Monday, April 28, 1986
Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
ouujona
Vicki Kuhtfa, Editor, 472,1766
Thorn Gabrukiowiez, Mauayiny Editor
Ad lludlcr, Editorial Vayv Editor
Jim Rogers, Editorial Vayv Editor
Chris WVIscli, f o) VsA- C7f'-
Nebrayskan
University ol Nebraska-Lincoln
RLO
news
Contras create chaos
Interesting news about the
U.S.-backed Contras in Nica
ragua is beginning to make
its way tothe United States. It
looks like t he so-called "freedom
fighters" aren't quite the good
guys President Reagan paints
them to be.
Contra rebels are disrupting
life in neighboring Honduras,
whe they live in settlements on
the Nicaragua-Honduras border,
according to the Christian Sci
ence Monitor. In addition, an
internal battle between U.S. and
Contra officials still exists. It
appears no one in the rebel
group knows who is in charge.
Contra forces, while occupy
ing Honduras, have forced peo
ple in several Honduran villages
to flee the region. They have
stolen food, killed cattle and
murdered citizens of that coun
try. Several Hondurans fear mil
itary conflicts between the San
dinista forces of Nicaragua and
the Contras. About 3,000 Hondu
rans have had to relocate because
of the threat. About 1,200 families
live as refugees in the town of
Las Trojes, the Monitor reported.
It looks like our endangered
Contra forces seem to lack the
patriotic and God-given drive
and duty that we've been told
they have.
In addition, few Hondurans
think the Contras can overthrow
the Sandinista regime success
fully. Hondurans, who fear Nica
ragua, probably would want noth
ing more than to see the San
dinistas overthrown.
The Contras' fate looks even
bleaker when you look at the
power struggle going on in the
group now. Within the Unified
Nicaraguan Opposition the
Donation 'dispute
UNL loses valuable book addition
UNL's Love Library seems to
be caught in the middle of
a political battle.
The library was to have first
shot at about 2,000 books that
did not fit the mission of the
Nebraska State Historical Soci
ety. But last week, the society's
executive board rescinded the
agreement with Love Library. It
now intends to send the books to
the Nebraska State Historical
Society Foundation, which is a
private, non-profit corporation.
The reversal appears to stem
from a feud with James Hanson,
state historical society director.
Some members of the executive
board disagreed with Hanson's
2-year-old "weeding" project,
which would eliminate books
that are not related to the socie
ty's focus on state genealogy and
history.
At a meeting earlier this
month, society board member
Nellie Snyder Yost of North Platte
asked the board to fire Hanson
because of his alleged misman
agement of the project.
The board defeated the firing
Contras three leaders con
tinually claim they are the
group's leader: Arturo Cruz, Al
fonso Robelo and Adolfo Calero.
No wonder the Contras have
been so successful in overthrow
ing the Sandinistas.
Congressmen continue to de
bate the effectiveness of the
Contras. Many still believe they
eventually will win the battle
and establish a democracy.
But we hope these new devel
opments regarding the situation
slow things down a bit in Wash
ington enough that the House
members, who haven't finally
approved the $100 million in
Contra aid, will slow down and
reevaluate the situation before
casting their final vote. The news
of a Contra power struggle and
displacement of Honduran citi
zens represents sound reasons
why Congress shouldn't support
or reject an idea immediately
without careful investigation
and a little patience.
Perhaps a vote won't even be
needed. Things in Central Amer
ica look a little brighter this
week. U.S. Presidential Envoy
Phillip Habib has been working
out negotiations between the
Contras, Sandinista leaders and
other neighboring countries that
might alleviate some of the prob
lems in the area. No details have
yet been worked out, but offi
cials are discussing setting up
free elections and a restoration
of a democratic institution.
It's nothing certain, but it's a
start. Congress should cool its
heels, sit back and look the
situation over a little more before
deciding to involve the United
States in another hopeless Vietnam-like
situation.
motion, but rejected Hanson's
Love Library donation decision.
UNL lost a valuable addition
to its collection because of the
historical society dispute.
The donation would have come
at a time when UNL's libraries
sorely need a boost. UNL's library
ranked last in a study of 11 peer
institutions. The libraries' total
operation expenditures, salaries
and wages were last among peer
schools and sixth of seven in Big
Eight schools, according to the
1983-84 Association of Research
Libraries study.
The historical society's exec
utive board missed the chance to
help the state university's library
improve.
If the books had been donated
to UNL, anyone could have used
them. The historical society
foundation, however, is a private,
non-profit corporation. It now
will decide which books will be
saved and which will be dis
carded. The society's executive board
. might better have served Nebra
skans by donating the books to
Love Library.
M Mm T83 JlP 'iJ
cr m I -J UJk. I! j
raduaiing senior takes stock
Despite budget cuts, UNL still offers
Last year, I interviewed NU Regent
Kermit Hansen for a story about
growth and the quality of educa
tion at UNL.
I asked Hansen if he thought budget
cuts in recent years had hurt the qual
ity of education here. His response
caught me off guard.
"Well, you've been here four years.
Have you gotten a good education?" he
asked.
I fumbled with my notebook for a few
seconds before responding that I did
get a good education. His point was
well-taken: An education is only what
the student makes of it.
