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Wednesday, April 1, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
No-nonsense approach
City Commissioner Ernest Angino gets straight to the point.
Angino, a KU professor of geology and civil engineering, is not afraid to speak out honestly on issues that face the Lawrence City Commission. He has made knowledgeable decisions and has been vocal during his years on the commission, which began in 1983. Angino, who served as mayor from April 1984 to April 1985, is seeking his second term.
Angino works for the residents of Lawrence. For example, he supports the proposed downtown mall because he
doesn't want to see the downtown area suffer from the development of a suburban mall.
However, Angino has said that the public's views on the proposed mall are most important and that he will abide by the voters' decisions on the three-question mall referendum.
A sincere wish to lead Lawrence in the right direction exudes from Angino's style and manner. If reeled, Angino will continue to use his no-nonsense approach to get the job done right.
Simple and to the point
He may not be the most eloquent of candidates running for Lawrence City Commission, but Ellis Hayden offers the voters his non-verbose viewpoint and his unquestionable sincerity in representing Lawrence residents.
In the political quagmire surrounding this election, Hayden is a welcome alternative. Lawrence politics have been dominated by the city's most powerful private interests. As much as candidates would like to submerge these interests at election time, their strategy often backfires. And rightfully
so. Lawrence voters should not be asked to sort through paragraphs of political jargon and rapidly alternating stands in order to uncover a candidate's motives. Ellis Hayden comes to the commission with no strings attached.
He also comes as the only candidate capable of ensuring democratic representation in the commission. Deriving most of his support from the East Lawrence area and from small businesses, he offers a vital link to these often overlooked sectors of the community.
A fresh perspective
"Lawrence is home to its citizens before it's a retail center." This has been the theme of Dennis Constance in this year's city commission election.
At a time when Lawrence must make some tough decisions about the direction and nature of commercial growth, the city commission needs to always keep the concerns of neighborhoods in mind. Constance, a past president of the Old West Lawrence Association, is in a position to vocalize these concerns if elected.
An example of this commun-
iy concern is his opposition to plans for a downtown mall in the 600 block of Massachusetts Street because of the effect traffic might have on the surrounding neighborhood.
In addition, as housing manager of Joseph R. Pearson Hall for the past eight years and a member of the KU Classified Senate, Constance is in tune with the needs of the University of Kansas.
In making decisions that affect all of the people of Lawrence, voters can look to Dennis Constance to have a citywide perspective.
Affirming a mall
The proposed downtown mall has created a significant stir in the upcoming city election. And while there are other issues to be considered, perhaps there are none with the impact of the mall.
Voters will be asked three questions about the mall: 1) Should Massachusetts and Vermont streets be closed for the mall? 2) Should public funds be used for the mall? 3) Should any other streets be closed for a mall?
If Lawrence is going to grow and keep up with the times, voters should show their support for the mall on these questions. Doing so would send a message to the new City Commission that the people of Lawrence want to progress, not regress.
Students also should take an
interest. After all, we are Lawrence residents for at least nine months out of the year, and a mall not only would produce more retail jobs, but also provide more shopping opportunities.
One of the trademarks of Lawrence is the downtown area. It has survived when other downtowns haven't.
Some mall opponents have suggested getting a free-standing department store. This would be an unacceptable option because department store owners have said a mall would promote support stores to surround them.
Yes, a mail will change the look of downtown, but it will be a change for the better because it will preserve downtown Lawrence in the long run.
News staff
News staff
Frank Hansel Editor
Jennifer Benjamin Managing editor
Juli Warren News editor
Brian Kabeline Editorial editor
Sandra Engelland Campus editor
Mark Siebert Sports editor
Diane Dulmeir Photo editor
Bill Skeet Graphics editor
Tom Eblen General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Lisa Weems Business manager
Bonnie Hardy Ad director
Denise Stephens Retail sales manager
Kelly Scherer Campus sales manager
Duncan Calhoun Marketing manager
Lori Coppel Classified manager
Jennifer Lumianski Production manager
David Nixon National sales manager
Jeanne Hines Sales and marketing adviser
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In 1969, the current governance system at this University was implemented. The system was designed to give students direct and necessary inputs to the decision-making process.
Hoping for Synchronicity in Senate
Phil Duff
Glenn Shirtliffe
Guest Shot
Guest Shot
ses of the University. What a shame that all these years later, your Student Senate is on the verge of becoming totally irrelevant.
Student representatives regularly fail to attend meetings of many of the most important committees and councils on campus. Decisions that directly affect the future of the University are made with little or no student involvement. The positions of responsibility that student representatives fought so long and hard to obtain are now regularly defaulted upon.
Mailbox
Second alternative
Paul Campbell, in a column that appeared March 27, apparently has been duped by years of educational mindwashing. He believes there is no viable alternative to capitalism. But I say, rather "the myth of equality under socialism" than the reality of inequality under capitalism. Whether he wants to believe it or not, the dream of socialism is coming true in Nicaragua. Not in a hollowed utopian sense, but in a real, historical sense. Of course the Sandinistas have had to "militarize Nicaraguan society," simply because they must defend their bodies and their means of production from capitalist contra attacks.
Ironically, Campbell tries to create in his column the impression that the Sandistas are "evil incarnate." For example, he refers to the Sandistas as the "ruling elite." This ruling elite, however, is an honorably elected government, as objective observers have testified to. (Probably more objective than the State Department.)
And then, ignorantly, he maintains that U.S. citizens are flocking to Managua as if it were a political Mecca. All the people I know who have been to Nicaragua went out of curiosity and solidarity with peasants and workers and came back with the knowledge that these people do not want war and do (oh, horrors of truth) support the government! And most of the U.S. citizens I know who went to Nicaragua, strangely enough, ended up in places remote from Managua, such as the Honduran war zone or the coffee-laden rural areas. Perhaps Campbell should, once and for all, make a "fact finding" mission to Nicaragua himself, then come back and write another column.
If I may quote someone who Campbell will no doubt, with blinders on and balderdash swinging, feel the need to stigmatize: "I can assure you that the main obstacle to a negotiated political solution lies in the stubbornness of the United States and its belief that the situation can be solved by force. It's as if the Reagan Administration wants to teach an unfortunate lesson, so that nobody in Central or Latin America will ever again think of rebelling against the tyrannies which serve U.S. interests, or against hunger and exploitation. They want to teach a lesson so that nobody really fights for independence and social justice." (Fidel Castro: "Fidel Castro: Nothing Can Stop the Course of History," p. 135.)
Meg Polz-Mears Lawrence resident
Because of an editor's error, an editorial in yesterday's Kansan incorrectly stated the source of a proposal to cut a salary increase for KU faculty. The proposal originated in the Kansas Legislature.
Correction
The legacy of student activism has been lost over the years. Rather than fighting the injustices inherent in the Senate, it fight the inherent within the Senate.
Instead of acting as a unified student body to affect real change within the University, state and nation, we often act against fellow students, quarrelling over issues such as the number of pucks the Hockey Club should get.
Instead of fighting the institutional racism that is pervasive on campus, minority student groups now find it necessary to quarrel with fellow students about their statutory revenue designation within the Senate Rules and Regulations.
As decisions are made in Washington and Topeka that drastically reduce the quality and accessibility of higher education, the Student Senate argues about whether the KU Debate team should get free lunches.
In short, Senate fiddles while Rome burns.
The next year in the life of the University may be the most important year yet. Decisions affecting the basic structure of the University are being made almost daily. Will we retain open admissions? Will we maintain remedial courses? Will we maintain other special attributes that have made the University of Kansas one of the finest public institutions in the land; or through neglect and inaction, will we permit this school to become an elitist diploma factory?
the most important issues ever to face University students. We feel that we possess the attributes necessary to lead you through the difficult year ahead.
In the next year, whoever is elected to Student Senate most certainly will be required to address racism, intolerance and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Students' lives and futures are at stake. The next leadership of your student government must possess the foresight and the courage to deal with some of
Intolerance and ignorance are alive and well on campus. Through inaction, will Senate permit the quality of life to deteriorate on campus?
