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Tuesday, October 12, 1993
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
More principle courses would benefit students
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Assembly will soon be voting on a proposal that would
abolish the rule that departments within the college can only offer four principle courses. By limiting departments to only four principle courses, the liberal education of students is also limited.
A principle course, which fulfills general education requirements for students in the college, is used to give students exposure to a wide variety of disciplines. This is the foundation of a liberal education. This proposal will guarantee that students have this foundation.
Principle courses have a higher enrollment of students because they are needed to fulfill requirements. This forces faculty members because of demand to teach classes that may not be in their speciality. Faculty are also restricted from teaching a class in their specific area of interest that is not a principle course because the class will have a low enrollment. This hurts the quality of instruction and education.
It also makes no sense that an arbitrary number of four should be applied to all departments. Currently large departments are restricted to the same number of principle courses as smaller departments.
If this proposal were adopted, departments would still need to adhere to the definition of what a principle course is. The proposal would be an improvement because currently classes exist that meet the definition of a principle course but are not classified as such because the department is already at the limit of four. Exceptions to this are just as arbitrary as the rule.
By eliminating this limit students will have the opportunity to widen the breadth of their education. The problem of an imbalance in class enrollments may also be eased as students are spread throughout more available and needed courses.
Students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences should urge their professors to vote in favor of this proposal. More choices will enhance our education and our life experiences.
EISHA TIERNEY FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Media not responsible for problems of society
A mother's claim that Beavis and Butt-head influenced a child to start a fire is as irresponsible as her parenting. The media have become easy scapegoats for shirking responsibility.
The Moraine, Ohio, woman who blamed Beavis and Butt-head for causing her 5-year-old son to use matches to set the house on fire missed the real target for blame herself. The unfortunate fire resulted in the death of her 2-year-old daughter.
Her accusation against the two primal instinct cartoon characters overlooks two facts. The child was able to locate and use matches and had a history of setting fires. Responsible parenting would have identified these problems before they resulted in the death of a child.
The attempts to place blame on popular culture isn't limited to Beavis and Butt-head. The past few years have seen self-righteous and outraged people blaming television for violence, immorality and promiscuity. Heavy metal music has been blamed for suicides and satanic activity. Most recently rap music has been blamed with promoting the mistreatment of women.
Accepting responsibility for an unfortunate action often is a bitter pill to swallow. But Beavis and Butt-head aren't raising are children — parents are.
TERRILYN McCORMICK AND MIKE SILVERMAN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Sporting world can withstand tragedies, salaries and egos
Michael Jordan retired Wednesday. He had won three championships in a row, which neither Magic Johnson nor Larry Bird accomplished. Perhaps one of the more important reasons for his retirement was the death of his father this summer. James Jordan had stopped in a rest area to take a nap when two men decided to rob and kill him. It was a random, senseless crime that once again brought the world of sports into reality.
My girlfriend accuses me of being obsessed with sports, and though I won't admit it to her, she probably is right. Sports for me always has combined a sense of the fantastic with a sense of the ideal.
The feats that some athletes per form seem out of the ordinary, sometimes unreal. And yet, they also seem to be something toward which we strive. In this sense, sports is about vitality. We understand the vitality when we see Michael Jordan shoot the unshootable, Jerry Rice catch the uncatchable or Pete Sampras hit the unhittable ball. We see the seemingly impossible feats, and we realize for a
moment that these athletes have defied all rational expectations. And maybe, just maybe, in some way we can strive like they do.
That is. until they die.
The tragedies that have fallen upon the sports world this year are staggering. Monica Seles was stabbed in the shoulder by a fan who wanted Steffi Graf to be the No. 1 player in the world. Unfortunately, the fan got his wish: Seles now is ranked fourth. The stabbing may have ended Selen's tennis career. But, at least she lived.
Former tennis great Arthur Ashe died, as did former basketball coach Jim Valvano, race car drivers Davey
Allison and Alan Kulwicki, baseball stars Steve Olin and Tim Crews, and basketball stars Drazen Petrovic and Reggie Lewis. And now, one of the greatest men ever to play basketball has retired, in part because of death.
Each of these athletes had a gift. It wasn't merely physical; it was a combination of physical and intellectual. When the combination worked, it was sheer magic to behold. Sure, egos and salaries tended to detract at times from the games. Larry Johnson's 12-year, $84 million contract, which was signed on the day that the rumors about Jordan's retirement surfaced, certainly shows that the sport merrily rolls along, independent of the people who play.
