THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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OPINION
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WWW.KANSAN.COM
OUR OPINION
Consider students; stop the bickering
Once again, the Graduate Teaching Assistant Coalition and the University of Kansas administration are debating the specifics of contracts with the University. Both sides have their own ways of hampering discussions, ranging from inflexible scheduling and agendas to demonstrations of discontent.
It just wouldn't be the spring semester without graduate teaching assistant contract negotiations.
The ire that accompanies these negotiations does nothing for progress or for students at the University. The last negotiations lasted 22 months, during which GTAs and administration officials seemed more concerned with smiting the other party than coming to a fair compromise.
Both parties need to realize that they have to work together. GTAs have a right to fair pay and treatment. The University administration needs to stop considering the GTAC as a vengeful enemy and view it more as a business partner. The coalition is only looking out for its members' interests, just as the administration is looking out for the University's interests.
GTAs need to remember why they are getting paid. If a GTA is more concerned about
PAGE 7A
Issue: GTAC vs. KU, 2006
Stance: GTAs and administrators should strive to communicate.
Cooperation is key in any negotiation and until both the University and the GTAC understand this, they will be more concerned with bickering than improving education.
his work benefits through the University than planning an effective lesson or leaving time to work with students, their pupils are the ones who will suffer. Such a situation could also lend to University officials perceiving that GTAs have not completing their ends of the bargain when it comes to a contract.
What both parties should consider is how their negotiations will affect students. How will allowing or not allowing GTAs to teach more than 10 semesters affect teaching? How would a possible salary raise affect teaching? The classroom should be the primary interest, not any one group's prestige or pocketbook.
Ty Beaver for the editorial board
Call 864-0500
Free for All
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006
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.
Yeah, this is in response to the quote about the comics sucking in the newspaper. I just want to say that Squirrel kicks ass
I didn't get any flowers.
When good people die, they go to heaven. When bad people die, they go to Oklahoma.
You know, President Bush is actually smart. No one will ever assassinate him, because they don't want Cheney to be president That's smart.
Calling you, I have nothing to say, but I figure I'll still do it because you guys kind of suck this semester.
I1said it
"Excuse Me, You're in My Cubicle" group on facebook is probably the worst piece of literature I have ever seen in my life
So, I was watching the Olympics figure skating, and I totally thought they said Sasha Kaun instead of Sasha Cohen, and I started cracking up. How hilarious would it be to see Sasha Kaun do a double axle in a sparkly
leotard?
In the two and a half years that I have lived here, my car has taken ten times more damage from all the freaking
age from all the freaking potholes all over this freaking city than it ever did in the seven years beforehand when I lived in Topeka. City of Lawrence, what the heck man? WTF? Why is my car so effed up because of your darn potholes? Where the heck are the dudes out there filling these things up? What the hell are my tax dollars for?
dollars paying for?
HI Free-for-All, Kate Greenwald, I found her bus pass outside of Target. If she would like it back, please contact Steven Levy, Yes. I don't know how you're going to find me, but I don't want to give my phone number out. OK, bye.
(Editor's note: There is a lost and found for bus passes at the Student Senate office in the Kansas Union)
Someone should tell Byron Eaton that the headband goes around your whole head. It's really not that hard.
The OSU basketball players wear too many headbands.
These refs, along with this game, suck very much. Very, very much.
Brandon Rush, will you be my Valentine?
Julian Wright, will you marry me?
The best thing about freshmen is that they become some homophones.
REXBABIN THE SACLAMENT O Bee
Choose quality over quantity for best results
Standing in the wake of another Valentine's Day, I am reminded of a promise I made to myself at the start of this year. My resolution of sorts was all about quality over quantity because I vowed to love better than to love much.
After suffering constant media bombardments with the Nick and Jessica and Brad and Jen debacles, I found myself becoming more and more cynical about the ease with which my peers and celebrities entered into and ran out of relationships. Those around me, including myself, find it so easy to throw caution to the wind and welcome a variety of fleeting romances into our lives. I made my pact in hopes of discovering whether healthy, monogamous relationships could survive and flourish in this post-modern age that encourages sheer quantity over quality.
Perhaps my personal New Year's pact was the result of some unconscious evaluation of a deep-seeded need to find comfort depth and happiness in just one person. Maybe it is some sort of quarter-life crisis, the inner ticking of a clock that reminds me that I am one year closer to the "real world," complete with a job, a family and a picket fence. But what I really think prompted my resolution was a sense of maturity. Just as I am one year closer to the real world, I am also a year older and a year wiser. My tastes, desires and opinions have changed and I have found that it is no longer how many people I open up to, but who and when.
▼ COMMENTARY
On my quest, I elicited the insight of the notorious Dennis
- Hagen is a Council Bluffs, Iowa, junior in journalism and film.
Yet it is nice to know that if and when the time comes for the most important and meaningful relationship of my life, I will be ready to accept it and relish it. I know that day will be long time coming. For now I will focus on the here and now and if I can do that by sometimes putting a little more effort into those I let close, then I know I am one step closer to loving better.
Column valued but insensitive
Until next time...
Patrick Rose, associate opinion editor
864-4924 or press@kansan.com
Ari Ben, business manager
864-4462 or adddirector@kansan.com
Sarah Connelly, sales manager
864-4462 or adales@kansan.com
Malcim Gibson, general manager, news adviser
864-7867 or mgibson@kansan.com
I quickly discovered that Dailey and I both agreed that experiencing different relationships and people was an important part of discovering the sort of person I wanted to end up with in the future. Ironically, and perhaps not so efficiently, it took opening myself up to different things to discover exactly what I didn't want.
opinion@kansan.com
Dailey, professor emeritus. I sat down one afternoon to pick Dailey's brain about monogamy and intimate relationships.
reach the finish line? Can we live and love in a world that doesn't expect this kind of behavior from everyone? Perhaps this kind of world provoked my resolution to learn how to experience a smarter, greater kind of love instead of relationship after relationship.
COURTNEY HAGEN
While Dailey said dating around was important in establishing ideas and needs, he also listed the benefits of a committed, monogamous relationship: Emotional and physical stability, freedom from feelings of betrayal and sexual comfort. These things are all great if — and only if — you are with the right person at the right time. But what happens when that sense of stability or desire changes? What happens when what was right at the time isn't right anymore?
All too often our society seems to expect marriage as a result of a committed, monogamous relationship. But what happens when that union is entered into too quickly? What does it say about our world when our celebrities are running into and out of marriages and engagements with as much ease as Olympic triathletes
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Ironically, I am horrified that I can't handle and am not ready for this kind of a love. Dailey reminded me that many relationships at this young stage in life are still somewhat superficial. Don't get me wrong. I think I might be up to the challenge, but at the same time I know that resolutions are usually made to be broken. With Daily's reminder echoing in my mind, I know that am still young and I am still growing. I understand that I can comfortably get away with running in and out of relationships for at least a few more years. The thought of being with only one person for the rest of my life still petrifies me, and I guess that is a sign that my resolution is still merely a goal and not yet a motto by which to live and die.
I am writing this letter to clarify some misconceptions that may have materialized with regard to disability issues on campus. First, the KU On Wheels lift van takes students to campus events and meetings in addition to classes. AbleHawks appreciates efforts made to expand this service during the last year and hopes it continues. I should also add that no AbleHawks member currently serves on the Transportation Board; although we do hope to
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser 864-7688 or jweaver@kansan.com
Jonathan Kealing, editor
864-4854 or jkaeling@kansan.com
Joshua Bickel, managing editor
864-4854 or jbicke@kansan.com
Nate Karlin, managing editor
864-4854 or nkarlik@kansan.com
Jason Shad, opinion editor
864-4924 or jiaadd@kansan.com
The University Daily Kansan's coverage on disability leaves something to be desired as well. The editorial board's recognition of the lift van service's disadvantages is welcome; however the used of the outdated term "handicapped" to describe students with disabilities is troubling. This term is offensive to the disability community because of the inferior status and attitude of pity it connotes toward people with disabilities. Check
work with this entity.
www.lsl.ku.edu/lsi/internal/guidelines.html for more information on this topic.
It's commendable that that the Kansan notes the importance of accessibility for all campus members. In the future, I hope to see more coverage along with a better representation of the intricacies inherent in this issue.
Zach Coble
Winfield junior
Vice president of AbleHawks
Before you rent, study the landlord
TALK TO US
DAN DAVIS
opinion@kansan.com
It was 2 a.m. and I still could not sleep. Maybe a snack and something to drink would help. I put my feet on the ground, and to my surprise there was something very cold and very wet on the floor. I came to the conclusion that one of my roommates must have spilled God knows what. I used a towel to cover the spot, got my snack, and went back to bed. After all, I had to be at work in six hours.
Only six months ago, I was a first-time renter, but in that time I've dealt with my management company so often that they should have been paying me. I decided that I should get some tips.
Over the next couple of days, it became obvious that I was hasty in blaming my friends. No number of towels could induce the spot to leave my floor. After two weeks of this nonsense I called my landlord and reported the problem. Over the next six months, the spot on my floor grew and despite weekly calls, my management company did little to fix the problem. The dilemma became so obscene that mold grew in the crevice where the carpet meets the wall.
Don't let the possibility of a minor problem drive you away from renting or leasing a home. It can be a great experience which can teach students several things about life and living with other people. Hulse said, "Most tenants and landlords do a great job." So don't worry about having problems. But if you run into them, you should know how to take care of them.
Tim Shaffel, professor of accounting, said, "There's no agreement in the world that will resolve the issues. A good company with solid management will do the right thing."
This advice leads to an important step for students looking into rent a home. Look into your future landlords. Talk to the current tenants of the home you are looking to rent.
Shaftel said, "If you move into a place that looks like a rat hole, it got that way somehow."
COMMENTARY
If a management company has done little or nothing to get a home ready before you move in, how are they going to respond to the problems that occur during your tenancy?
Rob Hulse, president of the Lawrence Board of Realty advises first-time renters to ask for references from a landlord and check them. If your prospective landlord cannot give you a short list of people who would say good things about them, what does that say about the landlord?
Both Shafat and Hulse said you should read a document before you sign it. Though most of us have heard this several times, it needs to be reiterated. I can say that I did not read my lease in depth before I signed it.
Davis is a Joplin, Mo., freshman in business.
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Jonathan Kealing, Joshua Bickel, Nate Karlin,
Jason Shaad, Patrick Ross,Ty Beaver, John
Jordan, Malinda Deboorne
SUBMIT TO
111 Stauffer-Flint Hall
1435 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 68045
(785) 864-4810, opionin@kansan.com
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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.
General questions should be directed to the editor at editor@kansan.com.
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