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Thursday, April 16, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Work before play
The boys and girls in Topeka are going out to recess, but they haven't finished their homework yet.
The two-week recess that the legislators started Monday couldn't have come at a worse time for the University of Kansas. Now final action on the fee release cannot come until the legislators return.
In the meantime, the University is left in a bind because it doesn't know how much money it will receive. The House approved a release of $600,000 to the University, and the Senate approved a $900,000 release of the Board of Regents $12 million 1987 fee release requested by KU.
While many legislators are enjoying a break from the political world, a conference committee is meeting this week to try to hammer out a compromise between the House and Senate. If a compromise is reached, it still won't do KU any immediate
good, and that is cause for concern for KU officials.
The uncertainty has made KU budget planners conservative about their spending, Ward Zimmerman, director of the KU budget office, said recent summer class closures were due to a lack of money in KU's budget.
This and the rest of the budget matters are reasons that legislators should have finished their work on the fee release issue before heading out to recess.
Legislators have said they are concerned about the state's fiscal stability, and with such large sums of money involved, there will be much deserved debate over how to allocate it, but it can't be done from the living rooms of legislators' homes.
And while legislators take a break, KU officials are forced to sit around and wait to see just how much money they will have.
Jeers to the jugs
Hey, has Kansas got a deal for your out-of-state friends.
If they spend enough money and collect enough stickers in a new state of Kansas coupon book, they may leave Kansas with a free Coleman beverage jug, compliments of the state of Kansas.
All they have to do is pick up a coupon book at an official Kansas information booth, spend a night in a participating Kansas motel and visit a Kansas tourist attraction. And if they validate the coupon book at each stop, they win a free jig, valued at $20.
The coupon book is the latest tourism promotion thought up by the whiz kids at the state Department of Travel and Tourism in Topeka. Officials claim that their "Linger Longer" campaign will effectively divert travelers who are driving across Kansas to the state's most popular tourist attractions, like the world's deepest hand-dug well and the world's largest ball of twine.
And the department says that while all those tourists stream out of the Rocky Mountains to the Land of Ahs to collect their jugs, they will be fueling the state's economy with out-of-state money.
If this lame idea is indicative of the department's overall plan to to attract visitors to Kansas, it is no small wonder that Kansas is among the least popular of states to tour.
Instead of this dumb plan, the department should invest its limited resources in improving Kansas's existing recreation areas and developing new vacation areas that travelers and native Kansans will want to visit on their own.
Stop the name-calling
Let's hope that this time President Reagan has been paying attention to recent events,
Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi has been taking a softer line toward the United States in recent months. Last week, he urged the Reagan administration to do the same and to meet him halfway in developing smoother relations between the two countries.
After the United States bombed Libya last April and failed in its attempt to assassinate Gadhafi, tensions were high between the two countries. Fear of retaliation by the Libyans further strained relations. The United States was blaming the Libyans for all terrorist activities in Europe, and there was a complete lack of trust between the two countries.
Now, Gadhafi is taking the initiative toward promoting better relations. He is urging the two countries to respect each other's territory. He also said he thought that when a new president was elected and a new administration was appointed, relations would improve.
Whether the Reagan administration can take Gadhafi's proposal with complete sincerity is not the issue. The point is that Gadhafi did make an effort to be civil, and the United States should do the same.
If Libya hopes to regain some respect from the United States, it must earn it. But in the meantime, the United States has little to lose by merely stopping the name-calling that has marked its relations with Libya.
News staff
News staff
Frank Hansel    Editor
Jennifer Benjamin   Managing editor
Juli Warren     News editor
Brian Kaberline   Editorial editor
Sandra Engelland Campus editor
Mark Sebert      Sports editor
Piane Quiltmeier Photo editor
Bill Skeet        Graphics editor
Tom Eblen     General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Lisa Weems       Business manager
Bonnie Hardy      Advisor
Denise Stephens  Retail sales manager
Kelly Scherer    Campus sales manager
Duncan Calhoun   Marketing manager
Lori Coppel      Classified manager
Loren Lindersmani  Production manager
David Nixon      National sales manager
Jeanne Hines     Sales and marketing adviser
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should spend some of their television revenue on giving young athletes a chance to stop wasting their time and the resources of universities.
