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Friday, January 22, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Hayden is helping education but he must commit to more
Gov. Mike Hayden finally has come through in a big way for the University of Kansas.
the University of Kansas.
His 1989 budget proposals include a state expenditure of $41.3 million for the Margin of Excellence. Instructional faculty salaries would increase 7.8 percent.
KU would receive an extra $1.7 million for enrollment adjustments that would create 24 additional faculty positions. The governor also proposed a fee release of $466,382.
These proposals are a step in the right direction. The Kansas Legislature should pass Hayden's education proposals.
Uncancellor Gene A. Budig is pleased with the proposal as is the Board of Regents. The total Regents package of $536.2 million appears to be quite a gift.
million appears to be quite a gift. But it can't end with that. The University cannot simply bend down and kiss the feet of its benefactor. There is more to be done.
Hayden chose to commit to only one year of Margin of Excellence. He also did not give unclassified employees the additional 2.8 percent salary increase included in the Margin of Excellence proposal. They would get only a 5 percent cost-of-living increase
The large unclassified portion of the University is rightly disguised with being neglected by the governor. Unclassified employees include such people as assistants to deans, research assistants, computer center staff, directors of laboratories, student affairs staff, Watkins Hospital employees and facilities directors — all integral parts of the University community.
Hayden is finally taking education seriously with his 1989 budget, and KU stands to benefit greatly. But his reluctance to commit to Margin of Excellence is a mistake — a mistake that Kansas can't afford to make.
Commission fails to lead
Jody Dickson for the editorial board
Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission refused, 3-2, to amend the city's human rights amendment to include homosexuals. The amendment presently prohibits housing, job and governmental discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, age, ancestry or handicap.
The decision was bad. The reasons were worse.
commissioners Mike Rundle and Dennis Constance both gave eloquent and moving speeches in favor. But they were outnumbered by Mayor Mike Amyx and Commissioners Sandra Praeger and Bob Schumm.
Sandra P. Freger and 1800 The vote sent a message that the commission condones discrimination and is unwilling to prevent it, to protect its victims, or to penalize those who discriminate.
But the words used by the three opposing commissioners said more than the vote itself.
Amyx said the commission was "dealing with the rights to live free." But he voted no, saying that federal and state governments hadn't addressed the issue.
Schumm said he was "appalled" by reports that gays had had windshields smashed and bricks thrown at them. And he said he had received more calls on the issue than he could answer. But Schumm said he needed "factual data." "I don't feel the need," he said.
Praeger said, "We probably do have some problems in Lawrence. I know that it exists, and that is unfortunate." But she said she preferred "to retain status quo. Let's leave things the way they are."
"I don't feel right as a city official creating a law right now that I'm not sure a majority of the people of Lawrence are ready to follow." Nonetheless, Praeger promised to do what she could as a "person, a citizen of Lawrence . . . and as a leader" to combat discrimination.
Why was she willing to dedicate herself but not the law?
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board.
Correction
Because of an editorial writer's error, yesterday's broadcast news editorial was incorrect. For the fall, Broadcast News I has been replaced by a new course: Journalism 390, Broadcast Production and Writing. This course will emphasize information gathering and writing and producing radio and TV news stories, commercials, public service announcements and promos.
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Senate money was not well spent
Federal commission report says AIDS does not threaten people equally
The University of Kansas Student Senate has been swept away by AIDS bystera, and with it has gone a portion of the activity fees of every student on the campus.
The Senate's distribution of "safer sex" kits and condoms during enrollment last week is an illustration of an AIDS policy that is gravely distorted.
Members of the Senate Task Force on AIDS claim the distribution of these items at this time "lessen(s) the psychological barrier to accepting (them)" because they are available to everyone at once.
I would suggest to the senators that they remove their own psychological barriers in rationally evaluating the AIDS virus and find more constructive ways to use their time and energy, as well as the students' money.
The morning after the senators unanimously voted to spend more than $4,000 on safer sex kits and condoms, the president's AIDS commission issued a report to President Reagan that showed that AIDS is still and probably will remain a disease of homosexuals and intravenous drug users.
While as many as 50 percent of those infected with the disease were identified as members of these two high-risk groups, only 0.021 percent of those infected were identified as heterosexual without specific identified risks. Persons with hemophilia accounted for most of the remaining
cases.
Otis Bowen, Secretary of Health and Human
Jeff Euston Guest Columnist
T
Services and a physician, said, "This is not a massive, wildly spreading epidemic among heterosexuals, as some people fear."
The Senate's distribution of "safer sex" kits and condoms during enrollment last week is an illustration of an AIDS policy that is gravely distorted.
excellent, as some rights groups have the right to Certainly gay rights groups have the right to lobby for help, and certainly everyone with AIDS deserves care and compassion. And of course saving one life pales in comparison to any amount of money.
Yet, AIDS is a behavior-based disease. The methods of prevention are not terribly complicated, and they are hardly underpublicized.
I would understand a need for education and "shock tactics" such as passing out condoms in the inner city, for example, where the people are often the least efficient at acquiring and acting on information.
The immediate goals of the University should be concerned with classroom space, teachers' salaries and the parking situation, not educating relatively well-informed people about AIDS.
As for those on campus who “aren’t motivated” to educate themselves on the virus, I would ask, “Is your willingness not to die not motivation enough?”
Senators who spout statistics such as, "By 1990, as many people will have died of AIDS as died in Vietnam and Korea combined" would be well advised to study the statistics in the latest commission report. Contrary to the belief of at least one senator, listening to a gay rights activist lecture on the subject provides a unique perspective but not necessarily an accurate, objective description of the facts.
Equating the disease with the horrors of Vietnam and Korea and brandishing about slogans such as "AIDS Doesn't Discriminate" builds the myth that AIDS is threatening everyone equally.
equity. The senators claim that it is better to act than to react. Yet, the University already has taken action, including newsletters from Watkins Hospital describing the dangers of AIDS and means of prevention.
I would welcome the Senate allocating $4,000 to research in developing a cure for AIDS, but I did not believe my money should go toward accounting for the actions of other individuals. Jeff Euston is a Kansas copy editor and a Leawood junior majoring in journalism.
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed