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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 24,2011
PAGE 5A
opinion
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Why does Anschutz have a gate in their stairway? If it's to stop people from falling down the stairs, why aren't they elsewhere?
My face is so dry that I had to rub chapstick to stop the pain.
The Kansan is trying to make the Free For All smaller and smaller until it's gone, just like the Crossing Editor's note: False. We are just trying to make it better and more competitive.
I feel like the only single girl in the whole wide world ... And I'm now going to drop out of college and become a nun. Or gets some cats.
Try looking beyond the frats...
Are you wanting to go lesbian in retaliation? Because I can help with that.
Something outrageous happened in the men's restroom in Smith. There is underwear in the trash and the toilet is overflowing with paper towels.
It's so easy to see how social network sites can make people slightly narcissistic.
I understand Charmin is out of the question, but would it be possible to have public TP that doesn't rip after each square?
Dear Nicolas Cage, STOP!!
Right now having sex in the library is way higher on my college to-do list than achieving a high GPA.
If the way to a man's heart is his stomach, what's the way into his pants?
Overheard conversations on the buses are more exciting than "Jersey Shore" has been lately.
To the people sitting next to me in class. Could you talk throughout the entire class period everyday? I love not being able to hear the lecture
I'm honestly surprised KSU didn't turn Black & Purple into a country song.
Do penguins have knees?
New rule: If the TA is asleep, I get to sleep too.
The only time I wouldn't want to kick it with Dexter is if I was in a room covered in plastic.
Mizzou fans are truly awful. K-State fans, like jean shorts, are homely, but harmless.
Damn! Just went into Eaton for the first time tonight... The rest of us non-engineering majors are really getting the poopy end of the lollipop.
Resignation should follow IFC hazing incidents
EDITORIAL
The recent investigation into the actions of the KU Interfraternity Council (IFC) has shed light on hazing rituals that occurred during a November officer-transition ceremony in which executive board members took turns hitting other members with a paddle.
While sanctions have been placed on the IFC, President Jay Trump and fellow members Jake Droge and John Pecis have been able to retain their positions despite participation in the very activity that caused this scandal.
The fact that Trump has not been removed from office after his involvement in the scandal shows the University's lack of commitment toward upholding its no-tolerance position on hazing.
However, it would be unfair to single out Trump for this incident, since other members of the Interfraternity Council also allowed this behavior to occur. This hazing scandal was not caused by the actions of Trump alone, but by all who participated in the activity, including
anyone who stood by and allowed it to transpire.
IFC members Droge and Pecis were also able to retain their positions despite active participation in the paddling of other officers. This incident was not initiated by one individual, but by multiple leaders who demonstrated a collective irresponsibility and disregard for University policym
When a person actively participates in behavior they are supposed to oversee and regulate, they lose all credibility for being able to do that job effectively in the future.
While we hope Trump has learned valuable lessons from this experience, he has already lost too much credibility to easily regain the confidence of the University. After his participation in hazing that he was obligated to stop, many people at the University will understandably regard his position with cynicism and doubt.
Regardless of whatever efforts Trump may make to regain his credibility as
president of the IFC, his actions cannot be forgotten, nor merely reprimanded with sanctions.
Marlesa Roney, vice provost for student success, boldly proclaimed that "hazing will not be tolerated at KU", but allowing Trump to retain his position in spite of his actions sends the opposite message. The sanctions placed on the IFC are not strict enough to ensure that such hazing incidents do not happen in the future. The fact that someone who was supposed to oversee hazing could actively partake in it and not be immediately removed from that position is troubling, and sends the message that such behavior is tolerable.
Even if the university is not willing to effectively remove Trump from his position as president, he should step down from the position so that the IFC's credibility can be restored. The council itself almost voted to remove Trump from office, with 11 votes to remove him against six votes to retain him, and the only thing that prevented Trump's
removal was the lack of a two-thirds majority vote.
With most of his own council expressing dissatisfaction at his leadership, Trump should resign as president to effectively send a message that the IFC is actively working to repair its image to the rest of the University.
While the IFC has pledged to make the appropriate changes to eliminate hazing activities in the future, that change cannot come while their current leadership remains in place. Trump and his fellow officers have proven that they are not capable of complying with University anti-hazing policies, and their active participation in the very activity they were obligated to prevent does not merit a second chance at leadership. Mistakes can be forgiven, but the IFC must have a zero-tolerance policy on hazing if it is to be taken seriously.
Spencer Davidson on behalf of the Kansan Editorial Board.
POP CULTURE
What's better than complaining? Complaining about complaining
Recently, I had a conversation with a friend about the HBO show "Boardwalk Empire." I like a lot of things about that show. I like the writing. I like the acting. I like that hitman with the crazy face and scary voice. But I didn't mention any of these things first.
