4
Tuesday, February 19, 1991 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sex discrimination
College of William and Mary violates Title IX by unjustly dropping women's basketball team
Collegiate sports programs should have learned their lessons about sex discrimination after last year's incident with the University of Oklahoma.
Apparently, the College of William & Mary did not.
Repeating Oklahoma's mistake, last week William & Mary announced the cancellation of four sports programs including women's basketball.
Oklahoma dropped its women's basketball program last March but reinstated it after threats of a sexual discrimination lawsuit under Title IX implications. Title IX is federal legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in education. It states that if the male—female enrollment is 50–20 and a program is offered to male students, the program must be offered to female students if there is an interest.
With women outnumbering men 53 percent to 47 percent at William & Mary, the move to cut women's basketball is clearly in violation of Title IX.
The college attempted to justify its action by saying that the $200,000 saved by the cut would be put back into other women's sports.
Reinvesting the money may be nothing more than a consolation to women's sports in general, and it does not lessen the blatant violation of federal legislation.
Other sports programs canceled by William & Mary include the men's wrestling and the men's and women's swimming programs. Perhaps the school was trying to make a trade-off with the cancellation of both men's and women's sports, but men's wrestling and women's basketball are hardly comparable.
Wrestling traditionally has been a male sport. There is not an overwhelming demand for women's wrestling anywhere in collegiate sports. Intercollegiate women's basketball is an established organization with participation throughout the country. The elimination of these two sports to balance each other is not possible. They are completely unrelated. The attempt to equate them does not excuse the Title IX violation.
William & Mary should recognize its error and re-evaluate its decision, not in the face of lawsuits, but for the sake of doing what's right.
Juli Watkins for the editorial board
Church and State
Display of Ten Commandments draws complaints
and lo, it was the Lord who spake unto Moses and told him to "keep taking
And no, it was the Lord who spake unto Moses and told him to "keep taking the tablets," but it would appear that in Wyandotte County, where a stone tablet bearing the Ten Commandments has stood since 1961 in front of the County Courthouse, some people have had enough.
Last week the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri filed a complaint about the monument outside the Wyandotte County Courthouse because it regards it as a violation of the First Amendment. The separation of church and state deems the placing of anything as overly religious as the tablet outside a government building inappropriate — if not unconstitutional.
The ACLU certainly has a valid point. No public entity can be seen to do anything that implies support of a particular religion. Independence from any sort of religious affiliation is an integral and important part of the American political system. As far as Christian symbols go, a 7-foot-tall monument of thick, polished stone on public land is as obvious as it gets.
Why did it take 30 years for someone to make a complaint? Perhaps the people of Wyandotte County were struck down by a plague of bad opticians and nobody noticed the tablet. Or maybe people are so unfamiliar with the Ten Commandments these days that everyone just assumed it was yet another of those weird poetry sculptures that springs up in the name of art.
The best quotation of the week on the issue came from Wyandotte County Commission Chairperson Kay Nies, who said "I never come in that entrance." Isn't it great to have people in politics who see things from such a universal perspective? To hell with the Constitution or religion — as long as nobody locks the back door of the courthouse.
Nobody is advocating the destruction of the tablet. But the ACLU is merely saying that it should be removed to a more appropriate setting. Government buildings are not meant to promote any sort of religious activity, and now that the Wyandotte County incident has raised the issue, perhaps next Christmas some will think twice before setting up Nativity scenes on public property.
And to, it was the ACLU that spake unto the government officials of Wyandotte County and verily didst say, "Get thee hence from our sight and take thy 7-foot monument with thee. Take it to a private place in the name of the Constitution. Do this now or to thou wilt be cast into the fiery pit of hell where there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth." By the way, the back door to the fiery pt will be left unlocked for Kay Nies!
Clare McGinn for the editorial board
A minor smoking law
Teen-age smokers could face criminal charges
Smoking soon could be a crime in Kansas at least for teen-agers, if a bill introduced last week in the Legislature passes.
The decision to smoke should be made by adults, not children or teens. It already is against the law for minors to purchase cigarettes in Kansas. This bill would just go one step further. Teen-agers couldn't buy cigarettes. They would not be allowed to smoke them.
The bill proposes making it a crime for teens under 18 to carry or smoke cigarettes. If caught, they would be required to perform 40 hours of community service and attend a class about the effects of tobacco and drugs.
The Surgeon General of the United States has warned that cigarette smoking is harmful to a person's health. Yet at the same time,
Some might argue that the decision to smoke is personal and should not be restricted on the basis of age. But rules and laws are constantly being made to set guidelines for teens, such as mandatory school attendance, drinking restrictions, drivers' license rules and voting age requirements.
more teen-agers are taking up smoking at younger ages.
The law also would complement existing anti-smoking campaigns and federal laws that have banned smoking in most public places.
Even the Tobacco Institute, which represents manufacturers of cigarettes and other tobacco products, said it would not oppose the bill
Habits formed at early ages are more difficult to break later on.
Stacy Smith for the editorial board
FLAMM university Daily Kansan
Homeless need action, not reaction
In response to the recent criticism regarding the fund-raiser for the Lawrence Salvation Army Safehouse, I think there are some grave misconceptions about the point of the event. First of all, the "Homeless Campaign" was not set up to have students imitate homeless people. That would have been in bad taste and impossible, considering that homeless people have a warm and secure place to keep their things and to sleep at night.
