OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
5A FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 2008
EDITORIAL BOARD
Campaign trailblazers
Delta Force drops Senate ambitions instead focuses solely on two issues
Instead of focusing on advertising candidates for this Student Senate election season, Delta Force has chosen to spend its time focusing on two issues: sustainability and sexual health. This could not only give Delta Force the chance to grow
as a coalition, but it could also set a new standard in campaigning.
Co-presidents John Cross, Kansas City, Mo., senior, and
Bridey Maidhof, Overland Park senior, said the coalition chose not to run candidates through group decision-making.
OUR VOICE
"Those were the issues that people in the group were most passionate about," Cross said.
The co-presidents said the time and money spent on campaigning for elections could be better spent focusing on those two issues.
At first glance, it seems counterintuitive to abandon Student Senate representation in favor of an informational campaign. However, Cross provided an excellent rationale for Delta Force's decision.
"You're selling the issues, not selling yourself," he said.
When a coalition is primarily occupied with gaining and retaining Senate seats, its focus becomes selling its brand. If Delta Force doesn't have the pressure of putting up candidates, it can safely focus on its issues of choice without worrying that its basic ideals are compromised.
Taking competitiveness out of the equation ensures that these issues campaigns are about just that — the issues.
The primary goal of the sustainability campaign is to encourage Chancellor Robert Hemenway to sign the President's Climate Commitment, a pact that would reduce or offset the University's greenhouse gas emissions. Maidhof said that 498 other universities had already signed the Commitment.
"It's almost an embarrassment to see how far behind KU is," Maidhof said.
A biodiesel lab and more energy efficient buildings are also on the
coalition's sustainability agenda. Cross and Maidhof acknowledged that their green campaign was a long-term project, and they hoped students would be able to appreciate sustainability on a campus scale.
It is wise to put emphasis on campus sustainability in particular, given that green issues can be vague and left unaddressed. If the University takes
on more local projects, there's a better chance that more people will understand sustainability as a relevant issue.
The second issue of sexual health is equally important. Maidhof and Cross said STI testing, rising birth control costs, Watkins Health Center policies and research were possible topics to explore.
The main concern about Delta Force's plan is whether it will show any tangible results.
There is no precedent of a coalition undertaking anything like this, so the plan's feasibility is hard to gauge.
The impetus for implementing strong sustainability and sexual health awareness policies rests ultimately not with Delta Force, but instead with the students it seeks to inform. A group can only hand out so many fliers and have so many meetings.
At some point, students must decide where they stand on these issues, and on any others that a coalition proposes.
When the cynicism of electoral pressure is removed, the issues can speak for themselves, and students can make decisions unhindered by brand names.
Delta Force's approach to issues campaigning is a fresh and engaging way to approach students, and it may set a positive precedent in the future.
"I hope that it inspires a new spirit of civic engagement among the student body," Cross said.
-Kelsey Hayes for the editorial board
FROM THE DRAWING BOARD
COMMENTARY
Negative comments on story perpetuate false stereotype
Max Rinkel
A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about lyrics that degrade women. I wrote about how rap and hip-hop genres had become increasingly bad culprits in producing these lyrics.
In response I got two very intriguing, but not surprising, remarks from readers.
One said I was a racist, and the other said I was just another rich, white girl form Johnson County who didn't like rap music.
Those are two pretty good stereotypes Id say.
Bravo, whoever you are. However, you're wrong, and my column makes me more of a feminist than a racist.
I know how easy it is to get those -isms mixed up (hope you're catching my sarcasm here cause I am laying it on pretty thick).
Calling people who scrutinize rap music "racist" is absolutely ridiculous.
As it says at the end of my column I am from Leawood, and that is in Johnson County.
Clearly, this person got an "A" in geography, congrats!
But it doesn't say that I lived the first half of my life being raised by a single mother in a duplex in Kansas City, Mo. Guess that would have been a little long-winded to add onto the end.
Thanks to a wonderful stepdad who took on two kids and dog when he married my mother and also put everything he had earned in his 36 years of life into buying us a house in Leawood so we could go to good public schools, I am able to say that my parents are Leawood residents.
Even though a number of Johnson County residents are extremely privileged and, at times, haughty, not all of us are like that.
I've known people who tell me they feel ashamed even getting into a car with a "JO" tag on the license plate, and I am a person that ate hot dogs and macaroni every night growing up. That amazes me.
I remember payday growing up. I remember what it meant and the sense of relief in the house when that day came.
I don't drive a hummer. I drive a decade-old Saab that I bought from Autotrader.
