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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Wednesday, June 18, 1986
Students need help now
Lt. Gov. Tom Docking, the democratic candidate for governor, suggested Saturday that the state start a savings plan to help parents save money to send their children to college.
The money deposited would be free of tax, like an IRA. The state would invest the money and keep track of the earned interest on each family's account. However, the Internal Revenue Service may mix the tax-free part of the plan.
The idea is fine, especially for 15 years down the road. But more immediate ideas are needed. The cost of education is rising now. And student assistance from the federal government is decreasing now.
Kansas' state universities, in a period of little or no inflation, will raise tuition by 5 percent this fall and raise it again next fall by 3 percent.
The Senate is trying to reduce the amount of money for student loan and grant programs next year by $2 billion. The Senate's cut doesn't include the money that Gramm-Rudman would strip from federal student-assistance programs.
Also, Docking's plan would benefit families that have money to invest. But cuts in student assistance are mostly hurting those families that don't have money. The proportion of minority students in universities is already dropping nationwide.
Let's have some more ideas.
KU needs smoking rules
Ernest Angino, Lawrence city commissioner, has proposed that Lawrence adopt a smoking ordinance. That's great. Smoke should be the smoker's problem — nobody else's.
KU's smoking rules were last revised more than 10 years ago. They prohibit smoking in classrooms, but that's about all. In fact, the Handbook for Faculty and Unclassified Staff allows smoking in offices, hallways, restrooms and public eating areas, except when they are carpeted.
And while Lawrence is at it, following the lead of Topeka, Kansas City, Mo., and other communities that recently have adopted smoking ordinances, the University of Kansas should examine its smoking rules as well.
Smoking rules that give more consideration to rugs than to lungs are outdated, especially in light of studies that have indicated the possibility that secondhand
smoke is harmful.
Campus hallways outside classrooms are favorite places for smokers to congregate and cloud the air as they wait for classes.
Everyday, everywhere, people breathe smoke either because of politeness or out of deference to their bosses. They need specific rules to keep smoke out of their air, not vague admonitions that smokers should respect the rights of non-smokers.
Any non-smoker who has stood in the Wescoe food line on a busy day in a fall or spring semester, surrounded by tables of smokers, has been inconvenienced at the least.
Public dining areas have no smoking sections, but in several cases these are very small. The no-smoking section of the cafeteria in Wescoe Hall is limited to one-quarter of the floor space, and is shoved off to the far end, away from the food lines.
An abortion election
Headlines said last week that legalized abortion was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court. Almost simultaneously, an abortion clinic was bombed in Wichita.
The decision might have been reaffirmed; the issue is anything but settled.
Before his resignation, Chief Justice Warren Burger was part of that conservative movement. He sided with the court's majority in 1973, but switched to the minority last week and called for a reexamination of Roe vs. Wade.
Burger's absence won't change the court's stand on abortion. The new associate justice appointed by Reagan
Neither is the Supreme Court settled. Its members seem to be moving to the right on abortion even though polls indicate most U.S. citizens prefer that abortions remain legal. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 last week, much closer than the 7-2 vote on Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973.
will stand against legalized abortion, perhaps more strongly than Burger.
But future appointments will begin to shift the court's 5-4 balance, and more appointments are very likely soon. Four of the five justices upholding legalized abortion are about 80 years old. They are determined to stay on the job until Reagan is gone. But if another conservative president is elected in 1988, time may prove insurmountable for the justices.
So, even though the Supreme Court is supposed to be above politics, extraordinary influence over the court may be a prize of the 1988 election.
Reagan was elected twice by a coalition that included a lot of people who disagreed with the Moral Majority on social issues. They voted for him because their pocketbooks seemed more important. But in 1988, those people who want abortion to remain legal must vote accordingly.
News staff
News staff
Clindy McCurry...Editor
Kady McMaster...Managing editor
Amy Avery...Editorial editor
Grant Butler...Campus manager
Dawn O'Mailley...Sport editor
Shauna Nortiefel...Photo editor
Susanne Shaw...General manager, news adviser
Business staff
David Nickon...Business/production manager
Beverly Kastens...Retail sales manager
Diane Stephens...Campus sales/back to school manager
Richard Mozzan...Classified manager
John Oberzan...Sales and management
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War memorial evokes painful lessons
My peaceful morning walk to campus was disrupted the other day by the sight of the Vietnam Memorial. The campus was saddened. Then I felt indignation.
