4
University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Wednesday, Jan. 29, 1986
Tragedy. Horror. Disbelief.
Simple words cannot describe the feelings of the nation, indeed the entire world, following the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle yesterday.
Words fall short
Tragedv. Horror. Disbelief
The five men and two women who strapped themselves into the shuttle yesterday were fully aware of the risks they were taking. The element of danger always has been there, but a calamity of this magnitude by no means was expected.
Time after time, the television networks played the spectacular, horrifying explosion. But no matter how many times the tape ran, the significance of the loss took a long time to sink in.
The space program has produced so many fruitful missions and conquered so many far-off frontiers that we have come to expect success. Space travel almost had become mundane, and no one was prepared for such a complete shock.
This is a high-tech age, when elementary school children learn math on calculators and governments dream of stopping missiles in space.
This shuttle flight in particular was close to the hearts of the American public in that the first civilian passenger was aboard. Sharon Christa McAuliffe, a high-school social studies teacher, was granted the chance to break the bonds of gravity and to fly where most of us only dream of going.
Computers especially have left their mark on society, saving time and energy for some people while leading to annoyance and frustration for others.
Mrs. McAuliffe took a little part of each of us onto that shuttle. And as we watched Challenger blow up in a great white cloud against a clear blue sky, a little part in each of us died with her.
Without a doubt, some uses of computers are beneficial. Computers have been used for years at the University of Kansas to grade multiple-choice tests. Now, they are being used to analyze essays for the KU department of English.
Limits to capabilities
The administrator of the computer English program says the computer helps students with problems governed by formal English rules. It isn't supposed to affect the way teachers grade the essays.
This use of computers could have very positive results. The computers could save professors time by catching mechanical mistakes, and the professors could take advantage of this time to work with each student more thoroughly.
A computer may be able to fill students' heads with facts and teach them to choose the right answer. A computer may even be able to teach the fundamentals of English.
Students attending a university solely by computer may find themselves with a degree in the end, but they will sadly lack an education.
But the benefits of computers in education can be abused.
A student now could receive a degree without stepping foot in a classroom. Electronic University offers courses to students through home computers, and it has programs for associate, bachelor and graduate degrees.
The university's director of public relations says that all a student needs is a home computer and a telephone.
But computers cannot imitate the interaction between students and professors on a campus. They cannot replace classroom discussions that stimulate students to develop reasoning and perception.
A computer cannot teach students to think.
Frigid temperatures and biting winds early this week served as an effective reminder that we are still smack in the middle of winter.
A time for giving
Their campaign is low-key,
The return of cold weather also coincided with the kickoff of this year's campaign to solicit funds for Lawrence Warm Hearts, a volunteer organization that helps needy families and individuals pay heating bills during the coldest months of winter.
For the past three years, Warm Hearts has assisted the needy of Lawrence, and this year the program has been extended to the rest of the county. Warm Hearts officials have estimated that it will take $60,000 to meet the need in the city and county, and that they need to raise $25,000 in this drive.
letters are being mailed only to those who have donated in the past, and there will be no door-to-door soliciting.
But Warm Hearts officials are concerned that the unseasonably warm weather this month will discourage some donors. They urge people to remember that many cold days of winter remain.
Those of us who can should give whatever we can to help this cause. Donations can be sent to Warm Hearts, Box 1600, Lawrence, 66044, and are tax deductible.
It is easy to take heat for granted while sitting in warm residence halls, apartments and houses. But for many,heat is a matter of life and death.Warm Hearts is a dedicated organization with a good record of helping those who need it.
News staff
Michael Totty . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editor
Lauretta McMillen . . . . . . . . . . . Managing editor
Chris Barber . . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial editor
Cindy McCurry . . . . . . . . . . Campus editor
David Gilson . . . . . . . . . . . Sports editor
Brice Waddell . . . . . . . . . Photo editor
Susanne Shaw . . . . . . . . . General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Brett McCabe . . . . . . . . . . . Business manager
David Nixon . . . . . . . . . Retail sales manager
Jim Williamson . . . . . . . . . Campus manager
Eckert . . . . . . . . . . . Classified manager
Caroline Innes . . . . . . . . . Production manager
Pallen Lee . . . . . . . . . . National manager
John Oborzan . . . . . . Sales and marketing adviser
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words and should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. If the writer is affiliated with a university or other institution, this information should be included.
with the University, include class and homework, or faculty or staff position. Guest shots should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The
The Kansas reserves the right to reject or edit letters and guest shots. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansas newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Fint Hall.
