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October 22, 1987 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 87 No. 41
Gulf war takes toll in Lincoln, students say
By James M. Lillis
Senior Reporter
While the United States and Iran
take turns blasting each others’ oil
tankers and platforms in the Persian
Gulf, one might think the war is just
over there.
But one University of Nebraska
Lincoln student thinks anti-Iranian
sentiments may be heating up in Lin
coln, too.
Hassan Ferasati, an industrial edu
cation student, said he has suffered
verbal abuse at his job because he is an
Iranian.
“People talk to me and ask me what
I’m doing here and why I don ’ t go back
where I come from,” Ferasati said.
He said he hasn’t had such prob
lems on the UNL campus because
students are “more open-minded and
better educated” than the people he
works with.
Ferasati said the abuse is similar to
what he experienced when he first
came to the United States in 1978.
“It was bad for the first couple years
because of the hostage problem,” he
said.
Ferasati said people in the United
States .unfairly blame Iranians who
lfte here or people of Iranian descent
for the problems between the United
States and Iran.*
Tensions in the Persian Gulf have
mounted with the reflagging of Ku
waiti oil tankers and the U.S. sinking
of Iranian patrol boats earlier this
month. Last Friday The Associated
Press reported that Iranians attacked
an oil tanker flying an American flag in
Kuwait’s harbor. The United States
retaliated Monday by destroying two
Iranian oil platforms in the gulf. Navy
commandos raided a third.
Iran said the Americans had begun
a “full-fledged war,” to which it prom
ised “a crushing response,” the AP
said.
President Reagan called the attack
a “prudent yet restrained response.”
Ferasati said Americans don’l
know who else to blame lor the con
flict.
“I wish people would realize that il
the government of Iran makes mis
takes, it’s not my fault. We are people
just like anyone else,” Ferasati said.
“When Reagan makes a mistake, do
you blame your fellow man for it. Of
course not.”
Ferasati said he is not immune from
the pain caused by the violence in Iran
and Iraq.
“When I hear about the bombard
ment, I can’t study. I have family and
friends back there,” Ferasati said. “It’s
not a football game. It’s war, and
people die, no matter who wins or
loses.”
Ferasati said his sister had to take a
six-month leave for mental problems
in her home town of Kemanshah, Iran,
after the Iraqis bombed the school
where she taught.
He said he knows he will always
suffer here because of his nationality,
but he hopes some day most Ameri
cans’ anti-Iranian feelings will settle
down.
“I just have to practice patience
until then,” Ferasati said. “Sometimes
that’s hard.”
On the other hand, Ahmad Reza
Kamali-Njad, a sophomore industrial
engineering major at UNL, said his
nationality has caused him no prob
lems.
“In a word, never,” said Kamali
Njad.
Kamali-Njad, who has lived in the
United States one year, said he thinks
this may be because his job and classes
are on the UNL campus.
Fellow employees on campus are
used to Iranians’ presence, he said.
ASUN debates
engineering
tuition charge
By Lee Rood
Staff Reporter , , ,__
ASUN president Andy Pollock urged stu
dent government senators to attend the NU
Board of Regents meeting Friday when offi
cials will discuss the possibility of adding a 20
percent surcharge to the tuition of students
within the College of Engineering.,
During ASUN’s weekly meeting Wednes
day, engineering college Sens. Joe Wurtz and
Cathy Peters told the Senate the surcharge, to be
added during the 1988-89 academic year if
approved, would be used to pay for needed
research supplies.
The supplies, Wurtz and Peters said, could
help the college meet the standards of the
National Engineering Accreditation Commis
sion. At present, UNL equipment replacement
funds do not meet the accrediting body’s re
quirements, senators said.
But, if the surcharge is added, several engi
neering students might be angry, and the
change could set a precedent for last minute
tuition hikes to save colleges, senators said.
Pollock told senators it is important they
attend the meeting in Varner Hall at 1 p.m.
Friday, so they can voice their opinions and
listen to what the regents have to say. Regents
will not vote on the proposal until November.
Pollock said while he does not want this sort of
last minute funding to happen in the future, he
thinks the regents should approve the surcharge
this time, because he doesn’t want the college
to lose its accreditation.
‘‘I think we should let the administration
know we do not approve of this ... it can not
happen again,” he said.
