4 Monday, December 7, 1987 / University Daily Kansan Opinion THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Final finals For most KU students, the end of the fall semester means surviving finals to enjoy a brief respite before doing it all again in the spring. For others, it's the last hurrah. Though spring commencement is a time-honored rite of passage for most KU seniors, many will graduate at the end of this term. Some will be around to make the ceremonial walk down the hill in May, but others will be spread across the country as they embark on careers for which they have spent long years in preparation. have long been College is an experience that shapes every individual both personally and professionally. It is a time of self-assessment and growth that brings lifelong changes. While most of us are thinking about next week's final or the holidays, this semester's graduates are looking into the distant horizon of the future. But in addition to looking ahead, graduates should take this occasion to look back as well, to reflect on the memorable times on Mount Oread. These have been years of travail and of triumph; of friendship, of laughter, of tears. They are the memories that will be the enduring legacy of the University of Kansas. Congratulations to all December graduates on your accomplishments.. The final week Now imagine having one less week of final exams. Now imagine having one less week to study because all of the exams would be packed into five days. exams would be packe Frightening isn't it? Frightening! 'SM!' Some professors at the University of Kansas believe that the final semester period is too long. They think that KU should join the majority of colleges in the U.S. and shorten the period from the current eight days to five. The rationale for this idea is that three-hour exams are too stressful to be an accurate evaluation of a student's performance in a course. So finals should be shortened to two hours apiece and taken within five days. But is this really a wise alternative? Many finals do not require the full three hours to complete. But more importantly, which is more taxing: several three-hour finals stretched over eight days or the same number of two-hour finals crammed into five days? Supporters of the shorter final exam period claim that the longer exams are simply endurance contests. But longer exams require less stamina than do several consecutive finals with hardly a day's rest between. Students should be thankful that the University Senate has already approved the longer period for the next three years. It allows time to study and rest, time that would be missed in a shorter exam schedule. Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board. News staff Jennifer Benjamin...Editor Juli Warren...Managing editor John Benner...News editor Beth Copeland...Editorial editor Sally Streff...Campus editor Brian Kablerine...Sports editor Dan Ruffettmann...Photo editor Bill Skeet...Graphics editor Tom Eblen...General manager, news adviser Business staff Bonnie J. Hardy ... Business manager Robert Hughes ... Advertising manager Kelly Scherer ... Retail sales manager Kurt Messeramith ... Campus sales manager Greg Knipp ... Production manager David Derftet ... National sales manager Angela Clarke ... Classified manager Ron Weems ... Director of marketing Jeanne Hines ... Sales and marketing adviser Letters should be typed, double-spaced and less than 200 words and must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University of Kansas, please include class and hometown, or faculty or staff position. Guest shots should be typed, double-spaced and less than 700 words. 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Student subscriptions are $3 and are paid through student activity fee. the student activity fee. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the University Daily Kansan, 118 Suffer Fell Hall, Lawrence, Kanen, 68045. GPA's under director, not coach With the firing of KU football coach Bob Valesente, an old argument resurfaced. Supporters of Valtesea asked if there was a place for academics in the high-pressure world of college athletics. Brian Kaberline Sports Editor I, too, applaud the stirides that have been taken under Valentece to bring the academic situation of the Kansas football team back to respectability and hope the progress continues under the next coach. However, responsibility for this success does not rest solely with Valentece, while responsibility for the 4-17-1 record the team has had the past two seasons must. tony redwood, chairman of the University of Kansas Athletic Corporation, resigned in protest of the firing saying it called into question the Athletic Department's "commitment to the academic dimension of intercollegiate athletics." In classroom terms, Valesente had two chances to show improvement and simply couldn't make a passing grade. But what some of these inquisitors seem to have forgotten is that it is the Athletic Department's job to see to the academic needs of those in its charge — a coach's job is to win. Others, including members of the Faculty Executive Committee and the Kansan editorial board, also openly asked if Athletic Director Bob Frederick wasn't more concerned with touchdowns than good grades. For an similar example, one need look no It is a harsh situation — win or pack — but it is inevitable in the larger of two revenue sports, upon which much of the budget for every other varsity sport depends for a large part of their funds. As unpleasant as it is, the athletic program, like the University, has to keep an eye on the bottom line or it will cease to exist. further than Valesce's handling of his team. While senior quarterback Mike Orteh received numerous honors for maintaining a 4.0 GPA for the spring 1987 semester and making the conference all-academic team again this semester, he won't able to move the team on offense — his job as far as his coach was concerned — so he spent nearly the entire season on the bench. Faculty representatives on the KUAC Board might have been incensed at the firing, but the proceedings of Tuesday's meeting showed the effect of KJI's disappointing football team. Susan Wachter, business manager for the --- Sadly enough, there are many examples of athletic departments, such as that of the University of Georgia, that have made a farce of the term student-athlete. But there are also schools such as Notre Dame that do see to it that a large majority of their student-athletes become graduated athletes. Athletic Department, said projections showed the department operating at a $12,000 deficit for the first fiscal quarter. The main cause of the deficit was said to be because of a decline in anticipated football revenue. That same decline in football revenue was later given as the reason prohibiting further marketing of non-revenue sports. duated authorities. At this time, the Athletic Department has a decision to make. It — not the new football coach — can continue the efforts that have raised the GPA of the football team from a 2.04 in spring 1986 to a 2.57 (the overall average GPA for KU students for fall 1986 was 2.70 according to the KU Division of Student Affairs) or rest on its laurel1. If Frederick lets up on the drive to help student-athletes get the most of their educational opportunities, then say he thinks academics should take a back seat to athletic performance. If those efforts are maintained, or — even better — increased, then leave coaching decision out of K A N S A N MAILBOX Brian Kabeler is the sports editor of the Kansan and is a Topeka senior. Sounds of change KJHK-FM91 thanks the Kansan for its interest in the changes taking place at our station. As always, we welcome the exchange of ideas and opinions. However, because of several misleading points printed in your publication, we wanted to give you the simple facts about our new sound. First, KJHK is now and always will be the sound alternative. That will not change. Second. KJHK will continue to play the kind of music our audience currently enjoys. luru, we are expanding our play list to include new and established groups playing at other college radio stations around the country. If you are familiar with KJHK's current play list, you will see that these groups are already aired at our station. So the important change at Fourth, there will be more structure to our programming. Our listeners will know what to expect when they tune in. expect when to examples in a recent Kansas article, there are not now, nor have there ever been any plans to include artists such as Billy Joel, John Cougar Mellencamp or A-ha in our new format. Several Kansas City stations offer that type of programming. We are here to serve as an alternative. We will continue to do that. Some good examples of what does fit the new format are The Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM and Big Black. These artists are currently ranked high on the alternative charts put out by a trade publication called "College Media Journal." We will be using the publication as a tool to help us determine what our audience is most interested in hearing. KJHK is not the music we play, but how we play it. KJHK is maturing into a more structured format. The staff at KJHK is committed to bringing its audience the best possible sounds. This is simply a step to make what is good even better. better. As your editorial proved, when there is change people get nervous. To our friends at the Kansan, we say "Relax!" Now that you know the facts, it's not so frightening, is it? We just wish that you would have asked us about the facts before you got so upset. Thanks for your concern, though. concern, though We are now working hard to make KJHK even better. If you liked KJHK before, you'll like it even better next semester. We invite you to join us for an exciting spring semester at KJHK-FM91. Michael Bassin, station manager, Lawrence junior Brad Schwartz, operations manager, Highland Park, Fowler Jones, program director, Fairway senior Russ Ptacek, news director, Wichita junior Senior comeback As a representative of the senior class on the 1887 KU football team, I feel compelled to stand up on behalf of my teammates and help balance your perspective of our performance. He failed to mention that many of us were starters on the 1984 team that finished 4-3 in the Big Eight and defeated Oklahoma, or that most of us were a part of the team that went 6-6 in 1985. We certainly recognize that our team failed to achieve the success that everyone wants on the field, but in the Dec. 1 Kansan article entitled "Jayhawks' seniors end college careers with lackluster year," the reporter failed to provide his readers with all the facts. He singled out people such as Mike Rogers, Rick Bredesen and Mark Parks for having disappointing years. Why didn't the reporter let his readers know that Rogers' yardage was down because he was switched from tailback to backfill so that his role was altered to that of a blocker? Why did the reporter omit the fact that Bredesen went from middle linebacker to outside linebacker? In any defense, the middle linebacker will have an abundance of tackles — many more than an outside linebacker. The reporter could have brought in the positive fact that Parks really wasn't supposed to be playing this year because of an injury, but that he worked his way back and finished strong. These players and many others moved positions and sacrificed the health of their bodies for the good of the team and the University. I just want to leave you with the thought that we live in the world of negative publicity. Wouldn't it be nice if this University and the Kansan would break with tradition and be positive? Jim Davis, Leawood senior Wasted money Now that the smoke has cleared somewhat on the union election, one cannot help but wonder how much better off the University of Kansas would be had the AUP and, in particular, the NEA taken the money they spent blitzing the faculty with information, and donated it to the improvement of the University instead of to the divisive attempt to establish a union. The unions have already warned that they "will be back" unless certain unspecified things are accomplished by the Legislature. Perhaps that would be the time to seriously consider donation of the cost of an 11-month paper blitz and considerable faculty time to Campaign Kansas, designed to bring about some of the changes at the University that they desire. Paul Enos, professor of geology 09/11, 2008, 327 katz k. I. thorman BLOOM COUNTY by Berke Breathed .