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Tuesday, April 28, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Join the club
Many students probably never set foot into the posh building next to Smith Hall on Jayhawk Boulevard during their years at the University.
But the University of Kansas Alumni Association, 1266 Oread Ave., has begun to change that. The Alumni Association started the Student Alumni Association this year to introduce students to its operation. Students on the Senior Executive Advisory Council and the Executive Council lead the group. Any KU student can join.
The Alumni Association plays an important role to help the University, and students probably don't know as much about it as they should. Through the student alumni program, students can learn about the Alumni Associia-
tion's mission and how it helps students and alumni.
KU students eventually will come in contact with the association after graduation. The Alumni Association helps students stay in touch with KU. Many of these students also will help support the University in the future.
The Alumni Association is trying to increase student participation. Students should take advantage of the opportunity to become more active and learn more about their University.
But the Alumni Association should not be foreign to the students while they attend the University. Students should become familiar with the Alumni Association. Now they can do this through the Student Alumni Association.
A deadly decision
Capital punishment as population control?
The Supreme Court in its latest decision may have uncovered a silly solution to this human problem.
On a 5-4 vote, the court expanded the grounds for capital punishment, ruling that a person who participates in a crime leading to murder can be put to death even if he didn't intend for the victim to be killed. This means that states can now fry or gas not only severely malign and malicious people, but also those who are unwitting accomplices.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the court that participation in a felony coupled with "a reckless indifference to human life" is sufficient grounds for sentencing a person to death.
It's ironic that the justices have given themselves the
right to decide who is recklessly indifferent. By legalizing the death penalty for individuals who are not irreparably destructive, are they themselves not guilty of reckless indifference to human life?
What about people who recognize President Augusto Pinochet's vicious regime in Chile? Or people who do nothing while thousands die of starvation in Africa? Or the people who overlook the human rights abuses of the contras? Should they get the death penalty?
With so many recklessly indifferent people around, it is unfortunate that the Supreme Court justices did not relate their decision to the more altruistic cause of population control. Then again, it's not surprising that they would be somewhat indifferent on the matter.
Executing a fair trial
Nazi war crimes committed during World War II are a tragic event in world history. Even today, survivors and families of victims still are looking for some sort of justice.
Linnas, 67, faces execution on charges that he supervised the killings of 12,000 prisoners at a Nazi death camp. He was convicted of the charges in the Soviet Union after being tried in absentee in 1962.
Many feel that the deportation of Karl Linnas to the Soviet Union last week was a form of justice. But if justice is to be served, Linnas will not be sent directly to his death without a new trial.
Linnas entered the United States in 1951. He settled in Greenlaw, N.Y., and became a U.S. citizen. Linnas fought an eight-year battle to retain his citizenship and stay in the United States. After appeals to the Supreme Court and the
Linnas charges that the Soviets may have falsified evidence they provided in his deportation trial. The Soviets report that Linnas supervised the killing of 12,000 people as head of a death camp in Tartu in the Soviet Republic of Estonia. Witnesses at hearings in the United States said the number was about 2,000.
If there is such a discrepancy in a deportation trial, there is a possibility that there also were discrepancies in the trial.
This is not saying that Linas should be set free or that supervising the murders of 2,000 instead of 12,000 is any less of crime, but Linas does deserve a new trial. Then if he is convicted, he should pay the consequences.
News staff
News staff
Frank Hansel ... Editor
Jennifer Benjamin ... Managing editor
Juli Warren ... News editor
Brian Kebelline ... Editors editor
Sandra Engelland ... Campus editor
Mark Siebert ... Sports editor
Diane Dullmeier ... Photo editor
Bill Skeet ... Graphics editor
Tom Ebien ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Lisa Weems ... Business manager
Bonnie Hardy ... Ad director
Denise Stephens ..Retail sales manager
Kelly Scherer ... Campus sales manager
Marcus Coulson ... Marketing manager
Lori Coplee ... Classified manager
Jennifer Lumianski ... Production manager
David Nixon ... National sales manager
Jeanne Hines ... Sales and marketing adviser
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Opinions
POSTMASTER Send address changes to the University Daily Kansan, 118
Stauffer-Fint Hall, Lawrence, Kan 66045
As we are all prone to error and change, I consider my own past an error, and the reputation I gained from it has made my change all the more difficult. I was a right-wing ideologue for a year and a half, writing columns for the Kansan and working as campus editor for the KU
Change in politics brings change in life
Evan Walter
Guest Shot
Stalwart. As I am retreating from this ideology, I would like to apologize to all those I closed my mind to because of their opposing views and to all those who consider me a fellow patriot for their cause.
