4A Tuesday, December 10, 1996 OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN VIEWPOINT Proposition endangers equality advancement Recently, a federal judge in California blocked enforcement of Proposition 209, an amendment to the California Constitution that would end affirmative action in public hiring policy, contracts and college admissions. While the proposition attempts to end biases, the elimination of programs for only minorities and women is far from neutral and is detrimental to the establishment of equal rights in the United States. Chief U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson issued a restraining order to keep Proposition 209 from being enforced because of a lawsuit claiming that the proposition was discriminatory. His actions are laudable. Proposition 209 sets a dangerous precedent of eliminating affirmative-action programs. Historically, minorities and women have suffered many injustices. These groups have been discriminated against in hiring, housing and even social services. Affirmative-action attempts to rectify this injustice. Eliminating these programs would again levy a disadvantage against minorities and women. Proposition 209 is a one-dimensional answer to a multi-leveled problem. Racism and discrimination are not black and white issues. The complexity of the issue makes it difficult to resolve. While Proposition 209 outwardly has the noble goal of removing any means to discriminate on the basis of race or gender, it also attempts to resolve this complex issue with a simple, blanket solution. As a result of not dealing with every factor of the problem and its causes, or even considering the effects, one specific group of people will once again be put at a disadvantage. GERRY DOYLE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD Geothermic energy could save money and the environment Drilling rigs soon may become as common on new home construction sites as backhoes and bulldozers. The rigs are needed to drill the deep holes that make geothermal energy systems possible. In Kansas City, Mo., a new subdivision will use geothermal energy to heat homes in the winter and cool them in the summer. More communities should follow the example set by this subdivision and seek out ways to provide environmentally safe energy for their homes. Geothermal systems take advantage of the constant temperature deep underground, about 55 degrees in this region of the country. Four or five holes are drilled to a depth of 170 feet or more and then lined with plastic pipes. Water circulates through the pipes and is returned to the surface, where it goes through a type of heat pump that uses the 55-degree water to either heat or cool the home. Geothermal systems provide up to four times more energy than they use and can save the homeowner $1,000 a year in energy costs. The geothermal systems being installed in Kansas City cost about $7,000 more than conventional heating and cooling systems, but they will pay for themselves in about five years. Because of the steep initial cost, however, the systems are being targeted toward upscale housing developments. It is possible to retrofit existing homes with geothermal technology. Kansas City Power and Light Co. is supporting the increased use of geothermal systems to reduce the strain of its peak summer energy demands. The state government should encourage homeowners to install geothermal systems and provide incentives or aid to help pay for their installation. BRENT SUTTER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD KANSANSTAFF AMANDA TRAUGHBER Editor CRAIG LANG Managing editor MATT HOOD Associate managing editor for design KIMBERLY CRABTREE CHARTY JEFFRIES News editors DARCI L McLAIN SARA ROSE Public relations directors Editors Campus Susanna Lóðí Jason Strait Editorial Amy McVey Editorial John Collar Nicole Kennedy Features Adrian Ward Bill Pottsau Associate sports Carlyn Foster Online editor David L. Teeka Photo Rich Deviniel Graphics Noah Muster Special sections Andy Rohrokhb Wip Amy McVey Debbie Staline KAREN GERSCH Business manager HEALY SMART Retail sales manager TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser JAY STEINER Sales and marketing adviser JUSTIN KNUPP Technology coordinator Business Staff Campus mgr ... Mark Ozmek Regional mgr ... Dennis Haupt Assistant Retail mgr ... Dana Centeno Special Relations mgr ... Heather Valier Production mgrs ... Dan Kopep Lisa Quebboman Marketing director .. Eric Johnson Creative director .. Desmond Lavelle Project manager .. Dena Pleslote Mass Impact mgr ... Dena Plesselot Internet mgr ... Stove Sanger Jeff MacNelly/ CHICAGO TRIBUNE Touching this keyboard hurts my fingers. And my eyes are burning from this computer monitor! My poor toes have to touch the ground, and the air pressure is crushing me. Americans too sensitive and too easily offended Ouch! Ow! I think a speck of dust hit me in the arm. Why are there so many things out in the world that hurt? Why me? Why should I change? Can't the rest of the world just accommodate me? "That's the way the world works," you tell me. "You need to toughen up a little. That's life." Annoying and infantile as that may seem, it's the attitude of a large group of people these days. Except their sensitivity isn't physical, it is psychological. It's kind of scary to think about what life would be like if human beings were as sensitive physically as they are psychologically. We wouldn't be able to function. We'd never go outside for fear of getting sunburned or exposure to gamma rays from who-knows-where. And we would get so tired of each other's whining, we'd end up a race of angry, self-centered, Morlocks from The Time Machine. A pitiful existence. And forget about football. So why do we act like this psychologically? We let ourselves be offended by the most insignificant remarks, intentional or not. Often, we look for things to offend us. In elementary school, I remember learning, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." The song is, STAFF COLUMNIST "Words power." changed? It certainly wasn't the words. The names children (and adults) call each other today aren't much different from what they said 10 or 20 years ago. What has changed is the power we give words. Any social philosopher who knows his material will tell you that words alone have no power. It's only the power we choose to assign to those words that can hurt us. If you take yourself seriously enough — and place enough weight on what other people say — you can really make your life miserable. If you let every offhand remark get to you, you'll have a tough time smiling at all. competition "persecution." A nation of whiners. That's why, back at Andover Elementary School, we learned to be a little tougher. Sure, sometimes people wouldn't like things we said or did. But we were taught to live for something greater than what other people have said. We learned to look past the shallowness of others to see the real meaning of who we were. We don't teach children that anymore. And now we're paying for it—with hypersensitive adults who file lawsuits about the most misusec offenses, wimpy Americans who label opposition "oppression" and It's time to get tough. The glory of America, of humankind, is in those men and women who stood against trials without bending, complaining or crying to the media. Patrick Henry and William Allen White didn't go to the ACLU to fix their problems. They didn't sign made-for-TV movie deals that painted the grayset picture of their suffering, the insensitive people who opposed them or their road to success. They stood for what they believed in, and they answered their opponents civilly. Americans today are a thinskinned lot. We can't take much. If we decide that something someone says is offensive, we'll cry "insensitivity" and collect million-dollar damages. "Go placially amid the noise and haste," says an inscription in Old Saint Paul's Church in Baltimore. "Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. ... If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself." "Vain" and "bitter" are exactly the words I'd choose to describe today's wimpy mentality. Get real. Get tough. Grow up. Andy Rohrback is an Andover sophomore in journalism. His e-mail address is arohbox@kansan.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR I was appalled at your decision to report the graphic details of the preliminary hearing of Thomas Sun. Although you did not cite the victim's name, describing her age and stating that she had dated Sun for several months is adequate to identify her to friends. Reporting rape details may keep women silent If the grabbed her in the lobby, if they had dated once or twice, there would be a chance that her identity could be withheld. But identifying her as a long-term girlfriend makes it far more likely that people will be able to read the article and say, "Oh! That's..." Court testimony is public record. However, not everything in the public record must be frontpage news. Think about it for a minute: When this woman chose to prosecute, do you believe she anticipated the details being published in the campus newspaper? humiliating detail, now the talk of campus? Suppose she had been told that if she chose to prosecute, the University Daily Kansan would publish the details of her testimony on the front page, to horrify and titillate their readers. Might this have had an impact on her decision to prosecute? What do you think was the impact on her to discover the Might your decision have an impact on other women, who now have been served this warning: If you're raped, the Kansan will publish all the details on the front page, and the only way to avoid that is not to prosecute. If even one woman decides, I lived through the rape, but I can't live through having to hear people on campus talking about, or worse yet, giggling about it. I won't prosecute," then you share some of the responsibility for allowing a predator loose on campus. Next time, it could be your roommate, sister, girlfriend — or yourself. If it had been Andrea Albright, would you have felt that the public's right to know outweighed the pain of the victim? We didn't need to have all of the graphic details. Jocelyn S. Martin Lawrence graduate student Henley should get a job I read with sympathy June Henley's statement that because he is not allowed to earn money as a student athlete, he has no choice but to neglect his child support payments. If Henley were to quit school or even drop out of the athletic program and get a job, he would be able to support the child, or children, he fathered. It seems a shame that no one has mentioned to him that he is in school, on the football team and ignoring his child support payments by choice. Tamara Dutton Coordinator of the School of Law bookstore Student body president could defeat Clinton Despite the fact that I can't stand Bill Clinton, I don't have any problem labeling him as one of the great politicians of all time. Vote for vote; I'd bet on the Man from Hope against most presidential contenders in history. If I had to vote solely on the basis of campaigning ability, even I'd vote for him. And for some reason — perhaps the semester-end stress has taken too great a toll on my brain — I got to thinking about what Student Body President Grey Montgomery's STAFF COLUMNIST chances would be if he were to run against the president. It occurred to me that if Clinton had to take Grey Montgomery, the president would have his hands full. Montgomery could take Clinton hands down, with extra points for style. Consider these observations of our esteemed student body president: - When Montgomery dresses casually, he looks like the U.S. president should. When the president dresses casually, he looks like a college student. Also, it took Clinton forever to get rid of his techno-nerd watch; Montgomery has worn, I would imagine, a tasteful, nondescript timepiece since he was. sav. born. Former FBI Agent Gary Aldrich, in his book Unlimited Access, writes that both President Clinton and Assistant President Hillary Clinton are known for their violent tempers and using foul language in the White House. I'm not the most purnitanical-tongued or level-headed student on campus myself, so I've always been impressed by the fact that I have never heard anything but the King's English from Montgomery, and certainly never seen him lose his temper. This would be difficult but rather fun to test in a campaign setting. ■ Clinton, who often speaks in the strange and unusual vernacular of the deep South, uses the slang pronoun "yall" with alarming frequency, especially when he's appearing south of the Mason-Dixon line. Montgomery would never use this word — unless it was spelled "yaw!" and he was referring to his yacht. The president's handlers seem to change the First Coiffure more frequently than they change the First Briefs. But Montgomery has always maintained the same style, color and neatness of his hair. He's the KU version of Jimmy Johnson; Montgomery looks like a Rogaine model, nary a single hair ever out of place. Pardon my sexism here, but I don't trust any man who you can talk into coloring or even highlighting his hair just for the sake of public opinion. To woo women, perhaps, but not to woo votes. You have to have some sense of what's right. Three words: No new bridges. Any time you have to choose' between known Democrats — that is, when you know that you will be forced to select the lesser of two evils — then one must ponder the question thoroughly before casting a ballot. Unless the race is between Jill Docking and Joan Finney, in which case it's a no brainer (Docking, in case you're brain dead) or between Montgomery and Clinton. It's Montgomery all the way with bonus points for style. Andy Obermüller is a Liberal, Kan., Junior in Journalism. Three words not worth a word: Montgomery has a goofy, wheezing laugh. Whenever anyone tells a joke near him, I am always a little concerned that Montgomery will pass out from lack of oxygen. Every time I see Clinton laughing, it's always contrived, stiff and proper. Anyone who has a chuckle like Montgomery but still laughs as often as he does is either easily amused or a very genuine, secure person. My bet's on the latter. HUBIE By Greg Hardin