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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 16, 1967)
jjpui i urn 11 m j iiriiirnwrniMrifJi'-n"'iiniiliwiiiji.j j,....-. a, i i n - n- nr r .in irrr mj-.jjr.r in.imiii.iiiw. nnr--r'imm t""-""-i x . u i mriHiKtKmmmmm.iw--.- -r-r-,r in .Kunrrii "I - -tt i " 4mm.mwmMM'MNkmmm4lit THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Editorial! Commentary THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1967 Page 2 . ! Si! -1 y i 1 r t Now A Student Vote The Bill of Rights is now ready for a student vote. In the Daily Nebraskan's opinion, this bill does not represent all the feel ings or strong principles that it should. We feel that the Preamble, Article V and other parts of the bill have been watered down and changed because of confusion, politics and reactionary tendencies. Right Direction But, nevertheless, the bill is a step in the right direction for the students. It does represent the rights of students and it should be beneficial to future student governments. The Daily Nebraskan strongly en courages all students to support the bill, but even more important we feel that students must insist that ASUN executive candidates clearly explain their feelings toward the bill before the April 12 elec tion. Students must ask that candidates explain what they would do with the bill; if they see it as a statement of general principle; if they see it as a mandate for future student action; or if they see it as a mandate for immediate action. Housing Amendment Furthermore it is important that candidates explain exactly which housing amendment (Article V) they support and what they feel the two choices mean. If candidates see the two choices un der Amendment V as contradictory, then the candidates must explain the contra dictions and what they represent. Candi dates must clarify what will be done if they are elected after the Bill of Rights , is approved. As we said above, the Bill of Rights as it stands is a step toward making student government more meaningful and clarifying student rights, however, the Nebraskan would like to compliment those students who did stand for higher principles in the bill than now exist. Deserve Praise Those students who studied the b i 1 1 carefully since September and disregard ed politics and status quo circumstances in deciding their final vote deserve much praise. These are the sort of student leaders which a meaningful student gov ernment needs. The Nebraskan would like to espe cially commend those students who real ized there is a difference between an ideal statement of principles and imme diate, irrational action. There was a dif ference among the students who stood for as strong a bill' of rights as possible. Some wanted a strong bill of rights so that the students could demand immedi ate change and action. Others wanted as meaningful a bill as posjible in order to make it a statement of principle much like the United States Bill of Rights. Great Turnout However, disregarding the differ ences in opinion regarding the bill's d i f ferent articles, it is now important that every student leader work to encourage as great a student turnout in favor of the bill as possible. Too many students have worked too long on the bill to neglect it now. Every body must encourage students to vote for the bill and to show strong student support. Innocents At Home (EDITOR'S NOTE: The following ed itorial was written by Howard Moffett, who is a Collegiate Press Service corre spondent in Vietnam. A series of stories from Vietnam by Moffett have been printed in the Daily Nebraskan since last semester. This is the first editorial he has written on the subject.) The Vietnam war has hit our gener ation like a knife cutting through butter. It is complex and we want fast, easy answers. It is years old and we are young. It is many little confusing con crete things, and we like to speak in sweeping generalities. It will go on for years one way or another and we are already tired of thinking about it. Other Problems The war landed on top of the other problems our fathers hadn't solved (we may be more sensitive than any previous generation to the faults of our forebears). Our hero, John Kennedy, had been tak. en from us, and an anti-hero, Lyndon Johnson, left in his place. We never did assimilate the fact that Kennedy did more to shape U.S. policy in Vietnam in his three years than Johnson has in the years since. The war came in the wake of the greatest student activism since the '30's the civil rights movement. It came as the Cold War was being exposed as a myth perpetuated by vulgar politicians with a vested interest in ignorance. The world was being remade, and we had discovered it almost before anyone else. These things turned Vietnam into the most explosive campus issue in a gener ation. The question neatly divided in formed, active students into two camps: belligerent supporters and bitter oppon ents of U.S. policy. If there was any mid dle ground, it was held not by moderated but by those who weren't interested. It was, after all, a dirty little war in a country nobody knew where, and why should I care? Innocence Of Concerned Those who have better things to do than worry about Vietnam's don't need to justify themselves. More disturbing is the Innocence of the Concerned. Those of us who" are emotionally com mitted to one side or the other are prob ably more anguished by this war than we have been over any other public is suebecause there seems to be nothing we can do about It. By choice or cir cumstance, we are spectators, and poorly Informed ones at that. Because we look at the war from far away, and because we understand very little of the compli cated reactions of the Vietnamese them selves, our anguish is closer to that of the teenager seeking to justify his mor al Indignation than to the adult forced to deal with suffering. To many of us, it is more important that our position be vindicated than that the suffering should stop. Civil Rights Part of this innocence is the heri tage of the civil rights movement. Many of us stood up and were counted on be half of human rights at Albany or Selma. We marchd and fought against clear-cut evil, and some of us even went to jails to demonstrate our convictions. We won some significant victories, or helped oth ers to. They were victories of courage, justice and morality but they were in nocent victories. You don't lose your innocence by fight ing evil. The end of innocence comes when you realize that you are caught If only by association in a struggle that Is not black and white; in which there la morality on both sides as well as pow er; and in which decent people with names, caught between the two sides, must bear the brunt of the suffering while you are free to return to your books and a cold beer. Those who are not spectators in this year Vietnamese soldiers, Viet Cong, guerillas, peasants, refugees, mothers and children, young teachers, American GI's, and North Vietnamese regulars are tougher than we are, like Secretary Mc Namara. To To War War is all many of them have ever known. When Americans go to war, they go where their wives and children will not be disturbed by it to Europe, Cuba, Korea, Vietnam. When the Vietnamese go to war, they turn their cities and farms into battlefields, and their wives and daughters are often the first victims. "Les petits, ils n'ont jamais connus la paix," my landlord's uncle said the other day. Many on both sides have been shot at far more than twenty years; they may be forgiven for living their lives with the same resignation that an American fra ternity boy drinks beer on Sunday after noon. They never knew innocence, that peculiar combination of moral indignation and non-participation. One of the reasons that American wars have always been so glorious is that traditionally they have come at thirty year intervals and have lasted just long enough to provide each generation with a set of heroes. Except for the Civil War, our social fabric was never seriously threatened by them. In between wars life went on. Developments in the arts and sciences, agriculture, industry and leis ure rounded out a history for which war provided primarily the color. One Long War By contrast, Vietnamese history is one long war. Vietnam has never been free from the threat of foreign invasion by the Chinese, the Mongols, the Jap anese, the Chams, the Khmers, the Por tuguese, the French, the Americans But even in those brief periods when foreign enemies have not threatened, the Vietna mese have fallen to fighting among them selves. As a result, Vietnamese history is largely a record of what has been de stroyed or saved rather than what has been built. One of the country's biggest problems today is that much of its top young talent has never had the opportun ity to experiment with constructive pro grams in any field. In this Confucian society which rec ognizes four ranks among the populace: scholars, farmers, artisans and mer chantssoldiers have traditionally been disdained. Yet they have written the bulk of their country's history, and they are continuing to do so despite lack of in spiration in the script and lack of en thusiasm among the audience. To Stop Killing From most on-scene accounts, apathy and war-weariness have been a p r o b 1 e m to the Viet Cong as much as to the ARVN. The fact that both ARVN and Viet Cong are still unwilling to stop kill ingand the fact that many Vietnamese are not really sympathetic to either side (i realize this contrrdicts several popu lar stereotypes, but it is Increasingly clear to anyone who has spent some time in Vietnam and talked with several class es of people) and should give us pause who insist that this is a simple war, black and white, and that solving it calls mostly for moral indignation. 4j !tllltilIlillfiSSSll1llf f ItllllltllSttllltllllltSIf lltlillltlllllSIf f tflllllltllltlSlllllf IIJIIttfitllfSIISIIllllSIBfllilllf lllf S j Our Man Hoppe Legalize The Banana fly Arthur Hoppe Following is another un written chapter in that un published reference book, "A History of the World, 1950 to 1999." The title of this one is 'The Great Ba nana Split." Legal Banana The news from Berkeley, California, in March of 1967 that hippies had discovered psychedelic properties in the common banana caused grave concern. The gravest concern, of course, was that the banana was per fectly legal. At first, hippies would scrape the inside of, the banana skin, dry the scrap ings and smoke them a painstaking process known as "taking a trip on a ba nana peel." But with further research a simple receipe was de veloped for a banana split, best summed up by the slogan: "First you take a banana, then you split." Banana split parlors opened coast-to-coast; "Ba nana Surprise" was served at all jet set parties: and Chiquita Banana was re vived, now wearing ironed hair and leotards, to sing hourly over the radio, "Don't Put Bananas in the Refrigerator (Put them in the humidor, instead)." "Do you realize," thun dered moralists, "that ba nanas are being openly sold in our once sacrosanct gro cery stores?" Powerless But police were pow erless. It had taken an Act Slaying Of The Dragons Being fervently swept up in the broad-minded and progressive spirit of our state's centennial year, I have recently discovered in ancient library records a docu ment of some interest. It's faded title was only after a close scrutiny dis cerned as, "Slaying Of The Dragons, Or, The Progress of Thirteenth Century Feudalism", and since its ancient words could easily be set to music, I hereby submit it as antiquity's contribution to the growing list of poten tial state songs. In feudal times, the age of chivalry, There was a land of rich sterility, A land which rose through trouble and distress To reach Olympian heights of barrenness, And once inhaling such a vacuous air The People stood united, and would swear That nought would ever force them down from there. The land was called Nekrabas, so they say, And governed was in a most mystic way, "United must we be," became the cry And "Let's be different," echoed to the sky Two ruling councils seemed so plebeians Nekrabas chose to harbor only one A great and lofty group, non-partisan. For many years, the pilgrims wand'ring from This gloriously blank Elysium Were not the old, for satisfied were they, 'Twas only just the young who fled away. The hoary fathers, sitting round the land Contentedly, cared not to understand Why youth leapt to the Piper's beck'ning hand. A century the land thus slumbered deep When "Annus Mirabilis" broke its sleep. The cry went up, "A monster's coming near!" "It's DSTI", they cried, and shrank in fear. "The crops won't grow!", rang out the cry abroad, "Why aren't such evil denizens outlawed" "This beast will surely kill the Time of God!" But evil comes, they say, in torrent streams For soon the air held still more frightened screams "The devil is upon us!", rose the cry "Two more such hideous monsters drawing night!" "They've come to take our money," many vowed. "God save the populace!", they screamed aloud As Taxasion and NU Budget loomed before the crowd. But happily the citizens, clutching at their coins, Felt a surge of bravery and girded up their loins. Deep from tha verdured country "Unity!" they yelled, The same from Amaho and Lonclln rushing swelled, Then was the monsters' blood soon running red and deep Then from Texasion and NU Budget life did seep While to God's Time Nekrabas nestled back to sleep. Jonathan Quick of Congress to outlaw LSD and it would take another to ban the banana. A b i 1 1 was introduced and emer gency hearings were begun before the Congressional Committee on Moral ity, whose chairman inter rupted his annual around-the-world trip to investigate sin, vice and dancing girls first hand, in order to be present for news photog raphers. The State Department testified that a banana ban would "seriously impair our friendly relations with our great sister republics to the South" and the United Fruit Company. The President, however, was firm. "I will go any where at any time to talk to anyone about morality," he said, "unless there are reasons I don't think I should." This prompted the junior Senator from New York to make a bold speech say ing he was for morality and also for bananas and also for young people, who were reaching voting age in ever-increasing numbers. Banana Ban At last, after only eight months debate, Congress voted. As always, it voted overwhelmingly in favor of morality. All the Congress men then went off on jun kets and the Great Banana Ban went into effect. Hundreds were arrested for spllinf, possessing or smoking bananas. Moral ists relaxed. "The country is saved," they said. That's when a hippie in Omaha City discovered that Swiss chard and marshmallow sauce turned you on. Outlaw Potatoes The Swiss Chard Ban the following year was hailed by moralists and small children. In succeeding years, Congress, desper ately trying to keep up with research, outlawed po tatoes, tomatoes and all health foods, one by one. But when a mixture of mothers' milk and yogurt was found psychedelic, Congressmen threw up their hands. "You can't attack moth ers' milk," said on. Finally, in reaction, a bill was passed saying any body could eat, drink, or smoke anything he liked as long as he didn't hurt any body else. Oddly enough, about the same small percentage of people who wanted to turn on, went on turning on. And the vast majority who ' didn't, didn't. The only difference was that, turning on wasn't nearly as thrilling. Campus Opinion Higgledy-Piggledy Dear Editor: Higgedy-piggledy, Knobby-kneed Koffeemann Said to the Univer sity of Neb., "Matriculationwise, Students should pay more for Knowledge in Sep than was 1 Charged during Feb." Blifily-snifily, Chincy Stiff Harmlessly Said, "If tuition must Rise, keep your cool, "For some experts say that, Financially-speaking, An increase would keep some Frosh out of school." Jabbery-wockery, Grand vizier Koffeeman Said to Old Chincy Stiff, "Don't be so grim." t "Don't change the housing regs Selleck-Pound-Cather-wise, And we'll keep all the dorms Filled to the brim. To be read strictly in didactic double dactylic. Allan T. Kestner Question For Dean Ross Dear Editor: Recently, I was in attendance at the discussion on University Housing policy held at the Union. I consider the presentation profitable, though I wish that the many questions of the audience could have been presented to the panel. Owing to the act that time could not permit my question to be read, I submit it here for the general public in hopes that someone can justify criterion I pre sently doubt, and that the Ad Hoc Committee on Hous ing and the Student Senate will consider it when making future appraisals of "University Housing Policy". Question: Why do students who decide mid-year to discontinue University enrollment (by transferring, dropp ing out or graduating) have the privilege of one penalty payment for breaking their dormatory housing contract, while those students who decide mid-year to discontinue only dormatory living and move into other housing are forced to pay an $80 penalty, though they signed identi cal contracts? I posed this same question to the Dean of Student Affairs (Dean G. Robert Ross). I think that I would be repesenting his views when I say that he answers the question contending that the complier is a University student and when he is no longer such, he is no longer held to the agreement. It is not my intention here to smear an adminis trator, but rather my intention is to question the credi bility of the reasoning of the many administrators sup porting this particular aspect of housing policy. In my mind Dean Ross' answer does not justify such a policy. It would seem to me that, whether the administra tion realizes it or not, this $80 penalty definitely discim inates against those students who, after having lived in the dormatories, decide they prefer another type of hous ing and do not wish to wait a full year to make the change. In a rephrasing of my previous question, then I ask: What right has the University to penalize students who decide that they dislike the dormatories when the University does not peanlize students who decide that they dislike the University as a whole? R. Court Olson O.S.U. Liberalizes Housing Dear Editor: Recently there has been a series of editorials and letters to the editor protesting the present ill-defined rules of housing regulations for students at the University. Al though I am not affected by housing regulations, I ad vocate that the administration and the faculty and Stu dent Senate should modernize the present conservative housing policy. Consider the situation at Oregon State University, where recently President J. Jensen approved a recom mendation for a liberalized plan for juniors with paren tal permission to live where they wish beginning fall term, 1967. O.S.U.'s Dean of Students Robert Chick endorsed the University's Student Housing Committee's proposal: "It will provide student's opportunities for further growth and maturation. This is a major aim and purpose here at the university (O.S.U.). Students are given an opportun ity to assume responsibility for their own decisions and actions." Chick also stated that O.S.U.'s experience with seni ors and students over 21 living in housing of their choice shows that these students accept their added responsibil ities. He further stated that he expected no mass exodus of juniors from residence halls, fraternities, sororities or cooperative as a result of the new plan. (Reference O.S.U. Scope 1, Feb., 1967) Students if you wish to think for yourself and clar accepting responsibilites, comparable to being able to select a residence of your choice, I suggest that you in vestigate the student housing situations at other state universities. I find it difficult to believe that NU students lack the ethical and moral competence to know what may be the best for them by the time they are juniors or over 21 years of age. R. M. Lambrecht Graduate Student Daily Nebraskan March M. 1MT Vol. M No. n Second-class postal paid li Lincoln, Neb. TELEPHONE! 477471L Extensions 15M, KM and tWO. Subscription rate ara M par armester or M for tha aeadmla year Pub. lUhad Monday. Wednesday, Thursday ana Friday during tha school year, axcatit durtci vacatlone and exam periods, hy tha etudents ef tha 1'nlvcratly of Nebraska wider tha Jurisdiction el tha faculty lubcommltteo ea Studen Publication! Publication shall be lra from censorship br tha IubcommltUa or any person utsld the University. Members of the Nebraakaa are responsible tor what they cauee to be printed. Member Associated Colleslat Prose. National Aovsrtlsni Service. Incor porated. Published at Boom SI. Nebraska Union, Lincoln, Neb., MS II. 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