Wednesday, december 10, 1975
page 4
daily nebraskan
Yes, Virginia, fear
of freedom exists
Yes, Virginia, there is a Newman Grove, Neb.,
and its school board did vote Dec. 1 to burn the
book Jaws because of the nasty language it
contains.
Your little friends may tell you, Virginia, that
such things happen only in science fiction novels,
but don't you believe them, sweetie.
The Newman Grove school board members be
lieve, you see, that they will be seen as condoning
nasty language if they allow Jaws to remain in their
high school library.
What they are blind to, Virginia, is the fact that
their action-not their removal of the book, but
their vote to burn it-is a denial of their own rights.
Whether or not the book is burned, the children
of. Newman Grove will get to read Jaws if their
parents allow. The library's copy is not the only
one.
Burning a book is only a symbolic action. But it
can lead to other burnings.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Newman Grove. As long
as there are people who fear freedom there will be
Newman Groves.
We notice that one of the Athletic Dept.'s
money saving measures for the Fiesta Bowl trip is
cutting meal allowances for everyone except
players from $20 to $ 18 a day.
Eighteen dollars a day? Is the cost of living in
Arizona that much higher than it is here, or is it
de regeur for coaches and other members of the
Cornhusker retinue to eat steak three times a day?
Most students would blanch at the thought of
having to pay $6 a meal for a week. The football
coaches and roadies probably would blanch, too,
if the money were coming out of their pockets.
Rebecca Brite
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vine street irregulars
VSI increases grad identity
By Michael HMigoss
Yossarian dropped by Friday evening at my invitation
to help open a new case of wine. He settled down, glass in
hand.
To the VSI!" he toasted.
"To graduate students everywhere!" I joined in.
"Yossarian," I said, "this may be a good time to sit back
and reflect on the accomplishments of the semester and
your plans for next year."
"Yes," he agreed. "In reviewing VSI accomplishments,
I would stress an increased identity for graduate students
at UNL.
"Many grads have found that they share the concerns of
the VSI. All that had to be done was make these concerns
public where they could be discussed, evaluated and acted
upon.
"We now see more clearly increased activity of the
Gracuate Student Association," Yossarian continued.
"We see active participation of graduate students in ASUN.
We see more letters to the editor in the Daily Nebraskan
signed by graduate students. This signifies an increased level
of awareness.
"Where it will go from here is an open question," he
said.
"There also has been a corresponding awakening of the
university community to the existence of . graduate
students. One hears the VSI quoted at the administrative
level of the university. I hope this awareness will increase in
time and spread to groups such as the regents and the
Alumni Association. This is one future job for the VSI."
I interrupted to ask if the VSI has any specific plans
next year.
Yossarian responded, "There are several things we are
thinking about. Here are some examples:
(1) Ask grad students in business and economics to
complete a detailed audit and analysis of Nebraska Union
internal budgets.
(2) Request philosophy grad students to help re-evaluate
the traditional ethics of the university community toward
the uses and accumulation of knowledge.
(3) Ask our fellows in the Law College to complete an
examination of the legal status of graduate students,
relating to free speech in classrooms, tenure as teaching
assistants and the graduate catalogue as a legal contract.
(4) Request grad students in sociology to examine the
possibility of grads unionizing andor affiliating with AAUP
as student members.
(5) Request social work grad students to undertake a
new look at the graduate student as a disadvantaged
minority." -
"Hold it!" I said. "I think I get the picture. You
advocate the use of specialized grad student skills to help
identify, articulate and propose solutions to problems
related to the - quality of graduate student life and
education."
"Exactly," he said. "I hope that during Christmas break
grad students will think about how they can contribute,
singly or in groups, to the continuing efforts of the VSI
to make graduate student life at UNL a more rewarding
experience.
"There is no limit to the topics which might be covered
in theses, dissertations and seminar papers relating to the
general problems of graduate education. Everyone is
encouraged to put their own special talents to work.
"What a Christmas present that would be for the VSI!"
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Dear editor,
For the seventh time in seven years, the Cornhuskers are
involved in a post -season bowl game. But for the first time
in seven years, the Athletic Dept. does not have enough
money to bring the University Marching Band along.
Because of this, much unwarranted abuse has been
heaped on the Athletic Dept. Might we suggest that this
abuse be rerouted in the direction of the Big 8 Conference?
The conference is responsible for setting the budget for
bowl games.
Although the band is to be commended for its
performance this year, and for its contribution to fan enter
tainment at football games, we find it especially irritating
that the band directors, Fought and Snider, act as if the
Athletic Dept. "owes it to them" to include them on the
bowl trip.
Snider is quoted (with reference to the band's finding
alternative financing), "If we do it once, they'll expect us
to do it again." It seems that this is the exact attitude taken
by the band directors with respect to past bowl-trip financ
tives of the Athletic Dept.
The NU Board of Regents has authorized the Athletic
Dept. to take 85 varsity players on the Fiesta Bowl trip.
That means that 30 to 40 players will be left behind. If
anyone deserves to make the trip, it is these players. They
put in three and one-half to four hours a day, just like
everyone else on the team.
Thanks to the NCAA, they are not allowed to even suit
up for home games. Without these "scout team" members,
it is doubtful that the Huskers would have Had such a
successful season.
For this reason, as members of the football team, we
find it particularly distressing that leaders of the band feel
that the Athletic Dept. owes them a trip. Even more dis
turbing is the fact that in the past, regents (all gainfully
employed individuals mosdy professional people with
equally professional salaries), have consistently voted to
reward themselves for a successful season by including
themselves and their families in the bowl game contingents
(expenses paid, of course), while some of our teammates
remained at home..
In reference to Larry Stunkel's Friday "On Record"
column, his insinuations are utterly ridiculous. Docs he
really believe Bob Dcvaney should miss a Big 8 meeting and
rearrange his schedule just to questioned by a part-time
reporter?-Come now.
In conclusion, we support the band in its efforts to go
to the Fiesta Bowl. We do not believe the band members or
Board of Regents should be excluded from the bwol trip.
We are simply against their going at the expense of our
teammates.
We sign this letter as individuals, and not as representa
tives of the Athletic Dept.
(Signed by 54 UNL football players and associates.)
Editor's note: The point rl Larry Stunkel's column was
not that Devaney should have missed a Big 8 meeting, but
that if he had to be out of town when news about the band
was to be released, someone in the Athletic Dept. should
have been empowered by him to comment on the release.
Stunkel, by the way, is not a "part-time" reporter. He is
the Daily Nebraskan's full-time sports editor, and puts in
far more than three and one-half to four hours a day on
his job while also carrying ciass hours.
Vanity instead of politics
Dear editor;
I have not yet seen a performance of The Crucible at
Howell Theatre, but it is no doubt excellent. A point I
- would like to make is not about the play, but about a
certain actor who plays John Wiliard, the Salem marshall.
For those students who are not familiar with the actor,
I would like to take the time to fill them in. He is Dei
Gustafson, a columnist for the Daily Nebraskan and
president of the UNL chapter of Young Americans for
Freedom.
Gustafson seems to be the kind of person who will
stoop Uctic that offers him notoriety. I am referring to his
column in last Friday's Daily Nebraskan. He took almost
half of a 45-line column to make a plug for himself.
I thought the column was Intended to present a point of
view-primarily political. Instead, Gustafson is abusing his
column by making it a personal release for his vanity.
Maybe Gustafsoril vanity caused him to think his acting
ability is worth plugging, or maybe he just thought people
would enjoy reading about his personal sucesses (?). I, for
one, did not enjoy it.
A bit of my personal attitudes would not lead me to
describe Gustafson as "Redfordesque," as he describes him
self in his free plug, but as "Redneckish."
"Surnrni Cronn"
The whole truth
Dear editor,
Our government was created by the people for our
guidance and our protection. Citizens are entitled to know
how all public officials, elected or otherwise, are carrying
out their particular duties.
We (the people) want to know the whole truth involving
the Lancaster County Sheriffs Dept., the Lincoln Police
Dept. and the Nebraska State Patrol and other departments
or individuals connected with the Sherdell Lewis and
Elijah Childers incidents.
Since Sherdell Lewis was shot to death, we have been
told at least a dozen different versions of what happened
that awful night. Ron Lahncrs and Merle Karnopp have told
more tales than Carter has pills.
There have been constant unnecessary police
harassments of blacks to try and trigger the black
community into some violent reaction.
This is one example of the many blocks which have been
thrown before us in our struggle for truth and justice. But
we have kept on pursuing the truth.
The petition drive that's being conducted now all around
Lancaster County is probably our last hope. We need to
band together more tightly than ever before, not for
Sherdell Lewis but because of him and for yourself and
your loved ones.
If we fail, we know the outcome for our lives will be
distrust, unrest and paranoia. The truth must be brought
out. All the stories, untruths and coverups must be stopped.
This time it was the lives of two black men which were
taken, under very questionable circumstances, but if we
lose this battle to call for a grand jury, we will be granting
our law enforcement officials a license to kill -and the next
person might not be a black.
So let's stay together, because that is the only way we
can achieve our goal; to get enough signatures to have a
grand jury called to conduct an investigation so the Total
truth wdl be known.
Charlotte Walker, member of Justice for Lewis Committee
