4A the university daily kansan opinion friday, january 30, 2004 EDITORIAL BOARD New printing fee no blessing to University students KU students are paying again As tuition goes up, students are still bearing the burden for services tuition should cover. Beginning this semester, students have to pay for computer printouts. In previous semesters, students just brought the paper. The cost is eight cents per print. In itself, this is not a high price to pay for even a 10-page paper. In the course of a semester, this can add up. The Kansas Union computer lab also cut back on hours last semester. The hours this semester are 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. OURVIEW Tuition and fee increases double dip into our pockets. Students' money is not going to enhancements. Monday through Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sundays. These new hours are shorter than the Budig Hall computer lab hours, with the exception of the weekend. after lab hours, with the excused With the increases in tuition and fees, why don't we have money to keep the computer labs open? Why does University ink now cost? The third floor of the Anschutz Library, where there are no computers, is now the only 24-hour study zone. It is not the student's fault that the University is lacking in funds. Tuition increases of $40 per credit hour during the past three years have given the University some money. Students have paid their dues and deserve a quality education. We need a computer lab with sufficient hours; we need free printing. PERSPECTIVE Students deserve one side of Fieldhouse Admit it. At least one basketball game per season, every student has looked over at the alumni seats at half court longingly. As the student section heated COMMENTARY up, it despised the Kevin Flaherty opinion@kansan.com Bo Carter, Big 12 Conference assis- older alumni as they sat on their hands all game long. The students were appalled to stand all game and cheer their hearts out while people in better seats clapped politely at a magnificent play. tant commissioner, said conference rules prohibit Kansas fans from sitting directly behind the opponents bench. The idea is that without "friendlies" behind the team's bench, the players would be subjected to ridiculous amounts of verbal and potentially physical abuse. and potentially physical harm. After witnessing Sunday's game against Colorado, all the friendlies in the world weren't going to save David Harrison from the abuse he took. son from the abuse he took. However some Big 12 teams, including Kansas State, still offer seats to students around the opposing bench area and at half court. The belief is that it creates a more "hostile" and louder arena for opposing teams to play. While this works for some, Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director for internal affairs, said it was not needed for Kansas. Kansas. "It's not necessary to sit students there to create a great home atmosphere," Marchiony said." KU already has one of the best home courts in the conference and even the country." even the country. Marchiony is right about the amazing basketball venue that is Allen Fieldhouse. After all, Kansas State, for its great student seats, hasn't defeated Kansas in Manhattan since 1983. Kansas State's "new" arena, Bramlage Coliseum, opened in 1988, has yet to see the Wildcats take home a win against the Jayhawks. But the points system will prolong the stiffing of the students. long the timing of the new program, the more money donated by the ticket-holder, the better chance that ticket-holder will have to purchase a great seat. The idea is that alumni will cough up more and more money in an effort to keep the seats. This money then increases the athletics department's revenue, giving it a previously untapped source of money. Perkins was successful with a similar program at the University of Connecticut. Kansas pulled in almost $5.7 million last season in ticket sales, according to the NCAA gender equity survey. Students only account for approximately $400,000 of that money. Obviously alumni members aren't going to shell out the big bucks for the point seating process if the seats offered are less than stellar. While the extra revenue is fine and dandy for the athletics department, it still leaves the students with less than spectacular seating. seating. So here is what I propose: Keep the point seating program. This generates money from the alumni, and keeps the higher-ups happy. But give the students one side of the court. Students make the school go. If there are no students, there is no school. If there is no school, there is no athletics department. department. As for that donation thing, students donate plenty of money. It may not go to the athletics department, but the fact that we all pay $5,000-$10,000 in tuition each year counts as a pretty massive donation. Add it up over all of us students, carry the five, and we account for more money to the University than any single donor. And don't forget, alumni were once students too. We are the future, and if KU athletics wants to survive 20 to 40 years down the road, they better start taking notice of the potential donors now. Students should receive better seats at the game. After all, it just doesn't make sense to toss your biggest supporting body up in the rafters. Flaherty is a Lenexa senior in Journalism. Free forAll 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 This is for the person who thought it would be funny if no one bought the KU Women of Distinction Calendar. No one will because they are being handed out for free. He, he, he. Sophos destroyed my hard drive too. I think that someone should set it on fire. 图 图 I can't handle anymore commercials about natural male enhancement. William Jewell College. Another reason why Missouri sucks. I want to report a potential safety hazard about the doors on the fourth floor bathrooms of Wescoe. They swing both ways, much like myself. I have been hit in the face twice and I think that we need to change this. New doors people. --the places that made Common, "Introspective" from the 1997 album, One Day It'll All Make Sense 圆 My keys have been returned to me. Many thanks to those who found my ID and my keys and actually know who I am. Thanks. To the girl walking to class with a K-State jacket on the KU campus: That's treason. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Senate supports distinction The Kansan article, Men lacking distinction, Senate rejects calendar, Jan. 29., focused on the wrong points; in actuality most people aren't against the existence of such a calendar; they are against the way that the project is being proposed. Student Senate has always been tight fisted with money. We have limited funds. When a group comes to Senate seeking funding the group needs to prove itself as an organization that will add benefit the student body, and has interest. Expensive projects have higher standards to meet, as we must be assured the money will be put to good use. The problem with the Men of Distinction calendar is the group sponsoring the bill. This group failed to show that they had intent to actually make a calendar; they were instead only trying to prove a point and as James Owen said, "Spin it to the Kansan." The group was focused on proving a point rather than proving to Senate that the project really needed this money and they had the logistical details of the project clearly worked out. Massachusetts Fox Pittsburgh senior Finance Committee member, Student Senate Accounting and Business administration MUSIC OF MY MIND Defying expectation: not the 'ethnic go-to guy' Cornelius Minor opinion@hansan.com COMMENTARY "I'd like to welcome everybody ... What I want to do... to you... Naaaw, really it's for you... is open my mental window, hoping that you would climb in, or if not, at least look in. I want to take you to places that I've been" and to the places that I want to go..." Like most people who you meet, there is much about me that you will find standard as I share my thoughts with you this semester. But at the same time there is even more, I'm sure, that you will find different, new, perplexing and hopefully challenging. challenging. My task here is to tell you what to expect, but when I think about the people who I've met in my lifetime, there is a theme among them that I find extraordinarily fascinating. All of them, in some way, tend to defy expectation. I'm not much different. Consider this then to be the first 500 words of my defiance. the first 500 words of my life. They asked that I talk about myself—that I tell you who I am. Who I am is 25 years of work, growth, progress, pain, elation, confusion and triumph. As a child of ebony, brown and beige ancestors who refused to die, quit or be broken, who I am has been an eternity in the making. As a product of a community that has nurtured my growth, invested in my success and willed my preservation, who I am is supported by the experience and well wishes of people too numerous to name. Our experiences and the people that we have become as a result of those occurrences have made us particularly unique. It is in our nature to resist classification. I'm not much different. Consider this then to be the first 500 words of my resistance. The lens through which I view the world is and in many ways is still being molded by my experience as a black male, but that does not make me any different than you. Statistically speaking (well, at least according to KU's Office of Institutional Research and Planning) if you are reading this on this campus, there is an 81 percent chance that you're white. That means that, no matter where you grew up or who you did that growing up around, the way you see the world has been heavily influenced by your experience as white. ence as white. But I'm not here to have that discussion. There have been those brave and lonely black-, tan- and coffee-colored columnists who have wrestled with these ideas before me — long since leaving their ink trails on this paper. I'm not here to reinvent that movement for fair and equal representation in campus media; I'm here partly because I wish simply to resume it and to carry it forward. To all their efforts, consider this the first 500 words of my tribute. I'm not the "ethnic go-to guy." I'm not the one that's going to write those "can't we all get along" columns, nor am I going to labor to paint white faces on non-white issues for the benefit of "mainstream" understanding. steam understands. People of color have long since mastered the complicated art of seeing, understanding and living multiple perspectives. Some of you 81 percent folks have a lot of catching up to do. Similarly, I'm not going to respond to inquiries about "what black folks think." Just as there are no secret meetings where white folks set up some sort of public agenda, there is no covert black opinion poll. But I consider myself accountable. to and rooted in a specific community, what you will hear from me is purely Cornelius. If you looked at my 32-tooth smile in the photo and thought, "Oh, he's not one of them," consider yourself warned. I am one of them, and because I'm armed with a pen, I'm probably a whole lot worse. But there I go being dramatic again—oh, and I'm that, too. Additionally, I am like most folks. There are times when I will be lighthearted and times when I will not. There will be times when I am angry, spacey and yes there will even be times when I'm a tad insane, but in all those times you can expect me to be honest and fair. This column won't always make you feel good. At times I'll discuss issues that are problematic and challenging. It's hard to smile when presented with widespread poverty, violence, joblessness, etc. — just a few of the contemporary realities that people in America live every day. It's even harder to smile when we attempt to wrestle with solutions knowing that on some level we are all responsible. There's a lot going on. Luckily for you, this semester very little of it will escape the attention of my pen. Minor is an Atlanta graduate student in American studies. He also co-hosts a radio talk program on KJHK, Voice Activated, 7 p.m., every Thursday KANSAN Michelle Rombeck editor 854-4854 or mburhenp@kansan.com Andrew Vaupel managing editor 864-4864 or vaupel@kansan.com Meghan Brune and Johanna M. Maska opinion editors 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com Danielle Bose business manager 884-4358 or addirector@tansan.com Stephanie Graham retail sales manager 864-4358 or adsales@kansan.com Malcolm Gibson general manager and news adviser 864-7681 or mgbson@kansan.com Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 864-7668 or mfisher@kansan.com Editorial Board Members Laura Franco Hinch ❤️ Amy Hammontree 🔑 Kelly Hollowell 🏆 Teresa Lo 🖤 Mindy Dearne Kendall Dix ■ Amanda Flott ■ Lynze Ford Laura Francovici ■ Anna Gregory Amv Hammontree ■ Kelly Hollowell ■ Teresa Lo Stephanie Lovett Mindy Osborne Patrick Ross Ryan Sorrow Sara Behunek Kevin Flachy Brandon Gay Zack Hemanway Alex Hoffman Kevin Kampw邱 Amy Kally Cameron Koelling **Courtney** Brandi Mathelesen **Travis Metcalf** **Mike Norris** Jonathan Reeder **Erin Riffey** **Alea Smith** ★ 9