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Thursday, February 8, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Abortion bill
Cutting state financing for abortions doesn't make economic sense for Kansas, women
MEMBERS of the Kansas Legislature would like to make it impossible for any woman without a lot of cash to have an abortion.
Proponents of Senate Bill 557 would like to follow the state of Missouri in cutting state financing for abortions performed at state-run hospitals, namely the University of Kansas Medical Center, which performed 125 outpatient abortions in fiscal year 1989.
The Senat Federal and State Affairs Committee will conduct a hearing on this bill at 11 a.m. today.
The only logical outcome of this hearing, unless Kansas follows its conservative counterpart on the abortion issue, is that the bill will be killed in committee. However, with anti-abortion activists increasing in vocal fervor, the outcome will probably not be that simple.
The bill makes no economic sense. If a woman cannot afford a safe, legal abortion at a private institution, how is she ever going to be able to raise a child? The answer
to this question is simple - she won't.
This child will in turn cost more to the state than the legal medical procedure would have in the first place, and given Gov. Mike Hayden's careless views on social programs, the child will grow up hungry and poor.
Since abortion is legal in Kansas, and because in a hospital an abortion can be performed safely by a licensed physician, every woman should have an equal right to one - a safe one.
Since abortion is legal in Kansas, why should private institutions be the only place to get an abortion? The answer to this question is that hypocritical legislators control the purse strings of the Med Center. They are challenging the financing because that's the easiest way they can thrust their morals on the public.
if legislators would think about the social welfare of everyone in the state and not only about white, middle-class constituents, the decision would be easy.
Liz Hueben for the editorial board
Members of the editorial board are Richard Brack, Daniel Niemi, Christopher R. Ratalon, John P. Milburn, Liz Hueben, Cory S. Anderson, Merceda Ares, Angela Baughman, Andres Caveller, Chris Evans, Tiffany Harness, Stephen Kline, Camille Krehbiel, Melanie Matthes, Jennifer Metz and Scott Patty.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Game lacks fans
At the Jan. 27 KU vs. K-State women's basketball game, the surrounding sea of purple made me feel like a fish out of water. Was this Allen Field House? What happened to the home court advantage? The field house has a reputation for being a foreboding place to play, but that was simply not the case Jan. 27.
I was an "occasional!" Lady Jayhawk fan until my daughter became a ballgirl for the team. I now attend regularly and have come to appreciate the hard work and dedication these women give to the game and to KU. They deserve more attention. They certainly deserve to have more fans than the opposing team at a home game on a Saturday afternoon! Especially since students get in free with a KUID. After all, they weren't playing an obscure, unfamiliar school; they were playing K-State.
You have to give credit to the KU fans who were there, and the Pep Band was great (it always is). They cheered the women from an 18-point halftime deficit to come within 9 points at one time in the second half. As for me, I'm planning a trip to Manhattan on Sat., Feb. 24 (7 p.m.).
Hope to see you there!
Secretary, communication studies
Social need isn't a license to party
I am writing in response to Dave Wakefield's column on Feb. 1, dealing with the new city noise ordinance. Wakefield makes a strong argument that the neighborhood leaders dissembled when they asserted that the noise ordinance was not specifically aimed at students. I do not have sufficient information to argue with him about that point. Nor do I take offense at Wakefield's problems with the broad wording of the ordinance. However, I must object
to his comparisons of the sound of church bells, lawnmowers, garbage trucks and the like to the sound of parties that he claims meet some "essential social needs." Mr. Wakefield, your essential social needs end where my civil rights begin.
For a number of years my family lived on Illinois Street, a stone's throw from Memorial Stadium. No one, student or otherwise, has the right to finance such an security of other people as happened, and perhaps still does happen, on that block.
You see, church bell rings only on Sundays and end their pealing in a relatively short period of time. Lawnmowers, noisy and aggravating, run their course normally when the sun is shining. Garbage trucks and their attendants make their commotion and leave, having at least completed a valuable service to their clients. I have never in my years on the planet heard anyone complain outside of Washington, D.C.) about car alarms being a persistent and nagging nuisance. On the other hand, the parties on that block of Illinois Street occurred with unpredictable frequency and did not end after "31 rings," but rather ended early in the morning usually after someone, reluctantly or otherwise, called the police.
Your social needs do not include keeping my family awake. Your social needs do not include depositing your half-full beer and liquor bottles on my lawn.
To compare church bells tolling to the toll these parties took on the neighborhood is facile, foolish and arrogant. Wakefield's proposition that the people who object to the noise and behavior generated by people fulfilling their essential social needs move out of the so-called neighborhoods beyond arrogance. It is contemptible. I refuse to relinquish my rights as a citizen to your social needs.
Mr. Wakefield, you, unlike some of the people who live on that block, have a choice. You can fulfill your needs in a way that respects other people, or you can move back to Westport and fulfill all of your necessary social obligations by dancing in your bedroom.
Steryl Jones Lawrence graduate student
News staff
Richard Breck...Editor
Daniel Niemi...Managing editor
Christopher R. Raleton...Lia Mohr...Planning editor
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Candy Nieman...Campaigner
Rory Courdeney...Reporter editor
E. Joseph Zurgu...Photo editor
Stephen Kline...Graphics editor
Kris Bergoult...Artist
Tom Blair...General manager, news advise
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Farewell, Professor Polk
es Polk died last night.
He did not pass away. He did not expire. He died. That's the way he taught us to write it. He would have permitted nothing less. Professor Polk taught us many things.
He taught us precision. He taught us to be bold, to take chances. He expected a lot from us, and he got a but Not as much as we got from him
Professor Polk taught journalism at the University of Kansas for four years. We respected him not because he came from a newspaper family, or because of his years of experience at the Wall Street Journal or the Kansas City Star. We respected him because of his ability to make us think. He commanded our respect. He received it.
Professor Polk died from a heart attack. He was 61.
Professor Polk was the kind of teacher who inspired students to work for him. They didn't work for a place. They worked to please the man.
He insisted on quality and sneered at anything less. He demanded pure thought and its application to journalism.
He was not content with the norms of journalism. He encouraged new ideas and attempts to improve the business. He was innovative but always adhered to the classic principles of newspaper journalism.
Make it interesting, he would say,
but above all make it readable. Take
this page, for instance. It was rede-
dited by the late professor
Dohk had much to do with it.
But Professor Polk is best remembered by his students.
On the first day of any of his classes, students took one look at him and immediately identified him with Professor Kingsfield, the currupted author from the series "The Paper Chase." The comparison was made by many.
Professor Polk would not tolerate the foolishness of students. In time, students would thank him for his candor — and his caring.
He insisted on punctuality. Tardy students could count on being greeted with the infamous song, "Good morning to you. Good morning to you."
Professor Polk taught several subjects. He was knowledgeable. He was wise. But more than that, Professor Polk demonstrated to his students what it meant to love learning. Professor Polk invested in students. He built relationships that continued beyond the classroom. Professor Polk derived great joy from watching students grow. He cared for us.
He loved journalism, and he made his students love journalism. He made us see things in a totally different way. Some professors tried to pound it into our heads, but he made us see it in a way that made us care about it. Some professors got upset if we didn't learn it. Professor Polk's style was more for our benefit. Every little thing was important.
He taught us that journalists must be bold. Our pages, headlines and stories should be bold, he said. It is
not a business for the timid, he said He was not timid.
We remember the day Professor Polk was seen walking the halls of the school wearing one black shoe and one brown shoe. None of us ever mustered the bravery to ask him if he would have had a brilliant reason and he would have made us feel sheepish for asking.
What really mattered to Professor Polk was that each day you took home some new idea and that each day you applied yesterday's knowledge to something new.
We, as students, saw the best in Professor Polk. He respected us, he challenged us, and, most of all, he cared about us.
One thing stands out: his use of the words "sir" or "am'aam" in his ever-frequent critiques of our work. It was a sign of respect. One student will never forget his comment on a critique:
"You're a talented young man, and I predict you'll go far, sir," he wrote. Well, sir, we won't forget you on our way.
CAMP UNNEELY
BY SCOTT PATTY
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