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Monday, February 26, 1990 /-University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Fiscal uncertainty
Student Senate Finance Committee's behavior casts doubt on ability to handle student funds
The Student Senate Finance Committee appears to have the same sense of
It appears to have the same sense of responsibility as a naive freshman who can't keep track of his checkbook. In one week the committee has distinguished itself by not being able to muster enough members for a budget hearing and by passing around a beer at another meeting.
Both events are relatively harmless, but they do little to foster an image of a body capable of determining how $40,000 in student money will be spent.
Of the 48-member committee, only 15 showed up for the scheduled budget hearings on Feb. 17. Excuses for the absences ranged from oversleeping to attending the basketball game. Because a quorum was not present, the hearings had to be rescheduled. Obviously the organizations seeking funds deserve a fair hearing, and the committee should have made certain that enough members were present. Rescheduling hearings is both inconvenient for the organizations and lacks a sense of professionalism
On Tuesday, the committee heard a request from Disorientation, an organization that publishes a magazine by the same name. At the meeting, a representative of the organization passed around a bottle of homemade beer. Some committee members took a drink; others did not. In the larger scheme of things, it was a minor infraction and undoubtedly won't happen again. In the context of the meeting, in fact, it could be construed as humorous. Still, the incident shows a lack of seriousness that unusual request or not, should not characterize finance committee meetings.
The finance committee is responsible for a significant portion of student money. The committee members should take pains to ensure not only that they disburse it equitably and fairly but that they avoid the perception of recklessness or carelessness in the University community.
Daniel Niemi for the editorial board
Qualified admissions Bill would preserve state's quality of education
It has been said many times, many ways, but the message is clear: Regents institutions need qualified admissions.
tions need to last week a bill to institute a qualified admissions system for the Regents institutions passed through the Kansas House Education Committee. Debate on the floor of the House is expected this week. In recent years, such bills have not fared well and have died. However, in light of enrollment increases and dwindling state budgets, qualified admissions stands a decent chance for passage.
Members of the Board of Regents as well as presidents and chancellors of the state universities support the bill. All realize that such admissions policy would ultimately preserve the quality of education in the state.
Arguments that qualified admissions would deny students an education are missing the point of the bill. By imposing minimum standards of competency for entering freshman, all high school students will benefit regardless if they go to college. High schools and school
districts throughout the state would be required to revise curriculumsto accommodate the Regents' standards.
The requirements outlined by qualified admissions are a starting point but should be no means be the final word. Each institution must take a look at the requirements and make necessary adjustments, such as a higher GPA or minimum ACT or SAT scores.
Some legislators may argue that this would make education even more of an elitist institution by keeping out poorer students who don't have the benefit of a good money. It is not a matter of having money. It is a matter of being prepared for four years of college and having a quality secondary education.
One can only hope that the conventional wisdom of the House, and subsequently the Senate, will shine through and qualified admissions will become a reality. It will be the first step in improving the image of Kansas institutions and attracting the best and brightest the state and the nation has to offer.
John P. Milburn for the editorial board
Members of the editorial board/are Richard Brack, Daniel Niemi, Christopher R. Ralston, John P. Milburn, Liz Hueben, Cory S. Anderson, Angela Baughman, Andrés Caveller, Chris Evans, Stephen Kline, Camille Krehbiel, Melanie Matthes, Jennifer Metz and Scott Patty.
Boy's death shows no justice
Today's column, though, is not about Campbell and Abraham. Had they been sentenced to death, the state, and the taxpayers, would have
There's not much to say about the Feb. 15 sentencing in Chi-
in sentencing in Chicago of John Campbell, 40, and Alicia Abraham, 28, who murdered Lattie McGee, 4. Campbell and Abraham were charged for the months of torture, and eventual killing, of Abraham's son. The prosecution had asked for the death penalty for the couple.
The presiding judge decided on life sentences instead. His reasoning was that Campbell was insane during the months he tortured Lattie and that the insanity may have been brought on by the consumption of alcohol and drugs. Abraham, who on occasion helped Campbell the Lattie's legs before the boy was dead, continued was spared the penalty because she was not present when Campbell delivered the final beating. Because of these and other factors, the judge believed life sentences were more appropriate than death.
Bob Greene
Syndicated columnist
In practical terms, it probably doesn't matter. It has been years since there has been an execution in Illinois. Even if Campbell and Abraham had been sentenced to death, chances are the sentence never would have been carried out. At the beginning of our series of columns on this case, we said that people of good will could disagree on the death penalty appropriate. One way is certain: Although the rights of both defendants, and the rights of the state, were carefully taken into consideration, no one ever took Lattie's rights into consideration during the long summer when Campbell and Abraham slowly executed him.
paid for years of automatic appeals, psychiatric evaluations, court hearings and defense costs. As it is, everyone will pay for food, shelter, medical care, recreational services, counseling and rehabilitation services for Campbell and Abraham for the rest of their lives.
But today's column is not about them.
'in death as in life, though, Lattie remained unprotected. That little boy does not even have a headstone to symbolize that he was ever alive.'
It is about the one person no one looked out for: Lattie. A reader responded to the reports of what was done that child. He was beaten with fists and sticks; he was burned with cigarettes and an iron; he was stuck with sewing needles; he was dunked in scalding water; he was starved; he was repeatedly left hanging upside down in a darkened closet while suffering from broken ribs and a broken pelvis. The reader was shaken by the circumstances of the day Lattie died. The night before, he had been hung in the closet with a rag stuffed in his mouth and potato peelings taped over his eyes; he was suffering from pneumonia. In the morning when Lattie was removed from the closet, he begged Campbell
for a drink of water. Campbell beat him for making this request, and Lattie died.
"What I can't get out of my mind," the reader wrote, "is that all of those nights in the closet, Lattie must have been wondering what he had done to become such a bad boy that he would deserve this. And all the while knowing that when he was taken down from the closet, the only people he could beg for kindness were his tormentors."
A child at the Robert Burns School in Chicago wrote, "I wish Lattice were still alive. I would take him to Great America (amusement park). I would give him a lot of water and food." Another child wrote, "I would like to be his friend." Some children suggested that a playground that already exists in Chicago's Grant Park be named in Lattice's memory.
Nothing that happens to Campbell and Abraham will bring Lattice back. And earlier in the column, when we mentioned that the state, through taxpayers' money, will provide for Campbell's and Abraham's food and shelter for the rest of their lives; we had a reason for pointing this out.
Latte McGee is buried in an unmarked grave. It is in the Burr Oak Cemetery near the Chicago border. The reason that there is no marker on the bare plot is that Lattice was buried with public funds, which did not provide for a gravestone. The state meticulously protected the rights of his killers, and the state will provide for their continuing welfare in prison. In death as in life, though. Lattice remained unprotected. That little boy does not even have a headstone to symbolize that he was alive.
Bob Greene is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
Other Voices
Baseball owners have done to spring training what Buster Douglas did to Mike Tyson. But, while Douglas' boxing victory was not immediately recognized, there is no doubt that spring training — and the spirit of winter-weary baseball fans — has taken it on the chin. Eventually, Tyson got up off the floor. Maybe there's a way to revive spring training, too.
The owners and players are sparring over — what else? — money. The main issue is the complex process by which disputes over player salaries are resolved. Because they couldn't reach an agreement with the players, the owners have refused to allow spring training camps to open.
Baseball Commissioner Fay Vinci is trying to mediate this dispute, but his efforts seem as futile as they are well-intended. This disagreement
seems too tough to yield to ordinary negotiation. The financial stakes are too large — it is not unheard of for journeyman ballplayers to be paid $1 million a year — and the differences are too wide.
It is time to submit this dispute to binding arbitration. Not only are the two sides deadlocked; time is short. Unless this dispute ends by mid-March, the regular major league baseball season, set to begin in early April, may have to be delayed. That would cost real money and deprive baseball-hungry fans of games they have waited a long winter to see.