But egos and salaries never can take away the performances. I never will forget Joe Montana's last-second pass to Dwight Clark in the 1985 National Football Conference Championship Game, Jimmy Connors' five-set victory against Aaron Krickstein in the 1991 U.S. Open or Francisco Cabrera's game-winning single against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the
1992 National League Championship Series. Those are the magic moments. They are the moments when the individual and the team, the physical and the intellectual, become one. They are the moments when all the parts in the machine work in complete harmony. They are the moments that keep me watching.
They are the moments that for so many this year are gone.
Sports isn't the only place where we can see life's potential. There are some, like my girlfriend, who argue that sports are rather meaningless. Perhaps. But every time I see "Plays of the Week" on ESPN, I'm reminded why I love sports: the people involved. Though the senseless deaths won't make me love sports any less, they remind me that sports and reality aren't far apart. And maybe, they will make me love sports a little more.
Nathan Olson is a Chicago graduate student in English.
Diversity is key to societal harmony
I am glad to see that my article "Women and Minorities Still Striving for Equality" has created such reader interest. It is good that KU students are reading the newspaper and expressing their concerns. Unfortunately, some students missed the point.
America is a diverse society. Thus, its population should be represented in all social institutions including schools, courts, juries, governments, religions, media and law enforcement organizations.
Diverse representation in these societal systems assures equal rights and justice for all. Representation by a diverse group is superior to representation by a single culture. This includes both majority and minority groups and is the premise for the statement, "A white male cannot adequately represent a minority as well as a minority can."
This statement is not racist or sexist, nor is it an attack on white males, nor does it mean that white women
and men can only represent themselves. It was merely used to illustrate the importance of diversity in government.
There is an increasing number of women and minorities involved in government. The purpose of the column was to laud the government's attempt to include more women and minorities in high government positions. A diverse government or a diverse population in management will allow the varying views of the population to be represented.
This does not mean that minorities are the only people who suffer hardships, nor does it mean that minorities can be represented only by other minorities. It only means that a minority should be able to represent the views of minorities because by being a minority, he or she can identify with other minorities.
Our society is based on democracy, which means that there should be representation for everyone. This is the purpose of diversity, and history has proven that we need more of it in our nation. The struggles of African Americans, Jewish Americans, American Indians and women for
aspects of society assures that all of our individual perspectives are represented. This is the importance of including minorities in decision-making positions throughout society. The term minority refers not only refers to race, but also to gender. The fact that most women suffer the same hardships as other minorities allows them to adequately represent minorities and their views.
freedom and equality in our nation are excellent examples. Obviously, our society has forced women and members of some races to fight for their rights. All races and genders have been considered unequal at some time.
Diversity refers to all races, cultures and genders. A balance of these in all
Minorities have been denied simple rights such as the right to vote and to own property. This is the reason we strive for diversity. Diversity is a method to ensure that everyone has equal rights and that everyone's view is represented in society. This will ensure equality for all.
Although the column "Women and Minorities Still Striving for Equality" focused on racial and gender diversity in government, diversity refers to all cultures, creeds, origins, religions, genders and ages. Diversity is the key to harmony in a world of difference, and this can only be achieved with adequate representation for all races, cultures and genders.
KANSAN STAFF
Tiffany Hurt is an Overland Park senior majoring In Journalism and English.
KC TRAUER, Editor
JOE HARDER, CHRISTINE LAUE
Managing editors
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET, Systems coordinator
Assistant to the editor ... J.R. Clairborne
News ... Stacy Friedman
Editorial ... Terrilyn McCormick
Campus ... Ben Grove
Sports ... Kristi Fogler
Photo ... Klip Chin, Renee Kneeber
Features ... Erra Wolfe
Graphics .. John Paul Fogel
AMY CASEY
Business manager
AMY STUMBO
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr ... Ed Schager
Regional Sales mgr ... Jennifer Perrier
National sales mgr ... Jennifer Evanson
Co-op sales mgr ... Blythe Focht
Production mgr ... Blythe Blowey
Kate Burgese
Marketing director ... Shelly McConnell
Creative director ... Brian Fuoco
Cesselled mgr ... Jance Davis
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For the Birds
by Jeff Fitzpatrick