OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED DAILY SINCE 1912
4A
CRAIG LANG, Editor
SUSANNA LLOP, Managing editor
KMBRELY CRARTREE, Editorial editor
TOM EBILEN, General manager, news adviser
MARK OZMEK, Business manager
DENNES HAUPT, Retail sales manager
JUSTIN KUMP, Technology coordinator
JAY STENER, Sales and marketing adviser
Monday, March 17, 1997
Editorials
Students should play active role in City Commission election
An talk, no action. Ironically, the University of Kansas is full of politically aware, opinionated and diverse students, but has a dramatically low voter turnout rate.
Of all voters registered in Lawrence, only about one-fifth voted in the primary elections last February. Because of the large number of students in a town like Lawrence, the KU student body could have a major impact on the upcoming April City Commission elections.
Many students do not register to vote for City Commission and School Board elections because they are apathetic to the issues dealt with by these boards.
Unfortunately, many students fail
City Commission elections are April 1. Students should get out and vote.
to realize that issues that affect Lawrence also affect students.
Whether it is problems with parking, game day traffic, potholes or public transportation, students are the first to complain but are no where to be found when it comes to having these problems remedied.
Sometimes, people are not satisfied because they feel that even if they complain about a problem, it won't be remedied.
But there is a wav to get your voice
heard and that is to get involved with city elections. That begins by registering to vote.
Registering has been made extremely accessible to all students at locations on and off campus.
You don't have to be political science major or involved in politics to be concerned with decisions that are made in Lawrence.
Unfortunately, what students don't realize is the influential role that they could play in making Lawrence an easier place to live.
At one voting location on campus, an estimated 25 students voted.
However, students can only be heard if they speak up. It all begins by getting involved.
CATHY PIERCE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Revue takes more time than money
Spending caps often have the facade of being the panacea that will bring equity to competition. Some students argue that limiting the money spent on Rock Chalk Revue will benefit groups with smaller budgets.
However, lavish and expensive submissions is not how a group is selected. Any living group can submit a notebook no matter how much money it spends creating it. Organization, not money, is the primary obstacle that prevents groups from getting involved in Rock Chalk.
Reagan Judd, executive director of Rock Chalk, said that the main criteria when judging Rock Chalk entries was the content. Judd indicated that color copies, computer programs and professional recording studios were all superfluous expenses that did not automatically get a group selected.
Although there are some expenses for creating submissions, this money is
Residence and scholarship halls can help add diversity to the Rock Chalk Revue.
generated through fund raising, Judd said.
Many students feel that Rock Chalk is just a Greek event. But this is a misconception that must be clarified if Rock Chalk is to have more diversity in the future. Rock Chalk is open to groups such as scholarship halls and residence halls. Judd said that Rock Chalk seemed to be geek-dominated because greek chapters have had more success organizing their members.
Students in residence and scholarship halls who want to participate in Rock Chalk should not view money as a barrier. Instead, they should focus on finding out what it takes to plan a Rock Chalk notebook and on coordinating an effort to join Rock Chalk. Judd said that many low-budgeted entries had been accepted in the past.
If more residence and scholarship halls successfully coalesce, their potential would be great. Residence and scholarship halls have access to thousands of students with diverse ranges of talent. Although it is difficult
to organize these groups because of their size, these groups could exert a dominant influence on Rock Chalk.
The real barrier is the challenge of organizing non-greek groups. By mobilizing residents to create Rock Chalk submissions and participate in fund raisers to pay for expenses, residence and scholarship halls would decrease the Greek homogeneity that exists in Rock Chalk.
Judd said that the only thing that is expensive about putting together a Rock Chalk notebook is time and effort.
