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Wednesday, April 20, 1977
University Daily Kansan
Comment
Opinions on this page do not necessarily affect the views of the University of Kansas or the School of Journalism
Debate promotes KU
You may not know this, but earlier this week we heard from the University of Kansas third from them.
Last year, the same team won the national championship. You may not have known
The team that was so successful is otherwise known as Frank Cross and Robin Rowland, members of the KU debate squail. During the past few years, those two students, along with several other members of the squad, have made quite a name for the team.
THE REASON you not have heard about them is that debate frequently is passed over by the public and by the news media (the Kansan included). So people would be saddened by the spectacular spectator activity; most people would rather watch, and the press would rather cover a football game.
Fortunately, debate isn't dependent upon box office revenue for its survival. Obviously, the KU debates have gotten along quite nicely without us.
This season, in addition to the third place finish at nationalists, Cross and Rowland won tournaments sponsored by the universities of Utah, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Georgetown and the national speech fraternity. They also placed in the top five at several other tournaments, including University of Alabama and Owens Heart of America tournament. The tournaments and the competition were the best in the nation.
AS IN FEW other areas of competition, KU has a reputation as a superpower in debate circles, thanks to Cross, Rowland, and Terry. But he should not be a squad. They should be justly proud.
Don't read this column.
Book banning defined as vulgar
There are times when editorial writers can't decide whether to write about a subject because writing about it might lead to a situation the writers don't think should be popular.
So, if you read on, promise me you won't talk to anyone else about the subject unless they mention it first. The public's "right to know," if such a right does exist, sometimes might be better described as the right not to know.
THE SUBJECT about which I hesitate to write is the Eldon, Mo., school board's refusal to allow its junior high school to be with 30 copies of the American Health Journal of the English Language.
Eldon is a farming and resort community of 3,520 residents near the lake of the Ozarks. Its Board of Education decided recently to refuse to allow use of the dictionary in question
because, apparently, of the book's reference to words and phrases considered vulgar and scatalogical.
they can ban the use of the words it contains.
The reason that I hesitate to
The Eldon case is an example of what seems to be a renewe interest in book banning
Brent Anderson Editorial Writer
write about the "banning" (an admittedly descriptive description) of the American Heritage Dictionary is that it might cause similar action among others who want to shield their children from certain words and definitions.
especially in junior highs and high schools. Instances of the outlawing of certain books in several communities occurred in several communities.
THEY MIGHT be able to ban the dictionary, but I doubt that
Dictionaryes had rarely been the cause of such action, however, until someone found out that the American Heritage's newest dictionary, published in 1969, contained
several words frequently used in this country, but rarely defined.
According to Lyle Hensley, superintendent of the Eldon school district, an Eldon resident apparently read about the banning of the American Heritage Dictionary in a community in Indiana, then found out that the Eldon school district was not authorized to dictionary. The resident, when Hensley identified as a Missouri highway patrolman, started a drive to ban the dictionary.
THE PATROLMAN read about the banning in Indiana in the Jefferson City Times, making the press at least an accessory in the Eldon case. A committee that reviews comments recommended that the board allow the use of the dictionary
despite the complaint. The board didn't follow that recommendation, however, and voted unanimously to ban the
There are three main reasons the dictionary shouldn't be banned. First, the words apparently in question are frequently used and, therefore, should be defined; second, the dictionary is hoped to be hoped, its readers will use instead of vulgar words; and, third, it's an excellent dictionary.
BESIDES, it's doubtful that anyone doesn't already know what the words in question mean.
As far as the role of the press in this matter is concerned, I hope its publicity doesn't facilitate the apparent book banning trend. And that trend is, I think vulgar.
...LISTEN TO ME, YOU PEANUT BRAIN. DON'T
YOU REALIZE WHAT THAT STUPID, SHORTSIGHTED
TAX ON GAS GUZZLERS COULD DO TO US
OIL NEE? ONE MORE THING...
Private schools face suit
MEMPHIS-For rouguy,
35,000 pupils—most of them
white, but with a fair sprinkling
of blacks—the school year in
Memphis will end on a note of
apprehension. The students and
teachers work together unwind-
ing how much longer their schools
will stay alive.
In view of the law's delays and the probability of political action, it's likely that the state will some time to come. Nevertheless, their perilous situation is real—for these are private schools in a desegregated city. It's also likely to crush the life out of them.
A suit is slowly maturing in Washington, D.C., brought by a number of black parents in the form of a class action. Inez Crawford, a former public dividually and in behalf of her four children, leads the list of plaintiffs. Their purpose is to nullify the federal tax exemption granted to private schools in cities that have desegregated their public school systems. The Supreme Court or government regulation.
THE SUIT GOES farther than any previous class action. The plaintiffs estimate that the suit will cost 750,000 children, now maintain vit
tually iily-white enrolment in about 3,000 affected school districts. The plaintiffs come from communities as far apart as Natchitoches Parish, La, and Boston, Mass. The suit
James J. Kilpatrick
(c) 1977 Washington Star Syndicate, Inc.
attacks private academies in Montgomery, Ala.; Cairo, III; Prince Edward County, Va.; Yosemite, Cal.; tension the sought-after relief would affect private schools in Los Angeles, Detroit, San Antonio and hundreds of other school districts outside the South.
be canceled; if this effectively kills the schools, the plaintiffs couldn't care less.
THE LOSS of tax exemption in Memphis would gravely affect three large private schools. These include Harding Academy, with an enrollment of 2,900; the Briarcrest Baptist Schools, with a combined enrolment of 3,500; and the Memphis School of International Whitehaven, with 1,200 students. Ten smaller institutions might also be compelled to close.
The suit involves delicate questions of church and state. Harding Academy, for example, is a subsidiary of Harding College in Searcy, Kentucky, under the wing of the Churches of Christ. In Orangeburg, S.C., the Bowman Academy is loosely affiliated with the Southern Methodist Church. In Montgomery, the St. James Parish School continues to conflate the terms of the St. James Methodist Church.
THE SUIT ALSO raises grave questions of public policy. No one questions that, in the language of the Tax Code, the schools exist exclusively for "religious, literary" or
educational purposes." Is it wise for the federal government to decree one kind of education only—heavily integrated education—as the sole approved kind of education?
Memphis school administrators insist they have done everything the law requires, they proclaim a non-discriminatory policy, but they get few black applicants. One reason may lie in the tuition fees, which range at Harding Academy from $430 to $590 and in senior high school. The Briarcrest Baptist fee schedule is even higher. Black children may also shun the private schools, wholly personal reasons. They won't want to be鱼 out of water.
PRIVATE SCHOOL spokesmen make this point also. If local private schools were forced out of existence, 35,000 pupils would be dumped on the Memphis public school system at an additional annual operating expense of $49 million. Construct costs of that program are of that. If that contingency were widely understood in desegregated cities, apprehension might be shared by all taxpayers, black and white alike.
Bryant sings, but not gayly; umpires call, unfairly
Gays don't recruit
To the editor:
Bryant's efforts to repeal Dade county's gay rights ordinance have received little attention. Although her actions have had a binding effect upon the gay community like nothing ever before, they have now become a major concern in homophobia across the nation.
Witness the Arkansas
A high school teacher recently wrote that "every time I get a bit optimistic about the American people, I get several rude jokes." This well expresses the feelings of many within the gay movement as we witness the pride against the rude joke against the gay community.
legislature's unanimous resolution endorsing Bryant's campaign against gay civil rights.
For the first time in the history of the gay movement, gays must contain with an organized, well-financed, and hysterique lobby fixed upon the success of progress gays have made politically and socially. This is the time for the gay community to band together, assert itself and support the efforts of gay organizations through permanent money—especially money.
The verbage that Bryant espouses about homosexuality is manical nonsense, abhorrent. The word homosexuals do not 'recruit
new members." We are "reproduced" by heterosexuals such as you and your husband. We come from families identical to yours, I know, because I were not born in the molestation and rape are exclusively heterosexual problems. These, rather than
don't mean to sound thou-ther than, but I feel his remarks smack of fasciat supremacy. A free and open country should leave its doors open to all races without prejudice or respect. In the words of philosopher Wayne Meisenheimer, "That's what
Win Wilhelmsen
feel your letter does indeeed sound like "sour grapes."
Prescott, Ariz., senior
Let the junk rust To the editor:
My only consolation for having to look daily at that ugly
Readers Respond
A Pacemaker award winner
the actions of two people of the same gender loving each other, are the real "abominations" to the Deity. And these represent a far greater threat to the American ideals of monarchy than the violent efforts of gay people to secure their basic human rights.
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Cadden scolded
I was deeply revolted and greatly humiliated after reading Tom Cadden's letter of April 8 about "Americanizing
His contention that foreigners should have no place in American track programs is against all the fundamental ideals upon which democracy and this nation are based. 1
To the editor:
makes this country a great melting pot."
Letters Policy
Some of Cadden's other arguments are equally outrageous. He implies that foreign athletes owe their success in this country to the fact that they are generally older than American collegians. He also suggests that Nadia Componet is only 14 years old, and yet she is an Olympic champion.
