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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2001)
Opinion ZM/vNebraskan Since 1901 Editor Sarah Baker Opinion Page Editor Jake Glazeski Managing Editor Bradley Davis Too precious Legislature shouldn't meddle by passing tissue ban The University of Nebraska has been under the microscope in the past year. Its academic reputation has been studied with furrowed brows, and, as the examination continues, it’s been hypothesized that there is definite room for improvement In the wake of all this microscopic scrutiny, the Nebraska Legislature stands to stop a good portion of that improvement in its tracks. Legislative Bill 304 would prohibit groups from selling and transferring fetal tissue. It fur ther mandates that the University of Nebraska Medical Center stop using aborted fetal tissue as soon as alternative sources are located. The bill also provides a system to monitor the tissue use. * Fetal tissue research became a controversial issue in the2000 session after it was reported that UNMC was using the brain cells from the material to do research for diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and AIDS-related dementia A bill was introduced during the session but died because there wasn’t time for debate. Meanwhile, the university has aggressively sought alternatives to the use of fetal brain tissue from elective abortions to contin ue the research. The university has said it is best if the Legislature stays out of If the state wants to squelch the minds of students at the university and squelch the possibility of scientific break throughs, it should _ _ impose this the controversy and has also ban._questioned the Legislature’s abili ty to impose a legal ban on fetal tissue research. We stand by die university in its quest to find alternatives. We stand by the idea of academic freedom. If the state of Nebraska wishes to stunt the university’s growth, it should impose this ban. If the state wants to ensure NU’s status as a semi-good research university, it should impose this ban. If the state wants to squelch the minds of stu dents at the university and squelch the possibili ty of scientific breakthroughs, it should impose this ban. The university has worked hard - and contin ues to work hard - to ensure academic freedom for its faculty and students. It’s not fair for the state to swipe that freedom. In the Omaha-World Herald, members of Nebraska Right to Life have said they have 32 senators in support of the ban, one short of the number needed to end a filibuster. Itoenty five are needed to pass a bill Although we do believe a good number of the senators would vote in support of the ban, we hope they consider the intent and the efforts of the university before they cast that vote. The bill will most likely be prioritized, which ensures the debate will continue. We still have hope, even though we live in a state that has historically squelched anything controversial, liberal or ground-breaking. So ft wouldn’t shock us if this bill actually passed, but it would enlighten us, as the young minds of this state, to see something change. It would enlighten us, and the rest of the aca demic community, we believe, to see this research continue. * It would enlighten us to see that the universi ty, along with the rest of the state, could be known for more than its past decisions. In fact, to us, that knowledge would be groundbreaking. Editorial Board Sarah Baker, Bradley Davis, Jake Glazeski, Matthew Hansen, Samuel McKewon, Kimberly Sweet Letters Policy The Daly Nebraskan welcomes briefs, letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not gusr antee the* pubficabon.The Daly 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 wi not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group aflSabon, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. E mafc lettar90unknfo.uni.edu. Edftorial Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the FaH 2000 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its student body or the University df Nebraska Board of Regents. A column is solely the opinion of its author a catoon is solely the opinion of its artist The Board of Regents acts as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan; pol cy is set by the Daly Nebraskan Edttorial Board. The UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, supervises the prediction of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsi bttty for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of Its errpioyees. P°P£ &HM Pfiuu &y otf of m us. seme fiiFVoRM fo fj/slFN OF *W£$5 TbTAuTaRm^ fie&iue5. n X'w 5o^«y„. Tow /WST HAV£ WlSTPKENfiTF foK 606 H°?£. o\ NOhJ If you'LL '£XCH& ft\0, -TaI GOitifr To fro Bhrr&iTA)N CTHfSS SAILORS. Neal Obermeyer/DN Letters to the editor Silly rabbit In “The Purple Horseshoe Scam,” Dan Leaman’s grumbling about how little money he received when he sold his books back is not new, unfortunately. Every year, I hear the same complaints by many other students. With so many serious uni versity problems to address, I find this limited focus on the'buy-back program questionable. What students should understand is that these buy-back programs are not a right of the student. Students are not entitled to any specif ic percentage return on their book purchase. The program is not a privilege, either. The book store isn't doing the student any favors. These programs are a way by which book stores increase their profit margins by selling the same book over and over again. It just so happens that students get some money back from books they would rather not keep, residu ally. N“t**sv Students can participate^ the program or not, but they shouldn’pw^fite time complaining about it as if they w^re entitled to something being so “unconscionably” withheld. On the other hand, had Leaman criticized the process itself as Being poorly organized or that the store only makes new, over-priced edi tions of the same textbooks available, or had he said the process by which they are sold and resold is problematic, I would support his argu ment. But these were not part of Lfeaman’s cri tique. Robert Aguirre English Ashcroft deserves nod Graduate Student To suggest John Ashcroft is unqualified to be attorney general merely because he is a strong conservative is absurd. Is West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd unfit to serve his people because he is a former Ku Klux-Klan member? Of course not. Was former Labor Secretary Robert Reich rejected because of his ties to the Communist Party? Not at all. The President-elect has nominated a man he believes to be the most qualified. Ashcroft has served Missouri as attorney general, governor and senator, and with great success. Some leftist groups attempt to tar him as a racist, despite being the first Missouri governor to appoint a^ black woman to the state court of appeals, as well as voting to confirm 23 of 26 black judges appointed by President Clinton. He should and will be confirmed. Andrew M. Strnad UNL alumnus, 1998 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Good evening, Herr Hicks Hello Hicks. Mark You know, I was just think- Baldridge ing about you. Wondering things are going for you, how you like the place you’ve landed. So, how are things there? The President was here. We gave him the usual Big Red Welcome. He seems sadder now. Grayer. Like the last man on earth with no heir to console him. It m^kes him seem more presidential than ever, I think. But you know, there’s a theory... (I need a cocktail for this) ...a theory that the universe splits off from itself at times of crisis. Somewhere is a universe in which the Japanese and Germans wonWWII, where you and I sprichts Deutsch. (Gerhard Lauck is Mayor.) I myself have seen it happen before. Felt the world slip the wrong way. Or felt myself sliding, the world tipping. It felt that way, to me, during the Nine Day Coup when Boris Yeltsin stepped over the tanks. Somehow, beyond all expectation, the USSR laid down and died. It had pointedly not roared back to life amid hideous reprisals. The shadow that had eclipsed my childhood, it was gone: a moon of soap. And it feels that way again to me. I’m sure I will feel the frisson more intensely, come the 20th, when whitey takes the White House. For what they’re worth, the omens were omi nous: The November conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn — by many considered to have been the Original Star of Bethlehem — made its second appearance in the East. (What rough beast, etc. slouches, etc. to be born?) And when I consulted the I Ching, on election night, months before the final “final count,” It predicted “an evil king.” I suppose it must be true. I find I can hardly believe it. In the world I’m used to living in, village idiots do not get elected president. There was no President-Quail, for instance, (or was there? Woe to that world! I wonder how it all turned out.) And when I consulted the I Ching, on election night, months before the final “final count,"It predicted “an evil king." I suppose it must be true. Bad men, of course. Paranoids, naturally. Bipolar schitzoid types, sure, every other decade. But in the world I’m used to, the world I somehow thought of as the “real" world, it takes something between the ol' ears to head a country as big and dynamic as the U. S. of A. The explanation? Is it possible the world really fractures on the fault lines of time? Maybe, but maybe not. Maybe that’s all crackpot science, cooked up over hashish and white wine at a dinner party for semi-literate armchair physicists. Maybe it’s a notion more aligned with our hopes than with our knowledge: we who are always mistaking the present for two tickets to a cruise we haven't taken yet, with someone we don't currently know. Maybe it s just a humbug. I’m sure I would never know the difference. But what, then, do I do with the unmistakable sensation of having been left behind by the world I knew, of having taken, like Bugs Bunny, a fatal wrong turn near Albuquerque? Between two quantum mirrors, the theory goes, the world is reflected infinitely. But one of the reflections is Hell, literally, and another is Heaven. One supposes our world rides the curve some where in the middle, but it need not be so. At least we can take comfort in waving to the others, those happier worlds swimming some where in our lee. Or we can’t. Which is it, do you think? Is the universe a multiplicity, like so many planaria in a petri? Or is there just the one? Precious and individ ual, the genuine article, the one and only world. Melting like the only snowflake on the tongue of time. WRITE US BACK letters@unl.edu: Please write and tell us what you think. Criminals need help, not just time A couple days ago, a sidebar story appeared in the Lincoln Journal-Star about a Toledo convenience store robbery. The man accused appar Seth Felton ently walked into the Sunset Carry-Out and demanded $40 even. The clerk gave him $50, and, with some vexation, the man returned $10, saying “I only wanted $40.” He then walked nonchalantly out of the store and was later arrested at his home. He never said what the money was actually for. Now I don’t know about you, but I think we should give people who com mit crimes this comical, this harmless, a break. We should certainly not let them off, but perhaps their punishment could consist of something ultimately con structive, like community service. Unfortunately, this powerless man will most likely be sentenced to any where from one to five years in prison, especially if he has a record of previous petty charges. There are stories about people like this all over the country. A couple years ago, a man in Texas was sentenced to 20 years in prison for having a single mari juana plant growing in his house. The sentence is even more absurd when one considers that the man had a wife and three children to support Granted, this is one of the more extreme stories, but it is the legacy of a decade of politicians “getting tough on crime.” One would think that would mean attacking the roots of crime, but we are not in the business of crime pre vention in this country. We are more concerned with crime management. I know some will argue that both of the aforementioned men deserve whatever they get because they broke the law. It’s that simple. However, I’m not so much con cerned with the sentence as with the purpose of incarceration, and also whether it makes sense in these cases. 'ftaditionalty, prison is thought to be a deterrent because of the remorse one feels there. According to this ideal, evil acts must be harshly punished, which will motivate prisoners to modify their future behavior in order to avoid further imprisonment The current criminal justice system only provides one half of the necessary formula. It provides punishment and degradation for inmates to ensure that no one will want to come back. For the most part, the system takes very little initiative to assist the ex-con in returning to normal society. No job training, therapy or any such program that could assist the ex-con in rejoining society is provided. In fact, through this neglect, the criminal justice system ensures a very high rate of recidivism (a return to crime by prison alumni) by failing to provide ex-cons with any realistic options — aside from a return to ^rime, once released. By incarcerating without providing marketable skills, we ensure that an ex con will have plenty of incentive to return to crime as a way of life and as the only means of making a living. By ignor ing the roots of crime, we essentially send the message that a certain rate of crime is acceptable, even desirable. We know, for example, that poverty is a major source of crime (though we don’t know how it causes crime). We know that, as the gap between rich and poor widens in a given area, the homicide rate rises (this is called the (Sini Index). We know that drug abuse is a source of crime, but we don’t treat drug addic tion. Rather, we treat the addiction as a crime and, as penance for character weakness, the addict is imprisoned. Sixty percent of those currently incarcerated are there for non-violent offenses. With more than two million of our citizens in prison, we are at a break ing point We can only throw so many of society’s less fortunate into prison, where they learn the tenets of the crimi nal society and become better criminals, before we feeFa backlash. We know how to alleviate these situ ations. I argue that we can reduce the total crime rate if we reduce the poverty of the inner city, decriminalize the pos session and personal use of drugs, and create treatment centers for the crip pling addictions that afflict so many of our citizens. Yes, that would mean a redistribu tion of wealth from the upper to the lower strata. Yes, that would mean an end to the drug war as we know it Yes, that would mean a massive reform of the prison system. And yes, a country this prosperous, this rich, with a people so ingenious, can do all these things and can create the conditions for a more humane society. All that can stop us is the fear of change from those in power. That is the first thing to overcome.