KANSANSTAFF
LATNA SULJIAN . . Associate Editorial
KRISTA BLASH . . News
NOVELDA SOMMERS . . News
LESLEY TAYLOR . . News
AMANDA TRAUGBER . . News
TARA TRENARY . . News
DAVID TESKA . . Online
SPENCER DUNCAN . Sports
GINA THORNBURG . Associate Sports
BRADLEY BROOKS . Campus
LINDSEE HENRY . Campus
DAVE BRETTENSTEIN . Features
PAM DISIMAN . Photo
TYLER WIRKEN . Photo
BRYAN VOLK . Design
ANDY ROHRBACK . Graphics
ANDREA ALBRIGHT . Wire
LZ MUSSER . Special sections
AERICA VEAZEY . News clerk
NICK ZALLER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
NEWS EDITORS
ADVERTISING MANAGERS
HEATHER VALLEY . . . Assistant retail
JULIE PEDLAR . . . Campus
DANA CENTENO . . . Regional
ANNETTE HOVER . . . National
BRIAN PAGEL . . . Marketing
SARAH SCHERWINSKI . . . Internet
DARCI McLAIN . . . Production
DENA PISCOTTE . . . Production
ALLISON PIERCE . . Special sections
SARA ROSE . . . Creative
DANA LAUVETZ . . Public relations
BRIAN LEFEVRE . . Classified
RACHEL RUBIN . . Assistant classified
BRIDGET COLLYER . . Zone
JULIE DEWITT . . Zone
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ANTHONY MILJAZO . . Zone
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how to submit letters and guest columns
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown If a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
Guest columns: Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
All letter and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Staufer-Filh Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Kim Crabtree (opinion@kansan.com) or LaTina Sullivan (lisuillian@kansan.com) at 864-4810.
Service to country should be respected
Columns
Whenever I stumble upon a class that integrates real-world issues into the lecture, I am compelled to fall to my knees and praise the professor.
This recently happened in a class which is geared toward reality, rather than pure theoreticalum-iumbo.
The discussion pertained to the elusive question of what to do with a large military now that the evil Soviet Empire has been destroyed, thus ending the Cold War. This topic bothers me particularly because of President Clinton's desire to cut the Defense Department budget and partially because of my friends in the
military who would be impacted by such cuts.
While strolling along Jayhawk Boulevard recently, I overheard a mind-boggling snippet of a conversation. A young man was sauntering along ahead of me discussing a band he recently heard. This guy was wearing a t-shirt that eloquently stated "Life's a (expletive)," and his hair was a lovely shade of fuchsia. Another student walked by wearing a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC) uniform. "Mr. Fuchsis" remarked that "Mr. Uniform" was stupid for volunteering to die.
But Mr. Uniform didn't volunteer to die, rather, he agreed to put his life on the line in defense of his country. And his valiant behavior is not stupid. What has come of our country when the heroic efforts of men and women like Mr. Uniform are deemed stupid by the yahoes these soldiers are trained to defend? Granted, our military protects the rights of people like Mr. Fuchsia to insult, besmirch and slander the government, the military and the country in general.
However, I find it repulsive that this gentleman would denigrate the entire military force into one
group of suicidal volunteers. It isn't as though they volunteered to jump out of a plane onto a field of landmines. What type of contribution will Fuchsia-boy make to his country, his town or his world?
The patriotic train of thought encouraging public service has been forced off track. The Me Generation of the 1980s has created a new troop of selfish individuals concerned primarily with the advancement of themselves.
Students in the ROTC program are training to be the soldiers and officers of tomorrow. Their reasons for signing up may not be entirely based upon the idealistic notions of patriotism and public service, but these motives still exist. Unfortunately, the lessons these soldiers are learning are not emphasized in today's depraved society.
An extraordinary article in a recent edition of The Washington Monthly, entitled GI's: Not Your Average Joes, expounded upon the myriad reasons citizens sign up to become soldiers. Educational opportunities, a stable salary and training skills are the benefits proffered in the "Be all that you can be" advertisements.
The real benefit to the country lies in the principles that will be instilled in each successful recruit. Ethical and moral standards surpassing those of our licentious civilian society are strictly enforced. As the author points out, character building and leadership are central to military training. These skills and values are not specifically taught in public education, which may partially explain the mass of apathetic degenerates in society.
I long for the days when people respected the values of service to their country, held sacred the ethical ideals of the military and honored our country by removing their caps as a flag passed by in a parade.
Sabina Steele is a Overland Park sophomore in journalism.
ABC has other reasons for letting Ellen out closet
I will say it now, loud and proud, without a trace of homophobia intended: I don't care if Ellen comes out of the closet.
I don't care if she stays in the closet. I don't care if she gives birth to a closet. She could set herself on fire, skydive with a flaming closet attached to her rear end and scream her news to the whole world from above. I would continue to greet her with complete apathy.
In September, it was leaked to the media that Ellen DeGeneres' character on her ABC show *Ellen* might eventually reveal her homosexuality.
Ever since, there has been more press on the issue than leftover corned beef in John Madden's ridge.
Would she come out? Or, more likely, would her lesbianism be stifled by Walt Disney Television, the show's production company?
After all, this is a corporation so conservative,
they get antsy when the guy inside the big Mickey
Mouse costume at Magic Kingdom has traces of a
goatee.
Gay and lesbian groups have cited Ellen's eventual revelation as a landmark moment, because it would make her the first homosexual lead in a prime time show. This would be the biggest advance in minority themes on television since Bill Cosby became the first black man in a lead role, in 1965's Ipson.
But as time passed, it became apparent ABC's Ellen dilemma was no longer a dilemma, but an opportunity. It was no longer about minority acceptance, and instead about how to parlay homosexuality into as much money as possible. The eventual episode now reeks of a rotten publicity stunt.
My first instinct is to agree. There are plenty of openly gay people everywhere. Why shouldn't there be a TV show about one? In a TV world saturated with far-fetched Urkels, Kramers and Suddenly Susans, a bit of reality would be a welcome change.
The network has combined with the media to create a controversy, an "event," where most people were willing to simply accept a lesbian star as an appropriate change. And people like me — those who have nothing for the show, but nothing against it either — lost interest quickly.
Now ABC's money-grubbing schemes have been confirmed: The network recently announced Ellen's coming out show in April will be sprinkled with celebrities such as Melissa Etheridge, Oprah Winfrey and Laura Dern. DeGeneres herself couldn't have imagined such a star-studded event when she pitched the idea last June.
The more press this issue gets, the more homosexuality is made to seem abnormal and deviant. Should it be such a big deal? If we treat this as a crucial moment then it seems obvious we haven't come very far in our attitudes toward different lifestyles. But when "coming out" on television leads to a media frenzy, it becomes apparent that maybe we haven't.
"Why is it so difficult? Why can't we just come out and say who we are?" asked David Tomb, a gay member of the audience who watched the taping of the show.
No kidding.
Making Ellen a lesbian — and lengthening the process of revealing she's a lesbian — has created tremendous controversy for ABC. And as we all know, controversy equals ratings. And ratings equal money.
No kidding.
But that wouldn't be lucrative. I scold ABC for managing to profit money while disguising itself as genuinely concerned for gay rights.
ABC's prolonged "outing" of Elen has its heart in the right place, but it also has its hand in the cash register.
Jeff Ruby is a Wichita graduate student in Journalsm.
Letters
Editorial brings out interesting points
I think Meredith Toenjes did an excellent job summarizing the emotional reaction of many people to the premarital counseling bill. Phrases like "invasion of privacy" seem to be common responses to the topic.
Toenjes beautifully captures the ideology of marriage in her statement. "Marriage is a private institution, a covenant between two people who, ideally, plan to spend the rest of their lives together."
However, I find it interesting that she expresses concern that this bill would practically amount to having a state inspector question any couple's love and commitment.
All states now have the full, legal right to question love and commitment, and furthermore practice their right to ban non-sanctioned partnerships. This is a reality for the homosexual community.
J. Hall
Alpine, Utah, graduate student
Perhaps, if any good has come from the proposed bill, it is that it will create an appreciation for the freedoms and rights that many heterosexuals take for granted.
I encourage everyone who feels that this bill is unfair to consider for a moment that this situation is already a reality for many couples.
Discourse should be conducted with respect
We are the members of KU Queers and Allies: LesBIGay-Trans Services of Kansas, as well as representatives from other student organization. We are writing today to speak out in opposition to the Feb. 21 bombing of a lesbian nightclub in Georgia.
Extremist violence has become frighteningly prevalent in the United States over the last
several years, as manifested by the burning of Black churches, the Oklahoma City bombing , other bombings and shootings at clinics providing abortion services and other hate attacks across the country. We believe that these crimes disrupt our ability to have meaningful dialogues and draw strengths from our differences as well as what we have in common.
We also believe that it is necessary for all communities to stand together in opposition to hate rhetoric, and we call for The University Daily Kansas to offer better national coverage of hate crimes. We do realize that some groups on campus have differing opinions on issues; however, we do agree that all discourse should be conducted with respect for individual opinions without violence.
■ Chris Hampton,
Lawrence graduate student,
and other supporter of KU
Oueora and Allies