In other business, members voted to declare
Nov. 7, the day of the Ncbraska-Iowa State
football game, “Faculty Appreciation Day.”
In an effort to recognize the dedication and
contributions of UNL’s faculty, senate mem
bers will coordinate several activities in con
junction with the game to show their support.
Activities such as a convocation, organized
by students for the faculty, the display of red
and blue balloons and stickers at the football
game, and a halftime announcement were
suggested.
Pollock said the event would draw attention
to the need for faculty salary increases, as well
as show much needed support of the faculty.
Senate members also voted to have Pollock
request a judgment from the Student Court
declaring the area of General Studies as an
individual college.
That decision, senators said, would help
students in the General Studies area be recog
nized as a body on campus and in the senate.
Pollock said general studies students al
ready receive individual advising, and that the
judgment would help organize them into one
group.
Ward Williams/Dally Nebraskan
Just Grate!
Construction workers clean the floor of the indoor practice field
Wednesday, In preparation for the installation of artificial turf next week.
U.N. observer
to speak Friday
By Kip Fry
Staff Reporter
A United Nations observer for the League of
Women Voters will speak at the United Nations
Day banquet Friday evening in the Great Plains
Room of the East Union.
Linda Moscarella, who has kept track of the
United Nations for 16 years, w ill speak on “The
United Nations'. Funding, Reforms and Priori
ties.” Moscarella, from New York City, also
has served on a national committee for a na
tional security study and took a NATO trip to
Turkey.
The banquet will start at 6:15 p.m., and the
program is at 7:30. The event is co-sponsored
by the League of Women Voters and the Lin
coln chapter of the United Nations Association.
Although it may be difficult to get the SH
tickets for the evening program, the public can
hear Moscarella speak on the same topic Friday
at 1:30 p.m. in the Nebraska Union, said Jeff
Kluch of Campus Activities and Programs. The
room will be posted in the union that day. There
is no admission fee. The afternoon program is
sponsored by the Nebraska Model United Na
tions, Women’s Words and Music of the
Women’s Resource Center, and the United
Nations Association.
The United Nations Association was organ
ized in the early 1950s as group of lay persons
to “help people learn more about the United
Nations,” said Jo Ritzman, chairperson of
Friday’s events. There now arc many chapters
around the world, Ritzman said.
Moscarella will speak to two Lincoln High
School classes Friday morning. She also will
appear on “The Morning Show” on KOLN/
KGIN-TV.
Tickets for Friday night’s banquet and pro
gram are available from Jo Ritzman, 488-9286;
Howard Holverson, 464-3670; or Marjorie
Manglitz, 464-3607.
----
Griesen silences aid office
By Mary Nell Westbrook
Suff Reporter
James Griescn, University of Nebraska
Lincoln vice chancellor for student affairs,
has requested that employees of the Office
of Scholarships and Financial Aid not speak
to the press during regular office hours or
without him being present.
Monday a Daily Nebraskan reporter at
tempted to talk with William McFarland,
director of the financial aid office, but was
told that Gricsen has to be present when
anyone in the office spoke to reporters.
Griescn said this was not intended to be a
“gag rule."
However, State Ombudsman Marshall
Lux said Griescn’s action raises questions
about the First Amendment right to freedom
of speech.
Lux compared the situation to a case in
which a slate agency tried to limit and even
slop its employees from talking to the Ne
braska Legislature during former Gov. Bob
Kerrey’s administration.
Lux said he sees “very much the same
sort of problem” with Griesen’s request to
employees of the financial aid office.
Gricscn said he isn’t trying to stop em
ployees of the financial aid office from
talking to the press. Lux said Gricscn’s
presence may inhibit office employees from
speaking as they would normally. Attorneys
often say such an inhibition has a “chilling
effect” on a person’s right to free speech, he
said.
Griescn said he made the request because
the office is already overloaded with ap
pointments. The media or other student
delegations should not take the time of
Griesen said he thinks he needs to be
present when employees of the office talk to
reporters because he has a broader perspec
tive of what goes on in the office.
Lux said it’s hard to tell when the prob
lems within an agency conflict with the
constitutional right of employees to speak
their own minds.
An agency has some right to control its
employees, Lux said, but it’s a fine line
whether the employer is controlling free
speech.
_