Tuesday, November 12, 1985
Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
Foundation leader
deserves thanks
" """" 1 M, "in" ' ' t""" a "1 """' "' - .' . 1 Jr"
tudents and faculty members can thank D.B.
Cs. Varner, chairman of the NU Foundation's
American Stores Co. plant in Lincoln be
donated to the foundation.
Tim Thietje, spokesman for the foundation, said
Varner knew the meat-packing plant had been closed
since Dec. 2, 1982, so he sent a letter to American
Stores Co. officials in Salt Lake City to suggest the
plant be donated to the foundation.
The foundation received the plant the largest
such gift it has ever received primarily because of
Varner's efforts and the generosity of American
Stores, Thietje said.
The foundation now hopes to find a new tenant for
for $10 million plant and put it back into the packing
business.
At its peak, the plant employed 700 to 900 people.
The foundation cannot sell the plant for three years,
but can sell or lease the equipment, valued at about
$1.5 million.
Varner's work should benefit the state and the
university. The plant could provide jobs for Nebra
skans and generate money for NU.
With the NU budget still on the chopping block,
projects like this are needed more than ever.
Thank you, D.B. Varner.
Final push needed
As the amendment reducing the NU budget cut from 3
percent to 2 percent nears final approval, students
and parents must begin one final push to eliminate or
further reduce the cut.
NU students, faculty and administrators are on the
right track they succeeded in lowering the cut from 3
percent to 2 percent.
Joe Rowson, NU director of public affairs, said UNL, UNO and
NU Medical Center students have helped turn things around
for the university and have influenced public opinion.
But they shouldn't stop. Students and parents can have
more influence on senators' thinking than NU officials, who
already have made their case. Still, NU officials must continue
to speak out for the university and emphasize its contributions
to the state to draw support from all Nebraskans.
University supporters should make it clear to senators that
they appreciate the 1 percent reduction of proposed cuts, but
ir.ore is needed.
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Two proposals for U.S.-U.S.S.R. summit
With the upcoming summit be
tween President Reagan' and
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorba
chev, speculations are legion as to the
results we can expect and the hopes we
rightfully can harbor.
The rhetorical wars and media blitzes
leading up to this occasion have, to my
knowledge, beejt unprecedented. Eve
ryone has a lot to gain; everyone has a
lot to lose. And everyone is trying to
make darn sure he gets the former,
while his "distinguished colleague"
gets the latter. Sounds like a real prom
ising setup for progress to me.
it 1
James
Sennett
The art of diplomacy baffles me.
Such matters as diplomatic etiquette,
proper representation and the like
simply leave me cold. When I have a
problem with someone, I go talk it out
until we reach a solution that is equit
able and liveable. There is no fanfare or
hoopla. We don't know any better than
to think we can solve our difficulties by
talking about them. Apparently that
doesn't work with the big boys. I guess
I've got a lot to learn about communica
tion and problem-solving.
I do have some suggestions about
setting the summit atmosphere for
maximum efficiency (atmosphere is
another important diplomatic notion).
!t seems to me that a thorough exami
nation of what puts people at ease with
each other is needed. There just seem
to be universally appealing situations
which bring out the human being in all
of us.
The greatest thing that could happen
at the summit is for the chief modera
tor, or whatever they call him, to come
in on the first day with a new-born baby
in his arms. You know and 1 know that
no two human beings can find anything
to disagree about when they are goo
gooing and purring over nine pounds of
pink wrinkles. The most important sub
jects in the world at that time are the
brand of disposable diapers being used
and the always-hot debate over formula
feeding versus God's way.
Let's play dirty bring out the
grandpa in these two rock-hard world
leaders. And, while they are oozing
with "gitchi gitchi's" and "look at those
little hands," let's hit them with Star
Wars and medium-range warheads. I
can just hear them now; "What? Oh,
sure that sounds great to me. Do
whatever you want; would you just look
at those tiny feet? Oh you are a pre
cious little snookums, aren't you?"
Or maybe we could appeal to the
gambling spirit latent in the most
pious of us. Let's bring Gorbachev over
and let him experience the thrill of
anticipation and the exhilaration of
utter helplessness as one exercises his
right to complete desolation through
through the great U.S. institution of
The Wager. Give him a quick run-down
on the intricacies involved in a good
bet . the point spreads, the injury
charts, etc. Then let's tell him all about
the incredible University of Kansas
football team, which knows no end to
its winning ways.
In the interest of sport, we will be
willing to wager all of our most pre
cious summit agenda items on the
huge chance that Kansas will be upset
by the pitiful Nebraska Comhuskers
(Mikhail has seen pictures of Nebraska
it won't be hard to convince him).
All the Soviet Union has to do to get its
way is be willing to bet all its proposals
on the fierce Jayhawks taking one more
in their relentless march to a national
championship. Of course, to make the
matter palatable to those in the White
House less inticed by the games of
chance, we will have to be given 24
points. WTio wouldn't jump at such a
deal? The whole business could be
settled in one enjoyable afternoon at
Memorial Stadium. I'll even buy the
hotdogs.
I just don't know what all the fuss is
about. We ordinary folks don't go
through all this irrational nonsense to
make decisions. But, then again, we
don't have billion-dollar budgets to
back up our delusions of grandeur. If
my suggestions are taken to heart, I
humbly request that all money saved in
the transaction be forwarded to the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, ear
marked "Survival Fund." Maybe we
could get more cooperation on the
national level than we've gotten from
the state.
Sennett is a UNL graduate student in
philosophy and a campus minister of the
College-Career Christian Fellowship.
Truth sts despite politics
Occasionally, we all join in avast
conspiracy in which a lie is
accepted as a truth. For Com-'
pletely understandable reasons, that:
happened when the murdered Leon
Klinghoffer was treated as a hero and
fV Richard
not as a victim. So complete was this
fiction that hardly a murmur of dissent
was heard when Sen Alphonse D'Amato,
using Klinghoffer one more time for
political purposes, recommended him
for a Congressional medal.
Now we have an example of an even
greater conspiracy. It concerns the
case of MiroslavMedvid, the Soviet sai
lor who jumped ship Oct. 24. Even;
' though he twice tried to escape, even
though he had prepared for his swim by
. wearing shorts, even though he appar
ently tried to slash his wrists after
being returned to his ship and even
though a Ukrainian translator said
Medvid was seeking asylum, most of us
have chosen to decide otherwise. This
is a conspiracy of cynicism.
It also is, of course, a conspiracy
driven by political values. In this case,
the value is to avoid a showdown with
the Soviet Union over the fate of a sin
gle sailor. Given conflicting statements
most of us would prefer to think that
something aside from a lust for free
dom prompted Medvid to twice plunge
into the Mississippi. Maybe, someone
suggested, he was just seeking to go
home on another ship.
This is understandable. It would be
tragic if a single incident could derail
plans for the upcoming summit confer
ence at Geneva. There is much at stake,
including the promise of an eventual
arms-control agreement.
Medvid apparently forgot that in life,
timing is everything. Had he chosen to
jump ship just one year earlier when
the president was seeking re-election,
he would have been jetted, dripping
wet if necessary, to a Rose Garden
meeting with the Gipper-in-Chief. But
the president's eye now is on the judg
ment of history, not re-election, and
history, alas, cares nothing about the
fate of a single sailor.
Political values also play a role in
what little criticism the administra
tion initially received for its handling
the Medvid incident. Most of that came
from the political right. For instance,
the ultra-conservative Washington
Times, which believes no good can ever
come of a summit meeting, consist
ently has featured the Medvid story as a
front-page human-rights drama. In
comparison, the Washington Post ana
Please see COHEN on 5