nil -"Cur Tiim m(jifc 1 t9K
Decision to drop charges
Is the best alternative
In a decision that The Nebraskan considers
the best possible solution, Lancaster County At
torney Paul Douglas announced Wednesday that
charges would not be filed in connection with last
May's occupation of the ROTC building.
This decision is fortunate in several respects.
There has been a time lapse of more than five
months since the occupation of the building; The
Nebraskan considers this to be too long a period of
time between the commission of an alleged crime
and the decision to file charges. Also, permitting
this time to pass before filing charges tends to con
firm the notion that act of forcibly entering the
building was one of little importance (a crime of
any gravity would have been prosecuted more
quickly).
Prosecution of the six individuals named by
the campus security force would have been unfair
because over one hundred people entered the build
ing with the first group. Those six people would
probably have been the most prominent or the most
recognizable of the group, not necessarily those
who forced the door.
In light of the recent controversy over wheth
er or not the door was locked and whether it was
pushed in or pulled out, and in view of the con
flicting statements from the security officers who
were present, it is questionable whether their
identifications would be more reliable than their
other observations.
Finally, considering that the nature of the pro
test involved civil disobedience to dramatize moral
and political beliefs and not vandalism, it is best
that the charges were dropped. The damage to the
bulding and property inside was practically negli
gible. It is to be hoped that the University, like the
county attorney's office, will consider the evidence
too meager to warrant further action.
Indeed, the actions of last spring are more to
be lauded than prosecuted.
Singh pinpoints problems
The article on this page by Bacchitar Singh
is an extensive look at the problems which face
students from other countries when they come to
the United States. As Singh states, those who have
lived in other countries are probably more aware
of the loneliness and separation that confronts peo
ple in a strange land.
But a painful awareness of the problem is not
a prerequisite to solving it. This is a difficulty
that can be overcome on the individual level it
doesn't need the action of large and well organized
groups.
It is by ignoring our fellow man that we both
create the problem and insulate ourselves from
the pain it causes. Each of us must work toward
tearing down the harriers that separate us by be
ing more sensitive and attentativc to fellow humans.
THE NEBRASKAN
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Adilrous: The Nobraskan
34 Nebraska Union
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska 48501
Wdltorlal Staff
E.lllo-: KpIIov Baker; Managing Editor: Connie Winkler) News Editor: Bill
Smlihrrnirtii; Spurts Editors: Jim Johnston end rVouer Rite Nebraskan Stotf
Writers: Gary Stiicreat. J-hn Dvorak, Mick Morlarly, Dave Brink. Steve
j r.isscr, Suo Schnfer, Sieve Kadel, Pat McTee, Carol Ooelschlusi Pholovra
p,;?rs: Pan Ladrly. Mike Havman Entertainment Editor: Fred C senhert;
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lorn Lansworth, Night News Assistant: Leo Schleicher.
I Mr1aOTipeMiaMMki
A society is judged by the way it cares for its youth and aged.
Spiro is boff o at b. o. Z ol? NjU grad
by FRANK MANKIEWICZ
and TOM BRADEN
According to reports from the
country, the Vice President's
recent tour was a box office
smash and an artistic triumph.
Oddly, it seems to have been a
political flop.
The only explanation is that
Spiro Agnew has become an
entertainer, and people are
always a little resentful when
entertainers get serious about
politics.
Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra
have seen the problem at first
hand and have learned to let
their performances speak for
themselves. But .Hope and
Sinatra are entertainers
becoming politicians. Agnew is
trying to reverse the pro
cess. The problem is summed up in
the one-line alliterations which
were the Vice President's
stock-in-trade during the recent
tour. "Nattering ; nabobs of
negativism" is a ; funny line,
and so is "hopeless, hysterical
hypochondriacs of history."
But the trouble with alliteration
as a literary device is that it
calls attention to itself and
detracts from meaning.
What is a "nattering nabob of
negativism"? If you stop to
explain it, you ruin the act;
which is fatal to a performer. If
you don't stop to explain it, you
become meaningless; which is
fatal to a politician.
