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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1999)
EDITOR Josh Funk OPINION EDITOR Mark Baldridge EDITORIAL BOARD Lindsay Young Jessica Fargen Samuel McKewon Cliff Hicks Our VIEW Bargain spending Athletic Department needs to cut its costs Nobody’s perfect. So when it was reported that the NU Athletic Department expenditures for the 1997-98 fiscal year outran its budget con straints, it shouldn’t have been a shock, nor did it mean the department should be shackled and chained. It ought to just pinch its pennies a little bit UCUCI. The Daily Nebraskan certainly doesn’t agree with NU Regent Drew Miller, who said the Athletic Department should only focus on “strong programs.” Basically that means focusing on them all. Because entering the next century, the Cornhuskers are pretty good in just about everything. The football team’s success is well known, as is the volleyball team’s. But women’s soc cer, swimming and diving, track and field, softball, women’s basketball, rifling and women’s bowling all compete among the best in the nation, as well. In fact, to get right down to it, the Athletic Department has just prioritized helping the baseball team with a new stadium. The team has been one of the poorer programs within the NU system. That, too, seems to be chang ing with new Coach Dave Van Horn and a renewed commitment to the sport. Rather than cut sports, or underfund them, we hope NU doesn’t turn to raising ticket prices again to raise funds. Talk about a doomsday scenario. Student football tickets haven’t sold out, and part of that goes back to the price. Ihink about it: the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in college football last year, Tennessee and Florida State, have free tickets for students attending games. Fans, of course, will always support Husker football. But eventually, they might sense their faithfulness is being taken advantage of. The best case scenario is simply for the department to play slightly closer to the vest. The department has been generous to stu dents at times, both in helping to contribute to the Campus Recreation Center, Cook Pavilion and the Love Library renovation. Maybe that generosity should be slightly, curtailed. Also, examining some of the expenditures seems smart. Looking at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, the addition of video boards jumps out as a cost that will be on the 1998-99 budget. It might be fun, but is it absolutely necessary? It’s important to say we’re not bashing the department. It has made good decisions, such as the new FieldTurf at Memorial Stadium. Sure it’s an expenditure now, but it’s much less expensive than AstroTurf, it looks better and coaches and players agree it wears better. The FieldTurf is an example of smart spending - affordability and quality rolled into one. If the department keeps on that track, budget concerns will be a one-time issue. And that’s good for everyone. Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Fall 1999 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its student body or the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. A column is solely the opinion of its author. The Board of Regents serves as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, supervises the production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student employees. j letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submitted material becomes property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affiliation, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, NE. 68588-0448. E-mail: letters@unlinfo.unl.edu. I % Am I Blue? 4 A couple days ago, after going out shopping for some extra school sup plies, I returned to find the most perfect parking place possible open and waiting for me to take it. Knowing .the university’s lack of math skills when selling parking per mits, I got out of my car to make sure the sign I was parked next to actually denot ed a blue lot. I then checked the cars parked in the row I was in to make sure they were all blue. In both cases they checked out fine and dandy. So, the rest of the day I was happy about the fact that I got the first blue parking spot in the first blue row of the first blue lot. Unfortunately, I was informed today that my worst nightmares had come true. Parking Disservices evident ly thought there still weren’t enough empty yellow spots in the lot and con verted my row to yellow. Now the whole row of cars is parked illegally. ^ Did we get any warning1? Of course not! That would actually be helpful. Do I expect any warning to come anytime soon? Not until I suddenly find out I have a pile of parking tickets on my w indshield, or, worse, that my car has been moved by our friendly neighbor hood towing crew. I find it absurd to think that, in the wake of people complaining left and right about lack of blue parking spaces, they would eliminate yet another row to be left empty half of the time. Perhaps if the university was to worry a little less about how many hon ors people they can cram into a parking-, lot-become-residence hall, and more about how to serve the majority of its students, things would work a little bet ter. Cory Lueninghoener junior computer science Two-fer Monday Two comments about Monday’s news. First of all, I don’t barge into Mr. Wesely’s, Mr. Griesen’s, or Chief Casady’s office to “make sure” that they are behaving in a proper manner and not getting crocked on the job. That is because: A) I trust them, and B) it is none of my business. So what gives them the right to try to intimidate us by infringing on our Friday night stress-relieving activities? Is it not totally legal for me to pretty much get trashed at a bar if I am 21 and have a ride home? If these men are concerned about alternative recreational activities, DN LETTERS maybe they should patrol the Abel/Sandoz Residence Hall hallways on this coming Friday to “monitor” all the people who smoke pot inside their residence hall rooms. Secondly, Jason Hardy was wrong in his comment that no one ever sees “a guy get some action and then wake [up] and cook pancakes wearing just a shirt.” I believe Donald Sutherland did just that in “Animal House” after he scored with somebody’s girlfriend. Although, I think he was going to make eggs instead of pancakes. David FVanzen senior agribusiness Religious Home Plate In his engineering classes, perhaps Eric Rost is learning to construct straw men. In response: Even those raised in Christian homes have to decide for themselves to either accept or reject Christianity. If people reject Christianity and live accordingly, that is their choice. Riding on the coattails of their parents’ faith is the thing that “doesn’t seem to do the trick.” Rarely do you hear about the par ents of any of these kids unless the par ents were Christians. The fact that you haven’t heard about the parents of others is because it usually isn’t reported. (You can draw your own conclusions about that.) 1 have never shot anybody, and nei ther has anyone at the Christian church es I have attended in my life. Your point is...? Without a religious base, how do you determine what constitutes values and morals? Is it your own opinions oij perhaps the conventional wisdom or the culture? Our culture once accepted slavery. Was that moral? Other societies have embraced cannibalism, burning wid ows on funeral pyres and female genital mutilation, just to name a few things that we would consider immoral. It’s my understanding of what Scripture says that tells me these things are wrong. What’s your source? If you don’t agree with the teachings of Christianity, that’s your choice. If you are going to be critical of Christianity in America (and there are things to be crit ical of), at least base them on something real, logical and substantive. Otherwise, you just sound foolish, and I can’t imagine that that’s your intent. Brad Pardee Love Library staff