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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WWW.KANSAN.COM
MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2006
OUROPINION
MO ED
Students must manage money to avoid debt
Unfortunately, many students don't have solid "money sense" or know how to curb excessive spending. Along with the cost of education, bad spending habits can propel a student into a seemingly insurmountable hole of debt. This not only endangers the student, but society at large.
Textbooks, rent, car payments, a night or two at the bars each week; the sources of student spending are limitless, ranging from the necessary to the superfluous. Good spending is a valuable skill for anyone, but especially for students who are usually on fixed incomes.
If a student only pays the minimum payment on a credit
A survey at Iowa State University found that the average student had three credit cards with a total debt of $1,000. Most students said it didn't feel like real money was being spent when a credit card was used. In another study, 40 percent of students aged 16 to 22 would buy a new pair of jeans or a similar item even if they did not have the money for it and 22 percent said they would use a credit card for the purchase.
Issue: Students' spending habits
Stance: Students must keep a tight rein on their finances to avoid years of debt in the future.
Everyone should be able to have a good time in college. The key is to not have to pay for it in the future, literally.
Such a poor sense of money and a lack of financial literacy indicates that students need to take better care of their bank accounts. Students can learn numerous practices to become or remain financially healthy and to stay that way, from understanding income and keeping good financial records to making sure to pay bills on time and maintaining a good credit history. Financial advising services are available in Lawrence and students should take advantage of them if necessary.
card bill, it can take decades to chip away at the debt.
— Ty Beaver for the editorial board
Free All for Call 864-0500
PAGE 7A
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.
喜
To the person who laughed at Deaf Texas, yes it does make you a bad person. You're going straight to hell.
--are going to do
are going to do
So today I saw some guy wearing a K-State sweat-shirt. I guess someone forgot to tell him that his team didn't make the tournament.
St. Patrick's Day is like the Christmas that you can't tell your parents about.
I miss Roy.
Are you considered an alcoholic if you're wasted before the sun goes down? Or does St. Patrick's Day just cancel that out?
Bradley Braves just stole St. Patrick's Day like the Grinch stole Christmas.
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Bill Self might be a great conference coach player, but he is the worst tournament coach ever.
We're the laughing stock of the nation for the second year in a row.
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Is Kansas ever going to make it past the first round while I'm a student here? I just want to know.
Jayhawks, you are breaking my Irish heart.
I am sitting next to a leprechaun at the Granada on
St. Patricks Day, and do you know how happy he looks? Not at all. Not at all.
How do we beat Texas and lose to Bradley? Seriously.
192
The entire city of Lawrence has March Sadness
Hey Brandon Rush, go ahead and go to the pros. We need somebody who
are going to do
can score
Dear Bill Self, thank you.
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Bradley just seriously ruined my spring break.
Dude, I came to KU for our freaking basketball, not an education. Looks like I must try harder.
gotta tran
Free-For-All, I just want to let you know that everything I have KU now is being burned.
are going to do
I have been a KU basketball fan my entire life since 1983. I have never been embarrassed to be a KU basketball fan until tonight. Pathetic What a bunch of losers
Jonathan Kaeling, editor
864-4854 or jkaeling@kansan.com
Joshua Bickel, managing editor
864-4854 or jbickel@kansan.com
Nate Karlin, managing editor
864-4854 or mkarlin@kansan.com
Jason Shaad, opinion editor
864-2544 or ijhaad@kansan.com
Hey Kansas basketball players, I'd just like to state the fact that even though you guys lost, I still have whole-hearted support for you and I think you guys are awesome and I can't wait for next NCAA tournament, when you guys
11 o'clock on Friday night,
St. Patrick's Day, and I now
have a reason to drink.
We have the B for Bitch curse. Bill Self, B. Bradley, B. Bucknell, B.
Hey Jayhawks, I know it's rough right now, but thanks for the Big 12 Champion-
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ship.
SO WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF ALL GIMS WORKERS ACCEPTED THE BUYOUT OFFER?
Patrick Ross, associate opinion editor 864-4924 or prox@kanean.com
TALK TO US
Sarah Connally, sales manager
884-4462 or adsales@kensan.com
Malcim Golson, general manager, news adviser
864-7867 or mbitapm@kansan.com
Ari Ben, business manager
864-4462 or adddirector@kansan.com
You can help end genocide; encourage divestment
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser 864-7665 or jweaver@kansan.com
COMMENTARY
About a month ago, I wrote a column on the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. The government of this desert-filled African nation has helped fund the murder, displacement and rape of thousands of its own citizens during the last three years.
from Sudan in response to the genocide in Darfur. KU is not one of those universities.
This semester, the leaders of the student organizations FIGHT (Fighting Ignorance of Global Humanitarian Threats), KU for Uganda and KU UNICEF are starting a drive to pressure the University to divest from all corporations doing business in Sudan.
The first step involves the University's involvement with TIAA-CREF, an organization that handles the University's pension funds. TIAA-CREF invests in several corporations that do business in Sudan.
It may seem impossible for someone in Lawrence to do anything about this. However, there is one way that even college students can push for an end to the horrors of Darfur: Divestment, or the selling of investments for non-financial reasons. Divestment is a complicated process, so follow closely.
In 2001, TIAA-CREF's divestment from Talisman Energy pressured the corporation to withdraw from Sudan. The divestment drive on campus wants to pressure the University to investigate its investments through TIAA-CREF as well as investments through endowment funds in order to find any way the University might be indirectly funding the genocide in Sudan.
