The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, February 07, 1986, Page Page 4, Image 4
Friday, February 7, 1986 Page 4 Daily Nebraskan 'Editoria Nebraskan Daily jras University of Nebraska-Lincoln u Research agency needed The elementary lesson of bus iness is that it takes money to make money. This is the clear-headed philosophy behind Gov. Bob Kerrey's proposal to create and fund the Nebraska Research and Development Author ity. The goal of the proposal is to aid the development of new bus inesses for Nebraska. The plan would create a semi-private agency that would seek coopera tion between business, state government and higher educa tion. But the plan pushes beyond merely structuring such cooper ation; it seeks to provide seed money for development. The authority would fund research projects directly and help find capital for new product devel opment. Although several million dol lars would be required to set up and fund the agency in its first few years, estimates indicate that within six to 10 years it would pay for itself. The proposal represents the long-term thinking necessary to lay the foundation for a sustai Minority recruitment UNL takes step in right direction Vice Chancellor Robert Fur gason's plan to attract minority faculty members is a step in the right direction, but UNL still has a long way to go. Furgason, vice chancellor of academic affairs, set up a $25,000 brought to UNL, the real chal- fund to be used to actively recruit lenge begins, minority faculty members. The Minorities who see little chance money would cover travel ex- for advancement are likely to penses and allow UNL to adver- turn down job offers. It's up to tise vacancies in national publica- UNL officials to make sure that tjons doesn't happen. ' . .A .x , , UNL should strive for a more The minority recruitment plan active minorit and was needed In fact it s long concentrate on promoting hard overdue. Of UNL s 1,062 faculty worki minorities and women iiieiuueia, umy , v uc uiauv, ina- panic, Native American or Asian. With the newly established fund, UNL deans and search committees could bring in minority candidates for inter views, rather than the past prac tice of interviewing only the sin gle most academically qualified candidate usually a white man. But simply having the money available for interviews isn't enough. UNL administrators could correct the minority defi- ciency faster if they established a minimum number of candi- dates to be interviewed. Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials represent official policy of the spring 1986 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its members are Vicki Ruhga, editor; Ad Hudler, edi torial page editor; Thorn Gabru kiewicz, managing editor, James Rogers, editorial associate and Chris Welsch, copy desk chief. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the university, Vicki Ruhga, Editor, 472,1766 Thorn Gabrukiewicz, Managing Editor Ad Hudler, Editorial Page Editor James Rogers, Editorial Associate Chris Welsch, Copy Desk Chief omen! nable economic recovery in Ne braska. Outside the state's urban areas, Nebraska has not felt the effects of the economic recovery enjoyed by the rest of the nation. Long-term prospects for a return fo a prosperous agricultural economy are bleak. Production in other countries has increased, while overproduction consistently characterizes domestic produc tion. To avoid a continually slug gish state economy, Nebraska must diversify its economic base. This takes investment capital, with productive effects being realized only in the future. Our gratification must be deferred or it will never arrive at all. Political demands being what they are, the tendency of policy makers is to think only of the moment. Certainly, emergencies require immediate action. However, the best solution to fires isn't more fire trucks, but buildings that are more flame resistent. Similarly, simply stamp ing out the immediate fire of the ag crisis is required, but long term construction is needed to avoid the heat of future crises. After all, the interviews are important. Often less-qualified candidates will shine in an inter view, while the more-qualified person might seem average. Once minority candidates are teaching here As Furgason pointed out, Lin- coin does have disadvantages that hurt minority recruitment: The city and state have small minority population O Private businesses compete for minorities O Other universities also com pete for qualified minorities. But if UNL offered opportuni ties for advancement and con centrated on hiring and retaining minority faculty, the problems could be overcome, Furgason's fund and active- recruiting proposals are the first step. its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents. The Daily Nebraskan's pub lishers are the regents, who established the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the news paper lies solely in the hands of its student editors. M$& f 1VMVD0TDC00L X-JW ft nil TJLx. IT ON SPENP1H6 UNTIu IfMi ill lmhP9 AFTER THE ELECTIONS. wT (MT WiSfrSsUM m mm worn M Tfc M I wm 7i4 x 1MR THAT WE USED V 114 ? P W xOTl 0WNPER50NAL 6A1N.BY fe&SJ fafc 11 Till S I wwww, ml , Nf&gg TR1PT0 NEW YORK? JLJ Jjk, "Jf,- SP 'Hail Mary' decision shows concern Cries of censorship flew this week when it was announced that the film "Hail Mary" would not be played at the Sheldon Film Theatre. Sheldon Art Gallery Director George Neubert said the decision not to show the film was a purely administrative decision. He based his decision on the supposition that the film would offend many Lincoln residents, as it has of fended the residents of many cities where it was shown worldwide, spark ing numerous pickets. Randy Donner The cries and outbursts of students and others yelling censorship show an underlying double standard. Last year, the theater chose not to show "The Gods Must Be Crazy," a film by a South