4a
Opinion
Wednesday, April 18, 2001
Perspective
For comments, contact Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924 or obinion@kansan.com
Ball, bat removal did not deserve media attention
Much has been made in the last few days about the infamous baseball and bat that were removed from the Student Senate office on Friday. I have personally been the subject of a front-page article concerning this issue and was blasted in a column on Monday's opinion page by Chris Borniger, Kansan opinion editor. Since then, I have been the subject of multiple classroom discussions, including at least one in which a particularly adventurous professor asked her students to write a paper comparing me to Claudius, the devious murderer in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Initially, I refused to comment to the Kansan beyond asserting personal property rights, believing the issue not to be as newsworthy as the paper was making it out to be. It's just a baseball, and I thought (as many of you do) that the whereabouts of such a baseball, irrelevant to 99.9 percent of campus, was far less important than other events on our campus (including vandalism on住院 night)
Moreover, to comment further on my reasoning would allow the conversation to deepen into
Ben Walker
guest columnist
 opinionkanan.com
what I am sure would be labeled mudslinging. But it has become necessary for me to publicly defend my action, and if one believes Borniern's accusations, my character.
First of all, I want to make it very clear that the ball and bat are not and never were Student Senate property. They were personally given to Marlon Marshall and me by the past student body president and vice president. As such, they are our personal property and we have decided they will remain so. There are a couple of reasons why we decided on this course of action.
First, I had been warned that if Delta Force was victorious in the election, the first thing some of their older members (not Justin and Kyle) would do would be to take the baseball and bat and chuck them into Potter's Lake as a symbol of their victory. Thursday, the night election returns came in, I attended both victory parties — one to congratulate, the other to console. Outside of theVOICE party, members of Delta Force rudely demanded I immediately turn over the baseball and bat, among other verbal assaults I received from them.
These statements as much as confirmed my original suspicions that if the ball and bat were handed over, they would disappear. I think this would be, to use Borniger's words, much more an act of "juvenile, classless, backstabbing cowardice" than preventing the action from happening in the first place. I cannot allow that to happen because it would disrespect the legacies and accomplishments of all my predecessors who have signed the bat and ball.
Second, we have since been informed that Justin and Kyle do not even want the ball and bat. They want to start their own traditions. More power to them. Delta Force is all about sweeping change. Why would they want a symbol of past administrations?
I also want to point out a misunderstanding between myself and members of the Kansan staff. It has been presumed that my comment that "I don't care what they think" was meant to refer to the student body in general. It was not. In fact, I thought I was responding to a question concerning what I felt the reaction of Delta Force may be. I didn't want to comment on such an eventality as I was attempting to minimize the attention this issue would receive. Rest assured, I don't think I would have spent four years working for the students on this campus if I truly didn't care about them or what they thought.
In short, the decision to retain possession of a baseball and bat for perfectly legitimate reasons (a ball and bat not even wanted by our successors except perhaps to dispose of them) does not warrant the attention that it has received. Essentially, this issue has been blown way out of proportion and needs to be put in perspective. It is a trivial, "silly tradition" that very few people actually care about.
More importantly, it is time to move beyond this issue and this election, bury the hatchet and get back to the business of doing the job everyone was elected to do: serve the student body.
Walker is a Hutchinson senior in political science and the student body president.
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. For more comments, visit www.kansan.com.
Ren Walker. you are the weakest link. Goodbye.
I hope every time Ben Walker looks at that baseball he is reminded of what a whiny, spoiled, bratty, petty child he is.
四
I'd expect this sort of thing out of Ben Walker,
but I'm disappointed in Marlon Marshall.
Wayne Stayskal/TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
Good job to Ben Walker for not giving Delta Force the baseball and bat. It's not like those hippies would know what to do with them anyway.
=
Ben Walker, why didn't you just have your coalition steal the newspapers this morning? Then maybe the rest of us wouldn't know what a selfish little crybaby you are. Pass the ball on. Don't embarrass us anymore.
Taxes suck, and the government is evil.
图
When I finish with the Ralph Nader Reader that I
□
bought tonight, I'm going to put it on my book-
shelf, right next to my Bible.
Hey, special thanks to the Spanish department for loading us down with so much crap this week.
I am one of the VOICE candidates who is now going to be a senator at this University, and on behalf of all the other candidates who are in my same position from VOICE. Be afraid, Justin. Be very afraid, Justin.
图
I just came to the realization that when the world ends, there's going to be two things left: cockroaches and the KU parking department.
Somebody needs to tell Ben Walker that he's the president of a university, not a preschool.
馆
馆
If Ben Walker is going to continue to not share, I think we need to do the obvious to him: Put him in time out.
解
I think the only thing stupider than Ben Walker not giving the new president the baseball is the fact that it made the front page of the paper.
Yeah, I want to know why Justin Mills could even think that race can be a factor in removing someone who beats up his girlfriend. That's ridiculous.
Kyle Browning: a hottie? His lack of emotion scares me.
You should make every quote in the Free for All
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tomorrow be about how dumb Ben Walker is.
题
28
Hi, I'm a sorority girl, and I voted for Delta Force all the way, baby.
Ben Walker. There's still a month left. Can we impeach?
骆
Since it's pro-life week, I'd just like to remind all you pro-choicers to thank your mom for not aborting you. Thanks.
四
I love how our current lame duck student body president can't be bothered to share his toys. Waa, waa.
