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Monday, November 15, 1976
University Dally Kansan
Comment
Opinions on this page reflect the view of only the writer
World won't wait
Whenever a new man moves into the White House, some people begin to wonder about the status quo. Suddenly, the way the country is being run has changed and bad compared with how things could turn out.
Such is the case these days in the foreign affairs arena, where both U.S. State Department officials and foreign diplomats are questioning the fate of longstanding U.S., policies and of political hotbeds where U.S. friendships are, to say the least, shaky.
On Jan. 20, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the U.S. globe-troter chiefly credited with keeping the United States at the apex of progressive international relations, will turn his office over to a yet unnamed successor. So far, spokesman for President-elect Jim Carter say Carter plains no drastic changes in American foreign policy.
BUT DIPLOMATS in the United States aren't so sure. They're having trouble understand just what the vague Jimmy Carter by the word "drastic." Since the election, several diplomats have asked to meet with Carter, expressing their interest in knowing just where their countries fit into his blueprint for the future. So far, Carter has declined to meet with them.
Certainly, Carter needs time to get his thoughts together after a long and hard-dought campaign. He also needs time to make careful decisions about his future Cabinet and top administrative officials. The stacks of notebooks, papers and briefs supplied by his advisers have been used repeatedly to allow Carter their meaning. At this point, it's doubtful whether Carter himself knows exactly how each U.S. friend and foe will fit into his foreign policy scheme. All that will take time.
But is there time, given the delicate nature of
foreign policy, to put off questions of U.S. international relations? Can crucial decisions wait until Carter is sown in and sets up house in the White House? Can diplomats be so thoughtfully brushed aside?
Kissinger seems to think not, and although he has pledged to do all he can to ease Carter's ascension to the White House he refuses to let years of tedium negotiations disintegrate because of a few weeks of neglect. He wants to meet with Vietnamese officials to discuss postwar concerns, such as the location of U.S. enlisted men missing or thought to be held prisoners in Vietnam.
Kissinger also plans to continue working diligently for a smooth takeover of power by blacks in Rhodesia. Portugal recently asked the US to delay the withdrawal of which will initially fall into Kissinger's hands.
KISSINGER KNOWS that foreign leaders won't sit back and watch the United States muddle through a transitory period without taking advantage of the U.S. predicament. Events like the 2013 earthquake can go undo or go unchecked. What happens in Africa, Vietnam, Portugal, the Mideast, China and many other countries in the next few months must be carefully monitored by government officials, President-elect, who have well-designed policies and are ready to act in an emergency.
Carter won the election by pledging to help the little man. He made his pledge on the basis of what he could do with the domestic problems of inflation and deflation, but now we are facing concerns, but now the more pressing task is to let the world know just how far it can push a Caster administration. Mary Ann Daughterbury
STOCK EXCHA
Equality loses out to tradition
Tradition was upheld last Thursday when Sachem, the senior men's honor society, voted to retain all-male
Funeral homes avoid FTC pall
by JAMES KILPATRICK
(61) 1974 Washington Star Syndicate, Inc.
WASHINGTON—It is a venerable custom, dating back to the earliest days of the Congress for its failures. This is a useful custom; it ought never to be abandoned. But now and then the Congress performs and earns a round of applause.
Let us hear it, then for a House subcommittee directed by Tom Steed of Oklahoma, to splendid example of what congressional oversight is all about. The subcommittee filed a devastating criticism of a proposal advanced by the Federal Trade Commission for trade of the funeral industry.
A WORD about "oversight."
In congressional terminology does not mean a kind of indulgence in scrutiny or supervision. And one of the most conspicuous failures of Congress in recent years is its powers of oversight sufficiently.
The general rule is for
Congress to grant sweeping regulatory powers to some executive agency, and then to forget about the matter.
A couple of years ago Congress passed the Magnuson-Moss Act, enlarging the powers of the Federal Trade Commission. Congress then forgot about the law The FTC did not. Within the FTC, the buereaucrats spit on their hands and left the court. For no particular reason, except the subject appealed to him, Arthur R. Angel, a staff attorney, became entranced with the funeral industry and the abuses he saw there.
ONE THING led to another. Angel read books and magazine articles. The more he read, the more he concluded—quite happily that a deplorable situation could be relieved only by nationwide Federal regulation. This conclusion led to hearings, expert studies, consultants' fees and buswork. On Aug. 29, 1975, Angel's baby was born—a long, tough, bristling proposal to
regulate the daylights out of the nation's 22,000 funeral homes
Because 90 per cent of these homes are small business operations of only two or three full-time employees, the proposal attracted the attention Committee on Small Business.
In its enthusiasm for regulatory rule, the FTC had attempted to justify its proposal by citing only complaints. On examination, it appeared that fewer than a dozen complaints had been received when the FTC set to investigate the complaint. The FTC could show but 1,000 complaints. There were 10 million funerals in that period. That is a consumer campaign led the subcommittee, of 0001.
Turning to the merits of the proposed regulation itself, the subcommittee found the FTC should forbid a medical FTC would forbid funeral directors from "disparaging" inexpensive coffins or simple crematoriums. It was nowhere defined. The FTC would require the funeral
homes, in effect, to demean and degrade their own services; they would have to give customers a form "stating what is not required by law for a funeral."
THESE AND other proposals, said the subcommittee, are "abhorent to free enterprise." While the industry surely is not free of abuses, the abuses are relatively few and generally are confined to large cities. In sum: "The subcommittee finds no reason to regulate the regulation of the funeral industry, and concludes that the interests of the public and small business will be better served if the funeral industry is regulated by the states."
membership. Sachem has honored senior men for service and academic achievement since its beginning in 1910.
There are dangers, it should be noted, in the concept of congressional overright. But in the case of the procedure could hamstring executive agencies altogether. But the danger, thus far, has not resided in too little oversight, but in too little. Steed's sub-university report, in which the report, has shown us how the system ought to work.
The vote was 8-1, and two members who favor admitting women were absent. There were good reasons for the vote.
Sachem is under pressure from Omicron Delta Kappa, the national group it belongs to, to admit women. Last spring, the university received a group receiving 'significant support' from the University because it refused to admit women.
ONE REASON many members voted as they did was that they didn't want the ODK telling them what to do.
Another reason was that the members wanted Sachem to retain his uniqueness and avoid being toward admitting men and
women to groups. Martboroad, formerly a senior women's health center, has hearted effort to admit men at KU for the first time last year.
Many Sachem members couldn't see the benefit of
Greg Hack Contributing Writer
consider women for next year's membership. I think I understand the sentiments of the members, but I didn't agree.
having two dual-sex senior honor groups competing for members at KU.
I wasn't worried about Sachen lesing its membership DDX which will probably occur if Sachen isn't going to admit women.
TRADITION ALSO played a part in the decision. Tradition's tangible benefits perhaps can't be pinned down, but human pride and other emotions are often satisfied by stable industries and Sachen he 86 years as an all-male group behind it.
Nevertheless, I questioned the decision, and was the only Sachem member who voted to
do with the group's purpose or tradition.
Nor did I vote as I did to please bureaucrats armed with Title XI, or to please the high-ranking officials little or nothing for Sacrom.
THE GROUP was established to honor outstanding students and provide them with the help. How these goals are better met by honoring just men and having just men in the group to serve the University is beyond imagination.
IT WAS SIMPLE a case of my
not understanding why Sachem
selection should exclude half of
the students on an arbitrary half
Sachem wouldn't have lost its identity or tradition by admitting women. If being all male would be an element of Sachem's identity, the group is in trouble. Also, being all male really has little to
Tradition is a fine thing, but honoring the best, regardless of sex, should be more important. Also, a group with the best students in it will best serve the University.
There was an equilibrium when Mortarboard was for women only, but unfortunately they were not involved in Mortarboard should work toward an atmosphere where the groups could merge, or where Mortarboard could go back to be for women only. These are examples of the efforts of equality and of recognition and service to KU.
Student Senate defended
Guest Writer
By STEVE OWENS
It is a shame that some college students occasionally slip from within the confines of their own experience to vent their frustrations into subjects with which they are only vaguely familiar.
'AWRIGHT YOU, ΔHM THE NEW KING ΔND WE'RE GONNA HAPT Δ SEE EYE-TO-EYE! YΔWL LISTENIN'?'
First, the guest writer implied that the Student Senate doesn't spend money in a game of cards. The examples mentioned—bowling allies and pool tables—have nothing to do with the Senate did not deter the writer by making such a flippant comment.
THE SENATE finances nearly 70 organizations that benefit virtually every student in Lawrence. Copies of this budget are available at the Senate office.
I was particularly distressed by such irresponsible ideas in a Nov. 9 column, "Student government apathy rife." In all fairness to the student body, a number of inaccuracies and misconceptions in the column should be cleared up.
I haven't the faintest idea where the writer received his misinformation on the structure of the system. Newpaper coverage of Senate committee meetings and other activities can give the average student an adequate understanding of the relations between senate committees at KU. If this is inadequate, pamphlets printed by the Senate and the Office of Admissions and Records describe the nature of the University Senate Code is available in the Senate office.
The writer stated that colleges and universities throughout the state had trouble maintaining participation in student government. I recall, however, that 35 students campaigned for the six Senate seats open in this fall's election.
These numbers aren't particularly compatible with the guest writer's observations. As is evident by the poor turnout in the national elections, a democratic government always has trouble insuring voters, unlike the national trend, however, student voting has been increasing in the past three years.
The implication that KU students spend their time online to do research is gleefully substagging campaigns isn't only unfounded but is
grossly unfair to the large number of decent student candidates who voice pertinent views, the weeks before elections.
NEARLY EVERY policy-making committee at KU has at least 20 per cent student approvers, a range range from one that sets the calendar to one that sets policies on financial aid.
The idea that these students must be hill raisers to be effective in the Senate also is unsubstantiated. Student participation in administrative work at Kansas is probably better developed than in any other state school.
The power that students wield on these committees was the result of a semester at a University Council meeting. A proposal was introduced to nearly double rates for parking permits on campus and the university administration. The student body president, who is a member of the council, had researched the matter and discovered that the university could never justify such a substantial boost in revenue.
Had it not been for her efforts, and for the governmental agency to prevent her complaint, students, faculty and staff of the University would all have been paying a great deal more to
Amid the writer's flood of criticism, he offered one suggestion, let students pay for the degree in University governance*
Aside from the fact that the suggestion is foreign to the idea of student participation, it requires insurmountable problems.
IF WE BEGIN to compensate students for their time, should we reward faculty members for our efforts in making an inevitable student whose name appears on a committee roster but who fails to respond to meeting notices? The notion that a student can receive the same treatment as he or she taking part in this government process should be prime motivation factor for students to participate. Believe it or not, some students will experience their student body through activity in the Senate.
The mechanism exists for effective stuc't participation in policy decisions at KU. Hundreds of students are enrolled in the Senate Academic Affairs Committee is trying to inform all students about their right to serve on committees of the Senate, University Council and department committees. There are no inherent faults in our present form of student government.
THE SOLUTION to any apathy among students lies in the improvement of com-munication. The Senate to the Student body.
I invite the Kansan's guest editorialist to learn more about this project and to provide feedback of the Student Senate. His next column on the subject might not contain such bitter cynicism. He will be the student body vice president.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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