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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1980)
lincoln, nebraska vol. 105, no. 55 friday, november 7, 19R0 Legal Services director accepts Houston post By Sue Sayed Robert Hardt, director of Student Legal Services for ASUN, will resign Nov. 14 and move to Houston, Texas. Hardt, who will do legal work and purchasing for an oil company in Houston, said that the new position was an opportunity that he couldn't refuse. "The pay I will receive is more than double (what he receives at UNL). I couldn't afford to pass up the offer," Hardt said. Hardt, whose main responsibility was to provide legal advice and counsel to UNL students, said he enjoyed working with the students and that his resignation has nothing to do with feelings toward students or his job. "It is a worthwhile position," he said. "The office is used regularly." Steve McMahon, chairman of the ASUN search com mittee for finding a new lawyer, said that resumes will be accepted by law school graduates until Nov. 1 4. "We hope to have the position filled by the 14th or shortly thereafter," McMahon said. Interviews will start next week, he added. McMahon said that although he expects a lot of appli cations, he said he assumes the committee will have to lure a young, inexperienced lawyer. "The office doesn't appear to provide incentive for lawyers to stay on the job for a long period of tune," McMahon said. He blamed a comparatively low salary and job frustra tion as two of the major reasons for the large turnover of lawyers in the position. "The lawyer is only authorized to provide legal advice," he said. "They are not allowed to represent any one in court." McMahon said the lawyer handled about 300 cases a month and would not have time to appear in court. How ever, he said that ASUN hopes to change the job guide lines in the future so that a lawyer will have more respon sibilities and opportunities for advancement. However, the position, which is financed by ASUN student fees, probably would have to be self-supporting before new guidelines could be enforced, McMahon said. (r J P 27 V i ll rr fZ' i i. , . ... -i. ,',)'','yi:.j ; Rising pornography traced Photo by Mark Billingsley UNL student Mary Jane Dunn took advantage of a perfect afternoon Thurs day to just sit down and relax in the warm sunshine. Her dog, Eilie May, scans the campus surrounding Love Library for likely prospects, while her other dog, Jon Ivan Rowdavitch, is content to just be held on such a nice day. By Ward Wright Triplett III Although they do not expect things to change in any hurry, the Women's Resource Center's Feminist Forum Thursday night discussed the widespread use of porno graphy and violence against women and what can be done about it. Guest speaker Julia Penelope, a lin guistics and associate English professor, traced the rise in X-rated movies, horror movies that displayed mutilated women and magazine forms of pornography to the rising Feminist movement making men feel threatened, and thus feeling the need to supress women in any way. Vio lence, she said, has long been an outlet for that. "Have you ever noticed the number of porn movies about college girls? They are usually the prime targets since they are already threatening the system by getting better education, challenging for the better job. Men have to degrade this somehow," she said. Before acting as moderator for a forum among the small, mostly female audience, Penelope showed slides prepared by the National Women Against Pornography movement. The 30 slides included the Hustler magazine photograph of a woman's legs sticking out of a meat grinder, various album covers and billboards that gave subtle sadomasochistic messages and various pictures from hardcore magazines that reflected themes of submissiveness and racism. "As long as a woman is an object, the men can feel less pressure," Penelope said. "That is why this sort of thing is done." Penelope said she felt that pornography itself did not inspire violence, but perpet uated it from inbred feelings of violence and the position of women in society. She did say, however, that a Minnesota University study had made a clear connec tion between the two. To combat this, Penelope said she feels women needed to raise their level of consciousness, be aware of what is going on, and, become more activist about the situation. "We have failed to imagine an alterna tive to the society we live in. We should be trying to change the way that we think," she said. "We need to identify the enemy. I think we have been reluctant to do that because of the omnipresence of men. They do have the power." Penelope connected the subjects of wife beating, child abuse, rape, sexual harass ment on the job, street harassment and lesbian S&M in her topics. For all these, Penelope said, "There are no satisfactory answers. You have to decide what you personally can do. It's going to demand energy, it's going to de pend on who you're willing to talk to. You could spend the rest of your -lives protesting the funnies that degrade women. It's not my way but that's one thing you can do. Penelope stressed the wrong in allowing children to grow up with the images of violence. During her presentation, a child wandered into the Harvest Room. She quickly clicked off the slide projector. "We grew up with it. There's no reason for anybody else to." UNL police consider adding emergency phones By Ward W. Triplett III Let's say you're walking towards your residence hall one night, just after getting out of night class. As far as you can see there is no one else in sight, and no cars ap pear to be heading in your direction. You keep walking and reach 16th and Vine Streets, and suddenly, someone steps out in front of you and says, "Alright, let's have your cash, right now." Now, given that situation, what are you going to do? What choices do you have? If present plans continue to fall into place, the UNL Police Department will increase the alternatives by instal ling emergency phones at locations where such an incident most likely might occur. The idea of the phones has been talked about for a few years, according to Law Enforcement Director Gail Gade. "The University of Houston, Purdue, Colgate, and others already have them working. WcVe been pushing for it on this camous, but up until now, no one has really got ten going on it and I can't say why," Gade said. The phone system will provide the extra help and sec urity which a lone person might need. In the above ex ample given by Investigator Bob Fey, if an emergency phone was nearby, a person could reach it, and have con tact with police instantly. "If you just gave tfie person your money, you could get to the phone right there and give us the direction the person went, and we could go out and get to work on it right away," Fey said. On the other hand, a contact could be made wlule the crime was still in process. Dialing unnecessary The phone system will make dialing unnecessary. Fey said. "We haven't really decided which plan to follow yet. We're still looking at different styles, between a button, a hook, or a few others," Fey stated. "But whatever, all you will have to do is pick it up. That will activate a gadget down at dispatch, that will tell us where you are. Conceivably, you won't even have to speak into it. "This is to help people in anything they consider an emergency, whether it is a girl who feels she is being fol lowed, or a motorist with a flat tire," Gade said. There are still many questions about the phones, but Fey and Gade said getting approval for two test phones is a step in the right direction. To help with part of the decision, the department con tacted Dee Aimpson-Kirkland, of the Multi-Cultural Af fairs office, to get an idea on where the best location for the phones. Kirkland is in the process of getting feedback from ASUN, RHA and the Greek system to see if the phones will be in demand. Eventually, twelve phones should be in service, but when the first two wUl be constructed is hard to say, Fey said. 'There's a lot that still has to be done. We have to get trenches built in for one thing, so I Imagine that if we don't find out where they are going to be pretty soon, the ground will be frozen. It wouldbe nice to get it done be fore Christmas, but it's still hard to say," he added. Well worth it Whatever the cost in equipment or manpower, Gade said he felt the project would be well worth it, even though only 10 percent of the 2,000 complaints the de partment handles can be considered major crimes. "It increases the chance of our apprehending an indi vidual if a call comes in quick," Gade said. "But it's been studied and determined in other college campuses that even having the phones available decreases the chance for a crime to be committed, so that's something else to look at," Gade said. So far this year, campus police have had to handle more than 100 personal crimes, more than 40 crimes that resulted in a loss to the university, and 19 traffic accidents. The force has handled arson, forgery, and bomb threats, but tlus year there have been no first degree sex ual assaults. The phone system should help keep it that way, Gade said. When the phones are installed, the department expects it to be an added target for pranksters as well as citizens in need of help. "Witn this many people , you're going to have some who will do that sort ot thing. We expect to have some false alarms, and people calling in with so called 'Mickey Mouse' problems. Another part of this test is to see if they are abused or not," Gade said. "But I feel that if we can save one life, or keep some crime from being committed, or somebody from being hurt, then it will be worth the effort."