FHitnrial
Nebmyskan
University of Nebraska-Lineoln
Mike Reiliey, Editor, 472-1766
Jeanne Bourne, Editorial Page Editor
Jann Nyffeler, Associate News Editor
Scott Harrah, Night News Editor
Joan Rezac, Copy Desk Chief
Linda Hartmann, Wire Editor
Charles Lieurance, Asst. A & E Editor
I
Bad precedent
Surcharge sends dangerous message
The University of Ne
braska may set a dis
turbing precedent next
month if the Board of Regents
approve a tuition surcharge for
UNL engineering students.
The 20 percent surcharge
would be used to update exist
ing lab equipment in the College
of Engineering and Technol
ogy. If the regents approve the
surcharge, many similar re
quests are bound to follow.
Ultimately, any college on
campus could come up with a
“vital” project and seek a sur
charge to support it. The regents
would then be obligated to pass
the surcharge based on its previ
; ous decision with the Engincer
I ing College.
At least one regent said a sur
charge would cause problems.
The Omaha World-Herald re
ported that Regent James
Moylan of Omaha said the uni
versity could be “treading on
thin ice” by approving the pro
posal. He said the university
, would expect “many more re
1 quests” if the surcharge was
\ passed.
It also opens the lid on the
Engineering College. A one
time surcharge may not be
I enough a year or two from now,
! and the college could tack on
another if it wished.
Besides, UNL students al
ready are paying much more
tuition than they were four years
ago. They also pay an additional
lab fee for classes that require
extra costs or use of equipment.
Tack on book costs and the extra
surcharge, and a student could
be looking at a $900 price tag for
one semester of education.
The proposed charge appar
ently is a last resort for the col
lege, which needs the updated
equipment to gain re-accredita
tion in November.
But the proposal has another
significance. It shows to what
extremes UNL has to go to sup
port its colleges. The university
desperately needs money—and
if only Gov. Kay Orr and the
Legislature would listen.
The surcharge sends a dan
gerous message to the Legisla
ture. Senators will think stu
dents’ tuition will make up the
difference every time the Legis
lature doesn’t appropriate
enough money.
Meanwhile, Orr has said that
UNL needs to expand and im
prove its research. But it’s hard
for professors and students in
the Engineering College to
improve research when they’re
working with inferior equip
ment.
Organs desperately needed to save lives
Ethics under fire
Medical ethics arc again
under criticism, this
time for treating brain
dead babies like organ banks.
While the critics’ caution is
understandable, other babies
desperately need these organs to
stay alive. The brain-dead ba
bies will not have a life.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 ba
bies are bom each year with a
condition called ancncephaly.
They virtually have no brain.
Yet because they do have a rudi
mentary brain stem that allows
them to breathe on their own,
they can’t be classified as brain
dead.
Babies bom with this condi
tion were ordinarily allowed to
die naturally. But as their status
worsens, the lack of oxygen
makes their organs unusable.
George Annas, professor of
■ public health at Boston Univer
- sity, doesn’t think the babies
should be kept “alive” to enable
a transplant
“The question is,” he said, “is
this a baby or not? At its stark
est, these children arc not being
treated as human beings but as
organ banks.”
Others are concerned that if
these babies arc declared brain
dead, babies with other kinds of
handicaps will also be used for
organ transplants.
A line must be drawn. In de
ciding where the line should be,
doctors need to consider the
length of time the baby might
live on its own and how much
suffering it would endure.
Anencephalic babies tend to
live only a few days at most.
They are bom dying, one doctor
said.
Some parents insist on donat
ing vital organs to give the
baby’s short life some meaning.
Organ donation is a touchy
issue for those who believe life
is sacred, no matter what. But
what is so sacred about being
bom only to die, in vain. If their
organs are donated, at least
some value can be placed on
their lives. '
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials represent offi
cial policy of the fall 1987 Daily
Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Board.
Editorials do not necessarily reflect
the views of the university, its em
ployees, the students or the NU Board
of Regents.
The Daily Nebraskan’s publishers
are the regents, who established the
UNL Publications Board to supervise
the daily production of the paper.
According to policy set by the re
gents.
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Society insults injured women
Victims of sexual abuse too often re victimized by the courts
A Washington judge recently
awarded a wife-battering
husband 25 percent of the
proceeds from a book his ex-wife
wrote about her experiences in a vio
lent marriage.
Ironically, he upheld the tradi
tional sexist beliefs regarding vio
lence against women during Domes
tic Violence/Sexual Assault Aware
ness Month.
This ruling should certainly make
us all aware of the inequities that still
prevail.
John M. Fedders resigned from a
top post at the Securities and Ex
change Commission in 1985 after
wife-beating charges against him
were wideiy publicized.
