The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, January 28, 1976, Page page 4, Image 4
Wednesday, january 28, 1976 page 4 daily nebraskan U dn. ralpn by ton wheeler HEMIC, Tl SOUP! umr dow suppose THEfLL 00 TO US? MlAX, EfflE, MSt&L mzm is illegal my CAtfT 00 WTMt TO US. 1 1 x mm. UHICH ONE OF yoJ soucArs letters to the edito Dear editpr: ixcasuiiauic men may vinti vu me uumiuh ui hiuu- ion. Still, the belief that abortion is murder finds support in both the Graeco-Roman and the Judaeo-Christian tradi tion and thi belief has been reinforced by the discoveries of modern biology, especially genetics. It is therefore quite outrageous and unfair for Dr. Weston to characterize anti-abortionists as "ill-advised, ill-informed and close minded people incapable of being dynamic" and to lump them together with the oppocnets of sex education (Jan. 21). The pro-abortionists are certainly as guilty of trying to impose their personal moral (or amoral) views on the public as the anti-abortionists, and it is high time their own "undynamic" attitudes (with respect to the nature and the rights of the fetus) be exposed. I note, however, thst in the four pas?! d?votd to this subject, the Daily Nebraska has not seen fit to present the other side. R.D. Stock Dear editor: In reference to Michael Lang's guest opinion, (D. N. Soapbox, Thurs., Jan. 22), may 1 say the question "Is abortion the taking of human life?" is one which may never be answered since the absolute definitions of what is "human" and what is "life" are continually questioned by philosophers, scientists, theologians and the general popu lace in all nations, all cultures. , The morality of abortion may not be a matter of legis lation. It belongs to the realm of the individual con science. If abortions are made illegal, then many are forced to shape their philosophy and religion to the dictates of others. If abortions are legal, not one woman is forced to go against her beliefs. No one is forced into having an abortion. I strongly feel that it must remain a choice. ' DebraHulbert Deaf editor: Friday, while in the Union, t signed a peition to keep T)r. Boyd and Dr. Wenburg.of the Speech Department, at UNL. It seems they didn't get tenure and uniessthey are successful in appealing the decision, they will "have to leave. The rationale for not giving these men tenure 1$ that they haven't written enough published papers. ' You don't have to write a paper to be a good teacher, ' arid these men are good teachers ; Students should be encouraged to sign the petition. ' - Name Withheld ' ' Consider the dilemma of legions of patient UNL residence hall dwellers. . Five years ago; just after former Chancellor James Zumberge took over, he was. faced with a prolonged dispute over visitation in residence halls. Later that year, Margaret Mead told UNL students that they should spend their time trying to achieve greater things than expanded alcohol and visitation rights. Since then residence hall visitation has evolved into the current option system, allowing for floors with no visitation hours, zero to eight visitation hours, zero to fourteen hours and 24 hours a day for graduate students. In those five years, coeducational living was expanded and the Associated Living program at Abel Hall was developed. Not bad for five years. Or is it? ' The latest round of proposed changes for residence hall life emerged last week from Housing Policy Committee (HPC) and Council on Student Life (CSL) perusal, now somewhat scarred but ready to be kicked up the university bureaucratic ladder to the regents. ,.(: " How did it finally look? A proposal supporting 24-hour visitation was passed but a plan for alternate room co-ed living, was mixed. , Alcohol consumption and possession was again put on the drawing board and passed by both groups. As always, these proposals give wide latitude for those who demand a more conserva tive lifestyle. ' '. It's too bad that UNL students and faculty groups didn't give their wholehearted support to all the proposals of the Differentiated Housing Task Force. , . . Careful study and long hours had gone into that report and the objections raised, ranging' from questioning, the need for coeducational floors to citing invasion of privacy under 24-hour visitation, were beside the point. There is no need. But there is room for a choice. Choice of living arrangements comes to respon sible adults. Adults who choose to attend college should have the same choice regarding living accomodations as adults anywhere else. And that is what university students are adults, both legally and socially. One CSL member pointed to this very fact when he said: "This is not an abstract right. The university ought to be offering to students the rights and responsibilities of adults, as an option.' It seems inconsequential to quibble about in vasion of privacy for someone who wants to live in an environment with 24-hour visitation. Social realities' demand that students be given the choice they deserve or they will bend the rules to 'accomodate their lifestyles. Unenforce able rules become meaningless. Too much time for too many years has been given over to arguing about student rights in resi- dence halls. Decisions allowing the choice for all, from most restricted to most open, is the choice that responsible students deserve. - ' Vince Boucher word! Legislature merits praise unheard! for anti-abortion resolution By Del Gustafson On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court dis- covered that "meaningful life" begins in the American' fetus six-or seven-months after conception. Last Thursday, the national debate over abortion reached the Nebraska Legislature in the form of a resolu tion urging the U.S. Congress to propose the "Right-to-Life" constitutional amendment. It safely can be inferred from discussion on the resolution that the logical imper atives of the abortion question soar over the heads of a few Nebraska legislators. n It seems obvious that the abortion debate should re volve around one question and one question alcne-h the fetus a human life? If it is a human life, it is entitled to the protection of the state, regardless of the mental " anguish, physical pain, or economic strain development of the fetus may put upon the mother. A civilized man hardly would argue that parents be allowed to terminate their baby's life when facing the most extreme hardship. Likewise, if the fetus differs from the baby only in development and not in kind, it should not be abused. If, however, the fetus is not human (for it cannot be denied that it possesses life) then it may not be accorded the pro tection of the state. At the Legislature, however, grossly irrelevant argu ments were expounded in defense of abortion. State Sens. Ernest Chambers of Omaha and Shirley Marsh of Lincoln argued that even if abortion is illegal, abortions will con-tir.ue-they are "a fact of life"-therefore, abortion should remain legal and the state should not, as Sen. Marsh so eloquently put it, "send abortion underground for the poor." The utterance of the truism that abortions are a fact of life is wholly irrelevant. It is a fact of life that human beings loot, pillage and rape despite laws to the contrary; but I never realized their continued existence was an argu ment for legalization. I always leaned toward the opposite conclusion that since such atrocites continued, it would be the state's duty to strengthen its just instruments of re pression to end them. Nevertheless, man does not know if the genetic com position of the mature adult is complete as conception. On .the basis of such knowledge, the fetus should, in a society which purports to value human life, be granted a right-to-life until the proponents of abortion can prove the fetus is not a human life. . . . - innocent Nice guy Ford soaks poor with new bone-drv budaet By Arthur Hoppe The prestigious National Union for Tax Sanity is wildly enthusiastic about Mr. Ford's lean new $394 billion budget. r - "At last a President has openly adopted the wise fiscal Eolicy we. have been urging for years," says Executive tfrector Homer T. Pettibone, "s03k the poor. Pettibone noted that most'of the $28 billion Mr. Ford trimmed from the budget affected only the old, the sick, the young, the hungry, the uneducated, the crippled, the jobless and other undesirable elements of society. , These savings, he said, will allow every decent Amer ican to enjoy a tax cut-particularly every decccnt Amer ican who is either a corporation or earns more than $10,000 a year. y , Hasn't worked "Ever since Congress passed the graduated income tax in 1913," Pettibone said, "political demogogaes have been demanding that the government soak the rich. It simply hasn't worked. V "For one thing, the rich can afford tax lawyers and accountants who are twice as smart as the Congressmen who write the tax laws. Therefore, any attempt to soak the rich merely results in more billions of tax dollars that aren't paid. ( No wonder we have such a budget deficit. - "Secondly, there are far more poor people than rich pcpla and their numbers are increasing every' day. If we m fcurUing fof taxpayers, surely, -wo should hunt where th 'garha is most plentiful. And isn't it mare equitable to take a dollar from a million taxpayers rather than a million from one millionaire? "Thirdly, it would be foolhardy to give more money to the poor in times of recession and unemployment. They would merely fritter it away on food, clothing and shelter. The rich, however, will spend It on cars, swimming pools, croquet sets and the kind of material possessions that create jobs. , , . "Lastly, do we really wish to penalize success and re ward failure? What has poverty ever done for America? ' Rk:h have made country It is the rich and the rich alone who have made this country what it is today. It is the rich who built our rail roads, our conglomerates and our defense arsenal. And if finished"5"'1 Whcn they 8tarted, they were when they Y ".But Mr' Ford has beer the first President to see clear ' jh old, the sick, the young, the hungry, the un eaucated, the crippled and the jobless are a drain on our sources arid a burdea on our economy. Mr. Ford has wisely acted to reduce that burden by what he rightly de people major tumlnS Post for the American ' ' i?!?1? coultn't be a better description of his new policy to soak the poor." . . 'thu !ltibonf. tecmcd urPHsed when isked If lie didn't feel this new poky was perhaps a bit hesrtlejs. FJ1?W ?Td it be heartless?" he asked incredulously. lS?lkfl0W- Hfl Ford i real nice, guy."