I paid for it with my own money, thanks to a lot of putting clothes on hangers and waiting tables. Glamorous, I know.
Lastly, I do like hip-hop music. In fact, I love hip-hop music.
Erykah Badu is my idol, and I can't count the amount of times I've seen J5 and Blackilicious in concert. Gift-of-gab is one of the most talented rappers of our time, and he raps without degrading or objectifying women.
Stereotyping. In American culture, it's inevitable. Passing judgement about someone without knowing them is second nature for most.
But what if you're wrong?
It's nearly impossible to know a book by it's cover, so making those assumptions makes one appear petty and ignorant.
Before you pretend to know everything about someone, their preferences, their struggles, their beliefs and principles, why don't you take care of your own prejudices first?
Fighting stereotypes with ignorance isn't going to get anybody anywhere. It just fuels the fire of intolerance.
Simmermon is a Leawood senior in journalism.
COMMENTARY
A Spring Break road trip will drive away school worries
The cure for a bad test is a handful of f-bombs and a few beers, and the cure for the springtime sappiness that appears in braided fingers around campus is a good old-fashioned road trip.
Getting in the car and driving has saved me many times from becoming overwhelmed by that terrible
feeling that bubbles up in my throat when I receive a blue book on which ink has bled through to the cover or stumble across Eskimo kisses on campus.
Lately I've heard more of the typical pre-spring break sentiments of stress, weariness and the "I'm working too hard for the little fun I'm having" smugness that comes around in early March. When professors have your brain in non-stop four-wheel drive, it's hard to come to a complete stop and leave your stress on Daisy Hill.
Not to say that staying up late to study impedes your social life, but sitting in the glow of your computer screen muttering breathy grunts
We are all busting our asses for a degree and awards and internships, but we don't need to sacrifice the ardor of our souls for academia. Youthful wiles and the occasional act of stupidity or spontaneity do not require that you quit your studies
To keep our minds keen and our ambitions hungry, we have to go out into the world to remember who we are outside of school.
Tom Petty put it most poignantly when he sang, "If you don't run, you rust."
A road trip aids in sloughing off the routine into which we've wedged our lives in place of adventure.
about all the shit you have to do is a picture is something we all do.
altogether, but serve as healthy occasions to feel more like yourself and less like a student. We all talk about interviews and what are we going to do when we graduate and whether or not we look good on paper.
I know what it is like to have a destination and empty pockets, but as a proponent of soul-searching through exploration, I know that there are many locations in and around Lawrence that are worthy of
Numbers don't lie, but impressive numbers don't warrant memorable interviews.
Road trips, whether going solo or with a few friends, are ideal instances to escape into yourself and from the banality of routine.
wandering to.
For instance, you could go to Jardine's in Kansas City, Mo., to hear Angela Hagenbach today or on March 28. You could drive to Lone Star Lake southwest of Lawrence, or see farms with eccentric yard art north of town. You just have to be willing to get lost.
Whether you have adventures waiting for you outside of your couch over Spring Break, stretching your legs and doing something to clear your mind is a must.
Otherwise you may need some WD-40 for those joints.
Ryan is a Salina junior in art history.
To contribute to Free For All, visit Kansan.com and add the Facebook application, or call 785-864-0500. Free For All callers have 20 seconds to talk about anything they choose.
to wear.
Whoever suggested that wearing Nikes would be better than wearing Uggs should ask the children at the factories which they'd prefer KU students
FREE FOR ALL
Mexico is calling my name loud and clear. It's saying, "Come lie on my beach and relax. Let me take care of your worries."
You made it clear that one in four girls is infected with some sort of STD. Alarming, I know. What they forget to say is that 75 percent of girls are not
infected.
--shack there.
I finished my last midterm 30 minutes ago, and I'm already drunk.
--shack there.
Students of Liberty is the best thing I've heard of in a long time. I can't believe we finally have honest people running for Student Senate.
I'd love to "Connect" with that guy. I'm all about Connecting.
I'm definitely playing "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask" over Spring Break.
--shack there.
No one cares that much about a bunch of frat boys. Except for maybe the guys who live in them and the girls who
--shack there.
--shack there.
I'm in a glass case of emotion.
I would so have sex with my TA if he wasn't a math TA. Sick.
Happy Green Beer Day!
I don't understand how hard it is for my roommate to put a dish in the dishwasher. It's not too difficult.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
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Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Alex Doherty, Bryan Dykman, Matt Erickson, Kelsey Hayes, Lauren Keith, Darla Skipe, Dianne Smith, Ian Stanford and Zach White.