Opinions
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Minor league farm systems in these sports would serve a dual purpose. They would not interfere with student-athletes who want to attend universities, and they would give those who hope to play professional sports the best schooling possible — experience.
Because of the recent SMU football scandal, many people have been examining college athletics. Some have proposed that players be paid while they are attending universities because athletes have no time to take another job to earn spending money
Time to separate school and athletics
Presumably because the players needed disposable income, boosters and coaches at SMU made cash payments to players. Cash payments to players seem like a good idea, if these players are not students also
Minor leagues also would give to those players who can't make it to the big leagues a chance to earn a place in them so they use the best skills they have.
John Benner
After high school, some students choose to go to college and some realize they are better suited to careers that require technical training instead.
Columnist
The probable result of minor leagues would be that the overall talent of college athletics would remain flat, but college athletes would remain as at fair as it is now.
It is time for the establishment of football and basketball farm leagues.
because the competition for the sports and study time of a student-athlete has corrupted the system of sports, it is time to separate the two
Carpentry and auto mechanics, for example, are no more part of college curriculum than are basketball and football. Why, then, have universities become the minor leagues for professionals? Because they precisely what relationship exists between a liberal education and professional sports?
Carpenters and auto mechanics, in general, normally do not consider attending a university to prime themselves for their careers. Is that a mistake? Perhaps, but that depends on the value of a liberal education. To a carpenter, Shakespeare doesn't put bread on the table.
In the case of athletes in nonrevenue sports, scholarships allow them a chance to get a college degree by taking a sport at which they are skilled.
Nor does it feed the professional athlete.
The arguments in favor of college sports range from the increased student and community spirit that
But in the big-money sports such as basketball and football, colleges simply allow professional leagues to make a big investment without making a big investment.
they can foster to the fact that they can be a means for underprivileged students to get a higher education.
Furthermore, the income earned by basketball and football often can help to finance other non-revenue sports.
Scholarships enable a university to draw and keep the best athletes so that it, instead of a rival university, can watch the hired talent perform.
For of these reasons, college sports should be preserved, but the makeup of leagues and the distribution of scholarships must be changed.
The National Football League and the National Basketball Association
And perhaps this would cut down on the number of college athletes who do not complete their degrees and are taught by their schools and are out of work.
Letter innaccurate
Mailbox
In her response in the April 1 issue of the Kansan to Paul Campbell's column on Nicaragua, Meg Polz-Mears made some disturbing and inaccurate comments. She claims that the "myth of equality under socialism" is better than the "reality of inequality under capitalism." She is absolutely right: Equality under socialism is a myth.
Nicaragua is nothing more than a communist-controlled Soviet client-state. That's right, clinical tests show that 99 percent of the countries that accept Soviet "gifts" of military hardware somehow become Soviet-controlled communist governments.
Equality under communism is a joke. The only thing that communism makes equal is the level of poverty. Many nice changes come with this equality, such as re-education camps, slave labor farms and few of their rights, and free doms that we can count for granted, unless you want to take free elections with one candidate for office as a constitutional right.
A society has two choices, it can be true, or it can be equal. It cannot both.
If the freedom fight by the contras in Nicaragua is lost, the Soviets will have a secure Central American base. Their Sandinista government claims that it will spread its equality under socialism to neighboring countries. Their primary objective is obvious — Mexico.
If a communist regime is able to overthrow the weak Mexican government, the new leaders would default on $150 billion in loans to the "gringo banks," causing bank closings and a possible collapse of the U.S. economy. This would cause the greatest point of fault and economic turbulence in the United States since Civil War as 40 to 50 million Mexicans pour across the border to flee the equality of the new communist government.
Communism in Nicaragua poses the greatest single threat to democracy, freedom and our way of life. The television series "Amerika" is a chilling example of what really can happen in the United States if we let down our guard and stop supporting the anti-communitist fight around the world. If aid to the contras is cut off, it would mean no democracy, no freedom and few human rights in Nicaragua and possibly other parts of Central America. Maybe, even here. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Bible is the last word
It is very important to remember that God’s word, the Holy Bible, has always been the final word on morality and right-living. It seems that people only wish to interpret it when they disagree with its teachings.
