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Dear editor:
I am writing this letter to voice my strong
opposition to the removal of the religious preference
card from University registration materials.
The religious preference card serves a healthy
function. The University of Nebraska, as a public
education institution, has the obligation to pursue the
goal of "total education." "Total education" includes
the acquisition of a pattern of knowledge, skills,
attitudes and values that will result in increasingly
responsible and productive behavior,. Many
institutions within the University community can be
said to play a part in this process-including the
campus ministries. And the religious preference card
is used by all ministries, according to Pastor Norden's
comment in the Daily Nebraskan.
The "separation of church and state" issue can be
brought up but, given the circumstances, I don't
believe it is a meaningful argument. While the issue is
difficult, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a New
Jersey statute authorizing tax-supported funds to be
spent for bus fares of parochial school pupils
attending public and other schools was not
unconstitutional. The reasoning behind this decision
was that the payment was made for the benefit of the
student, regardless of his religion.
While such aid indirectly could promote religious
functions the Court found this not in conflict with
the First Amendment. The State is not required to be
the adversary of religion. Likewise, the University
makes no direct cash payments to religious houses
here. It merely allows the :ampus ministries to have
use of University machines and . personnel for the
preference cards the same as for registration
materials. And this is for the "total student" benefit.
. Spiritual education is a valid part of education. We
know students are seeking for a deeper ultimate
meaning to their lives. All men are concerned with
God's place in their lives. And we know a student's
college years can be critical in this regard. In addition,
the student can receive personal counseling,
fellowship, moral training and encouragement to
social activism-all of which benefit society, too. The
provision of these services is considered in the policy
of tax exemption to religious organizations, according
to the student's preference-resulting in no prejudicial
benefit to any sectarian religion.
In closing, while I believe it is the right of
administrators to determine the content of the
registration packets, I also believe that as public
servants they have a responsibility to listen to the
interests of involved parties before making a decision.
While I can't say the campus ministries absoutely
need the cards as they exist, I believe at least some
will be hurt materially if they are discontinued in
their present form.
I know of no other acceptable alternatives
suggested. Over 60 per cent of the people of Nebraska
are churchgoers, according to Father Kalin. The
registration process is the best way to reach students,
according to Mr. Bowker of academic services. And
the campus ministries can offer a unique service to
students. Trie religious preference card has been here
for a long time. Maybe revise the format a little, but
let's keep it.
Darrel D. Voegler
An essential flaw
Dear editor:
Your editorial (Daily Nebraskan Feb, 19) on the
religious preference cards makes a good point, but it
contains one essential flaw.
You won't be bringing in the sheaves with the
argument that religious preference cards shouldn't be
included in the registration packets because they arc a
form of proselytizing.
Proselytizing is the soliciting of converts. Religious
preference cards are a gathering of data. They may be
used by some campus ministries to expedite
evangelism, but other ministries only use them to get
addresses of students who might be interested in the
programs provided to members of wrtiir,
denominations.
Are yz ioic to comprehend the error of your
i ne road to hell is paved with Hawed
intentions.
"John Wesley"
Appalled by snowballs
Dear editor:
1 was appalled by the actions of our student body
Monday night. Mere were the leaders of tomorrow
engaged in a snowball fight. The people that have
been given an opportunity fur almost unlimited
advancement and responsibility. Don't get me wrong.
I have nothing against a good snowball fight, but
what I saw was nothing more than a rampant mob.
Too many students were out with the intent to
tbursday, february 20, 1975
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destroy property. I heard the remark as people ran by
"Let's break some windows." When I arrived at
Pound, I saw a male proceed to throw a snowball and
break a window after which many students cheered! I
thought to myself, "What a man."
As for the snowball throwing at cops, we have an
awful lot of people with good arms and aim, but 100
students against three officers is a big lopsided. What
really sickened me was that there was not one
individual who had enough guts to say to his group or
friend, "Let's call it quits."
Michael Feichtinger
"Fun" running wild
Dear editor:
We students complain about our lack of rights and
the rising costs at the University and yet we allow
ourselves to run wild, destroying property while
having some "fun."
Monday night a snowball fight erupted around
Neihardt. The leaded glass window over the main
doorway was shattered. Perhaps this wasn't enough,
as some other windows along the front of the
building were broken.
Maybe all this was purely accidential and such
action was never meant to happen. But what
happened on the south side of Piper was no accident.
Some person or persons unknown broke the
window of a room and stole several cartons of pop
sitting on the window ledge. These persons unknown
then threw one of the pop bottles through the
window of the next room, shattering it all over a girl
sleeping there.
What rights, if any, do wc deserve when we
descend to such levels? This "fun" was simply
destruction of property which endangered the lives of
others.
Paul A. Bartz
Strive for racial harmony
Dear editor:
This is in response to A'Jamal Byndon's opinion
concerning racial ignorance and bigotry on campus
expressed in the Feb. 27 issue of the Daily
Nebraskan.
I come from a small city in Nebraska where there
are no black residents. Slanted news reports and
tainted attitudes from parents and elders constituted
the only source from which to draw my knowledge of
black ideals and attitudes. As an open-minded
freshman, I came to school with a strong desire to
learn about and experience relationships with
minorities for myself.
After two years of school and contact with most
minorities on campus, I have come to realize that my
elders have divorced themselves from the world of
reality. This in turn results in a reluctance on their
part to admit that deviations from their stereotypes
actually indicated a changing attitude between all
peoples. Attitudes are changing, and I have faith that
they will continue to change for the better. Dick
Gregory calls the youth of today "a breath of fresh
air." We are not burdened- with the prejudices the
establishment has imprisoned itself with.
My only hope is that we do not stagnate that
"fresh air" by paying too much attention to the
pessimistic Byndons whose purpose, it seems, is to
attract excessive attention to the bad conditions
presently existing. Instead we must strive toward the
day when Americans can proudly acclaim racial
harmony.
Concerned Fremonter
Bigots on both sides
Dear editor:
This letter is in regard to a guest opinion by
A'Jamal Bundon. It just so happens that I live on the
floor where Byndon is the student assistant and was
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some of the things Byndon speaks of.
True, some of the things spoken in that room were
lacking in any great amount of thought and
sensitivity. But, this goes for both sides. I'll grant that
most, if not all, white people on this campus are
prejudiced in one way or another, The people that
were in on the conversation and on this floor came
from towns like Gordon, Sidney, Bridgeport, Beemer,
Sutton and Fremont, I'm from Lincoln. Huw many
of those towns have a high con cent rati on of blacks.
We aj can't come from Omaha or some other large
metropolitan city where we interact socially with any
minority, in this case Blacks, We are prejudiced and in
some ways, ignorant. But most of these people come
to college and find it hard to overcome 18 or 19 years
of learning in one semester of college.
But how are we to learn if when we try and talk to
a Black we are called sic, redneck, bigots and racists?
Byndon did have the patience to talk to us, which
most Blacks will not do. But we react to these names
in a negative way, as would anyone. We cannot learn
if we are shut off. Byndon did talk to us for quite
awhile, and he stood up to some pretty dumb
questions. But why should he make such a wide
generalization? If he docs come from the ghetto, then
he should expect some of these things from a place
like Lincoln.
After we left the room, I told him some of the
dally nebraskan
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things I've said here, and he asked me if I thought it
was true that coming from the ghetto is worth four
years of living experience. I had no answer. But, if he
believes this to be true, then he is speaking from the
experience of 24 years. His letter, despite the fact
that some of his conclusions are true does not sound
like a 24-year-old psychology major or a student
assistant. It sounds more like a little immature child
engaging in name-calling. I believe Byndon to be just
as much as bigot or racist as he says whites are.
Brian Weidenthaler
Want UNO graduation
Dear Editor:
We wish to present the view of the minority of the
criminal justice students with regards to the current
controversy concerning graduating from UNL or the
University of Nebraska at Omaha. We wnat to have
UNO engraved on our diplomas.
It seems the basic complaint of the majority is
having to be graduated from UNO and also having to
drive fifty miles to attend graduation ceremonies
which, even if they were held in Lincoln, few would
attend.
Scholastically, there is little or no difference
between the quality of the education received on
either campus.
Being from Omaha we are both aware of the
stigma of "West Dodge High" which has been
attached to UNO. Both of us also had no desire to
attent UNO.
The fact remains, however, that UNO is ranked in
the top seven criminal justice schools in the nation. It
also offers a well-established graduate program for
those wishing to continue in the field.
Unfortunately, in our society people are
recognized more for the prestige of the university
they attended, rather than the intellectual ability of
the individual. Thus a person graduating from UNO
would carry more prestige and have a better chance at
a job opening than one who graduated from a
university that was virtually unknown in the criminal
justice fie!d.
It is our hope that this letter might help the
majority see the light and not encourage a change
that would be detrimental to all concerned.
Jim Rowoldt
, Bob Schorr
Fight would have died
Dear editor:
I believe the Lincoln police acted in total
incompetence in attempting to control a large-scale
snowball fight between two factions that exist on this
campus. Had the police simply let the fight go, it
would have died as quickly as it started, as it "actually
did after the police left. Not only did the police fail
to display the newest techniques in K-9 police work,
they actually prolonged a confrontation which they
were assigned to stop.
The trend of the night was clear, it was not
primarily a confrontation between campus factions,
rather it was a classic police versus student
confrontation, a game of cat and mouse. This
continued for about one and one half hours with the
students milling around uninhibited and the police
with their dogs attempting to scare a few people.
At the height of the disturbance on 16th St. the
Greeks and residence hall residents actually stood on
opposite sides of the street and shelled the police
with snowballs. Women from the residence halls and
from sororities also joined in this peculiar situation.
The police found themselves in vacuum between
students. The officers who were assigned to handle
the situation should be praised for their courage while
underfire.
As for the police chief and Ids assistants shielded
behind a desk at th? police facility, I would
recommend a short refresher course on police theory
for, say, three years at the nearest police academy.
John Hess
No resemblance in cartoon
Dear editor :
A few statistics sre in order in regard to the
availability of paddle-ball courts;
There arc now seven operative courts available to
men only from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through
Friday. There are now seven operative courts
available to men only from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday,
Thursdays and Friday evenings. There are now four
operative courts available for men only from 6 p.m.-8
p.m. Monday and Wendesday evenings. There are now
three courts available for women from 6 p.m.-8 p.m.
Monday and Wednesday evenings. .
Contrary to the tone of the Daily Nebraskan
article which implied that wc arc being treated
generously, the allocation of courts is clearly
discriminatory.
In addition, having played paddleball fairly
regularly this semester, the women who play do not
remotely resemble the one depicted in Ron Wheeler's
cartoon.
Madeleine Lutman
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