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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2000)
For restricted audiences only Schools can restrict material, but should listenJo teen satire Journalism and teen-agers both have a long tradition of challenging authority, but when the two combined forces this spring,1they ran Intb opposition. An underground high school newspaper recently came under attack in Lincoln. The Alpha Clarion, a satirical coun terpart to Lincoln Southeast’s Clarion, was banned from both Southeast High School and Lincoln High School. The paper, modeled after “The Onion,” was distributed at both schools. The newspaper jabs at students and faculty in a sometimes offensive manner. Obscene language is used in stories written by students from both schools using pseudonyms. Lincoln Public Schools has a policy against distributing anything with inappropriate language in its halls. A/fnvhv i ms is a gooa policy ior tne y ^ school. Students shouldn’t be administrators able to Pass out fliers filled with language that can offend. SrlOUld heed some It doesn’t matter if it is on a of the criticism P°sler for a concert or a news' OJ me criticism paper that pokes fun at the these Students teachere. Student freedom of expres publish. They just sion has long been suspect in , i j . high schools. Courts have Can t nana It QUt given administrators the power in the hallways ‘° cen,soranyt,h'ngint"«h y school press that may conflict anymore. with their educational goals. Infringing on students’ per sonal rights has been approved for the good of the institution. The school is right to ban the publication from the building. But administrators should not go further than banning the newspaper. These students have found a viable, productive outlet for their creativity and frustration. Maybe administrators should heed some of the criticism these students publish. Theyjust can’t hand it out in the hallways anymore. The students have a right to produce The Alpha Clarion. It’s a right the First Amendment grants them. Sometimes the ’papers satirizing the news are the ones that make other papers better. For the measly $400 it cost to put together this rag, stu dents have received good response. Most students seem to like it. Lincoln High’s principal acknowledged that The Alpha Clarion was creative and well written, but not appropriate for school distribution. Just look at the rpckus it’s,created with its second issue. We applaud the way these students took advantage of their First Amendment rights. Theyjust need to do it after school. Editorial Board Josh Funk (editor) • J.J. Harder • Cliff Hicks • Samuel McKewon • Dane Stickney • Kimberly Sweet • Lindsay Young 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 sub missions.Submitted material becomes property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous material 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, Neb. 68588-0448 or e-mail to: letters@unl.edu Editoirial Polity! Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the spring 2000 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 col umn is solely the opinion of its author. The Board of Regents acts 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 publication of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsi bility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student employees. The Daily Nebraskan strives to print fair and accurate coverage; any corrections or clarifications will be printed on page three. Obermeyer’s VIEW ^ /wenbev soma u/py\ ^-\ /TO REALLY INSPIRE 7ME \ /rift TeUM’ VflX ) [ MAN-MZlTEMour\ y--v. V 'To Bocerr MORALE FOR J ( -^5^5 us/N&- ) /NoW CAN WE\ \ y suburban white Jf nurry up? x’ve\ ^ )} \ EBONlcs! (ycr ERAlHS / // \To suck out! J r\ ^nr - -■*—■*= —-— —---2^.—, Wlf r 321 Letter^ to the EDITOR Thumper’ T-Shirts Jacob, I am one of those dis-enffan chised, helpless, victimized interna tional exchange students you referred to in your article, “Gangs of Faith.” I met your fundamentalist, evangelical, thumper friend the^ery day I arrived in Lincoln. She thumped me right away, sucking out my innocent and naive brain. Since then, the evil has been haunt ing me regularly each Sunday evening. It lured me into its clutches - so much that I have joined the thumpers on two trips and made many more evil thumper friends. We had a great time together and thoroughly enjoyed read ing your article. We even want to get “Thumper” T-shirts. Mr. Glazeski, international stu dents are intelligent, capable of think ing independently and can make their own decisions. If you would like to open your mind and meet a few of us, you are invited to join us any Sunday evening for dinner and conversation. We meet at the Selleck Quadrangle front desk at 6:45 p.m. Tobias Bidlingmaier graduate foreign exchange student economics Creative Jukes The recent increase in parking prices is a monument to the lack of cre ativity within the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Parking and Transit Services. While faced with a shortage of parking places, only one solution seems obvious: Increase the already-staggering cost of parking passes. Though this has been the only solu tion for UNL as of late, I believe others need to be explored. For instance, in yesterday’s parking story, parking cita tions were reported as inconsistent sources of income. What the hell? For the last three years I have witnessed the execution of a strict parking policy: Fine and tow everyone, everywhere. However, let us not forget that “everything you’re pay ing for now pays for the future.” i Thank you, Dan Carpenter. I feel so much better about paying for some thing I will never use. Ben Novotny junior environmental studies Pro-active students I’m writing with the mission to make proactivity as easy as possible. I want to address where our tuition dol lars are spent. The more research I do, the more I’m convinced students need to proactively inform the university about how they want tuition dollars spent. Here is some information, and you can choose how to use it best. This address lets you view how much money all staff and faculty make at the univer sity: http://www. uneb.edu/agenda/ agendas.htm. This information is for the public because UNL is a public institution. It’s your right to know. Just for fun, look up your favorite instructor. Then look up your least favorite administrator and look at the salary differences. Then look up how much coaches of the Athletic Department make. You’ll note it’s a considerably larger sum than the chancellor and much more than your favorite instructor. If you would like to express your opinion on this topic try writing to Bill Byrne at: bbyrne@huskers.unl.edu. We all know it doesn’t take a large amount of time to write an e-mail. If one feels the university should pay its instructors more and concern itself more with issues that affect class room education, take action. We cannot financially or intellectually afford to be apathetic any longer. It is not my intention to stir up unre searched and uninformed ravings by the student body. So do your research completely and then voice your opin ion. Only then will it have validity: This administration needs to hear the voices of the student body directly, so start talking! E. Schuller senior music education Getting your money Lately I have come to view the university as a bureaucratic corpora tion, rather than an educational insti tution. I know departments squander away scholarship money that never reaches its recipients in full. I know University Housing squanders away its money. I’ve worked there full time, and when I questioned its practices, I got the answer, “What do you care? It’s not your money!” Well, yes, it is my money. I pay to go to school here, and so do thou sands of other hard-working stu dents. Undeniably, everyone will agree Parking and Transit Services only seems interested in raising rev enue from UNL’s own students. We’ve all seen them ticketing lots at 8 p.m., when there is no need for red lot spaces, and the lots are less than 10 percent full. It only shows what the university really cares about: getting your money! It’s really sad. I know thousands of you share the same concerns. You’ve seen the university dock your scholarships simply because you have more than one or because it wants to be stingy. You’ve seen Parking and Transit Services needlessly tow your cars. You’ve seen the university continu ously waste your money on junk that you don’t believe in or serves no pur pose. We’ve all seen the same old crap over and over again. I want to encourage everyone on this campus who has been privy to some injustice to write letters and e mails. Send in your complaints; visit offices and let yourself be heard. I am sick and tired it, and I know you are too. We all need to come together and put a stop to it all. Please, everyone do what you can to make your voice known! We are what makes this thing run, so let’s start running it for our selves! f Nicholas Shannon sophomore music education SOM ■- ■ .. ..I P.S.Write Back Send letters to: Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 “R" St., Lincoln, NE 68588, Or fax to (402) 472-1761, or e-mail letters@unl.edu... Letters must be signed and includes phone number tor verification.