THE DAILY NEBRASICAN
Commentary
Friday, March 8, 1968
Editorials
- a '
i. .- .. , - i
Doing your
own thing
" : Vietnam Is the main topic of conversation these
" dys whXr it is in a noisy corner of Myron's or
vtin a 150-seat lecture room of a political science
-"'class.
Everyone denies being an expert on the i War
but they can argue endlessly about various theories
'for quickly ending the War.
Nebraska students thus far have been content
" to only taK about Vietnam but a growing number
?re Sng other methods to display their discontent-
'- Today a group of students are picketing a Dow
Chemical recruiter who is interviewing on cimpus.
These students are not affiliated with any radical
- organization, nor are they going to start a riot.
J" They are simply tired of doing nothing but talk
i ing about the immorality of the Vietnam War nd
Z so have selected Dow Chemical as a focal point to.
- wards which they can express their viewpoints in
f another way.
This demonstration will not prohibit Dow from -;fc
future recruiting here; it will i not fore Dow to re-
consider the manufacture of napalm and Presi
l dent Johnson will never hear about it. (-although
the campus police force may be increased.)
; And this is not the students' intention.
I The picket line, of course, will not produce ma-
terial results but it could prove that the University
... is not inhabited strictly by ROTC hawks.
:" There is a burgeoning tide of anti-war senti
" ment at Nebraska and today is a perfect PPrtW
for students to express it in a place other than a
? political science class.
r ' v- if you classify yourself among the war weary
make a sign and join a quiet demonstration.
Editorials by
Cheryl Tritt
Daily Nebraskan
sponsors primary
At the last ASUN meeting Senate received the
dubious award for being the only student govern
ment of a major university to veto choice '68.
The Senate made a mistake but this should not
deter the University from participating in this na
tionwide presidential primary In which over two
million tbllege students will be voting.
Therefore, the Daily Nebraskan and other in
terestedi student-groups wU assume sponsorship of
Choice SHC
Three weeks before'the Choice '68 election April
ltt the Nebraska will begin running campaign in
flation concerning candidates' platforms and
stands on other issues "which will also appear on
"rhe ballot. t , '
Political forums and debates also will be sched
uled aid '.hopefully campus organizations as the
Ypifcg" Republicans and Young Democrats will
actively campaign for specific candidates.
Organized campaigns for Choice '68 could also
be rtiralleled with campaigns for Nebraska primary
candidates. For example the college primary would
be an ideal opportunity for Students for McCartny
to enhance their candidate's image on the campus.
Organization of the Choice '68 primary will be
gin immediately and students or faculty members
who are interested in the campaign may contact
the Daily Nebraskan office.
ERMR
I
i
William F. Buckley Jr.
68: time of the Conservative
The Times of London, which
likes to think of itself as the
mother-newspaper of the English-speaking
world, and in
fact is highly prestigious, is
nowadays given to such howl
ing edltorialization in its news
columns as makes Time mag
azine by contrast read like the
tablets of detachment.
On their front page they
carry the story, "Mr. Rom
ney Quits-Presidency Race
And then embedded in the
story: "The man who had so
often fallen flat on his face
since aspiring to the highest
office admitted defeat at a
press conference here to
night." And again: "His with
drawal two weeks before the
New Hampshire primary
came as a surprise, but per
haps no other man of his lim
ited capacity would have an
nounced himself in the first
place."
Quite apart from the extra
ordinary impudence of the
Times' evaluative Journalism,
the signal seems to be very
clear nowadays. It Is that
Romney failed because he is
an Idiot. Because he is a man
"of limited capacity," to use
the condescending words of
The Times. The moment is at
hand to meke a few observa
tions: 1. Mr. Romney is not a man
of conspicuously limited ca
pacity. He is a man of quite
extraordinary capacity. Mr.
T. George Harris's recent bi
ography is well worth reading
on this point, but quite apart
from that, the public record
is there.
Mr. Romney as a politician
has been a wow in a Demo
cratic state. As an orator, he
is very difficult to beat. As an
administrator, he is splendid
ly efficient. As a campaigner
he is indomitable, fiercely en
ergetic, capable of matching
even the long hours of a John
Lindsay. And indeed, if he
were so manifestly ill-qualified
as The Times suggests
t h a t he is, how does The
Times, or for that matter
anyone else, account for the
support of Mr. Romney by
such classy and demanding
types as Governor Chafee of
Rhode Island? Or, N e 1 s o n
Rockefeller of New York?
2. The inference will of
course catch on that the
shrewd Mr. Rockefeller
named George Romney pre
cisely because he knew that
Romney would stumble, and
that he, Rockefeller, would be
the beneficiary.
Concerning which hypothe
sis, it should be observed that
if Mr. Rockefeller is so
shrewd as to have been able
to anticipate Mr. Romney's
weaknesses at a point when
Romney was widely hailed as
an extraordinarily successful
political figure, then Mr. Rock
efeller has powers of penetra
tion which entitle him to a
wider degree of respect than
he has been given by some of
his admirers.
And anyway, the collapse
of Mr. Romney proves to be
highly embarrassing w wr.
Rockefeller, rather than In
stantly beneficial There la
for one thing derivative hu
miliation of having hailed a
man who could not get eight
per cent of New Hampshire
Republicans to back him
not a very good show for a
Republican producer who.
more or less claims to be the
true voice cl the Republican
party.
And, for another, here is
Mr. Rockefeller now faced
w 1 1 h a serious dilemma, ei
ther oppose Mr. Nixon himself
and run the risk of losing the
primaries, or fail to oppose
Mr. Nixon and permit him to
get the nomination by default.
No, Mr. Rockefeller thought
Mr. Romney would do much
better.
3. Don't you see, the analy
sis of Mr. Romney's failure as
based on his personal limita
tions is now crucial to the lib
eral Republicans. They must
perforce dwell on the start
ling personal limitations of
Mr. Romney, which limita
tions they never .informed us
about before.
What liberal-oriented ob
servers are greatly reluctant
to acknowledge is that the Re
publican Party of the United
States of America, four years
after the Ignominious defeat
of Senator Barry Uoldwater,
is more conservative m ore
conservative by far than It
was in 1964.
There are a lot of reasons
why this is so, and they in
clude indecisiveness in Viet
nam, the collapse of authority
at h o m e, overweaning gov
ernment, civil war in the
cities. :
The picture that is slowly
crystalizing is that a start
ling number of voter are at
tracted only candidates in
whose firmness in whose
tachment to the ancient ways
-they believe. Nixon's
strength in New Hampshire in
the straw poll was seven
times Romney's, and twice
Rockefeller's.
The polls show that he is
for the first time running
ahead of Lyndcn Johnson. If
you add to those attracted to
Nixon as a reasonable con
servative with a granitic de
termination to contain the
Communists abroad, those
. whose first preference is Ron
aid Reagan, the paradigm of
Conservatism in national pol
itics, you get, well, a g r e a t
many people.
Mr. Romney made some
great blunders. But others
have blundered, and won.
What Mr. Romney has shown
is that this is not the season
for liberal Republicanism,
and that is the principal les
son of bis defeat.
Professors Speak
Abolishing disciplinary records
. - - a 1 J 1- aV AIHA AHA ft I
Dan Looker
America's failing
foreign policy
It's hard to be optimistic about the future of
our country these days. The American armies are
hardly crashing to victory through the Asian jun
gles. One sees pictures of a fairly popular demo
gogue flanked by his state patrol bodyguards (Do
they remind you of the SS?) fn the hometown paper
The long hot summer begins in March in places as
close as Omaha's Near North side.
For the next two weeks this column will be
joining the pessimists - first by looking at our for
eign policy (?). then by taking a brief look at the
problems our cities face.
U.S. foreign policy has never been br.Jiant, al
though John FV Kennedy handled the international
situation fairly well. Since his death, however the
U.S. has sunk back into its diplomatic myopia. To
make our future even more gloomy, the only presi
dential candidate with a rational foreign policy has
the least chance of being elected (Sen. Eugene Mc
Carthy).
Let's do the opposite of what the press, the gov
ernment, and the politicians are doing for a mo
ment ignore Vietnam and look at the rest of the
world. It does still exist but It has changed.
-the East-West detente is now a farce.
-the American image is extremely low in Eur
ope and the NATO alliance is crumbling.
the Alliance for Progress in South America is
stagnating. '
all nf thft iinrierdvlonid nations of the world
are suffering from the effects of last year's record
$1 billion foreign aid cut by Congress.
The American public confuses Vietnam with for
eign policy and it seems that most of the politicians
do also. When the war is finally concluded-and it
makes no difference if we win or not-the public
will be shocked to learn that the United States has
lost the cold war. . , ' ,
The President's leadership m the international
area has been mediocre but no one man can be .
blamed for America's foreign policy problems.
The average American speaks one language,
reads one newspaper and a handful of magazines
that are all about alike, and has never been outside
of the country, unless he lived on a ship or an iso
lated military base. , ,
Americans elect men just like them to Congress
and to the presidency. It isn't surprising, then that
we aren't doing well in world politics.
John Reiser
Preview for 1969
Unicameral action
What follows is a quick look at a few of the pro
posals Governor Tiemann will have for the 1969 Leg
islature, as taken from an outline of legislative
plans released to this column by the Governor's of
fice this week.
Once again, the Governor will ask the Unicam
eral to adopt open-housing legislation, despite voci
ferous opposition from powerful vested interests and
lethargic silence irom so-cauea muueruies.
A revision of civil commitment laws in the area
of mental health, long considered overdue, is un
derway. Nebraska participation in the Interstate
Compact on Mental Health and in the Interstate
Compact on Mental Retardation will also be sought.
Governor Tiemann will ask the senators to ap
propriate the necessary funds to allow the state to
aid private industry in certain high-risk venturei
Campus Opinion
Dear Editor: . 4 4. ... ..,
One may be tired of hearing about the Vietnam
War. So are we. But the issue is far from dead, as
a quick look at any outlet of the mass media will
demonstrate.
Whether you believe that this war is wrong, or
whether you believe that all wars are wroKg, talk
about the war is common, and talk is cheap. It w
also ineffective, as evidenced by increased U.S.
tTOop committments.
A committee of concerned politically unaffili
ated undergraduates is offering the opportunity for
personal committment in the form of a demonstra
tion against the Dow Chemical recruiters who will
be in the Union March 8.
Why Dow? Because Dow has by this time be
come the symbol of everything that is ugly about
the Vietnam war. Dow is not the cause of the war,
but it is a significant part of the war machine, and
they conduct a strong program of college recruit
ment. It is one of the few times when the life of the
campus and the death of the war coincide, however
briefly.
Dow is a symbol largely because of their pro
duction of napalm, an Indiscriminate killer.
In short, the war is getting bigger, Dow is get
ting richer, and talk Is getting cheaper.
The demonstration (in the form of a picket line),
will begin at the R Street entrance of the Student
Union Friday morning at 9 a.m. It will continue aU
day, and people are encouraged to participate at
their schedules will allow.
The purpose of the demonstration win be to
peacefully publicize your feelings. We think it is un
realistic to hope that Dow wiJl not return to campus
becuse of this demonstration. Our expectations ara
not that great But tfes Nebraska press has in the
past given such demonstrations good coverage. We
seek only to emphasize that there is anti-war senti
ment in this state, on this campus.
If we can affect only one person favorably then
we have accomplished something.
There are hundreds of opponents to the Vietnam
War on campus.
How long can your conscience justify continued
Inaction? ...
Lee Kinney
Mick Lowe
and a committee of
concerned undergraduates
TMa week'a columnist for
the Professors Speak series
Is Dr. Louis Crompton pro
fessor of English.
Dear Editor:
One issue that students con
cerned about campus rights
pay -little attention to is that
of disciplinary records. This
is understandable. Few stu
dent! actually get expelled
("indefinitely suspended" is
the expression now favored by
deans' offices) and those who
do are no longer on the cam
pus to complain.
Moreover, the policies of
administrations on this mat
ter often sound very liberaL
Here is how one dean at a
Nebraska institution (not
NU) recently described tht
matter:
"Students who have been
in disciplinary difficulty can
ask that this information be
taken off their record. The
only disciplinary information
entered on academic records
is suspension."
"These records, which are
separate from academic rec
ords, never leave the office of
the dean of students, and they
provide information only on
violations of university rules
resulting in probationary ac
tion. The records for the past
six years fill only half a fil
ing cabinet In general a stu
dent is entitled to non-disclosures.
The student gives the per.
mission to release certain
confidential Information when
using the university as a
reference. Tne university
may also release records at
the request of a responsible
agency to whom the student
has applied for employment,
provided there Is a clause in
which the student agrees to
release this iiJormatioB."
This reads very reassuring
ly but a closer took will show
that the 'protection" pur-
Dortedlv offered the student
is in fact a hollow mockery.
True, the academic tran
scripts of most schools no
longer label a student as a
"cheater" of "plagiarist" as
was once common. It is true
also that many schools, in
cluding our own, officially re
quire a release from the stu
dent before the details about
his case are given to another
college or a prospective em
ployer. But in fact this amounts to
no protection at all, since no
school will admit a student
with "suspended" on his rec
ord until it is given access to
the facts. It is not certain
that the protection this
limited degree of confiden
tiality is supposed to provide
is not a myth, since deans
will frequently telephone oth
er colleges which a student
has attended if they suspect
he may have been in trouble
there and be given full in
formation without the stu
dent's being consulted at all.
This might not be so bad
If all suspended students were
thieves or arsonists. (Though
even these cases raise a ques
tion. Do we want to make
permanent outlaws even of
such people? We do not ask
about a student's criminal
record on first admitting
him.)
(But the suspension may
mean nothing more than a
plrl has staved out all night
or a boy taken part in a
civil rights demonstration.
In one case at Columbia Uni
versity an M.A. student was
picked up in a police raid
at a private social gathering.
No illegal activity or noisy
disturbance was taking
place. The landlord was simp
ly hostile to the tenant and
called the police.
Now the social group hap
pened to be a group of homo
sexuals, who are not popular
with policemen. Though the
student was released after
three days with no charge
being laid he was foolish
enough to admit his homo
sexuality to the police who
turned this information over
to the university.
Since the raid was reported
in the papers, Columbia
forthwith expelled him and
stamped his transcript "sex
pervert." When he wanted to
c o m p 1 e t e his professional
training elsewhere he found
himself in an impossible di
lemma. Since he had also taken
his B.A. at Columbia he
could not bypass the situa
tion by merely omitting to
admit his Columbia past.
He finally began work again
as a freshman two years la
ter in an out-of-state city
college as the only route open
to him.
Though this case is an ex-
VL l, No. 75
Daily Nebraskan
Mare 1. 1961
Be-otid-claw poetaae tMI at Lincoln. Neb. m,m
TELEPHONES. Editor 475-2588. Newa 47MS. J?' th?SdiilJe war.
Sobacriptfcm rate, ara t4 per eenwater ? thiSoS war
Publl.hed SoSday. Wednewl.y, ThoridMairtKry during
neM during vacation! and exam periode, by the Jr RiuriJS
ef Nthranka undr tha Urtadlctioa of the Faculty Suljcxmittaa on bwdot
pub&aWn. Publication. IhaH bj free from N.taku m m2
ir any paraoo outtlde the Unlveraity. Membera of the Nebraakan ara raaponaiDia
tor adoHaSSES c.u.r. f"" fcnrt
MSrelif cKIu. SrtwartSopli Photographer, Mik. Hajma. and Dan Udaljr.
Busineaa Manaaw Glenn Friendt: Production Mnaw Chartte Meift
ttonal Ad Manaaar Ueta Macbeyi Bookkeeper and elad ada miub Grr
HolliBf.wrthi Bontnee. Secretary, Jan Boaani feubacoa Ma Jmei
laoai Saleamea Daa Crook, Dan Looker, Kathy DreUb, XeM SlauaMer, MM
HitctaU. Joel Ctvla. Lima Wvmacqiia.
treme one it does point up the
wisdom of proviso in the
"Joint Statement on Student
Rights" adopted by the NSA
and now under consideration
by the AAUP and National
Association of Student of Per
sonal Administrators. This re
quires that "transcripts of
academic records should con
tain only information about
academic status," i.e. noth
ng about suspensions.
In addition the Joint State
ment recommends that "Pro
vision should also be made
for periodic routine destruc
tion of noncurrent disciplin
ary records." Why does the
Nebraska dean quoted above
have -six years' record in his
office? This is absurd, and
may of course be nothing
more than poor housekeep
ing. Everyone postpones
clearing out old records, but
in the case of student dis
ciplinary files it may be high
ly desirable to destroy them.
A few years ago the House
UnAmerican Activities Com
mittee subpoenaed the files
of the University of Califor
nia at Berkeley and the Uni
versity of Michigan in an in
vestigation over HUAC, thus
subjecting the students to the
committee's harassment. This
was done despite the fact
that there would have been
strong constitutional grounds
for obtaining a court injunc
tion voiding the subpoena.
But the simplist way to pre
vent such problems is simply
not to keep on hand any
information which can be
missused. At a West Coast
meeting of the American
Civil Liberties Union last
spring an assistant dean from
Berkeley wrung his hands
and declared "If only we
had cleared our files before
the subpoena was issued 1"
Clearly, destruction of un
necessary disciplinary and
other records can save ad
ministrators as well as students.
Hearts
and
Hands
which might significantly bolster Nebraska s econo
my. This is a "priority" item, which typifies the
"go-getter" spirit Tiemann has brought to industrial
development.
He will seek consolidation of agencies In sev
eral areas, including highway safety, inspection
functions, and licensing, with an eye toward increas
ing efficiency and reducing costs.
Still under consideration is the idea of support
ing establishment of a state "ombudsman" to as
sist average citizens In their dealings with state gov
ernment. Several reforms are planned In the area of taxa
tion. Two of them gradual phasing out of tangi
ble personal taxes and the addition of a Homestead
Exemption to the income t? will depend on voter
approval of enabling constitutional amendments this
November.
The administration hopes to get favorable ac
tion on a proposal to change the make-up of th
Board of Equalization and Assessment from the pres
ent group of elected officials to a more professional
body.
The Governor and his staff members are work
ing with the Omaha Mayor's office on possible ur
ban legislation so Omaha won't become another o
America's unliveable cities.
The Governor's Crime Control Commission is
working on legislation in the area of crime and cor
rections in Nebraska.
Higher education needs are being analyzed with
an eye toward coordination of the higher education
effort in the state, although legislation is still in
early stages here.
The administration "hopes to support" a bill
dealing with ethics in government and with con-flicts-ttf-interest.
It will definitely back meat inspection legisla
tion to comply with the recent federal law and will
seek Nebraska participation in the Pest Control
Compact.
While plans are still incomplete, with the ses
sion still ten months away, it is significant in Ne
. braska that so much planning has gone on so early.
The Governor will offer solutions for the considera
tion of the Legislature.
As in 1967, the Tiemann program will be an
exhilirating challenge to Nebraska - to reach a
' little higher than before, to believe in our state's
future and to build for it today.