OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED DAILY SINCE 1912
CRAIG LANG, Editor MARK OZIMEK, Business manager
SUSANNA LOOP, Managing editor DENNIS HAUPT, Retail sales manager
KIMBERLY CRABTREE, Editorial editor JUSTIN KNUPPE, Technology coordinator
TOM EBLEN, General manager, news adviser JAY STEINER, Sales and marketing adviser
Thursday, March 6, 1997
Jeff MacNelly / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Editorials
Of-age smokers may get burned with ID requests, but it's worth it
The Food and Drug Administration's recent decision to make ID checks more stringent on people buying tobacco products is a good one. Although young-looking adults will experience some inconveniences and indignities, the aim
— to curb smoking among minors — superers these problems.
The implementation of this program is a simple way to achieve a reduction in the number of minors who begin smoking at an early age. No amount of TV advertisements, posters or high school programs can stop minors from buying cigarettes.
Thus, this simpler, more effective measure has been adopted to help combat the problem of underage smoking. The new policy states that individuals who appear 27 years old or younger must have their IDs checked by the retailer. Understandably, some people who are legally old enough to buy
tobacco are upset when they are carded. An ID such as a driver's license might not be carried by someone who expects to be sold tobacco with no ID check.
Carrying a driver's license isn't too much to ask of people buying tobacco.
But carrying a driver's license is not a great burden, nor is it asking anything unreasonable of smokers. Minors need to be kept from illegally buying tobacco, and this goal is far more important than a few individuals' inconvenience.
Additionally, measure like this have been implemented with other controlled substances, such as alcohol, with similar results. Although at some stores it is relatively easy for minors to buy alcohol, ID checks, or at least the threat of one, do keep some minorns
from purchasing alcohol. Likewise, before the Food and Drug Administration took this action, it was far easier for minors to buy tobacco products. The ID checks will make buying tobacco as a minor comparable to buying alcohol as a minor. Both are illegal, and both are limited by ID checks.
Despite the inconveniences inflicted on people buying tobacco, a change needed to be made to curb underage smoking. This decision is best and easily executed by the act of checking identification.
Identifying people who are not allowed by law to buy tobacco is made easier, albeit at the expense of some legitimate smokers. Although some may complain of the injustice of being forced to carry a driver's license to buy cigarettes, the well-being of youth overrides a customer's desire for a quick smoke.
GERRY DOYLE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Morning-after pills give second chance
American women have just been given a new way to prevent pregnancy, but most of them don't know it. The Food and Drug Administration recently announced that large doses of certain birth control pills can safely and effectively prevent pregnancy if taken within the first 72 hours after unprotected sex. The approval of emergency contraception, sometimes referred to as morning-after pills, will give women a new freedom from the burden of an unplanned pregnancy, but only if women are informed about their options.
Emergency contraception is important. For women who were raped, whose contraception failed, or who neglected to use birth control, emergency contraception is a second chance at preventing pregnancy. Although it is only about 75 percent effective, it could still prevent as many as 2.3 million unplanned pregnancies each year, said
Emergency contraception should be made more available to women.
James Truffel, a researcher at Princeton University who has studied the pills. Normally, about one million of those unplanned pregnancies end in abortion.
According to an article by The Associated Press, large doses of birth control pills act to prevent a fertilized egg from even implanting in the uterus, thus preventing the pregnancy from occurring in the first place. This is unlike the abortion pill RU-486, which causes a growing fetus to be expelled from the womb.
but few doctors in the United States have known the proper doses to give women, so it was rarely suggested as an option. So although emergency contraception was not illegal in the United States, it might as well have been since so few were able to use it. The FDA's announcement will give doctors the knowledge needed to offer this choice to women, but unless women know the option is out there, they won't be able to take advantage of it.
Now that this important step in allowing the pills has been taken, we must not fail at the next step: educating women about their options. Emergency contraception has been common in Europe for years,
Of course, there are still many reasons to practice safe sex, and women should not be misled into thinking emergency contraception is a foolproof method for preventing pregnancy. However, even if emergency contraception can prevent 75 percent of unplanned pregnancies and the fear and heartache that goes along with them, it will be a great service to women and families. Let's get the word out.
KAREN CHANDLER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
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LA TINA SULLIAN. . . Associate Editorial
KRISTIE BLASI. . . News
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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.
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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.
The University offers you a chance to interact with about 1,700 international students from more than 100 different countries. Let me explain how fun it is to meet people from different cultures and how you can enrich your future by taking advantage
All letter and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Kimberly Crabtree (opinion@kansan.com) or LaTina Sullivan (isulivan@kansan.com) at 864-4810.
Welcome to the University of Kansas. Here, at the home of the Kansas Jayhawks, you can sample more than 100 different cultures of the world.
What if I told you that you could experience faraway cultures, exotic people and unique customs, and that you could have all of this and more without leaving the comfort of Lawrence?
Columns
University can offer taste of others' culture
nature by taking advantage of the cultural diversity of the University.
Andy Rohrback / KANSAN
You will probably be pleasantly surprised to find both dramatic differences and unbelievable similarities between your culture and others.
By making friends with international students, you have a special opportunity to gain insight into different culture, an experience you could never get just from reading a textbook.
One obvious difference between yourself and students from another culture is the languages. You probably worry about language barriers, which
I wish I had more space to elaborate all the fun things those Americans and I shared together. We were really different from one another, but at least one thing we had in common was that we were willing to understand, tolerate and eventually appreciate our differences. Those days we had immeasurable fun together would, no doubt, remain as some of the best moments of my life.
