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Fridav. April 12, 1991 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
AIDS awareness
Ignorance, apathy doesn't stop spread of HIV; education coupled with humanitarianism helps
one in 500 KU students is infected with HIV.
Nationally, the largest growing group of people infected with HIV is the 20- to 24-year-old age group.
AIDS Awareness Week began Saturday and will end Sunday. But for many students, this was not a week that increased their knowledge about AIDS.
Virtually everyone is affected by the epidemic, either by knowing someone who is HIV-positive or by fearing contraction of the disease.
Yet, ignorance runs rampant.
AIDS Awareness Week gives students the opportunity to receive information, to play an active role in volunteering their services and to donate money.
Raising money to help people with HIV and their families is crucial. Not only do these people face astronomical medical expenses, but they also need counseling and support groups.
The Stamp Out AIDS/Walk for Health will begin at 9 a.m. tomorrow at South Park.
Pledges of $30 are requested. Save some of tonight's beer money and donate it to a cause that makes a difference. Give.
But don't stop there. Giving money will not
solve the problem unless attitudes change.
solve the problem unless attitudes change. Jeni Dodd, Student Senate AIDS task force treasurer, said, "People need to start practicing safer sex. It's just that simple. On a campus, that's the main way AIDS is spread."
Dodd said she learned from a recent campus speaker that 97 percent of people knew that using condoms reduced the risk of contracting HIV, but only 44 percent admitted to using them.
Students need to start thinking about why they don't practice what they know will reduce their risk of becoming infected.
must become the norm to use condoms The Student Senate AIDS task force could use help distributing information about how HIV is spread.
The Douglas County AIDS project sponsors a program for those who would like to befriend people with HIV or relatives of people with HIV. There are more people with HIV than there are people who want to be their friends.
A simple way to learn more about HIV is calling the AIDS hotline at 1-800-342-AIDS
The push for AIDS awareness must not stop Sunday.
Debbie Myers for the editorial board
Student drug use
Mandatory testing is not key to curbing usage
T the seizure of three fraternity houses last month at the University of Virginia brought the issue of drug abuse on college commits to national attention.
college campuses to national The houses were seized by the federal government after evidence of illegal drug sales from the houses was substantiated.
To address this problem, Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder suggested that college students should be subjected to mandatory random drug tests.
Instead of taking the attitude that students are guilty until proven innocent, Martinez chose a more realistic approach.
However, the new director of President Bush's drug control policy, Bob Martinez, rejected the idea, and with good reason.
He said drug testing and arrests should not be the primary methods for eliminating the drug problem. The key, he said, was education.
By involving students in drug-education programs and addressing the drug problems that afflict many of today's college students, it is more likely than the problems can be averted. Threats of arrests and random drug tests do nothing more than shut out those who might be reaching for help.
The problem of drug abuse exists, but education is a start in the right direction of eliminating the problem before it starts.
By learning about the harmful effects of drugs before they start using them, college students will be better able to turn away from doing something that could ruin their lives
In recognizing that the first step toward the banishment of drugs from the nation's college campuses is education and nothing else, Martinez is showing that he understands the problem and how to deal with it.
Brent Maycock for the editorial board
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Zeal was not barbaric
David Ambler's guest column about the celebration in front of Wescoe Hall made me want to throw the newspaper in his face. Dave, what's it been fella, 40 years since your college days? This was a celebration of our team making the "Big Dance," not a rotary convention. I was there both Saturday and Monday, and I saw 20,000 college students crammed in a space one fourth the size of a city block. I saw a few alterations, some tree climbing and not very much sobriety, but "barbarian" or "decbacle" I did not see.
Population statistics might suggest that there are a few jerks in a group of 20,000, but certainly not enough to merit a "travasty to all Coach Williams and the basketball team represented." I've played three years of Division 1 basketball on a tournament team, and I would
have loved to have seen such enthusiasm. As for "making a student body in which Roy Williams and the basketball team could be proud of," I have this to say. We're talking about a guy who knows his X's and O's and 13 guys who have the ability to shoot, pass and dribble. A group that we should be proud of, not that should be proud of us. Because they avoided fights and shook hands after games does not make them sole representatives of this university. Our faculty and this horrible student body of our share the honor.
J.T. Marshall Manhattan senior Thanks for AIDS film
Thank you, Beverly Barbo.
Thank you, Jamie Stilkes. Thank you to all those who feel the need to disseminate the healthy news. And thank you even more to those who take the time to listen.
I tattened a screening of the film "Andre's Mother" and a panel discussion this past Wednesday night. The words spoken there by the panelists mentioned above were some of the most wonderfully
courageous I have heard in a very long time. Courageous, because our society still doesn't wholly understand that homosexuals are 100-percent human beings. Courageous, because the words spoken were stories of deceased loved ones and histories of people with AIDS who are thought about every minute by their families.
'Our society still doesn't wholly understand that homosexuals are 100-percent human beings.'
I realize that I am not going to dispel all of the negative feelings and prejudices held by vast numbers of us by writing this letter, but I feel that it is important to consider it worth one's while to embrace non-harmful attitudes toward homosexuals.
I only wish that everyone could be able to hear what 'Cal', "I don't know," he said. Maybe then, we would see how so very injuriously we've been acting.
Glencoe, Ill., junior
Leaders in Congress urged to reform ROTC discrimination
■ Editors note: This column was submitted by the Chancellor's Committee on Discrimination in the ROTC. The column is intended to clarify the University's actions to bring ROTC policy in line with the University's policy on discrimination.
