OPINION
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED DAILY SINCE 1912
CRAIG LANG, Editor
SUSANNA LOOP, Managing editor
KIMBERLY CRAFTREE, Editorial editor
TOM EBLEN, General manager, news adviser
MARK OZMKE, Business manager
DENNIS HAUPT, Retail sales manager
JUSTIN KNUPP, Technology coordinator
JAY STEINER, Sales and marketing adviser
4A
Monday, January 27, 1997
Jeff MacNelly/ CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Editorials
Internet can be a dangerous area if users don't protect themselves
We've all heard the horror stories. A young person meets someone in a chat room on the Internet and reveals to him or her an address or phone number. The next thing that happens is that her family begins receiving obscene phone calls or strange gifts in the mail. In a few cases, people have even been physically stalked or kidnapped by Internet "friends."
Information given on the Internet is often accessible to more people than we'd like to believe. No matter how much we've chatted with someone, we really don't know with whom we are communicating. That's why it's important to make safe and intelligent decisions when online.
As members of the KU community, we all have access to e-mail and the World Wide Web through computer centers, residence halls and offices. For many of
The information superhighway is an exciting place, but it's easy to get tangled up.
us, it is a fun and inexpensive way to explore new places and ideas. The Internet offers thousands of sites on hobbies, sports and political groups. By simply sitting at a computer terminal, users can shop for shoes, clothing, books and trinkets. They can add their names to an organization's mailing list or find out when a favorite band plans to release another album. In the chat rooms, people can make friends who have similar interests or, if they are so inclined, can try to find someone to date.
The Internet has opened new worlds, and in many ways, it has made life easier. But with all improvements comes
an added responsibility. People who do not make wise decisions when using the Internet can, and do, get burned.
So when you're shopping on the Internet for that set of candles you really wanted, think twice before giving out your credit card number. Also, be careful about using your social security number at any site you visit.
And if you are chatting with someone online, consider the consequences carefully before giving out your address or phone number.
The Internet is an exciting and wonderful source of information and entertainment. Nevertheless, users need to be careful with the personal information they give out online, lest they too end up another casualty of the sometimes dangerous information superhighway.
BEN SHOCKEY FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Journalists must weigh facts, pain
Certainly, the Oklahoma City bombing produced some of the most moving and gut-wrenching photojournalism of that year and perhaps this decade. Additionally, coverage in both print and broadcast was good, covering the technical, human and historical aspects of the event.
In light of the recent JonBenet Ramsey tragedy, as well as other incidents such as the Oklahoma City bombing, some trends have occurred in media coverage.
However, some people whose loved ones were victims of the blast objected to the use of photographs that contained images of the bodies of those they loved. Some of these objections gave rise to lawsuits against publications and individuals to get possession of the photographs.
The murder of JonBenet Ramsey bred a similar conflict. Photographs were published of her strangled, bruised and tied-up body. Her parents and relatives
The media should consider the feelings of victims when reporting tragic events.
objected to this, and there has been some public outray as well. Although obtaining all the necessary facts for a good story is a hallmark of journalism, some concession needs to be made for those directly affected by what is published.
By publishing photographs or printed material that adds depth to a story while simultaneously being unencoutrous or unnecessarily painful to people associated with the story, trust and identification are lost between the public and the media. The less trust the public has in those reporting news, the less importance news, and indeed truth, will have in everyday lives.
Although the verity of a story cannot be compromised, truth must not come at the expense of an innocent person.
As journalists serve the public, some concession must be made to the individuals affected by stories and photographs. Many rules and laws are in place regarding libel and other possible personal affronts. However, some restraint must occur outside these guidelines to avoid further hurting those already reeling from a tragedy.
To do their jobs most effectively, journalists must offer some leeway in dealing with the feelings of individuals. No compromise can be made in respect to the accuracy of what is reported, but compromise must always be made for those who can be permanently scarred or emotionally hurt by what is printed. The press serves, and thus should protect, those to whom it reports.
KANSANSTAFF
GERRY DOYLE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
NEWS EDITORS
LATNA SULLYAN . Associate Editorial
KRISTIE BLASI . News
NOVELDA SOMMERS . News
LESLIE TAYLOR . News
AMANDA TRAUGHBER . News
TARA TRENARY . News
DAVID TESKA . Online
SPENCER DUNCUN . Sports
GINA THORNBURG . Associate Sports
BRADLEY BROORS . Campus
LINDSHEY HENRY . Campus
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PAM DISIMMAN . Photo
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DENA PISCIOTTE .Production
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Clinton's successes will require sincerity
Columns
Traditionally, second-term presidents don't fare well. Before the inauguration festivities, historians were called upon to give long lists of the evils found in second terms, noting everything from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's failed attempt to pack the Supreme Court to Ronald Reagan's Iran-Contra affair. President Clinton has been studying the second termers and hypothesized that their faults laid either in hubs or entropy.
If a president is overladen with self-importance, arrogantly putting himself before his office, or if he relaxes his grip and loses control of his administration, then history will judge him harshly.
Richard Nixon was the victim of such hubris.
This hypothesis seems to be more than just a good sound bite.
The president's book, Between Hope and History, has a telling title. Clinton is at such a crossroad, but it is one that has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with
Ulysses S. Grant's scandal-marred second administration fell prey to entropy. Clinton has pledged to fight these forces and to be a good second-term president.
The president can either choose to remain embattled by personal scandal and partisan infighting, or he can raise himself above it and act on his inaugural declaration that "nothing big ever came out of being small." Which direction he chooses to take will indicate what his place in history will be.
Clinton, 50, is relatively young, the age of many of our parents. He has no more presidential elections to look forward to. At this point in his political career, the 'F' word — finished — is true without the normal negative connotations. Clinton has reached a political apex few men have achieved, and from which fewer men have descended gracefully.
When Clinton's arch-neemesis Bob Dole came to the White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, Clinton was taking one step — showing what actually appeared to be sincerity — to display the substance he will need to be favored by history. After all, how many of us would offer kudos to a man who had called us (albeit with some prodding) "bozo"?
substance.
If Clinton has chosen the bigness he advocates, if he approaches his job with genuine sincerity and if he accepts the risk to do what is right for the sake of history, then he has a good chance of becoming a comeback president. If he is, in fact, able to quell the hubris of his first term, he will validate the second chance the people have given him.
He will restore to the office some of the dignity it has been robbed of during the gamut of Gennifer Flowers, Vince Foster, Paula Jones, Travelgate, the FBI files scandal and Mike Espy. He will, to borrow his tired campaign metaphor, have built his bridge to the 21st Century.
To accomplish this, Clinton should realize the only way to make such a comeback and be favorably judged will be to act as if he does indeed have to be-elected.
Andy Obermuller is a Liberal, Kan., Junior in Journalism.
Single people can form their own version of a 'family unit'
I, apparently, am a freak of society.
Why? Why didn't I go to college just to get my M.R.S. degree like so many others that I grew up with? Maybe it's the relatively small town I'm from, but it was rare for anyone to leave. I didn't even get out without serving a few years at the local college and in a couple "family-unit" relationships of my own. What more could you possibly want from someone who went to high
It seems that everywhere I look lately, everyone is a member of what I call a "family unit." And unless you count a pair of spastic kittens who probably run the place anyway, I am my own household.
Forty years ago, I may have been odd because I'm not married, but the definitions of family have been diversified a bit since then. It just didn't happen for anyone to have children or to be living together and not be married, and openly gay relationships were out of the question.
Now, it seems that no matter what the case, I am surrounded by a myriad of
family units. I recently looked back through my high school yearbook, and the people I found myself remembering as married, divorced, "parentally-inclined" or "might-as-well-be married" far outnumbered the unlabeled folks like me. Some people in my high school class are on their second and third marriages. Others have collected four or five kids by now. Even my brother, once the bastion of bachelorhood, has become a monosyllabic domestic slave to his four-month-old creation, complete with diapers, drool and a brand-new minivan.
This frightens me.
school with a Mormon seminary on the grounds and a cow pasture across the street?
It's great for them. For now, however instead of acquiring children and a husband, I'll settle for my cats.
For some people, that's the way to go, and that's fine. For others like me, that's a galaxy far, far away.
I almost got married myself at the age of 18, and I could have become a mother of two and been signing up for parent-teacher association meetings before I was even able to legally drink.
Dena Piscione is a Grand Junction, Colo., senior in journalism.
Not that I'm on my way to spinsterhood, despite my aforementioned allegiance to cats. A few less intense relationships come and go, and I have yet to buy a house anything like Miss Havisham had in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. I enjoy my freedom. I like not having to tell anyone what time I'll be home. I like being a sports fan without threatening anybody's manhood. I like not dealing with the jealousy and the "i need my space" problems. Heck, I was 21 before I realized relationships didn't involve biweekly screaming matches and knock-down-drag-out fights.
Meanwhile, I enjoy watching others thrive in their family units. I get a kick out of watching my six-year-old godson learn to read, or knowing that my formerly Doug Ross-ish (of ER) sibling is now gleefully counting how many spoonfuls of Gerber sweet potato mush his daughter is taking. I love helping to plan a wedding for a gay couple I'm close to, or listening as one of my oldest friends, formerly untamable, argues with her live-in about whose night it is to do the dishes.
I feel I've done my time.
Letters
Editorial didn't see the light on lighting fee
The editorial board is in the dark about the campus lighting fee.
Ten inches of space on the editorial page were wasted on Thursday as Cody Simus argued the validity of the University of Kansas' campus lighting fee.
A fee that will only total $8 per student during the next two years. Yes, eight whole bucks to help make the campus a safer place.
Safety doesn't come much cheaper than that.
Full-time students paid $209 this semester in fees. Watkins Student Health Center collects about $85 of this amount. Women and non-revenue sports eat up $17, the rarely student accessible Robinson Recreation Center takes $13, the
All of West Campus excluding the Lied Center
The southeast area behind Watson Library and Twente Hall
After the campus fee review subcommittee spent a night walking around campus and looking at lighting, it found nine locations in need of illumination. And as long as the University administration is willing to match the students' funds, the subcommittee decided to recommend extending the fee for two years.
A sidewalk leading from the parking lot behind Pearson Hall to the Memorial Stadium parking lot.
Engel Road from Lewis
The following locations were found to need lighting:
Kansas Union gets $41 and campus lighting — whoa, hold on to your seat — a whopping $2.
The area southeast of Allen Field House to Oliver Hall parking lots
and Nunemaker Halls to 15th Street
The sidewalk from Jayhawk. Boulevard to the front steps of Strong Hall
The sidewalk from Mississippi Street leading to the Continuing Education building
The north sidewalk entrance to the Memorial Stadium parking lot above the tunnel
Various alleys and pathways around the scholarship halls
I'm willing to spend $2 a semester to prevent rape and assault on campus.
I think it's time for the editorial board to come to see the light.
Erin Rooney
Topeka senior