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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WWW.KANSAN.COM
N E N I N O O O O O
OUR OPINION
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2006
University makes good with Honors program
PAGE 7A
Universities and colleges offer more to students than just the chance to earn an undergraduate degree. Athletics, study abroad programs and community service are several areas where institutions put their resources, not only to make themselves look attractive to prospective students, but also to boost their own prestige.
The University is trying to revamp one of the amenities it possesses: The honors program. Not only will the improvements make the program better for the students that use it, but it could also go toward bringing the University closer to that coveted top-25 ranking.
A number of changes to the program are planned. Stricter admission standards, more classes that focus on the application and importance of academics in the real world and more classes that appeal to junior and seniors. A "common class," similar in concept to the Western Civilization courses
Issue: Honors program upgrades
Stance: The University's upgrades to the program will benefit all students.
air Liberal Arts & Science undergraduates must take, will help unite honors students.
All the changes would aid in getting the University closer to a top-25 ranking, but the benefits to honors students would be excellent, too. When they graduate and walk down Campanile Hill, their degrees will be more valuable to employers and neighbors. They'll have been further trained to take their education and apply it to their jobs and communities.
In the future, tt will mean something more to have graduated from the University of Kansas with honors.
Ty Beaver for the editorial board
Free All for Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
--is expensive? I know when it costs $25 to fill up my Geo
So, smoothie-making man of my dreams: Who's it gonna be?
is expensive? I know when it costs $25 to fill up my Geo
Yeah, that guy who makes smoothies is like the McDreamy of the Underground.
right.
My friend just learned firsthand what happens when you try to hold a parking spot in the front row when other people are coming home. I hope he's all
It smells like Worlds of Fun outside and yesterday it smelled like scout camp. Ladies and gentlemen, it is officially summer
You know how I know gas
--world? Could this idea to wait and hold on to what is most precious to many of us, signify a change in our society? Is this partial return to the chaste life a necessary trend after decades of excess and sexual flippancy? Does it satisfy the need for a great purging of our moral and emotional souls or is it merely nothing to lose sleep about?
The Easter Bunny came to Murphy Hall a little bit early
Nothing like a hot day, naked time and a good beer! Wool Oh, gotta go, mom's calling.
I just have one question:
What the hell happened to
the workload?
the weeke
So I'm just sitting in my car in Sigma Kappa's parking lot and I definitely just witnessed a G-Phi pull down her pants and pop a squat in their parking lot.
I totally just lost my Jimmy John's virginity to my girlfriend and I'm a girl. Is that weird? Because I'm
not sure
I found Jesus at a party last night. He was turning water into Coors Light.
My roommate's girlfriend likes to brush her teeth naked and I don't like my girlfriend's sister.
I just peed in the Chi-O fountain. And I'm a girl.
图
Abstinence reconsidered; no sex one of many options
COMMENTARY
This past semester the words normally occupying this space have documented the crazy, frenetic, sometimes mixed-up world of sex, love and relationships. Yet nowhere in those five previous columns has abstinence been mentioned.
While large populations of us regularly take advantage of our right to freely participate in sexual activities, there are still many of us who choose to avoid them altogether.
Whether we have no possibilities and no luck in the bedroom or we just don't want to partake in any bedroom activities, it is not just the devoutly religious who are saying no to sex outside the confines of marriage. "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is not just a movie. On this campus and around the world, young and old alike are waiting for the right person or the right time and holding on to what remains important and sacred to them.
COURTNEY HAGEN opinion@kansan.com
What seems most atypical and incongruent to me is the large number of males that I know that are just saying no to sex. While this idea challenges the stereotypical images that many hold of a hypersexual and emotionally unattached male, many are reporting that they have chosen not to have sex because they just haven't met the right person or just weren't ready for all the strings that are invariably attached.
Are the growing number of males who are turning their backs on sex and turning onto a deeper emotional connection signifying a role reversal in our
Whatever the answer, the trend seems to be tipping the scales in favor of abstinence. On March 15, the Kansas State Board of Education made history by voting Kansas the first state in the nation to require parental permission from parents to allow their children to take sexual education classes. The vote was a step in the direction towards advocating for abstinence, by trying to control the numbers of students who would receive information about both sex and abstinence in the classes.
In the coming weeks the Board will also be discussing whether sexual education should be taught at all. The Board is facing the heady decision to ban certain books that are considered racy or obscene and to require an abstinence-only education in public schools.