器
You're right. Jesus was a pretty nice guy 'cause he died for all of our sins, which he didn't have to do because he was perfect and sinless. But just to prove a point that he was without sin, he rose again on the third day.
Hey all you liberals: Go to www.vote.com, and stop all the conservatives.
图
I was just wondering what I'm supposed to do with 23 cents on the KUID. I'm a graduating senior, and I was wondering if the University would reimbure me.
家
Yeah, what's not greek about Delta Force?
I'd just like to say that it's petty that the greeks who controlled Student Senate are whining about a bat and a ball and wanting to keep it. And if they want it so bad, they can have my balls.
Perspective
Kansan sought fairness in election
ducks.
Monday's paper did not reflect well on losing coalitions and lame
At the top of the page was a story about Ben Walker's refusal to continue a Student Senate tradition of passing on a baseball signed by former student body presidents. Down the side of the page was a story about a KUJH cameraman getting shoved while shooting footage at theVOICE election night party.
Given Friday's banner headline, "Delta Force wins," and previous Kansan endorsements of the coalition, it's not unfair to ask just exactly how much the newspaper influenced the election's outcome.
My guess is quite a bit. Not necessarily because the Kansan coverage was biased toward Delta Force, but because the Kansan reported the news and students read it. Then those students went to the polls as informed voters and voted for who they thought was the best candidate.
Editor Lori O'Toole agreed, saying, "I think that part of a newspaper's job is just to show people what's going on, and if
readers made a decision on how they were going to vote based on what we covered and they did so in an informed way, I think
that's an important part of a newspaper."
For the most part, Hunter Harris, who ran as the VOICE's vice presidential candidate, agreed. He had a little trouble with the banner headline
saying he thought such large fonts should be reserved for a declaration of war or if the Royals won the World Series. He also said that as for the opinion page, VOICE "might have gotten the short end of the stick."
Leita Schultes readers' representative readersrep@kansan.com
Whether otherVOICEsupporters and candidates agree with
But overall, he said, "I think the Kansan did a good job."
Harris is another issue.
"I seriously doubt that they see my point of view," he said, adding that losing often makes people defensive and eager for a scapegoat.
So this column is for the guy who shoved the cameraman. It's an explanation for the girl who screamed obscenities and squirted champagne at Kansan representatives on election night. And it's for theVOICE supporter who called up Brooke Hesler, the Senate reporter, and called her names that can't be printed. From the beginning, the
"We were very careful," O'Toole said. "If we run a story about one coalition's platform, we'd run a story about the other coalition's platform."
From the beginning. Kansan's goal was fairness
But she said, as the campaigns continued, issues varied and coverage could no longer be symmetrical.
"When the stories came up, we covered it," she said. "We didn't ask ourselves which coalition was involved before we decided what to do."
In fact, the only place Delta Force support appeared was on
the opinion page — where writers are held to a different standard of objectivity.
They're still expected to be fair. And they still have to do some reporting and know what they're talking about. But they do get to make statements. And sometimes that means they get to sway public opinion.
Chris Borniger, opinion editor,
said that to him, the opinion page
was the most important part of
the newspaper because it was
where ideas were exchanged.
"I think we do a service by informing people who the editorial board thinks would be the best choice for a student representative position," he said. "A lot of people haven't made up their minds."
The editorial board is made up of a large cross-section of campus, and for that reason its opinion is representative of the student body.
If you don't like what the students on the board say, apply to be one of them.
Schultes is a Rolfe, Iowa, sophomore in journalism and religious studies.
Editorial GTAs deserve better contract from University
Giving a boost to teaching assistants would improve the quality of instructors.
The success of an academic institution is directly affected by the abilities and skills of its teachers. Therefore, the quality of instructors should concern everyone in the University of Kansas community, especially because graduate teaching assistants teach roughly one-third to one-half of undergraduate classes.
When graduate students decide to enter a contract to teach, generally their tuition is waived, and they receive a salary. But this salary is meager, and the time commitment to teaching, as well as to their own classes, does not allow the student enough time to work another job if they aren't able to live off the salary.
The Graduate Teaching Assistant Coalition at the University of Kansas is right to work with the University for a contract that enables them to balance school, teaching and a salary that allows them to pay for basic needs. But the University has to do its part to make this happen.
Now GTAC is working to negotiate a revised contract with the University, a process that began last September. GTAC president Amy Cummins said that a goal of the group is to help all graduate students, not just those that have long-standing contracts.
The first contract between the University and GTAC, established in 1997, expired last fall. Negotiations began as scheduled after that contract expired, but it could be next spring before GTAs get a new contract. Negotiating those changes is taking far too long.
GTAC is lobbying for higher wages and fees, better health insurance and an extension of benefits to more GTAs. For example, health coverage currently is provided only to GTAs who work 20 or more hours. Another rule outlaws health care for emergency teaching assistants, who have a one-semester contract.
Moreover, a university rule adopted in 1998 disallows any graduate student from teaching for more than five years. This forces GTAs to hurry their way through school, which certainly affects the amount of time and effort they can channel into teaching.
GTAC is not asking for unreasonable changes in the contract. They simply want better conditions under which they can teach, an area in which many of them excel. And considering how necessary GTAs are to fill teaching positions, the University should take extra steps to accommodate them.
We believe it's the University's responsibility to work with GTAC to form a contract that better allows GTAs to attend school, teach and pay for basic needs.
Katherine Marchin for the editorial board
How to submit letters and guest columns
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
Guest columns: Should be double-spaced
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must be willing to be photographed for the
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