4A
Wednesday, February 21, 1996
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Enrollment figures express need for admission standard
The number of freshman at the University of Kansas is dwindling, according to 20th day enrollment figures released yesterday. There are 1,695 fewer freshman at the University than last semester. Some freshman loss is normal for most universities in the country. A certain percentage of freshman always will decide that college life isn't for them. But many KU freshman just aren't prepared for the rigors of an education at a four-year school. High school did not prepare them, because Kansas does not have a qualified-admissions policy that sets a standard of preparation.
KU lost more freshman than its peer institutions. Thirty-two percent of KU's freshman left after fall semester. At the University of Colorado, 27 percent left, the University of Iowa lost 29 percent and 25 percent of freshman left the University of Oregon. Sure, many of these freshman might have left for reasons other than just poor performance, but KU still lost more, and it usually does. CU's admission GPA standard is a 3.0. The University of Oregon has a 3.2 standard. To get into KU, all a young Kansan must do is graduate from high school. That's it.
And, all of the University's peer institutions have minimum ACT scores for admission. KU doesn't. Ken Havner, member of the Board of Regents, said there was a direct correlation between
THE ISSUE:
Qualified admissions
ACT scores and freshman retention rates at universities.
"When you get below a 16, the lack of retention starts scooting up," he said.
Havner also said there were some students who may not have any interest in completing college. They have the opportunity to go to college without qualified admissions, so they do.
"With qualified admissions, it would be clear that if you want to go to college,you should work for that in high school," Havner said.
The University of Kansas does not need to send so many students packing after just one semester of college. Some students who come to KU unprepared by their high school could decide that education is not for them at all. With qualified admissions, these students could attend community colleges and private schools before they are subjected to the tough class requirements at a large university.
Kansas' system of unqualified admissions does not force high school students to prepare themselves for a college education. Qualified admissions would.
These students have no interest in real education, and they should not be at a university that is trying to improve its academic reputation.
PAUL TODD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
Student Senate's awareness week ought to be a year-round event
Student Senate Awareness Week begins Monday. This is the time for everyone who knows nothing about Student Senate to make themselves become aware.
This sounds like a good idea. KU students should be aware of what their representative body is all about. Too many times students don't know how elections work, who their representatives are or even how to run for office if they wanted. These things are important to know, and this is why Senate feels it has a responsibility to educate the student body.
However, Senate should not just set aside one week out of the year to educate the student body. This is something that needs to be continuous.
The point of Student Senate Week is exactly that—Senate has allocated money to promote itself and educate the student body.
The Student Senate is there
THE ISSUE:
Senate funds
to serve its student body and neglects this by not promoting itself all year round.
This doesn't mean that Senate needs to consistently have a table in the Union — that would cost too much. However, there are other cost-efficient ways of promoting an organization.
Senators could speak to students at different functions during the year. Several clubs on campus would be glad to have a representative speak to them. This is one easy way to stay in touch with students and promote Senate at the same time.
Senate Awareness Week is needed. What Senate needs to consider, however, is that this should be a year-round endeavor that can be done without digging into the Senate finances.
DEBBIE THOMPSON FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
ASHLEY MILLER
Editor
VIRGINIA MARGHEIM
Managing editor
ROBERT ALLEN
News editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
Shawn Trimble/ KANSAN
Chalk messages should die with their past champion
HEATHER NEIHAUS
Business manager
KONAN HAUSER
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
JUSTIN KNUPP
Technology coordinator
Vegetarian attributes not given their justice
Editors
R. Adam Ward's article Vegetarians have a beef with meat on Feb. 9 was not adequate, accurate or up-to-date.
The original chalk prophet is dead, and yet the writings continue. Did T.S. David intend to spawn a dearth of imitators? Could he have imagined that his simple, precise lettering would breed a new generation of social commentators spreading their word in brilliant hues across the face of the Hill? Is he chuckling somewhere in the Great Beyond as people collide with each other, trip over dogs and drop their University Daily Kansans while craning to decipher smears of scrawls?
A university is supposed to be an intellectual environment, a forum for opinions and discussion. You can write an editorial, hold a meeting, put up flyers or hire a blimp. But chalk is apparently the medium of choice right now. Wescoe Beach is primarily a student lounge, so maybe written expressions would be appropriate in that area if students and administration agreed. As of today, though, they haven't. Freedom of expression is an inalienable right, but there is a time and a place. Get it straight.
don't care what the message is. I would be annoyed, and handing me a bottle of 409 with a self-satisfied smirk wouldn't make it all right. The campus is our living room. Make yourself comfortable, put your feet on the furniture even, but don't deliberately deface it.
Business Staff
These messages aren't forced only upon students and employees of the University. Every potential student and visitor to the University that walks down Jayhawk Boulevard briefly takes in the Union to the right, Watson Library to the left, and the architectural anomaly that we call Wescow before they look down and follow the litany of inscriptions beneath their feet. What impression the actual content makes, I don't know. The guided groups I saw didn't look impressed with the freespirited intellectuals that seem to be so rampant at the University.
Today I walked to class amid the colors of the rainbow; yellow and green, purple and pink and orange. They weren't coming from the usual campus fauna. Laid out on the sidewalk as precisely as flower beds were little phrases meant to inspire. The content is irrelevant; freedom of speech is integral to American life. But something was definitely inspired in me : disgust.
Campus mgr ... Karen Gerch
Regional mgr ... Keily Connelys
National mgr ... Mark Ozdemk
Special Sections mgr ... Norm Blow
Production mgr ... Rechel Cahill
Marketing director ... Reather Valier
Public Relations dir ... Cary Breifold
Creative director ... Annika Ed Kowalski
Classified mgr ... Stacey Welkngarten
Intership / oo-op mgr ... T.J. Clark
Alaha Arora Is an Overland Park senior in English and biology.
