4A the university daily kansan
opinion
thursday, december 4, 2003
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editorial board
Don't rush through vital course evaluations
As the semester comes to a close, and with final projects, papers and exams bearing down upon us, it is easy for course evaluations to get lost in the shuffle. Course evaluations (not to be confused with online evaluations) are an important part of our experience at the University of Kansas. These evaluations allow students to voice their concerns and praises to the various departments, but some students discard this opportunity with a quick filling of circles on a bubble sheet.
g of circles on a bubble sheet. There is a tendency to rush through the evaluation process in order to finish class even more quickly. It seems as though the only students who take their time with the evaluations are those who either adored or hated the class or the professor.
Provost David Shulenburger said course evaluations were important and every department takes them seriously. He said he did not think students were abusing the system, but the largest problem with the evaluations was that students tend just to fill out the evaluation in a cursory way.
Some students think course evaluations are nothing but a token effort to appease the student body, but course evaluations have a real impact on future classes. This semester in Journalism 101, instructors made a huge change regarding research papers based on last semester's course evaluations. Was a professor too dry? Let him know through this medium. Was the curriculum too easy? Tell your professor through the evaluation. Was your professor wonderfully encouraging or unnecessarily hostile? Tell the department. These evaluations and the comments on them are kept in each professor's file and are taken into consideration when a professor is up for promotion or tenure.
Statistically, most students will have an average experience with each class, but that does not preclude someone from writing a comment or two about the experience, typical or not. However, if you have had a particularly positive or negative experience with a class, try to avoid profanity or vague compliments such as "Prof. Smith was great" or "Prof. Smith sucked." The more details you can provide, the better you convey the overall picture of class and professor to the department officials.
Everyone is busy at this point in the semester. Studying and research, and hopefully a little relaxation, are on everyone's mind. However, the editorial board urges everyone to take a few extra minutes to portray each class accurately when professors out those evaluations.
Think of the next student to sit in your seat and act accordingly.
Patrick Ross for the editorial board
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
--affected interstate commerce, thus Congress had the power to regulate.
The Kansan would be a better newspaper if none of you got paid. Like, for example, Arrah Nielson. She does not need to get paid for writing that tripe.
affected interstate commerce, thus Congress had the power to regulate.
If people from Texas like Texas so much, why don't you go back there?
You guys should put all of the ant-
greek comments in a book and call it
Geeks versus Greeks: The Battle
Continuus.
一
Ashton Kutcher is a tool bag. If you like Ashton Kutcher, then you are a tool bag. End of story. Good day.
affected interstate commerce, thus Congress had the power to regulate.
affected interstate commerce, thus Congress had the power to regulate.
Don't forget to use a towel.
The first snow of the year and McCollim has the fire alarm pulled. Who didn't see that one coming? Ha, ha, ha, ha.
--affected interstate commerce, thus Congress had the power to regulate.
I was wondering why don't we have a Men of KU calendar?
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I thought my test was at 8 o'clock but it was at 5:45. It is now 8:15 and I am drinking to put it behind me.
GUEST COMMENTARY
When it comes to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act recently passed by Congress, the question is not whether abortion is right or wrong. The question is whether Congress has the authority to act.
To the guy that was drinking beer at nine o'clock Monday night: Why did you wait until nine?
Congress overstepped boundaries on abortion
Anna D. Gregory
opinion@kansan.com
Our government is one of enumerated powers. This means that the branches of the federal government cannot just act on a whim; they are bound by guidelines. The powers of the legislative branch are laid out in Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution. Included in Congress's enumerated powers are such abilities as the power to raise and support armies, establish post offices, coin money and declare war.
In recent years, the Supreme Court has ruled that there must be a rational basis for believing an activity substantially affects interstate commerce. In United States v. Morrison (2000), the Court ruled that Congress's creation of the Violence Against Women Act was unconstitutional. Congress based its authority to create such a law on its power under the Commerce Clause. While the act was created with the intention of stopping violence, a good idea for
declare war.
