4
Wednesday, November 30, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Revealing graduation rates of athletes a step forward
People often forget that college athletes are also college students. They are expected to perform on the playing field or basketball court, and they have to perform in the classroom. Too often the need to get an education is overshadowed by the dream of making the last-second winning basket.
This philosophy begins in high school, where it is estimated that 25 percent of the nation's high-school senior football and basketball players are functionally illiterate. Only one in every 10,000 high-school athletes ever becomes a professional athlete.
Those few who do make it to the professional level in their sport last an average of only four years. Most have reached the peak of their careers before they turn 30. Without a good education, most can expect only marginal successes for the rest of their lives.
The University of Kansas, admirably, makes this information available when requested by prospective athletes. But Sen Bill Bradley, D-N.J., a former professional basketball player, Rep. Tom McMillen, D-Md., a former Olympian and professional basketball player, and Rep. Ed Towns, D-N.Y., a former college athlete, plan to introduce the "Student Athlete Right-to-Know Act" when Congress convenes in January.
The bill, which was introduced earlier this year but was still in committee when Congress adjourned in October, is a good idea. But it needs to be written carefully to make sure that all schools determine their ratios in a similar manner.
Unfortunately, requiring colleges to provide this information will not miraculously make every college athlete a scholar. But it will provide impetus to colleges with poor athlete-graduation levels to improve their acts. It's good to remind colleges that student athletes are enrolled to learn and not merely to play ball.
Michael Horak for the editorial board.
The proposal would require colleges to make graduation rates and the average number of years it takes to get a degree available to recruits before they sign a letter of intent. For comparison purposes, lists would also be available to show how other schools scored.
This unfortunate fact emphasizes the importance of requiring colleges to show athletes that they are committed to seeing that person graduate from college. One way to do this is to make available graduation rates for students on athletic scholarships and the average number of years it takes these athletes to graduate.
Costs add up for retired presidents
When Ronald Reagan officially retires from the presidency in January, it will be the first time in this century that four ex-presidents will be living at the same time. That's more than a historical footnote; it's a downright expensive proposition for U.S. taxpayers.
Other Voices
In the 30 years since Congress formally inaugurated a program for the care and feeding of former presidents, the cost has increased a hundredfold. The government will spend about $40 million on former first families in 1989.
Nobody begrudges Secret Service protection or the maintenance of post-presidential office facilities for former chief executives. But the biggest expense to taxpayers has nothing to do with ex-presidential safety and comfort.
Three dollars out of every five goes to maintain presidential libraries.
Portland Press Herald Portland, Maine
We need to take another look at the nation's presidential library program with an eye to shifting more of the costs of operating them to private foundations.
Civil rights chief won't be missed
William Bradford Reynolds officially leaves the Justice Department Dec. 9, and his legacy can be summed up in a single word: bitterness.
As President Reagan's chief civil rights enforcer, Reynolds 80s alienated American blacks that they voted against Reagan in 1864 by a margin of 9-to-1. That distrust continued to be reflected when blacks fought Bush in the war on Iraq and even though Bush once represented the kind of traditional moderate Republicanism which, only 30 years ago, was drawing a respectable share of the black vote.
The Evening Sun Baltimore
News staff
Todd Cohen ... Editor
Michael Horak ... Managing editor
Julie Adam ... Associate editor
Stephen Wade ... News editor
Michael Merschel ... Editorial editor
Noel Gerdes ... Campus editor
Craig Anderson ... Sports editor
Scott Carpenter ... Photo editor
Dave Eames ... Graphics editor
Jill Jess ... Arts/Features editor
Tom Ebien ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Greg Knipp...Business manager
Debra Cole...Retail sales manager
Chris Cooper...Corporate sales manager
Josh Procton...National sales manager
Kurt Messersmith...Promotions manager
Sarah Higdon...Marketing manager
Brad Lenhart...Production manager
Michelle Garnand...Asst. production manager
Healey Lichtenau...Classified manager
Jeanne Hines...Sales and marketing adviser
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and less than 200 words and must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University of Kansas, please include class and hometown, or faculty or staff position.
Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and less than 700 words. The wider, will be photographed.
The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall, Letters, columns and cartoons are the opinion of the writer or cartoonist and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University Daily Kansan. Editors, which appear in the left-hand column, are the opinion of the Kansan editorial board.
The University Daily Kansan (USPS 650-640) is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stuffer-First Fall Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 60405, daily during the regular school year, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and final periods, and Wednesday during the summer session. Second-class postage is paid in Lawrence, Kan. 66044. Annual subscriptions by mail are $50. Student subscriptions are $3 and are paid through the student activity fee.
survey
POSTMASTER. Send address changes to the University Daily Kansan, 118
Stauffer Fint Hall, Lawrence, Kanus, 66045.
NYNEVChicagoTribune
Taking a chance on those in need Not all the poor and hungry are gang leaders or Big Mammas
Do-gooders sometimes ask me to write columns hustling money for the poor, the downtrodden and the needy. I always tell them to bug off.
Not that I lack compassion. I have a tal of it, although the average prison guard knows it.
But experience has taught me that most people don't want to read about the poor and the downtrodden.
If I depress them often enough, they'll quit reading my column, and I'll be out of work. Then I'll become poor and downtrotten. I can handle that, but my wife couldn't, and she'd quickly dump me for some guy with oily hair, a gold chain and tickets to a 'Cib Med.
However, over the years I have made a few exceptions to my rule. And I'll tell you about one of them.
It happened about 20 years ago, when I worked for the Chicago Daily News
There was an unfortunate young woman who lived in the Taylor Homes housing project. She had a stroke.
One evening, she was on the sidewalk and saw a man shot to death by a street gang.
She said that if she testified, the gang surely would kill her. And she wasn't going to make a difference.
The gummen were brought to trial. The woman was the key witness. She was put on the stand and asked to identify the murderers. But she refused to testify.
The judge warned that he would hold her in contempt and jail her. She said jail was better than death.
The judge demanded that she describe what she saw. She said she couldn't. The indore asked why.
Mike Royko
I went to the jail and interviewed her. It was heart-tending. All she wanted was to live in peace.
Syndicated columnist
Her dream was to move from the Taylor Homes to a decent apartment, away from the violence. She wanted to buy some decon furniture and warm up the kids and raise them properly. That wasn't asking.
The judge, who disliked publicity, decided he couldn't keep her in jail forever and released her.
So I wrote about the ease, rapping the judge and
author mistakenly kick in a buck or to help her
achieve her goal.
Within three or four days, readers sent in about 8,000. With infiltration, that's probably 8,000 in total.
I phoned and asked how she wanted the money delivered. Wearing an old housedress and a cheap coat, she took the bus to my office. She wrapped the money securely in a coat. Thanked me and left.
The money kept coming. In a week, there was another $2,000. I again called her.
She arrived wearing a slinky red dress, spiked heels and a coat with a fur collar. She was with a tall young man who wore what was then known as a Super Fly outfit. He didn't smile or say much.
They took the money and left. I figured, what the woman after what she'd been through, she was entitled to.
--from the projects I thanked them.
But a few weeks later, I was in a bar that was a banquet for off-duty cops. There it struck up a fight.
That was the last I saw of her.
"That was a nice thing you did for that woman from the projects."
But they added: "There's one little problem. She hasn't moved out vet. You know why?"
Maybe she was having trouble finding an apartment.
They said: "No, we worked on that case. And she's still there because she's War Lord for the gang that killed the girl. She's the gang's Big Mamma. That's why she wouldn't testify. See, he was a criminal and he wasn't innocent. He had a bad time. She had him hit. We couldn't prove it, but we know it. So I think you've been had, pal."
I later checked with other cops on the case and the prosecutor's office. They said the same thing. As one of them put it: "You are the patsy of the year."
it crossed my mind to ask the lady for a refund.
It figured she and her Super Fly friend might be fine.
Anyway, that experience is one reason I avoid do-goodism.
It's for the Chicago Tribune Christmas Fund, which helps needy children, the hungry, the homeless.
However, there's an exception. Every year at this time, the editor gives my arm a twist and asks me to stick with it.
Since we're in the season when America begins its annual Christmas spending orgy, I thought that some of you might want to put aside a few bucks to help those who are truly needy.
I guarantee that none of it will go to any Big Mamma War Lord. At least I hope it won't.
Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist who writes for the Chicago Tribune.
Bill Heatherman Kingman junior
Taylor on the Spot
plethora of pooches” was my favorite. Quit wasting your wink. Tackle a real issue.
Jennifer Krehbiel Kingman sophomore
Come now, Mr. Taylor. Your Nov. 17 column got carried away. Dogs are not our "worst enemy."
Who says we have sole ownership of this hill, anyway? Man puts claims to every tool of earth and mankind.
If dodging refuse is your complaint, let's look at ourselves. Soda cans, ketchup packets and yesterday's Kansan cover more ground than most dogs walk in a day.
The dogs I meet on campus seem happy to see me. Most people don't even say "hi." Dogs offer something we don't: kindness. Too bad we all don't deserve it.
Dogs don't cut in line, spread gossip, give
dirt looks or steal library books.
Mark Bogner
Penalosa junior
In the Nov. 21 Kansan, Mark Tiflord wrote for the editorial board that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was "covering up" facts concerning the 1866 Challenger disas-
Matt, your one-liners were catchy. "Plentiful
No cover-up at NASA
Specifically, Tilford claimed that unmanned reports "have mentioned evidence that the explosives were not in the explosion." The explosion in question involved approximately 700 tons of propellant.
yielding a force of 2.8 million pounds. Although the crew compartment was not "vaporized" as Tilford claims NASA said, simple common sense dictates that an explosion of such magnitude would be fatal instantly to any human exposed to it.
Even if the crew somehow survived the explosion, because they were at an altitude of 46,000 feet traveling at 1.92 times the speed of sound, they would have lost consciousness in a few seconds (data from the Rogers Commission report).
Titford also claimed that NASA might be allowing the shuttle to fly with known flaws. Again, common sense makes it obvious that any complex mechanical system will have flaws. Even small aircraft fly with systems malfunctioning and have structural regulations and safe procedures that extend their work, but the aircraft is allowed to fly with, say, a stuck cabin air-conditioning thermostat.
I suggest Tillard check his facts and sources before coming to absurd conclusions based on false information.
John Thywissen Houston senior
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed