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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1987)
1 JjFTl April 23, 1987 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol.86 No.145 Specialization of legal world is approaching, Krivosha says By Linda Hartmann Associate News Editor Specialization of the legal profession is rapidly approaching, which is a healthy trend, Nebras ka's chief justice of the supreme court said Wed nesday night. Judge Norman Krivosha told a group of about 35 in the Nebraska Union that in the early 1900s, many medical professionals agreed that special ized careers would be best for doctors. Lawyers of the time disagreed, he said, but lawyers today find it hard to be competent as general practitioners. Noting other changes likely to take place in the legal profession in the next ten years, Krivo sha said lawyers may not appear in person before Supreme Court justices to give oral aliments. Instead they may be linked by television screens from across the country. Law libraries and tedious filing of paper doc uments also may disappear as computers gain more widespread use, he said. Krivosha predicted, however, that the bar exam will continue to be a requirement of the profession. Although he used to oppose the exam, he said, he now sees that the test is necessary to weed out any remaining people who made it through law school but are not cut out to be lawyers. Krivosha said he would like to see some changes made in the selection of judges, espe cially in states where judges are elected. Judges are arbitrators. They have no constituents, so elections make no sense, he said. Krivosha said he prefers the federal model where judges are appointed by the chief execu tive, approved by a legislative body and, under good behavior, serve for life. Many people fear that too much litigation takes place in the United States, Krivosha said. But too much litigation, as the civilized way to solve differences, is more desirable than vio lence, he said. ASUN approves research project for evaluation book By Amy Edwards ' Staff Reporter ASUN approved a project to investigate and research the idea of publishing professorclass evaluation books at their Wednesday night meeting. The research will be done by an ad-hoc com mittee composed of one ASUN chairperson, three senators, no more than six students-at-large and two facultyadministration members appointed by the ASUN president. The published evaluations could be used to aid students when choosing classes, sections and professors. Studies done at other universi-' ties with published professorclass evaluations have shown that students benefit from the information these resources provide. The results of this study will be presented to the senate no later than September 2, 1987. The November 14, 1887 football game at the University of Colorado was designated as the 1987 migration game by ASUN. Approximately 20 percent of the football tickets sent to UNL for the game will be allo cated to student use instead of no tickets for student use at other away games. ASUN also awarded the ASUN Certificate of Commendation to the UNL Grounds Department. The certificate can be awaded each month to any person, organization or department of UNL which has contributed to the university in a positive manner. The certificate wil be awarded to everyone in the Grounds department for their efforts to beautify UNL. The Grounds department will be invited to the April 29th ASUN meeting when tlipv v i'l receive the9Wird. , . American Dream fading, professor says By Eric Paulak Staff Reporter The possibility of achieving the Ameri can Dream is gone, and it is time to look for a new dream, political science profes sor Philip Dyer said Wednesday. Because of the failure of American power in world events during the past 40 years, Dyer said. Americans can no longer make their world a better place for the next generation. Dyer said the American Dream fading is because of increased population, unequal food distribution, declining natural re sources and population growth, all of which are linked. The world population has jumped from 2 billion in 1 930 to 5 billion now. Dyer said world populaton is growing by 79 million people a year. Each person needs one arable acre of land to produce enough food for him to live on per year, Dyer said. There are now 8 billion arable acres in the world. At the current rate, there will be 8 billion people in the world in the year 2000. After that, there will not be enough food to feed the world, he said. Also, at the current rate of consump tion, Dyer said, the world will be depleted of its oil resources by the year 2030. If the rest of the world consumed as much oil as the United States does, Dyer said, the oil would run out in six years. Dyer said that in a New York Times poll, people in the Bronx said they are worse off iit-.v Lhzn they were. The only people"who are better off now, Dyer said, are the "DINKS," Double-Incomes, No Kids, couples. The two main dreams in the past were based on Christianity and the Enlight ment, Dyer said. Christianity gave the dream of a better afterlife, he said, and the Enlightenment gave the dream of "heaven on earth." The Christian dream died out as an organizing factor on life in the 1700s when philosophers said the world could be a better place and one didn't have to wait for the afterlife, he said. The American Dream is the Enlighten ment in the United States, Dyer said. ( y I Andrea HoyDaily Nebraskan Phillip Dyer speaks on the end of the American dream Wednesday in the Nebraska Union. TeaelieF'o novel loolio at African settlement By Lee Rood Staff Reporter Students who enjeyed the movie and novel "Out of Africa" might be intrigued by "Islands of White," to be released soon by an assistant pro fessor of history at UNL The book's author, Dane Kennedy, said "Islands of White" is similar to "Out of Africa" because it examines the same European colonists who settled in Africa in the early 1900s. Kennsdy said that while his book doesn't offer as much romanticism as the "Out of Africa" story by Isak Dinesen, it is one of the few that fully documents the nature of white settlement in Africa. Kennedy said work on the book during the last 10 years has taken him to Englad, Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia) and Kenya. Kennedy said he was trying to create a "por trait of how these settlers' communities tried to create a distinctive culture." "I've tried to find out who these settlers were, what their motive was for immigration and how they responded in an alien environment," he said. Kennedy said he didn't intend the book to be a commentary on problems in South Africa today, but the two can be related. "The system of apartheid in South Africa today also existed in the colonies I studied' he said. "It grows out of an experience all white, settlers faced as a racial minority trying to main tain supremacy." Kennedy said he has been interested for a long time in the clash and conflict of different cultures, specifically British colonization in Africa He said he plans to begin a new book about the de-colonization of Africa Kennedy said he is unsure when his new pro ject will be finished. "The first book took 10 years; I suppose the next will take at least that amount of time." Gfoumds smk for dlMinnip-site delay By Micki Haller Staff Reporter The selection of a state to host a dump site for the radioactive waste from five states, including Nebraska, should be delayed until a governor's task force can investigate the problems such a dump could create for Nebraska, members of several concerned groups said Wednesday. The Eastern Nebraska Committee for a Safe Environment and other environmental, farm, peace and citizen groups gathered at a confer ence at the Capitol to show their support for j i?6?ndexrrpssconeem3houta possib!e low-level radioactive waste dump in Nebraska. People from the groups said they are concerned about the safety of Nebraska's ground water from nuclear contamination. LB426, introduced by Sen. Sandra Scofield of Chadron, calls for stricter safety standards for low-level radioactive waste sites, greater finan cial liability for developers who build the waste dumps and more citizen involvement in choosing the waste dump within the five-state Central Interstate Compact region. . The Central Interstate Compact consists of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. The compact was formed in com pliance with a 19S0 federal law. The compact states must choose a host state within the region for the dumping of low-level radioactive mate rials by 1988 or face financial penalties. Of the five states, Nebraska and Kansas have the best chances of being chosen as the host" state, said Sam Welsch, chairman of the'esfern Nebraska Resource Council. Welsch. ald at the conference that even if Nebrasjcjs not chosen for a dumpsite, it stands good chance of having one in 30 years. . In Kansas, aMl to withdraw from the com pact failed in one of the legislative houses by two votes. Welsch said.