Tuesday, April 24, 2001
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
Letters to the Editor Beavers have rights to land, too
I will be the first person to admit that beavers are extremely destructive to trees and natural vegetation. But this fact does not give Lawrence residents the right to restrict the natural environment. The beavers that currently inhabit the McCrew Nature Preserve are there because it offers that perfect habitat for them. If my memory does not fall me, that is the reason behind a nature preserve.
I have very little sympathy for the residents who have built their expensive homes in the path of nature, and now expect the city to trap and kill the animals to save well-manicured lawns. How would we ever survive without perfectly cut lawns and fertilized rose bushes? The beavers have just as much right to build their homes next to the water as the Lawrence residents do. No one is requesting that residents be trapped and removed from the area to protect the home of the beaver, so why should the city be required to trap and remove the beaver?
Yes, I have been called a tree-hugger in the past and am very proud of this fact. Someone must stand up and protect the environment in the face of ever-increasing disregard. The fact is more people care about building a bigger home in the suburbs and owning the biggest SUV money can buy rather than protecting the very nature that is sustaining their life. The more harm we do to the air, water, earth and creatures, the more harm we are doing to our future generations. I would prefer that my future grandchildren do not have to visit a zoo to see animals that I see in my backyard.
Cassandra Baldwin Russell senior
Election relied on many people
Organizing and administrating last week's Student Senate election was no simple task. Although the Elections Commission has received a great deal of credit for a job well done, in my opinion, the hardest workers have gone unrecognized.
More than anything, it is the work of KU employees that made the election a success. Some of them, like Melissa Fast from Testing Services, and Mary Ann Graham and Nancy Miles from the Card Center, went far beyond the call of duty. They are truly great employees, and their hard work is greatly appreciated by the Elections Commission. I don't know what we would have done without them.
would have done without them.
It is even more difficult to describe the contribution made by Assistant Dean of Students Ruth Stoner. Her friendship, advice and guidance have
been absolutely invaluable to me during the last several months. Ruth is one of the University's greatest assets, and with elections, her dedication, ability and passion are unmatched. Both personally and professionally, I owe her and the deam of students office an enormous debt of gratitude.
It is important to remember that when the elections are finished, no prize, trophy or brass ring waits for Ruth and the other marvelous KU employees. They work hard for no reason other than pure dedication to their jobs, the University and its students. Clearly, we are lucky to have them.
Dustin Johnson elections commissioner Pierre, S.D., graduate student
GTA salaries don't measure up
We want to address some of the questions that Wayne Miller posed in his "GTAs may not have it so bad" letter in the April 10 Kansan. He asks several questions about wages at the University of Iowa, which KU administrators chose as a peer institution.
Taking these questions into consideration, GTAs at the University of Iowa still make more money. He asks if the University of Iowa gives free tuition to GTAs. It does. He also asks if their salaries are figured on the same nine-month scale that ours are. They are. He also claims the University's compensation to GTAs is $16,100, which is based on the notion that GTAs are paid about $500 a month and then get a full tuition waiver.
First, some GTAs make much less than $800 a month; some make as little as $670 a month. Second, he assumes that the University pays out-of-state tuition prices for out-of-state GTAs. In reality, the University pays in-state tuition rates for out-of-state GTAs.
Finally, Miller ended by noting that we get health insurance. However, even in this regard Iowa gives its GTAs more benefits. For example, GTAs with appointments of 25 year or more are eligible for its health plan. At Kansas, you must have at least a half-year appointment. Iowa also provides dental insurance and coverage for spouses and dependents. Kansas offers neither of these options. Finally, GTAs at Iowa have a choice of plans — we have only one option.
We think that what these issues point to is a need to create even better learning and working conditions at the University. We have enjoyed our time here, and we hope to keep our school competitive with peer schools. Other questions can be directed to GTAC:gtac@raven.cc.ukans.edu.
Anti-abortion 'feminism' a hoax
Molly Dinge.
