4A the university daily kansan
opinion
wednesday, march 17, 2004
EDITORIAL BOARD
Students should appreciate national case
Fifty years ago, a case that began about 30 miles from the University of Kansas campus made its way to the United States Supreme Court.
Jennifer Wade for The University Daily Kansas
OURVIEW
The result of that case and the
Students should be proud to be at a university that hosted a national conference recognizing how far the United States has come since the Brown v. Board case.
policy it overturned changed the face of racial politics in America and paved the way for the American civil-rights movement.
That case, of course, was 1954's Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Today is the last day of Lawrence's celebration of the anniversary of the decision, a public conference titled "The Legacies and Unfinished Business of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka."
The conference closes a series of nationwide programs celebrating and exploring topics associated with the landmark case. The four-day conference featured speeches by plaintiffs' family, academic presentations, and a new library exhibit.
Students at the University should be proud that Lawrence was chosen as the site to close this event.
The Brown decision is one of the most famous and important ever handed down by the Supreme Court. Nullifying the segretationist doctrine of "separate but equal," the decision was a precursor to the eventual integration of restaurants, hotels, and all other public areas in the country.
cation, Office of the Provost, and Student Senate, the sponsors of the program, deserve recognition for bringing a national and important event to the University.
The University Libraries department of Continuing Edu-
Tony Brown, the final speaker at the opening session on Sunday, talked about the importance of this case and the importance of getting to know each other as human beings.
Brown, a civil-rights activist said, "Once you're touched, once you're connected, you are where you always wanted to be."
The discussion leaders and presenters in this week's public conference have given KU students the opportunity to get connected themselves. Students should appreciate this opportunity, and the prestige it brings to the University.
PERSPECTIVE
Plan B birth control should be available
COMMENTARY
A doctor can't refuse service based on a patient's inability to pay, but a pharmacist can refuse to give medication based on moral and religious beliefs.
Recently some pharmacists took that duty upon themselves by declining to dispense the emergency contraceptive known as the morning-after pill, or Plan B. Problems with accessibility and the beliefs of health care providers are the best arguments for the Food and Drug Administration to approve the drug for over-the-counter sales.
Alea Smith opinion@kansan.com
Since October 2003, Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. has tried to get the pill approved for over-the-counter sales. The emphasis of the pharmaceutical company is accessibility. Because the pill is most effective within the first 24 hours after unprotected intercourse, accessibility to the drug is crucial to its success and function. If taken within 72 hours it has been shown to reduce the risk of unwanted pregnancy by 89 percent.
Currently, emergency contraceptives such as Plan B are only available by prescription. The problem with this is most
incidences of unprotected sex don't occur during normal business hours, making it difficult to ensure the pill is taken within the 72-hour time frame. If the drug were available over the counter, patients would not face this time constraint.
The FDA was set to decide the status of Plan B on Feb. 20, but the decision was delayed until May. Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. cited the need for more time to review adolescent use of the drug.
Four days after this decision date passed, compelling news came out about the distribution of emergency contraceptives. A rape victim in Denton, Texas,
was turned away from filling her prescription of the morning-after pill at an Eckard Pharmacy. Pharmacist Gene Herr cited moral and religious convictions for denying the girl treatment. This girl had already been victimized once, now by being denied treatment she was victimized again.
Herr sides with anti-abortion advocates who believe providing the emergency contraceptives is equal to participating in abortion. They contend that pregnancy begins with fertilization, not with implantation of the fertilized egg.
In actuality, Plan B and other emergency contraceptives are nothing like abortion. Plan B is a hormonal contraceptive, similar to normal birth control. The pill works to delay or inhibit ovulation, prevent fertilization or the implantation ofa fertilized cell. Emergency contraception has no effect once pregnancy has been established.
In essence, the morning-after pill is an abortion preventative. In a study published in the January/February 2003 issue of Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health, in 2000 an estimated 51,000 abortions were avoided by use of emergency contraceptives. Antiabortion advocates should view the pill as another form of birth control.
From doctors to pharmacists and everyone in between who tries to decide what is morally right, over-the-counter Plan B would bring immense benefits.
Pharmacies have varied policies regarding instances such as the rape victim's. Walgreens Pharmacy allows pharmacists to deny treatment but requires them to find another pharmacist to fill the prescription. Eckard's policy states that pharmacists cannot deny filling a prescription based on moral or religious beliefs.
beneath.
Each pharmacy should not be able to decide whether to distribute emergency contraceptives. Pharmacists should fall under the same conscience clause as other health care providers. Pharmacists and doctors alike should not legally be allowed to determine if a patient receives access to emergency contraceptives.
Smith is a Kansas City, Mo., senior in journalism.
Free for All
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com
month dedicated to actively learning about that common history is a brilliant idea.
I wish more freshmen and sophomores would call in about being drunk because that is funny.
To the couple walking around campus with matching North Carolina hats: You guys are too cute.
month dedicated to actively learning about that common history is a brilliant idea.
Why does my engineering physics instructor look like Hannibal Lector? Well hello, Clarice. Are you studying those problems?
month dedicated to actively learning about that common history is a brilliant idea.
