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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Wednesday, Jan. 15, 1986
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Legislative priority
Gov. John Carlin, in his annual message to the Legislature, gave lawmakers two choices. One is a skin-and-bones budget that calls for cuts in state spending and allows only a modest increase for the University of Kansas.
The 1966 Kansas Legislature has scarcely cleared the starting gate, and already some lawmakers are jostling to offer the best plan — or promise — to solve the state's revenue crisis.
A 1 cent sales tax increase, a one-half cent increase, a lottery and legalized betting on horse and dog racing have been trotted before the voters as possible sources of income.
The other is an "investment budget," to be financed by a 1 cent sales tax increase that Carlin hopes would raise an
additional $190.7 million for Kansas.
The investment budget would add little to the amount that goes directly to the University. But it would allow the state to pay the full cost of the state employees' retirement fund.
Each year we hear of the importance of higher education to the economic development of Kansas. Each year salaries — particularly faculty salaries — fail to keep up with the national average.
Of course, legislators can reject, modify or alter beyond recognition Carlin's proposal. But if they cut drastically the money for the state's universities, they only will cripple efforts to attract new business and industry to the state.
What manner of man was he who believed in a dream and battled to turn it into reality?
Celebrating a dream
What manner of man was this who saw love in a land filled with hate and bigotry?
What manner of man was this who could die proudly for what he believed?
King was a man with a made-up mind and a determination to "hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope."
King was the manner of man who stood up and opened the ears of a people to the cries in the wilderness — cries for equality and justice.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was that manner of man, whose passive, nonviolent fight pricked the nation's conscience and made it recognize its most blantant inconsistency — it proclaimed justice and freedom for all but knew neither.
He feared not for his life in a time when a black man who spoke against a white man was sure to meet wrath. He feared not for his life but that his life would be without purpose and accomplishment.
King was willing to die for what he believed in.
"I've been to the mountain top . . . and I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know that we as a people will get to the promised land."
A day after he made that speech, King was shot in the neck by an assassin's bullet.
The crusade to make a national holiday commemorating King began almost 15 years ago. It finally ended in 1983 when President Reagan signed the bill making the third Monday in January the King holiday. 1986 is the first year that we officially will celebrate his birth.
On that day, let us not make his living or dying in vain by hoping for an excuse to take the day off. Let us reflect on his commitment to make this a nation true to its democratic creed. Let's look back on how far we've come and the journey yet ahead. His dream lives on.
A courageous example
Gil Dyck struggled to perform his job through the last days of his life as he had for so many years.
So he kept it to himself and stayed on his job until he was no longer physically able to perform.
Most people on this campus weren't aware he was ill because he didn't make it known. He didn't want his illness to affect his job as dean of educational services. He realized how important his job was to the University.
Gil Dyck was able to finish 1985. He died New Year's Eve. Although the saddening news of his death came at a time of hope for the new year, he was at least spared the anguish of starting another year of painful cancer treatments and coping with the constant ache that must have grown as a result of knowing that the treatments weren't working — that the disease he
had was terminal.
His family and friends know that at least his suffering has ended.
Until the end, he remained devoted to his job, through which he provided not only for his family, but also for the students at the University. His work touched every one of the 20,000 students who passed through the University each year. He served as director of the office of admissions, dean of admissions and records and, since 1982, as dean of educational services.
The fact that so many of us didn't know — that Gil Dyck chose to face his illness and his approaching death pretty much on his own — is a lesson in human courage, not only for the afflicted, but for all of us.
But his death is more than the loss of an administrator.
Gil Dyck knew he was dying, as did some of his co-workers and friends.
Smoking industry twisting the truth
I've had it up to here. (I'm pointing at my forehead.) My initial amazement has turned to anger, and lately, to disbelief. I am in awe of the quantity and quality of lies we are being told by the tobacco industry.
Heroin and cocaine have stronger cases for advertising protection. Their roots are found in the medical profession, and PCP still is used in the veterinary field. Yet the benefits of these drugs are outweighed by their widespread abuse. No sane person would support a First Amendment case for this advertising, even though they have some social benefits.
By using clever sophistry, spokesmen are convincing us there is no causal link between smoking and cancer. By using specious arguments, they talk about the rights of smokers vs. non-smokers. And now, with blatant manipulation, they seek to sanction their advertising under First Amendment freedoms.
Why should tobacco advertising be given First Amendment protection? No other deadly drugs have such rights. Heroin is not advertised in the media, cocaine is not allowed this privilege, and PCP users must rely on word of mouth to make wise consumer purchases.
Tobacco cannot even claim medical benefits with its use. The closest it could come was in the ads of the 1920s and 1930s. Then, tobacco was promoted as an alternative to eating. Glamorous movie stars were sucking Lucky Strikes, telling us how it helped their figures. We were infatuated by our idols who smoked tobacco.
The reality of smoking has nothing to do with glamour, sex, success or home on the range. The reality of tobacco is found in the cancer wards
The tobacco industry tries its level best to sell us these images. But they are just images, not reality.
Humphrey Bogart was forever immortalized in our minds, puffing away under a slowly turning fan. They even gave away cigarettes in the C-rations of World War II.
Things have not changed much. Humphrey is dead, but the Marlboro man lives on in the hearts and minds of true cowboys. What could be more natural than ol' Paint, a campfire and a cigarette? Where would the women's rights movement be without Virginia Slims? And don't we all know that race car drivers smoke Viceroy? Or do they smoke Winston, since that company now sponsors entire races?
Tim Erickson Staff columnist
of major hospitals. It is found in heart disease. It is found in the nasty mucus that smokers cough up in the mornings.
The reality of smoking is simple. It is a drug that poisons the body. It is a drug that mentally and physically addicts the user. It is a drug that most people cannot quit. It is a drug that's only function is to inhibit and destroy normal bodily processes.
The tobacco industry has the gall to place full-page ads in Newsweek that plead rationality and calm discussion. They say smokers and non-smokers should co-exist. I say I have a right to breathe smoke-free air
And in the ultimate act of sophistry, the tobacco industry is now saying it has a First Amendment right to advertise. Its claim is based on the relatively recent court cases that afford some First Amendment protection to advertising.
The cases have established that information in ads may have qualified
free-speech protection. The tobacco companies say their ads do not promote smoking, only brand preference. Give me a break!
The only information cigarette ads give us is tar and nicotine content. And that was not something the industry voluntarily added. Everything else is pure hype. There is no information about a particular cigarette that can be gleaned from advertising. You must smoke them to know them.
The tobacco industry does not care about your health. It doesn't care about your heart, your lungs or grieving cancer patients. All the tobacco industry cares about is money. And it wants every tar-stained dollar it can get its hands on.
It doesn't care about the social rights of smokers vs. non-smokers. Its public relations people speak with silver tongues and sit on padded wallets.
The American Medical Association finally has come to its senses. It is advocating a total ban on tobacco, advertising, I support its effort.
I am tired of listening to people who lie, desiring only to make money by selling us images. I am weary of an industry that pushes addiction and calls it freedom of choice.
'Dr.' Royko's remedy for winter blahs
So, the question we face is how to glide through January, February and March as painlessly as possible; how to find a way to brighten our spirits, keep busy and make time fly until spring arrives.
We've entered the dullest, most depressing time of the year in Chicago. People suffer from the post-holiday blahs. The miserable weather is keeping us indoors. Football is winding down and baseball hasn't started. Wallets have been tapped out by Christmas spending and the Social Security bite.
I've talked to several experts in the fields of psychology, social work and recreational therapy, and they've helped me put together a list of things to do that will help you through these long, gray months until the sun and the muggers come out again.
DRINKING: Getting roaring drunk always has been a remedy for the doldrums, especially in parts of the world that have long, cold winters. In Finland, for example; so many people use this means of fighting off the blahs that the government provides free hangover stations
Here are some of their ideas
to administer oxygen and massive vitamin doses.
So you might consider throwing a log on the fire and becoming absolutely stinky. Every so often, throw on another log, bite the top of another jug and before you know it. April will be here, all the loudmouthed birds will be chirping, and you can take a bath, shave off your three-month growth of beard, throw all the empties out in the alley, stagger outside for a breath of fresh air and walk down to the neighborhood saloon for a drink.
BROODING: Brooding is so often overlooked as an absolutely great way to pass dull time. And it's something you can do anytime by yourself. Just pick out all the things you hate about yourself, or think back to all the terrible mistakes you've made with your life — things that make you feel guilt and shame.