I entered the political scene in search of pride and dignity. I now leave it, pulled out by my own pride and dignity. I was a child in the candy store, overcome by an upset stomach. I entered the political scene where I found myself. I would have been better with a bourbon and soda with a lemon twist.
The ideologue's task is to preach these dogmas and apply life situations to them. Instead of basing their beliefs about life matters on life, they base how they look at life on their beliefs.
I entered the right-wing party because I abhored the bleeding-heart liberalism that was so prevalent on this campus. My solution to knee-jerk leftism was knee-jerk rightism. My a “jerk” I think
After a year and a half of believing I had transcended common matters of life (ideology worship does that to people), that I knew the answers and that all else was frivolous. I have taken a new view of things, appreciating the common things of life as never before, in a non-political war
Ideologues group together and spew the opium that bonds them. These dogmas work as rationalizing forces. They are big things, often looked upon as inherent to character.
Ideologies help the ideologues in the social setting. Human nature is expert at stereotyping and even better at believing these stereotypes. Creating these dogmas gives the members that synthetic, "national" pride. The worship, however, is for those bonding dogmas, not the individuals, yet it was individuals who created them.
Ideologues all claim to be forwardlooking, but their ideologies are based on ideals of the past. They do not contain powerful insight but only powerful boldness in phrasing. Furthermore, theirboldness comes not from strength but from there not being any urgent need for strength.
To judge people on conservative or liberal scales creates false values as measures of individual virtue and worth and denies the ideologues whatever they might gain if they were not so closed-off from other views.
Progressive ideologues have changed things in the past, but they usually are not of the right-wing type.
have been.
The college ideologues preter words and tend to be cowards when it comes to action.
Not only do they look from within, they debate within closed doors, and their subject matter remains outside. An ideology is used as a frame from which the ideologues can posit how the world should be run. They fail to watch how the world is run and how to improve the way it does. Of course, ideology is an easier way of study.
Ideologues from Karl Marx to Ronald Reagan all have one common characteristic: They all claim to see the future with a clear light of vision. Anyone who sees clear lights toward the future, however, must be ignorant of the fact that the future can at best be glanced at with foggy estimates.
That a person can gain promotion and respect by reiterating ideas fabricated more than 30 years ago — as demonstrated by the careers of William F. Buckley, Noam Chomsky and James Reston — only shows the decadence of the political structure and the naive primitivism of those who support it. The topics have changed — then Cuba, now Nicaragua; then segregation, now public domestic spending — but the ideals are the same.
Liberalism and conservatism are political stereotypes based on the pro and con sides of certain issues: free market capitalism, communism, war, peace, freedom, racism, equality. Neither expresses any practical theory or philosophy about how one could logically reason while evaluating life. These ideologies are rarely pragmatic and only slightly empirical.
I once pulled a rope and felt a sense of superiority over my fellow man because so few others did. Yet this sense could accompany many hobbies, and political ideology is nothing but a hobby. I left the political scene because I was not a professional and not an expert but a bobbyist with concern. I once acted as an expert and now I don't, which gives me a sense of release few could imagine.
Mailbox
Get facts, not opinion
Once again, the Kansan editorials have sunk to a new low. Freedom of the press is an important right in this country. It is also the right of private citizens to be free from the persecution of an inaccurate and fallacious press.
The Elections Review Board was faced with many difficult decisions concerning the past Student Senate election. I agree that the rules and regs are often indecipherable. I also agree that the allegations of violations were extremely serious.
What the Kansan is trying to say is that the board should have pulled Bottom Line's seats but didn't because of ties to the board. If the Kansan took the time to at least read its own reporter's article, it would realize that the facts did not show an intent to receive an unfair advantage. Absent such an intent, it would be rather presumptuous to nullify an election, clearly won by Bottom Line simply because they thought any discounts available to students would be allowable under the rules.
None of the candidates objected to the composition of the board prior to the review. They had the right to file a complaint, but they didn't. The decisions of the board were based on facts, not friendships. Perhaps the Editorial Board should take the time to grace us with its presence before it makes libelous comments. The board found that a discount had been received by the Bottom Line coalition. It also found that said discount should be included in their audit.
