Daily Nebraskan
Wednesday, December 10, 1986
On o
Jeff Korbelik, Editor, 472,1766
James Rogers, Editorial Page Editor
Gene Gentrup, Managing Editor
Tammy Kaup, Associate News Editor
Todd von Kampen, Editorial Page Assistant
Nebrayskan
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
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Page A
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Another round of NU cuts
As legislative debate con
tinues over NU's latest mid
year budget cut, it seems
like a good time to remind sena
tors of a compelling and oft
repeated argument for sparing
the university.
The argument holds that an
active partnership between NU
on one side and Nebraska busi
ness and industry on the other is
the most cost-effective way to
revitalize and preserve the state's
economy. But it takes two strong
partners for a partnership to
flourish, and NU's strength has
been sapped in recent years. The
inevitable result is a "vicious
circle" in which NU and the
state take turns restraining each
other from rising from the eco
nomic dungeon.
Many officials pay lip service
to the notion of a university
economy connection, but then
go ahead and continue budget
cutting as if the argument had
never been made. Apparently,
the argument isn't glamorous
enough to give state officials a
vision beyond the immediate cut-the-budget-where-the-money-is
reasoning. Those with the purse
strings, however, wouldn't be
wasting their money if they
turned their eyes away from NU
and looked for other areas to cut.
If Nebraska is to gain the
revenues it needs to finance its
government, it only makes sense
for the state to do all it can to
encourage business growth. Suc
cessful businesses, besides pro
viding jobs and aiding the circu
Teen-age pregnancies
Abstinence and protection necessary
Teen-age pregnancies are over
whelming young people and
their ability to mature and
enjoy the end of their youth.
More than 10 percent of girls
between ages 15 and 19 become
L .pregnant very.yearinlhe Uni
ted States. Teen-age pregnancies
have gotten out of the control of
everyone.
Ignorance and pressure seem
to be the main reasons for the
tidal wave of pregnancies. But
ignorance and pressure have al
ways existed. What is lacking
today is a culture conducive to
supporting abstinence or control
decisions.
The growth cannot be attrib
uted to one or two factors alone.
For example, North Dakota has
the lowest teen-age pregnancy
rate in the nation and yet has no
state-required sex curriculum
and minors need parental per
mission to get birth-control
devices. But simple casual lines
from sex education and birth
control supply in other states
cannot be drawn from North
Dakota's experience.
After all, North Dakota enjoys
a largely rural cultural climate
not shared by most other states.
The North Dakota coordinator
overseeing unmarried parental
services noted that a lot of rea
sons for the low statistic "has to
do with the conservative cul
ture" in North Dakota. That
lation of money, also pay taxes.
The need to raise taxes every
time we feel the fiscal pinch
could be done away with.
But those businesses and in
dustries, in order to beat their
competition and flourish, need a
large body of information and
advice. And who else is better
situated to provide that informa
tion than a strong research uni
versity? The gathering of such
information serves a twofold pur
pose: educating students who
help with research work and
providing businesses with eco
nomic and scientific intelligence.
Two birds for one stone is a good
deal anyway.
Without a strong research uni
versity, Nebraska business and
industry might develop great
innovations anyway. But it makes
sense to provide the best possi
ble climate for them to live and
grow and for new businesses
to locate in the state. Yes, it
takes money to maintain such a
university, but such spending
can be justified by the old adage
that "you've got to spend money
to make money."
Every time the budget is cut,
NU is a little less able to give the
state's economy a boost. Other
states facing economic chal
lenges resisted budget-cutting
impulses, committed themselves
to a strong university system and
are now prosperous. With them
in mind, it should be more
attractive to bite the bullet and
break the budget-cut pattern for
NU.
state's experience is not partic
ularly instructive for other states.
Since the horse is obviously
out of the barn in other states,
the question that comes after
the demise of cultural attitudes
must bel faced: JGiven IheJugh
level of sexual activity and preg
nancy, what can be done to at
least reduce some of the tragedy
of ignorant sexual activity?
Sex education is all too often
a one-shot, hit-or-miss affair.
Teen-agers should be aware of
the potential consequences if
they choose to engage in sex.
They need to understand that
they have a right to abstain from
sexual involvement and that
there are ways of preventing
pregnancies if they do get in
volved. Abstinence and protection are
the two messages that can be
effectively communicated only
with a committed education pro
gram starting at the earliest
ages.
The teen-age years are not the
time to ignorantly enter into a
relationship that could produce
an unplanned child, or worse yet,
saddle a young girl with the life-and-death
decision of aborting
the still younger human growing
within her womb.
Prevention is by far the best
alternative. We need to make the
educational commitment to get
the task done,
SURE 1WAS INVOLVED. SO WAS DON REGAN.
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Seat-belt haters, Jew-baiters head end -
Another semester has come and
gone, and with it another 16
weeks or so of delightful mean
derings through the issues and non
answers that make up the socio-politico-economic
matrix we call home.
As has become my quaint but en
trenched custom, I shall dedicate this,
my "Dead Week" column, to the com
memoration of those who have gone out
of their way to make sure these past
months have not been burdened down
with significant or life-altering devel
opments. Rather, they have contrib
uted to the latest in a too-long line of
events that, though apparently momen
tous and newsworthy at the time, have
shown us once again what suckers we
are for the trivial, the pedantic and
that which is basically not worth any
one's time. It's time again for the semi
annual "There's One Born Every Min
ute" Awards. Here are this semester's
winners.
The Look Ma, No Brains Award
goes to the voters of Nebraska who cast
one more ballot for American inde
pendence, in the face of a devastating
onslaught of common sense, by doing
away with the accursed LB496 the
dreaded seat-belt law. It's no matter
that 1 and other pro-life activists can't
get too many people in this supposedly
conservative state excited about the
fight against abortion. We don't even
care about our own lives, let alone
. those of some unborn kids we've never
even met; - -
The Silence is Advantageous
Award for nostalgic non-compliance
goes to Vice Adm. John Poindexter and
Lt. Col. Oliver North for their joint
effort to evade justice and cooperation
by hiding behind that most intriguing
of all constitutional rights, the right
not to have to tell people when you are
Time to face the facts, writer says;
anti-teen sex battle a waste of time
The latest outrage of American life:
the pill goes to school.
There are now 72 "comprehen
sive health clinics" in or near the
nation's public high schools. Very
comprehensive. More than a quarter
dispense and more than half precribe
birth-control devices. When the New
York City Board of Education found out
that two of its clinics were in the dis
pensing business, it ordered them to
cease and desist.
Secretary of Education William Ben
nett has waxed eloquent on the sub
ject. He is surely right that birth con
trol in the schools legitimates sexual
activity and represents an "abdication
of moral authority." Clinics are not only
an admission by adults that they can
not control teen-age sexuality, but also
tacit consent, despite the "just say no"
rhetoric.
Unfortunately, there are two prob
guilty as sin. As John commented to
Oliver just before the spit hit the spam,
"Come on over tonight and we'll split a
Fifth."
The "Kissing Your Sister Ain't
All That Bad" Award for gridiron
cowardice beyond the call of good
sportsmanship goes to Oklahoma foot
ball coach Barry Switzer, who was wil-
0
James
Sennett
ling to settle for a tie in the classic
confrontation with Nebraska. The kick
for 17-17 was especially insulting in the
presence of our own heroic Tom Os
borne, who on Jan. 2, 1984 forfeited a
sure national championship because
he believes that no team should back
its way into such honors. Of course, the
Sooners won anyway, but that doesn't
change the fact that Barry was willing
to settle for the tie. You may be Miami
bound, Barry, but the love and loyalty of
those who care about true competition
will be cheering in the Superdome for
the class act of the Big Eight.
The Schicklgruber Citation for
Hiltering below the belt goes to retired
Cohimbus"bosinessman William rCuTryT
who caused a real ruckus with his proc
lamation that the Holocaust never
occurred. Of course, he may be on to
something. I'd really like to see what
this guy can do with some of the other
dark moments in history. Maybe we
could get rid of the slavery of blacks in
the Old South, the Spanish Inquisition
lems: not just sex, but pregnancy. As in
all social policy, there is a choice to be
made. Is it worth risking the implicit
message that sex is OK in order to
decrease pregnancies? (Clinic oppo
nents sometimes argue that birth-
Charles
Krautham
control dispensaries do not decrease
the number of pregnancies, a claim
that defies both intuition and the evi
dence.) Bennett is right about the nature of
the message. But he vastly overesti
mates its practical effect. Kids do not
X V
v
a
of - semester awards
and even Pearl Harbor (after all, this
knife has to cut both ways). This could
be fun. I wonder how our Japanese
friends would feel about a "Hiroshima
Hoax" movement. Why go to all the
trouble to learn history, when we can
just make it up as we go along?
Like most semesters, this one has
many worthy candidates. This one was
so special, however, that I have felt
compelled to introduce an honorable-mention
section. Those who
are truly deserving but for whom
more column inches than they deserve
have already been wasted include
Phi Kappa Psi fraternity for their rol
ling drunk tank, NU women's gymnas
tics coack Rick Walton for exemplary
insensitivity, ASUN Sen. Tim Howard as
"Trasher of the Year" and the NCAA for
reputation rape in the first degree.
I purposely left out perennial winner
John DeCamp though his shenani
gans this week at the Statehouse made
it very difficult because I figure he
got the greatest award possible last
month when his own constituents told
him where and when to get off. And we
must reserve some space for the stories
that will make up next semester's
winners, so I will just put a stop to it
here.
Always remember, my friends, that
there is never any reason to be bur
dened with genuine issues of truth,
beauty and good when we are daily
-supplied with-insanity lik&that-above.-If
we do this right, we won't have to
address a single significant issue for
our entire lives. Whether we will have
to afterwards is, of course, still a mat
ter of some debate.
Sennett is campus minister with College
Career Christian Fellowship and a gradu
ate student in philosophy.
learn their morals at school. (Which is
why the vogue for in-school drug educa
tion will prove an expensive failure.)
They learn at home. Or they used to.
Now they learn from the culture, most
notably from the mass media. Your
four-eyed biology teacher and jour
pigeon-toed principal say "don't." The
Pointer Sisters say "do." To whom are
you going to listen?
My authority for the image of the
grotesque teacher and moronic princi
pal is "Porky's," the. wildly popular
teen sex flick that has spawned imita
tors and sequels. My authority for the
fact that teen-age sex-control is an
anachronism is Madonna. "Pappa don't
preach," she sings. "I'm gonna keep my
baby." The innocent in the song is
months nine months, to be precise
beyond the question of sex. Her
See KRAUTHAMMER on 5