Daily T7
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thursday, April 22, 1982
Vol. 109 No. 68
Lincoln, Nebraska
Copyright 1982 Daily Nebraskan
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Ground Zero Week speaker
links peace, economy issues
By Pat Higgins
The issues of peace and economy are
directly linked today in the United States,
Seymour Melman, an industrial engineer
and economist from Columbia University
said Wednesday afternoon.
Melman was speaking at Love Library as
part of Ground Zero Week activities.
If the United States continues current
arms policies, he said, the best-case scen
ario is a deterioration of the economy; the
worst case, nuclear war.
"Neither of these outcomes is desire
able," Melman said. "No leader wants a nu
cler war, but the effects, however uninten
ded, may well occur."
He said increased arms spending is inef
fective in defending the United States,
because nuclear weapons have transformed
the concept of warfare.
"Even if the United States were to carry
out a technically perfect first strike on the
Soviet Union's nuclear forces, the conse
quence would be suicide by the United
States because of the changes in the Earth's
surface and atmosphere," he said.
Nuclear weapons are used as a psycholo
gical threat by U.S. policy-makers playing
"nuclear chicken," Melman said. This has
developed because of a misinterpretation
of the Cuban missile crisis in October
1962.
"The Kennedy White House played nu
clear chicken and decided that they won,"
he said. "The Soviet Union came out of
the Cuban missile crisis with an arms build
up that continues to this day."
Melman said the Cuban missile crisis
ended the chance for a reversal of the arms
race. In early 1962, the Kennedy admini
stration propossed a delailed plan for an
end of the arms race, he said, but the State
Department refuses to reprint the proposal
today.
"The full text is a blueprint to be put
on the negotiating table today," he said.
It's of cardinal importance in that it is a
complete plan that could be used right
now."
The United States military believes in
a "conventional nuclear war," Melman
said. NATO defenses in Western Europe
have 7,000 tactical nuclear weapons. He
said the debate over the neutron bomb is
irrelevant because of these tactical wea
pons. "U.S. armed forces are trained to win
battles," Melman said. "I don't think that
Soviet commanders are trained to lose
either."
Continued on Page 2
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Art exhibit and its early removal
cause controversy, possible suit
Photo by D. Eric Kircher
The stuffed black figure hanging from a tree south of Richards Hall is part of a stu
dent art exhibit. Brace Physics Lab is in the background.
By Bill Allen
According to Norman Geske, director of
the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, student
exhibits currently on display there will be
taken down today, three days before the
originally planned date.
The exhibits were originally planned to
be up April 6 through 25 .
Saturday, the gallery is sponsoring a
fund raising dinner for about 400 Ak-Sar-Ben
members. Geske said with that many
people coming, it would be in the best
interest of the gallery to have the perman
ent exhibits on display.
Geske said the dinner is necessary to
raise funds to maintain Sheldon.
Geske sent a letter Wednesday fo ex
plain to the art students in the exhibit why
their displays were being taken down early.
Caroline Meckland, a student whose art
work is part of the display, said although
she is upset that the displays are coming
down early, the professionalism of Geske 's
letter helped ease some of the tension.
"I felt that the letter treated us in a very
professional manner," Meckland said. "My
main objection is that it (the letter) should
have come several days ago."
Continued on Page 7
Professor says education cuts hit women hard
By Michiela Thuman
In fiscal 1983, an estimated 3,000 new or returning
UNL students may quit or never come to college because
of proposed federal aid to education cuts, said Elaine
Franco. Franco is the chairperson of Committee "W" (on
the status of women) with the American Association of
University Professors.
Franco, also assistant professor of UNL libraries, spoke
Wednesday about the effect of proposed budget cuts on
women faculty and students.
The proposed cuts in aid to education would have great
impact on the academic world, Franco said, and a
distinct impact on women faculty and students. Franco
also is past president of the Lincoln chapter of the Nat
ional Organization for Women.
Cuts would result in denied access to Guaranteed Stu
dent Loans to graduate students except under a special
auxiliary loan, she said.
Cuts also would result in a decline in the availability
of Pell grants, she said. Pell grants, once available to stu
dents whose families' maximum income did not exceed
$27,000, have a reduced income eligibility rate not ex
ceeding $18,000 Franco said.
Drastic cuts in or elimination of National Direct Stu
dent Loans and Graduate Fellowships and cuts in research
funding also would be effects, she said.
John F. Kennedy once said, "A child miseducated is
lost," Lyndon B. Johnson said, "Freedom is fragile if peo
ple are ignorant," while Reagan, when governor of Cali
fornia, said, "Why should we subsidize intellectual
curiosity?" Franco said.
Franco said women especially would suffer from the
impact of cuts.
Women are more dependent on financial aid assistance,
as their families are less likely to sacrifice the expenses
necessary for funding a college education for a female, she
said. Also, on the average, women's salaries are 60 per
cent lower than men's. It is harder, then, for women to
finance an education without assistance, she said.
Women also tend to be more dependent on university
provided housing, she said.
Financial cuts would affect areas and programs which
are heavily populated by women, such as jobs in element
ary and secondary schools, the social and behavioral sci
ences, the humanities and the arts, she said. Improvement
training, library and adult education programs also would
be affected.
Financial cuts would cause the elimination of two pro
grams devised specifically to aid women, Franco said.
The Women in Science Program, established in 1980,
already has been eliminated. It was set up to provide for
the Technology Equal Opportunity Act, she said. The
program provided training and fellowship opportunities
for women scientists and helps award visiting professor
ships to women scientists with doctorate degrees.
The second program, The Women in Education Equity
Act, was designed to "confront the problem of sexism in
higher education," she said. It aids in the development of
curriculum and text materials, and research and training
programs for educators.
Although the future may appear bleak for students and
faculty members, Franco said, it seems unlikely that
Ronald Reagan's 1983 financial proposals will go through.
"He was asking for widely drastic cuts," she said.
With the combined efforts of organized student and
faculty lobbies and public pressure on Congress not to
accept the proposals, a satisfying compromise can be
reached, she said.
Franco's speech, part of the 4th annual Women's Week
activities at UNL, was sponsored by Committee "W" of
the UNL American Association of University Professors.
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Photo by Jodie Fields
Elaine Franco spoke Wednesday in the Nebraska
Union for Women's Week.
