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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1988)
Editorial Nebrayskan University of Nebraska * Mike Reilley, Editor, 472-1766 Diana Johnson, Editorial Page Editor Jen Deselms, Managing Editor Curt Wagner, Associate News Editor Scott Harrah, Night News Editor Joan Rezac, Copy Desk Chief Joel Carlson, Columnist Confused regent Moy Ian’s action? deemed ’inappropriate’ Maybe University of Ne braska Board of Regents member James Moylan was a little confused. Last week a university-sup ported bill, which would have made counties in Nebraska re sponsible for covering medical costs for the poor, was voted down by the Legislature. Omaha Sen. Vard Johnson, who spon sored the bill, wasn’t pleased with Moylan’s performance. “I'm not blaming Jim Moylan for the demise of the bill," Johnson said in a Omaha World Herald article. "But it's simply not proper for a member of the Board of Regents to accept a piece of work that is contrary to the position held by the institu j lion he serves. I think it was inap I propriatc.” The Daily Nebraskan agrees. The University of Nebraska supported and lobbied for the bill, saying it was needed to help the NU Medical Center deal with the issue of caring for the indi gent. Moylan, an Omaha attorney, worked the other side of the bill on behalf of the Douglas County Board, which pays him $3,(XX) a month to lobby the Legislature. Moylan said lobbying didn’t seem inappropriate to him be cause he did not recall the Board of Regents taking a stand on the bill. He said he didn't know the medical center was interested in the bill until he noticed Bob Bartce, executive assistant to the chancellor of the medical center, standing in the rotunda of the Capitol. “Douglas County is a long standing client of mine,'' Moylan said. “If I had known (the univer sity) was lobbying, I would have felt uncomfortable. I don't want any conflict.” It s a tough shot to call. Al though it might seem logical that a lobbyist would know who his opposition was, Moylan appears not to have been irresponsible, just uninformed. But it is the duty of all mem bers of the Board of Regents to be informed and concerned with legislative bills that could even tually affect the university. Per haps a more effective means of communication and an aware ness of individuals could help prevent further instances of con flicts of interest. Regents must decide where their responsibili ties lie: with their elected posi tions or to the jobs that put money in their pockets. Bills would hurt poor students, help rich Two news articles in the Daily Nebraskan have raised serious eco nomic issues lor University of Ne braska-Lincoln students and the stale of Nebraska. On Jan. 20, we read that sta .‘Sen. Jerry Chizek of Omaha was sponsoring LB860 to make possible tax-sheltered “Nebraska College Savings Plan Accounts.” Such ac counts would allow people to save money for their children’s future education without paying taxes on the money saved or on the interest it earns, as long as the money is ulti mately used to finance full-time education at an institution of higher learning in the state. On Jan. 22, we read that state Sen. Howard Lamb of Ansel mo was spon soring LB 1096, which would permit employers to lower the minimum wage for student-workers from S3.35 per hour to $2.85, ostensibly to make student-workers more competitive in the job market. The net effect of these two bills is another step in the educational disen Iranchiscment of low-income stu dents. It’s difficult to fault Chizek; his heart and his mind arc both in the right places. Money spent on higher education should not be taxed. And families who have the wisdom and foresight to plan for their childrens’ education should be rewarded. But I’m compelled to ask him the follow ing questions. Why is it that well-to-do families, those who have $ 1 ,(X)0 to $2,(XX) a year of available income to invest in thcirchi Id’s future, should beentitled to a tax deduction for the money, and the interest it earns? Meanwhile, the low-income student, who may be working until 2 a.m. for $3.50an hour to finance his or her education, isn’t entitled to such a tax deduction for money spent on higher education? Agreed, the state income tax burden to support higher education is an onerous one. Is it any less onerous for the self-supporting student, whose income probably doesn’t exceed $6,(XX) per year, than for the well-to do family, which may be earning S30,00() or more? Further, given that the slate’s share of the cost of operating a state university will not decrease with decreases in the state’s tax base, who will make up the lost tax revenue? Will it not be, in part, that very low income student who has to work to finance his or her education? Is that not a case of the poor paying to educate the rich? That is, what kind of a nation will we have if only the wealthy can afford education? Chi/.ek’s bill is well-intentioned, but in its present form it is socially dis criminatory and grossly unfair. When I add the effects ofChizek’s bill to thecffects of Lamb’s bill, I find that mere discrimination has become blatant persecution. Not only will the wealthy student get a lax break that the poor student is denied, not only will the poor student pay income taxes to support the rich student’s university, but that same poor, work ing student is now to be regarded as 15 percent less of a human being than someone else who does not seek an education. Such a situation is not simply in tolerable. It’s un-American. Ronald L. Webb graduate English i v ' * ~~~/ A^PWo \ '7~~'; / / V 1 I f/A -fbitrr&MW §m //\ 1oNI&HT, J Pi.ilSi! //\ f^ATri^ ? A(“J ///7rr77jfiS> Somebody’s out hunting me If they don't get me, Plan 9 from National Account System will 1m Doing hunted. Two harpies under assumed names — Mrs. White and Miss Peggy — are trying to squeeze lemon juice out of a lemon meringue pie. As any student of adages can tell you, it can’t be done. I have no money and I have no property. When I tell Miss Linda and her cohorts at the National Collection Service that I have no money or prop erty, they think I mean I have very little money or property. They think somewhere, in a drawer beneath clothes my parents bought me during the throes of my awkward adoles cence, is an envelope with just enough money in it to pay up, salvage my credit rating and retain my per sonal economic dignity. In fact, there is no envelope squirreled away be neath the plaid flares. Altera while Mrs. White and Miss Halibut just become funny and, with interest beingcharged usuriously, the amount of the bills I owe becomes mythological. Figures like $1,500 and $950 aren’t real to me; they read like the secret name of God. At first, Miss Su/.y was content to send me a stream of colored notices. The pink note is for yuppies, and its appeal is to your credit rating, other wise known as your sense of honor. The blue note assumes you’re trying to be a yuppie but your life’s goal has been confounded by forgetfulness. Its appeal is to your sense of duty. The white note assumes you don’t give a damn what color your notes arc. It — and the off-yellow, often wrinkled notes to follow — appeal to your sickness, whatever it is. Because if the pink note, the blue note and even the firstof many white notes haven’t been effective, then Colonel Mustard In rhc Conservatory With T he Lead Pipe has other methods. Assuming, probably because of a “60 Minutes" segment I saw once, that 75 percent of the “doomed” (those to w hom a note is just a piece of paper until it comes alive and starts chasing you through the streets) are mentally ill. National Account Sys tem or any of the other similar CIA cover organizations have a Plan 9. Plan 9 goes after the sicknesses of the poor: paranoia, la/incss, family guilt, compulsive and pathological lying. The phone calls suddenly be come unlunny, and the amount of money staled in those enlarging boxes in the corner of the notes no longer represent exotic myths. 1 tried to keep in mind that there are no debtors prisons anymore. Friends would say: “Charles, there aren’t any debtors prisons anymore. What do you think this is, the Middle Ages ...” Well, there may be no debtors prisons, but there’s still Plan 9. “Maybe you could ask someone you love to loan you the money,’’ says the harpy on duly. There is a very short list in my mind of people I know and kind of like who might loan me 50 cents for a can of pop, and there is no list to be made of people I might love who wouldn’t go numb and twitchy about the pros pect of an insolvent writer owine them $3,000. Miss Scarlet docsn t bring up Plan 9, never mentions it by name, bin it's easy to tell when she’s resorted to it. Suddenly she’s bringing up questions about what I’m going to do with the rest of my life and, at any given moment, she might ask if my under wear is clean. And there’s the incessant threat of legal action. But friends insist there arc no debtors prisons. I sec Iriendsol mine dropping off the face of the earth in packs, sneaking through the conn try in search of a place where Plan (> won't find them. When the) leave, Miss Leona tries Plan 9 on their last remaining friends. So now there are at least 10 women with bubble-gum card names calling from Visa. Na lional Accounts, National Collection and American hxpress. All ol them are in the Plan 9 stage, one moment talking like your mother anti the next moment threatening to take every thing away. No money, no property well, they want old letters from friends, ancient drama awards, pages of unfinished novels. I get the sensa tion that they’re calling my friends and that they’re in my house at night, seeing if some of my clothes would lit their harpy kids. Suddenly I’m in a Bette Davis movie and I hear music boxes in my head, playing little-kid songs. It’s the universal symbol of insanity, little tinkling music boxes. I’m beginning to think living outside on the streets wouldn’t be too bad. It would be cold, but I could just sit* on a bench and listen to the music boxes and think about how there aren’t any debtors prisons in America, while a hell hound wind tried to shatter my face. Lieurance is a senior Knglish major and Daily Nebraskan arts and entertainment edi tor. The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publi cation on the basis of clarity, origi nality, timeliness and space avail able. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit all material submit ted. Readers also are welcome lo sub mit material as guest opinions. Whether material should run as a let ter or guest opinion, or not run, is left to the editor’s discretion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be considered for publication. Letter should include the author’s name, year in school, major and group af filiation, if any. Requests to withhold names from publication will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily Ne braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 14(X) R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. Unsigned editorials represent of ficial policy of the spring 1988 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its mem bers arc Mike Reilley, editor; Diana Johnson, editorial page editor; Joan Rc/ac, copy desk editor; Jen De sclms, managing editor; Curt Wag ncr, associate news editor; Scott Hur rah, night news editor and Joel Carlson, columnist. Editorials do not necessarily re lied the views of the university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents. The Daily Nebraskan’s publishers arc the regents, who established the UNL Publications Board tosupervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the edito rial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student edi tors.