Another statement he makes is that we should give scholarships to marginal athletes. This is contrary to the spirit of competition. If we want to improve the quality of American track, we should concern ourselves with obtaining the best possible athletic athletes happen to be foreign, then this is the recruiting route we should follow.
Besides looking at these athletes as mere pawns in the recruiting game, we should also look at the other attributes they have to offer. Bringing them to this country means cultural understanding and appreciation of others' beliefs, values and lifetimes. No place better represents this harmonious exchange and camaraderie than the classrooms at Learned Prep, where Samboo on Thursday night after the Hatter closes.)
letters to the editor are welcomed but should be typewritten, double-space and no longer than 400 words. All letters are edited and may be condensed according to space limitations and the editor's judgment. Letters must be provided their academic standing and hometown; faculty must provide their position; others must provide their address.
I must also shoot down another of his implications. He contends that American collegians can win against it. We criticize him, pointed out that KU won the recent Dallas Invitational, a meet in which KU competed head-to-head with UTEP, a school whose powerful squad is dominated by foreign athletes.
piece of rusted junk displayed prominently just south of the Union is that it might eventually rust away.
De Boeck Lawrence senior
In conclusion, Mr. Cadden, I
Conserve that water
De Boeck
Foul umpiring called To the editor:
To the editor:
Both of our teams are in the "A" Independent division of intramural softball and were in the race for first place during the tournament. Tahitan Founders first game, some poor "judgment" calls were made, and members of the team were upset, and rightly so. We are aware that the umpires try, and usually do their best, but they can fail. We involve knowing the game of softball and the rules.
as there a defendable reason for the streets of the University to be washed down (Oread Avenue and road behind Strong Avenue). If conservation does not begin at home, where does it begin?
Intramural office, here is our proposal: Teach your umpires the rules. Give them rule books and make certain they know not only the rules but also the game. And please have them bring the rules to the games. By all means, give them diagrams for positioning.
Andrea Welborn
Pat Mimeau
KU staff members
All we want to do is play ball. But to lose or win because of an umpire's lack of knowledge, well, it is hard. A comment from the Vikings on our game, "It's only intramural softball." Well, not all of us are really good enough to play for the KU baseball team or foot-ball team (the case may be). (The other team comprises KU football players.)
Every year intramural officials become the target of criticism. Why? Is it because they don't know the rules and the game, or are they improperly instructed?
Spectators violent
To the editor:
Michael Goldstein
St. Louis senior
The Tahitan Pounders
The Coral Reefers
It's a shame to see that sports fans can't be expected to attend athletic events any more without turning into a pack of vicious animals. The recent attacks against athletes at athletic events is something that should be of concern to everyone.
I'm sure everyone can remember the outrageous cup
fights in Memorial Stadium this year. A sorority housemother received a "rhapsody in the kisser" from an empty whiskey bottle thrown from the upper rows of the stadium.
The most vivid example of fan misbehavior in the recent past has to be the Kansas City Royals home opener. Fights with the opposing team all directions from where I was sitting. One man who was quite drunk walked up to a friend of mine and yelled, "I lost my buck-a-roo!" He then hauled off struck my friend in the face.
I am afraid to go to some athletic events. Some people may laugh and say that only babies are afraid, but I just can't bear the thought of paying for such an event. I have the possibility of some big ape walking up to me and knocking my head off.
of figurative "water letter outer"
I'm not saying that fans should turn themselves from Great Danes into Pekineses. I do feel that people should try to use some restraint and not regard the sports so seriously. I don't think much has the same effect as water filling up in a boat—it makes the whole boat sink. The only solution is to find some sort
Jerry Howard Wichita sophomore
Football bunnies?
To the editor:
Had last Wednesday been April 1 and not April 13, I might have been able to dismiss the ad for Sunflower hostesses on the back page of the Kansan as a tasteless April Fool's joke. Unfortunately we were apologetic to talk seriously an ad soliciting the services of our female students ("hostesses" was the word used) to assist in recruiting football players. One wonders what a full job description for these positions might include. Are there special requirements standing be accepted? Who will make the selection? How? The whole concept, with its exisit connotations, is an insult to the students at whom the ad was directed and to the prospective football players who, we hope, will choose KU for the excelent athletic programs and won't need the enticement of KUAC "bunnies."
K
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"IT WAS A PRECULAR CIVILIZATION. DEFLEETING ALL ITS FUEL RESOURCES WORKSHOPING THIS STRANGE MACHINE..."