Monday, April 1G, 1C24
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The effort to f : m a ec":-rt:v? t in
filling u:.!: at UNL has ended fcr r. ow,
E -t ne b ers cf the America. rs Associa
tiva cf University Professors shcuM
:r t.:r card camprrn a
r.:: ccr-sld
Linda Pratt, president cf the UNL
cf the AAV?, o.cur.cri ::-
urday that the card campaign would
t-e car-.ceZe-i I: had teen in progress
since January.
According to state lar.-, the AAUP
reeded the signatures cf crdySO per
cent c f th 2 pecp! w ho wo uld be ir.clu d
ed Li the bargaining ur.i: to coll an
election. The AAUP, however, said it
wanted a clear no; oriry U fo re puttir.
the issue before the facuiry. About 43
percent of the proposed bargaining
unit signed the cards.
While the campaign has been sus
pended, one can't help but believe that
the threat of collective bargaining at
UNL has forced the administration
and the NU Board cf Regents to listen
to faculty concerns.
Jr'cr the first time in a long time, the
administration was successful in its
efforts to receive a sizable increase in
appropriations from the Legislature.
As a result, faculty salaries at all three
campuses will go up.
All state employees, including NU
faculty menlrs, got a 3 percent rare
elective March 1. UNL faculty men
tors wl get additional LncTeases aver
S percent, while staff at the NU
Medical Center wxil receive an addi
tional 6 percent.
Saturday, the rr -mis approved a
contract with the UNO AAU? fcr the
first time since collective fc armaria:;
was err mizedenthat campus in 1 973.
In Edition to the ! larch 1 raise, UNO
will receive 3.5 percent for all faculty,
1.25 percent fcr merit raises and 025
percent to be given at the discretion cf
the rice chancellor cf academic affal-s.
The contract alio contains specific
guidelines for governance and griev
ances.. UNL faculty members should not
give up row. They should continue to
fight for the things they've been work
ing toward higher salaries and a
larger role in governance.
The regents and administration also
should continue their efforts toward
improving the situation at UNL. Within
three years, UNL faculty members
should have salaries and governance
procedures comparable to those at
similar institutions.
If that is achieved, it will benefit
more than the faculty. It will mean a
higher quality university for the stu
dents and the residents cf Nebraska.
Scene of child abuse provokes
columnist to question his values
.It's funny, the way your values and
opifaSnslare" formed, little scenes from
asummer x! -rairh.t direct the way
you look at many things.
rz - - j
Bill
r Allen
An old beat-up Gran Torino pulled
off the interstate in front cf the restau
rant. You could see its exhaust, so that
means it wasn't in great shape, I think.
I know little about cars. It was also
rusty and the tires were bare. The back
sank lower than the front. The wind
shield was dirty.
A man with no shirt and faded jeans
with holes got out cf the drivers side
and went to use the phone located
outside the building. The woman, sim
ilarly dressed, but with a shirt, went
around the corner to the bathroom.
This all happened last summer when
it was hot. There was a gas station and
a convenience store with the restau
rant. Several times people got out of
cars barefoot and after a few steps on
the hot pavement, went back to their
cars for shoes. There wasn't much
shade, either. The restaurant was air
conditioned, but the store wasn't.
There was a baby in that old Gran
Torino wearing a dirty diaper, not a
Pamper, and eating one of those life
savers on a stick. His hands and face
weresticky and he wiped his hands on
the drrver's-side car window, which
was half down. You could see that he
was hot. His curly hair was set and
stuck to his forehead. He stood on the
car seat and locked in at us standing in
the air-con dtioned restaurant.
Hi3 parents were gone a long time.
The sun must have been magnified
through that windshield onto his young
skin Lite that hot pavement on those
bare feet. The kid didnt cry, but he
didn't lock happy.
Continued cn Parte 5
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a ' Letters
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Department shoddy
I am very disappointed in the com
puter science department at our uni
versity. For the size cf the college and
the growing dependence on compu
ters, the department here is relatively
small
I understand that the facilities this
year represent a substantial improve
ment over those of previous years, but
are they going to stop at this point?
From what I gather, the department
has no desire to expand. They are not
offering nearly enough classes or supp
lying enough teachers to meet stu
dents' growing desire to major in com
puter science.
Instead of encouraging computer
science majors, the department is dis
couraging them. In order to take a 200
level computer science class next year
and then a 200- or 400-Ievel class the
following year, a student must main
tain a 2.5 GPA in computer science
classes. Even if the student meets these
requirements and others, he is still not
assured of placement in a desired
class, even upon turning in his regis
tration the first day possible.
I am not against the 2.5 GPA require
ment, because this will only help the
student in the long run, but when the
college cannot even handle those stu
dents who fulfill the requirements,
something needs to be done. I believe
the department could use about twice
as many terminals as it has. This would
bring us a little bit closer to the stand
ard set by other Big Eight Conference
schools with facilities far superior to
ours. A college that operates on a scale
as large as that of this university should
be able to make the necessary changes
to suit the changing student body. If
the appropriate improvements are not
met, I can see no reason (other than
the Nebraska football ticket) for con
tinuing my studies here.
Dave Villmes
freshman
computer science
1 n
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ixiaecisive..TQOiiQcians osiccer never man late
For a people who religiously observe the first
commandment of modern life Thou Shalt Grow
and Change we are remarkably critical of politi
cians who do just that. We seem to react to leaders
the way we once reacted to our parents. We criticize
them if they're out of step and criticize them if they
begin to trip the light punk rock.
K 1
i A i
1
J
ciien
Goodman
Kemeroberwhat happened to Jim my Carter when
he changed the part in hi3 hair? This year any
number of candidates will be judged for changing
their minds.
It's begun already. In the "kinship struggle" (as
Jesse Jackson calb it) between Mondaie and Hart,
the two men have engaged in an argument that
sound3 like the old Abbott and Costello routine,
"Who's on TiTEtT Each has claimed that he was cn
the "right side" first, and each has chastised the
other for being "late" cn the issues. In New York,
Hart accused Mondaie cf being "late" on Vietnam
and Mondaie accused Hart cf being "late'.on the
nuclear freeze.
In Massachusetts, where a number cf Democrats
have plunged into the race for Paul Tsongas' Senate
seat, there's been a similar controversy over abor
tion between supporters cf Rep. James Shannon
and Rep. Edward Markey. The curious thing is that
both candidates are pro-choice. But Markey is critic
ized as "late" on the issue. He converted last year. As
a Markey supporter says, "The way things look now,
you are as likely to get knee-capped as praised for
changing."
Some cf this who's-cn-first campaign rhetoric
comes from men who are trying, sometimes desper
ately, to highlight differences. A lot of it is normal
Democratic Party squabbling. Kinship struggles may
be the most vicious of chil wars.
Out of season, we often allow politicians to change
their positions, especially if they are changing in
sync with their times or with our own opinions.
George Wallace has made the most heralded trip
from segregationist to born-again populist Ronald
Reagan, a model cf rigidity, made a once-and-fcrever
mid-Life switch before he got into politics.
But often, the people who were "there" on an issue
first have trouble accepting the leaders who fol
lowed them-They are more uncomfortable with new
allies than eld enemies.
Admittedly, someone who is late cn an issue may
be too late. Once I sat next to a boss who was
notorious for keeping women, some cf whom I'd
known, out cf top jots. He was, he told me benignly, ,
quite wrong in "the eld days" and he had changed. I
felt torn between loyalty to those he'd hurt, and
understanding. He was late. For some, he was too
late.
So I can imagine how difficult it is for someone
who had lost a son or a limb or innocence in the
Vietnam War to accept the explanations of those
who now say they made "a mistake." It must be hard
for those most intensely involved in any cause,
whether it's the nuclear freeze or abortion or chil
rights or Central America, to welcome the pols-come-lately.
Where were you when we needed you?
But it makes more sense to welcome a changing
mind. Not one that's fickle or fuzzy but one that's
open to reason. After all, politics is about change.
Politicaladvocates struggle to persuade their oppo
nents. There is something peculiar about turning
around and penalizing your own converts. Ed Mar
key, for example, lost the right-to-life vote only to be
characterized as a late bloomer by some pro-choice
people. The next polit ician may worry less about his
conscience and more about his consistency consti
tuency. J
Not every turnaround is an expedient flip-flop.
Not every opinion is formed through polls. On mat
ters as complex as those of war and peace, life and
death, many politicians are like the rest of us. They
keep on thinking and get stuck in the process. Grow
ing and changing.
1SS1, The Boston Globe Newftptner Cor-y
