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Monday, February 15, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Self-monitoring by residents could reduce hall vandalism
Most college-age people wouldn't dream of wrecking their parents' homes, throwing couches out of windows or setting the shower curtains on fire. Yet that kind of behavior is considered the height of hipness by some students as soon as they move into residence halls.
Maybe it's a reversion to kindergarten tactics to counteract the shock of going to college and having to grow up.
Maybe it's the result of being too spoiled to respect other peoples' property. Or maybe it's the only way some people can make friends.
Whatever the reason, it's immature at the very least. One "innocent prank" can inconvenience a whole residence hall full of people. It can endanger their property and even their lives.
The good news is that members of three residence halls have taken positive steps toward making the halls seem a little more like home.
Vandals at McCollum, Ellsworth and Oliver halls are going to have a tougher time from now on. They're going to face fines and the loss of hall privileges, and their fellow residents will do the punishing — a tough pill to swallow than if the punishment were handed down from some faceless higher authority.
The other residence halls would benefit from jumping on the anti-vandalism bandwagon. Few would-be vandals will want to risk the embarrassment of going front and center before a group of fellow residents.
And if their little game isn't fun anymore, chances are good that they'll stop playing.
Chastity not the only answer
Katy Monk for the editorial board
The primary answer to teen-age sexuality and teen pregnancy in Missouri is simple: chastity.
And if you believe that, the 15-member Task Force on Unwed Adolescent Sexual Activity and Pregnancy, commissioned by the Missouri governor and General Assembly, has some prime oceanfront property somewhere near Columbia. And it's real cheap.
Missouri should not finance school-based health clinics or use state money to promote contraception, the task force's report said. The state instead should support chastity and encourage teen-agers to wait until marriage for sex.
It took the task force 14 months of research and public hearings to suggest that Missouri return to a time that probably never was and definitely never will be.
Maybe teen-agers should postpone sex until marriage. But they can't make that decision (and it is theirs) if all they hear from their parents, teachers and state about sex is "Just Say No."
The reality the task forces refuses to face is that teen-agers will continue to have sex. Chastity is not the only solution to teen-age pregnancies. It's only a small part of the big risk.
Missourians can ask their youth to abstain, take away easy access to and education about contraceptives, and pray for fewer teen pregnancies.
And Kansans should pray that the task force doesn't stage a border raid and impose its backward and short-sighted "solutions" on this state.
Russell Gray for the editorial board
opinions of the editorial board
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board.
Other Voices
Tenure should be for best educators
In the beginning, tenure for faculty members offered a mechanism to protect them from the fickle winds of public opinion and the fringes that sometimes resulted. Tenure allowed the faculty members to teach less popular or more controversial ideas without the fear of retribution.
Today, the decision to grant tenure seems to be based more on brownie points than ability.
Actually, receiving tenure today is based primarily on four criteria: teaching, scholarly activity, research and community service, accord-
How much could meeting these criteria really tell us about the skills of any faculty member? The only thing indicated by three of the four areas, not including teaching, is the faculty members' willingness to meet the expectations of their peers in places outside the classroom.
It is time that more attention be paid to what makes these professionals valuable to the University: their abilities as teachers.
Kansas State Colegian Kansas State University
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NEW ELLY Chicago Tribune
Israelis must do more than talk
Zionists should stop the killing and recognize the rights of Palestinians
T The Zionist Israeli Jews always seem to talk about peace negotiations, but they never talk about justice and fairness for the other side, the Palestinians.
The Zionist Jews are using beautiful words of negotiations and peace to fool and trick people. The question is, do the Israelis really want peace? Well, the answer will be up to the reader.
The only time that "peace" was accomplished, according to the Israeli definition, was when both Israel and Egypt signed the Camp David accords, in which Israel agreed to withdraw from Sinai, which once belonged to Egypt, and agreed to a five-year transition period of Palestinian "autonomy" on the West Bank and Gaza. However, after Israel gave up some portion of desert to Egypt, it invaded Lebanon and occupied the fertile soil of southern Lebanon. Israel did this without worrying about her borders with Egypt. So, the Israeli gave up some land to Egypt but occupied different land in another country, Lebanon.
After Israel occupied southern Lebanon, it suggested negotiations with the Lebanese government. However, this was not the first time Israel used this technique.
The Israelis occupied Arab territories in 1966 and 1967 and used them as new bases for negotiations. This fact was noted by Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher who said, "After every new occupation, Israel suggests negotiation. This is the role of the imperialist which denies the 'injustice of the previous aggression.'"
Mahmoud Ali
Guest Columnist
The Israelis justified their invasion of Lebanon
by citing an assassination attempt on the Israeli ambassador to London by Palestinians. This is the same justification that Hitler used to kill Jews after the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by a young Jew.
Although the Israelis agreed to "autonomy" for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, Prime Minister Begin, who resigned in 1983, remained territories were part of the Biblical land of Israel.
Moreover, since 1967, both the Labor and Likud governments have made it clear that they will never agree to Israel's returning to pre-1967 borders. The security requires the acquisition of more Arab lands.
In addition, Arab land and properties have been confiscated to make room for Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli harassment and violation of basic human rights of Palestinians are policies designed to force the Palestinians to leave their homeland and make "superior in nature" Jews. The Palestinians are denied water to be used for their farms.
Moreover, Israel rejected the Reagan peace plan of September 1982, which advocated "full
autonomy" for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, in association with Jordan. Israel responded by building new settlements.
Israel also rejected the European community's idea that called for negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization once the PLO recognized Israel's right to exist in peace. Even though this criterion has been met, Israel still refuses to negotiate.
A more recent example of Israel's refusal of peace is the International Peace Conference, which called all the involved members in the Palestinian issue, including the PLO and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, to meet and negotiate.
The Israelis are calling for negotiations with Jordan so that Israel can make a peace settlement. Who knows, Israel might then invade Syria after her borders with Jordan are secured.
Israel always benefits from her wars. Wars bring more lands and sympathies from Jewish communities all over the world, especially from Iraq, where $383 million annually to pay for military assistance.
In the end, if Israel really wants peace, she should be just and stop killing innocent Palestinians and violating the human rights of the Palestinians.
Mahmoud Ali is a jinline, Occupied West Bank, senior majoring in political science and economics.
K·A·N·S·A·N
MAILBOX
Gays deserve equality
Doug Brown's comments in his letter published on Feb. 4 were disgusting and an insult to Christianity. He insisted homosexuality was "a sin against God and the people." He claimed Americans should discriminate against homosexuals just as they discriminate against murderers, rapists and thieves. He remarked that homosexuality is driven by lust rather than by love. Homosexuals, because of their promiscuity, are an abomination against God. He argued that homosexuals are not protected by the U.S. Constitution.
Well, Mr. Brown, as a heterosexual, born-again Christian whose step-father was an ordained minister in the Nazarene Church. I felt compelled to respond to your letter. To liken somebody to a murderer, rapist or thief because of sexual preference is preposterous. However, you are perfectly correct in pinning lustful promiscuity on the homosexual population. I have never heard of a heterosexual who enjoyed getting somebody drunk for a quick roll in the hay.
I would differ with your Constitutional
assessments. Although I am not a lawyer, it seems to me that the Fourteenth Amendment could apply to homosexuals. Women are not guaranteed certain rights in our society that we grant them anyway. Your remarks about homosexuals being an abomination against God raise an interesting point. What would Jesus do if he met a homosexual on the road? Would He command His followers to persecute him or tolerate and love him?
Robert A. Culwell Englewood, Colo., freshman
Issue deserves debate
It totally is beyond my understanding how almost half of our representatives in Washington can vote for more aid to the contras. Over 40,000 innocent Nicaraguan civilians have already died in seven years of that bloody war. How many more? How much longer? A new vote on more "humanitarian" aid is likely to come before the end of this month.
And then, to my dismay, I find in Friday's Kansan two KU professors expressing their views that "cutting off aid was a mistake" and that "Nicaragua cannot be democratized without pressure on the Sandinistas."
I think that this issue is so important and that it cuts so deeply into the legal, the ideological and the moral fiber of our society that it merits more than a few words in the Kansan. Professor Charles Stansifer, director of Latin American studies, and I would like, therefore, to challenge professors Roy Laird and Carl Lande, the authors of the quotes above, to a public debate on this issue.
Harry G. Shaffer Professor of economics and Soviet East European studies
Walkouts hurt football
Three cheers for Tom Ferrara (Feb 9. Mailbox!) I too was appalled by the early departure of many of our alumni and non-students. I do have one question, however. Is Tom Ferrara one of the hundreds of students who I see leaving KU football games early, week after week, oftentimes before the start of the second half?
KU basketball has a winning tradition in large part because of its fans. KU football may not pack the same kind of excitement, but it was only a few years ago that the empty seats abounded in Allen Field House as well as Memorial Stadium. I think Glen Mason will bring respect back to KU football. With a little support, maybe the Big 2 could become the Big 3.
Andrew Tweedy Bellevue, Neb., sophomore
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed
NO DOUBT, A
DISTURBING REVELATION
TO ALL THOSE
CLANDESTINE
CRIME-COMMITTERS.