Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 1987)
i Friday, April 17, 1987 Pago 4 Daily Nebraskan NH Daily Jeff Korbelik, Editor, 472-1766 James Rogers, Editorial Page Editor Use Olsen, Associate News Editor Mike Reilley, Night News Editor' Joan Rezac, Copy Desk Chief University of Nebraska-Lincoln Findings expected and not "ffTT T hen the 1 4-part "State of the College" series began f two months ago, it was a pioneer project. A learning expe rience for the editors and 11 reporters who became grizzled in the months it took to prepare the depth reports which typi cally included interviews with about 20 students, administra tors and faculty members in an attempt to somehow gauge the health of UNL's colleges. By the time the series ended with the Teachers College report Thursday, editors and reporters had learned a lot and hoped at least some of their knowledge had been transferred to our readers. STATE OF THE COLLEGE REPORTS Some findings were expected: Many faculty members are leav ing for higher-paying jobs at other universities. One faculty member termed UNL a "raiding ground." The dean of the Arts and Scien ces College recently updated his report of 25 faculty members considering leaving 19 decided to go. Surprisingly, many people reported that UNL's morale pro blem is right now more serious than its money problem. People are discouraged because they don't see support for the univer sity outside the football stadium especially not inside the unicameral. Yet, there also were tales of glory and of hope amid the tales of woe. Even deans who admitted their colleges had been hurt by not having budget increases to accommodate enrollment, were easily persuaded to talk about high ranking among nationally, accredited schools, high percen tages of graduates finding jobs and good relationships between deans, professors and students. The College of Agriculture, the College of Journalism, the Col lege of Business Administration, Teachers College, the Engineer ing College and the Architecture College especially helped pro vide a brighter side to reports. Many colleges reported re ceiving strong private support, such as the Colleges of Law and Engineering. Others reported plans to intensify efforts to gain private money to compensate for a lack of state support. Yet no college reported having no problems, with the possible exception of Teachers College, and no college failed to report the good along with the bad. Even colleges targeted by Ronald Roskens in his recom mendation to the regents for budget cuts the Division of Continuing Studies and the Nursing College (the only col lege in the series that is UNMC and not UNL-administered) were well-prepared to defend programs with positive facts and figures. But the Division of Con tinuing Studies, already nearly self-sufficient, is now forced to cut $436,000 from its budget, and the Nursing College, which seems safe for the moment, may face a future struggle. Although at times reports may have emphasized the negative, talk at UNL in the last three years has focused on the nega tive and the series reflected that concern. Although at times the reports were criticized as "too negative," most people seemed to be genuinely glad to tell their stories. Although the series was far from perfect Journalism Col lege Dean Neale Copple's name was misspelled because of an editing error many said that it was just what was needed to dis pel some myths and expose some truths. Right now, one more piece of work has been loaded on the already overworked series: 11 reporters are evaluating the pro ject. The Daily Nebraskan also would like to invite reader criti cism, comment and suggestions, which could be used to plan a similar series next year. That is, if next year's staff is crazy enough to try the task that one Budget Reduction Review Committee member said he thought was impossible an honest, thorough and consistent look at the "State of the Colleges." I I f 11 TH15 ONE ISN'T A5 &AP AS I THOUGHT . . CRACK6P Op WT TH6 ?WS ARB IN The Selective Service rap Current draft laws are sexist, unnecessary and favor rich Back in the days when movies like "Breakin II: The Electric Booga loo" drew crowds to the theaters, a memorable ad kept appearing on late-night TV. It showed three 18-year-olds rapping about how they just couldn't wait to break on down to the post office and register for "SEL-LEC-TIVE-SER-V1CE." The dancin' dudes were sup posed to make it look like fun, like the cool, happening thing to do. The ad contained no warnings or depressing explanations about it, just a little eye and ear candy that the government apparently thought would appeal best to the 18-to-24-year-old set. Then the ad stopped haunting the breaks in Letterman. Maybe because it was outdated. Or maybe it just wasn't needed anymore since 95 percent of the men eligible to register have done just that. Nebraska's compliance rate js a mind-numbing 99 percent. Ninety-nine percent of Nebraska's 18-to-24-year-old men support a law that blatantly singles them out just because they have more Y than X chromosomes. A law that makes no provision whatsoever for the disabled, for peace activists or any other men who would be ineligible for combat. A law that threatens those who dare to publicly defy it with prosecution a $2,500 fine or five years in jail. A law that threatens the 1 percent of the male population that don't comply by denying them student loans and grants for college, and federal employment. This year the first crop of 18-year-olds affected by the 1980 reinstate ment will turn 25. Those that haven't registered by that birthday won't be allowed to, since the MSSA only accepts Letters Bicycle vandals are to be pitied Wednesday night after studying, I returned to my bike parked at the Nebraska Union to find it the victim of random and spontaneous vandalism by unknown individu als. Expletives cannot express my anger at the immaturity demonstrated by the imbeciles who destroyed my bike. Other persons who have also experienced the brunt of such an unwarranted attack understand my temper. How are victims to feel? Angry? Upset? Ambivalent? I feel sym pathy for an individual who commits such a crime. Sym pathy towards "children" who destroy others' property for no reason other than delinquency. I personally grieve for such a demented person. My bike was the Silver Schwinn 12-speed parked on the north side of the union. If you care to admit to your crime or have some reason for it, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'd appreciate the opportunity to meet such a person. KurtKrugerud senior teachers college 18-to-24-year-olds. So they'll pay a per manent penalty for a discriminatory and unnecessary law. Unnecessary, because the law simply makes men provide the government with something it already has through the Social Security department their names and birthdates. The 95 percent who comply might never have to be drafted. But, then again, if former Sen. Gary Hart ever got his wish for a universal national sys tem, they would. Or if President Rea gan ever got his wish for a war in El Salvador, Nicaragua or some other exotic spot. fx T ISP h C Olsen 1. Perhaps in wartime, a law singling out men might be more justified because of combat restrictions against women. But in peacetime it seems amazing that the government and the nation's men would support such a discriminatory act, which seems so clearly to violate the doctrine of equal protection, applied at the federal level through the due pro cess clause of the Fifth Amendment. The act not only favors woman over man, but rich over poor (since the rich don't need student loans), and it puts a freeze on men's First Amendment rights, since most of those prosecuted have been active protesters against the registration. The idea accepted by the courts and 1 . TH6 D&KS A UTTte 6RSAT SHAPgi " by Congress that men would be the only sex that could be needed in an actual draft is not supported by current mil itary registration 10 percent of today's armed forces are women. Even back when registration was proposed in 1980, the Defense Department agreed with President Carter that women be included. It said nearly 60,000 more women could be used. Perhaps the worst part of the mind less Military Selective Service Act is that so many people have come to accept it as a man's curse, as much a part of life as a woman's menstrual cycle; a somewhat disquieting discom fort that can quickly be forgotten about, although male menopause (for the draft) comes much earlier at 25. No longer is the idea challenged or resisted much, although a New York draft resister, sentenced to six months in prison in 1985, tried to defend his resistance on the basis of the First Amendment. The 1980s unthinking acceptance of registration is unthinking acceptance of the notion that men, if need be, should be the ones to die for their country, while women stay home with the kids. The high compliance and few com plaints seem to indicate that in today's post-Equal Rights Amendment defeat world, true equality between the sexes will be a long time coming. It might even take another war to do the trick. Meanwhile, young men keep rappin' on down to register at the post office for Selective Service. Olsen is a senior news editorial major and Daily Nebraskan associate news editor. Suicidal Tendencies not so bad This letter is in response to Charles Lieurance's column about the band Suicidal Tendencies titled "Move over Beas tie Boys," (Daily Nebraskan, April 1 3). Thanks for the wond erful sermon regarding the band Suicidal Tendencies and the gang known as the Suicidals. The Gospel according to Spin and Rolling Stone magazines seems to be a major inspiration for your column. You seem to have made some pretty heavy judgments of what Suicidal Tendencies's (S.T.) all about from just gathering information from trendy rock'n'roll magazines. You made one good judgment they are a good band. And I might add that they are worth seeing. Thanks for the warning, Charles, but my mommy said it was cool for me to go to the show and check things out for myself. Hopefully I won't get kicked in the face by a writer with a bad attitude. See you there. Richard J. Higgins sophomore arts and sciences