OPINION
4A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED DAILY SINCE 1912
CRANG LANG, Editor
SUSANNA LOOP, Managing editor
KIMBERLY CRAFTERE, Editorial editor
TOM EELEN, General manager, news adviser
MARK OZIMKE, Business manager
DENNIS HAUPT, Retail sales manager
JUSTIN KNIPP, Technology coordinator
JA YSTEEN, Sales and marketing adviser
Wednesday, February 26, 1997
Editorials
Pre-course information needed in era of rising education costs
Students need concise and pertinent information on courses before they start classes. The existing course information proposal tends to this need. However, it goes too far when it offers faculty evaluation results from student questionnaires.
The proposal, designed by Grey Montgomery, student body president, fills a void created by the current atmosphere of higher education.
This proposal addresses students' academic needs by equipping them with applicable information. Course content, grading system and class structure would all be explained on a course evaluation page, which would supplement the course catalog and appear on a web site.
Education has adopted crude and capitalistic jargon; students now demand and professors supply. In the
Course evaluations are a good idea,but faculty evaluations are not.
wake of linear tuition, course selection is becoming a critical decision for students. Now, every hour and every dollar counts. Students could benefit tremendously from information that addresses their academic interests before classes begin.
The effect could be less class shopping, not more, as some faculty have expressed. By reviewing course evaluation sheets, a student could select a course that best suits their academic needs.
However, the proposal also attempts to give students information on faculty, via survey results from questionnaires.
These would be filled out by students when the department evaluations are distributed.
Publishing results from student-questionnaires about faculty steps into perilous waters, and faculty concerns about results are valid. An alternative to the questionnaires, professors write a paragraph, which describes their teaching style, their course goals and their expectations for students. Then students could make inferences for themselves about a faculty member.
A demand for course information exists and this proposal remedies that. The quality of teaching should also be a concern for students, but changes should not be solely based on survey results from students. The University Council needs to reach a compromise by offering concise information that is easily understood.
ANDREW LONGSTRETH FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
English-only laws will cause division
Making English the official language of Kansas will not be a step toward cultural unity or fiscal responsibility. It will be a step toward injustice and division.
During this legislative session, the Kansas Senate will consider two bills to make English the official language of Kansas. Such laws already exist in 23 states and are being considered in 10 others.
These plans are being marketed as ways to save money and unify Kansas residents.
"You only have to look to the north, to Quebec, to see what happens when you don't have a language to bring everyone together," said Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, a sponsor of one of the English-only bills.
Huelskamp's argument is deeply flawed. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees rights for people in the United States. It states that no state shall deny equal protection of the laws to any person within its jurisdiction. Excluding foreign-language-speaking minorities from government would not create unity.
Proposal is an ill-spirited attempt to exclude non-English speakers.
Naturalized English-speaking citizens benefit from the translation of government documents into their native languages. Because the language of government can be confusing, even for native speakers, translating documents does not discourage people from learning English.
master English. It is the universal language of the business world, it is taught in schools and it is necessary to succeed in the economy.
As for the argument that translating documents into other languages is financially irresponsible in tight-budget times, the facts do not warrant the passage of an English-only measure.
Joe Scranton, press secretary to Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, said the cost of printing translations is only $$4,000 out of a $4.1 billion state budget.
Refusing to translate government documents is not a financially motivated proposal, nor is it to encourage people to learn English. It is a misguided and ill-spirited attempt to exclude non-English speakers from a government in which they are entitled to participate.
Anyone with a desire to be successful in America has sufficient motivation to
KANSANSTAFF
LA TINA SULLIAN . . . Associate Editorial
KRISTIE BLASI . . . News
NOVELDA SOMMERS . . . News
LESLIE TAYLOR . . . News
AMANDA TRAUGHBER . . . News
TARA TRENARY . . . News
DAVID TESKA . . . Online
SPENCER DUNCAN . . Sports
GINA THORNBURG . . Associate Sports
BRADLEY BROOKS . . Campus
LINDESE HENRY . . Campus
DAVE BRETTENSTEIN . Features
PAM DISIMAN . . Photo
TYLER WIRKEN . Photo
BRYAN VOLK . . Design
ANDY ROHRBACK . . Graphics
ANDREA ALRIGHT . . Wire
LZ MUSSER . . Special sections
AERICA VEAZEY . . News clerk
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Senate hopefuls' act won't win this vote
Column
Last spring, as Jayhawk Boulevard became crowded with leering, flier-waving Student Senate hopefuls and as candidates desperately tried to find members, platforms and names for their coalitions, I did a little campaigning of my own.
Apparently my neighbors in McCollum Hall were as unmotivated as I was, because we never made it to Wescoe Beach.
I attempted to organize the "I Don't Give a Parliamentary (expletive) About Student Elections" coalition. It was to be a grass-roots organization firmly dedicated to the idea that shoving hot pink fiwers in strangers' faces and telling them about your many virtues is not a good way to win friends or influence people.
Now, another spring has arrived. With debate raging about who can campaign where and when during student elections and with candidates getting ready for another round of assaulting passersby and begging for votes, I have the chance to extend the reach of my coalition beyond the fifth floor of McCollum Hall. This is my political philosophy and message to candidates:
When it comes to student elections, I am as gleefully apathetic as a man can be. I don't care if you, your worthy opponent or Judge Lance Ito wins the election. Don't talk to me.
Here's the reason for this decided apathy: Last spring, at the height of campaigning, I heard several candidates make snide remarks when passing students ignored them. It wasn't much, but it helped me realize why I resent these elections: In the eyes of everyday students like myself, most candidates are as sincere and believable as a used car salesmen.
