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Wednesday, November 17, 1993
OPINION
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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Capital punishment bill should be passed in '94
The death penalty in Kansas should be passed when it comes before the state early next year.
This country supports a system that allows the Supreme Court to decide moral issues in our society and allows the government to create policies upholding decisions made by the Supreme Court. The decision allowing capital punishment in this country has been made. Since the federal government has decided to leave the option open for each individual state government, it is important for Kansas citizens to urge their state representatives to pass legislation supporting the death penalty.
We support the death penalty in Kansas for several reasons. First, we believe that it could serve as a deterrent to violent crime if it were carried out more efficiently. Currently, inmates on death row are often allowed an endless number of appeals, sometimes delaying their execution until they die of natural causes while still in prison.
Another important reason to instate the death penalty is the cost of supporting a prisoner throughout a life sentence. With endless appeals available, a death sentence is often in reality a life imprisonment sentence. If the system were to be changed to limit appeals, the state could save a great deal of financing by not supporting criminals on death row throughout a life sentence.
This would also dramatically reduce the problem of prison overcrowding, allowing a higher percentage of incarceration for convicted criminals. The current life sentence allows eligibility for parole after only eight years, partially because of the high level of prison overcrowding. Passing the death penalty in Kansas will help reduce overcrowding in Kansas prisons, allowing better removal of dangerous criminals from Kansas streets.
The most persuasive reason for passing the death penalty in Kansas perhaps lies in the grisly crimes committed by many convicted criminals. We see the death penalty as the only sure way to prevent some criminals from committing their crimes again.
There are criminals like Charles Manson who many people fear would commit similar crimes upon his release from prison. Because of a lack of the death penalty when Manson was convicted, he is currently serving a life sentence that allows him to be periodically reviewed for parole. A death penalty would allow the families of murder victims the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the murderer can never kill again.
The benefits from instating the death penalty in Kansas are widespread, both economical and psychological. A bill proposing instating the death penalty in Kansas is scheduled to appear early next year. It is imperative that we, as Kansans, support it.
DAVID BURGETT FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:DAVID BURGETT, JR CLAIRBORNE, CHRISTINA CORNISH, CARSON ELROD, TOM GRELINGER, MANNY LOPEZ, COLLEEN McCAIN, TERRILYN MCORMICK, MUNEERA NASEER, NATHAN NASSIF, KIRK REDMOND, CHRIS REEDY, RANDALL REITZ, MIKE SILVERMAN, MICHELLE SMITH, EISHA TIERNEY, KC TRAUER, DAVID WANEK
Conferences provide romantic opportunities
I never went away to summer camp when I was growing up, nor did my family take trips with other families. When I was an undergraduate, I never went on traditional spring breaks or winter vacations. When I did travel away from home it was to work professionally, which left little time for socializing, let alone romance.
A Conference crush is the incredible rush of emotions you feel for another person whom you have just met, who is away from home and is attending the same event as you.
And so, I was in graduate school before I experienced what many teenagers experience every year. It has many names: spring fling, vacation flirtation. At this stage in my life I refer to it as the conference crush.
Conference crushes can be romantic or friendly. My first one was three years ago, in Minneapolis, for three guys. Ryan was from Oregon, Jay from Ohio, and Tyrone from Las Vegas. We became friends because we were close in age, all students and attending the same sessions at the conference. We stayed up late into the night, talking about college life, politics, growing up gay, and what we intended to do to change the world.
We spent four days together. By the time I had to leave, I thought the closeness we felt would be a constant in our lives, binding us together. When we were hugging goodbye, as cheesy it is sounds, I could not help but think that I was going back to Kansas after an incredible journey with three people who helped me find myself.
I told you it was cheesy.
As the days progressed and I tried to catch up on what I missed while I was away, the feelings drifted into the past, like colors fading from Polaroids. After a few postcards and a few months, all I had left were photographs and memories of a few hours and hushed laughter in a lecture hall.
Last week I attended another conference. At the first session I saw someone for whom I fell immediately. His eyes, his voice, everything about him made me feel, well, young and stupid. I tried not to take too much notice of him, but by the reception that evening he was sort of looking at me and I was trying not to get caught looking at him.
Finally, as I was talking to a friend of his I had met earlier, he came over and we started talking. His name is Jeff, and oddly enough his family lives about 40 miles from mine, back in our home state of Illinois. From that sprang two days filled with that rush to discover as much as I could about that person, really trying to discover what makes him unique in all the people of the world. And, of course, trying to make an indelible impression upon him.
Patrick Dilley is a Lawrence graduate student in higher education.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Noam Chomsky lecture poorly handled by SUA
We would like to express our intense dissatisfaction with the lack of foresight that surrounded the organization of Noam Chomsky's lecture on Friday.
We arrived at 7 p.m., when the tickets were to be issued, but within minutes they announced that there were no more tickets. However, then they told us that to 60 to 100 seats were available if sponsors of this lecture did not claim their tickets.
We waited for another hour, only to be turned away. We were disappointed, as were hundreds of other students, to have missed the opportunity to hear a speaker of this magnitude because of poor planning on the part of the SUA Forums Committee.
of ticket distribution was inexcus able. Student-financed organizations and university departments brought Noam Chomsky to the University of Kansas.
