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Tuesday, February 23, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Opinion
Kansas, Costa Rica see hope in their 30 years of exchange
In the midst of financial problems and budget battles in the Flint Hills of Kansas, and a bloody political struggle in Central America, there is a bit of hopeful news linking people of both regions.
It is the 30th anniversary of the student and faculty exchange program between the University of Kansas and the University of Costa Rica. Chancellor Gene A. Budig will sign an agreement Feb. 29 in San Jose to renew the exchange and to recognize the anniversary.
The anniversary should not go by unnoticed at the University. The program, in which more than 650 KU students have taken part, is the oldest college exchange in the Western Hemisphere between a U.S. college and a school in the Americas.
It is interesting to note that the two top leaders in the Costa Rican General Assembly are KU graduates and may face each other in the next presidential election. Mario Carajal, who has a doctorate in political science, leads the majority party. Rudolf Mendez-Mata, an engineering graduate whose son now attends the University, is the minority party leader.
The program offers students and faculty a valuable opportunity to experience different cultures and realities. Considering U.S.-Central American relations this century, it also can help to develop a better understanding between the two nations.
That record of success could be matched in the medical field. Two professors from the College of Health Sciences will accompany Budig to explore the possibility of establishing a medical student and faculty exchange. One of the professors, Fred Holmes, said the schools could collaborate on medical projects or share research.
It's an exciting possibility that, with hope, will be realized.
Todd Cohen for the editorial board
Lawyers are supposed to be smart, savvy and one step ahead of the game when it comes to knowing the facts.
Students need good advice
But if the opposition withholds evidence, a lawyer doesn't stand much of a chance of winning his case. And in a way, KU is withholding evidence from a group of students by not providing them with adequate advising.
The case before the judge today is the pre-law students vs. the University of Kansas. The University is represented by Del Brinkman, vice chancellor for academic affairs. The students are arguing their own case.
They are arguing for their academic futures. But they don't have their evidence in order. Some of them even are not sure about what they have to do to graduate or about how to apply to KU or other law schools.
Pre-law students don't have their own adviser. When they sent a request for one to Brinkman, he turned them down for financial reasons. So the students continue to rely on law school advice, which is something they might be reluctant to do if they are applying to rival schools, or on the advice of the student-run KU Pre-Law Society.
In contrast, KU pre-med students have a well-organized advising system to help them from the day they decide to go to medical school. They're not sent to Kansas City to ask Med Center faculty for advice.
Surely KU doesn't value one group of students more than another.
Even if the University can't afford a full-time adviser, what would it take to release a faculty member from one class a semester, give him a few hours of office space in Strong Hall and a little secretarial support? It would be a lot better than letting pre-law students fumble blindly toward law school and wonder what happened when the best schools don't want them.
Katy Monk for the editorial board
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board.
Editorial decisions are made by the editorial board at meetings twice a week. At these meetings, issues are discussed and an editorial stance is voted upon. The editorial board consists of Alison Young, Todd Cohen, Alan Player, Jody Dickson, Katy Monk, Van Jenerette and Russell Gray.
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Alison Young ... Editor
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Rob Knapp ... News editor
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CINCINNATI ENCUMBER
Time-saving gadgets complicate life
W When I was 8 years old, I tied string to my bedroom light switch so I could turn off the light from my bed. My a streak of natural laziness that I still have. It我的 graceful toward desk tops, and I love to have things at my fingertips.
But I was wrong. We eventually realized that our cordless phone was the culprit; it guess it puts out about the same electrical impulse as the cellphone. But Ms. Bell has about as much personality as I have.
Soon, however, we noticed that the lamp flashed on and off each time the telephone rang. I being the most rational member of my family, ended out the cause — our house was possessed.
tried to make a call with the cordless phone; the light flashed on and off in accordance with the buttons pushed. Push a nine, and the light flashed on and off nine times. Calling long distance made our living room look like a discotheque.
The problem grew worse the first time someone
The touch sensor is designed to turn on a lamp at the touch of a finger or, I assume, the touch of a mouse.
The string may have satisfied me as a child, but I was ecstatic when my mother recently started buying modern gadgets to simplify life around our house. She first bought a "touch sensor" for our floor lamp. And it was great, until the weirdness started.
The touch sensor eventually quit working, probably due to my phonaholic sister. But it was soon replaced by a "clapper," which is supposed to turn on things at the sound of two hand claps spaced a second apart. Sounds simple enough, but it wasn't.
We first set the dial too low on the clapper, so it couldn't hear me smacking my palms together. Mom kept saying, "Clap harder," and like a drone I kept doing it. I also kept moving my hands closer to the lamp, until I looked like a seal begging for a fish.
Alan
Player
Editorial Editor
We screwed around with the dial on the side, but
then the clapper was too sensitive. The light went on when my father sneezed. It flashed on and off several times when I fell down the stairs. And worst of all, it went on and off when my 3-year-old niece banged on the base of the lamp for 30 minutes.