Scott Damewood Rossville freshman
receive seemingly clouded attention from the biblical writers. Homosexuality, however, has always been and will continue to be WRONG. The Bible is very clear on this topic; God hates it. There can be no other proper religion. There can be no whether monogamous or otherwise, is neither natural nor tolerable.
Secondly, if one refuses to accept certain portions of the Scriptures, he or she does not accept the Bible at all; they wholly truth or wholly falsehood.
Neither God nor the church are bound by the fickleness of human opinion to change morality or the truths found in the Bible. Manth, though, is required to adapt biblical truths to his life in order to conform to God's standards.
It is stated in II Timothy 3:16 that, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for . . . correction and instruction." We must let the Bible speak for itself and respond to what we hear.
Lawrence graduate student
Granted, some ethical issues
Protect free speech
Two of the basic rights under the Constitution are the rights of free speech and press. However, a few students on this campus have taken it upon themselves to judge who is privileged to those rights.
Three thousand copies of the KU Stalwart were stolen from the campus distribution boxes around campus sometime on April 6. I received permission from the Student Senate office to use those boxes. The papers haven't been found and are presumed destroyed.
Were this to happen to a publication that runs even more extreme than the Kansan's editorial policies, we would have heard no end to the cries of censorship and the lack of freedom of the press. Kansan editors would have demanded an investigation and that those responsible be kicked out of the University. Rallies in front of Strong Hall would cry out for the administration to do something to protect their rights.
However, attacks against conservative students have occurred on many other campuses as well and I have written previously about those attacks. But I was brushed aside. Now, just a very few students have decided to censor something they don't think other student should read. The Berkeley's of this nation have reached the heartland of America.
What is worst of all, is that the overwhelming majority of students on this campus welcome other points of view and enjoy reading something other than reprocessed editorials from the Washington Post. Sadly, since most of their information about books is taken from Kanehaus and from a letter like this that it is likely to get information that otherwise would go unnoticed.
prevent further attacks
We must make sure that freedom of the press is guaranteed on this campus and I encourage the University administration to take action to
It is a sad commentary on our society that such censorship still exists, even on universities where a diverse number of opinions used to be generated openly.
Victor Goodpasture editor and publisher Kansas University Stalwart
Keep the women out
I've heard of all types of professional sports figures — football, baseball, basketball, soccer, etc. But I have to admit, I never have heard of the professional locker room interviewee referred to in Nicole Sauzek's article of April 14. What does it take to become one? Years of practice undressing in front of various members of the opposite sex?
In case you haven't noticed, I don't believe women reporters should be allowed in men's locker rooms. I don't read sports articles written by women because I disagree with the policy. Women reporters have said they shouldn't have to be in and "gotten used to it." I don't think they should have to. Why? It's mentioned several times in Sauzek's article. Respect.
Respect, unfortunately, goes both ways. Women reporters want respect from the athletes but they don't respect players' rights to privacy. Undressing, showering and dressing, seem to be fairly private acts. A person whose rights of privacy are being respected should have the right
to say who will be present during these acts. These are athletes, not male strippers.
the KU women's basketball team locker room is "open to the media" but not until the players have showered and dressed. Why not allow anyone in during the showers and dressing rooms for women into the locker rooms, they would have to allow men also. Check with the office of affirmative action.
They don't want to do that. Are they behaving like immature girls? Sauzek claims men uncomfortable undressing in front of women reporters are acting like boys. shouldn't go both ways? I find it hard to believe women have cornered the market on modesty.
Women reporters have said that if players were truly professionals, it wouldn't matter who sees them undress in locker rooms. What does not being a professional have to do with requesting privacy?
Perhaps women reporters should prove their professionalism by undressing and showering along with athletes while in men's locker rooms during interviews. This would put them on an equal setting with the players.
Come on, let's see what you're made of.
Brian Courtney DeSoto senior
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed