OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED DAILY SINCE 1912
CRAIG LANG, Editor MARK OZIMEK, Business manager SUSANNA LOOF, Managing editor DENNIS HAUPT, Retail sales manager KIMBERLY CRABTREE, Editorial editor JUSTIN KNUPP, Technology coordinator TOM EBLEN, General manager, news adviser JAY STEINER, Sales and marketing adviser
Wednesday, February 12, 1997
Jeff MacNelly/ CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Editorials
License plates would boost KU pride, fill scholarship coffers
In 1994, Rep. David Adkins, R-Leawood, passed a bill to the Kansas Legislature which would allow custom collegiate license plates.
However, high costs and inconvenience have kept the University from taking advantage of the program. Now that the issue has come up again, steps should be taken to make sure that KU reaps the benefits of revenue and recognition that these, plates would bring.
Kansas State University already offers license plates bearing the Wildcat logo and has sold 883 plates.
The cost of K-State's plates is $122.75.
The price includes $27.75 for the standard tag fee, $45 for special tags and a $50 royalty to support scholarships.
More important, the tags take six to 17 months to arrive.
With Chancellor Robert Hemenway's
Custom license plates could provide additional revenue to the University
goal of bringing 100 new National Merit Scholars to KU each year by 2000, support for the University is vital. With schools like the University of Oklahoma offering complete scholarships to National Merit Scholars, KU also must provide scholarships to attract these students.
Despite the cost and inconvenience, the custom license plates could provide additional revenue to reach this goal and would recruit potential out-of-state students with additional publicity.
Addtins is moving to streamline the process of getting a KU license plate. With less lag time between order and $ ^{a} $
delivery, individuals would be more inclined to purchase the plates.
In addition, Adkins said that he intended to reduce the costs, which would make them more accessible. He also wants people to be allowed to have custom messages rather than the standard six-figure license plate number.
There is no reason why K-State should have custom license plates and KU should not. KU enthusiasts have just as much pride as K-State, if not more, and fans should be able to show it.
In any case, custom license plates would be a boom to the University in many ways. They would raise funds and help drum up support for KU throughout the state.
KU tags must be made available and be easy to obtain. Until this is accomplished, the Jayhaw will take a back-seat to inconvenience.
GERRY DOYLE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Gay community needs place to go
Last week, the University Daily Kansan printed a letter from Christine Robinson, a student who took exception to an earlier article, which said that Lawrence lacked a gay bar. Bars aren't everything, and there are several events for the gay community in Lawrence and at KU. However, the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgendered community also needs a bar.
There are several groups and regular events in Lawrence for the lesbigiytrans community, but other than a couple of friendly coffeehouses, there is nowhere to go for an unstructured, unplanned evening.
All of us have moments when we're sick of studying or watching TV and just want to go play pool, darts or have a drink. This is what the gay community in this town lacks.
Although there are many bars, it's not
A Lawrence gay bar would be a positive addition to the community.
always wise or safe for some people to just be themselves at these places.
It would be nice if there were someplace where lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgendered people didn't have to pretend or be on guard and where they could be fairly certain that the other people are either OK with that.
Some gay people have never been to a straight bar where they thought they could dance or hold hands with a member of the same sex. However, straight people who go to gay bars rarely feel as if they can't display affection for their opposite-gender partners.
drinking establishments to admit those who are between 18 and 21 as long as they don't drink, young people who may not be comfortable enough to go to a more structured event can meet people like themselves.
A gay bar in Lawrence also would give open-minded, straight people a place that they could go with their friends or to just hang out without being hit on all the time.
KU Queers and Allies doesn't have the exact statistic for the number of gay people who live in Lawrence. But regardless of exact numbers, there is no reason to believe that Lawrence can't support a gay bar. There are also many reasons to believe that it would be a positive addition to the community.
A gay bar would offer something for those who aren't satisfied with local alternatives.
