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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Tuesday, Jan. 28, 198
Eligibility requirements for student athletes set by the NCAA are a reasonable attempt to establish national standards, and they are low enough that any athlete with the ambition to attend college should be able to attain them.
Fair athletic standards
The rest are left to make their way in a world that requires skills and qualifications developed through education. It is exploitive to put an athlete through four years of college, use his skill on the playing field for the aggrandizement of the college and then send him out without employable skills.
Anyone who cannot make a 2.0 grade point average, score 700 on his SAT or 15 on his ACT has no business attending college. To encourage attendance by such a person is a disservice to both the athlete and the institution.
True, the stepping stone to professional sports is collegiate experience. To deny someone the opportunity to play college sports is tantamount to denying them the chance of playing professionally. But precious few athletes find spots on professional teams.
Some high school athletes simply have to face the fact that a college career may not be the appropriate path to take.
Black leaders have argued for the past three years, when the proposal was first introduced before the National Collegiate Athletic Association, that tests like the SAT are discriminatory.
Many of these students attend smaller NCAA Division I schools that have a competitive advantage because of lower entrance standards.
A 1984 NCAA survey of student athletes who entered college in 1977 found that 57 percent of black athletes and 18 percent of white athletes would not have been eligible to play under the new standards.
The use of the SAT and ACT scores, in conjunction with high school GPAs, is an attempt to eliminate that advantage by setting national standards. These measurements are not perfect, but they are as fair as any.
The University of Kansas Athletic Corporation is threatening to commit a personal foul against many student season ticket holders of KU basketball games.
The letter threatened that if students didn't cooperate fully at the game — which they didn't — all student seating would be moved to the upper levels of Allen Field House.
The new regulations will confirm that the purpose of college is to provide an education, not to win conference championships.
Standing room only
But KUAC needs to consider that support for the Jayhawks is at an all-time high and it should be thankful that the fans are so loval and vocal.
Before Saturday's Louisville game, the KUAC placed letters on the student seats behind the KU bench and behind the goals demanding that students stand in support only as "spontaneous reaction to an outstanding play by the team."
Usually, fans are threatened with disciplinary action when they become violent or abusive, not when they are showing full support for the home team.
KUAC's action is an attempt to protect the interests of the reserved fans in the higher-priced seating sections.
This University was built for students. The basketball team is comprised of students.
How can spontaneity be regulated? And what happens to the few fans who think something such as tough defense is an outstanding play by the team?
The most valued fans to this University are the ones who stand for most of the game, who sleep all night outside the field house to get good seats — not the ones who pay big bucks to sit down.
Searching out stress
Going to school can be one of the most stressful times in a person's life. The pressures of maintaining grades, jobs and outside activities may lead to severe anxiety in some students.
Although many counseling centers already exist on campus, he said the committee might find ways to make the existing services more effective.
A proposed committee on mental health could be a boon to rooting out causes of undue stress around campus and developing methods to combat that stress.
The committee, suggested by David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, would monitor the mental health climate on campus and recommend ways to make the campus less stressful.
Ambler suggested the committee in the wake of several student deaths. Two of the deaths were attributed to accidents and one was a suicide, but Ambler said all may have been related to stress in the environment.
Too often, a student may not get help until problems become obvious or something drastic happens, in the form of accidents or suicide.
Often too, a student may ignore signs of trouble, or think his problems are too insignificant to merit professional help.
If a campus committee on mental health can find remedies to any of these situations, it is well worth the time and expense it entails.
If it can find any way to make this campus less stressful, any way to prevent more student deaths, it deserves wholehearted support.
News staff
Michael Totty ... Editor
Lauretta McMillen ... Managing editor
Chris Barber ... Editorial editor
Cindy McCurry ... Campus editor
David Giles ... Sports editor
Brice Waddill ... Photo editor
Gary Sibley ... General manager
Business staff
Brett McCabe ... Business manager
David Nixon ... Retail sales manager
Jim Williamson ... Campus manager
Lori Eckart ... Classified manager
Corinne Innes ... Production manager
Pallen Lee ... National manager
John Oberzan ... Sales and marketing adviser
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Divestment no answer to apartheid
Chris Bunker's address of the South African problem in his column last week was overly simplistic, out of touch and bordering on the irresponsible.
Bunker referred to Chancellor Gene A. Budig as a hypocrite and a racist. He contends that respect for the ideal and visions of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and opposition to divestment are incompatible. This misplaced logic is based on the false presumption that the only way to solve the South African problem is through divestment, and therefore anyone opposing divestment supports apartheid.
There are several reasons why divestment would not achieve the results we desire. If U.S. companies were forced to divest of their holdings in South Africa, one of the few avenues of positive social change in that nation would be irretrievably lost.
Last year, U.S. companies invested more than $23 million in job training and educational opportunities for black, colored and Asian South Africans.
Companies that are signatories to the Sullivan Principles provide equal employment opportunities for all South Africans, resulting in economic independence for
Phill Kline
Guest columnist
thousands. These same companies have pledged to support the end of apartheid.
Divestment would end all of this. And for what? The result would not be equality for the oppressed. Rather, it would create a void in the South African economy that would quickly be filled by foreign investors less concerned about civil rights.
For example, in 1962 President Kennedy used this method to pressure the South African government into civil rights reform. Kennedy prevented a U.S. company from building a nuclear power plant in the country and embargoed arms sales to South Africa.
The result? The power plant was built by the French with the loss of 750,000 American jobs, and South Africa is now one of the largest arms manufacturers in the world.
In addition, divestment is critically flawed as a means to promote civil rights because it is
impossible to apply consistently
Do we force U.S. companies to divest from Poland, Iran, East Germany, Afghanistan, the Philippines, the Soviet Union and other nations that violate the basic notions of civil rights?
Recently the Massachusetts legislature ordered the divestment of all state funds from companies doing business in South Africa and Great Britain — the latter because of its handling of the Northern Ireland problem.
The only end divestment could achieve is the making of a statement, and such a statement can be made in a stronger manner with less cost.
The problem is a complicated one and demands creativity and courage in its solution. Neither divestment nor the current U.S. policy has these required elements. They represent only a small number of potential options we have.
Among the others:
- Promoting the stabilization and effectiveness of black workers' unions in South Africa by providing the expertise of U.S. labor leaders.
The recognition and assistance by the American Bar
Association of black South African lawyers.
- Requiring by law that all U.S. companies sign the Sullivan Principles.
- Strengthening the principles and applying pressure upon allied nations to join in their efforts.
■ Providing additional resources for the National Endowment for Democracy.
King's dream was much broader than Bunker realizes. He not only envisioned a nation where men were judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin, but also a nation that would lead the march for civil rights for all people in all nations:
Let us not abandon South Africa's blacks, colored and Asians. Let us not disassociate ourselves from our responsibility
If the U.S. influence is removed from South Africa, let it not be done voluntarily. Rather, let it be attempted forcefully by the South African white government because of our uniting support for the oppressed people in that land.
Phill Kline is a Shawnee law student and state chairman of the Kansas Federation of College Republicans.
Stereotypes of Egypt are misleading
Last week, a progressive visited the University of Kansas who said she was against reform extremists. Believe it?
Whether or not Jehan Sadat is looked upon as an extremist, the widow of former President Anwar Sadat has done much work for women's rights in her country.
Much because of Sadat's influence as first lady, women are also taking roles in the Egyptian government.
Her speech Wednesday night must have shocked those who thought that Egyptian men are polygamists who view their wives as property. Egypt is a lot more advanced than the stereotypes of that region might suggest.
New laws guaranteeing women's rights in her country have been quite
The position of women in the society adheres to that. According to Sadat, Egyptian women are now employed in most professions — engineering, teaching, law, medicine, journalism.
popular. Sadat said.
"Now the laws are functioning," Sadat said. "There will not be any going back. Those who want to go back will have to fight a multitude of women who will fight for their rights."