While it's true that NU recently has
taken a drubbing financially and that
not all programs and facilities here are
first-rate, a good education is still here
for the taking. This is a plea for those
with time left. I graduate in May.
Like many freshmen, I was confused.
I didn't know what 1 wanted to do, and I
felt alienated by the university's im
mensity. But, as time went on, I found
my niches at the Daily Nebraskan,
on the rugby team, in the journalism
school, in the English department.
I had some excellent professors, and
some who were not.
If I have one regret about my time, it
is that I did not take fullest advantage
Like any smart executive, chieftains
of terrorism learn how to delegate
Listening to the rantings of people
like Moammar Khadafy, the Aya
tollah Khomeini or Yasser Arafat,
it's easy to get the impression that
they're fierce and warlike.
In a way they are, of course. They've
been responsible for much of the ter
rorism plaguing the world.
But despite their menacing manner,
they're really quite thoughtful and
shrewd. If you notice, their hides re
main intact.
As crazy as they can sound, they're
not dummies. They don't strap bombs
under their own coats or get behind the
wheels of a truck loaded with dynamite
or personally hijack planes or ships.
Like any smart executive, they've
learned to delegate. They let somebody
else do the risky jobs.
And that tells us something impor
tant about the leaders of the countries
and organizations that go in for inter
national terrorism. They don't neces
sarily believe their own preachings.
They tell their devout followers that
there is simply nothing better than
dying while fighting for their religious
beliefs. To blow yourself up while ram
ming a barrack, or shooting up a plane,
or bombing a cafe, guarantees a one
way, first-class ticket to eternal heav
enly bliss.
This obviously appeals to the reli
giously devout but ignorant people
they recruit, because they've had no
of my professors. I don't think very
many students do.
They are there to talk to, and quite
often, I learned more in conversation
than in the classroom. Nothing des
troys the alienation between student
and teacher in this gargantuan institu
tion like a face-to-face chat. The auto
maton who throws ideas at you becomes
a man or woman.
Pi
Chris
Welsch
From my better professors, in every
field of study, I've gained an unquen
chable curiosity. After five years of
higher education, I feel hopelessly
under-informed. I have a lot of ques
tions. That, I think, is the mark of a
good education.
The information, the facts, the the
ories have helped me understand the
world and, at the same time, have left
me thirsting for more. But just as
important as the classroom experience
is what you do outside of it.
Involvement in any organization, be
shortages of young boobs willing to go
on risky or suicidal missions.
But if eternal bliss is the payoff for
getting oneself blown to bits, I have to
wonder why the terrorist leaders and
organizers are so resistant to a dose of
bliss for themselves?
After the hijacked Italian ship was
finally free, the veteran leader of that
terrorist group went to great lengths to
sneak out of Egypt, then out of Italy. He
clearly was in no hurry becoming a
sitting target and getting prematurely
blissful.
Mike
Royko
So it is with the rest of them. Arafat
looked warlike the time he showed up
at the United Nations wearing ammu
nition. But when was the last time he
snuck into Israel to blow up a bus? And
nobody ever knows where in Iran the
crazy Ayatollah is doing his brooding.
I thought about their knack for self
survival and bliss-avoidance when the
word came that Khadafy's infant
daughter was killed during the raid in
Libya.
To use a word favored by diplomats,
the child's death was unfortunate. But
a good education
it the Daily Nebraskan, the Association
of Students of the University of Nebra
ska or the Meat Judging Team, gives
you social skills, a frame of reference,
friends, a sense of place. ASUN sena
tors, DN writers and meat judgers often
are viewed with disdain by each other
and by the general student body. But
each knows he has accomplished some
thing, perhaps something for the good
of the university community.
I'm aware this has been said many
times before. I might have even heard it
when I was a confused freshman. But it
bears repeating: Your education is
what you make of it. As reprehensible
as the cuts to higher education are,
they cannot be used as an excuse.
I cannot in good conscience write
my last regular column (I have a finals
week "Ask Chris" column coming up)
without some overdue thank you's.
I hereby publicly and shamelessly
use this space to express my profound
thanks to my parents for supporting me
through school and to my grandpar
ents, who bought my books.
Without their help, I would still be a
dishwasher at Mr. Steak.
Welsch is a senior journalism and Eng
lish major and a Daily Nebraskan copy
desk chief.
it is a harsh reality that children die in
the conflicts created by adults.
Only recently, a terrorist bomb went
off on a commercial airliner and one of
the innocent passengers sucked through
the hole was a baby. Children die when
terrorist explosives flatten restaurants
and when buses or airline terminals are
sprayed with terrorist bullets.
To people like Khadafy, the deaths
of children is one of the penalties that
his enemies must pay for being his
enemies.
So, at the risk of sounding cold
hearted, I have to say that if any child
had to die in this conflict, it might as
well have been one who was a member
of Khadafy's own family.
Even for someone like Khadafy, who
deals in death, those other deaths can
be distant, impersonal and remote. I'm
sure he doesn't know the names of the
people who were killed in that German
disco. Or the names of those killed in
the Rome airport. Or the names of
those killed in all the other terrorist
attacks.
And I'm sure he has given little
thought to the grief felt by the families
of each one of the people killed by his
terrorists.
No, being a mover and shaker, Khad
afy looks at the big picture. A death
here, a death there why, it's all just
part of the grand scheme, the flow of
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