The first thing I said was that I thought the middle of the first season kind of sucked. I could have started by saying that the last three episodes were really strong (spoilers: The mob commits a bunch of crimes), but I decided it would be a good idea to go over what I didn't like first. I did this because, like everyone, I enjoy complaining.
Complaining is great. For whatever reason, people find it much easier to find fault with something than to compliment it.
I had a Shakespeare class last semester and the first text we read was "Romeo & Juliet". Obviously the story is a great tragedy, but I spent most of my time complaining about the last two acts (what, the priest just leaves her there? Come on, Shakespeare!) and generally ragging on the greatest writer in the English language.
If you're having trouble coming up with legitimate criticism for a paper you have to write, try focusing on what you hate about the subject.
I could maybe talk for five minutes on what I liked about "The Social Network," but I could write an eight volume treatise on what I hated about "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."
First, get some practice with an easy target, like that local TV spot you just saw. Now, we both know that it's just for a local business and that it was done on a shoe-string budget, but don't let that stop you
BY LOU SCHUMAKER
lschumaker@kansan.com
from mercilessly ripping it apart.
I finally hipped it apart.
That's another great thing about complaining: You barely need any material to get started.
For example, look at the recent trailer for "Captain America: The First Avenger" Despite the fact that I've only seen about 30 seconds of footage that in no way resembles the movie in full, I've already started complaining about the cast, the title and the clunkiness of the action sequences. "But Lou," you're saying, "they don't even show any action sequences in the trailer!" And that's where you're wrong. There's a couple seconds of Captain America fighting robots (or something, it goes too quickly to really tell) and from that, I have extrapolated that the whole movie is bad.
However, there are downsides to complaining all the time. For one, people don't really care why you hate a specific episode of a TV show they've never seen. For another, it's really not that constructive.
That said, I really look forward to hearing all your complaints about this column.
Schumaker is a junior from Overland Park in film and media studies.
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The Oscars are this weekend. What did you think the WORST movie of the last year was?
Vampires Suck
Sex and the City 2
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Valentine's Day
Saw 3D
Vampires Suck
The Last Airbender
ECONOMY
New Congress, same story for the middle class
There is no doubt that we live in economically shaky times. The state of the economy is unstable. The deficit is tremendous. The national unemployment rate is 9 percent, and that doesn't even include the underemployed and those who have given up looking.
The entire nation is looking to Washington to provide real solutions to create jobs, which would lead to economic and personal stability - and maybe even some sleep for those hit hardest by the recession.
Thus far, unfortunately, Congress has only pursued ideas that would hurt the vulnerable, rather than answers that would solve their problems. Little action has been taken that would really achieve the aims of either deficit reduction or job creation - both a bitter blow to the Americans who voted hopefully for Tea Party candidates based on their righteous anger at the plight of the middle class and a regrettable vindication of those distrustful of right-wing economic policy.
Indeed, one of the only proposals that would immediately affect jobs is the House Republicans' initiative to completely eliminate National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. About the fact that these institutions employ thousands of people, Speaker Boehner has spoken: "So be it."
BY ALI FREE afree@kansan.com
And these were only the proposed
cuts of the past couple of weeks, with more sure to come.
Especially in a time when so many are already vulnerable and more people depend on assistance, we should not be cutting these social services. AlmeriCorps, for example, is an enormous volunteer organization that helped rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and members work daily to improve the lives of those in impoverished communities. Pell Grants help send students to college. Planned Parenthood uses its federal funding to provide cancer- and STI-screenings, contraception and reproductive health care to those without insurance coverage. WIC allows low-income women to provide for the health and well-being of their children.
In short, all of these proposed cuts would target those already hit hardest by the recession.
Economically, it's hard to believe that anyone really thinks that these social service programs created the deficit and jobs crisis we are in when there are so many other far more plausible reasons. For instance, we have been engaged in
two expensive wars for several years. The carelessness of Wall Street bankers and the financial sector plunged us into a recession, for which they got a slap on the wrist. The U.S. government pays out billions yearly in the form of tax breaks, loopholes and subsidies to very rich individuals as well as to enormous corporations in the industries of natural resources, finance, agriculture and pharmaceuticals. Many corporations send jobs overseas and store their cash in offshore tax havens and face no consequences.
Taxpayers fund all of these things, and in return many of them find their future, their health and their finances jeopardized. The middle and lower classes are being punished for the excesses and miscalculations of the rich and powerful.
To put it lightly, the proposed "solutions" offered by a disquieting number of our leaders are both morally and economically deplorable.
Free is a sophomore from Blue Springs, Mo., in women's studies.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Nick Gerik, Alex Garrison, Kelly Stroda, D.M. Scott and Mandy Matney.
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