The only purpose of The Rock Chalk Reve is so that fraternities and sororities can make themselves feel important.
When it rains, you turn your headlights on, people.
图
图
month dedicated to actively learning about that common history is a brilliant idea.
Hey everybody, put down your homework and read some Harry Potter. It's good times.
My roommates and I are really curious because we can't decide whether or not it is penises or peni for the plural of penis. Will somebody call in and let us know? Thanks.
month dedicated to actively learning about that common history is a brilliant idea.
Ine yield sign around the Chi Omega fountain roundabout means that if you are entering it you must stop if there are other cars in the roundabout. It does not mean keep going. It does not mean go faster. It doesn't mean cut the other guy off. Stop.
month dedicated to actively learning about that common history is a brilliant idea.
Go nimrods.
month dedicated to actively learning about that common history is a brilliant idea.
In response to the "I hate Texas" comment in the Free for All, I would like to say that you should hate the school, not the state.
Is there are fraternity like the Skulls at KIU?
month dedicated to actively learning about that common history is a brilliant idea.
month dedicated to actively learning about that common history is a brilliant idea.
How many days is it going to take from when I say this to when I'll see it in the newspaper?
Do they put drug and alcohol references in the Free for All?
图
PERSPECTIVE
I might argue that sweet and sour sauce all over your body might be equally as tasty.
Love of green beer may be rooted in family heritage
The green beer shall flow like an endless river wild.
For Irish-Americans — and plenty of other Americans — St. Patrick's Day conjures such an oasis. My family, the Kelly family, is no exception to the rule. If ever there was a day for singing "Danny Boy" and "Too-Ro-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra," complete with cracking voices streaming through Bailey's-drenched mouths, St. Paddy's is the day.
But as fulfilling as it is each year, my conscious knows that my Kelly-ness is lacking. And if there were ever a time to delve into tales of the old country, March is the month. President George W. Bush declared March the Irish-American Heritage Month last year. And with the 2000 census showing that 38 million Americans claim at least some Irish ancestry, a
COMMENTARY
Amy Kelly opinton@kansan.com
Students such as Keara Hays already have a jump start. A Feb. 5 article in The University Daily Kansan focused on the student whose mother moved from Ireland to the United States in the 1970s. For Hays, learning comes in the form of several trips to the home country.
On a student budget, the economically sound option is to do a bit of detective work. Of course, sifting through piles of historical data and immigration record books could send us back to the bars before you can say, "Erin Go Bragh." Baby steps are the key.
Learning about the holiday that transforms Irish-American strangers into tight-knit clans for one day is a start. St. Patrick, a Roman, came to Ireland as a missionary and is said to have used a shamrock to educate Christians about the Trinity.
The day marks the death of St. Patrick, and until about 20 years ago, pubs would have been closed because of its holy sta-
Volunteering for the St. Patrick's Day Parade or the Kansas City Irish Festival offers insight about the local Irish-American community, which has inspired such publications as the Irish Focus Newspaper out of Kansas City.
Pat O'Neill, author of From the Bottom Up: The Story of the Irish in Kansas City, said outlets are numerous for students who are beginning their hunt for data about their Irish ancestors.
"I had great fun going through the old city directories and turn-of-the-century secular and non-secular papers," O'Neill said. "Start by looking up dates around St. Pat's."
Kathryn Conrad, professor of English and secretary for the American Conference for Irish Studies, suggests exploring
the University's own Spencer Research Library archives, easily accessible at spencer.lib.ku.edu/sc/irish.htm. Other prime locations are the Missouri Valley Room in the downtown Kansas City Library and the Western Historical Manuscripts collection at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
KANSAN
Michelle Rombeck
editor
864-4854 or mburhenn@kansan.com
Interestingly enough, O'Neill said he joined the St. Patrick's Parade committee in 1986 as an "excuse to start drinking beer at 10 a.m." We understand, brother.
tus. St. Paddy's without beer. Hmmm.
So to all the other Kellys, O'Connells and Irish-Americans out there, take a little time to delve into the past. You'll have all the more reason to make those St. Paddy's toasts.
Kelly is an Overland Park senior in journalism and art history.
Andrew Vaupel
managing editor
864-4854 or vaulpel@kansan.com
Meghan Brune and Johanne M. Maska opinion editors 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
Danielle Bose
business manager
864-4358 or addirector@ansan.com
Stephanie Graham
retail sales manager
864-4358 or adsales.kansan.com
Matt Fisher
sales and marketing adviser
884-7866 or mfisher@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson
general manager and news adviser
864-7687 or mgibson@kansan.com
Editorial Board Members
Kendall D Lynne Ford
Laura Francoviglia Anna Gregory
Amy Hammontree Kelly Hollowell Teresa Lo
Mindy Oborne Greg Holmquist Ryan
Scarrow Elizabeth Willy Sara Behnak Kevin
Fleherty Brandon Gay Zack Hamenway Alex
Hoffman Kevin Kampwirth Amy Kelly
Cameron Koelling Courtney Kuhln Brandi
Mathesien Travis Metcalf Mike Norris
Jonathan Reeder Erin Rifie Alea Smith
Kari Zimmerman
北
A