The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, September 15, 1986, Page Page 4, Image 4

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    Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
Monday, September 15, 1986
Jefl Korlielik, Editor, 4 JV ?(6
Jiiim-s Rogers, Editorial Pom' Editor
Gi'iit' (Jcntrup, Manna! un Editor
Tammy Kaup, Associate Xcu s Editor
Todd von Kampcn, Editorial l'ije Assistant
Nebrayskan
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Holling-Gould
Only one of the two prob
lems facing TNL's athletic
program was resolved when
the NCAA decided last week to
lessen the penalty handed the
Husker foot ball team for improper
use of complimentary game pas
ses. Scarcely a word has been said
about the fate of two women
gymnasts who had their scholar
ships taken away in violation of
state law. As you may recall,
Janet Holling and Renee Gould
suffered injuries last year that
took them out of action for the
rest of the 1985-86 season. Those
injuries, Coach Rick Walton told
the Daily Nebraskan, were the
reason the two lost their scho
larships. Attorney General Robert Spire
investigated the situation after
Omaha Sen. Ernest Chambers
demanded the scholarships be
restored. But Spire now has left
the matter to UNL, saying he is
confident that university officials
were willing to follow the law.
And that's where it stands.
Certainly, there are at least
two good reasons why nothing
has been done regarding Holling
and Gould.
Daniloff not a spy
His release for Zakharov's unequal
An inadequate in-term step
has taken place in the case
of U.S. News and World
Report reporter Nicholas Dani
loff, who recently was arrested
for spying on the Soviet Union.
Both he and Gennadiy Zakharov,
a Soviet United Nat ions employee
arrested in the United States
just prior to Daniloffs arrest,
have been released to their re
spective embassies on the con
dition that neither leave either
country.
This step is unsatisfactory for
several reasons. The first is that,
in this step the Reagan adminis
tration has allowed the appear
ance of equality to arise between
the Daniloff and Zakharov affairs.
The move thus constitutes an
implicit admission either (1)
that Daniloff is a spy or (2) that
the Soviets can take Americans
hostage at will in order to force
the U.S. government to release
probable Soviet spies.
Of course the Reagan admin
istration denies that Daniloff is a
spy. And the weight of the evi
dence supports the administra
tion's position: Ever since the
revelations in the 70s of CIA
journalist associations, U.S. news
organizations have taken special
care to assure the independence
of their reporters and their sole
commitment to news gathering.
Additionally, the fact that
Daniloffs arrest comes so close
on the heels of Zakharov's arrest
and the fact that it was the
Soviets who initiated talk of
ts harmed
not forgotten
The NCAA penalty against the
football team preoccupied UNL
officials. Likewise, the filing of
charges against two state sena
tors and several others for their
actions in the failed lottery peti
tion drive took up much of Spire's
time.
But there's no reason to delay
resolution of the Holling-Gould
case any longer. The situation is
cut-and-dried. The state law in
question says athletes shall not
lose their scholarships due to
injury, and the coach said the
two lost their scholarships for
just that reason.
Although the football game
pass controversy was important
to many at UNL and across Nebraska,
the case of the two women gym
nasts is also worthy of attention.
Education is the. name of the
game at a university, and two
fellow students have seen their
ability to get it damaged by an
action that never should have
happened.
University officials must wrap
up this matter as quickly as pos
sible and restore the scholar
ships to Holling and Gould. Given
the statements made by the prin
cipals in the case, no other solu
tion is possible.
exchange so willingly and quick
ly after the arrest constitute
strong evidence that Daniloff
was really taken hostage by the
Soviets rather than arrested for
any real offense.
As a result, the release of
Daniloff and Zakharov to their
respect ive embassies smacks of
cow-towing to gratuitous and
arbitrary Soviet hostage-taking.
Given the philosophy supporting
the U.S. post ure toward negotiat
ing with kidnappers in other cir
cumstances, the U.S. position in
this case appears contradictory.
"Never negotiate with kidnap
pers" should mean "never nego
tiate with kidnappers."
In addition to the primary
drama of the Daniloff affair, an
interesting and important side
note is occurring. The U.S. press
almost is having convulsions
about the way the Soviet Union
has treated one of the high pri
ests of democracy. Short-run re
actions have included the can
cellation of many scheduled
visits to the USSR by newspapers
and wire services.
Nonetheless, the long run fall
out may be even worse for the
Soviet Union. In recent years the
USSR has been making a con
certed attempt to appear civ
ilized and peaceful. This instance
of vengeance-taking on Daniloff
may cost much of the good will
engendered over the past few
years in the Western press, ..
if hi
jF lit s
Take love, nnaindsie chance
Columnist looks for
Last Friday, as 1 was devouring the
peanut-butter cookie from my
brown-bag lunch, I was visiting
with two of my female friends (as
opposed to girlfriends). Before I knew
it, the topic of discussion became my
friend and colleague Ad Hudler's column
about the reasons why he wasn't ready
to get married for, say, 10 years or so.
Being family-oriented as I am, 1 hap
pened to mention that I would like to
be married whenever the right girl
comes along. At which one of my
friends looked at me with a puzzled
face and said, "But, Todd, doesn't, that
thought scare you? Why, people get old
when they get married!"
That statement could have been and
probably was tongue-in-cheek, so I just
laughed. Then the other friend said it's
scary to think about marriage when you
look at all the marriages that fail or are
unhappy. Her own parents haven't been
happy for some time, she said.
Such facts are hard to overlook, and
I think about them, too. But, like all
those people who go up the aisle in
spite of the odds against them, I'm not
ready to give up on marriage. Despite
all the pain that goes with the search
(and I've had my share already), spend
ing the rest of my life with a woman I
love and who loves me is still some
thing I want badly.
Now, I suppose that puts me into the
camp that you read about on
Friday. On the other hand, 1 don't think
I look down on the free-and-independent
types. Some people truly prefer to be
alone, to fend for themselves and asso
Iron Curtain surrounds journalists;
neither reporters, Soviets can see
I am following this story with some
thing less than journalistic objec
tivity. The setup, the arrest and now
the indictment of Nicholas Daniloff as
a spy carry a special edge of concern.
Nick is a friend as well as a col
league. We were Nieman Fellows to
gether at Harvard in 1974, mates on
that year-long academic "cruise ship"
for journalists. When I went to Moscow
last year, Nick was more than generous.
He freely shared his insights, his time,
his Soviet experiences and friends.
One night I went with Nick to the
home of a dissident couple he had
known for years. We ate a magical
smoked salmon and swapped stories,
with Nick translating so fluently that I
seemed to be talking directly to this
couple. When I returned to the hotel
that night I was awakened by two
anonymous phone calls. They may have
been wrong numbers, but staring at the
ceiling at 4 a.m., I had a taste of para
noia in my mouth.
There are foreign posts more dan
gerous than, Mslcxiw., War correspond
ents suffer greater risks. But reporting
DIP I
SOMETHING?
y .. . H-T..
spouse in a generation too scared to try
ciate with people when they feel like it.
And that's fine.
Or people might decide there's too
many things they want to accomplish
before "settling down." It's pretty much
like my colleague said last Friday. You
want to travel here, work there, gain
financial security and so on, and chan
ces are pretty small that you'll find a
guy or girl that will want to follow you
around. 'Tis better to be alone, they
say.
Todd
von
Kampen
I suspect, though, that many people
out there are simply scared of becom
ing someone's husband or wife. You
can't blame them, really. When you've
watched your parents have problems or
you've seen the anguish friends go
through when their boyfriend or girl
friend breaks up with them, you'd
recoil, too. You become afraid to love.
I'm not afraid to love. Of course, I've
been fortunate. My parents have been
married for 23 years how, and their
marriage has been very happy. We kids
have never had any doubt that Mom
and Dad love each other and love all of
us, too. So having a fine marriage must
be possible.
We're a Christian family, which means
that God is at the forefront of the mar
riage to strengthen it. But there is
for a free press in a monitored society is
one of the trickiest tasks. It is one that
Nick knows well and does well.
The barriers that a Western corres
pondent has to hurdle in the course of
his or her daily work are imposing . The
new batch of Soviet leaders may want
to air a portion of their society's trou
bles -from alcoholism to corruption
with their own people. But there is no
such desire to share weaknesses with
the foreign press.
Ellen
Goodman
Gathering the news in a country that
instinctively withholds information as
benign as a telephone number (tele
phone books are a prized possession,
"411" operators do not exist) presents
exhausting challenges. Learning about
the daily life of Soviet people, who only
' If
.V
another ingredient that makes mar
riages work whether you're Christian or
non-Christian. That's service; caring for
another person so much that helping
him or her through life is the highest
thing you want to do for yourself. Both
husband and wife have to want to serve
the other for marriages to prosper.
Obviously, that's not something self
ish people are ready to do. But there are
plenty of us out there who are ready to
love. Maybe we're having problems
finding each other right now, but don't
despair if everyone you've found thus
far is the selfish type. As they say,'
"There's other fish in the sea."
And what if you're afraid to love or
you've got a few things in your life that
need to be done first? If the first is your
problem and you have someone who
wants to give himself or herself to you,
take a chance. I think you'll find they'll
help you overcome your fear.
As for the latter, remember this: we
may never pass this way again. If the
other person loves you, he or she will
understand and wait a while. But if you
haven't taken a chance on loving that
person, he or she will leave and you'll
never know if it would have worked.
This is the best time to find out.
Sure, seeking a spouse is scary st uff,
and it produces pain sometimes. But
I'm ready to keep going because I feel
my future wife isn't far away and I want
as many years with her as God will
allow. When you think about it that
way, it's more scary not to love.
(VonKampen is a senior news-editorial
and music major and is a Daily Nebras
kan editorial page assistant.)
talk to foreign correspondents at per
sonal risk, is touchy stuff.
For the most part, Western journal
ists are housed in foreign ghettos. They
drive cars with yellow licenses that
identify them as clearly as a bumper
sticker or arm band. Working and liv
ing, often with a family, when your
office and your home are probably
bugged and when you must sort out
sources from secret agents adds a
strain that was, even on my two-week
visa, palpable.
One of the paradoxes is that the
Soviet hierarchy, longing for a good
image abroad, creates a hostile envir
onment for foreign journalists. It is a
tribute to the press corps that, for the
most part, reporters don't allow their
own treatment to permeate their view
of Soviet society. Nick, who is as clear
eyed as any about the Soviets, said to
me on a ride out to Pasternak's grave in
the suburbs of Moscow, "Don't be mis
taken; there is a kind of consent of the
governed here."
See GOODMAN ori 5