4A
Thursday. November 30,1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: STUDENT LOBBYING
SLAB not fulfilling its duty
Chancellor Robert Hemenway recently requested a reconsideration of the $14 million in state funds cut from the University of Kansas and the Kansas University Medical Center, but the Student Legislative Awareness Board (SLAB) has not been seen nor heard.
SLAB's purpose is to organize both lectures and lobbying so students become more active in campus politics.
Each year, state agencies must submit budgets, and the state budget office cuts dollar figures down to the bare bones. The budget is deferred to the governor, who allocates extra funds. SLAB co-director David Stevens said the group is not taking action because of the bureaucracy involved. Stevens said a widespread campaign against the budget office's recommendations would be ineffective because the bureaucracy cannot be lobbied against.
But now would be the perfect time to both educate the student body and relay the effects to the governor. SLAB should lobby the governor to ensure a better fate for higher education.
The Student Legislative Awareness Board should be proactive and lobby against cuts made to KU's budget.
Students also need to begin to learn about the budget process. It will take time for the student body to understand the issues involved in the budget. Activism on campus might be somewhat ineffective at this point, but propaganda could be beneficial.
Students should realize how critical this money is both to the quality and the cost of their educations. Without it, more program cuts will be made.Linear tuition, which involves students paying per credit hour, will also be used because KU sees it as a way to make up for state funding shortcomings.
SLAB should be more active in the budget process. The governor needs to understand the importance of higher education through lobbying. The student body should begin to hear the importance of activism. In the interests of progress, SLAB should deliver as advertised.
JOHN WILSON FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
THE ISSUE: SPEED LIMITS
Legislation lumps bad with good
Kansas drivers soon may be able to get from point A to point B faster, thanks to President Clinton and and the Kansas Legislature. By signing a bill that repeals federal speed limits, Clinton has paved the way for states to set their own limits. But this same bill also eliminated requirements for motorcycle helmet laws. These two provisions should not have been included in the same bill.
Raising the speed limits on certain highways will make travel easier for most drivers. Long stretches of open road in rural areas can handle the speed increase. Commuters need the increase in order to cut down on their driving time.
But eliminating requirements for helmet laws is absurd. A motorcyclist risks being killed or suffering a serious head injury at
President Clinton's repeal of federal speed limits was offset by a bad decision to repeal motorcycle helmet laws.
Coupling the speed limit and helmet law provisions in the same bill is another example of ludicrous omnibus legislation. Presenting two bills that take such adverse stances makes little sense.
Responsibly increasing speed limits in certain areas is a welcome improvement. But increasing speeds while removing helmets is a formula for disaster.The government should re-examine the way it conducts business.The government has a long record of coupling the good with the bad.The record should be broken.
CHARITY JEFFRIES FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
COLLEEN MCCAIN
Editor
DAVID WILSON
Managing editor, news
ASHLEY MILLER
Managing editor, planning & design
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
Editors
Shawn Trimble / KANSAN
STEPHANIE UTLEY
Business manager
MATT SHAW
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
JUSTIN KNUPP
Technology coordinator
Business Staff
News & Special Sections...Desirae Allison
Editorial...Heather Lawnwens
Associate Editorial...Virginia Mergham
Associate Campus...Teresa Vazeysen
Associate Campus...Jason Garten
Associate Sports...Tom Brickenon
Photo...Paul Kotz
Reboot...Rebecca Coordan
On-the-ground...Tina Passett
society drew a variety of reactions: jeers from those who oppose the religious right, laughter from those who felt they were seeing the antics of a nutball, anger from those whose lives he was insulting. I love my stepmother and the baby she had with my dad. She makes my father much happier than my mom did.
But David also had his supporters. "He was the only conservative writer on campus," said a man in one of my classes, who feels that the Kansan has erased the conservative voice from KU.
Now the most notorious unedited editorial writer is gone. Maybe he was a nutball, maybe he was a genius, but he was definitely a part of our community. And whether you laughed at him, raged at him or supported him, you were affected by him. Perhaps that was his primary intention.
We have become a society of disposable marriages. Our generation has grown up with astounding divorce rates, and friends whose parents are still married are the novelty, not the rule. We, the youth, swear we will not follow in their footsteps, in David's path. David was divorced.
Campus mgr ... Meredith Hanning
Regional mgr ... Tim Dulce
Assoc. Director ... Jerry Orr
Special Sections mgr .. Heather Nicoleau
Production mgre .. Henry Easton
Marketing director .. Koman Hanover
Public Relations director .. Both Gritti
Creative director .. Bridget Bloomquist
Interestship o-up mgre .. Kelly Connery
Angelina Lopez is a Tulsa senior in Journalism.
Sidewalk prophet far from a hero but certainly a legend
With his tight, neat scratchings across campus sidewalks, T.S. David scrawled his way into our consciousness. And like his words of powder blown away by wind and rain and campus maintenance, David, too, is gone.
David, the infamous author of the sidewalk-chalked distribes against divorce, died last Saturday due to complications from a heart attack. He was 65.
Article misses the heart of student's discussion
Death does not make a man a hero. David was no more a hero for his scribblings across sidewalks than I am for my scribblings across this newspaper page. But he was a part of our lives, a dark ghost with shining hair who glided past us on the street without a gesture or expression; the artist of white words that struck us as we hurried to class, condemning the remarried fathers and calling the step moms whores.
David was an enigma, a genius with a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from Cornell University who slept wrapped up in his pink blanket on the warm grate behind the Dole Human Development Center. His bewildering appearance — dark skin, gleaming white hair, and a stare a million miles away—and his constant presence on campus made him a Lawrence
"townie," as much as the thick-eyeglass wearing "That's Vall Dillons" man.
STAFF COLUMNIST
But while so many of the other townies that we see and speculate about wander in their own silence, David always had something to say. David was one of the
most avid writers to the *Kansan* letters to the editor column. But a newspaper is passed over quickly, perhaps not even opened, and an easy piece of paper to crumble when an opinion is disagreeable.
The huge gray slabs of concrete that ring our campus, however, are durable and public, and David knew it. The novelty of neat words strung across a sidewalk guaranteed that the words would be read. The locations — in front of Watson Library, in front of Wesco Hall — insured that plenty of people would see them. And the word "brothel" in neat print definitely draws the eye.
David's statements that condemned the common practice of divorce and remarriage in our
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
In last Friday's (11/17) Kansan, in an article about the Democratic round table discussion on race and politics I was quoted as saying, "I think that at some point in time we have to move beyond the discussion of race, sex and religion." I am afraid that in the context the quote was used, it might give the impression that I think we have achieved equality. Obviously we have not achieved equality. What I actually said was, "A large part of the reason that programs such as affirmative action have come under attack is right wing pundits have convinced many poor white people that the reason they are poor is poor Black people or Latinos or women etc., and that eventually if we wanted to avoid the divisiveness of these issues we would have to move beyond discussions of race, sex, religion etc. and into broader discussions of class and economics."
I find it sad that someone is always there to convince poor people that the reason they are poor is other poor people. As long as poor whites are turned against poor Blacks and poor Blacks turned against poor Latinos and the poor native born against immigrants etc., we will never get to the heart of the discussion.
In my opinion, what we should be discussing are wages that have stagnated or declined for the poor and middle class, while wages have soared for the wealthy and corporations
achieve record profits. Taxes have risen for the poor and middle classes while they have declined for the wealthy and corporations. The top 10 percent of Americans now hold 68 percent of the wealth, leaving the remaining 90 percent of American families with 32 percent of the wealth. Additionally, employee benefits such as health care and pensions are shrinking or vanishing at an alarming rate. These are but a few of the real economic issues facing America and while we are nowhere near a color blind society, these issues are going to have a larger influence on people than arguments over which groups are the poorest and most oppressed.
Justin Beach Lawrence junior
Reality quickly remedies an outbreak of nostalgia
I have come down with an overwhelming case of nostalgia.
I realized I was in the advance stages of the illness a couple nights ago while watching late-night television. A 1-800-charge me commercial came on for yet
another musical collection.
STAFF COLUMNIST
This one was for John Denver's Greatest Hits, which to my mind are odd words to link together. But as I listened to the snips, I felt myself transported to long car rides with my parents, back when I still approved of their parenting style.
As "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" twanged out, I felt like jamming pencils through my ear drums. A craving for John Denver is more than my silly pride can stand.
I'm afraid the cause of this debilitating memory disease is my impending graduation. Next to convincing my wife that I was a good enough person to marry, this is my most amazing accomplishment, and it took a heck of a lot longer.
Like my wedding, graduation will be less of a drastic change in my life and more of an official mark of the end of a gradual change. I've been weaning myself off the college world for awhile, and I'm ready to move on. The biggest effect graduation will have on my present circumstances is I will be sleeping a little more, a little later.
Still the implications of the big event makes me ponder the past. I remember the simple pleasures of grade school — kick ball, pudding at lunch, friends sleeping over. High school had the discovery of cars, girls and rebellion. The start of college was freedom, abandon and new ideas.
I find myself missing those periods of my life and the advantages and enjoyment that went with each of them. I wonder why I didn't appreciate them more at the time.
At this point, my life is the happiest it has ever been. I have more control, more abilities and more opportunities than I've ever had. I find myself dwelling on losing Robinson Center, Watson Library and interesting teachers. I simply have to remind myself that what was once my tuition money can now be spent on a gym membership, a library card and buying a few books I actually want to read. Best of all, I know I have memories still to come.
Then I check myself.
It is truly amazing the blinders we put on hindsight. I remember the chocolate cake and forget the cold spinach on the lunch tray. I remember playing soccer with my friends at recess, conveniently forgetting the taunting and teasing for failure, the pain it caused me and my own shame for doing it to others. I remember with pride all my acts of rebellion against teachers and family members. I forget the anger, humiliation and frustration that drove me to those acts. I remember the fun of hormones and forget the upheaval.
A healthy dose of reality is a good cure for nostalgia.
Childhood might be paradise,
but growing up is hell.
Today's living is tomorrow's nostalgia.
Jake Arnold is a Lawrence senior in Journallam.
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin