Editorial --
Nebmyskan
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Mike Reilley, Editor, 472-1766
Jeanne Bourne, Editorial Page Editor
Jen Deselms, Managing Editor
Mike Hooper, Associate News Editor
Scott Harrah, Night News Editor
Joan Rezac, Copy Desk Chief*
Linda Hartmann. Wire Editor
Inevitable opposed
Gov. Orr says no to radioactive dump
Gov. Kay Orr only put off
the inevitable by oppos
ing the possibility of a
low-level radioactive waste site
being built in Nebraska.
Nebraska has the responsibility
under a five-state compact to ac
cept such a disposal site. Among
the states in the compact, Nebraska
has been the biggest producer of
low-level radioactive wastes, in
cluding clothes, tools, filters and
resins from nuclear power plants
and radioactive materials from
universities and hospitals.
One of the other states in the
compact — Louisiana, Kansas,
Oklahoma and Arkansas — could
wind up with the waste site, but the
dump eventually will fill up, and
officials will start looking else
where. Since Nebraska is already
in the compact, it will be a candi
date in the future.
The Central Interstate Low
Level Radioactive Waste Compact
Commission will pick the suite for
the site Dec. 15 and select a town
later.
Orr told the Omaha World
Herald, “It w ould be easier to have
(the site) somewhere else. But I am
saying I buy into thccompact. I buy
into being a responsible citizen and
finding a place for it.”
Several towns have shown in
terest in the site, including
Oshkosh, Sargent and Bloomfield.
These towns may not show that
same kind of interest down the
road. Nebraska could wind up
stuck w i th a waste dump and no one
who wants it.
Quibbles & bits
Student named FFA national president
• Kelli Evans, a University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln agricultural
economics junior from Hayes
Center, was named national
president of the Future Farmers
of America last weekend. She is
the second woman to lead the
organization.
• According to the National
On-Campus Report, most con
doms are bought by women. A
condom vending machine em
ployee estimated that women
buy 65 percent of condoms. An
official at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha said,
“Women usually take the re
sponsibility for sexual activ
ity.”
• Huskcr Bob Rowe seems to
be well on his way to recovery.
The Lincoln Star quoted Rowe
as saying, “I’m strong, I eat, I
eat real good and I pray. I do
everything the doctors and
nurses tell me... they say I’m a
good patient. Hell, I feel good
— I wouldn’t mind having a
cold beer.” Way to go, Bob.
• The Daily Nebraskan isn’t
the only student newspaper that
has to deal with questionable
advertising. It appears there are
controversies over advertise
ments at other newspapers as
well. The Daily Collegian at
Penn State University “froze”
an ad for a popular brand of ice
cream. The ad showed a man
and woman with blue jeans and
buttons saying “Take Your
Licks.” But that wasn’t ques
tionable. It was the fact that the
woman’s jeans were unbut
toned and not the man’s that
cooled the ad. One feminist said
the ad illustrated that “male
sexuality is much more sacred.”
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials represent
official policy of the fall 1987 Daily
Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its mem
bers are Mike Reilley, editor; Jeanne
Bourne, editorial page editor, Joan
Rezac, copy desk chief; Jann Nyffeler,
associate news editor, Charles Lieur
ance, assistant arts and entertainment
editor; Scott Harrah, night news editor
and Linda Jartmann, wire editor.
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 super
vise the daily production of the paper.
According to policy set by the regents,
responsibility for the editorial content
of the newspaper lies solely in the
hands of its student editors.
HHi
%7 l* •'to
-f A u»
Leaders decide fate of Toshiba I
Parent company should be innocent of the subsidiary's crimes
John Lehman, who was sec
retary of the Navy when it
all happened (1984-86),
was asked: Did “Toshiba” know
about it? By “Toshiba,” most of the
world means the Toshiba Corp., 50.8
percent owner of the Toshiba Ma
chine Co. He said they did. But in
response to the same question after
investigations were conducted, law
yer Leonard Garment says flatly that
such was not the case. “Toshiba” did
not know that “TMC” (Toshiba
Machine Co.) was illegally selling to
the Soviet Union technology of such
huge importance as severely to jeop
ardize the security of our submarine
fleet.
William F.
Buckley Jr. B
_
Leonard Garment is, to be sure,
serving as counsel for Toshiba in the
ruckus now going on. But Leonard
Garment does not lie, not even on
behalf of his clients, and he has as
serted the guiltlessness of Toshiba
most confidently. Moreover, the
Japanese conducted a police investi
gation, as did the Japanese Ministry
of Trade, and Toshiba designated a
blue-ribbon panel of truth-seekers
who will be guided by independent
American counsel. Their joint mis
sion: to ascertain whether, evidence
to the contrary notwithstanding,
anybody in Toshiba did in fact know
what was going on. And to find out
how many people in TMC knew what
was going on, and who they were.
