grade school, but I did have a professor require us leave our jackets, hoodies, hats, bags, purses and backpacks at the front of the classroom to avoid cheating, yet it still happened (and people's jackets were stolen). I've even had teachers become paranoid about any form of the 'Live Strong' bracelets, because answers could be written on the underside.
Jon Schlitt, sales and marketing adviser
864-7666 or jschlitt@kansan.com
Toni Bergquist, business manager
864-4358 or tbergquist@kansan.com
There needs to be a balance between harsh paranoia and complete disregard for academic standards. Our primary goal should be to learn, and the primary goal of the University and the professors teaching here should be to create an environment conducive to learning, not memorization — no matter the subject or size of the class.
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
Members of the Kansas Editorial Board are Alex Doherty, Bryden Dykman, Matt Erickson, Kelsey Hayes, Lauren Keith, Darla Slipke, Dianne Smith and Ian Starford.
COMMENTARY
For good grades or for new knowledge?
After completing a test, I was sitting on a bench at the bus stop in front of Snow Hall. The test was just 20 multiple choice questions, some of which were identical to the ones from the practice test my professor put on blackboard, and went over in class. The girls sitting two benches away from mine apparently thought that I was reading a book, which rendered me temporarily deaf, because one of them proceeded to retell in detail the ways in which she cheated on the test we had just taken.
In her candid description she used her own name, and said she felt like her TA was "asking her to cheat." She also felt she trusted the guy in front of her more than she did herself, so she just went ahead and copied down all of his answers.
The way she talked about cheating was nonchalant, and she must have felt pretty secure about it because she's talking freely in front of all the other students at the bus stop.
But what about the guy sitting in front of her she cheated off of?
He obviously had no idea what was going on, and yet if she had been caught the consequences for him could have been just as severe.
Hearing this one girl talk about cheating isn't an isolated incident. Cheating has become an epidemic, and it made me start to wonder if anyone thinks cheating is wrong anymore. When I actually started talking to people about it, what I believed to be a strictly right-or-wrong issue turned out to be more complex than I thought.
Thornbrugh is a Lenexa sophomore in women's studies and creative writing.
"I don't feel the need to learn in classes that don't directly affect me or my major because I'm being forced to take them in order to get my degree," Fletcher Farley, South Dakota junior, said. "I'm never going to use the information in my actual life. There's so much pressure to get good grades you don't worry about learning the information."
Farley's opinion raises several questions. Is it okay to cheat in classes that have nothing to do with what you're majoring in?
George Tsofflas, assistant professor of geophysics gives a teacher's standpoint. "Consider those questions: Is the prospect of a slightly higher grade worth the risk of ruining your academic career and any future opportunities that depend on it? Do you come to college to get a grade or gain knowledge? Is it a good investment of
COMMENTARY
Immigration about more than what is given and what is taken
I support immigration.
After watching the recent documentary "Crossing Arizona," I support it now more than ever.
tion their starving children at home or their spouses needing medical attention.
The documentary, littered with first hand experiences of immigration, reiterated my beliefs as to why most immigrants risk their lives to come here. It's not to "take our jobs," "commit crimes and be free from prosecution" or "to not pay taxes." I do acknowledge that some may take advantage of our system, but I should point out the number of Americans who take advantage of the same system, and they're citizens. I don't think we should label and stereotype a group of people with different motives based on the actions of a handful of malo manzanas (bad apples).
These people are risking their lives to improve the lives of their families. The documentary stated that more than one million attempts are made each year to cross Arizona. Out of those million, about 75-150 people die each year while trying to make the trek. Some immigrants said it was worth it to at least try; they would men-
"It is an absolute outrage that over 4,000 men, women and children have lost their lives attempting to cross the US/Mexico border to find work," director Dan Devivo said in an e-mail interview.
"This is a tragic waste of talent and if our conscience doesn't persuade us to change course, then at least our self-interest ought to. By trying to protect society from the perceived threat of immigration, we are actually harming ourselves. Stunting our economy and personal freedoms as we foster injustice and criminality."
I find myself wondering, if we talk on how to diversify our campus, why not continue to diversify our nation?
Devivo agreed. "It's curious how the immigration debate in this country focuses exclusively on what immigrants take and never considers what immigrants bring. Throughout our own history, immigrants have had a positively vibrant influence on our culture that has improved our lives in ways to numerous to detail. And immigrants are the backbone of our economy. Not because they are a source of cheap labor but because they are determined to improve their lives and the lives of their families."
McNaughton is a Topeka junior in journalism.
Some people have ignored the reasons behind immigration, letting their biased views get in the way. One man in the film said that every American should be sitting at the border with a shotgun waiting for them to cross.
After a recent trip to Arizona, Samuel Seliger, Seattle senior, felt differently. "I was surprised by how many Border Patrol vehicles I saw and how much tax payer money they're wasting on it."
While some believe Border Patrol is a waste of money, others feel enough isn't being done. At a rally called Protect Arizona Now, a man in the film said if he could he would go as far as to deport the pre-schoolers. He said he would go
to the retirement communities and deport the elderly. He even said that he would go the hospitals and take out the IV's and send "them" to their own hospitals.
Of course, the extreme irony of this scene was at the end, the clean-up crew at the hotel where the rally was taking place, was Hispanic.
Migration is inevitable. The policies that our country is governed by affects less fortunate countries, continuing to make our rich richer and the poor around the world poorer. Immigrants don't hinder our society, but instead, add to it.
editorials around the state
Few of us living in the breadbasket of the United States can imagine what hunger is like. Not the kind of hunger that comes with a growling stomach in between meals but real hunger from going days without food and the despair of not knowing when solid sustenance will come along
U.S. should put brakes on new biofuel policies
Hunger is always a fact of life somewhere on the globe, but right now it is becoming a crisis.
Hunger isn't confined to the places that are accustomed to periods of famine. It is becoming an issue around the globe.
The crisis has led to sharp criticism of U.S. policies meant
ASSOCIATED PRESS
to stimulate biofuel production.
Maybe we need to take a time-out on the rapid growth of our biofuels industry. We also need to be shifting focus to new inputs such as switch-
grass, crop waste and other alternatives to grain-based ethanol.
We need to be taking a hard look at our agriculture policies as Congress works on a new farm bill. When commodity prices are high is not when we should be renewing subsidies.
Americans are finding higher prices in the grocery store and at the pump, but we aren't starving, and it wouldn't hurt to practice a little conservation and suffer through the high gas prices. Not when millions of our brothers and sisters around the world are going hungry with little hope of food for their stomachs tomorrow.
The Hutchinson News April 20 editorial
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