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
We seek to replace Senate's aura of myopic jocularity and self-service with a legacy of social responsibility and political awareness. As your student leaders, we will not play party politics with your future. Instead, we will give you the student government that you need to guarantee yourself a future.
On April 8 and 9, you must make several important decisions. First, you must decide whether or not to vote. The way we see it, with your future at stake, you can't afford not to vote! Second, you must decide for yourself. Somewhere, among the hordes of student politicians out there, there are responsible student leaders. We hope you'll agree with us that Synchronicity stands for student government, not student politics.
SUPREME COURT RULES AFFIRMATIVE ACTION ALSO EXTENDS TO WOMEN
Affirmative action status unclear
Confusion about affirmative action has been the rule ever since Lyndon Johnson's 1965 executive order designed to ensure that firms doing business with the U.S. government hire and promote women and members of minority groups.
This confusion has been worsened by recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on affirmative action.
John Benner Columnist
Despite Reagan's appointment of two justices, the Supreme Court recently has handed down several decisions that thwart the efforts of Edwin Meese to do away with affirmative action.
The Justice Department, ironically, has used title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the section dealing with discrimination in hiring, as its argument when describing affirmative action as "reverse discrimination." It also cites the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment in its argument against affirmative action
The recent decisions have been decided narrowly and the Court continues to avoid ruling on the constitution as it has in the past, instead to case-by-case decide*
In 1979, the Court ruled against Brian Weber, a white unskilled steelworker who was refused admission to a training program at the Kaiser Aluminum plant in Grammercy, Louisiana, despite the fact that he had higher seniority than some minority workers admitted to the training program.
The United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO, previously had agreed.
in a 1974 collective bargaining agreement, to admit one minority worker to the plant's training program for every white man admitted until the percentage of skilled workers at the plant mirrored the distribution of available workers in the Grammercy area.
Weber sued the United Steelworkers and won in the Federal District Court and in the U.S. Court of Appeals before the Supreme Court overturned the decision of the lower courts.
Section 703(d) of the Civil Rights Act states: "It shall be an unlawful employment practice for any employer, labor organization ... to discriminate against any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex or national origin in admission to, or employment in, any program established to provide apprenticeship or other training."
Justice William Brennan's majority opinion thereby rejected "a literal interpretation" of this section, opting what he called the "spirit" of the act.
It hardly seems likely that the act was written to favor one group over another.
It is possible that Brennan was simply rejecting the notion that seniority is not a vested right, but instead may be a method to maintain discriminatory job patterns. That is, seniority allows white men to hold a disproportionate number of certain jobs while shutting out minority workers.
Brennan said the "voluntary" nature of the steel union's affirmative action plan eliminated the question of whether the Civil Rights Act required quotas, reducing the issue to whether it permitted quotas.
Last May, in Wygant v. Jackson (Michigan) Board of Education, the
Court again was asked to decide the legality of a collective bargaining agreement. This 1972 agreement exempted minority teachers from a seniority-based layoff procedure.
Ten white teachers who had been laid off brought suit, charging that the procedure violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
This time the court ruled 5-4 against the affirmative action plan and stated: "This Court never has held that societal discrimination alone is sufficient to justify a racial classification."
Last July, the court issued two other splintered affirmative action rulings. In a 6-3 vote, the court upheld a promotion scheme, contested by the Cleveland firefighters union, that called for the advancement of minorities on a one-to-one ratio with whites.
In a 5-4 decision, the justices approved a court-imposed goal that would force a New York sheet metal union to have a 29 percent "non-white" membership by August 1987.
Last week, the court approved a Santa Clara County, Calif., plan under which a woman was promoted instead of a man with a slightly higher test score in order to remedy a "statistical imbalance."
Obviously, instead of considering the strictest letter of the law, the court will continue to determine the "spirit" of each affirmative action plan. It will avoid ruling on the constitutionality of thinly disguised quotas or on societal discrimination as a basis for affirmative action.
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed
HEY, YOU WANNA
HANDLE THE
BOOKING,
HOT SHOT ?