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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
OUR OPINION
Bus system leaves students behind
PAGE 5A
KU on Wheels buses, the campus buses that take students to class, aren't handicap accessible. To accommodate handicapped students' transportation needs, KU on Wheels offers vans that pick up students and take them to class.
However, if a student misses their pick-up twice, KU on Wheels won't pick them up anymore.
Students sleep in; sometimes they miss the bus and they don't get to class. It's a fact of life for college students. But if you're a handicapped student and miss your alarm twice, you no longer have a service to take you to class
It's not that KU on Wheels is being mean to students with transportation needs its buses can't handle. But the organization, which is run through student money by KU students, needs the policy to manage its rides.
The situation ends up being unfortunate for any handicapped student who loses his or her ride privileges. And it unfairly, though not intentionally, targets these students. Any student who simply misses the bus, no matter how many times, gets to keep his or her bus pass.
So it's a problem of resources, not policy.
Issue: Handicap accessibility and KU on Wheels
Stance: KU on Wheels should combine with the 'T' to improve.
With both services acting with each other, instead of independently, more vans would be available to take handicapped students to class.
One way to increase the resources of KU on Wheels and end this problem is to combine with the Lawrence Public Transportation, the 'T.'
The 'T' has 14 partransit vans it uses for its T Lift service, compared to only two for KU on Wheels.
With more resources and more rides, the stringent two strikes and your out policy wouldn't need to stay in effect.
And handicapped students wouldn't be held to a higher standard than other KU students.
- John Jordan for the editorial board
RIO BACHO TAPES DISPONIBLE
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Free All for
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George Lucas should be sat down and forced to drink the wrong Holy Grail cup.
I'd like the world to know that my ex-boyfriend pretty much just sucks at being a person.
Is it weird that my friend is defrosting his cheesecake right now with a blow dryer?
The UDK should have
more Quotes of the Day by Dave Barry. Dave Barry is a frickin' genius and my hero.
I just saw an adorable girl outside in the lobby. Where have you been my whole life, adorable girl?
Hey Free-for-All, can you tell me the number for KU Info? No really, it's OK. Just publish it in the paper tomorrow something.
flow of something.
(Editor's note: 785-864-3506)
OK, so I found the number for KU Info, but first of all, they weren't answering their phones, and second of all, they didn't even have a menu option for what I needed, which is the bus schedule. How difficult is
that, Free-for-All?
(Editor's note: Find the bus schedule online at www.ku.edu/~kuwheels)
Ponder gender more to improve overall
COMMENTARY
One of the most important things we learn in college is how to deal with and function within the context of gender. It is impossible to function properly in our society without a certain degree of sensitivity to and knowledge of gender. I am not directing this comment at any certain gender; we could all use a greater appreciation of the discrimination and challenges faced by women in the past and present.
We all know gender discrimination exists, but no one wants to talk about it. What is the best way to deal with this uncomfortable problem? Expand your horizons, push the boundaries of your current comfort zone and expose yourself to a new perspective.
Sometimes we have to be proactive about our own education. College is all about having new experiences and growing from them. But sometimes, what is presented to students in the classroom is an incomplete and tedious picture of reality and the possibility of social change.
In order to get the most from our university educations, we must actively seek a deeper knowledge and understanding of gender in society. The University of Kansas offers a wide range of opportunities that can help with this; one must only seek them out.
LIZ STUEWE
opinion@kansan.com
She is just the type of interesting, talented author to help us educate ourselves about gender and society. Clift wrote a book titled "Madam President: Women Blazing the Leadership Trail." The book outlines the struggles of women in politics and the complex societal standard that keeps them from reaching that climax of American power; the presidency.
As Jayhawks we should be honored to have Eleanor Clift at 7 p.m on Sunday at the Dole institute of Politics.
Clift has a lot to teach us all about the reality of the world we live in and the possibility of a more egalitarian political society in our future.
It is not often that we have the ability to participate in a serious dialogue about the state of gender
Eleanor Clift: 7 p.m.
Sunday at the Lied
Center.
LECTURE DETAILS
politics in America. Jump at this chance. Cliff offers something for everyone. For those of us who are hesitant about women in politics, she offers a compelling argument for the betterment of American society through equal participation in politics. For those of us who view a woman president as an important step, Cliff offers us practical advice and knowledge that can allow us to be part of the movement towards gender equality.
The Dole Institute's current lecture series, "The First Woman President," is the perfect opportunity to break away from the normal day-to-day grind of learning in a classroom, and give yourself an experience that will enrich the time you do have to spend in the classroom.
Take responsibility for your own education. Grow. Do something new. You will be a better and happier person for it.
stuewe is a Lawrence sophomore in political science and American studies.
COMMENTARY
Government's siezure of search records justified
Since the inception of the USA PATRIOT Act in the wake of 9/11, many people have accused the U.S. government of taking on a Big Brother mentality. Recent revelations about NSA wiretapping have done nothing to put the accusation to rest. It comes as no surprise that the government's recent requests for Google to turn over information pertaining to Internet searches was immediately decried by many as yet another attempt by President Bush to destroy civil rights and to invade everyone's privacy.
Firstly, the subpoena served to Google by the government has nothing to do with trying to find enemies of the state. Instead it has to do with the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), according to government statements in a January USA Today article. This act was ruled unenforceable by the Supreme Court because it required all commercial Internet companies to block possible access by children to pornographic Web sites by requiring credit card numbers or other kinds of age verification. Although the act was ruled unenforceable, it was not declared unconstitutional, and it was sent back to a lower court to decide whether parental filters worked as well as what COPA proposed. In order to prove its case that filters were ineffective,
The only problem with this scenario is that the facts don't support it.
JOSHUA GOETTING opinion@kansan.com
the government requested that top search engines submit a random list of Web sites that users searched for and general records of searches in order to try to show that many seemingly innocent searches would turn up pornographic results. In its request, the government didn't ask for any identifying information, but only what searches had been done in the span of a particular week and with what frequency, according to CNET News.
The ostensible reason for Google's defiance is that it is fighting for the rights of the little guy. Google's apparent concerns, however, are somewhat hollow because it is hypocritically saying on the one hand that its rights are being violated by innocuous requests for cooperation made by U.S. authorities while on the other hand it recently concluded a deal in which it is colluding with the
government of China, seemingly solely in order to increase its profits by entering the Chinese market
The real reason for Google's reluctance to release information, then seems to be because of certain information that the company doesn't want to get out. Not only is Google concerned that certain trade secrets could be acquired by the likes of Yahoo and Microsoft if it releases this information, but it is also worried that people might find out about how much Google itself invades everyone's privacy. For instance, ABC News reported in January that Google not only records and stores every search made by its search engine, but it also stores unique data that can identify the computer that made the search. The Sunday Times of London also reported that it keeps this information indefinitely. Furthermore, the Sunday Herald in Scotland
reported that Google searches for key words in all e-mails in its Gmail service so that it can place targeted ads. And for those of you using Google's toolbar, The Sunday Times of London reported that Google is keeping records of all of our searches in addition to every Web site that you visit.
Everyone should value their privacy and stand up for their rights to keep their personal information confidential, but before anyone believes the cries of outrage that Dick Cheney wants to see your what you're searching for on the internet, they should first take a long and hard look at what Google does everyday to destroy privacy on the Internet.
- Goetting is a Leavenworth senior in political science and East Asian languages and cultures.
COMMENTARY
Stem cell initiative requires education
ANDREW SOUKUP
opinion@kansan.com
Missouri may soon become a pioneering state in the area of stem cell research, especially amongst its Midwest counterparts. According to missouricures.com, a group called the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures is pushing a Constitutional amendment that will grant the right to perform embryonic stem cell research in Missouri by mandating the legislature to appropriate funding for embryonic stem cell research as it would for all other research.
The sponsoring group makes some pretty amazing claims about its ballot initiative. First, they say that it will outlaw cloning. In fact, the amendment clearly states, "No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being."
For a state in a predominately pro-life region, it is somewhat amazing to find that nearly 70 percent of Missouri voters support the referendum, according to the magazine "Law and Health Weekly." But, once the text of the proposed amendment is actually read, it is no surprise at all.
Secondly, the Missouri Coalition purports that the initiative will outlaw in vitro fertilization for use in stem cell research. Again, the amendment expressly states that "No human blastocyst may be produced by fertilization solely for the purpose of stem cell research." But, this text is so full of double speak that one cannot take this statement at face value. It goes on to say later in the amendment that the ban "does not include producing any number of human blastocysts for the purpose of treating human infertility," thus allowing unused blastocysts to be used for research.
The law does not really ban cloning. In fact, it only bans cloning for the purpose of reproduction while leaving the door wide open for somatic cell nuclear transfer (a.k.a. cloning).
A somewhat larger issue at stake is the responsibility of the parties involved with the proposal. They have played so much with the semantics of the relevant terms that one has to wonder if they are really being at all honest in their proposal.
They claim the move would bring cures to Missourians. However, could their real motives be the millions, if not billions, of research dollars at stake? Could their real motives have anything to do with the $300-million complex being designed by the Stowers Institute of Kansas City, which will be built in what stowers-institute.org calls "a jurisdiction favorable to stem cell research?"
It seems that there is more at stake here than just medical cures. Missouri needs to see through all the hype and get to the core of this issue, without all the fancy white-wash being done by its proponents.
The full text of the referendum can be found at missouri-cures.com/documents/Initiative.pdf.
♦ Soukup is a Lakin sophomore in linguistics.
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