My mother decided to share the fun by giving a clapper to my older sister, who hooked up to her television set. Now when her TV gets too loud, it shuts itself off. I wish a couple of my old girlfriends had been rigged up that way.
My family's last for simplicity moved outside last month when my father installed a move-out gate in our yard. It's supposed to come on when people arrive, burglaries and ax murders cover our lawn.
But again, the sensor was too sensitive. The light comes on when our dogs chase rabbits through the yard. Good for the dogs; bad for the rabbits.
By now the gadget craze has worn off. It seemed wonderful at first, but I quickly realized that when the new-fangled gizmos didn't work, I was left with a dissatisfied lazy streak. I wonder where I put that string.
K·A·N·S·A·N
MAILBOX
Mark Stull Overland Park sophomore
Preserve free speech
View wars realistically
Mahmoud Ali's column in the Feb. 15 Kansas was not only half true but was definitely opinionated in favor of the Palestinians. Granted, Israeli forces and the government are no saints and have done many unpopular things
Ben Strong Tucson, Ariz., junior
Being two objective, politically conscious students, we are alarmed by the gross hypocrisy inherent in the treatment of civil liberties at the University of Kansas.
Alan Player is an Ottawa senior majoring in journalism
The postponement and eventual cancellation of the Ku Klux Klan appearance on KJHK shows an appalling disregard for the First Amendment of the Constitution by the KKK, we cannot tolerate this cancellation.
In addition, many of those who are offended by the prospect of the KKK's talk are the same ones who daily exercise their right to free speech by preaching salvation on campus. Remember that free speech applies not only to race or creed, but subject matter as well. If we do not cease this hypocrisy, we will soon cease to be U.S. citizens.
There is much concern among conservative Kansans about the preservation of free speech in EI Salvador and Nicaragua, but all refuse to support a blatant infringement of that right at KU.
Although Israel has spied on the United States and did invade Lebanon, the Palestine Liberation Organization and other Palestinians are not exactly what we could call angels.
Although the First Amendment does provide for freedom of speech, there are right and wrong times to say things. This is the wrong time and the wrong place for Arabs and Jews to be denouncing each other and telling U.S. citizens who is right and who is wrong. The United States has taken two unique positions in the Middle East. First, the United States is acting as the Persian Gulf Escort Service. And second, it is a prime target: a target for Arab terrorism and a target for Israeli espionage.
in the past, but as a nation they have struggled to survive; not unlike Lebanon.
We must recognize the Middle East wars for what they are: a centuries-old religious war that will not be settled overnight, and probably not in the next several years. We also must recognize that since it is a religious war, the right and wrong views stem from the religious influence upon worshipers. Thus, a Muslim will have a Muslim view, and a Jew will have a Jewish view.
I am not a Jew or an Arab, and I am not saying that either side is right or wrong. What I am saying is that I wish people would stop using the U.S. press to denounce each other. Please stop telling us who is good and who is evil. Let the 37 men who were aboard the U.S.S. Stark and the 237 Marines who were blown up in a barracks and all the rest over the centuries who have died in these wars tell us who is right and who is wrong.
Please do not put down the United States too much, foreign students; this is our home, and we are proud to share it with you. We have built this country, as have our forefathers, and we are proud of it. I hope that someday your countries will resolve your differences and that peace may be the condition under which you and we prosper.
John Holtke
Overland Park sophomore
KU needs its alumni
The letter was commendable in saying that the team gave its best effort and therefore deserved full support. And yes, maybe it wasn't all that courteous to leave the game with time left on the clock, but was Ferrara really at liberty to question alumni support? The Kansas University Endowment Association and the Williams Fund answers this question.
We are writing in response to Tom Ferrara's letter that appeared in the Feb. 9 Kansan. His editorial referred to alumni behavior at the Oklahoma basketball game.
Ferrara's letter also contained a rather absurd question, "Who needs these alumni at our games?" Did he really mean this? It is hoped not, because in a sense it is Ferrara who needs them at the games. These alumni make generous contributions to the University as well as purchase season tickets which are by no means free. And does Ferrara think benefits from these contributions, other students besides himself?
One last point that should be noted about Ferrara's letter is the idea of the alumni giving their seats up to the students. Wow, what a great idea! We hope other students besides Ferrara are willing to make up for the thousands of dollars lost in such an arrangement. We realize that seats should be available for all students who wish to view the Jayhawks but there's a point where season ticket sales to alumni are just as important.
Maybe next time a letter like Ferrara's will be thought out before displaying it in words. After all, it would be anything but appropriate for an alum to read such resentment by a student who they're benefiting through donations to the University.
Bryan Hedges Lawrence resident
Jeff Johnson Lawrence freshman
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed