University Daily Kansan / Friday, March 11, 1988
Campus/Area
3
Condoms spur letters to KU administrators
By Joel Zeff
Kansan staff writer
Ten thousand condoms are worth about 100 letters to the KU administration.
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, said yesterday that his office and Chancellor Gene A. Budig's office had received about 100 letters concerning the safer-sex packets that were distributed to students earlier this semester.
The packets, distributed by the Student Senate Task Force on AIDS, were handed out at the Kansas Union during fee payment in January.
The packets contained a condom and three
informational pamphelis on acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
"The letters have tapered off, but one did come in the morning." Ambler said. "Most people just don't understand that the condom was just an attention-getter."
Ambler said he had received about one letter a week concerning the issue after the initial rush in late January. Most of the letters were negative, but some were positive.
Ambler said he responded to all the letters he received. Most of the letters were from parents of students.
“Most of the letters were from people who had a misunderstanding of the intent of the project,” Ambler said. “Some people thought the University was giving students a packet!
of devices to enjoy safer sex and did not understand it was just an education project."
"In my letter, I just explained to them that the money used for the packets was from student fees and not from tax money," Amber said.
Ambler said he also explained the rights of Student Senate in the letter.
Stephanie Quincy, student body vice president, said most of letters she had received were from students.
"I know I did the right thing," she said.
"My concerns are with the student population and not so much the community."
Jason Krakow, student body president, said he had read the letters and was concerned about some of the negative feelings expressed.
"People outside the University community want the university to be a certain way," he said. "But the University community has to deal with the University environment. That what we did."
However, Krakow said the most important point of the letters was that people thought about the situation and issues involved.
Ambler said, "This is probably the largest
number of letters on any issue since the 1960s and the Vietnam War period."
Ambler attributed a majority of the response to a letter writing campaign started by the St. Lawrence Catholic Center, 1631 Crescent Road.
Father Vince Krische of the Catholic center said he was surprised that letters were still being sent but acknowledged the importance of the issue.
"The concern of the parents is a very good sign," Krische said. "They are not only concerned, but also are making an effort to have their voice be heard."
Add policy votes sought Lobbving letters to be sent with mail ballots
By Rebecca J. Cisek
Kansan staff writer
The battle of the add-drop proposal has gone to a mail ballot, but two members of the University Council haven't finished lobbying vet.
Both Dave Shulenburger, associate dean of business, and Amy Randles, Olate junior and student senator, have submitted letters of their views on the proposed add legislation to be included with the mail ballot.
The proposal, which was passed by University Council and sent to a mail ballot by a special session of the University Senate, requires that all schools have a drop period of three weeks and an add period of three weeks and two days. Currently, the add period is four weeks and the drop period is five weeks, but schools can set shorter add periods.
This year, most schools set a two-week add period.
Shulenburger opposes the proposal because schools cannot shorten their add periods.
This year, most schools set a two-week ad period: Sandra Wick, administrative assistant to the Senate Education Committee, said that the ballots probably would be moved Monday and that the deadline for returns was April.
He said that in the first week of a course, instructors often covered material on which the rest of the semester is based. In some science courses, students do lab work that is hard to repeat later. Also, student teams sometimes are formed in the first week to begin working on semester projects.
Shulenburger said he opposed the longer add period particularly because many courses were filled to the maximum. Shopping for classes by adding and dropping is wasteful and prevents serious students from getting the classes they need, he said.
He compared shopping for classes to shopping for a car.
"The dealer will let you test drive it, but he won't let you keep it for three weeks and two days," he said.
Shulenburger said schools needed to provide good information about courses so students would not have to shop for courses.
Randles supports the proposal because it is what she calls the perfect compromise.
She said bringing the add and drop periods closer together would help solve the problems of wasted classroom space that occurred this year with a Universal add period of four weeks and a drop period of five weeks.
Randles said the proposal would establish a general policy for all the schools to follow.
"There is no point in having a University-wide policy if no one has to follow it." she said.
Allowing schools to set different add periods creates confusion for students, she said. Students have to check the school policy for the class they are enrolled in and not the policy of the school they have been accepted into for their majors.
Students need three weeks to decide whether a class is right for them, and they have the right to take that long after having paid for their education, she said.
Randles said that a serious student who added a class three weeks and two days into the semester would be able to catch up on work missed.
She also said that schools had other ways of controlling their enrollment besides shortening the add period.
Schools can set smaller class sizes and establish waiting lists for classes to monitor the students who are getting in.
"Just because schools have the right to lower the add period doesn't mean that it's the best way to control attendance."
Author speaks of civil rights
Kansan staff writer
Bv Kathleen Faddis
It was not just Martin Luther King Jr. who created the civil rights movement but average people and young students, said the author of a book that chronicled the movement.
Juan Williams, author of the companion book to the six-part Public Broadcasting Service series "Eyes on the Prize," spoke to about 400 people last night in the Ballroom of the Kansas Union. The PBS series was a history of the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1965.
Young people today also have the power to change society, said Williams, a political reporter for the Washington Post since 1976.
More than half the population was born after the civil rights movement, Williams said. Young people have little understanding of what took place during those years.
Williams showed a segment from the video that depicted scenes from the integration of Little Rock High School in 1957, the Freedom Riders in 1961, and the march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965.
Working on the book was a personal and revealing experience, Williams said.
"We need to be sensitive to the psychological damage that was done not only to blacks but also to whites in this society by racism," Williams
said. "That kind of deep human damage affects society throughout time."
Williams told the audience that they also had the power to change the world. Early civil rights leaders had less money, were less educated and lived under worse conditions than young blacks today. Their power came from determination and moral strength, he said.
Many blacks have become complacent, Williams said, but there are racial issues that need to be dealt with. Blacks are the nation's copency is an understanding of history.
Williams said there was a rising resentment over racial issues and increasing resentment among young white people. He cited examples of racial incidents in Howard Beach, N.Y., at the university of Massachusetts and at the Catelad, a military academy in Charleston, S.C.
Half of all black children are born into poverty, he said. And more black students are dropping out of high school. There are fewer blacks in college.
"There's a larger and larger underclass of black Americans in this society, and we need to deal with it." he said.
"We're getting comfortable again
in our country with re-segregation
in his country."
Juan Williams
needed to keep the struggle for civil rights alive but that it wasn't as easy today because there were no easy targets.
Williams said that young people
He said that at least the recent visit to campus by the Ku Klux Klan prompted action. It reminded people that the civil rights movement still was needed.
The critical issues today are raising black enrollment in colleges, integrating the fraternities and sororities and getting more black faculty members, he said.
Spring break is good and bad; KU students and faculty have either motivation or lack of it
Bv Donna Stokes
Kansan staff writer
Some students and faculty members use spring break to kick back, research or write a term paper or two, and others pack it up, close out the bank account, and drive 2,000 miles to get away from it all.
Either way, a week away from classes has its benefits — and its problems.
"It depends on what you decide to do that makes your break a positive or negative experience," said Jan Dean, lecturer in English.
"If you drive to Padre, your car runs out of gas, you drink too much, get a blistering sunburn and Montezuma's revenge, then I would say there could be some negative aspects of spring break," she said.
One of the biggest problems that occurs after spring break is a lack of motivation, sometimes referred to as spring fever, which becomes more pronounced after a week of freedom.
Mike Priddy, Lawrence senior,
said that in the past three years,
he had gone to Illinois to visit
forts, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and
South Padre Island during spring
break.
"You come back physically, financially and mentally exhausted," he said. "I couldn't study for two weeks.
"You live off the high of the vacation for a couple of weeks. You keep thinking about what you did on break. You just don't feel like studying."
Photo Illustration by Ruth Jac Robinson/KANSAN
Richard Eversole, associate professor of English, said, "Usually after break, there is a temporary absence in stride. It also happens to me."
Kent Houston, professor of psychology, also said it was difficult for students to get back into studying after a vacation.
Dwight Kiel, assistant professor of political science, said, "I've learned just to have discussions on the day before break. Basically, we've turned spring break into a 10-day holiday."
"It is a hassle in some respects, but it is also beneficial," Houston said. "It gives students an oppor-
"Cars built on Monday are more likely to be defective than those built during the rest of the week," he said. "It's just hard to get back into the swing of things after time off."
"Some students also like to leave early for break. With fewer students in the classes, it's difficult for the remaining students to keep going. It's hard to have tests with only one-third of the people there."
ranning salons have been booked solid this week as students prepare their bodies for spring break beaches.
You come back physically, financially and mentally exhausted. I couldn't study for two weeks.'
-Mike Priddy Lawrence senior
tunity to catch up on work, and it also gives them the chance to take time off from what they are doing."
Dean said a break could give students and faculty members a fresh start when they return.
"I look forward to it as much as any of my students," she said. "I
feel as though I deserve it."
Eversole said, "Having a change of scenery definitely can help. Anyone who doesn't think that way should remember how it was."
Thomas Reilly, assistant professor of psychology, said spring break had a positive effect.
"Students who go off to Florida and California get the benefit of the added sunshine and a tan," he said. "That can give psychological benefits to some students."
If students decide to get away from it all, they probably won't take books. Even if a book does get thrown into the suitcase, it will probably stay there.
Darren Newkirk, Parsons junior, took books to California last spring break.
"I only got about an hour of homework done in the entire week," he said.
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- Carved meat
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- Waffle bar
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- Baked breads $9.95 per person 10-2 Sundays
Our entrees differ each week
thin chicken specials and fine dining every week