None of these investigations im
plicated Toshiba Corp. The U.S.
government has concurred in these
conclusions. The corporation pun
ishment against the TMC wrongdo
ers has been severe. What exactly
will be the punishment meted out by
the Japanese government, one does
not know. But we should be re
minded that since about the lime
Gen. Mac Arthur left, the Japanese
make their own laws; and as a result
of U.S.-Japanese discussions follow
ing the Toshiba (TMC) revelation,
their penalties against a violation of
the Export Code arc now as severe as
our own.
Which brings us to Sen. Jake
Garn, a highly respected Republican
and anti-communist. He wants to
throw the book at Toshiba. If one
correctly understands him, his posi
tion is that a parent company is re
sponsible for the activities of its
subsidiary.
But in the law, the burden is
against such derivative responsibil
ity. The Constitution specifically
holds parents innocent of crimes
committed by their progeny, and the
Export Administration Act specifics
that no sanctions can be imposed
against the parent body of a subsidi
ary, provided it is established that
said parent body is as innocent as
Toshiba insists it is and will be
proved to be by investigators.
Even so, Gam wants to impose a
breathtaking penally on Toshiba. He
has backed legislation that would ban
Toshiba exports into the United
States for five years. At the going rate
at which Toshiba docs business here,
that could amount to a S10 billion
fine. To get the measure of contem
plated severity, if a U.S. exporter is
found guilty of violating the code, it
is subject to a fine equal to five times
the value of the illicit export. If a
commensurate fine were imposed on
Toshiba — never mind that it was an
innocent party — the fine would
come to $200 million: The value of
the treacherous economic transac
tion was $40 million.
Wc need to be very careful about
excesses on this order, and the rea
sons ought to be obvious. We have
exporters in America who have sold
sensitive stuff, usually via fake cor
porations, to the Soviet Union. I
would gladly vote, if in Congress, to
string such types up on a sour apple
tree. But we don’t even execute our
traitors.
But there is more there than xeno
phobia for the Japanese to suspect.
Wc are talking about a major ex
porter, and everybody in Japan, as in
the U.S. Congress, knows that there
is resentment in America over the
imbalance in our trade with Japan.
Inevitably, Japanese who are satis
fied that Toshiba is innocent arc
going to suspect that we have come
up with a way to invoke protection
without calling it a tariff.
And we would appear to be doing
it to the wrong company. Toshiba is
willingly at work to cooperate with
the government on model legislation
to fine-tune export control. And
Toshiba has for years led the way in
investing in America and in hiring
U.S. labor and technicians. We
should not punish Japanese malefac
tors by a miscarriage of justice
against Japanese who are innocent,
and, indirectly, punish Americans
who would suffer from a boycott of
Toshiba.
c 1987 Universal Press Syndicate
Letter I
Surcharge debated;
senator cites option
. laman ASUN.senator representing
the College of Engineering and Tech
nology as well as the vice president of
the Engineering Executive Board. For
approximately the last month, I have
been researching the proposed 20
percent tuition surcharge on all engi
nccring courses for one year. I spoke
with Dean Stan Liberty before the last
NU Board of Regents meeting and
was told that there was no other alter
native to solving the current deficien
cies which exist in the engineering
laboratories. However, many stu
dents, especially current sophomores
and juniors who the surcharge will
most drastically affect, feel that this
sudden and drastic charging of stu
dents is quite unfair.
As you know, AS UN has proposed
a tuition increase of approx imately $4
per credit hour on all courses at the
university in order to supplement
teachers’ salaries. If this increase is
passed by the Legislature, and with
the addition of a 20 percent surcharge,
which itself is equal to almost $9 per
engineering credit hour, engineering
students will experience an increase
of nearly $13 for a single credit hour.
For an upper-class engineering stu
dent taking 16 hours of engineering
courses each semester, the annual
tuition increase would he more than
$400.
The College of Engineering and
Technology is comprised of 1,615
undergraduate students, but this col
lege is faced with the possibility of
losing its accreditation. Although
taxing students may not be a popular
solution, it is obvious that the College
of Engineering and Technology’s
accreditation should not be risked.
However, the university campus at
Curtis, with 54 students, has been
appropriated $350,000 and $1.4 mil
lion for the upcoming terms in order to
keep that college alive.
Although the Curtis campus may
he important to that area of the state,
the College of Engineering and Tech
nology would seem to be much more
important to all of Nebraska. This
becomes more apparent in light of
recent decisions by major corpora
tions. A $4 million annual research
program is now in the process of being
implemented in the college. But why
is such a great amount of money being
allocated toward new research when
present laboratories are lacking so
greatly?
It seems unfair that engineering
students will be overburdened with
this situation, especially after they
have taken the initiative to help
improve another deficient area, fac
ulty salaries, I guess what l am ask
ing is that some type of appropria
tion for the College of Engineering
and Technology similar to that given
Curtis be considered. Or even taking
a splinter of this year’s $4 million
pool dedicated to research in order to
supplement the $350,000 needed for
the engineering laboratory deficien
cies.
Joe Wurtz Jr.
senior
engineering