With Douglas County laws that allow
KANSAN STAFF
MEREDITH TOENJES FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
LATINA SULLIVAN . 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 ROHHBACK . Graphics
ANDREA ALBRIGHT . Wire
LIZ MUSSER . Special sections
AERICA VEAZEY . News clerk
NEWS EDITORS
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JULIE PEDLAR .Campus
DANA CENTENO .Regional
ANNETTE HOover .National
BRIAN PAGEL .Marketing
SARAH SCHERWINSKI .Internet
DARCI McLAIN .Production
DENA PISCIOTTE .Production
ALLISON PIERCE .Special sections
SARA ROSE .Creative
DANA LAUVETZ .Public relations
BRIAN LEFEVRE .Classified
RACHEL RUBIN .Assistant classified
BRIDGET COLLYER .Zone
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LIZ HESS .Zone
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Columns
Students should end silence in classroom
What are you doing in college? What is it? Quick. Think now. What are you doing? Anything? Are you studying to become a doctor or an occupational therapist? I'm interested. The reason that I inquire is because I am getting angry that I don't see many people doing much of anything.
Hey, maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to be wrong. But every semester, I walk into a new "discussion" class, and no one is discussing anything. Why not! Did I miss something? I don't know about you, but I did not enroll in Boring Hour of Uncomfortable Silence 545. OK, Elements of Linear Calculus isn't the most thought-provoking class. However, philosophy, western civilization and history
all are. So why no talky-talky, huh?
I've seen teachers die pathetic academic deaths, degrading themselves by begging classes to have an opinion about the material that is being learned. And time and time again, I see a class full of pencil-flippers and doodlers staring at the clock, using as much Jedi mind power as possible to make the second hand move faster.
What is it that I am getting at here? Read the book and have something to say about it! This is what college is. You read the book, you go to class and then you talk about the book. Based on your own thoughts, you decide whether the material changes the way you think about your life or the way you live it. So, when the teacher asks a question... say something! Come on! Take a chance. Walk on the wild side. Have an opinion.
Who's not participating? Well, there are generally two types. One is the Sorry, I didn't read it. Had an appointment at 14th and Tennessee streets last night that I just couldn't break type. These people don't have an opinion because they didn't care enough to read the material or listen in class.
In the short run, it is better that they shut up.
The other is the Sure, I read it, but I'm not chancing a public challenge to what I think about what I read type. This type should be punished. Take a chance.
“OK, Elrod, so what do you propose, Mr. I've got plenty-of-time-to-criticize?”
Well, thanks for asking. What I propose is that you drop out and go home if you're not here to learn. I propose that you pack up the water guns, bikes, Manic Panic and everything else and move to Duluth, Minn. Go away and don't learn somewhere else.
The other option is that everybody should start participating. Hey, I realize that the whole core curriculum system at this school that you have to take a lot of classes in which you wouldn't necessarily enroll on your own. However, you have a choice when you pick a college, and you picked the University of Kansas. So while you're here, why not have something to say? Come on. When they're talking about their own lives, everyone turns into a lecture series headliner. Then in class, everyone has a muzzle on. How come?
I understand that American societal trends make college an expected next step for a lot of high school seniors.
However, what ends up happening in many schools, especially those with open admissions, is that a lot of people with absolutely no ambition or desire to further their education or personal growth come to college by default. "What am I doing next year? Uh... college, I guess."
Well cut it out, already. You're here, aren't you?
You might as well do something. Wouldn't you,
feel better if you challenged your world view and
left KU with more going on upstairs than you
came in with? If not, ... hello!? What are you doing,
here?
As long as you're sticking around, I'll try to calm down so you won't kill me. However, I do ask that everybody start looking at college as college.
Don't be satisfied with second-rate from yourselves. Stop drinking Bud Light when you know that the same bar has Sam Adams on tap.
You hear me, people? The ability to read material and then intellectually discuss it is integral to collaborative problem-solving and progress in our society. If we don't have those skills, our society is going to be even more unproductive and lonelier than it is now.
I know that I am an idealist. I'd like to think that we all want to change the world, end racism, fight AIDS, end homelessness, find a landlord in this town who doesn't want to completely screw us over and prepare to defend ourselves from the tornadoes, earthquake, volcanoes and space aliens that endanger our earth.
I know that not everyone does want these things. However, while you are in college, try to see it as an educational experience as much as a visceral one.
I'm not telling people to stop partying. Goodness, no. You don't see me home on a Saturday night.
I am just suggesting that we shouldn't stray so far from our traditional views of college that we enter an era of complete educational apathy. Try to leave this place with more knowledge — and the ability to use it — than you came in with.
Tune in, in turn on, speak out. Think globally, act locally and all that. Stand in the place where you live, now face north, think about direction, wonder why you haven't before. OK. The end. "Powerful ending."
"You really think so? Thanks."
Carson Eiriod is a Topeka senior in U.S. History and theater
Several rules prevail in upward mobility game
Ah, politics.
Whether or not we want to admit their existence, politics are the scourge that prevents every workplace, university and even some families from entering the mature plane of civilization. We
have all, at some point, had to play The Game.
I am one of the latter. I have always been the one to say something when I smell injustice. There are those who are threatened by this, and for the most part I could not care less.
Some of us go along with it,
some think it a shaft but play
anyway and others think it a
shaft and speak up about it.
Except when those whom I agitate are making the decisions.
There are times when life would be a lot easier if I didn't say anything, but I'm not really here to please anyone. Historically, however, this is not been the case. My parents tell me that, even as a toddler, I would speak up if I thought that someone wasn't getting enough time on the swings.
I've learned the hard way that politics can make or break one's upward mobility. And so, in just under a quarter-century of defying the corrupt, I have come to establish a few guidelines for problems in playing The Game.
1. Never date anyone you work with
This is a landslide. top-of-the-list no-no.
Before I moved to Lawrence, I worked for several years in radio. In one of my dimmer moments, I started dating a co-worker, who at the time was my occupational equal. He advanced quickly into management. Eventually in someone else's dim moment, he was promoted to station manager.
We tried to keep it out of the station, but it didn't quite work that way. He had an annoying habit of making up rules that applied only to me. He occasionally locked the station door when he knew I had to be on the air. And every so often, I'd up and leave him, and whaddya know, the next day I was fired. Imagine that.
2. Let them believe they're as powerful and smart as they think they are.
I have come across a few superiors who are so stuck in their power play that they forget they're supposed to be innovative and motivational leaders, instead of tyrannical, type-A Neanderthals.
For example, I work with one of these gentle folks, and long ago I stopped engaging in worthless arguments. So what if he wants to exert his mightiness over me in front of 10 other people? So what if he puts words in other people's mouths just to insult me?
So what if I've never said two words to the guy, but I've somehow managed to make a mortal enemy out of him? This is all just fine. I could lose my temper, but it wouldn't change anything. If he wants to play Boss, fine. He knows I have zero respect for him as a co-worker or as a person.
These people are everywhere, and they're sometimes hard to ignore. But if you must deal with them, never mention marriage, children or courts. It can't help the situation.
3. Avoid those who are going through messy divorces, custody battles, lawsuits and other traumas.
A few semesters back, I had a professor who was going through a divorce. It was quite apparent how he felt about women. Take one misogynist guy with serious defense-mechanism difficulties, add one outspoken female who didn't pick up one iota of new knowledge from his class, and the mix is volatile.
it makes you look like a dolt.
I'm still fighting that grade.
4. Don't brown nose.
4. Don't brown nose.
5. When in doubt, go higher.
4. Don't brown nose.
I once had a professor who commanded a lot of respect but was a little odd. Everything was going well until he quit a 35-year smoking habit. In his nicotine-deficient grumpiness, he graded things a little harshly.
I disagree, so I asked him if there was anything I could do to change the grade.
He looked at me and without a drop of irony, he said, "You're a woman. Do what you do best. Get down on your knees and beg."
Needless to say, his tenure was later denied. Granted, most people aren't this blatantly horrible.
In most situations, politely listening or doing a favor will do the trick. But politics are what drive a lot of boats out there, and too many perfectly qualified, hard workers have been caught in the wake.
Dena Placciote is a Grand Junction, Colo., senior in English and Journalism.
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