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University of Nebraska-Lincoln
MLRU.
Friday, April 9, 1982
Vol.109 No. 59
Lincoln, Nebraska
Copyright 1982 Daily Nebraskan
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Photo by D. Eric Kircher
Dawn Clark looks out from under her umbrella as the spring snow returns to Lincoln.
Club decides against
action in leaflet dispute
The International Relations Club decided Wednesday
not to take any action against Steve Grasz or the College
Republicans for the alleged distribution of political liter
ature during the European Tour Symposium March 30.
"As it stands right now, I don't think we'll take any ac
tion," John Sunnygard, president of the club, said. Sun
nygard referred to his club as a non-partisan organization,
and said it cannot take action that would indicate that it
was not non-partisan.
Sunnygard said the club was founded to expose inter
nationally related issues and present information about
every aspect of issues, so participants may make their
own decisions. Sunnygard said the club decided the dis
tribution of the materials was disruptive and inappropri
ate. Steve Grasz, president of the College Republicans and
alleged distributor of the leaflets, said he was glad the club
decided not to take any action.
"I consider it a trivial incident not worth the UNL Stu
dent Court's time," Grasz said. "If the union decided it
was not worth their time, obviously it was not that big of
a deal."
The Nebraska Union decided Monday not to pursue ac
tion against Grasz for distributing leaflets inside the un
ion, an action which violates a Nebraska Union rule.
Grasz said it was unfortunate that the incident hap
pened, and that it was not intentional.
"I'll be more careful in the future to check out the
rules," Grasz said.
Native American says culture restricts success
By Chris Hodges
Indians meet with failure and poverty in
America because they allow their culture
to hold them back, said Ben Reifel, speaker
for the Nebraska Native American Student
Congress.
Indian culture conflicts with values that
allow white people to succeed, Reifel said.
The concept of saving and working for the
future had little importance to Indian
tribes in the past, he said.
"You aren't going to get anywhere un
less you pay attention to time, work and
savings," he told the audience of about 70
people, most of whom were Native Ameri
cans, at Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery
Thursday.
Reifel's speech is part of a five-day state
conference for the NNASC, said Sepa
Carmona, vice president of the organizat
ion. The group has several hundred
members of Native American college and
high school students. Some came to the
conference by bus from state Indian reser
vations. Reifel talked about what it takes for an
Indian to succeed in America. He recount
ed experiences of his own life, growing up
on the Rosebud reservation in South
Dakota. Reifel is the son of a Sioux Indian
mother and a German father. He earned
masters and doctorate degrees in public
administration from Harvard University.
He is a former U.S. Congressman, former
Commissioner of Indian Affairs and former
consultant for the U.S. Department of the
Interior.
The problem Indians have is they fail to
plan for the future, Reifel said. Their cult
ure is oriented to the present time.
"We exalt in the now," he said. "We
don't grow up, as a Plains people, to save
for the future."
The Indian languages cannot transalte
common English expressions, such as "time
is money" and "time is of the essence,"
Reifel said. The Indian concept of time is
based on the seasons, the solar and lunar
cycles, he said. In contrast, the Western
European concept of time is based on the
future, he said.
Indians need to allow Western European
concepts to show them the way to succeed
in America, Reifel said.
"We must preserve that culture which is
good, but incorporate other things," he
said.
Young Native Americans should plan
for future employment by going to high
school, technical school or college, he said.
Indian employees need to be conscienti
ous, punctual and reliable in relation to
their jobs, he said. Indian men sometimes
have trouble keeping steady jobs because
their culture never prepared them for
regular work, Reifel said.
"Our Indian men, historically, were
hunters and warriors," he said. Their lives
were characterized by freedom of move
ment and change in daily routine.
Indian women generally fare better than
men in keeping steady jobs. Their historical
role in Indian life include 1 tedious daily
tasks, such as tanning hides, Reifel said.
Reifel said Native Americans need to
stop dwelling on the mistakes of the past.
"We can't get caught up and lost in the
atrocities that have been committed on our
people," he said. "The people with whom
we live today aren't reasponsible for all
that. We're brothers and sisters together."
U.S. government 'intent on provoking' Nicaragua
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Waiiam LeoGrande, director of Political Science at American University, spoke to
UNL students Thursday about the situation in El Salvador.
By Pat Higgins
The Reagan administration is either ex
tremely naive or it is lying about the re
gime in Nicaragua, said William LeoGrande,
director of Political Science at American
University in Washington, D.C. LeoGrande,
who was interviewed yesterday before his
speech in the Nebraska Union, recently re
turned from Nicaragua.
"When the Reagan administration says
that there is a totalitarian government in
Nicaragua they don't know what they are
talking about," LeoGrande said.
LeoGrande said the revolution against
the old Anastasio Somoza government uni
ted the factions in Nicargua, but political
conflit continues. The pragmatic elements
of the Sandinista government currently
have more power than the leftists, Leo
Grande said.
"The United States government should
encourage and support the pragmatists in
order to keep a mixed economy going and
to prevent them from following a pro-Soviet
foreign policy," LeoGrande said.
Conservative elements control much of
the economy in Nicaragua today, Leo
Grande said. He said the Sandinistas con
trol the apparatus of the state and the
army.
"The political conflict is not over, and
each side is using its resources," LeoGrande
said. 'They are having a raging political de
bate now."
LeoGrande said there are hard-line ele
ments of the Sandinistas that are Marxist
Leninist and want to follow the Cuban
model. The U.S. foreign policy is encour
aging these elements by making threats
against Nicaragua.
'The Reagan administration's state
ments are giving ammunition to the hardli
ners. This administration seems intent on
provoking them," LeoGrande said.
The Sandinista government's official
policy prohibits arms shipments to El Sal
vador although there may be covert excep
tions to that policy, LeoGrande said. U.S.
arms shipments to Honduras raise some
questions because they do not have an in
ternal guerrilla threat, LeoGrande said. He
said that a war could develop from the Pan
ama Canal to the Mexican border. The San
dinista government wants to avoid any war,
but it has the military strength to defeat
any Central American country, LeoGrande
said.
La Prensa, the opposition daily news
paper, has been shut down several times by
the Sandinistas since the revolution. Leo
Grande said newspapers in Nicaragua have
traditionally been partisan.
"La Prensa gets a lot of good press in
the United States but it is really close to
the National Enquirer. While I was there
they did a week of stories about the sweat
ing statue of the Virgin Mary. She was sup
posed to be sweating in anxiety about the
Sandinistas,' LeoGrande said.