Or think about all the cruel and thoughtless ways your friends, relatives, co-workers and neighbors have ever hurt your feelings. Then sit in front of the fire or in a dimly lit room and dwell on them at length. Go over them time after time, reliving
Mike Royko
Chicago Tribune
each awful and shameful detail. The hours will just fly by. (You can combine your brooding with drinking and have one heck of a time).
CHANGE LIFESTYLES: By that I mean, you say to your wife or husband and kids: "I have cabin fever; I've got to get out of the house for a while." Then clean out your bank accounts, move into a high-rise apartment, join a racquetball club, hang out in urban cowboy bars, take a loveboat cruise, run amok with your credit cards and carry on with some attractive but shallow and empty-headed thing. And in the spring, return home-looking dazed and tell your loved ones: "Quick, give me Volume A of the encyclopedia. I've got to look up 'amnesia.'"
WINTER SPORTS: Cross-country skiing has become very popular, and downhill skiing still is growing. There also are winter camping clubs
and ice fishing. But I don't recommend any of these. They can give you a heart attack, frostbite or broken legs. The best winter sport is shooting pool.
You can meet really fascinating people in pool hails or bars that have pool tables. You can gamble, swear, get in fights and buy and sell stolen merchandise. And even if you're not a good pool player, don't worry. You can play the pinball machines or just hang around. Something is bound to happen.
These are just a few of the things the experts recommend. And if you have any pet ways of fighting off the winter blahs, just send them in, and I'll be glad to share them with the other readers.
But please, don't suggest the old reliable "send out for a cheese-and-sausage pizza." It's loaded with cholesterol, and I don't like to recommend anything dangerous.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Mike Royko is on vacation. This column was published Jan. 11, 1981.
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Too many 'isms'
Here we go again, another "ism" in psychology and the bad-mouthing of a natural science of behavior (Kansan, Dec. 5). I know not of Professor Shelly's "complexism," but Jill White's Kansan article leads me to agree that some people, including Shelly, are driven to become more complex. In contrast, let me offer "simplism," because I suspect that even more people are driven to achieve balance and harmony in their lives. In the world outside the academic community, however, I doubt that either Shelly's "complexism" or my "simplism" have very much to do with the daily struggle for existence faced by the vast majority of people on this planet. Psychology does not need another "ism" to explain how some of the people behave some of the time. It needs a broador base.
I am not surprised, though, that behaviorism is misunderstood. A recently published survey of psychology textbooks used at the University of Kansas and elsewhere shows behaviorism to be badly misrepresented in the educational materials that we read and that we require students to purchase. Behaviorism is more than picking habits out of rats. Miseducation is costly in a community where finances are already drained.
Professor Shelly's comments on behaviorism — "It's degrading to human beings to categorize them as simply as behaviorists do. I'm opposing to it both intellectually and morally" — belies much understanding about (or sensitivity to) a natural science approach to behavior.
I do not mean to denigrate the contributions made to the understanding of behavior by the many different
Sincerelv.
Sincerely,
Edward Morris
Associate professor, HDFL
Rush computer gaffe
"isms" of psychology. We need all the help we can get—but there will be issues on which reasonable people disagree. Although not always a pretty thing to watch or partake of), scientific evolution will work these matters out. Less pretty, however, will be the nuclear annihilation that may follow from our poor understanding of behavior in comparison to our understanding and control of the physical environment. Perhaps we should speed up the scientific evolution of psychology a bit.
Sorority rush is a process that enables freshman girls to meet many other girls and perhaps join a sorority. Ideally, this process attempts to promote interrelations among many
individuals as well as the sororities themselves. Further, the freshman girls are affected by the outcome throughout their college and later lives.
Unfortunately, sororities sometimes err in their calculations and may mistakenly neglect to extend a bid to a rushee. In the past, these errors have been corrected. But this year, a new computer system has been utilized that won't allow for human error, nor will Panhellenic agree to rectify the situation. For a system that strives for human relations, the discrepancy is quite ironic. Essentially, it is unfair to the girl who doesn't receive a bid, nor is it fair to the sorority that regrets the mistake. It's disheartening to see that the Panhellenic Council gives its computer priority over the welfare of the girls.
Sincerely,
Mary Van Keppel
Shawnee senior