Thursday, March 20, 1986
Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
H o
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Uftiwaity ol Nbratka-LincoM
NRA would weaken bill
This time, the National Rifle
Association has gone too
far.
The strong organization is now
in Washington, D.C., lobbying for
a bill that would drastically
change the existing Gun Control
Act of 1968. The proposal, passed
by the Senate last year and up for
a House vote, is so dangerous
that it's even caught the atten
tion of some law enforcement
organizations.
Provisions of the law include
legalizing interstate sales of
firearms and making it harder to
convict people who use firearms
in crimes.
In a most gracious move, the
NRA has proposed that authori
ties can inspect gun dealers'
records once a year.
Not enough.
Fortunately the judiciary com
mittee is considering a com
promise to the bill that hopefully
will quench NRA members'
maniacal thirst and keep some
eniof lift
Library endowment a good choice
The Class of 1986 has chosen
one of the most worthwhile
UNL senior gifts in several
years library endowments.
Of the seniors who voted on
the gift, 40 percent chose library
aid, 27 percent voted for a dis
tinguished teaching award, 21
percent for a lecture series and
12 percent for kiosks.
All choices were worthwhile,
but the library package was the
best choice because it is some
thing UNL students and faculty
sorely need.
In a 1983-84 study by the
Association of Research Librar
ies, UNL ranked last among 11
schools belonging to the Ameri
can Association of Universities,
which includes peer land-grant
institutions. In the Big Eight,
UNL's library ranks eighth.
The senior gift could help
change those rankings. The gift
proposal includes two endow
ment funds one to buy books
and periodicals and the other to
help establish and expand a
computer operations system for
library research and card catalogs.
a hanks, Don Aripoli
UNL loses another committed individual
Don Aripoli, director of
Scholarships and Financial
Aid, is leaving UNL he
will be missed.
In the confusing morass of
constantly changing financial aid
regulations and budgets, Aripoli
competently adapted with the
changes to the benefit of UNL
students.
All too often administrators,
especially those doling out the
cash, languish unrecognized in a
thankless job. Students either
grab the money and run, or worse
yet, when money has been delayed
for any reason, students vent
their frustrations on the most
View Rugha, Editor, 472-1766
Thorn Gabrukicwici, Managing Editor
Ad Hudier, Editorial Page Editor
James Rogers, Eaitorial Page Editor
Chris Weisrh, Copy DesA: Cp
semblance of order in the system.
The substitute plan would pro
hibit interstate sales of hand
guns, compared with a catch-all
category of all kinds of firearms.
It also would let people freely
carry rifles and other sporting
weapons as long as they aren't
loaded and are out of reach.
We hope the NRA and other
gun enthusiasts will be satisfied
with the compromise.
The alternative isn't good, but
it deals with one of the more
important problems: the availa
bility of handguns. Most crimes
committed in the United States
involve handguns.' This country
leads the world in handgun
related deaths. They are made
with one purpose in mind: to kill
people.
The U.S. Constitution prom
ises citizens the right to bear
arms. It's important that people's
rights be protected, but society
also has the responsibility of
protecting its citizens.
All books bought with the
seniors' money would be marked:
"Purchased by the Class of 1986."
But the library endowments would
be much more than simple re
minders of 1986 graduates.
More importantly, the books,
resources and computer system
bought through the endowments
would help future UNL students
and faculty.
Although the NU Student
Foundation's suggested pledge
of $100 might seem overwhelm
ing at first, seniors who consider
the payment schedule probably
could afford it. The foundation
asks for only $10 the first year,
then $25, $30 and $35 in the next
three years. Those who can't
afford the suggested $100 can
simply set their own accounts.
Libraries are the core of uni
versities. Students and faculty
depend on them for current books,
periodicals and research informa
tion. Hopefully the '86 seniors will
help bring UNL's libraries up to
date for future students and
faculty.
available individual many
times Aripoli.
So, thank you, Don Aripoli,
and we're sorry for all those
times in the heat of the
moment we accused you of
not caring or of incompetence.
One final word. Although Ari
poli has not expressed any dissa
tisfaction with UNL, it's sad that
he is unable to find sufficient
opportunity for advancement at
UNL.
Senators, please take note as
UNL again loses another com
mitted and qualified staff mem
ber to another institution.
Marcos deserves a second look
Opponents ignore former leader's reforms, programs
Everybody hates Ferdinand Mar
cos, right? I mean, it is the most
nationally unifying force since
the U.S. hockey team took the Olympic
gold medal. I am, to say the least,
intrigued with the forces at play that
are able to bring the wrath of two entire
nations upon one solitary figure. Why
do we hate Marcos?
There may be good and bad reasons
for hating the man. Perhaps the worst
is also the most prevalent. We hate him
because the media has told us to hate
him, our friends have told us to hate
him, and the prevalent chic ethic is,
therefore, to hate him.
I trust that anyone aware enough to
forego the police report for the editor
ial page knows that proportion of
media coverage seldom reflects pro
portion of world-shaping potential or
even newsworthiness. Media is busi
ness, too, and like all business it caters
to what will sell. Marcos is hot right
now, and people want to read all the
sordid details.
Will Rogers said, "I only know what I
read in the papers." Well, I hope you
are as discriminating in your interpre
tation of media presentation as old
Will's monologues showed him to be.
"It's hot to hate Marcos" is not a good
reason to hate Marcos.
But there may be better reasons for
this hatred. We may hate the man
because of the perception we have
gained of him. This is a different mat
ter. Sure, some things may be put in a
bad light, but a lot of things come with
their own bad light and do not need
clever copy writers to provide it. It is
just impossible to report some of the
things Marcos has allegedly done with
out giving him the image of a tyrant, a
despot, a robber. And if those are natu
ral outcomes of what appear to be the
facts, then we cannot blame this on
biased media coverage. The man just
Letters
Values, morals, ethics should be included in curriculum
Recently I attended a faculty educa
tion commission meeting. I was dis
mayed to witness the reductionistic
attitudes some of the committee mem
bers had toward human beings. Their
comments were: "If we build a new
study area in the library (stimulus)
then the students will study more
(response)" or "have more interde
partmental meetings (stimulus) and
the faculty will cooperate more (re
sponse)." These simplistic views are
rooted in behavioralistic psychology'.
These people consider us to be no more
than robots.
I decided to test the committee
members' deeper attitudes toward col
lege students. I put this question to the
committee: Do you believe morals,
values and ethics should be taught in
M ENTITLED TO MVE W
ATOWRKNT BUT I KT HE KM &
0FW
seems to be void of redeeming virtue.
But it is always possible, as Steve
Taylor sings, to "state the facts while
telling a lie." The recent reports of
Marcos' activities have not included
the many reforms and social programs
he enacted in the Philippines.
We have not heard of the successful
efforts to bring electricity and other
utilities to many outlying areas. No one
has reported on his land reform pro
grams, whereby tenant farmers could
get low interest loans to buy the land
they till from the wealthy landowners.
y James
IJ Sennett
defend the thesis that the Philippines
is not a better place to live now than it
was when Marcos took office. Reports
of political atrocities and misuse of
government funds do not nullify these
facts nor reduce their testimony to
Marcos' concern for the people he
governed.
But these matters do not serve the
present agenda. In a society interested
in one-dimensional straw men, we can
not complicate the issue with facts
showing Marcos to be what we all are
a complex person with conflicting,
and even contradictory traits. It is pos
sible to be compassionate and ego
centric at the same time. We all wish
others to allow us such possible ten
sions in our lives, yet we are unwilling
to grant them to another, especially
one so publicly and pervasively de
nounced. And this touches on what I fear is
the underlying motivation for our hatred
of Marcos. I fear that, when veneers are
our schools. The committee was divided
on this topic.
I do believe the universities need
good study facilities, faculty luncheons,
course curriculum revisions, etc. But
we also need to have teaching and dis
cussion of values, morals and ethics.
There is no way that the educational
system can holistically interact with
people if they do not deal with deeper
feelings.
If another person does not take into
consideration your values, morals, mean
ing of life and deeper feelings, that
person is stripping you of your human
ity. Such depersonalization is epidemic
at our educational institutions. We
must do something about this problem.
Many countries, Japan for example,
teach moral values in their schools.
removed and feelings are analyzed, we
hate him mostly because of the degree
of his crimes, and not because of their
kind. We are appalled because of the
sheer numbers being tossed around.
Billions of dollars pilfered. Thou
sands of lives ruined. How could
anyone who has apparently propagated
evil on such a grand scale be deserving
of any reconsideration? Human frailty
may excuse minor flaws, but it cannot
be called to testify when the price is so
high.
We forget that few defensible ethical
systems give decisive weight for the
moral status of an act to quantitative
considerations. The size may move an
act from bad to worse or from good to
better, but seldom are we ready to let
sheer degree transfer an act from good
to bad or vice-versa. I see little that
Marcos has done that is not done on a
lesser scale in many American circles
every day. Person is often subordinate
to profit, and moral concerns are often
secondary to monetary. Yet we are able
not only to excuse but even to justify
such behavior because we are deluded
by its comparatively infinitesimal mea
sure. I am not saying that Marcos' only
crime was that he got caught (that
didn't work for Nixon; it won't work for
Marcos). I am saying just the opposite
we too may be guilty, whether or not
we ever get caught. Let us read our
national condemnation of Marcos as a
self-evaluation; an opportunity to re
adjust our own priorities. Do we by our
actions condemn only the magnitude of
his sins, and not their essence? Are we
separated from the man by a gulf of
ethical incompatibility, or merely by an
arbitrary partition of incremental
incumbency?
Sennett Is a araduate student in philo
sophy and campus minister with College-Career
Christian Fellowship.
And why should the churches and fam
ily have an exclusive monopoly on this
issue? The churches and family are
about the only institutions allowed to
treat people with holism and basic
human dignity.
Some day the educational system
and much of societies' members will
sober up and see the light. Gone will be
the college student who considers him
self nothing but a social security num
ber. It will take truly courageous
people to establish the teaching and
discussion of moral values in our
schools. For once our schools will be
places of human dignity, and ethical
respect. ,
Gerald Dobesh
graduate student
veterinary science