Ophra Leyser
Lawrence graduate students
Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition members
In an attempt to mainstream itself and maintain its political viability, the anti-choice movement has adopted a seemingly pro-woman, even feminist, rhetoric. It likes to affirm its support for the oh-so-cutting-edge concept of "equal pay for equal work" while 20-year-old "pro-life" college boys who "counsel" women who have had aborations pretend they have some deep understanding of the cultural and institutional obstacles women face. They say things such as "abortion hurts women," without even the American Psychiatric Association to back up their claims of post-abortion trauma. They throw around quotes denouncing abortion from first-wave feminists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, without knowledge of the 19th century cultural issues within which these feminists worked. They rarely refer to pregnant women as anything but "mothers."
Being the young hipsters that they are, KU Students for Life has happily (and blindly) embraced this trendy speech, although looking back on my five years here, I fail to recall any of its members sitting in my women's studies classes or participating in feminist extracurricular activities on this campus. Since it is such a progressive organization, it claims to be nondenominational, although it does manage to rally the troops occasionally for a good old-fashioned prayer protest at the local abortion provider's office downtown. They hand out literature from an organization called "Feminists for Life" — I wonder how many of them have studied the first wave feminist movement. Or since they care so passionately about the oppression of women (the slogan on their Web site is "Pro life, Pro woman"), I wonder how many volunteer as peer counselors to women who have been sexually assaulted or who are in abusive relationships.
Love dominates Bible's themes
Considering how tres chic this rhetoric has become, I find it mildly amusing when anti-choiceers such as Tim Lang use language such as, "By allowing mothers to cheat the unborn child of its rights while still in the womb, we are recklessly stealing our children from the inside." "Didn't he get the memo? It's not cool anymore to overtly espouse the exist ideology inherent in the anti-choice platform. But hey, at least he's honest—"pro-lifers" generally believe that the government needs to rein in those morally deprived women who are out to "cheat" the "unborn child." So thanks to the politically unsavvy Mr. Lang for exposing his movement's rhetoric as nothing more than a poorly constructed camouflage for misogyny.
Please don't judge Christianity based on the actions of some Christians. Choosing a label does not change a heart. Nor can church membership, Bible study or prayer. Only a relationship with Jesus Christ can do that. This means trying to know him personally and acting as he would act. Second, Christians make mistakes. We are human and fallible. God knows this. Time and again in Scripture, he stresses that humans' failures do not constitute God's failure. He is faithful, unchanging and so many other things that we cannot fully grasp.
Sally Puleo St. Charles, Ill., senior
Recently, several columns and letters have centered on Biblical contradictions. As a psych major, I know that eyewitness testimony can be incomplete or inaccurate. Should the Gospels then be thrown out? No. Perhaps Jesus died after crying, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Perhaps he said, "It is finished." Perhaps it doesn't matter. The Bible's core theme, from Genesis to Revelation, is that every human sin and thus deserves death but that God loved us enough to give up omniscience and omnipotence to die a horrid and humiliating death. And he rose to life again so that we could be with him forever. I find it amazing that across so many centuries and with so many authors, the Bible never loses sights of that central theme.
Churches disagree on some issues. I believe Christ weeps to see how far apart some of us have become. But every Christian church—holding a belief in Biblical authority and as God and Lord though differing in other respects—shares all that matters.
One is not closer to God than another. When seeking Christian truth, look only at the Bible. Traditions and conventions tend to cloud the picture.
Iapologize to those who have been attacked by the Fred Phelps variety of "Christian." God has told us to love our enemy as ourselves. Where Christians so often mess up is in hating the sinner instead of the sin itself. If God did that, we would all be doomed. Instead, he meets us where we are, no matter what we have done or left undone, and calls us to let him into our lives. If a Christian has mistreated you, look for another. We're not all full of pride or hate. C.S. Lewis summarizes the history of the church as an institution best: "Large areas of 'the world' will not hear us until we have publicly disowned much of our past. Why should they? We have shouted the name of Christ and enacted the service of Moloch." Moloch required infant sacrifice. Please look to whom Jesus desires us to be, not only at those of us who have failed.
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Tuesday, April 24 1:00-4:00 pm Wednesday, April 25 9:00-11:00 am Watkins Memorial Health Center. south entrance To register. call 864-9592 Appointments preferred.
Wear your shorts and usual running shoes for a free evaluation of problems experienced by running, walking and aerobic exercise. This clinic will be staffed by physicians and physical therapists. (Aerobic stress test not included)
There is a charge for supplies. if needed. (Inclement weather site: Physical Therapy Department 2nd floor)
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