The University of Kansas is committed to recognizing the rights of all students to pursue their academic opportunities on the basis of individual merit. It prohibits academic discrimination on the basis of race, sex, creed, ethnicity, sexual orientation and irrelevant disqualification. Skiing is included in a number of institutions of higher learning across the country. $^a$
Reserve Officers Training Corps programs provide scholarship and career opportunities for many students. The constant influx of university-trained officers into the armed services is a valued benefit to the nation's military program. Operating under the regulations of the Department of Defense, the ROTC generally follows nondiscriminatory policies in granting scholarships to students in its programs and in commissioning those who successfully complete the prescribed courses of studies. However, the refusal of the Department of Defense to grant scholarships and commissionation qualified gay or lesbian people is the one exception that runs contrary to the military's record in this regard. This discrimination is in direct violation of University of Kansas policy as well as that of many other universities. If the many benefits of healthy college campus ROTC programs are not to be denied to universities and the nation, this issue of discrimination must be resolved.
The authority for the existence of the ROTC programs is federal statutory law. (10 U.S.C. sec. 2102(a)) As implementing regulations make clear, the goal of the ROTC programs is to ensure "that men and women educated in a variety of American schools of higher learning are commissioned annually" (32 C.F.R. sec. 562.5(a)). Nothing in the ROTC enabling statement specifies exactly bars a gay or lesbian student from becoming a cadet or midshipman, or otherwise participating in the ROTC programs, but the discriminatory rule enters the picture under regulations specifying grounds for termination from the armed forces.
in the ROTC programs that lead to commissioning, or for financial aid in connection with membership in the ROTC, one must agree to accept an appointment if offered. Because a gay or lesbian person cannot accept a commission, it follows that such a person is ineligible for advanced ROTC training and ROTC financial aid. This statutory and regulatory framework makes the ROTC programs inaccessible to gay or lesbian students. (See C.F.R. sec. 41.1 et seq.)
"Homosexuality" is one of those grounds for termination. Although the statutory and regulatory framework is not written with absolute clarity, it is apparent that an individual cannot accept a commission in connection with simultaneously subject to separation from the military services set forth in the applicable regulations. To be eligible for the third and fourth years
At some universities the outrage engendered by these discriminatory policies has led to demonstrations and demands that the ROTC programs be banned from campus. It is likely that the continuance of the present policy will cause increasing pressure by students and faculty to discontinue ROTC programs at the University of Kansas and elsewhere.
One of the central themes in U.S. history has been the struggle to achieve equal rights and opportunities for all law-abiding groups and individuals. The degree of success as a result of this struggle has been significant in racial equality, creed, sex, physical discrimination and even sexual orientation.
Consider the changes made during just the past half century. In 1940 Black Americans were widely discriminated against and women faced many barriers to the full use of their abilities. With respect to the military, Black Americans were segregated with scant opportunities for advancement; women were not accepted for enlistment except as nurses.
American life has changed substantially since then. Significant strides forward have been made in securing equal rights and opportunities under the law for racial minorities, women and other groups. In the armed services, Blacks and women have assumed a prominence undreamed of a half century ago. The military reversed its position of being among the most exclusive parts of American life respecting racial minorities to be a relative minority. Civil Rights revolution in the 1960s, and has kept pace with developments elsewhere in the United States as far as women are concerned. What it has not done is catch up with American ideals by extending equal rights and opportunities to gay and lesbian people. The time has come for change.
There is compelling evidence that gay and lesbian people are as able, courageous, intelligent, diligent and capable of dedication as are heterosexuals. Many gay and lesbian people have performed successfully in the military despite the policies against them. The fear that they would disrupt military life — the reason most often cited for trying to
exclude them — is the same reason used earlier to restrict Blacks and women. The armed forces have made racial and heterosexual aggressiveness subject to military discipline. There is no reason to believe that gay and lesbian military personnel would not be as amenable to the dangers of sexual aggressiveness as heterosexuals. As a December 1988 study prepared under contract with the Department of Defense indicated, "homosexual men and women as a group are not different from heterosexual men and women in regard to adjustment criteria or job performance" (Theodore R. Sarbin and Kenneth Karols, "Nonconforming Sexual Orientations and Military Suitability").) The study further demonstrated our understanding of our behaviors, customs and laws is not permanently resistant to change.
The military cannot indefinitely isolate itself from the changes occurring in the wider society, of which it is an integral part."
Because of the inaccessibility of ROTC programs to gay and lesbian students, the University of Kansas, along with other universities in the United States, is confronted with a serious dilemma in carrying out its policy of providing equal opportunity to all students. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is highly questionable within the military services and academic institutions, but in university community. The current ROTC commissioning and scholarship program, despite its obvious and significant benefits to the University of Kansas and its students, represents major and direct violations of the University's nondiscrimination policies.
The University Council and the University administration have joined together in a concerted effort to seek a solution to the problem. They are in close communication with other universities with ROTC programs and with national associations of higher education to coordinate efforts in contacting the Department of Defense and members of Congress concerning educational commitments to ROTC scholarships and commissions to otherwise eligible gay and lesbian students. Leadership in Congress and in the Department of Defense must take steps to maintain the viability of ROTC programs nationwide by resolving this discrimination issue.
- Submitted by the members of the Chancellor's Committee on Discrimination in the ROTC:
  Sleigried Lindenbaum, chair
  Frances Ingemann
  Robert H. Jerry II
  Donald R. McCoy
  Pat Warren
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