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Wednesday, February 18, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
A protest to remember
Approximately 200 protesters were gathered, carrying signs and chanting slogans in protest of the administration's policy toward apartheid. Police came and arrested 41 of the protesters.
This was the scene two weeks ago, not in Soweto or Cape Town, but on the campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Protesters in Columbia have been more vocal this month in demanding that the university divest in companies that do business in South Africa. University police have torn down shanties built on the campus three times.
At a time when news out of South Africa is scarce, it is important that the issue of apartheid not be allowed to die. The protesters are making their message clear to university officials and have brought
South Africa back into the headlines in the region.
Those arrested have sacrificed some of their personal freedom to remind people of the racism that still exists in South Africa and also that investment in companies that still do business there is support for the white government and its policies. They have offered to suffer the trespassing charges in hopes that they might ease the suffering of blacks in South Africa.
So let the protests continue, not only in Columbia, but throughout the United States and the world. The pressure on South Africa must be maintained and strengthened where possible. Those who believe in "liberty and justice for all" and that "all men are created equal" must come to the defense of those denied liberty and equality in South Africa.
'Amerika' the evil
The controversial miniseries, "Amerika," finally premiered Sunday night. It proved to spark protests from those concerned with achieving better U.S.-Soviet relations.
The series takes place in Nebraska 10 years after a Soviet takeover of the United States. The story, ABC producers say, is not concerned with politics but with people and their reactions to a changed government.
However, it is difficult to escape making a political statement, and the statement in "Amerika" is clear. The Soviet-run government signifies evil. The characters who are willing to lead the American people out of oppression signify good.
In the movie, Soviet America is regimented and gloomy. The government leaders spend
their days contemplating oppression of the people.
The Amerikan people stare blankly at the world they have been subjected to: the tomato lines, the prison camps, and the lackluster bureaucrats who serve to regiment them. They perpetually express frustration at their lack of opportunity and speak of the America that once was.
If the contrast between the forces of dark and light isn't evident enough, the haunting musical score is a reminder of the sinister character of Soviet presence.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has made efforts to liberalize many of the Soviet Union's institutions and create a more comfortable environment for U.S.-Soviet relations. It's deplorable that our media now should add "Amerika" to their collection of anti-Soviet propaganda.
Protecting our interests
Statistics have shown that many children are kidnapped by people they know, not by strangers.
But here's a new twist. Some parents kidnap their children from their former spouses and go abroad.
Many times, the kidnapper is a parent who was denied custody of the child after a court battle.
The State Department apparently doesn't want to become involved in private family matters by insisting that the governments of other countries find and return the children.
An article in the Christian Science Monitor reported that about 2,300 U.S. parents have lost their children this way, and the prospects of getting them back from another country are dim.
But these kidnappings aren't just family battles. U.S. courts have decided which parent should receive custody of the children. Kidnapping is a crime and the government must bring the kidnappers to justice.
The State Department should be protecting its citizens. Instead, the department is turning its back on parents who are being denied the right to watch their children grow up.
The U.S. government should discuss the kidnapping controversy with other countries and make a formal, binding agreement, ensuring that children who are kidnapped and transported overseas are returned to their rightful parents.
Since children have no voice in these matters, the courts must speak in their best interests. The U.S. government must protect its best interests.
News staff
Frank Hansel Editor
Jennifer Benjamin Managing editor
Juli Warren News editor
Brian Kaberline Editorial editor
Sandra Engelland Campus editor
Mina Sulebert 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
Duncan Calhoun Marketing manager
Lori Coppie Classified manager
Jennifer Lumianski Production manager
National Sales Nixon Sales manager
Jeanne Hines Sales and marketing adviser
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Opinions
A step toward ending discrimination
I spent the first 21 years of my life really not knowing what the Equa Rights Amendment was, much less what it said. All I knew was that supported it because I was a female
Lori Polson Columnist
But just recently I read that Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was trying to revive the proposed amendment. This sparked my interest. After all, I can remember hearing about the ERA ever since I was old enough to walk. Anything that has been around since then and can still capture a senator's attention must have some merit.
Contrary to what I'd believed, the ERA has been around since 1923. I had thought it was introduced in the 1970s, when all the states were arguing about whether they should ratify
Besides that, the amendment was first introduced in the U.S. Congress by two Kansans, Sen. Charles Curtis and Rep. Daniel Anthony. Rep. Anthony, coincidentally, was the nephew of women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony.
So, I took some time and did a little research on the ERA. What I found
it.
I thought that was strange. Wasn't Kansas the state that recently tried to renege on its ratification of the ERA after it already had passed?"
So I dug a little further and discovered a copy of the proposed amendment.
"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."
I couldn't believe it. This controversial proposal that has haunted legislators for 67 years contains only 24 simple words.
What? You mean there is no mention of shared toilet seats? No word about legalizing homosexual marriages? Nothing about breaking up families? These were many of the concerns of anti-ERA advocates.
It's astonishing to think about how many years women and men have
fought to add this proposed amendment to the Constitution.
The ERA has nothing to do with hair ribbons and high heels. It has everything to do with equal opportunities.
It's not a fight between Democrats and Republicans, or even women and men. It's a fight between discrimination and equality.
Columnist George Will summed up the opposition to the ERA in 1982 when he wrote, "The sililiest argument (is) the central one, that ERA (is) needed 'to put women in the Constitution' — as though the Bill of Rights, and the due process and equal protection guarantees for 'any person' do not extend to women."
Evidently, they didn't extend to women, else were women, people on the right.
Today, the time has come to finally pass this amendment. It's time to make discrimination based on sex illegal once and for all.
Passing the ERA may reduce the amount of discrimination litigation in the courts. Now, most sex discrimination suits use the 14th amendment
as the basis for legal action.
But the 14th amendment was meant to end slavery, not to give women the right. The people who wrote the 14th amendment were not considering women's rights.
We need the ERA as part of the Constitution. It will affect every person positively, whether a man or a woman.
To quote columnist Ellen Goodman, "Those who are against ERA are against equal rights. This is an issue because the kind that you see in a paycheck."
But, women have made some advances. Today, they have the choice of becoming a nurse or a surgeon; a steelworker or a teacher; a scholar or a housewife — choices that didn't exist for women 76 years ago.
It was only through the persistent, hard work of our forebearers that the company survived.
What we create in our lifetimes will benefit or hurt our children and grandchildren. Let's do them a favor of sex discrimination once and for all.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
BEIRUT,LEB... Faced with a depleted population due to past rampant Kidnapping, Moslem terrorists resort to taking themselves hostage...
Mailbox
Screw the party
I am a woman, mother, wife, assistant professor and a nice, easygoing feminist. We're not talking radical or violent. Why, last Friday morning, I made 13 heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (1 was snack mom at nursery school). How the picture?
Then I came to work, opened my Kansan and saw the announcement for the Sigma Delta Tau "Screw Your Sister" party. For those of you who missed it, there was a screw drawn diagonally through a heart.
I thought, "Oh no! What terrible fraternity thing is this?" Then a student informed me that this was a sorority. That WOMEN are actually putting ads in the Kansan like this. Screw your sister seems quite appropriate.
Celia R. Hooper, Ph.D.
visiting assistant professor and clinic director, KU
Spanish Language Professor
Supporting a union
Prof. David Beard argues that a faculty union would attract only
mediocre members (Kansan, Feb. 13). The "bEST faculty and most active research staff," he contends, would have no time for union activities because of their immersion in research and teaching. His reasoning is amusing and specious, and also dangerous.
Prof. Beard is clearly one of our best faculty members. While he may be "to busy" to participate in a union, he somehow found the time to attend my pro-union talk on Feb 4, criticize my ideas and write his anti-union letter. I assume, at least I hope, that he has some time each day, however short the time may be, for still other sorts of activities beyond those in his department.
His reasoning is dangerous because it leads to the conclusion that the best academicians must have no time for any activities beyond those that are strictly professional and professorial. This is to say, among other things, that they should not take the time, make the time, to concern themselves with the public consequences of their research and teaching.
This is moral and social irres
possibility. The idea that academicians should do only their own work and nothing else, moreover, means refusing to participate in the necessary and difficult task of always protecting and extending the very intellectual and institutional freedom that makes their work possible in the first place.
Clifford S. Griffin professor of history
No justice to team
It is my understanding that on Feb. 14, not only did our women's basketball team win their match against the Oklahoma Sooners, but also that Coach Marian Washington put a new player out on the court.
I was not there to see either of these events in person. Although I have been a faithful follower of the women's basketball team all season and have attended all other home games, I was denied permission to see this game because I did not hold a men's basketball season for me; the content to read about the victory in Sunday morning's newspaper.
I understand some of the logistical problems associated with double-header games, but the policy, as it stands now, does not do justice to the supporters of the women's team. I attended the Feb. 7 women's game on a borrowed men's ticket and was outraged to see that several of the "fans" who showed up early for the men's game were not watching our women perform. Instead, they were playing poker in the stands, reading, or doing homework while they waited for the men to play.
I suspect that those fans who hold men's season tickets and who have supported the team all season would be more than a little annoyed if they were turned away at the door of one of the men's games. I hope the Athletic Department has made sure I can and try to accommodate those of us who follow Washington's team. I also hope that we will all begin to see a more realistic form of support for women's sports at KU.
Susan Novak Lawrence graduate student
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed
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