With the exception of a few prominent people, Student Senate members hibernate from August to April and then show up on Jayhawk Boulevard pretending to be our best friends. When they get the votes they want, they leave. If they don't get what they want, many of them are indignant.
on Student Senate. Second of all, I do realize how important Student Senate is to the University. I know that if there was no Student Senate, there wouldn't be any interesting speakers, no KU on Wheels and no financing for student organizations.
Now, hold on for one moment. Student senators, put down that pencil and paper. Please don't write a letter to the editor telling me how long you have been a student senator and how important Student Senate is to the University.
My job, however, is to call things as I see them. I don't have any clue as to what goes on at a Student Senate meeting. Maybe there is some deep significance behind the name of your coalition. That's not the issue. I'm talking only about campaign procedures through the eyes of an ignorant passer-by.
I also know that if my coalition were in power, it would ruin the University. I appreciate Student Senate, and I think it does an excellent job.
First of all, I don't care how long you have been
It doesn't matter what your coalition's name is, how many committees you have served on or whether you stand in the grass or on the sidewalk. If you come off as being insincere, you will effectively alienate the electorate.
Sure, it is the job of all politicians to overextend themselves, shake thousands of hands and portray themselves as everyone's best friend. But real politicians do this consistently enough to keep up the image. Year round. For decades at a time.
Student politicians: If you want the average, humble students to care, try making a greater effort to communicate when it's not election time. If T.S. David, the deceased chalk prophet, could spread his messages across the entire campus, so can you. If the GTA union can organize for a rally, so can you. If there are too many regulations about campaigning, maybe they should be reconsidered.
The way the system works now leaves many questions to be answered when the candidates finally hit campus: Where's all of this smiling and schmooing the rest of the year? Where are the fliers telling us about the important issues? Are the issues only important at election time?
There are a few guest columns, town hall meetings and ads in the Kansan, but the only time student senators aggressively seek our input is around the time they want our votes.
I get enough letters from people who have missed my point. But if you can convince me that we should see the candidates' toothy grins as 100 percent sincere and believable, write me a letter. I'll vote for you.
Eric Weslander is a Floyds Knobs, Ind., sophomore in journalism.
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Guest column
As I caught the last 20 minutes of the Miss USA Pageant recently, I found myself perplexed by the last question the final three contestants had to answer.
Pageants, contestants send mixed messages
The contestants were briefed on the controversy surrounding the current Miss Universe and the significant weight she had gained during her reign. They were asked, "If you were in her position, what would you do?" The first contestant, Miss Tennessee, said that there was no weight regulation, but when it got down to it, she would lose the weight. The second and third contestants. Miss
When I first heard the last two responses, I was thrilled that these women claimed to believe that it was what was inside that counted.
Oddly during these image signatures, how can they stand up for a woman's right not
Hawaii and Miss Idaho, spouted the politically correct response that it was the inner beauty of the individual that made her Miss Universe and that no matter what she looked like, she should be held accountable for her inner beauty, not her weight.
But as I thought about it the next day, I began to question their sincerity. If they really believe this, how can they participate in an event, and I'm sure several others just like it, that has swimsuit and evening gown competitions? Surely they cannot believe that they are being judged on their inner beauty during these large segments of the pageant.
There are enough mixed messages sent throughout our society about a woman's role in life without adding to the confusion.
to be judged as an object and yet enter a beauty, pageant? It seems that these professed beliefs are incongruent with their actions.
Some may argue that in the parts of the competition in which contestants model their swimsuits, sportswear and evening gowns, the women are being judged on their poise, not their looks.
Regardless of my general dislike for pageants, it seems that the people running them and participating in them should be more responsible. What they claim to support and the values they claim to uphold should be congruent with their actions.
But I question that as well. What exactly is poise? The dictionary uses words such as balance, stability and composure to define it. Does this mean that if two identically poised contestants were competing, and the only difference between them was that one weighed 120 pounds and the other weighed 170 pounds, the latter would have an equal chance of winning? I doubt it.
Christy Blanchard is a Wichita doctoral student in counselling psychology.
And what kind of question was that to ask a beauty pageant contest?How hypocritical of the pageant to expect a contestant to respond in a politically correct way when she is participating in the very system that defies such values. We know it is what the pageant judges expected to hear, because Miss Tennessee, the woman who gave the non-politically correct answer, placed last in the final standings.
Letter
Racism not always reason for treatment
There is always a difference between the way we feel the truth. Once, I went to a store and encountered an unfriendly white male. Before I left, another white male came and was treated much worse by the same man. What if I had left earlier and announced to the world that the man was a racist?
discriminatory. Playing or not playing a particular music is a matter of preference.
Discrimination is not always the reasons for people's actions. Recently, there was an article in The University Daily Kansan that explained how Worlds of Fun did not allow performers to audition with rap music. In my opinion, this decision was not
But please don't get me wrong;
If someone gets turned down
because of their skin color, this
is serious and should be unquestionably amended.
In some situations, people may get turned down for a job because of various reasons and discrimination is not always a factor. People who have inadequate experience are likely to be turned down, as are people who don't qualify.
It is not uncommon that we sometimes attribute incidents simply based on our perception. However, the consequence may be disastrous if we jump to conclusions. There is often a difference between our sole sensitivity and the truth.
In some occasions, we have to discard our ungrounded feelings and thoughts. I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but people who accuse others of discrimination need to switch roles and see if this is really the way they desire to be judged. We ask for equal treatment, the same others. I hope we can try to analyze events in an unbiased way before we justify ourselves with this discrimination reason. Finally, may we always live in peace and harmony, work hand in hand and make this world a better place.
Enlan Chon g
Kwala Lumpur, Malaysia
graduate student
in computer science