monday, decern ber 3, 1979
page 4
daily nebraskan
Rewarded efforts should encourage student activism
The fall semester is quickly coming
to a close. This seems to be an
appropriate time to congratulate and
thank the students who are responsi
ble for several victories concerning
policies of the University of Nebras
ka. The most recent, though small,
victory was the vote Thursday by the
Central Planning Committee to
recommend that the . new alumni
center be built on Memorial Mall east
of the stadium.
Although the new location is not
good, it is better than the site that
was originally proposed -the metered
parking lot north of Nebraska Union.
After the original proposal was
announced, the ASUN Senate ex
pressed its opposition to the site as
did students from several residence
halls and the Residence Hall Associ
ation. The attempt by the administration
to close the library earlier on week
days and all day on Saturday next
semester was similarly thwarted by
united student opposition.
The most significant victory so far
this year, of course, is the reversal by
the NU Eoard of Regents of a policy
which prohibited using student fee's
to pay for political speakers. The
original policy came about after the
Young Americans for Freedom com
plained that they should not pay for
speakers who disagreed with their
political beliefs'.
Because of the 'efforts of ASUN
Senate leaders, the members of the
Union Program Council and those of
the Council's Talks and Topics
Committee, the policy has been re
versed, with an agreement on their
part to get a wide sampling of politi
cal speakers.
All UNL students will get im
mediate benefits from these victor
ies. Parking will not be displaced by
an alumni center, the libraries will
remain open and the students now
will be able to hear a wide range for
speakers. Obviously this is good.
Less obvious, however, is the re
alization that unlike in the past, the
students now seem to have a signifi
cant impact on the university poli
cies which affect them. United stu
dent effort is important and does
work.
The benefits of this realization can
be enormous. We hope that it will
encourage more student activism and
hope on the part of the students that
their efforts will be rewarded.
The results, as we have seen this
semester, can be nothing but good.
Diplomacy like dull knife:
safe, but not too effective
The Iranian crisis will be one month old
tomorrow. Through all of the turns this
situation has taken, many questions have
been raised.
But on at least one subject, the question
has already been answered. That subject is
diplomacy and the answer is that it
doesn't work.
In a time when diplomacy is our only
hope, it also is bur most useless tool. With
out question, as long as American lives are
at stake, the U.S. must look for the safe
answers.
. But, while diplomacy is safe, it doesn't
bring instant results.
Diplomacy, as I know it, is when repre
sentatives from countries meet to discuss
"meaningful issues." And nothing happens.
Before these diplomats agree to talk
though, vital negotiations have concerned
the nature of the talks. Important ques
tions must be answered;
QUESTIONS LIKE what shape of table
to use; what kind of flowers will make up
the centerpiece and whether to serve coffee
or tea.
The time of the talk must also be
determined. It must be early enough to
make the evening papers back home, but it
must be brief enough to touch upon the
subject without solving it.
" Upon "closing the talks, they give the
same phony smiles . and issue statements
that termed the talks as "frank and
cordial."
This usually means that two parties that
wouldn't speak to each other before, now
will talk, even in the same room. But, like
children, they each demand to sit on
opposite ends of the table.
You'd think they had cooties, or some
thing. Just once, I'd like to have an impartial
observer issue the statement to the media
on the talks between two countries. Per
haps it would be like this.
FROM IP (Impartial Press)- reports:
4Premier Flint of Moindesto today met
with Chairman Weeby of Ballst, to discuss
the tenuous relations between the two
countries.
After the picture session for the press,
the two leaders immersed themselves in hot
and heavy arguing.
Flint threw water in Weeby's face and
said, "I wish you were the Wicked Witch of
the West, because then you'd be melting all
over the place."
Weeby countered by calling Flint and
her country "dirty poop." Outraged, Flint
slid a large ashtray across the table, drop
ping It Into Weeby's de-militarized zone.
. The infuriated Weeby, took off his
tennis shoe and after banging it on the
table in a manner reminiscent of
Khrushchev, stuck it in Hint's face causing
him to pass out.
JHe was revived by the playing of Moin
desto's national anthem, Moindesto-The
Surprising Place, which was played by
Cheap Trick.
Fling, outraged that Weeby would pull
such a stunt, took advantage of a cold he
had had for a week. Blowing his nose into
four different tissues, he rolled them up as
one, into a tissue spheroid and hurled it at
Weeby.
The snot ball caught Weeby square in
the face, knocking Weeby senseless. Flint
was then able to get Weeby to v sign a
mutual non-aggression pact and the two
diplomats hoped for a prospering peace.
Flint and Weeby issued a joint state
ment that read, "If it works out, it works
out. If it doesn't, it doesn't."
Which is about as profound as you can
get for diplomacy these days.
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2 Votes ' -
Cartoon by John Lynch, associate professor of life sciences
We feel that the Daily Nebraskan is
completely abdicating its social responsi
bility with its practice of accepting any
kind of ad that fills up a page. We are re
ferring to the ads that the Daily Nebraskan '
has run. to recruit people to the CIA. Ac
cepting or not accepting advertisements
does not conflict with freedom of speech.
Most newspapers make a policy on what
kind of advertising they will or will not
accept. If Hitler were here today perhaps
the Dairy Nebraskan would feel responsible
to offer him an advertising space. '
The CIA trained, or is training the most
brutal secret police in the world. For
example, in countries such as Israel, Bra
zil, Argentina, Indonesia, Thailand, Philip
pines, Uruguay, Paraguay, Iran (under the
shah), etc. These are the most brutal,
reactionary regimes in the world 'accord
ing .to Amnesty International. The secret
police in these countires have indeed
learned their techniques well.
We hope that the Daily Nebraskan has
run these ads through sheer ignorance. We
feel that the objections to this ad as well
as to the advertisement of pornography,
are serious criticisms and deserve a serious
reply.
The Progressive Student Union
Logic questioned
It is really unfortunate that you, Jim
Peterson, hold the use of logical thinking in
such high esteem, when you obviously
dont know what it means. First of all, the
purpose of the so-called "interviews" with
the Iranian students in this country was to
discover anjr Iranian students in the U.S.
who were in violation of their student
visas. This action was taken in retaliation
for the takeover of the American Embassy
and the holding of American hostages by
the supporters of Khomeini. I see very
little logic used in the setting up of these
"interviews." Since the vast majority of
Iranians in violation of their student visas
are no longer students, they will remain
undetected by the immigration authorit
ies. Secondly, you seem to imply that dis
crimination on the basis of nationality is
logical, justifiable, and to be condoned. I
see little difference between discrimination
on the basis of race, and discrimination on
the basis of nationality. '
As for'defending the "interviews" on
the basis that no other country is doing
what Iran is doing to the United States,
this too, is illogical. The Iranians at the
University of Nebraska have NOT taken
American hostages, burned American flags,
and have NOT held demonstration advocat
ing that America be crushed or that Carter
be put to death.
You also contend that the reaction of
the , American people is a normal and
logical one. Normal, it may be, considering
the disgraceful ignorance of most
Americans concerning foreigners of all
nationalities, especially those of the
developing nations, of the "3rd World."
Your reaction and the "reaction of the
American people is of a purely emotional
nature, devoid of even the slightest trace of
logic.
You do not support the deportation of
all Iranian students, because you under
stand that not all Iranian students support
Khomeini. If you would stop and use some
of your "logical" mind for a minute you
would see the "simple fact" that the Iran
ian students being deported are not being
deported necessarily because they support
Khomeini, but because they are in
violation of their student visas. The U.S
government has made a senseless, inept
and yes, discriminatory attempt to "get
back" at Iran for their actions, by forcing
many innocent Iranians here in the U.S. to
go through a humiliating process whereby
their pictures and fingerprints were taken,
like common criminals. For all the
people of the U.S. talk about freedom,
justice and human rights (especially Presi
dent Carter), I, for one, as an American,'
am not blind to the hypocrisy the govern
ment of the U.S. has shown in this action.
The injustices the Iranians are suffering
in this country is just another in a long
string of injustices the Iranian people have
suffered at the hands of the U.S. govern
ment. The U.S. government will support
any political leader in the developing
countries as long as 1) he is mti-communist
and 21 he is willine to let the U.S. govern
ment exploit whatever natural resources
or manpower the country has to offer.
How sad it is that the comfort that
Americans have enjoyed throughout the
years, with cheap gasoline prices and the
security of military bases close to Russia,
has all been at the expense of the Iranian
ceonle whr suffered and were exDloited
under the shah's rule.
. It would be idealistic to think that the
people, and the government of the people
in the United States, would take a long
look at the revolution which occurred in
. Iran and begin to make some long needed
changes in its foreign policy toward "3rd
World" countries. But if they don't, some
day the developing countries of the world
will be developed, with military strength
and resources to match our own. Hope
fully, the United States will not have to
learn the hard way that it cannot "buy"
friends, and that two nations can only
be friends in the true sense of the word
when they treat each other as equals.
- Jennifer Staley
- ' . . Senior, Spanish and English