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Tuesday, November 22, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Now is not the time to balk on funding for Margin plan
Twenty miles west of Lawrence, figures are being shuffled in an effort to maintain what has been called "fiscal integrity".
There is talk within the Legislative and University systems that money will be in short supply for the next fiscal year.
that money will be in short supply for the next fiscal year. Michael O'Keefe, state budget director, said last week that the state could not afford to finance all of the 113 state agencies' requests and still return the remainder of an income tax windfall to taxpayers at the same time.
tax without the support of taxpayers Members of the Legislature, before they convene, need to remind themselves of the importance of financing institutions of higher learning through the Margin of Excellence, a plan designed to restore what has been called "educational integrity."
The Regents plan is only in its first year, but already there appears a threat that the second will be forsaken.
And recently, a few examples that demonstrate a lack of funding have surfaced at the University. Approximately 600 students have been placed on a waiting list for closed communications studies courses, and the chairman of that department attributed much of the problem to a lack of faculty that caused a shortage of communications classes.
In addition, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is reopening its enrollment so that 3,200 students who were turned away from closed classes may complete their schedules.
Although there's no guarantee that the Margin plan will eliminate such problems, the program is still the best effort in the Regents struggle to maintain quality education and quality faculty.
If the Legislature decides to cut the Regents budget, and in effect, cut the KU budget, then the Regents will be dealt a harsh setback that will take even more years to correct.
When they consider what parts of a course they should be taught, he said, desperate cry for help from K1. Faculty, students and administrators last year.
And if the cry is ignored, the first year of the Margin of Excellence program will have been in vain. And the state's flagship university, as well as the rest of the Regents schools, will continue to drift away from quality and toward mediocrity.
Tony Balandran for the editorial board
Saving Lawrence's homes
Lawrence has long prided itself on its beauty — from a bustling but pleasant downtown to streets lined with Victorian homes.
And while many people have worked to bring major industries to Lawrence, others have tried to keep pieces of Lawrence's history in use, including the beautiful restoration of the Eldridge Hotel and the effort to save the old train depot in north Lawrence.
But the interests of industry and preservation — both of which improve Lawrence — have caused conflict in the past when the growing downtown business district has expanded into the old neighborhoods that surround it. Old homes have been destroyed for a bank building or for parking lots.
Lawrence city commissioners responded last week by creating a Historic Resources Commission and guidelines for protecting historic structures in the city. It is a wise move that should be commended.
but now for the latter.
As could be expected, the same disagreements that caused bitter arguments in the past were raised when the membership of the Historic Resources Commission was determined
But now for the hard part: implementation.
The city wisely decided that the Commission should comprise two professionals in preservation and three members-at-large. That will provide for a fair and balanced board that isn't stacked in favor of either preservation or business growth.
But preservationists who pushed for the Commission complained. One even said "I don't want balance on the . . . Commission."
That isn't the proper viewpoint to have. Both sides need to recognize that both preservation and growth are needed if Lawrence is to retain its high quality of life.
It means that some old houses are not worth saving. That some growth is needed. And it means that not all growth is worth destroying homes that are works of art and are not replaceable.
Both sides need to give the Commission a chance. And the City Commission needs to watch the Commission and take an active role in ensuring that it does its work fairly.
Todd Cohen for the editorial board
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 Eblen ... General manager, news advice
Business staff
Greg Knipn .Business manager
Cole Debe .Retail sales manager
Chris Cooper .Campus sales manager
Linda Prokop.National sales manager
Kurt Mestershall .Promotions manager
Sarah Higdon .Marketing manager
Brad Lenhart .Production manager
Michelle Garland .Assist. production manager
Linda Leishman .Classified manager
Jennine Hines .Sales and marketing adviser
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Fighting bigotry
Thursday evening I made a quick trip to my office in Wescohe to get some materials I had left there. But so upsetting was the experience I had on that pleasant November evening, I found it difficult to attempt the work I had planned.
