Monday, March 19, 1934
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Justices' action averts
doubt in Douglas trial
With all the questionable activities of state govern
ment surrounding the failure of Commonwealth
Savings Co., a decision made last week by three
Nebraska Supreme Court justices was a refreshing
change of pace.
Thursday, Chief Justice Norman Krivosha and
Judge D. Nick Caporale disqualified themselves
from the impeachment proceedings against Attorney
General Paul Douglas because of their friendship
with him. Judge C. Thomas White disqualified him
self from the case because his daughter is an
assistant attorney general
District Judge Robert Moran of Alliance and Keith
Howard of Omaha and retired District Judge William
Colw ell of Pawnee City will fill the three vacancies
for the Douglas case.
The case came about because of a 27-19 vote by
the Legislature Wednesday to begin the impeach
ment process. By Nebraska law, Douglas was im
mediately suspended from office, but the state's
high court will have the final say on his fate.
The disqualification of the three justices has
caused some grumbling at the Legislature. Sen.
Marge Higgins of Omaha complained that she forced
herself to vote for Douglas' impeachment, despite
the fact that she considered the attorney general a
good friend. The justices, she said, also should be
able to separate friendship from obligation and
make an objective decision.
Higgins is to be commended for placing the state's
best interests ahead of personal friendships, but the
justices, too, deserve praise for removing the possi
bilty of any conflicts of interest in the case.
Justices the caliber of Krivosha, White and Capor
ale probably would have been able to remain ob
jective, but they were wise to remove any doubt. The
Commonwealth situation already has caused too
many hardships, too much distrust of state govern
ment, for the state's high court to take any chances.
Douglas may very well be cleared of the charges
against him and be allowed to return to office. Had
he been cleared by a court that contained three
justices with possible conflicts of interest, the public
would have been outraged. With all the other
problems surrounding the case, that's the last thing
this state needs.
All Nebras ka citizens especially Paul Douglas
should be satisfied with the current arrangement.
The public can rest assured that seven highly
qualified men will hear the case and make a judg
ment based on facts, not on personal relationships.
Douglas can take comfort in knowing that if the
court clears his name, the decision is more likely to
be acceptable to the public than it would have been
if the three justices had not disqualified themselves.
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fjjp Letters
Pretty good progress
I would like to comment on Professor Splinter's
Guest Opinion concerning Rutgers University and
the AAUP. (Daily Nebraskan, March 15).
Having taught at Rutgers in the early '60s, before
collective bargaining had been adopted, I can testify
from direct experience that their salary scale
at that time was near the bottom of Category I
institutions. Now, they are in the top 5 percent. I
, would call that pretty good progress. The average
academic year salary for Rutgers full professors in
1982-83 was $47,300. Maybe the professors weren't
driving Cadillacs, as Professor Splinter points out,
but I imagine most UNL professors wouldn't mind
being so deprived. (Our average was $34,200.)
Many of the facts presented by Professor Splinter
seem to me irrelevant to the debate over collective
bargaining. They indicate that Rutgers seems to be
having severe budget problems, as many universit
ies are these days, both with and without collective
bargaining. But why blame that on the AAUP?
Professor Splinter presents no evidence to suggest
that without collective bargaining those problems
would not exist.
As for the absence of Kimball Hall or a Sheldon
Gallery, I can assure Professor Splinter that, being a
45-minute bus ride from the Metropolitan Museum,
Lincoln Center, et al, the Rutgers faculty did not feel
culturally deprived. In any case, that too is irrelevant
to the issues under consideration.
It seems to me there are legitimate arguments on
both sides of the collective bargaining issue, and I
have personally' decided to support it only after
much soul-searching. Dr. Splinter's invective is not,
in my view, a useful contribution to the debate.
Leo Sartori
professor
, physics
SWAP could lead to future cooperaMon
Last week I participated in a lunch
eon discussion which was the culmina
tion of Operation SWAP a week at
UNL when 13 students were paired
with administrators for the sole pur
pose of sharing a small part of their
Guest
Opinion
lives with one another. It was immedi
ately clear that this simple concept
produced an impressive range of
activities and involvements as the 26
individuals introduced their partners
and briefly described their exper
iences. This quick-moving 90 minutes of
sharing the examples of meaningful
activties, issues and insights which
touched so many aspects of our
"campus community included the fol
lowing: an inspiring lecture in the
School of Music, the complexity of
federal regulations regarding financi
al aid planning, busy student sched
ules, hazardous waste, interviewing
faculty candidates, the art of Akido, a
newly expanded Career Development
Seminar, student friendships within
their houses and halls, departmental
staff meetings, violence against wo
men, public relations in the State
Capitol computers, the impact of long
work weeks upon family life and
leisure time, an ASUN meeting, study
rooms in the library, problems of
finding a job upon graduation, union
ization, - agricultural policy, budget
concerns, large classes, faculty men
tors, an atmosphere of intellectual
curiosity, and, of course, All My Child
ren. All of these experiences were
shared by SWAP partners during the
previous week.
The sponsors of SWAP had created
a mini living-learning experiment in
the truest sense. This was confirmed
by a predominant theme that was
unanimously communicated by the
participants - everyone agreed that
they not only enjoyed themselves but,
without exception, each person in
their own way indicated that they
had learned something. Education is
"interaction; education is communica
tion. One additional observation was un
avoidable. Most of the participants
related their newly gained insights in
personal terms rather than in the
context of global generalizations. This
was perhaps most evident in the
descriptorsused by students to chara
cterize the administrators they had
come to know as warm, caring,
sincere, dedicated, hard-working in
dividuals who are deeply committed
to making UNL more responsive to
their educational needs. I felt com
pelled to look around the room and
focus on my administrative counter
parts to provide for myself some type
of private validation to the student
reports. From my years of personal
contacts with these colleagues, I re
cognized immediately that such qualit
ies were generally accurate even
though some of our individual and
collective shortcomings as admini
strators receive considerable public
attention.
Continued on Pae 5
Faculty, smdenis gain healthy insigh
Editor's Note: Operations SWAP
84 was a project designed by the
Innocents Senior Honorary to trade
places with the m?Jor administrat
ive positions at UNL. Thirteen In-
,r
5, and the results
Guest
Opinion
nocents members and administrat
ors followed each other to meet
ings, classes and meals daring the
week of Feb. 27 to March 2 to learn
mere about each ether's work and .
cf the pre' set
were coupled by two of the partici
pants. This guest editorial views
the project from a student perspec
tive and the one below views it from
an administrator perspective.
For a few brief hours through one
week this semester, 26 people at UNL
took a crash course in human relations.-
As part of Operation SWAP,
each of them had the chance to see
the human side of the university life.
For the first time, administrators
were able to talk one-on-one with the
student body they serve; sharing in
student classes, and taking in stu
dents' person?! hopes and problems.
Students, likewise, were able to
observe men at work in the adminis
trative bureaucracy of a major uni
versity men who bring to their jobs
widely different backgrounds and per
sonal viewpoints.
Operation SWAP was a small pro
ject, a limited program with simple
goals. We hoped to provide an oppor
tunity for a mix of people and view
points that could give each partici-.
pant a different perspective on the
life and work of UNL.
In changing perceptions, at least,
Operation SWAP succeeded. At the
brown bag lunch that ended the
SWAP week, and in evaluations that
summarized it, both administrators
and students said the biggest insight
they gained from the project was
quite simply getting to know other
people as individuals. Seeing and hear
ing first hand the administrator's
commitment to their jobs led to com
ments by the students about the
administrators' deep and sincere con
cern for UNL.
Administrators, in seeing the stu
dents' lives close-up, found UNL stu
dents surviving real pressures and
tough challenges and who are inter
ested in working for and improving
their university.
Continued cn Ps.e 5
