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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 1983)
Monday, October 17, 1C33 Paga 4 Daily Nebraskan j o lbs Officials' silence, secrecy lead to distrust The university's handling of a sexual discrimina tion suit filed against the UNL Police Department in August has done little more than add to the distrust many people already feel toward the administra tion. ' ' The suit wa3 filed by parking control officers Bar bara Houlihan and Susan Feiler, who claim they were treated unfairly by their male supervisors. As a result of the action, UNL Affirmative Action 0 racer Martin Bradley Munn recommended to Chan cellor Martin Massengale that Police Chief Gail Gads be suspended for five days without pay and that Lt. John Burke, supervisor of the two women, be sus pended for three days without pay. The Lincoln Journal reported Thursday that Munn's recommendation has been resolved, but both Gade and John Goebel, vice chancellor for bus iness and finance, refused to say what action, if any, was taken. ' ' " .. .. " With that kind of response, it is no.wondcr that many people are suspicious of the way UNL is han ding the case. Houlihan last week told the Daily Nebraskan about one incident of alleged discrimination. She said she was placed on probation for 30 days for reporting to work two minutes late Aug. 18. Both Houlihan and Feiler received counseling because of tardiness. ' " -1 ' " v Dorothy Thompson, affirmative action director at Kansas State Univesity, vas called in to review the case. She told The Associated Press that no such ation was taken against two male security guards who were occasionally tardy. Both Burke and Gade have declined commend on the suit. We would not begin to judge the merits of thb case; that's for the courts to decide. But UNL's keep quiet policy is leading most people to believe it is guilty of the charges. . - Perhaps the university officials involved in the matter need to be reminded for whom they work. As employees of a state institution, their sslsriea are paid by the public That mcsns they' should be accountable to Nebraska's citizens. " When UNL b charged with something as serious as sexual discrimination, the tax-paying public bm a right to know what is going on. The people should be informed of any action taken by the university on the matter. Unfortunately, they havent been in this case. . Nebraskans long have been wary about how their taxes are spent to run the university. To keep a case of alleged sexual discrimination secret only adds to that distrust Longer life, span should force understanding of aging It appears that, if we manage to avoid blowing each other off the face of the earth, Americans are headed for an even longer and older age. Last week, the National Center for Health Statistics added yet another year to the average life span. Those born in this country in 1 932, can expect to live 74 12 years. ... ; ... mn "ill ' ZTi ST rr.Tir!-j Ellen & Goodman It seems to me that our life span is expanding far more rapidly than our understanding of how to live it. We don't quite know how to be or become old. At times we seem stuck between images. We have a favorite fantasy of the perfect ending. , Like Emerson's famous one horse shay, we would live to a ripe old age with our faculties intact thought perhaps we would have to cut back to running three miles a;dty:r.i- and ' then mercifully;" and -gracefully die in our sleep. ' , , We also have a nightmare of poverty, illness and loneliness. A portrait of this nightmare appeared in my own paper just this morning in a United Way plea, captioned: "When you're older youH know what it's like. The countless , hours' ..alone. The . phone .thst never rings. The children who .are so busy with their own lives."" 'i r V:- . It's no wonder thtt we get so trap-. ped between fears and fantasies that we are unable to deal rationally with aging. We either deny it or surrender to it. For that reason, I am grateful that B.F. Skinnerjias gotten old before I have. I am grateful that the behavioral psychologist who created the Skinner . Box for children has come out of the closet of the aged. "I'm an old man," says the 79-year-old man, "I am old, old, old." . What Skinner has done with his old- old-old-ness is to write a book about it with Harvard associate Margaret Vaughan. The book, from its large print to its main points, is as direct as the title: "Enjoy Old Age, A Program of Sslf IvSanagement." He doczt.t r3 'zg&ast his years, nor does he extoll their wonders. He quite simply suggests that we "attack old age as a problem to be ' solved.":-;' -vr Skinner names the problems as only an old person writing to his contem- . poraries can do comfortably. Old peo ple (he dislikes such phrases as "older" ai d "elderly because they are evasive) are likely to have trouble seeing, hear-'. ' ing, testing, moving and remembering as well as they used to. As a good behaviorist, a man who " believes in the power of the environ ment to shape people, he and hb co- -' author set about schlbg problems by changing the environment: "It has .. been said that if you are net enjsying.' your life, something tmzzt be-wrong -. with. yea. More often, something is: wrong with the world in 'which you live." A irline.wossthre&t safety Something needs to be said about "the 'airline thing." It's an unpleasant warning, but it's needed :, before it gets written in blood.' , ' First, some background on. how we -got into this mess. When the federal government regulated the airlines, it decreed which airline could fly where and how much it could charge for tickets. Five yenrs ano, the airlines were m "Paul hgf: . ' Harvey Airlines prospered. ' For cue thing, every time a union demanded a wage raise, all the airline had. to do was to run to Washington and epen the books. "See," the airline would ssy, "our cost3 have gone up, oar fares must go up." . . ' : : " With no res! incentive to held costs down, the airlines awakened one day to fed that pilots e"in es much as $1S9,CC0 a year. ri:;;ht cttesdznts avert "3 tZ3X0 a yzzi f..:r a thro er four-dry rccli Even, drills crr.ts, who tiztttz cr.d tuch,.crrn Tf"1 5-. ri deregulated. Government decreed thst : any airline ' could , fly anywhere and charge whatever it pleased. - - - oon, msny.-CsdIr.g airlines were . taking over the fct routes with the most consistent traffic, white the big g:es, stuck with til these inflated safer- . . ies, simply were unatte to compete. - " Five years ago 'cirlines profited a bil lion dollars. Last year they faw backward a bil lion doEsrs. - .. . " " Ifwere-reguiatedfMIno.tftewEge spiral would start all over ggsln. .But if we leave things cs they are, ; airlines to cut ccsis racy eera- promise safety. Already one eirline allows one less ' . prefUght line check. In most any day's new? I think it Is safe to ssy in every dzy's news we ' . hear or rer.d some symptom cf scms body's ncgence..;;- - , White v.Tier perrcr.s ttzn I ere con templating what to da tboiit "the air line thir,g" how to rcctere prcZSz bil- if m V XM-Terttt Sift-J - Vir.fc . they tlzo must ccr:;rr ar.cthc: T . BOY.AM I GUO fC. KiiVfS EXTINCT. TELLS Ha VE A : M kj nisc.vHEmsfGs-Trj JJ wUu "j . m n n liiUliiti PiilW -Ti n o x . I'm so sick of people making fun of : . Western Nebraska.' -' : ..This psst summer, working 3 a Nebraska Vacation Guide, I got to experience some of this territorial ignorance firsthand. . ' ' .' en Wcrldng out cf North Fiatte, riht in the heart of Western Nebraska, I repeat edly : heart the : following comments . from travelers from other states: "Are there any wild Indians around here?" I kid you not. "It's so flat. This is the most boring state IVe ever driven through." - And my favorite, "Is there anything do to around here?" v Of course, many cf ihecs eut-cf- - taters;; had -heard, of, our. ".national powerhouse football team, but even it : didn't escape derision because' of the ...Cornhusksr mascot.-;" .... . At that time I was working for the state; and therefore smiled., politely , and tried to interest these people in some of the thbo Western Nebraska does have. to csr llzny, not most, times they weren't realty interested in that. ; - . . I'm not working for the state now, so . I can express my opinions on a few cf these matters. - In the flrrt phce, cr.! culture b the state's No. 1 bdurtry.l.ircskabclor.-s ' to the Ccrn Celt whlsh -fesd3 a good psrt cf this nttlcn, er.d ethers as well As a Nfcrj::n, I'm proud cf this f-ct end yet I I:r.ov nctMrtg ttzvit fsjm- If zll thzzd v. ho riiisute Ne trrl::;3 f:.rr;:r.i hr.i t::ycd zzz in Cw3 tl.Lij, too. i alps'thcy vtrs too busy cfeiHj thing3 to team any thing. In addition, guess what, fslls, there is nothing to do in Testeni Nebraska." : At least: not the kind f cfefeg you demand. " ' There is no Ksnsyfcad, cr Eroad wsy, end the closest thir its hs.vs to o ocesn is thf fcssstiTd tcch alsng. Lake IfcConaiiliy mzi 0L2sla, but, that's not much, use in tits winter. " .Western Nebreska falrith in historic .' cd slniScsnce, with everythtej frcm' ' the hems dBzilo 12 in Keith i-ktte ; to ruts of the Oregon Trail which trace ' the westward expsnsicn cf our ceun-, try. , v ; -.- . - . There are several excellent muse : ums which show the gtrac-j cf the , prairie pioneers who r.cpcd cr.d form ed these vsst plains' b.to lh7zz"x .- .And ebout. the : crJy recreiilsn is huntisg cr canoeing clcrt D.e cf the beautifiil ' vcterwcysrjch o the Nio-'' brara Ejver. And r,3,' yen cant ski far Western Nebreska. -. - ;? -: -.,, - :'' But you're probably net Interested in anything like that. I can reed it in your eyes. You're psrt cf a eacicty and cult-jre thzi r.lr;. lr.zl'a cn dcir.g . something. You hava to fc3 corstsntfy erttertafced Thoughts cf rcli-ir.g and lsttinf life happen cr.es b n; dsnt ' comg to you. 'And I'm net s-yir.g ttzt h wrong., either. To each hh cm, or. tens ssid : once. . " . r Co why do prep! 3 ir.::.:t en fccrsting the psopte cf Vc;trr;i I!:.rr.-:::a for vhst they are, cr.7c;tzrn :::trrka for it fa? . - It ssir.s to ne they v;s:".'.3 cny liv- ir.grrlthe'Jt pcUtr-.n, cr - z r -.'.rdcrs, cr cc;':ctr..-t fcr.r cl t'r ' And if there h ar.uc!.:cr - ...3 ;re they f -..g to h.t fircti C,".zz 3 L-xsw'sllt . j'.i.9ij . . - ... - rtr.: $ 3Li Ai , XI. -1 C