4A
Wednesday, February 7, 1996
OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Discussion of campus fees is too important to delay
Student body president Kim Cocks has passed up the opportunity to leave the indelible mark of her administration on the University of Kansas. By postponing the campus fee review hearings for women's and nonrevenue sports, Cocks has shirked her presidential responsibility and obligation to these organizations and to the student body at large.
If more time is needed, then postpone the recommendation deadline until later in the semester. Is the rest of March, April and May so busy that Senate couldn't squeeze in a committee recommendation and some expedient debate?
Hiding behind the words "it needs careful attention," she has postponed the hearings because she feels the Senate subcommittee on fee reviews could not get everything together in time to have a recommendation by March 15.
Given that the issue pertaining to women's and
THE ISSUE:
Campus fee reviews
nonrevenue sports is vital to the existence of these sports and to the University's compliance with Title IX, the committee should fulfill its duty with careful attention. It long has been a desire that Student Senate would pay careful attention to its job. Perhaps Cocks is implying that next semester's administration will.
Cocks and subcommittee chairman Scott Sullivan should make this issue a priority and conceivably the legacy of their administration. So far the status quo has been acceptable to them. It is time that they took a serious issue by the horns and did something important with their elected power.
CHRIS VINE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Departments, sponsors make up for absence of KU lecture series
The students at the University of Kansas need to recognize the quality speakers that visit the University to share their experiences and knowledge with the entire student body. The University does not have an established lecture series, but individual sponsors and departments do a wonderful job bringing people here to speak.
People always criticize the University for not having a lecture series such as Kansas State University's Landon series, but these are two very different programs. K-State has a sponsor and is able to pay for expensive, famous speakers.
In comparison, the University lacks a sponsor and must rely on departments, professors, and University organizations to recruit quality speakers. The speakers who are invited here may not be as well-known as the speakers at K-State, but overall, there is a lot of variety and experience represented by the lecturers.
The caliber of guests who speak at the University is
THE ISSUE:
Speakers at KU
amazing since there is no one lecture series.
With guests ranging from Latin American presidents to author Kurt Vonnegut, people of all backgrounds should be able to find lectures they are interested in attending. Students need to be aware of all the guest speakers who speak on campus because there are plenty that cover a wide range of interests. It takes some research and awareness, but these events are educational and worthwhile.
It would be beneficial if the University of Kansas could find a sponsor and work to create a strong lecture series, but in the meantime, individual departments and organizations are required to invite and to finance their own guests. These organizations should be commended for recruiting the quality speakers they do and for making up for the lack of an established lecture series.
TARA FITZPATRICK FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
ASHLEY MILLER
Editor
VIRGINIA MARGHEIM
Managing editor
ROBERT ALLEN
News editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
Marko Heids / KANSAN
Editors
Invisible workers deserve simple acknowledgement
Campus ... Joann Birk
... Philip Brownlee
Editorial ... Paul Told
Associate editorial ... Craig Lang
Features ... Matt Hood
Teams ... Tom Prattie
Associate sports ... Bill Potula
Photo ... Andy Rulletsted
Graphics ... Mosh Musser
Special sections ... Novelta Sommers
Illustration ... Kermode
Wire ... Tara Ternary
Illustration ... Miho Le
Generic prayers are not chaplains' purpose
GATHER NIEHAUS
Business manager
KONAN HAUSER
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
JUSTIN KNUPP
Technology coordinator
intimate feelings to each other, all while I moved sugar containers and wiped around their elbows. I was invisible. I would get home exhausted and broken, and who knew? Who cared?
Many of the workers we see on campus arrive here several hours before we do. Their work is backbreaking at times, and they constantly are on their feet. They lift and haul and clean for hours. Yes, that is their job, and yes, they are getting paid — but people like to think they are doing something useful each day. Most of us want to feel like what we do with our time matters to somebody. And since what they do clearly is important to the daily operation of the University, it doesn't seem too much to ask to have this fact acknowledged.
Two things I try to do: Tip decently at restaurants and say hello to custodians. It's not much, I know, but back when I was schlepping filthy food platters all about the place. I would have loved a little acknowledgement. I would have loved to have not been invisible.
Donna Davis is an Overland Park graduate student in education.
For many people in this world, the act of prayer is more than simply a ritual act for consecrating assemblies. They regard it as an act of communicating to the most glorious and high God of the universe. Of those people, especially Christians, many fervently believe that true prayer takes place during repentance and through the name of Jesus. How they pray is just as important as what they pray.
In the bitter cold you see her — her shadowy figure blending eerily with the dark mist of the morning. She moves slowly, deliberately, in and out of the darkness, watching the day begin and working with purpose. She pulls a yellow waste can along behind her, moving inside buildings and deep into offices and classrooms. Young people move beside her and all around her, but they don't see her. She knows this and has gotten used to her invisibility.
Business Staff
Marko
MHELD$ @'96
Campus mgr ... Karen Gorsch
Regional mgr ... Kelly Connelys
National mgr ... Mark Ozdemik
Special Sectiona mgr ... Norm Blow
Production mgr ... Rachel Cahill
Instructor director ... Heather Valier
Public Relations dir ... Cary Breifold
Creative director ... Ed.Kowaldski
Classified mgr ... Stacey Wolkengart
Internship/o-op mgr ... T.J. Clark
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
When I pass, I say, "How are you?" She is amazed but clearly happy that I have spoken. We chat briefly about the cold, the snow, and how hard it is for her to get her work done when it is this way — freezing. I go on to class, but I wonder how many people she will talk with today — how many people will even see her? How many people will notice what she does for them.
