4a Opinion Thursday, March 29, 2001 For comments, contact Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com Perspective Student Senate religious groups must stay apart So now Student Senate is going to finance religious groups. But not all religious groups, just the ones it deems sufficiently nonpartisan. Before I start renting on the separation of church and state, let's establish some facts. This all started with last year's Supreme Court decision in Wisconsin v. Southworth. In this case, University of Wisconsin students argued that the university giving student fees to groups they disagreed with was an infringement on the students' rights to free speech and association. The Supreme Court ruled against the students, deciding that the First Amendment outweighed the separation of Senate's current rules Amendment outweighed the separation of church and state in this case. say student money will not fund religious organizations. But after Southworth, senators are legally required to rework their funding regulations. Until they do, senators can simply suspend their rules, as they recently did in order to give $387 to the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Aesthetics. Senate requires that this money only be spent on nonpartisan activities, such as mailing, copying and advertising. What John Audlehelm columnist opinion@kansasan.com Along those same lines, if a religious group was planning to spend $10 on postage stamps, and Senate gives the group $10 to spend on postage stamps, the religious group is just going to spend the $10 on a religious activity. exactly do senators expect religious groups to mail, copy and advertise? That means that Senate will be -- get ready for this -- financing religious activities! Duh! The next legal safeguard bouncing around Senate is a proposed requirement that religious groups be sufficiently nonexclusive, nonpartisan and broad-based if they want funds. Senate's requirement would water down religious messages in the name of broadening them. Senate would give an unfair advantage to large, popular religious groups. That would effectively force small, radical groups to tone down their messages in order to compete for Senate funds. Not only is this vague, but it also runs counter to the idea of free association. If clubs weren't exclusive and biased in favor of something, they would have no reason to exist. I didn't join the rock-climbing club so I could learn how to swing dance. Most of this country's founders had seminary training. They wanted religion to thrive in this land, and they knew that the best way to do it was to keep the government out. The history of this country is one of small, radical groups arguing their points under the full protection of the law. As it turns out, they've had some good ideas. The separation of church and state is a protection of both. It is meant not only to protect the state from religious demagogues, but also to protect religious groups from the state. The true danger is that Senate's rules could empower senators to decide which religions get money and which don't according to the thin justifications listed above. If senators conspire to promote one religion, they will be able to legally do so, ironically enough, in the name of open-mindedness. Let us turn our attention to the religious groups. If you want the government's money, you have to play by its rules. That's OK if you like the rules. But in a democracy, the rules can change. If KU's religious groups agree with what I'm saying, then they should realize that they have the power to make this entire issue moot. Just don't apply for Senate funds. As for the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics, I think you should return the $387. You say you're not a religious organization? Come on. If religion didn't exist, then neither would you. As for Senate: Realize that the only fair way to finance religious groups is to not finance any of them. Oddly enough, none of the senators I've talked to seem particularly eager to change their funding regulations. But it's the law, they say, and we have to follow it. No, you don't. You can do anything you want if you're willing to accept the consequences. Break the law, get sued and go to the Supreme Court. A handful of Wisconsin students did, and they changed the law. Audleheim is a Des Moines, Iowa, senior in journalism and political science. The Student MOVEMENT through the YEARS Nate Beeter/TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES Kansan report card Pass: Alumni raising money to save men's swimming. Former athletes try to do what the Athletics Department wouldn't. This one's going to take a lot of bake sales. Project Homeless Alpha. Members of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity sit outside Wescoe Hall around the clock to simulate homelessness. But having to stay inside Wescoe would have been a true test of endurance. Student who won The Price is Right. Woman fulfills many students' dreams by winning Showcase Showdown. Too bad the Mercury Grand Marquis she won is a grandma car. Fail: Athletics Department. Sets an early deadline and refuses to help with fund-raising efforts of alumni. There's a difference between watching people drown and shoving their heads underwater. **Train that will carry nuclear waste through Kansas. Sure, we're one of 10 states along the route, but hasn't Kansas already been picked on enough?** Student Housing's $80 fee for Spring Break lodging. Housing could have come up with something more flexible than this steep flat fee. Eighty bucks for potentially only one night in McCollium Hall? Check us into the Motel 6. Perspective Kansan's duties demand Senate background checks few people at the University of Kansas know more about J.D. Jenkins than I do. Conversely, few people here know more about me than he does. J. D. was my roommate for two years when we lived in Templin Hall. He was one of the first people I met here, and I still consider him a good friend. Eventually, we found our niches at the University — his as a student senator, mine as a journalist. We've both experienced success — J. D. will attend a prestigious, top-tier law school, and I will work at The New York Times this summer. Although we're friends, we keep finding ourselves on the opposite sides of issues. This time, it's because he's heading up Truth in Reporting, a committee that plans to run background checks on Kansan staff members. The impetus for investigating Kansan staff members is the Kansan's policy to check the backgrounds. Chris Borniger opinion editor opinion@kansan.com of all candidates for Student Senate and publish what we find. Last year, when we published that some candidates had received DUI or MIP citations, we angered a lot of people (J.D. included, although his record is clean). Some didn't think we should seek out the skeletons in candidates' closets. Sharing a room our freshman and sophomore years, J.D. and I got to know each other pretty well. We learned things we'd just as soon not share with the rest of the world. Frankly, we both have a bit of dirty laundry (annoying habits, guilty pleasures, you name it) we'd like to keep locked away in our respective closets. I won't air his dirty laundry, and I hope he won't air mine. Some skeletons, however, deserve to be reported to the public — specifically, those of elected officials or candidates for elected office. Whether you're the president of the United States, a state legislator or a student senator, the felonies and misdemeanors from your past are fair game for publishing. Elected officials have the most public of duties. They represent constituents and act on their behalf, resulting in laws, rules and guidelines that impact the lives of everyday citizens (or in this case, students). Quite frankly, I don't want someone convicted of smacking his girlfriend around representing me. The same goes for someone who has molested children. Unfortunately, people like that have won or been appointed to important offices, including here at the University. In 1991, then-student body president Darren Fulcher was impeached and removed after it was discovered that he hit his girlfriend, so forcefully she needed dental work. Last year, we found only MIPs and DUIs in candidates' backgrounds. But just because we found only citations that many students have received doesn't mean we'll stop printing them; a primary function of the media is to inform people about their elected officials — the good and the bad. Moreover, some student voters might change their vote based on a candidate's DUI or MIP. And in 1995, Eric Moore, a candidate for a Senate seat, ended his candidacy after the Kansan discovered he had been convicted of aggravated sodomy of a three-year-old child and aggravated indecent solicitation of a child under the age of 12. The founding of Truth in Reporting seems like a tit-for-tat, knee-jerk reaction by a select group of senators angry that their parents found out about a minor run-in with the law, thanks to our reporting. It's not as if we're seeking to sully senators' reputation; we're just being loyal to our well-founded principles. To those combing Kansan staffers' backgrounds, I say go ahead. Our records are public. But please attempt to understand why we do what we do And if you don't want us looking into yours, stay out of the race. Editorial Tribe's return overdue, good for Kansas The Kanza people have bought back lands that once belonged to them. The name of our state, Kansas, was adopted from the Kanza tribe, which means "People of the South Wind." But decades after white settlers pushed them out, members of the tribe have just now reclaimed part of the land named after them. After more than one hundred years of exile, the Kaw Nation is returning home. Last year, the Kaw Nation bought 170 acres of land in eastern Kansas near Council Grove, land that was once controlled by them. The Kanzas will still retain their headquarters in Kaw City, Oklahoma, while part of the tribal members relocate back to Kansas. Borniger is a Wichita senior in journalism. About 1750, the Kanzas began migrating west from the lower Ohio Valley. The Algonquin tribe had been a fierce enemy from the east, while Europeans were beginning to invade. The Kanzas settled along the base of the Ohio River before migrating into what is now eastern and northern Kansas, including some territory in Missouri and Nebraska. By 1800, epidemics such as cholera and small pox contracted from white settlers diminished the Kanza tribe to fewer than 1,500 people. Slowly, the Kanzas were pushed out of their new homeland during the mid-1820s. The federal government issued the Indian Removal Act of 1830 to legalize their exile. Kanza lands shrunk from 2 million acres to 250,000 acres by 1846. Later, the Kanzas were forced to move to Oklahoma, where they have staved. But a return — even a small one — by the Kanza people becomes an asset to Kansas and helps make up for historical wrongs. The presence of the Kaw Nation may be an asset to the local economy. The Kaw Nation is working to get the land listed on the national historic register and may eventually turn it into a heritage park. People will then be able to learn more about the Kaw Nation and its contributions. It is disheartening to know that the Kanzas had to buy back land that was taken from them to return home. But it is wonderful that the original Kansas residents are finally making their way back home. Tiffany Knight for the editorial board free for all 864-0500 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, go to www.kansan.com. 图 I went to LeadersShape, and I just want to say it was one of the most incredible weeks of my life. Thank you. 图 GTAC is currently negotiating with University for the second agreement between GTAs and their employer. GTAs can learn more by coming to a negotiations discussion meeting this Thursday at 5 p.m. in Alcove C of the Kansas Union. Drew, it is in your best interest to stay for your junior year at KU. You and the other sophomores have shown tremendous talent and promise, but none of you guys have been on a championship team yet. If the three of you stay together, you can still accomplish great things. Think of how you and Collison could dominate the inside. You guys could be cutting down nets your junior and senior years. At least stay around for another year. You owe it to yourself. Thanks to Britney Spears, I now feel like a Pepsi. Thanks to KU, I can't get a Pepsi. Why is it when you're little and have to take naps, you don't want to? But when you're older and want to take them, you don't have time. Doesn't that suck? 图 My anatomy instructor comes to class every day hung over. Is that ethical? Hey, I would just like to say that I went to Watson today, found a book, got the column number and located it by the Dewey Decimal System for the very first time in my life. I was stoked. 瓶 图 I went to live in the forest, but all you consumer-driven people had cut down my home. I'm sitting here reading the newspaper, and I'm looking at my horoscope, and it's talking to me like I have a boyfriend or girlfriend. Well, I don't. So does that mean I can't read my horoscope anymore? This message is for the owner with the blue Oldmobile with Missouri plates in the back of the McCollum lot. Move your freakin' car. Draw, man, how can you good? Imagine how good you'll be. The triplets will all be juniors, and we'll have Aaron Miles and Wayne Simien, man. Imagine the possibilities. 图 Dirty Dancing is the most overplayed movie on television. Every time I turn on the TV, it's on a channel. What is up with that? 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 questions: Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run. All letters and guest columns should be e-mailed to opinion@kansan.com or submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. 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