First of all, we feel that the choice of location was inappropriate considering the other possible venues, such as the Lied Center, Allen Field House or Crafton-Preyer Theater.
Yet KU students and faculty were not given seating priority because no identification was required. Firstcome first-serve seating would have been appropriate if extra seats had remained after KU students and faculty were admitted.
Furthermore, we think the method
Many students were deprived of an extraordinary opportunity to hear a world renowned scholar in linguistics, philosophy and history (Kansan, Friday, Nov. 12) because of poor organization and an underestimation of student interest. We sincerely hope that when another speaker of Chomsky's magnitude visits KU, SUA will be prepared.
Jaminda Bass, Topeka junior
Julie Munjak, Lenexa senior
Philip Khoury, Leawood senior
Janice McLean, Scammon junior
Jennifer Chang, Topeka freshman
It's a cold,cruel world out there for students
Katie Greenwald says that being treated like a second-class citizen simply because she is a student denies her "real world experiences?"
Welcome to the real world, Katie.
Darcie Callahan Boston graduate student
KU track teams have lost winning tradition
I had been wondering why the great KU track and field and cross country tradition had gone away. I saw in the Sunday papers the men's cross country team placed dead last in the conference meet held on Saturday. Why can't KU compete in track anymore? It is a crying shame and something needs to be done about it right away — don't you think?
Kaarl Kassell Lawrence resident
COLUMNIST
Ed and Dick letters bear good news of a new life
Two Saturday's ago, my life changed in such a way that I can barely put it into words. One might think that it had something to do with our beloved Kansas football team almost beating Nebraska, but no — it's something bigger and oh so much better.
When I got home from trying to drive up to campus about one hour after the game — which was a futile effort because the entire population of Nebraska was making a mass exodus from Lawrence at the time — I opened my mailbox and found a glowing light. A light emitted by the smiling faces of Ed McMahon and Dick Clark. Their faces adorned the envelope of a letter from American Family Publishers. Now, hold onto your seats. Ladies and gentlemen, I, Chris Ronan, am a member of the FINALIST GROUP, eligible to win $10,000,000.
Because I know that this has never happened to any of you, let me explain how the process works. If I send in my entry, and one of my "exclusive" prize numbers is drawn on national television in January, I will win the grand prize of $10,000,000. I'm pretty sure that I'll win because it looks like there's only about five of us in the Finalist Group. When my name is announced as the winner, I'll have the very honorable distinction of joining a small group of new millionaires. Sounds pretty easy, doesn't it? Yeah, that's what I thought too, but when one looks closer at the literature enclosed in the magic envelope, one finds that winning $10,000,000 can take some effort. Let's glance at a few requirements:
1. I must promise to accept the prize on national television from Ed and Ageless Boy. They don't specify whether travel is included in the prize or whether I have to purchase a $9,999.99 plane ticket myself.
2. If I haven't recently subscribed to a magazine, then I may not "have enough points to qualify." However, if I purchase a magazine now, I will certainly have enough points to be eligible for the big winning. There are many magazines to choose from including the very popular Decorative Crochet — not to be confused with the blockbuster Decorative Croquet — and Bowhunter — 34 percent off the cover price! They make sure a future multi-millionaire like myself has plenty of choices.
3. I have to affix many stamps to my "official entry form." This requires serious effort because finding the stamps in the envelope is like a mini scavenger hunt. Failure to affix these stamps will result in immediate forfeiture of my money — and new life. The letter says, "Another finalist will step forward to claim your money." Now wouldn't that be a disaster?
When I come back for the spring semester, things will be much easier for me. I'll be able to afford to eat at McDonald's on a nightly basis and my diet of cookies and nachos will be a thing of the past. "THE RONAN FAMILY'S FINANCIAL SECURITY IS GUARANTEED TO THE TUNE OF TEN MILLION DOLLARS!" I will then immediately retire to a life of watching TV and playing video games. As the philosopher Homer (Simpson) would say, "WOO-HOO!"
KANSAN STAFF
Chris Ronan is an Overland Park sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism.
KCTRAUER, Editor
JOE HARDER, CHRISTINE LAUE Managing editors
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET, Systems coordinator
Editors
Assistant to the editor ... J.R. Clairbone
News ... Stacy Friedman
Editorial ... Terrilyn McCormick
Campus ... Ben Grove
Sports ... Krist Fogler
Photo ... Klip Chin, Renée Kneeber
Features ... Ezra Wolfe
Graphics ... John Paul Fogel
AMY CASEY
Business manager
AMY STUMBO
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
Business Star
Campus sales mgr ... Ed Schager
Regional sales mgr ... Jennifer Pierer
National sales mgr ... Jennifer Evanson
Co-op sales mgr ... Brythe Foch
Production mgr ... Briae Blowey
Kate Burgess
Marketing director ... Shelly McConnell
Creative director ... Brian Fusco
Classified mgr .. Gretchen Kotterleinch
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University of Mars
by Joel Francke