I am often a little saddened by the way campus custodians seem to be treated. I don't mean by their superiors or by the system or anything so large as all that. I am talking about how students and staff treat them. It seems — and I may be wrong — that we often don't take
In his article, John Wilson claimed that two chaplains have overstepped their boundaries by praying in the name of Jesus and by repenting for activities that certain parties did not view as sin. I suppose that Wilson's ideal prayer is one that includes everyone, a prayer to a generic celestial unit that everyone worships in one form or another.
SERBIAN FORCES SET THEIR SIGHTS ON PEACE.
Maybe I have a little more respect for what they do since my days working in a restaurant as a hostess. I did my fair share of bathroom clean-up and paper towel changing during that time. I also scraped muck and grime from underneath countless dinner tables, wiped old ketchup and dug out mashed-up string beans from the carpet. I grabbed dirty dishes too, and I cleaned off crummy counters. More often than not, nobody noticed. Dinners would talk about their most
STAFF COLUMNIST
enough time to say a simple thank you for the job they are doing. We see them dumping our trash and picking up after us and sprinkling salt on slick pathways for us. And we walk on by. I don't expect students to spend hours getting to know these workers, but just
acknowledging that they exist would be nice.
aforementioned school of thought.
If they believe that the only way to pray to God is through the name of Jesus Christ, then a restriction that prohibits closing the prayer in Jesus' name leads them to pray to a generic god or an idol.
Such censorship imposes quite a dilemma upon chaplains of the
Webster's Dictionary defines tolerance as "readiness to allow others to believe or act as they judge best." If the Kansas Legislature really wants the blessings of God over its assembly, then it should stop playing back-seat chaplain, and let the men do their jobs.
But if the dissenting instructors call publicized evaluations a stimulant to a shopping mentality, so be it. I call it responsible financial sense, a demand for quality, and fairness in the journey for a future to which we, the paying students, have a right.
David Hintz
Overland Park senior
Chaplain's message contained no politics
Thoughtful people also will realize that God does not have a political affiliation. Therefore, Pastor Wright's prayer, interpreted by the Kansas editorial board as political platforms of the radical right, was indeed a blessing, but not for those who subscribe to the agenda of the radical right, the liberal left, or even the moderate middle. Political philosophies notwithstanding, Pastor Wright was invoking God's blessing upon all who give total allegiance to God and his ways. That is the most that he or any chaplain can do.
It should be noted that God is pro-choice! God gives us a choice between blessings and curses, life and death. God is under no obligation to bless one who chooses to ignore God's authority. All blessing such a person receives is purely because of God's grace and mercy.
give a blessing."
Regarding prayers offered by chaplains in the Kansas Legislature, John Wilson, for the editorial board, concluded that, "regulations should be enacted so the guest chaplain's only purpose is to
Verma Froese Library assistant
Teachers who have tenure are not free from public scrutiny
When a student enters the University, he or she has only been able to examine the reputation and course descriptions of the institution. It is not until you get into the heart of the course before you can know truly how the instructor is, and by that time, it is usually too late. You can either drop the course and lose the money you worked so hard to earn, or you can ride out the semester, sometimes with agonizing irritation and with your mind constantly on your depleting bank account.
from sailing through the air.
For me, money never has come easy. Throughout my college experience, work has meant more than driving to the bank to cash daddy's check. Like a lot of us, it times have had to work two or three jobs to earn enough for classes, rent, books and various other expenses. Has it been worth it? You bet. Am I satisfied I chose KU? I usually need to bite my tongue to keep the emphatic "No!"
through the air.
The reason I restrain myself is found in my belief that tenure promotes and encourages lazy attitudes, inept preparation and, for some reason, an amazing ego stimulant. I restrain myself from being too down on the University because I
think the problems here are universal to most educational institutions
So when I know that I will emerge from these last four years very much in debt, I demand quality from the entity to which I have given so much money. And quality is all most of us are asking. But when professors insult these wishes by limiting them to a "shopping mentality" — the term used, ironically, by one of the worst instructors I've ever had — I am offended.
We need teacher evaluations publicized because of the tendency for professors, once they attain tenure, to sit back and take it easy. This, of course, does not mean that they all succumb to the temptation. But it seems the ratio of bad to good is equal. And in a position where your job is guaranteed as long as you do not trade grades for sex, it would be impossible to expect everyone to maintain a high instructional standard.
My college career has not been a resounding failure, but I seem to be guaranteed one poor instructor every semester. Graduate teaching assistants help the curve, as do professors striving for a permanent position on the faculty. The tenured ratio, as I said, has been roughly 50/50, but this is my own personal experience and certainly not a scientific evaluation. The disappointment of my experience, like many others, is great.
The insult lies in the attitude that I should be on my knees, thankful for the professor's kind and generous dissemination of his or her knowledge toward the ignorant students of the class. I should be grateful regardless of the quality of the instruction. I should consider it a blessing simply to be a member of the class, and if the instructor would rather massage his ego, blather on about his failing marriage or simply stumble through the text as if he never had read it, well, those are the breaks, right?
Leslie Bowyer is an Ottawa senior in art history
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin