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Opinion
Wednesday, February 7, 2001
or comments, contact Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
Editorial board: Student should be punished for misleading voters
Professional schools have right to protect integrity
professional misconduct should be punishable in the honor codes of professional schools.
Some professional schools at the University of Kansas have honor codes that serve as rulebooks for academic misconduct. These codes punish such actions as cheating, misrepresentation and unauthorized collaboration. The codes play the same role in professional schools as the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities plays in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. It seems obvious that a professional school, in addition to punishing academic misconduct, should have the right and responsibility to establish a standard of professional conduct through its honor code.
The case of Peter Hunter, a second-year KU law student who ran for the Kansas Legislature as a Republican in the 2000 general election, illustrates the need for honor codes. Last month, the FBI found Hunter had been responsible for phone calls to several registered Democrats reminding them to take their voter registration cards to the polls.
That was false and misleading information aimed at suppressing votes, but Hunter didn't technically commit a crime, and he will not be prosecuted. There is no formal charge for what Hunter did because Kansas' election laws do not say it's illegal to distribute false information. The Legislature now is reviewing two bills that would make such actions illegal — either as a high-level misdemeanor or a low-level felony.
Hunter will also not face any punishment from the School of Law. The school's honor code does not address professional or legal forms of misconduct.
Hunter, who has admitted to and apologized for making the election-eve calls, might not deserve any more punishment than the humiliation he has already experienced. But the School of Law and other professional schools should be concerned about their students' professional conduct
Dissent: Student's actions are rightly outside University's scope
Schools shouldn't punish actions outside of class
know what kind of behavior is expected of them, both on and off campus. Schools must set an example by holding students to the standards they learn in the classroom.
Melia Moss for the editorial board
"limited to actions by law students which take place in or about the Law School building or which occur at any function or academic activity conducted with Law School sanction."
This language in the code limiting the scope of the honor code implies that the drafters of the code did not intend for the school to be able to punish students for activities not related to the school. There are good reasons why the code is limited to actions that directly affect only the school.
In this case, the school should not regulate what should be governed by legislature. Both the Kansas Legislature and United States Congress now are considering bills that would make actions such as Hunter's illegal.
In addition, expanding the scope of the school's honor code, as well as any other professional school's code, to include unethical actions outside of the school would prove unworkable. Here, the act committed by the student was clearly unethical, although not illegal. How would the school craft a policy that punishes breaches of ethical conduct when that conduct is not criminal behavior?
The simple answer is that it can't do so fairly. With differing views on what is ethical, especially in politics, it would come down to relying on judgment calls. That means any new policy likely would be enforced arbitrarily, and many violations would slip through the cracks and go unpunished.
Illustration by Kyle Ramsey/KANSAN
This is not to say that people engaging in unethical conduct will not face consequences. Professional licenses are not granted to just anyone. The committees that do so examine the moral fitness of the candidate, which includes actions that the school couldn't necessarily punish. Conduct such as Hunter's will not go unnoticed by a bar examination committee, the group that decides whether to grant a license to practice law. Hunter has embarrassed himself and created a black cloud that will follow him through his career.
That is punishment enough.
Perspective
Kansan tries to follow readers' label preferences
The issue is anything but black and white — or maybe I should say Black and White.
Black has been capitalized since the late 1980s.
Our stylebook, which lays out the rules the Kansan follows in its content, says Black is acceptable "when referring to people of African ancestry, but African-American is preferable."
Although barely noticeable, the difference — one of just a couple capital letters — is important at the Kansan. Adjectives should be capitalized when referring to race and used sparingly even then.
said Tom Eblen, Kansan general manager and news adviser. White started being capitalized only this semester, a decision made by editor Lori O'Toole.
The Kansan started capitalizing Black when an editor wanted to improve relations with African Americans, Eblen said. Later, when attempts
It didn't make sense. Why did we capitalize Black but not White for more than a decade? And why, in 2001, do we capitalize either? It seems capital letters draw attention to a difference that shouldn't be that big a deal.
Leita Schultes readers' representative readerse@kansan.com
were made to revert to lowercase, the changes were not well received. O'Toole decided to capitalize both Black and White to make the words equal.
The stylebook says that racial identification should not be included in any story unless such a reference is clearly relevant to the story. So normally we don't have to use it.
But more than understanding a nit-picky style rule. I began to understand the danger of labels.
But recent stories about minority recruitment, the Chinese New Year or Black History Month have
been helped by revealing the race of our sources.
been helped by revealing the age of our sources.
And that's where the trouble starts. Do we say African American or person of color? Native American or indigenous? Hispanic or Latino?
And how do we know that the label we pick won't offend someone? We don't. In fact, we can probably be assured that it will offend someone.
Last semester, I wrote a story about Queers and Allies. I referred to some of my sources as members of the "queer" community, a word that, during editing, was channeled to "homosexual."
The change was made with the best intentions, but it offended some people who read the story. Homosexual, they said, does not include bisexual or transsexual, and by eliminating the word "queer," we marginalized their community.
Point well taken: The stylebook has been changed. It now explains the term, saying, "Although 'queer' was offensive in the past, it is a term in transition. It is not considered as offensive by younger generations (which are our primary audience)."
Figuring out style rules and labels is a tough job, and Eblen said every editor had struggled to grasp the issue. No doubt there have been some mistakes. But our intentions have been good.
Newspapers have to be flexible and change with the times, O'Toole said. Eblen agreed, pointing out that in the 1950s, "Negro" was the preferred term and "Black" would never have appeared in a newspaper. Today, just the opposite is true.
The rules can change, she said, but the first step is for readers and sources to let the Kansan know what labels they prefer.
The stylebook exists so that our stories reflect a sensitivity to different races and cultures, O'Toole said, and so that every rule is there for a reason.
Schultes is a Rolfe, Iowa, sophomore in journalism and religious studies.
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.
Spencer Farris, dissenting Farris is a second-year law student.
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Kudos to the University Endowment for the blue pompons at the basketball game. You guys should be proud of yourselves. It was a good game.
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KU basketball: Booooo.
It's me again, and I'd just like to personally call every single person in Allen Fieldhouse a hypocrite. Because I know those are all the same people that say bad things about Eric Chenowith, but I know they were all cheering loudly when he made those two free throws.
It is bad enough to see a sign that says Free Kevin Hoskinson every time I walk into my dorm. It made me really sad to see one in the Free for All.
I, too, have a 4.0, and electrical engineers give pot smokers a bad name.
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We are all so lucky to have known Shyra McGee. She was such a wonderful, hardworking and caring woman with such a wonderful husband and she will be missed dearly.
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As if the KU parking system wasn't already screwed up enough with the shortage of parking spaces. Some GSP-Corbin girls seem to think it's cute to park right down the center of two spaces. Red Honda Civic from Monday night: You know who you are.
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I think that if teachers expect students to give doctors notes when they're sick then they should also have to give them when they're sick.
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If I was ever on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? could I call KU Info?
Cows are stalking me.
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I think the student section should be reserved for students only.
--it's my birthday, and I have chocolate cake all over my face.
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Why is Jesse "The Body" Ventura on TV? Doesn't he have a state to govern or something?
I just wanted to say that I am addicted to Mrs. E's cheeseburger rings. Bring on the cheeseburger, bring on the fun.
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Robert Chamberlain's columns are like term papers.
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Help. I lost my sex appeal.
it's my birthday, and I have chocolate cake all over my face.
How come none of my Free for
Alls get printed in the paper?
(Editors note: Happy now?)
--it's my birthday, and I have chocolate cake all over my face.
That could have been cows you heard mooing in Malott Hall. Hundreds of dogs, cats and rabbits are housed there and used in animal testing.
and typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
Just because someone likes math doesn't mean they should become a TA and attempt to help the mathematically challenged.
Every time I watch Blind Date, I get excited.
and typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
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to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
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