Wednesday, October 10, 1979
daily nebraskan
2X1MK2MJ
Credibility damaged
Unanswered questions left by report
page 4
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The manner in which the English
department and the chairman of the
College of Arts and Sciences have
handled the alleged eviction of two
male students from a women's poe
try class has raised more questions
than it has answered.
After reports of the incident were
released nearly two weeks ago, John
Robinson, chairman of the English
department promised to look into
the incident and make a report to
the dean of the Arts and Sciences
College.
That report given to Dean Max
Larsen last Thursday, but not releas
ed to the public, concluded that no
formal vote had been taken, said
Larsen.
The method used to investigate
the incident and the name of people
whose comments were included in
the report were not released to the
public.
, It has since been revealed that at
least 1 2 members of the 20-member
class had not been contacted during
the making of the report, and both
Robinson and Larsen this week have
refused to comment when asked why
the members of the class were not
questioned .
These questions need to be ans
wered. The university needs to know
that a thorough investigation has
been completed.
Without such a report there will
always be the question 4Why?" Why
didn't Robinson talk to everyone
involved? Why won't the chairman
of the English department and the
Dean of Arts and Sciences College
answer questions about the incident?
Question such as these, left unans
wered, are bound to raise doubts in
the minds of many people about last
Thursday's report. A matter of
alleged discrimination which reflects
the. entire university is of serious
enough concern to all members of
this university that we deserve
answers-especially when the reputa
tion of the instructor involved is on
the line.
We need to know what happened,
why and how, with no questions left
unanswered. Otherwise the cred
ibility of our administrators and this
university as a whole have been
damaged.
Violence convention held
by Air Force Association
WASHINGTON -Once you become
desensitized to the aura of violence and
destruction, everything at the national
convention of the Air Force Association
seemed rational. A membership group
claiming to "support peace through
strength," the AFA had brought together
the buyers of the Pentagon and the sellers
of the arms industry.
An acre of floor space at dignified hotel
was given over to display models of the
latest and presumably deadliest missiles,
bombs, planes, gun pods and other wea
pons from the country's major contractors.
IBM, ITT, General Electric, Lockheed,
Westinghouse, Northrop, Martin Marietta,
Rolls Royce and others were exhibiting
their shiny wares of death. To be sure,
this was a proper convention of high
respectability, which meant that no one
talked of killing human beings or the gore
and messiness of leveled cities. Pentagonese,
the dialect of disguise, was spoken:
strategic deterrence, surveillance responsi
bilities, reducing risk.
Love library-destination of diverse group
It's Thursday afternoon, and you finally
admit to yourself that you really do have
to take two exams. within the next twenty
four hours. .
You fake a good, hard look at those two
books and pages of notes and problems.
You decide it is time to do some-no, a
lot of serious booking.
poD statin
When it comes, down to that final action
of sitting down and paying close attention
to what was highlighted in baby blue or
flourescent yellow three weeks earlier,
there are those of us who find it almost
prerequisite to spend 10 minutes walking
from our "home territory" to neutral
ground-Love Library.
I don't know quite why that is. Several
evenings ago, a friend and I joined the
throng passing through the turnstyle at
about 7 p.m. The whole situation suddenly
appeared pretty baffling, considering how
few of us actually would be using the
library's services, and how many just
needed to get some studying done.
There, must have been 25 people
heading for the stairs within about two
minutes, and I wondered out loud, "Why
do we all come here? Are we the real dedi
cated, die-hard, serious students, or is this
the last resort for people who reason "If I
can't do it here, I just can't do it at all.?"
OF COURSE
library students
WE decided that we
are of an extremely
academic nature, and find Love's bookish
atmosphere mentally stimulating. But then,
what was our alternative -admitted de
speration? Whatever the motivations, the fact re
mains that students do flock to the library
nightly-some, I suppose, on a regular
basis.
Without taking any surveys or conduct
ing any independent study research, I
would assert that there are three basic
types present in substantial numbers on
any given weeknight. There are (a) the
Social Students, (b) the Good Intentions,
and (c) the Hard Cores.
The Social Students are likely to show
up first, because they want to put in their
time and still be able to salvage the evening
by bar-hopping or dorm-storming or what
ever. They come in groups, or at least pairs,
but never individually, because studying is
something that should never be endured
alone.
They spread themselves around the big
table in the main lounge and begin inspect
ing everyone who walks in. Blue wind
breakers with little white symbols on one
shoulder seem to attract the most attent
ion, but even a remotely familiar face
merits an invitation to stop and chat.
BY ABOUT 7:30, most groups have ex
panded and start becoming unsuitably
boisterous. But by 8 or a little after, all
hope of studying is abandoned and they
gather their neglected books for the big
exodus.
The Good intentions make their appear
ance anywhere from 6:30 to 8. They have
set aside an entire evening for studying,
and, by God, they are going to study. They
often come alone (obviously, they don't
relate to the Social Students' study habits
very well). These people either sit with
their backs to the main walkway between
North and South, or actually venture into
the semi-isolated areas, such as the desks
along the reference book walls, or North
side's first floor.
Their biggest pitfall appears to be those
Should anyone still doubt that this arms
bazaar was anything but a gathering of
patriots, the Air Force Association had a
number of awards to bestow on great
Americans. Sen. John Stennis, chairman of
the Armed Services Committee, took top
honors for leading the nation "toward firm
commitments to modernize our strategic
forces." Aestheticism also had its place
amid the weapons. In the Awards for Arts
and Letters, George F. Will was hailed for
his "penetrating analysis" about "threats
to our national security."
BUT IT WAS hotel security that had the
orange chairs in the main lounge. I guess AFA worried. A crowd of about 100 pro
c .... iAffnrc i taut nriActc on rl nunc Citml
they envision a cozy but long study session
ahead; they frequently end up being cozy
to the point of no return, and sleeping the
time away. And they had had such good
intentions . . .
Finally, we must Tecognize the group
made up of those people who know their
way around Love Library. They walk
through the doors at any time-it's tough
to pin this group down because you never
know where they will pop up or, worse,
how long they have been there.
If one of this type were to mention to a
Social Student that heshe had been in
Love the night before, the Social Student
would answer with genuine surprise that
shehe hadn't noticed. To which the Hard
Core could reply, "Oh, I was in the stacks
level seven, cubbyhole 1 2." Wow.
I could devote this entire space to a de
scription of the stacks, cubbyholes, and
graffiti and refuse found there; it will
testors a tew priests and nuns, some
pacifists, a group from a local church
known as Sojourners staged a peaceful
demonstration on opening night. Perfunc
' tory arrests were made by police used to
hotter stuff than pacifists. Still, a day later
when five demonstrators came back, 30
cops were on hand, overkill now being used
outside as well as inside.
The pacifists never passed beyond the
front door. Even the credentialed faced
screening at five security checkpoints
before getting to glimpse the mock-ups and
hear the briefings on the display floor. This
was an "invitation-only selection of key
military, government and industry
officials." The non4cey-the citizens who
are forced to pay for the immense cost of
overruns, the planes that become turkeys,
the weapons that are poorly designed -were
kept out.
THOSE WHO fear that -the military
suffice to say that they offer a fascinating bud t . d contfol those who
viewpoint on studying sort of monastic
Some students claim to avoid Love
Library at all costs; I would like to
compare CPAs. In closing, I will just add
that I have discovered the existence of
vending machines somewhere within the
maze-like structure. But the secret is safe
with me -the discovery is its own reward.
,a:
AH A PRdSPFtTlVJC
LOVELY" TO SPEND
THF FUPNlN WITH I
II
tu- Play it
Real coolant
sup my agm
FVRounD her wmst. ..
BUG OFF,
You PERVERT.'
AS I SUSPECTED.
SHE JUST CANT
RESIST ME J
that after SALT I America's stockpile of
nuclear warheads went from 4,600 to
9,000, those who agree with Rep. Ronald
Dellums that "military power, bombs and
missies cannot bringdown the price of oil"
or end inflation -this large group of
citizens fear that the militarists of the
AFA meeting were all too reposed and
rational.
They understood the thought of Thomas
Merton: 'We rely on the sane people of the
world to preserve it from barbarism, mad
ness, destruction. And it begins to dawn on
us that it is precisely the sane ones who are
the most dangerous. It is the sane ones, the
well-adapted ones, who can without
qualms and without nausea aim the missies
and press the buttons that will initiate the
great festival of destruction. . . . Psychotic
will be suspect. The sane ones will keep
mem far from the button.
I look on the display floor for the
newest technology in button design. But
none was there. Apparently the nuclear
button itself a low-cost item. This was the
moment in which the high cost was being
celebrated. Life is cheap, not weapons.
M 1979, Th ftehbigtoa Pott Company