I used the elevator, went to my office, returned to the elevator and found that in those few minutes its wails had been plastered with stickers bearing the swastika and white power slogans. Had I called the elevator but a few seconds earlier, I might have stood face to face with one of the cowardly bigots creeping through our town. Mild-mannered, older than 60 but stubbornly of the belief that right is right and wrong is wrong, I am sure that I would have confronted the beast and ended up bloody but unbowed.
That lovely November night fell between the anniversary of Crystal Night, a half-century ago, and the quarter-century anniversary of a president whose stand on civil rights was unequivocal. Yet we have watched the spectacle of our most recent election, one candidate ridiculing the other's membership in a civil rights group, the other backpaddling as fast as he could. Clearly, we need to recover our principles in a hurry.
What are we coming to? Do we know nothing,
see nothing, remember nothing?
The poet Marianne Moore described the fault and the cure very well:
Have married heart, O heart of iron,
Iron is iron until it is rust.
There never was a war that was
not inward, I must
fight till I have conquered in myself what
causes战, but I would not believe it.
I inwardly did nothing,
O Iscariot-like crime!
Beauty is everlasting
and dust is for a time."
opening to a friend a few minutes after leaving Wescoe, I found my eyes watering out of proportion to the event, and these lines from Moore ran through my mind. I do not get to see such messages of hate if I have fought my own war through to its end. And I assert to you at the Kansan and to all your readers that any increase in hateful activity in a community is a consequence of our own failures in fighting the battle against our own complacency. We don't get to have the beautiful community we have unless we fight to preserve what is beautiful in us.
A charrined part of me says we have met the enemy and he is us.
George Wege
associate professor of English and linguistics
The KU Space Club has been a challenging and rewarding experience. There is a lot to be done outside of class, but the reward makes it worthwhile. Club members are rewarded when they reach a common goal. The experience gained is comparable to assistantships in research and research campuses, and are not available to undergraduates, and if they are only go to the top members of the class.
Space club support
NASA has given the University a great opportunity. The cost is approximately $10,000. This is a small price for the benefits the University would acquire if the program were implemented. The Senate chose to look the other way when the KU Space Program asked for
Student Senate argued that the KU Space Program does not appeal to a broad base of students, but it has given money to other programs with even less-broad appeal. Our members include biochemistry, computer science, slavic studies and math majors in addition to engineering students.
Not only does the club provide a real-world application to one's classroom knowledge, but the club's work goes to a cause that most admirers of the U.S. space program find highly valuable.
help. We ask the Senate to reconsider the program's efforts to expand our knowledge of our space environment and the reputation of KU.
Jaime Prieto
Overland Park senior
Sheryl Wood
Atlanta freshman
Article caused pain
I feel the need to add to the concerned students who responded to the Nov. 7 Kansan article about the accidental hanging of a KU student. This unfeeling article brought back a flood of memories for me. Five years ago, when I was 14, I found my brother's face only difference from my brother and the KU student was that my brother didn't do this by accident; it is called suicide.
I can sympathize with this family of the boy the Kansan wrote about. The pain they are feeling is unbearable, and it doesn't help to see details of their family member's tragic death so heartlessly splattered in a university newspaper. After he was accidental or not, I would not wish the pain I experienced, and still try to deal with, on anyone.
I hope the Kansan staff realizes that they not only hurt that student's family deeply, they have brought back painful memories for others. I wish the Kansan staff would stop worrying about who gets the scoop on a "great" story. This kind of reporting will not work in a big-time newspaper, or even small time. Try thinking of others, involved in the "scoop" or not.
Lori Wright Bird City sophomore
Options available
After reading the article on non-traditional student Standra Stokes, I felt compelled to write.
I, too, am a non-traditional student and single parent. I have always received respect from my professors and have never felt I wasn't being taken seriously.
taken seriously.
College is as serious as the job to which it eventually leads. Would you take your child to your workplace?
The article didn't state whether you have a job. Ms. Stokes. I take 14-16 hours of class each semester and work 20 hours a week. It's not easy, but there are other alternatives to taking your child to class, options that are better for you and your daughter. I urge you to look into them.
Not only are there scholarships available through the Douglas County Child Care Association, but day-care help is available through the Kansas Social and Rehabilitation Services.
Kathleen Thomas Lawrence junior
Don't be a butthead
Thursday was the Great American Smokeout, a day when smokers are urged to set aside their habit and possibly quit for life.
But one nasty habit of smokers is often overlooked: the habit of dumping used cigarettes onto the ground without regard for the health of others. It is more ugly than smoking in the first place.
Walk around and look at the areas near bus stops, in front of buildings, on street corners and in elevators. Dumped cigarette butts are everywhere.
Our campus and our world are too beautiful to be covered with this litter, and putting an end to this habit isn't difficult. If an ashtray is nearby, use it. If a trash can is nearby, put out your cigarette and stick the butt into an aluminum can. Or stick the butt back in with the rest of the pack to dispose of properly later. Just please don't toss that butt onto the ground.
So kick two habits for now and the future. You may be happy that you've given up smoking. But we can all appreciate your giving up unsightly dumping.
Brett Stone Florissant, Mo., senior
Ruffin' up Taylor
I would like to address Matt Taylor's column on "a ruff problem" in the Nov. 17 Kansas, Mr. Taylor stated that he was "shocked" by wild packs of dogs at KU. Are there no dogs where you come from, Matt? And are the KU dogs really wild? They don't look like dingos to me. Mr. Taylor also said that dogs "are taking over the campus." Come on, Matt. You know humans would never give the Earth back to the animals. so far as watching dogs in heat: Don't watch!
I was pleased when I first saw the 'wild packs of dogs' during my first visit to KU. I get as much joy from watching the dogs play as I do from watching the wild packs of squirrels. I don't consider it a nuisance when a dog comes up for me at a bit of my sandwich or a potato chip.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels the way I do. Also, in the three semesters I've been at KU, I have never seen "dog spit or worse" on the sidewalk. I do see a lot of trash, cigarettes, and people spit, however. I believe our campus dogs are an asset, not a nuisance. I only hope one does anything to take away our furry friends.
As far as dogs being ugly, Mr. Taylor, do you also judge people by their looks? If so, you must be "unattractive" inside.
Troy D. Alldaffer Colby freshman
Play is about choice
Glen White's Nov. 16 guest column, "Nothing dreadful about disability," would be praeworthy if it weren't so virtuous. He criticized the play, "Whose Life is it Anyway?" wondering if audiences might "... come away with the perception that many people with severe physical disabilities devalue their lives and would rather choose death to 'being confined to a wheelchair' or 'relegated to a bedridden existence.'"
There is nothing in the play that implies, as White suggests, a generalization regarding disabled persons' bravery or lack of it, or even whether a recently disabled, or long disabled person for that matter, should choose to go on living. Rather, its focus is on the people who are a community face when one of us chooses to reject treatment even if the consequence is death.
White and others are free to choose life from whatever perspective they wish, the premise of the sanctity of life or the position that a person should live in God's will is one of one's ability. That is their choice to make.
Our courts are hearing many cases in which the issue is the person's right to choose to die sooner, in peace and with dignity, rather than later, with one's dignity being insulted by the intrusions of self-appointed arbiter们 of human values or by the pompous, patronizing preferences of professional life-savers. That is the plawlry generalization.
I would hope that White and others who carry the "holier than thou" banner will speak up for what they choose for themselves and have the graciousness and compassion to respect others' right to see it differently and to choose for themselves.
Stan Sterling associate professor of social welfare
Disgusting cartoon
I was thumping through the Kansan skimming the articles when I got to the Nov. 17 editorial page. The editorial cartoon on "George Bush's version of the right to choose" was the most disgusting thing I have seen in print in quite a long time.
The political point here is lost because the moral issue is so grossly distorted. What a "males only" point of view. Having an abortion is something no man, no matter how sensitive, can ever fully comprehend. I found the statement made in the Kansan to be very offensive, and I am appalled that the editors would support a cartoon of this nature by printing it.
You should all be ashamed!
Jill Norris
Wichita junior
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed