Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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VOICES OUTSIDE CLASSROOMS Discussing Secretary of Labor experiences, Landon Lecturer Elizabeth Dole provides insight on U.S. labor issues. BY KELLY LEVI The social contract — defined by John Locke, influential upon the writers of the United States ' Constitution — was the basis of Elizabeth Dole ' s mission as Secretary of Labor. I have seen troubling evidence that this contract is being breached, Dole said the 85th Landon Lecture in October. For the past two years, I believed the of Labor must improve the state of our work force and the state of our nation by doing what we can to ensure that, indeed, everybody counts. Dole spoke of traveling across the country to work with teenagers struggling in school, mothers living from welfare check to welfare check and children working According to Dole, American economic growth had left these people behind. During a Labor Department job training program, Dole met Erika Parker from Ga. Her mother had been convicted for murder and her brother sold marijuana. She could walk into any room and hold her head up and say, `I ' m Erika Parker and I ' m Dole said. Dole used Parker to illustrate the need for welfare reform. Where these young Americans are concerned, the social contract is in tatters, Dole said. I believe we must provide more than just training for a job, but also basic skills training, literacy, counseling, remedial education — a total support system. Supporting job skills training was one of Dole ' s three goals. She also strived for job safety and security. The only acceptable compliance with safety requirements is full compliance, Dole said, noting that safety is a basic right for all Americans. Dole strived to make sure everyone was served equally. Now, I ' ve been around public service for 25 years — long enough to know the Labor Department did not have all the answers and couldn ' t solve all our problems, she said. But I believed that through the policies and programs of the department — the people ' s department — we could help in seeing that everybody counts. At a Landon Lecture shortly after announcing her resignation as Secretary of Labor and new as American Red Cross President, Elizabeth Dole speaks at McCain Auditorium about her steps to challenge labor problems. (Photo by Brian W. Kratzer) 30 LECTURE SERIES

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Randall Kennedy, professor of law at Harvard University, waits to give his lecture, The Question of Group Rights, as part of Martin Luther King Jr. Recognition Week. (Photo by Christopher T. Assaf) NASA setbacks, shuttle explosion led to program says chief administrator BY BILL LANG Most Americans vividly remember Jan. 26, 1986, and its everlasting image of the space shuttle Challenger exploding over the Atlantic Ocean. At a Convocation lecture in December, retired Navy Vice Adm. Richard Truly, chief NASA administrator, spoke about NASA ' s improvement since the tragedy. That flight opened the door to an intense, unprecedented period of activity in all areas of space science, Truly said. Truly said the Challenger explosion had caused a major setback in the space but also forced NASA to overhaul many of its operations and consider all aspects of space flight. In that time, Truly said other NASA studies continued successfully. He also explained that the earth may be the last great bastion of intelligent life. After having acquired the ability to search and having searched for decades, we find nothing, he said. We will have gained a sobering bit of knowledge. We may come to see ourselves as the sole keepers of the flame (of life) with a terrible responsibility to never let it go out. 32 LECTURE SERIES