4A
Thursday, November 14, 1996
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Legal services not fully representing students
The policy that bars Legal Services from representing students in their grievances against the University should be changed. According to a Nov. 4 article in The University Daily Kansan, students finance 100 percent of Legal Services, yet they are unable to receive counsel on cases concerning the one entity that most affects their lives, the University.
A student might need to file suit against the University for legitimate reasons. For many students, especially those who live in campus housing, every facet of their daily lives is influenced by the University.
Because of the amount of time students spend in contact with University officials, it is likely that some problems warranting legal action, whether it be sexual harassment, an accident or a myriad of other conflicts will occur.
Students have little money to pay for legal aid, so they should be able to use to its fullest extent the aid for which they already have paid. Legal Services can't fully serve students until it is possible for that office to represent students in their complaints against the University.
University officials have claimed that to allow Legal Services to file litigation against the University, which hires and fires Legal Services staff, poses a conflict of interest.
Although this is true, the University's conflict is not so grave as the conflict of students who pay for legal aid that may not be able to help them when they need it the most.
BRENT SUTTER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Activist Mario Savio's effort to resist conformity still lives
Few epitomized individuality as did the 1960s free speech activist Mario Savio. Individualism has become a prominent social theme throughout the past several decades, helping us overcome the burden of just being a number in modern society. Last week, Savio died, and we should keep his memory from fading.
The Free Speech Movement of the 1960s, which Savio helped lead, began at the University of California-Berkeley in 1964. Angry students challenged university regulations that prohibited political activism and expressed frustration that graduate teaching assistants were teaching classes for highly touted professors.
During that time, Berkeley president Clark Kerr wrote in his book, The Uses of the University, that the intellectual resources of the country were "an instrument of national purpose, comprising part of the 'military-industrial complex.'"
He likened the university to a big business with himself as the chief executive officer. Many Berkeley students were unwilling to be components of an intellectual machine, and Savio protested this treatment. He said students were not raw materials to be made into products to be bought by clients of the university.
What started out as a political protest against university rules and as students questioning the quality and conduct of education at Berkeley evolved into a student insurrection that eventually incorporated broad social issues such as civil rights. These protests laid the foundation for the unprecedented anti-government demonstrations during the Vietnam War.
Today, as students, we still try to avoid the mind-numbing effects of the machine. Savio once challenged students, "You've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop." By expressing our individuality, we can make the machine stop.
NICK ZALLER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
AMANDA TRAUGHBER
Editor
AMANDA TRAUGHBER
Editor
CRAIG LANG
Managing editor
MATT HOOD
Associate managing editor for design
KIMBERLY CRABTREE
CHARITY JEFFRIES
News editors
DARCI L. McLAIN
SARA ROSE
Public relations directors
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
Campus ... Susanna Lófi
... Jason Strait
... Amy McVey
Editorial ... John Collar
Nicole Kennedy
Features ... Adam Ward
Sports ... Bill Petulla
Associate sports ... Carlyn Foster
Online editor ... David L. Teakau
Photo ... Rich Devlinw
Graphics ... Josh Messer
Andy Rohrback
Special sections ... Amy McVey
Wire ... Debbie Staline
Business Staff
Campus mgr ... Mark Ozmkel
Regional mgr ... Dennis Haupt
Assistant Retail mgr ... Dana Centeno
National mgr ... Katie Nye
International mgr ... Heather Meyer
Production mgrs ... Dan Kopec
Lisa Quebbman
Marketing director ... Eric Johnson
Creative director ... Desmond Lavelle
Shipping manager ... Shannon
Mass Impact mgr ... Dena Ploscitto
Internet mgr ... Steve Sanger
Jeff MacNelly/ CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Students should demand financial aid reformation
The avoidance of disaster cannot be considered a victory.
The Dole campaign stalled because of his faulty transmission of ideas. Consequently, fear (rational or not) has dictated that a Dole presidency, in combination with a Republican Congress, would make significant cutbacks in student loans and work-study programs.
By contrast, Clinton got high marks for his proposed $43 billion plan of tax credits and deductions to make college more affordable. While a presidential commitment to education is undeniably positive, we shouldn't toss our caps in the air just yet.
Clinton has two challenges ahead: First, there is a real possibility that when this '96 model goes through Congress, it will go the way of the Ford Pinto. Even if his initiatives survive congressional gridlock, he must ensure that his plan doesn't simply supplement a financial aid system that is becoming increasingly inequitable. Tax credits would inevitably be given (a) to parents, who no longer are the primary source of financing for their children's education, and (b) most significantly to low-income families, for whom significant financial aid already is available.
This effectively ignores three growing segments of the student population: the middle class, independent students and dependents whose parents cannot afford or refuse to pay for their education.
A private or out-of-state education quickly is becoming the exclusive property of the very rich or the very poor. The middle class, ineligible for Pell Grants and other need-based aid, increasingly is finding its federally determined expected contribution unreasonable.
Students without enough parental financial support find themselves trapped, ineligible for private loan money or independent
STAFF COLUMNIST
status, which requires two documented years of complete self-support.
I know countless students at this University who are completely dependent on National Direct Student Loan funds for their tuition or living expenses because those bills are too steep for their parents to pay. Other students have parents who are unwilling to surrender their dependent status, for fear of losing the tax credit, but who will not contribute significantly to their education.
Who is responsible for financing our education?
Our parents, ourselves or the government? Under the current system, the answer is a mixture of all three. But if you
drop one of those factors out of the equation, financing an education can be difficult, if not impossible.