The Kansan is making a gross generalization that the board reached an unethical result. Not only do you defame several students who were trying to do the best job possible representing the student body, you also include an associate dean. Keep your personal opinions out of the paper and stick to the facts. It would be refreshing.
Sue Glatter
chairman,
Elections Review Board
Sue Glatter chairman
Commending effort
After reading the article "Legislators negotiate KU's budget package," it came to my attention that the efforts of the Associated Students of Kansas, and specifically the efforts of Martie Aaron, KU campus director, were overlooked.
Aaron has spent a substantial portion of her semester organizing support for fee release and lobbying in the Legislature. The part she played in bringing about fee release cannot be overstated.
This semester, Aaron took KU student opinion on this issue directly to the Statehouse. We owe her at least public acknowledgment for this.
Stephanie Quincy student body vice president
MAX. HEADROOM MIN. HEADROOM
A trip to the moon on jolted wings
Mike Ryko is on vacation for two weeks. While he is gone, we are reprinting some of his favorite columns. This first appeared on Feb. 10, 1971.
The commuter stood at the bar in the railroad station, his eyes fixed on the TV set. The space capsule was coming down slowly.
Mike Royko Columnist
In a few moments, it splashed into the Pacific. The space voyage was over. Now there would be the hero's welcome in many cities, the visit to the White House and a place for the three men in the history books.
"It it just amazes me that men could have traveled such an enormous distance," the communal saver said. "It's not as much, but it is more than
"Arlington Heights. I'm catching the next train."
"Boy," he said, "and here the rest of us sit while they have done something like that. Almost half a million miles. That's fantastic."
Round-trip it is more than 460,000 miles. I used the commuter.
How far is that from downtown Chicago?
It's really not much, I told him.
"I're really not much, I don't
"not much?" Friend, that is a
long way to go on one tank of gas "
I put it together he lived."
Do you ride the train every day?
"Yep. Same train, same car."
"About 30 miles."
Yep. Same train, same car.
How long have you been doing it?
"Well, unless I drop dead. I'll retire from the company in about 20 years."
I did some fast calculating on a bar napkin and showed him the figures.
He looked at it. "You've made a mistake," he said.
No mistake. Simple arithmetic.
He looked again. "Are you sure?"
I'm sure. Thirty miles each way,
60 miles a day, five days a week.
By the time you retire, you will have traveled about 450,000 miles on the commuter train. Almost the round-trip distance for a moon flight.
'Bartender,' he said, pointing at his glass. 'Blast off, blast off.'
"Give me another drink." he told the bartender, not looking well
He looked at the TV screen. The helicopter was descending to the ship's deck.
"I've never been on a ship in my life," the commuter said.
Then you can figure it this way. I said, At the end of the 30 years, you will have traveled back and forth on that train a distance that would take you on a ship around the Earth 18 times.
"Give me another drink," he told the bartender, looking morose.
I did some more calculating. Look, the commuter travel will be equal to about 50 round trips between Chicago and Europe.
"I've never even been to Europe once," he said, staring into his drink.
I left him to his own thoughts for a while and did some morecalculating. Then I showed the napkin toward him.
"I don't want to look," he said. It 's interesting.
He sighed. "All right, what does it mean?"
One year and five months, I said.
That's the time you will spend on
the train during the 30 years.
"Bartender," he shouted, "do we have to that TV on? How much of that space stuff do I have to bring back for the tables. One year and five months."
He sat shaking his head. Then he said, "Does that include the time I spend on the bus between the station and my house?"
No, that's extra, but I can figure it out in a jiffy.
"Don't," he said. "I'd rather not know."
Of course, I said, it could be more than a year and five months if the train isn't on schedule.
He looked at his watch, picked up his briefcase and stood up. Then he glared at the TV set and sat down again.
"Bartender," he said, pointing at his glass. "Blast off, blast off."
I left. It would be a long time until splashdown.
BLOOM COUNTY
NIBISOB WANTS 5 TO BUY THE
RIGHTS TO YOUR SONG,
"U STINK BUT I C U" AND
THEN REWRITE IT AS A TV
JUNGLE FOR "WHEAT THINS."
THEY'LL MAKE YOU A
MULTIMILLIONAIRE
by Berke Breathed