While abstinence seems to be growing in prominence, our public educational systems should not systematically annihilate a student's right to learn about both sex and abstinence. Students have the right to be presented with all the information there is on options and choices, so that they can critically make their own healthy and personally beneficial choices.
Learning about your choices and sexual freedoms, including the right to say no to sex, should not and does not lead students down a path to sexual promiscuity — as proven by my sexually intelligent, virgin male friends. They deserve the right to know in order to make educated choices. Not providing all the information and options to students is lying by omission. It is only after one has all the facts that one can most effectively make smart choices.
Parents and the School Board should not be afraid of sexual education. In some ways, wellrounded sexual knowledge can act to dissuade people from sex. With sex comes responsibilities and necessary precautions. For some the knowledge and threat of STDs, pregnancy, moral violation and emotional vulnerability and attachment is enough of a headache to keep them abstinent — at least until the right person comes along.
Until next time...
- Hagen is a Council Bluffs, Iowa, junior in journalism and theater and film.
Allegations of bias unfounded; issue reported fairly
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I was disappointed to see two pieces in Monday's Kansan criticizing Erin Wisdom's article, "Choice of a Lifetime," for being biased toward a pro-life viewpoint. After reading the article on Thursday, I was pleasantly surprised by how fair the reporting actually was and how both perspectives were discussed equally in the article. To verify my initial reaction, I decided to see how much evidence from each side was
After doing a quick count of different components of the article, it seems that the article contained four personal stories. Two people regretted having an abortion, and two did not. Expert testimony was used in the article five times. Two said abortions were not usually regretted, one said they often were, and contradictory testimony about abortion doctors being more interested in money
used in her article.
than in helping women.
There are also several studies. One gave the statistics on numbers of abortions in the US and two were contradictory studies examining the prevalence of regret following an abortion. There are several contradictory studies about adverse health affects following abortions. And there is one scholarly article about the biological makeup of fetuses, and Wisdom disclosed that the author of the
study believed that "human persons" begin at conception so that the readers may take the author's bias into account.
Looking at the makeup of the article, it is impossible to come to the conclusion that it was significantly biased one way or another.
Wisdom did a fine job of making sure that both perspectives were included on every topic — indeed, not a single significant point went
without being refuted by the other side.
It seems that some people were upset that their own biases were not confirmed by the article, but that in itself does not make the article biased. Wisdom should be proud of the article, and those upset by it should examine what "bias" actually means.
Vince Myers
Olathe sophomore
University should do more for clean air
COMMENTARY
DAN DAVIS
opinion@hansan.com
I spent several hours outside on Friday night. After nearly an hour of standing in the sun, I decided it was hotter than it ever should be in April. This simple fact was reinforced when I got home Friday night and found that my house was without air conditioning. If anyone is willing to claim that there is no such thing as global warming I would challenge them to mow my lawn tomorrow.
The next thing that leapt to the forefront of my mind was how much driving around campus I had done in the past week. If everyone is doing this, we must be adding to global warming in a significant way.
Some higher education institutions, such as the University of California-Santa Barbara, have established programs to help reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases by their faculty, staff, and students. There are two key areas that UCSB has focused on that could be applied here at the University.
Carpooling is an area that the University has not taken sufficient strides to establish as part of our culture. With several students living in areas close to one another or in apartment complexes, carpooling is a realistic option. Some measures that could be implemented are an online matching list that students, staff and faculty could access to find a carpooling group in their area.
If we want to be serious about carpooling we must also offer incentives to those groups that are willing to help out. Such incentives could include reduced parking fees, specialized lots for carpoolers and a rebate on Park and Ride passes for carpool members.
Another area that Kansas is lacking in is its support of bicyclists. UCSB has free lockers for bike riders to lock their bikes in. This would not only encourage people to bike to campus, but it would also leave the KU Public Safety Office with fewer bike thefts to deal with. UCSB also has free showers for anyone who rides their bike to campus. This becomes especially nice as the weather warms up. This idea could easily be accommodated by allowing bicyclists to use dorm showers.
A more difficult task that could increase bike traffic is lobbying the Lawrence City Council for establishment of bike lanes throughout the city — especially on roads leading toward and into campus. Though bike lanes would be difficult to have on campus because of foot traffic and the constant bus traffic, off campus they could be a valuable asset in the battle to keep cool.
With a few simple and relatively cheap actions the University could be well on its way toward a greener campus and a cooler tomorrow.
Davis is a sophomore in accounting.
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