These cases are extreme and not necessarily universal, but one cannot deny that the responsibility of paying for college is noticeably shifting from our parents to ourselves.
At the risk of sounding self-serving, I confess that I hold a personal stake here. After my first year of college, I was accepted to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, USC Film School and the writing program at Sarah Lawrence College.
My parents could not afford the $15,000 they were expected to contribute after financial aid; they could not even afford the (much lower) federally determined contribution.
I did not attend these institutions. Instead, I came to KU, and I am not here for the sports.
I learned that it also was impossible to shoulder the burden by myself. At 19, I was ineligible for independent status or private loans.
I know that I'm not alone in this predicament. I know too many other students who were forced to make educational decisions based solely on what they could afford. At our age, that's not much, and that's not fair.
The bottom line reads: If financial responsibility for education is going to rest in our low-income, no asset hands, we should demand options that are feasible to us and an immediate, radical rethinking of the financial aid process.
Tax credits are going to the wrong people. Students should be given a federal tax credit or waiver.
National Direct Student Loans and work-study must remain stable. Period.
Students should be made eligible for federal loan money that does not require a parental cosigner. The "P" — for "parents"
During the presidential campaign, Clinton frequently repeated that his goal was to ensure that every child gets a college education. Great strides have been made toward making college affordable to those who have little income. However, the lowest-income group of all - students themselves - no longer can be neglected.
— should be dropped from the PLUS loan program.
The qualifications for independent financial aid status must be relaxed. Parents who are unable or choose not to contribute to their child's education should be allowed to sign an agreement to that end, therefore granting the student independent financial-aid status.
Michael Martin is a Lenaxe sophomore in English and theater and film.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Vegetarian activists are misguided, misinformed
Regarding the brightly colored chalk messages that appeared around Wescoe Hall on Nov. 11, I have to take issue with your graffiti on several points.
First, eating meat is not some abomination invented by sadistic people. If you ever took a class in mammal biology you would learn that animals are adapted to eat particular foods for which their teeth are well suited. Thus, grass eaters have broad, flat teeth good for
Second, your methods of disseminating information leave something to be desired. The University must pay someone to clean off your chalk mess, which is a waste of money. You could reach more people, in a less offensive way, by writing a letter to the editor or taking out ad space in the Kansan.
grinding, cats have sharp, pointed teeth for tearing flesh, and humans have an assortment of teeth designed for eating a number of foods, including meat.
Third, eating meat is not the equivalent of murder. You must
recognize a distinction between the death of an animal and that of a human. As a survivor of a human murder victim, I am deeply offended by your application of the word to animals.
It is too bad that people feel the need to force their radical and misguided views on others. The misinformation you present overshadows any good in your environmental message. I hope others will not follow your poor example.
All Skin Geriatry
Anity Graduate school
stu dentian
Clinton/Dole ... Dole/Clinton?! We all survived another wave of slogans, campaigning and advertising in the 1996 elections. Like many voters, I believe my opinion barely counts on the national level.
Senate seeks student input on child care salary issues
Most KU students feel the same apathy about Student Senate as they do about our national government. But your opinion does count, and it has an effect on the decisions made
within student government
Anyone who read the article in the Kansan about the child care issue probably has a lot of questions about it: Who pays for child care at the University? Who is eligible to use the services? How much will it cost for a new building? Why should my money be
spend paying for a new building? We have child care at the University?
This committee has made salary increases a priority and is asking the Regents to pursue the matter with the Legislature. The Regents have been responsive already, requesting a 4-percent faculty and unclassified staff salary increase and a 1-percent increase in retirement benefits for the 1998 fiscal year.
GUEST COLUMNIST
We have a lot of excellent professors at the University, but we need to continue recruiting the best young professors and compensating those we already have. Our student body president, Grey Montgomery, has taken this issue to the Students' Advisory Committee, a group comprised of student body presidents at the Regents universities.
So how do you tell us your opinion?
As the Student Executive Committee chairman, one of my main functions is communicating with the student body. In addition to starting a monthly newsletter and developing Senate information boards in all of the schools, we are going to have five town hall meetings this year at various locations. The first town hall meeting is at 7 tonight at Elsworth Hall.
Members of the executive staff of Senate will be there to answer questions and explain how they work for you. If you have questions about child care, faculty salaries or other issues, or if you simply want more information about the functions and purposes of Senate, please come to the meeting.
Anything else on your mind? You can e-mail me at klaff@falcon.cc.ukans.edu, call me at 864-3710, or just stop by the Senate office on the 4th floor of the Kansas Union. Your opinion can make a difference; we just need you to tell us.
I would think that professors who could look forward to substantial increases in their salaries would be more likely to have better morale and perform at a higher level.
Kevin Lafferty is chairman of the Student Executive Committee.
You pay $2 every semester that is waiting to be used for a new building. At this rate, it will take a long time to compile enough money to start construction. Should the fee be increased? Should administration give money to the project? Should we use the money elsewhere? These are questions that you can help us answer.
HUBIE
Child care is only one major issue facing Senate this year. For instance, have you ever thought about why some professors are unhappy and leave the University? Besides being tired of students who sleep in class and slobber on their desks, some of our faculty members are becoming dissatisfied with their subpar compensation.
THE BAND DIDN'T MOVE AROUND
THEY BARELY ACKNOWLEDGED
THE CROWD, AND THEIR SONGS
SOUNDED EXACTLY LIKE THEIR
ALBUMS. THEY MIGHT AS WELL
HAVE LIP-STYNCHED AND SAVED
THEIR VOICES FOR THE NEXT
By Greg Hardin
P.
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