Standing silently in front of the memorial I read through the names of KU students who either died or are missing in action. Fifty-five names are engraved in the stone, along with the inscription, "Lest We Forget The Courage, Honor And Sacrifice Of Our Fellow Students..."
I asked myself: why did these young men sacrifice their lives on distant soil? I could not think of anything positive that emanated from the war. Therein lay my indignation.
U. S. involvement, from early support of French imperialism in Indochina in the early 1950s to the recent war in Vietnam, was bankrupt of any moral rationale,
The primary U.S. goal for Indochina was to install and preserve a democratic government in South Vietnam. This ambitious effort was
Christian Colbert
Staff Columnist
fueled by an inordinate fear of communism — a result of the McCarthy era. In addition, U.S. policymakers were invertebrate in the belief that it was in our national interest to democratize the world.
It was with arrogance that our policymakers tried to impose pseudo-democratic values upon South Vietnam. They didn't even have the wisdom to first check and see if U.S. democracy was in order. It wasn't, of course. Our system had and still has many shortcomings — among them are sexism, racism, poverty. But our policymakers entertained thoughts of an infallible United States capable of herculean foreign policy tasks.
leaders would not turn back. Presidents and generals lied and withheld information about the state of the war. U.S. citizens were told by top officials that we would prevail over communist aggression and that there was light at the end of the tunnel.
These abjectly false evaluations misled many Americans into giving support to the war. When later informed of the truth, however, U.S. citizens protested and opposed the war in droves.
If there is one beacon of hope from the Vietnam experience it is that when informed of the truth, U.S. citizens overwhelming chose to stop war. And to them, the war memorial on campus should be dedicated.
The memorial on campus and others like it are important because they may help this country overcome its collective amnesia about the lessons of the Vietnam War. Youth today, for example, react to the use
of military force with Rambo-like zeal. Ronald Reagan's overblown rhetoric, critically aimed at Nicaragua, is leading this country closer to a direct military conflict. Reagan's rhetoric also is engendering a renewal of arrogance about the international role of the United States, a shameful arrogance that is cloaked in patriotism.
In the United States there are many things to be proud of, but it is paramount that the leaders of this nation realize its limitations.
To those of you who disagree with me — we still harbor a military appetite, who blindly follow Reagan's distortions and who still view the United States as an infallible, unlimited power. I invite you to study the 55 students on campus and ponder the 55 students were lost in a hollow cause. Then think of the $8,000 U.S. troops who perished with them.
Reagan tough on terrorists,with care
President Reagan has supposedly taken a tough line on terrorism. The U.S. attack on Libya was to be a signal to the rest of the world that Uncle Sam would not tolerate nations that export terrorism.
The Reagan administration, however, is reluctant to point a finger, let alone weapons, at Syrian President Hafez Assad, although it is mounting that Syria has sponsored terrorist attacks against the West.
There is little doubt that Syria is heavily involved in supplying aid and training to terrorists. Terrorism sponsored by Syria drove the U.S. Marines out of Lebanon, killing nearly 300 in the bombing of a barracks.
The men who opened fire on innocent civilians in the Rome and Vienna airports, killing 15, were from Damasicus and were trained in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Syria controls the Bekaa Valley.
Jon Gregor Staff Columnist
The bomb that exploded in a West Berlin nightclub, killing two people and injuring 204, allegedly was supplied by Syria.
The man who sent his pregnant girlfriend, unknowingly carrying a bomb, aboard an EI AJ jet in London, was equipped and aided by Syrians.
In spite of the mounting evidence, in no harsh accusations have been thrown at Syria. Reagan's hard line exists only for nations that are politically isolated. Need some examples? Libya, Libya and Libya.
Syria would be a much tougher target than Libya. Syria's armed
forces are larger, better equipped and better trained. Damascus has considerable clash in the Arab world. Any lasting settlement in the Middle East among the Palestinianists, Israelis and Lebanese would have to be a major challenge for Syria's most important, Syria has a close relationship with the Soviet Union.
Also, there are at least four U.S. citizens being held hostage in Lebanon. Probably the only hope for their release is through Syrian intervention with the Islamic fundamentalists holding them.
If push came to show against the Syrians, there aren't any tempting, terrorist-related targets along Syrius's coastline as there were in Iraq. These would have to target U.S. planes would have to far盟 on over strong defenses.
Peagan's hard line on terrorism was supposed to punish anyone who sponsored it. But Syria is a more formidable opponent than even Reagan is willing to take on.
Meanwhile, Western Europe must be taking note of our reluctance to smite Syria. The Reagan administration criticized the reluctance of our allies to help strike back against Libya militarily or even with economic sanctions. Europe was more worried about its business relations with Libya than about terrorism, it was said.
But the United States has been just as unwilling to tangle with Syria, seemingly for a similar reason. The conflict would not be in our best interests. Syria is too close to Lebanon and Israel. Syria is too close to moderate Arab leaders and their Persian Gulf oil fields. And Syria, diplomatically, is too close to the Soviet Union.
So don't hold your breath waiting for Reagan to call Assad the mad dog of the Middle East.
Good deeds turn into boring columns
I tried to be as tactful as possible when the nice busban lady called and said she was chairperson of a fund-raising dinner for a worthy cause and wanted me to write about it.
"There is a really wonderful human interest story here that I'm sure you would like to write about," she said.
And what is the story?
"There is a computer company that has donated a personal computer for our organization to use. It will help us in our record-keeping and things like that. We're going to show the computer at the dinner."
Well, that's very nice, I'm sure.
"Then you'll write a column about it?"
Mike Royko
Chicago Tribune
I'm afraid not
"Why not?"
That's kind of you, but as I said, my column schedule is booked up. So I'd never be able to get it written in time for your dinner.
"Oh, your column gets a lot more exposure."
"How far ahead do you schedule
column?"
"Then there's no problem. The dinner isn't for six more weeks." I see.
Oh, days and daves.
"So it's perfect. You have enough time, and when you write the column, it'll help us sell more tickets."
Uh. I'm afraid there's another problem. I don't write about things like that.
"Like what?"
I have difficulty making them sound interesting. It's a skill I've never been able to develop.
Worthy causes "Why not?"
"Oh, you have a way with words I'm sure you can do it."
No, really, I can't do it. You see,
it's just not the kind of thing I write
about.
"I don't understand what you mean."
Well, I'm not sure that the majority of readers would find the subject interesting.
Let me see if I can phrase it another way. A dinner for a worthy
Take my word for it. I know
"I don't believe that."
cause may be worthy, and it is interesting to the people who are involved in the worthy cause, but it is more interesting to interest to those who aren't involved.
"How do you know? You can't read people's minds."
"Well, maybe if you'd write about something like my dinner you'd get a surprise."
"I'll tell you how I know. I go to movies. There has never been a hit movie about a dinner for a worthy cause. Hit movies are about murder, war, sex, intrigue, giant sharks and creatures from other planets. Nor is there a book about a dinner for a worthy cause. Best-sellers are about murder, infidelity, perversion, greed, lust, hatred or how to make big money in real estate or have a more shapely body. And I watch TV. There has never been a high rating for a dinner for a worthy cause. The cops are for home runs, comedians and who shot some louse in Dallas.
No. I knew a columnist once who took to writing about worthy causes. He filled his space each day with news of dinners, luncheons, committees and good-hearted souls such as yourself.
"See?"
See what?
"If he did it, why can't you?"
Because the last time I saw him, he was asking people on the street if they could spare him a few coins for a bus. That's where such columns lead.
"I don't believe that."
I didn't make the world, I just live here. And the fact is that while most people believe in, and give to, worthy things they want to read about them. They find it buoyant.
It's true. And the poor wore vowel
that if he ever got a second
chance, he'd never let a kind or
decent word pass his keyboard.
"Look, why don't we have lunch and I'll give you more information and maybe you can find a way."
accept you pass his keyboard
"That's a terrible attitude!"
I have to admire your persistence. Yes, there is a way I can write about it.
"You can? Wonderful "
Yes, If, when the computer is plugged in at your dinner, it electrifies the person demonstrating it. Or if it displays diagrams on the screen, or It if turns out to be stolen goods. Or if it explodes and burns yourself. Or you are having your dinner. Any of these and you will national publicity.
"Maybe I will call my suburban owner."
I knew you had a kind heart.
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