African filmmaker, on the grounds that the film had racist overtones and might have offended some people. The same degree of outburst was not seen at that time, although the film was scheduled to be shown. The difference is that the film might have offended the newly raised racial consciousness of people because of the recent newsworthiness of South Afri can arpartheid, and this film, "Hail Mary" would offend only some Chris tians, Roman Catholics in particular. People seem to reason that offend ing a Christian, particularly a Catholic, is all right. It happens all the time. That is partially true, it does often happen i n f Kissinger's urge for service right, but race for N.Y. governor wrong The news that Henry Kissinger is thinking about running for gover nor of New York brings many thoughts to the nimble mind. Among these is the question of whether he has considered that he will have to sell his country home in Connecticut, that people (like me) will joke about the "secret bombing of New Jersey" and Richard Cohen that, against Mario Cuomo, he will be running as the WASP. The real ques tion, though, is: Why doesn't he run instead against Sen. Alfonse D'Amato? Yes, D'Amato, the hack from Hemp movie not ce that one thing or another in our society offends the moral basis of Christianity. The reasoning may be partially true, but it is not all right. Recently there have been a number of well-known and some not so well known Christian leaders announc ing their candidacy for public office ranging from local and statewide elec tions to national races for the presid ency. Often these candidates are sum marily dismissed on the mythical grounds of the Constitution guarantee ing a separation of church and state. On the matter of religion, the Constitu tion states that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exer cise thereof . . ." That does not translate, no matter how you read it, to a total separation of church and state. It is encouraging to see that so many Christians are willing to take a politi cal stand and defend their beliefs, even against the cries that morality is being forced on the populace. If they were members of any other group ethnic, racial or other, minority or majority they would not immediately be dis missed for presenting their views to society. A black man or woman speaking about racial discrimination is not dis missed by people as readily as a Chris tian man or woman, or any religious man or woman for that matter, is dis missed when speaking on the subject of religious discrimination. This seems particularly ironic since many politicians are fond of calling our society a Christian nation. Calling the United States a Christian society, or as it is sometimes now stated a Judeo-Christian society is stead. In his statement, Kissinger said he has always wanted to serve. But if he should serve anywhere it should be the U.S. Senate. He has been trained for the Senate. The Senate could use his foreign-policy expertise. The Senate has foreign-affairs committees, over sees the CIA and confirms (or rejects) important presidential appointments such as secretary of state. We all know D'Amato. He was the senator who suggested the Congres sional Medal of Honor for Leon Kling hoffer, a civilian and a victim, not a soldier and a hero. He is the senator who is allergic to issues and addicted to constituent service. He is the sena tor they call an "assemblyman," a caseworker for New York state who has brought the mentality of a ticket-fixer rslii for beliefs, views calling our nation something that it isn't. We live in a pluralistic society, with many views, each of which deserve consideration on its merits. This is to say that the view of an avowed atheist should be considered as much as the views of an orthodox or fundamentalist Christian. But, unfortunately, that has not proven to be true in our nation. Inevitability the views of the avowed atheist win out out as he or she raises the cries of constitutionally guaran teed separation of church and state. The result then, instead of a body of legislators legislating morality, is a body of legislators legislating immorality, or a based on the wants or "rights" as some may broadly interpret them, of the individual, and seems totally to ignore the greater aspirations and goals of society as a whole. Thus, what a large portion of society may term as objec tionable to their moral fiber and as an impediment to the advancement of society, like pornography, is given the legislative OK as a personal right. Pornography is used here to illus trate, as an example, how Christians are offended daily, and their views dismissed daily under the guise of leg islated morality in our society. The cancellation of the film "Hail Mary" was not, as it has been accused, an act of censorship. The film has not been suppressed and taken out of cir culation as censorship would imply. Instead it showed a public institution that, unlike most institutions, reacted to the beliefs and views of a large seg ment of society and chose not to act in an abrasive, offensive way. Maybe our society of pluralistic views is taking steps to become a society that cares about those views. Donner is a UNL senior journalism major. to the seat once occupied by Jacob Javits and Robert F. Kennedy. The awful truth for Henry Kissinger is that no matter what his brilliance, he has always been merely staff. There is no shame attached to that, but there are occasional irritations. It is said that Richard Nixon made an occasional crack about Jews in Kissinger's pres ence and then, in a Resignation Eve ceremony, asked him to kneel and pray as the ax of Watergate was being lowered by an indignant public. Kis singer did as he was asked, writing in some length about the incident in his book. Nixon kissed it off with a brief mention in a book of his own. Such is the staff man's lot: What he thinks is sunshine is merely shadow. See COHEN on?