Also included is Congress's power to regulate commerce "among the several states." Known as the Commerce Clause, this line has brought many challenges to the Supreme Court. In the past, Congress has used the Commerce Clause as authority to act on issues such as racial discrimination, gun control and violence against women. Legislators made the case that these activities substantially
substantially affect intercourse. The fate of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act will be no different. The act reads, "Any physician who, in or affecting interstate of foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both" (Title 18, United States Code, Chapter 74, Section 1531). Congress bases its authority on its power under the Commerce Clause, yet the act of performing an abortion is no more economic in nature than committing a violent act toward a woman.
everyone involved, the Supreme Court found that violence against women was not an economic activity and did not substantially affect interstate commerce.
ting a violent act toward a wom-
The text of the recent abortion act
would have the reader believe that Congress has a compelling interest in preserving the life of a fetus. Again the act reads, "The gruesome and inhumane nature of the partial-birth abortion procedure and its disturbing similarity to the killing of a newborn infant promotes a
complete disregard for infant human life that can only be countered by a prohibition of the procedure." Whether this is true or not is not for me to argue. The fact remains that there is no "compelling interest" power under Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution. A good cause is not a good enough reason for Congress to legislate.
The boundaries set forth in the Constitution are essential for maintaining the balance of power among the three branches of government, between the federal and state governments and to prevent the intrusion of government upon the rights and liberties of individuals. Congress presents a large amount of evidence to make its case that partialbirth abortions are harmful and should be forbidden. While this might be true, Congress is limited by the powers given to it in the Constitution.
Gregory is a Topkea senior in history and political science. She is a member of the editorial board.
Inject faith-based system with healthy dose of reason
This past weekend, Topeka hosted a convention at the Kansas Exposcentre that might only be called a worship service to pseudoscience and new-age thinking.
This convention brought people from all over the country seeking to have their auras read, to learn about magnetic healing and to buy crystals said to grant the bearer special powers.
ant the bearer specialpepper. When I first saw this on the local television news, I was shocked. How could people be so gullible in this age? We live in a world where scientists understand enough to have constructed machines that allow humans to go beyond the reaches of our planet. We have seen the bottoms of oceans and inside beating human hearts.
COMMENTARY
In a lifetime so dominated by mechanical and rational thought, how could such claims convince people of their truth?
Matthew Dunavan opinion@hansan.com
Many people find the amount of scientific knowledge that exists today to be daunting and usually confusing. It is hard enough for some to learn how to hook up a computer or figure out what foods are safe to eat without having to try to delve into physics or biochemistry. When uneducated about the workings of science, people often see it as esoteric and inaccessible to the average person.
The people who attended the gathering in Topeka are not alone. According to an opinion poll done nationwide by the Opinion Dynamics Corporation in September, 29 percent of Americans believe stars and planets billions of miles away have dramatic effects on the way their lives will play out. Thirty-four percent of Americans believe in UFOs and one quarter of people believe in reincarnation.
To put this all into perspective, 92 percent believe in the existence of a higher deity. I am not immune, failing into at least one of the statistics just mentioned.
As a nation, Americans are in an epistemological crisis. How can we know what is true and what is false? What warrant do we have for claiming that certain things meet the tests of truth? Most belief systems cannot provide many answers besides uttering the one
word that eliminates the ability to contest the belief itself. faith. The crystals will only work if we believe they will. John Edward can't talk to my loved ones who "passed on" if I don't give him reinforcement for guessing correctly. Even in the Bible, Jesus could not perform miracles in his hometown because the people there did not believe.
In the absence of understanding, people will try to pull meaning from anywhere that they can, even when they have no rational basis to support what they believe.
Some people would suggest that science is the answer to this problem. While science can tell me how I came to exist, it can never tell me how I should live. It is here that reason must step in to take the reins from faith.
Dunavan is a Topeka senior in political science and philosophy.