In contrast to those who believe men must watch their wives give birth and pamper the children while the wives go to work, Sadat said she still believed in the traditional role of motherhood.
"I'm always very near my children," Sadat said. "If they have a problem, I have to know."
Sadat's words on women's rights were freely interjected with ideologies on various problems — poverty, illiteracy and lack of peace. She didn't differentiate between these or between the three kinds of peace she talked about — peace in the Middle East, peace worldwide and peace in the abstract.
Many people have been talking about peace lately, including many
Evan Walter
Staff columnist
who are the principle enemies of peace, such as Gorbachev and Ortega. The Sadats, however, have been active in the search for peace.
As for poverty and illiteracy, education in Egypt is free including the primary school.
With the rise of literacy and education in Egypt, the knowledge of a free economy will give the people ideas to make changes.
Third World countries are usually too cautious about freedom in the economy. Government aid might bring a meal, but it won't bring a job.
Two hundred years ago, the United States had the wealth and power of a Third World country, but it had faith in* an economy that respected the
people's laudable avarices. And it worked.
Egypt must have courage and stand in that area as a model of democracy, equal rights and a lover of peace.
Sadat said she once told her husband, "We will never have another courageous leader like you to give women rights."
As much as he believed in women's rights, however, Jehan Sadat gave the impression in her speech that her husband was not as quick in accepting her role in the war of 1967, in which she worked bandaging soldiers.
As speaker of the legislature, old Anwar would come home like most husbands, after a long day of work, frowning and not talking to his busy wife
She finally confronted him, "You ought to be proud of me."
"I am proud of you," he warmly replied. "But I am the husband. And I want you home at 2 o'clock!"
Mailbox
Rally tactics insulting
This is not solely a letter debating the pros and cons of the abortion issue. It is a plea to anti-abortion demonstrators to reassess their ethics and tactics.
On Wednesday, the 13th anniversary of the legalization of abortion, I was forced to walk through demonstrators who had crowded onto the walkways in front of the Kansas Union. I have been around and even participated in demonstrations before, but never have I been so appalled at the use of blatant emotional nibs.
I was confronted by two young girls — young grade school girls. Each girl approached me with petitions in opposition of legal abortions.
I have a great deal of trouble accepting the use of children to support such a cause. Neither girl could easily pronounce the words "anti-
abortion petition." A child who cannot even pronounce her cause cannot possibly be aware of its implications.
I am bewildered and angered by the lack of judgment and ethics exercised by parents who would drag their children into such an adult issue. Do they not see the irony of their actions? As they project an image of people who want the best for all children, these same parents are forcing their own children to participate in a heated and sometimes violent issue.
I do not condone abortion as a method of birth control, but sometimes it becomes necessary. Because this is a free country, and because we hope to raise intelligent, responsible young men and women, I
The backroom horror stories are true. They happened before and they will happen again. They were not "bad" girls and they did not want to end up the way they did.
Susan Leininger Bonner Springs junior
cannot see the benefit of nationally restricting such a personal choice.
Perhaps the monumental amounts of time and money spent on the abortion issue could be channeled toward helping the children who are alive and who desperately need assistance.
I only hope that your children may someday overcome your heavy-handedness and become independent free thinkers — for us, and especially for them.
In addition, I would like to say to the women and men involved in anti-abortion protests that your pamphlets with bloody fetuses, your irrational bombings and especially your wide-eye young girls approaching us, are methods insulting to the public's intelligence and harmful to your young, impressionable children.
Join the standing fans
I would like to thank Coach Larry Brown and the Jayhawks for providing KU fans everywhere with exciting, top-notch college basketball. I think I can speak for most of KU's students when I say that we have had a great time so far.
I would also like to address the vast majority (too vast, in my opinion) of supporters who seemingly have been in a comatose state since the opening tip-off of the late night scrimmage.
In what could be one of the greatest seasons in KU's rich basketball history, instead of screaming at students to sit down, try standing and cheering with us. At other schools, Duke among them, everyone stands for the entire game. For once, let's keep up with the Joneses — you might even have fun.
Jim Williamson
Topeka senior