Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
Tuesday, August 31, 1982
. Editorial
Sports stories should tell of victory, not abuse
Avid readers of the daily sports pages may have noticed
a curious phenomenon developing during the last few
years.
It seems that traditional -sports stories detailing games
and the exploits of athletes now rival for space with sport
ing news of a different kind.
Recruiting violations and athletes' altered academic
credentials may make more popular reading currently and
the repercussions are becoming more and more serious.
The latest violation scoop came just last week when the
National Collegiate Athletic Association announced that
University of Kansas running back Kerwin Bell will loose
one year of football eligibility and will be suspended for
three games this year. The NCAA said Bell's high school
transcripts had been tampered with.
One of the gravest results of athletic shenanigans
occurred this summer when the University of San
Francisco announced it was discontinuing its high-power
ed men's basketball program. USF president, the Rev.
John Lo Schiavo, said the program was dropped because
of misconduct on the part of its alumni boosters and some
of the players.
The NCAA has been in charge of investigating charges
and of stamping penalties on athletic programs.
Now, the NCAA has formed a committee to suggest
solutions to some of the abuse problems in college athletic
programs.
According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher
Education, a 16-member committee was selected by the
NCAA to suggest ways to end problems in the athletic
system.
College presidents, coaches, athletic directors and
faculty members compose the panel; it will meet four
times, beginning in September, the article says.
One of those 16 committee members is UNL Athletic
Director Bob Devaney.
The Chronicle's article says the NCAA has stressed that
the panel will have its own independence. That remains to
be seen, but it is hoped the NCAA will heed the
committee's advice.
Devaney should be able to add some useful suggestions.
He may be the right man for the job because - although
cynical students may sneer at it - UNL's athletic program
has managed to .stay clear of serious NCAA accusations.
Even most anti-football fanatics here should admit that
UNL must be doing something right in the fair-play sport
ing category.
Devaney may provide good information that will help
some universities eliminate their unfair practices.
The whole project will seem worth it if someday
sports-page readers can turn to a section filled with tales
of victories, not violations.
Betsy Miller
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Mansion controversy raises pertinent questions
So strong is the propensity of mankind to
fall into mutual animosities that where no sub
stantial occasion presents itself the most frivol
ous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient
to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite
their most violent conflicts.
-James Madison
(j Jeff Allen
The ongoing debate concerning the use of the Gover
nor's Mansion for political fund-raising has not resulted in
violent conflict. It has, however, "kindled some unfriend
ly passions."
The York News-Times described the skirmish as an
example of "politics rearing its ugly head . . .," emphasiz
ing what they believed to be the seamier side of political
man in his embrace with the impertinent.
Perhaps the respective editor is right; as Madison said,
"people . . . were liable to err . . . from fickleness and
passion.
Madison also recognized the importance of balancing
factions that are inevitable in a world of varied opinions
and' that unbalanced factions presented a danger to the
"public good" and "private rights."
Our greatest error, therefore, would be in not recogniz
ing the potential of a proposal simply because of who pre
sented it.
Indeed, the Democrats alleging impropriety in Gov.
Charles Thone's political use of the mansion have indeed
raised pertinent questions.
For example . . .
Department of Administrative Services 3udget Division
reports shows "food" expenditures for the governor's
office have increased 138 percent from $6,358.74 for
fiscal year 1976-77 to $15,106.91 for fiscal year 1981-82.
Certainly a portion of that increase is attributable to
inflation and other variables. However, findings by the
deputy director of the Legislative Fiscal Office (in a
February 20, 1981, in-office report on the governor's
office for the period of July 1, 1977, through June 30,
1980) produced what the deputy director described as
"insufficient control over billings for goods purchased at
(the) Governor's Mansion and used for non-state organiza
tion functions."
According to the fiscal office,, accounting worksheets
were not made available for "six of 21 functions held
during 1978-80," and that it was therefore impossible "to
determine how much was owed or expected as reimburse
ment for expenses associated with such functions."
Continued on Page 9
Arafat's audacity overlooked by West
You have to hand it to Yasser Arafat, you really do.
The guy possesses an abundance of chut: pa - the Yiddish
word tor incredible brazenness, effrontery and gall. As
Leo Rosten defines it, chutzpa "is that quality enshrined
Jvr Ross Mackenzie
in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws
himself on the mercy of the court because he is an
orphan." It also is enshrined in "the man who shouts
'Help! Help!' while beating you up."
Arafat's got it.
Here's a man whose life and organization have been
spared by the Israelis, calling for renewed and heightened
war against the Jewish people. Here'f a man who has been
snatched from death in large part by the good offices of
the United States, deploring the American-arranged agree
ment as devious and conniving - as further proof of a
manipulative United States beneath every international
mischief. Here's a man crushed, defeated and almost
eviscerated - proclaiming a moral and diplomatic victory.
And the gullible West, aided by its many agents of
illusion, eagerly swallows it all.
Lest the truth about Arafat disappear down the Free
World's memory hole, kindly review the record.
Since assuming control of the Palestine Liberation
Organization in 1969, Arafat has been a diligent sub
contractor to the Soviets. Between the summer of 1968
and January 1980, for instance, he made 14 publicly re
ported visits to Moscow. In October 1973, the Kremlin's
news agency, Tass, quoted him as saying, "The people of
Palestine regard the Soviet Union as their most staunch
and sincere friend, an upholder of the freedom and in
dependence of all peoples."
Continued on Page 5
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