Because of the nature of this dispute, the arbitrator would have to be a person of unquestioned ability. Such a person will not be found easily or quickly.
From the Milwaukee Journal, Feb 19.
News staff
Richard Brack...Editor
Daniel Niemi...Managing editor
Christopher R. Raleton...
Lina Morel...Planning editor
John Milburn...Editorial editor
Candy Nieman...Campus editor
Mike Considine...Report editor
Eason Kungfu...Photo editor
Stephen Kline...Graphics editor
Kla Bengulfar...Area manager
Trinity Eddie...General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Margaret Townsend...Business manager
Tanil Renk...Retail sales manager
Miysey Miller...Campus sales manager
Kathy Stollie...Regional sales manager
Lily Johnson...National sales manager
Mindy Moris...Co-op sales manager
Nate Stamos...Production manager
Marketing manager
Assistant production manager
Cara Studinska...Marketing director
James Glasenapp...Creative director
Jennet Rorholm...Classified manager
Wendy Sturtz...Teacher/master
Sales and marketing adviser
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Fears still exist about united Germanys
As an American, I am delighted by the thought of a democratic East Germany. As a lover of freedom, I cheered when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. But as a Jew, I cannot contain my fear of a united Germany.
Most of the European objections to German reunification have been centered on the consequences of combining the strongest economy in Western Europe with the pride and joy of the Eastern Bloc. Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain and Frances Mitterand of France fear that a united German economy would dominate Europe and usurp an even larger share of the world market.
When the Prussian Prime Minister, Otto vonBismarck, united the German states, he could not have what a monster he had created.
Under William II, Germany began its quest for world domination. German expansionism resulted in World
But modern history presents another argument against a reunified German state. It is a history of war and destruction, by Berman expansion and atrocity.
Dan Grossman
Staff columnist
War I and more than 13 million people lost their lives.
After this tragedy, the allied powers sought to prevent its recurrence by forming a democratic republic based on laws instead of military might. But the Weimar Republic failed and so too did the allies' efforts to permanently demilitarize Germany to avoid any future threat of aggression.
Less than 15 years after the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending World War I, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Shortly thereafter, Germany rebuilt its military and renewed its power. After World Reich was created and the darkest chapter of world history began.
Hitler's desire for world domination was coupled with, though not
entirely separate from, his desire for a homogeneous, aryan world. He declared that white, protestant Germans comprised the master race and that all others were subordinate. Thus began the Nazis' quest to destroy the Jewish people.
Nazi Germany represented evil in man. Yes, it represented the sick, distorted, individual perspective of Adolf Hitler. But it also represented the cold and murderous apathy of the German people who passively allowed that madman to commit genocide.
The Nazis systematically exterminated six million Jews. The concentration camps of Dachau, Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belsen, Sobidor and Chelmno facilitated this process. Torture, deprivation and human experimentation were but a few of the atrocities prevalent in those death camps.
After the war and after the dust from the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes trials had settled, Germany was divided. The intent of the allies was not to guarantee against another Holocaust. Unfortunately their pur-
A lot has happened in the 45 years since the end of World War II. The war of ideology between democracy and communism occupied the battlefields for a while and Germany remained divided. Most of the Nazi survivors, save Kurt Waldheim, president of Austria, have since died. Many people have forgotten the atrocities of Nazi Germany.
With the wave of freedom sweeping across Eastern Europe, reunification seems almost inevitable. I do not oppose the uniting of a long-divided people. But forgive me for not being overjoyed at the thought of a single German fatherland. The cries of my people have not yet left my ears. To those cries I can only reply, I will never forget. I will never forget.
> Dan Grossman is a Denver senior
majoring in political science.
CAMP UHNEELY
BY SCOTT PATTY
THIS ISN'T YOUR ID
THE UNIVERSITY PROVIDES
DISCOUNTED TICKETS FOR
THE STUDENT TO USE.
NOT TO GIVE AWAY TO
ANYONE.