Those of you who still worry about language barriers might be encouraged to know that research shows that the average American speaks for only 10 to 11 minutes a day, and that more than 65 percent of the social meaning of a
typical two-person exchange comes from non-verbal cues. What power our body language has. Any way you choose to communicate, verbal or non-verbal, you surely would have tons of fun interacting with international friends.
could make you feel uncomfortable around international students. Misunderstandings between you and someone from another culture are bound to happen. But misunderstandings can be part of the fun of meeting international students. When I first came to the United States, some fabulous American friends of mine and I had a hilariously fun time with the misunderstandings caused by my foreign accent.
And having international friends means not only having fun but enriching your own life. By taking advantage of the diversity of the University population, your empathetic ability could be richer.
One day, my American friends asked me where in Korea I would recommend that they see. I began to answer that there are a lot of beaches there. My friends burst into laughter, and, being the guys that they were, they mistook my pronunciation of beaches as a referral to women. Then they just stared at me in amazement.
Then they helped me realize it was my misprunciation that made their day. From that time
Your ability to tolerate, understand and appreciate cross-cultural differences would definitely be
At first, I didn't know why those rascales were turning into drooling beasts.
Experience worlds of fun, and enrich your life at the same time.
Do not pass up this golden opportunity to make friends with international students, because after you leave the University, it will likely be much harder to find such a diverse cultural population in one place.
a valuable asset to you in the course of your life. The empathetic ability that results from sincere effort to accommodate and enjoy differences would surely enable you to better handle other things related to human interactions. Without this ability, your efforts to sustain an interpersonal relationship will be hindered.
Take advantage of this opportunity not only for the sake of befriending international students, but for your own sake. To experience is to believe.
on, those guys tenaciously begged me to entertain them with my fabulous Korean accent. As a master of Konglish, which is Korean-like English, I was always generous enough to accommodate them.
Namikyu Park la Chonglu, S. Korea, Ph.D., candidate specializing in teaching English as a second language.
Letters
Med Center causes much confusion
I was pleased to see a story in the Feb. 18 University Daily Kansasan about the University of Kansas Medical Center that was about the school rather than the hospital. I was even more pleasantly surprised to note that the story was about programs in the School of Allied Health, although it was not mentioned by name.
For example, it is even more difficult to get advising for Allied Health majors than for the schools based in Lawrence. Also, advanced placement credit can cause great confusion.
I feel, however, that it is only fair to issue a warning to all of those who may be interested in pursuing a major at the Med Center. It is not always as easy as the article makes it sound.
In my situation, I had tested out of six credit hours of English, which was enough for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, but not enough for occupational therapy. I had talked to at least two advisers and had called the Kansas City office several times to figure out how I needed to take care of it. Finally, after being accepted into the program, I was told that I was no longer eligible to receive the National Merit Scholarship that I had in Lawrence, because I was attending a totally different institution. I appealed that particular decision, but it wasn't until a full eight, and a half months after I started school at the Med Center that I finally received my money.
Julina Lambson Columbia, Mo., junior
I almost gagged on my Wesco chuckwagon ham when, after reading further, I found the reasons he gave were totally invalid.
I am writing in response to Namkyu Park's column in which he claimed that his client was arrested because of a limited proficiency in English.
Clay Kaufman Chesterfield, Mo., senior
Park, please, next time you feel the urge to cry out in discrimination, just relax, take a deep breath, count to 10, and try to look at the situation objectively before jumping to paranoida-based conclusions.
First of all, didn't his client's dad call the police because "he was mentally ill, and one day he was having a fit?" Obviously, the situation was out of control to the point where the dad was fearful enough to call police. Sure, an interpreter would have helped police deal with the situation more effectively, but perhaps one was not available soon enough to allow them to do so. Also, I do not claim to be an expert on law, but I've seen enough COPS episodes to know that in cases of domestic disturbances, one or both parties involved are sometimes taken into custody to prevent any ensuing squabbles.
This brings me to my next point, which is to remind Park that he was not there to witness the encounter with the police and that he assessed the situation through his client's eyes. I'm sure that if he talked to any others in police custody, they too would consider themselves innocent.
Jedi facts were wrong in Bishop's column
In response to Robert Bishop's column on March 3, it is not Princess Leia dancing in the open scenes of The Return of the Jedi. It is the green woman with the horn-type things. And she gets eaten. Princess Leia enters as a bounty hunter and ends up chained to Jabba, which is how he meets his end — she chokes him with his chain.
Stefanie Moore Lawrence senior
Alpha Delta Pi women handling challenge well
As a former executive director of Rock Chalk Revue, I can appreciate the challenges that the cast and advisory board of the Revue face each year. However, this year's cast and board were confronted with an extra challenge when Pike was pulled from the Revue. So far, I think the cast, especially the women of Alpha Delta Pi, and the advisory board have met this challenge with great spirit.
At Monday night's rehearsal, there were so many volunteers that some had to be turned away after tryouts. Being there to see the support and enthusiasm from the men volunteering to act was truly heart-warming. These men deserve the deepest thanks and praise.
An almost unimaginable amount of work is in store for Alpha Delta Pi and the volunteers, but the show will go on. I have no doubt that it will be a huge success. With such a great show of support, it is already a success. It is my hope that the KU community will show their support by attending this history-making Revue. Break a leg!
Tom Field Olathe graduate student