The University of Kansas is home to thousands of students. All colors and groups of people belong to this institution in one way or another. When a student with leukemia needed a bone marrow transplant last year, a drive was set up to help her and others in her situation find matching donors. When ice and snow hit campus this winter, students helped dig each other out of drifts. When T.J. Whatley went into the Colorado game just before half-time on Feb. 14 and then proceeded to score, the entire fieldhouse went wild with support. Every day people at the University hold elevators for
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
There are many environmental problems with eating meat which were not mentioned in the article, such as tropical deforestation, pollution, erosion, loss of biodiversity, ozone depletion and world hunger.
Weather systems should not be given such heavy responsibilities. It is hard enough to come up with hall, sleet, snow, thunder and rain in fifteen minutes as we witnessed on Thursday. Playing Mr. Clean on schedule shouldn't have to be a mandatory job requirement for nature. And the point isn't that chalk eventually will wash away. The point is that it shouldn't be there in the first place. If someone scribbled all over my living room, I
EDUCATION
Dampus ... Joan Birky
Phillip Brownlee
Editorial ... Paul Todd
Associate editorial ... Craig Lang
Features ... Matt Hood
Sports ... Tom Brickson
Exhibition sports ... Reedlin
Photo ... Andy Ruelstetler
Matt Pflokker
Graphics ... Noah Musser
Special sections ... Novella Bummers
Artists ... Amir
Wire ... Tara Treyness
Illustration ... Nicole Leaker
strangers, borrow each others Kansans before class, and generally are considerate of each other. We aren't exactly all family, but we all are connected despite the intimidating size of the University. The campus belongs to each person here, and more than a few people
Justification for these literary outbursts has been rain, the natural cleaner. All sides agree that it is a waste of time and money for facilities operations to remove the decorations. So it's no big deal, according to the proponents of chalk sermons, to get a little cheap publicity.
STAFF COLUMNIST
are getting tired of being forced to look at the cryptic little messages that are turning campus into a playground.
It also is incorrect that it would be hard for a vegan to maintain a well-balanced diet. A vegan diet requires no more careful planning than a meat-centered one. There are more than 200 different kinds of grains, so vegans get plenty of variety.
And if Ward wants to talk about health risks, he should talk about the millions of people who die every year of heart disease, cancer and strokes, which have been linked to eating meat. Vegetarians are 40 percent less likely to get cancer, and women who eat meat have four times as much chance of getting breast cancer. The toxins put into animal products cause a variety of illnesses.
It is incorrect that children and pregnant or breast feeding women should avoid vegan diets. Vegan children are healthier and smarter than average. Pregnant vegans have a higher ability to absorb calcium and vitamin A, easier digestion, and are less likely to
have iron deficiencies. Cow's milk in children can trigger diabetes, severe allergies, runny noses and chronic ear infections.
Natalie R. Sullivan Kansas City, Mo., sophomore
Through all of it, I was wondering who will stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves: children, homeless citizens, the elderly and disabled individuals. It is clear that nobody on the Republican ballot is concerned with these people. Unless you're a God-fearing, gun-toting, male who hates kids, you probably will get left out in the cold by these candidates. Like I said, it is scary.
Republicans display selfish and revolting political tactics
I'm scared. I mean, I'm really scared. I had the chance to watch the weekend round of political discussion shows such as Meet the Press and This Week with David Brinkley, and one thing is clear: The candidate pool for the Republican Party is a frightful bunch of selfserving politicians who seem to want to get elected at any cost.
Buchanan also said that he felt African Americans needed to assimilate more into the mainstream and that women aren't competitive enough to be successful in a western, capitalist nation. Most horrifying and confusing is that he believes he stands up for the nation's good, Christian gun owners. What is a Christian gun owner? Talk about an oxymoron.
Let's start with Steve Forbes. Meet
STAFF COLUMNIST
the Press' Tim Russert couldn't get him to talk about anything but the flat tax, and when he was pressed on other issues, such as education and welfare, Forbes still talked about getting the United States moving again with his flat tax. And let's face it: He has thrown away more money than
Donna Davis is an Overland Park graduate student in education.
most of us will ever earn — Can he understand what it is like to struggle month to month to make ends meet? Besides, he always has a funny look on his face, as if he's hiding something.
Then there's Lamar Alexander. He also showed up to meet the press with gigantic hip waders to trudge through the mud of the campaign trail. I noticed he slung a little himself, saying Bob Dole's message was empty and hollow. A main goal if he becomes president is to scrap the Department of Education and spend more to root out illegal aliens. What vision? That's exactly what everyone in the United States loses sleep over! We aren't at all worried about violence in our schools or surviving corporate downsizing — Let's just focus our energy on keeping unwanted people out of our country. What a joke.
I don't know what to say about Bob Dole. He even keeps his own staff guessing. He recently wrote a last-minute speech on economics that asked more questions than it answered. He also wants to dump the Department of Education. As a former teacher, I can think of nothing meaner than cutting off children in need. Dole will do it, though, if he wins the election.
But the scariest, most terrifying option is Pat Buchanan. On David Brinkley's show, columnist George Will held up a Nazi newsletter that endorsed Buchanan and asked what it was in Buchanan's message that attracted such people. Perhaps it is that Buchanan is standing by his consultant who has associated with right-wing extremist groups that court Aryan Nation members. Buchanan said, "I stood by Richard Nixon 'till the end, and I will stand by my friend till the end." Now there is loyalty.
OUT FROM THE CRACKS
By Jeremy Patnoi