To help with the divestment push, talk to students, professors and university employees about divestment from Sudan to build awareness of the issue. Write Chancellor Hemenway to tell him you'd like the University to investigate its investments and divest from any investments in Sudan.
MATT ERICKSON opinion@kansan.com
Few things are more powerful than money. Pulling money out from under companies that are funding genocide can save lives.
According to the Genocide Intervention Fund, a large portion of the Sudanese government's revenue comes from corporations doing business in Sudan — especially companies drilling for oil, which is an abundant resource in Sudan.
President Clinton barred U.S. businesses from operating in Sudan in 1997 because of the country's ties to Al Qaeda. However, multinational corporations are allowed to do business in Sudan and they can also be publicly traded on stock markets in the United States.
Thus, many American institutions, such as state governments, universities and pension funds, can invest money in companies that drill for oil or
Because the Sudanese government has used much of its revenue to purchase military equipment and weapons and to fund the Janjaweed militia that is responsible for the genocide in Darfur, companies doing business in Sudan are indirectly funding genocide.
Erickson is an Olathe freshman in journalism and political science.
For instance, the divestment of many governments and universities from corporations operating in South Africa during the 1980s helped create pressure to end apartheid and to establish democracy there.
If these institutions would divest from corporations operating in Sudan by pulling their money and financial support out of them, these corporations would be strongly encouraged to stop doing business in Sudan. Without investors, the businesses cannot function.
By taking away revenue, divestment can help to financially punish the Sudanese government for their policy of genocide. Also, divestment and pushes for divestment can demonstrate the desire of citizens and companies to stop the evils of genocide.
At least four universities nationwide, as well as three state governments, have divested
do other business in Sudan. These institutions, though indirectly, are also funding the Sudanese genocide.
These institutions, though indirectly, are also funding the Sudanese genocide.
FCC should not fine network
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The $3.6 million in "indecency" fines proposed by the FCC against CBS are an ominous attack on the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment.
Moreover, it is the parents — not the government — who should be responsible for deter mining what their children are allowed to watch on TV.
deem indecent, it shouldn't fine broadcasters that air shows that viewers deem indecent. Viewers are free to change the channel or turn off their TV set if they do not like what they see. They can't be forced to patronize a station they find indecent.
Just as the government doesn't fine newspapers that publish cartoons that Muslims
David Holcberg
Ayn Rand Institute
Irvine, CA
The more we rely on all these instruments, the harder it is to recover from a technological hiccup. So pull yourself away from the television for a moment. Remove your fingers from their fixed positions on a keyboard and sharpen a pencil, pull out a regular, technologically unsound piece of paper and see what you can accomplish the good old-fashioned way.
Syring is a Salina sophomore in journalism.
GUEST COLUMN GUIDELINES
Maximum Length: 500 word limit
Include: Author's name; class, hometown (student); position (faculty member/staff); phone number (will not be published)
"Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other."
KAITLYN SYRING opinion@kansan.com
EDITORIAL BOARD
Reduce the use of technology as a crutch
C. P. Snow said this in a March 1971 article of the New York Times and his words are still an accurate description of technology 35 years later. We use technology everyday, and most of us struggle to visualize a life without the luxuries science has provided.
Jonathan Kealing, Joahua Bicket, Nate Karlin,
Jason Shaad, Patrick Rose, Ty Beaver, John
Jordan, Malina Indusa碍
Also: The Kansas will not print guest columns that attack a reporter or another columnist.
We use e-mail as a prevalent form of communication and this is encouraged by universities. Ron Cramer, instructional specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted in an article for the National Teaching and Learning Newsletter that e-mail is quite useful. However, Cramer also said in the article that many people have "developed an unsettling dependence on this ability to talk to one another electronically."
SUBMIT TO
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1435 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 68045
(785) 864-4810, opinion@kansan.com
COMMENTARY
Last year, curiosity killed the squirrel when one ventured into a transformer on 19th Street and started a fire. The resulting power outage affected 4,000 people. Parts of the KU campus lost power, and for many, life ceased to function. Campus stores were closed, some classes were cancelled temporarily and people sat around in the dark with perplexed expressions. Who knew squirrels could have such an impact?
Occurrences like these serve to remind us of our increasing reliance on technology. The technologies that once were simply tools which made life easier, have become tools almost vital to our existence. Entire bodies of documents and records are stored in computers that seem to be about as reliable as miracle diet pills. There is not one reported case of a typewriter being infected with five different viruses that render it completely paralyzed, but typewriters were slow and not nearly as fancy as a flat-screen computer with an Intel Pentium 4 processor.
The Kansan welcomes letters to the editors and guest columns submitted by students, faculty and alumni.
The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length, or reject all submissions.
For any questions, call Jason Shaad or Patrick Ross at 864-4810 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com.
SUBMISSIONS
Lawrence got another peek at a life devoid of the usual conveniences when the storm two weeks ago left many homes, businesses and areas of campus without power. I, myself, wasn't sure what to do when I couldn't turn on my computer or my television to figure out what had happened. Life, again, came to somewhat of a standstill.
General questions should be directed to the editor at editor@kansan.com.
LETTER GUIDELINES
Maximum Length: 200 word limit
Include: Author's name and telephone number; class, hometown (student); position (faculty member/staff), phone number (will not be published)