Fedders openly admits that he beat
his wife, but claims it was her fault.
She denied him emotional support
during hisbouLsofdcpression, he said.
The judge ruled that both partners
were equally responsible for the
breakup.
Charlotte Fedders received $750 a
month in alimony — which the judge
lowered to $500 — and $750 a month
in child support. She supplements her
income with a part-time job in a
flower shop. She is raising five chil
dren.
And now her husband will share in
her publisher’s advance and royalties.
Historically, violence against
women has not been thought of as a
crime. The law, years ago, did not
prohibit a man from beating his wife.
In face it defined how it should be
done. The “rule of thumb’’ said the
beating stick could be no wider than
the man’s thumb.
Apparently some remnants of this
line of thought still exist. If John
Fedders had beaten a woman who was
not his wife, he probably would be
serving a prison sentence.
Our criminal justice system has
been very slow to recognize the seri
ousness of domestic violence.
It occurs in one out of 10 house
holds in the United States.
The cyclical pattern of domestic
violence is hard to stop. After an out
burst of violence, the couple usually
goes into the “honeymoon” stage. The
batterer becomes remorseful, is very
loving and promises it will never
happen again. This stage could last
months, days or hours. Then pressure
and tension build up to another explo
sion of battery.
Both the victim and the criminal
justice system are caught in this cycle.
A woman who sta^s in a violent
relationship is often stuck economi
cally, or she may believe she can
change her partner. Frequently she is
“disciplined” into thinking she de
serves the punishment and it is all her
fault.
The criminal justice system has
traditionally sought to stay out of the
privacy of marriage. A recent case in
Somerville, Mass., illustrates this
point.
Judge Paul P. Hcffeman berated a
battered wife for wasting the court’s
time when she sought police protec
tion.
Jeanne
Bourne
The judge told the husband,’’You
want to gnaw on her and she on you,
fine, but let’s not do itat the taxpayer’s
expense.”
Five months later, in August 1986,
Pamela Dunn was found in the town
garbage dump, severely beaten,
strangled and shot in the abdomen.
Her husband is now awaiting trial
for murder and the judge is under
investigation.
Even if the criminal justice system
wanted to help battered women, it is
often difficult, as well as frustrating.
After a woman has been beaten her
state of mind often leads her to press
charges. But later, fearing the ramifi
cations of her actions, she will drop
the charges.
The socialization and attitudes of
the courts obviously play a big role in
whether women will press charges. If
cases like Pamela Dlinn’s are at all
common, many women won’t bother
to go through the court hassles. If
women think they won’t receive any
help from the courts, they won’t risk
the embarrassment or the wrath of
their husbands.
While I can understand the frustra
tion inherent in the vicics cycle of
violence, the courts have no excuse
for excusing domestic violence with
these attitudes.
Rape has also been condoned, in a
way, by our criminal justice system. In
the recent past, women who reported
rapes were often treated as if they were
the criminal. They were questioned
about their behavior: Why were you
out alone after dark? Why were you
wearing such seductive clothing?
What did you expect?
This is changing, but ever so
slowly.
Often, unless the woman had been
beaten, she would not be believed.
This is especially common in date
rape. Police would frequently pass her
off as a woman who had changed her
mind — too late.
In rape cases that did make it to
court, few convictions were made. A
1982 Justice Department report said
one in 150 suspects was convicted of
rape. Women’s pasts were frequently
dragged out for public inspection. If
the victim had ever had a date, she was
considered to have “loose morals.”
The court system is changing in
this regard. But, while I was working
on a story this summer, a rape-victim
counselor told me victims arc still
sometimes asked the old sexist ques
tions. Victims have asked her, she
said, why the criminal justice system
is revictimizing them, as if they hadn’t
been through enough.
Our society seems to condone vio
lence in general and violence against
women in particular. This is evident in
television shows, advertising, popular
music and some pornography. Men
are seldom portrayed as victims in
these media and, unlike women in the
same context, never appear to like
pain or brutalization.
As with many social problems, 1
think our socialization process is to
blame. 1 read of one study which said
that by the time a child reaches high
school, be or she will have witnessed
more than 13,000 violent crimes on
television. This exposure has to have
some negative effect, even if it only
desensitizes. -
If the media only portrays women
as victims, then that is an idea, sub
conscious or otherwise, that many
men and women grow up believing.
Some people simply have violent
tendencies. The criminal justice sys
tem can’t do much to prevent their
behavior. But if they send out the
message that this behavior won’t be
tolerated, things might change.
Awareness is tne only answer.
Awareness will help women realize
they don’t have to be a victim. Aware
ness will help change the criminal
justice system. And maybe awareness
will make people realize they can’t get
away with this any longer.
Bourne la a senior news-editorial major
and Daily Nebraskan editorial page editor.