Edgar Allan Poe was the last
American poet to make use of
alliteration, but those lines
from "The Raven," "His eyes
had all the seeming of a demon
that is dreaming," while
enchanting,' are not rated his
best, simply because poets, like
politicians, are supposed to
mean something.
At any rate, most polls from
the territory the Vice President
covered indicate that the
entertainment outlasted the
message.
In Illinois, Agnew was a
smash hit, but young Adlai
Stevenson is still the probable
winner. So are William Prox
mire in Wisconsin, Gale McGee
in Wyoming, Quentin Burdick
in North Dakota, Joseph Mon
toya in New Mexico, Frank
Moss in Utah, Vance Hartke in
Indiana and John Tunney in
California. Agnew packed din.
ner audiences, drew a big hand
in all these states, but there
was no political effect.
IF THE ELECTIONS go as
the polls now go, the Vice
President will be able to claim
success only in Tennessee,
where Republican William
Brock is favored over Sen.
Albert Gore. But Brock was
favored before Agnew came in,
and his margin seems to be
diminishing.'
The key test will come In
New York, where Agnew has
made a household word out of
Republican Sen. Charles
Goodell. Until Agnew struck,
Goodell was running a bad
third in his campaign against
Democrat Richard Ottinger
and Conservative James
Buckley. The Vice President's
obvious intent is to switch
liberal votes from Ottinger to
Goodell and thus give the elec
tion to Buckley, but like all
such ploys there is the danger
.that it may work too well.
Agnew has made Goodell the
only Page 1 figure in the
race.
BUT ALTHOUGH HE is not
yet a political success, Agnew
as entertainer has gained with
every performance. In addition
to the consciously funny
alliterative lines, the Vice
President, with that uncanny
ability which is the mark of the
true vaudevillian, has
developed a new straw-man
theme. At the moment Agnew
himself appears only dimly to
understand its possibilities, but
before the winter is out it pro
mises marvelous political
jokes.
The theme first advanced
in Milwaukee is to campaign
against Dr. Spock, the baby
specialist. "This Spock-marked
generation," the Vice President
said, conjuring up a villain to
be blamed for long hair and
campus violence.
THE NOTION that the
famous Spock book, which has
' sold 25 million copies and is
still the font of wisdom for
younger parents, is
permissivist, is totally er
roneous. "Good parents who
lean toward strictness should
stick to their guns," Spock
wrote, criticizing only the
"harsh and overbearing."
But the spectacle of Agnew
absolving those who commit
campus violence on the
grounds that their mothers fed
them "on demand" is pure
Freudian, in direct contraven
tion of law and order and of the
proposition that a man is
responsible for his acts. It is
dangerous politics, but great
entertainment.
by RODNEY POWELL
Class of 1969
Attempting to write a column
for the Rag from Chicago, I
identify strongly with Kurt
Vonnegut, Jr.'s description of
himself i n Slaughterhouse
Five: an old fart, left with his
memories and Pall Malls. I ask
myself, "What's with these
kids?," and feel guilty for
doing so. But, my God, this new
crowd has almost succeeded in
ruining Casey's, packing it full
of faces that make old farts
like me ill at ease. And besides,
it's all fancied up inside.
How do I know all this?
Well, I was in Lincoln a few
days before the start of classes,
and was able to perceive a few
things through my not com
pletely unpleasant alcoholic
stupor. Dripping with nostalgia,
I noted that there are still
fraternity and sorority pledges
wearing their newly cutoff
sweatshirts, but not as many as
before. I noted that the Big Red
phenomenon has not died, at
least not among the Senior
Citizens of Nebraska (Senior
Citizens are, of course, anyone
over college age). I noted that
grubbiness is more "in" than
ever (ditto long hair).
So what? I asked myself that,
and I can't come up with much
of an answer. It's more a vague
uneasiness, a feeling that
things really haven't changed,
that one set of attitudes has
simply been exchanged for
another. OFF ROTC for GO
BIG RED, the evil of amerika
(cq) for the evil of Com
munism, knee-jerk,unthinking,
pseudo-radicalism for knee
jerk, bed-rock, Bible Belt con
servatism. These are, of
course, rather broad and
coarse generalizations, but
from my admittedly limited
viewpoint, they are ac
curate. '
My problem is that I just
don't like the new s e t of at
titudes. It's still a world of
Heroes and Villains. Take a
potshot at a Big Baddie like
Spiro Agnew and congratulate
yourself for your virtue and
superiority. Be convinced that
Richard Nixon is Evil, and that
Fascism in Amerika (cq) is
just around the corner unless
we all Wake Up and discover
Our Wickedness. Self
flagellation r eplaces
Boost erism. Some ex
change. Unfortunately, I envision
Waking Up one morning to
discover that the New
Evangelism has the same pro
blem as the Old: only the con
verted have been listening. And
somehow I doubt that the New
Religion so fervently preached
will prove as durable as the
Old. It might be wise to
remember this line from Jean
Renoir's magnificent film, "the
Rules of the Game," "Tout le
monde a ses raisons" '
("Everyone has his
reasons").
Xenophobic, or just sliy:
The walls that separate us are built largely of ignorance
by BACCHITAR SINGH
President International Club
Some Americans look down on foreign students
and think thut they are inferior or insignificant
while others feel they are snobbish and aloof.
Nothing could be more misleading or false.
'....It is easy to discuss understanding but difficult
to achieve it. Primarily, ignorance prevents un
derstanding. Many American students feel that
foreign students have nothing in common with them
. . . that American students' lives have no relation
to foreign students'. So why should they waste
their precious time?
The foreign student Is a victim of constant
pressure from the moment he arrives in a "strange"
land. He is unfamiliar with practically all that
he sees. Although surrounded by people, he is
a stranger to those around him and feels lonely
sometimes desperately lonely.
The other foreign students he sees arc as
strange as his hosts. There may be a few from
his own country but he doesn't know them
either.
He has the Herculean task of trying to adjust
to his new environment where names and customs
arc alien to him. He Is weighed down by his
studies. He is desperately in need of a friend,
but, because of his incertainty, it is not easy
to approach a stranger. Under these conditions
he may seem proud or snobbish to others.
He has difficulty in finding his lecture rooms
and In moving about. He walks reluctantly into
the classroom, often sits in the corner and usually
has difficulty understanding the instructor. Since
his proficiency in English is still poor, he takes
the easiest way out of the dilemma by associating
with his countrymen. Soon he is spending more
and more time with them.
Many foreign students have difficulty in getting
proper housing. Food problems discourage the
foreign student from living in the dormitories but
he cannot acquire good accommodations off campus.
He feels hurt and confined when he is denied
some abode because of his color. Finally, when
he does find an apartment, it is usually in bad
condition but he has no ehoiee but to accept it.
By now he is resentful and hostile.
Living off campus secludes the foreign student
from the rest of the University community. He
is too busy cooking and studying to socialize and
his daily routine takes him from apartment to
classroom, from classroom to library, and from
the library back to the apartment.
Thus his chance of meeting others is minimized
usually his few friends arc his countrymen.
It is very seldom that an American approaches
a foreign student to develop a friendship. As a
result, foreign students feel that all Americans
are of this nature (lacing interest in them and
their welfare).
As a result, he becomes defensive and crawls
deeper into his shell ... he dislikes Americans
and feels aggravated. One graduate student com
plained that he was asked dumb questions like
"Have you ever ridden an elephant? How did you
learn to speak English? Are you going homo for
Christmas?"
..He feels that if Americans made a little more
effort they would not need t ask him such trivial
questions.
Others said that Americans generally start and
end with well-worn questions such as, "Where did
you come from? How long have you been in this
country? How did you choose the University of
Nebraska? How do you like this place?" The con
versation usually ends with, "I hope you like it
here." Next time, if they meet again, the conversa
tion may start with the questions, "How are you
today?" or "How's It going?" And the answer,
"I'm fine." usually ends the conversation.
But there is another group too. These students
have nothing but praise for their American hosts.
They have many friends and find the Americans
a warm and friendly people.
Do Americans at the university give a damn
about the foreign students? or are they unfriendly
and discriminatory against them?
The answer has to be "no." Though there
are some who are guilty of these faults, the majority
of American students are interested in the foreign
students. But the reluctance and fear of ap
proaching a foreign student Is certainly there and
very few take the initiative to go and speak with
them.
A point raised by many American students
is that they usually hesitate to approach a foreign
student because they fear they might hurt his
feelings or be offensive by asking a certain question.
A few feel they have nothing in common to talk
about, while others regret that they don't know
anything about others' cultures, interests or coun
tries. Some say they are too busy and have no
time.
This Indicates a similarity, though obviously
fur different reasons both American and foreign
students are reluctant to approach each other.
Consciously or subconsciously, the American
student is guilty in one particular aspect
categorizing the ' student from another land. Be
he Chinese, Indian, Japanese or some other na--tionality,
he is simply labeled "foreign student."
Addressing him that way tends to make him lose
his individuality and he comes to resent this.
It is very common to hear someone say, "I
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1970
met a foreign student from Japan today. "Any coun
try will do. Why use the word "foreign?" It sounds
so unfriendly and alien. Why not say "Indians"
or "Chinese" or whatever country the person is
associated with?
No two foreign students are alike, so stop
categorizing them. They, just like you, are proud
of their countries and their personalities. Try to
learn and use their names; that will make them
feel like the Individuals they are. A small amount
of encouragement and concern by American hosts
will go a long way In bringing out students who
have come to a "strange land," who are away from
home and are uncertain of how to act, react or
behave toward the hosts of this nation.
Programs and activities that would bring the
two groups together should be encouraged by the
administration. Student groups on campus need
financial aid to conduct such programs and the
University as an institution should take an interest
in this. At present, the activities and functions
of foreign students are usually held in some church
basement away from campus. University officials
should see to it that facilities are provided in
the Nebraska Union for such occasions. This would
result in more involvement among all students.
The social life of most foreign students is quite
deficient. American students are either reluctant
or over-cautious about getting to know people from
other lands. The usual excuse is that they don't
know the foreign students and therefore are hesitant
about going out and approaching them, but judging
from the percentage of other strangers they get
to know, this excuse seems unfounded.
Not surprisingly, American students who have
themselves been "foreign students" In some other
land are generally more concerned with this pro-
THE NEBRASKAN
blem. Having experienced the ordeals of being
"strange," they know and understand the feeling.
To overcome ignorance and misconceptions
there must be a genuine desire on both sides
to meet each other as human beings. A warm
friendship can result through understanding and
when people are able to know each other: they
will make life happier and the world will be more
peaceful.
It is essential for the foreign student to unders
tand the American people. Without this understan
ding, he will not be able to reach any valid con
clusions about his experience. He must be socially
aggressive and outgoing . . . only this way will
he be able to enhance his life here. The social
norms and inter-relationships of the American
society are so different from his own that he
is bound to have misconceptions that can only
be removed if he mingles as frequently as possible
with the people ... it is a must for his survival.
The American student is in his home territory.
He may disregard the foreign student, but he misses
so much by doing so. Here is a rich source from
which he can learn and come to a better understan
ding of the people of the world. This knowledge
will be useful to him as it will make him a
more open-minded individual.
Mahatma Gandhi's words seem appropriate
here. "I do not want my house to be walled
in on all sides and my windows to be shuttered.
I want the culture of all lands to be blown about
my house as freely as possible, but I refuse to
be blown off my feet by any of them. Mine is
not a religion of the prison house. It has a room
for the least among God's creations, but it is
proof against insolent pride of race, religion or
color."
PAGE 5
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THE NEBRASKAN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1970
i .