The University Daily Kansan (USP5 650-640) is published at the University of Kansas, *Kansas St. Iairfer Flint Hall*, Kansas, Kanos, 60045, daily during the regular school year, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and finals periods, and on Wednesday during the summer. Second-class postage paid at the Kansas City Post Office by mail and at the county library. A $7 fee in Douglas County and $18 for six months and $35 a year outside the county. Student subscriptions are $3 and are paid through the student activity fee.
POSTMASTER: Send address change to the University Daily Kansan, 118 Stauffer-Flint Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 68045.
Possibilities for peace may lie in SDI
The debate over the president's Strategic Defense Initiative has continued unabated since President Reagan's 1982 speech on strategic defense. In this speech, he declared his aspirations to make the world safe from nuclear weapons.
The administration forwards its case at all possible times. In a recent issue of Insight, the Washington Times weekly magazine, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger best illustrated the pro-SDI side by calling it "an effective, moral way to ensure peace — and better than the present mutual suicide pact."
Critics of SDI cite the prohibitive cost of full deployment, which could amount to more than the $26 billion estimated, as unneeded increases in defense expenditures. They argue the money could better be used for social programs.
The real goal of SDI is not to build a space shield against nuclear missiles. Rather, the Reagan administration desires to convince the Soviet leaders that the United States is committed without reservation to SDI's deployment, despite all arguments and possible technical impediments against it.
Paul Campbell Staff colu
In the same way that SDI was partially responsible for the Soviet's return to the Geneva talks, the Reagan administration seeks to capitalize on the Soviet fears about SDI and gain advantage in the latest rounds of arms reduction talks. This is consistent with Reagan's "talk from strength" attitude.
Staff columnist
Ronald Reagan has successfully worried the Soviet hierarchy. The Politiburo is fully, aware that to match the sheer scale of the president's vision (and augment its own already operational Soviet SDI equivalent) would produce dire economic strains on the already beleaguered Soviet economy.
The magnitude of Soviet apprehension manifest itself most recently in Mikhail Gorbachev's latest peace initiative. He has called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons by the end of this century, provided that
the United States does not further test or deploy SDI.
When Reagan first mentioned the elimination of nuclear weapons, most serious analysts were treated to a hearty chuckle. Now, Gorbachev has taken Reagan's lead in the great public relations struggle. The reaction of political observers so far has ranged from quizical optimism to dismissals of it as propaganda-inspired poppycock.
That SDI is partially responsible for the new Soviet attitude is undebatable; it has them scared whether it is technically feasible or not. But SDI's effectiveness as Reagan's game card could very well be at an end.
Still, Gorbachev must continue to be convinced that the United States is serious about SDI's deployment, or the president will lose his ability to
The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act mandates reduced defense expenditures if its constitutionality is upheld in court. With the president's stated commitment of maintaining military personnel's pay and services at current levels, the required cuts will have to come from material. SDI will have to feel the budget ax.
negotiate from strength. Without SDI as incentive, Gorbachev does not have to make concessions on any aspect of arms reduction.
Talks about the complete elimination of nuclear weapons will never be seriously considered — they have great potential in the Soviet policy as the startings of political blackmail, and the United States will never alter its policy to allow for Soviet conventional military superiority.
Quite likely, before SDI's effectiveness as a bargaining agent wears off, its more costly and controversial aspects will be traded away. Such a trade possibly would involve the status of Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles in Europe.
The president's dream of a world free from the threat of nuclear war is just that, a dream. With Gorbachev now echoing the president's hopes — the first time in nuclear history that the superpower leaders have publicly made such pronouncements — the possibility of strides for peace is better now than any treaty could ever provide. And this will be SDI's testament.
Bearmania a puzzling phenomenon
While I was waiting in line for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in the Fantasyland section of Disney World, I noticed that the woman ahead of me was wearing a sweatshirt with the entire Chicago Bear roster printed on the back.
When I asked her whether she was from Chicago, she drawled, "No I'm from Memphis, but I just love the Bears. That Refrigerator is soooo cute."
Cute as a bug, I said. She asked where I was from, and when I told her, she excited asked, "Oh, tell me, is that just a gap or is" Fridge missing one of his front teeth?"
I confessed that I had never been privileged to peer into William Perry's mouth, so I couldn't say for sure.
She gushed on. "And that McMahon. He is such a baaaad boy. He reminds me of my oldest, Bobby here." She patted the head of Bobby, a gawky lad with glazed eyes and a riny nose. "Bobby's always up to mischief with his bicycle."
Then there was the fishing guide down near the Everglades.
There are only two things I want to discuss with a Florida fishing guide during the hours we share a small
boat. One is fish and the other is dope smuggling.
The fish weren't biting. And he said, "Yeah, once I turned down $30,000 to make three marijuana runs in one night. More money than I ever saw in my life, but I got into guiding because I don't like inside work. And there's nothing more inside than a prison laundry, so I chickened out."
Then, knowing I was from Chicago, he said, "Why'd they call it the '46 defense?"
I told him that I believed it had been named in honor of the circumference of William Perry's neck.
"Well, they're really sump'n," he said, and spent the next hour telling me why they were really sump'n.
This is an odd phenomenon. First it was the Cubs, who, until the tragedy in Murphy Stadium in San Diego,
So, for the rest of the trip, I said I was from Fort Wayne, Ind., and was spared any more Bearmania, or whatever the national craze for the Bears is being called.
And the waitress in the little seafood joint. She didn't know a draw play from a drawstring. But she knew the words to the "SuperBowl Shuffle" and sang them off-key between my conch chowder and fried mullet.
Mike Royko Chicago Tribune
became America's darlings. And now the Bears.
Sure, the Bears are a talented and colorful team. But there have been other fine and colorful teams that didn't become national sensations.
I'm not sure why this has happened. But I have a theory.
Either that or a diet-weary country has turned its hungry eyes toward a 307-pound kid with a missing tooth.
Whatever the reason, it's bordering on mass hysteria. Not only among the fans, but in the news business. I've never heard sports broadcasters babble more madly, or seen headlines shriek more jubilantly.
The rest of the country pities us. We have been without a championship for so long that it seems unfair.
It is, after all, only a game.
Out of curiosity, I looked up the front page of an old Chicago Tribune from the first Monday in December
The headline across the front page
said there was a big shakeup in the Italian air force. The other top stories that morning concerned Europe's war, our economy and other such matters.
Tucked among these stories was a little box containing about 30 words of news.
It said that the day before, the Chicago Bears had won the World Championship of football by beating the Washington Redskins 73-0. For further details, turn to the sports section.
Editors had their heads screwed on right in those days.
Oh, yes, it also said that each of the winning players received a little more than $900.
I mentioned to Sid Luckman, who quarterbacked that team, and he said, "Yes, it was about $300. And the next season, when we beat the Giants for the championship, the gate was so bad we each got about $300.
"That upset George Halas so much that after the game he came into the locker room and told us that he was going to make it up to us."
How did he do that?
how did he do that?
"He gave us each a $20 bonus."
And the coaches had their heads screwed on right, too.
Mailbox
User-friendly exhibit
The exhibit currently on display at the Spencer Museum of Art, "A Flemish Workshop: Understanding a 16th-century Triptich," is a reassuring gesture that the museum-going public has not been disregarded.
By presenting secondary materials to accompany the altarpiece, the nature of the art museum experience is demystified. The photographs brilliantly illustrate the artistic processes involved in the creation of the altarpiece, while the technical documentation (X-rays and infrared reflectograms) allow the public the opportunity to literally see behind the painted surface. In addition, the curator's exhibition procedure is clarified.
The supplementary materials enhance rather than diminish the viewer's perceptions by rescuing the art object from a "formalistic" isolation. Yet the triptych itself gloriously shines from its central position and overshadows the surrounding black and white photo documentation with its jewel-like colorations and painstaking details.
Congratulations on an exhibition that is "user friendly."
Steve Callahan Parsons senior
Retreat coverage poor
I would like to commend the Kansan for its excellent coverage of the recent Student Senate retreat. Once again, the Kansan has shown its outstanding ability to neglect half the story along with most of the facts.
I believe that part of the problem with Kansan stories might rest with the sources used by Kansan reporters. No one would argue that it is not the responsibility of the press to investigate and report on
legitimate complaints brought to its attention.
It also seems that the editors and staff of the Kanan think it their responsibility to involve themselves in every personal vendetta waged by bruised egos and disgruntled individuals.
There was no Kansan reporter there to record any benefits. It seems that at least one student senator might just as well have been absent,
It is also fortunate that the coverage of these bruised egos neglects other concerned individuals and events.
The Kansan, for example, failed to report on what I believe to be the most important part of the "gross extravagance" recently indulged in by Student Senate: a presentation by Barbara Ballard on communication, dealing with conflict and working together — even with people one does not like.
since she obviously gained nothing from the presentation.
Martie (Aaron) knew of the planned retreat long ago. If she had objections to it, she should have raised them with the current Senate administration, as I did. And has anyone asked Senator Aaron how she could bear to attend the retreat with such a formidable objection on her conscience?
The overwhelming majority of those attending the retreat felt that it was a great benefit to the functioning of Student Senate. Working together, we can improve the quality of education and life and KU, but not if our time is wasted on petty campaigns intended to divide us.
Gordon L. Woods Lawrence graduate student student senator