The point of having the boxes in front of Watson Library was to help us accomplish our first goal of increasing the awareness of the homeless problem in a very visible place on campus. The boxes were there as a symbol for the plight of the homeless and nothing else. By no means did we forget the people who participated in the event what it would feel like to be homeless. If we had truly acted as the homeless, we would have been under
Randy
Manvitz
Guest columnist
a bridge, out of the public eye
It is a shame that the participants, especially those who helped coordinate the event, many spending as many as 40 to 50 hours outside in 20 degree weather, are being accused of having a party out there. When it is too cold to sleep, it's no party. The event is very important. Thearet are skeptical about the sincerity of the event is because you were not out there. We did our best to:
**Raise awareness about the nearly**
million homeless people in the
United States.**
$2.500.
Blatant lies about seeing beer cans or cheap shots about eating pizza helps no one. When you realize that many of the participants spent up to 50 hours outside in the freezing weather, surely you can understand why people eat pizza very thankful for those who brought us hot chocolate and donated pizza. Would the event have been any better if the food was refused?
Raise money for the Safehouse for which we have raised more than
We will leave you with the comment that it is much better to do what you can, working for the homeless, than sitting in a warm home, watching television and complaining that the participants are not sincere and doing nothing, so do a better job, then please do it. The homeless need action not reaction.
Randy Manvitz is an Overland Park senior majoring in business.
Undiscovered Kansas City delights will surprise unsuspecting students
Many people, Kansas Citians included, have accused Kansas City of being boring. In fact, the first week I moved to the K.C. area I rode in a downtown cab driven by a 35-year veteran of the city, who repeatedly slammed his hometown:
Cabbie: Where are you from originally?
Me: Well, my father got a better job here.
Cabbie: Chicago! Why on earth did you move from there to here? Ha, ha, ha.
Cabbie: Yeah, but to move here
did dda did ya say? Ha, ha,
ha, ha, ha
Me: That's right, I right, I said Chicago it's wrong with Kansas City anyway.
Rich Bennett
Staff columnist
Cabbie: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
What is important, however, is that people like this cabbie are ever present in the Kansas City area. Just because the Kansas City skyline is about exciting to look at as the last one scrapes from the laundry filter doesn't mean there's nothing to do in our nearby metropolis.
Let's start with all the live music
Then my cabbie proceeded to tell me that there's nothing to do in Kansas City. He said in the 35 years he lived here he never once had as much fun as he did in cities such as Los Angeles, New York or Dallas. He insisted it had to be the most boring city in America. Of course my cabbie would get an argument from those of us who have been to cities such as Farmersville, Mo., or Sequim, Wash., but that's not really important right now.
clubs there are in the city, Kansas City is the home of the blues and probably could, at the very least, be considered the summer home of jazz music. And there are many clubs, such as the Hurricane, the City Light or the Grand Emporium, that show off K.C.'s musical heritage. In fact, some touring musicians will leave an open date after their Kansas City show just to go and listen to the high-quality live music.
Speaking of touring musicians, Kansas City is rarely ignored by the most popular touring bands. So if you want to see popular groups such as Bon Jovi, Slaughter Row, Warrant or Guns N' Roses, you have the opportunity to do so in K.C.
And what about Kansas City's sports scene? "Yeah, what about the Kansas City sports scene?" my cabbie might be ruut. Sure, the teams aren't always as successful as their fans might like. But the Royals have won the division title six of the last 15 years. And the Chiefs, well, the Chiefs have tried really hard to win six division titles in the last 15 years. Nevertheless, both teams provide professional sports entertainment.
You sketches out there will be sure to point out the fact that Kansas City is without pre basketball. But, hey, the city does have a professional football team and I can minute I can even remember its mascot. Plus, Kansas City now
'Just because the Kansas City skyline is about as exciting to look at as the lint one scrapes from the laundry filter doesn't mean there's nothing to do in our nearby metropolis.'
boasts a semi-professional hockey team. The Blades — whose slogan, "Excitement on a Stick" is more suited for a corn dog company — now entertain the K.C. Hockey faithful.
If sports aren't your thing and shopping is, well then you're probably female. (Sound of February Sisters loading their weapons.) Um, what I mean is, if you like to shop, well then by golly Kansas City is the city where the dozens of malls in the metropolitan area should satisfy any, and every, individual who is gifted in the field of shopping.
Finally, for those more culturally inclined, there's the Kansas City symphony and orchestra, the Nelson Art Gallery, the Kansas City Zoo and numerous restaurants that are just fine (as opposed to fine restaurants). It should also be noted that Kansas City has a lot of Fountains," because of the fact that -- you guessed it -- it's a city with lots of fountains.
So, there's a myriad of things to do in good 'ok' Kansas City, which leaves us with only one thing to say to my cabbie of yesterday, wherever he may be:
- Rich Bennett is an Overland Park senior majoring in journalism.
KANSAN STAFF
CHRIS SIRON
Editor
RICH CORNELL Managing editor
By David Rosenfield
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
AUDRA LANGFORD Business manager
AUDURA LANGFORD
Business manager
MINDI LUND
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
Editors Business staff
News Melanie Matthes Campus sales mgr. Sophie Wehbe
Editorial Tiffany Harness Regional sales mgr. Carmen Dresch
Planning Holly M. Neuman National sales mgr. Jennifer Claxton
Campus Jennifer Reynolds Co-op sales mgr. Christine Musser
Pam Sollin Production mgrs. Hannah hargarbier
Sports Ann Sommerlath Kalei Stader
Photography Keith Thorpe Marketing director Gail Einbinder
Graphics Melissa Unterberg Creative director Chrisy Hats
Features Jill Harrington Classified manager Cimmy Crowder
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Kansas are required to have their credentials printed.
Guest columnars should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photorawarded.
Guest opinions should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 100 words. The writer will be photographed.
The Kanas reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest column and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kanas newroom, 113 Staffer-Finch Hall.
Sketch