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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1988)
Fear of AIDS creates discrimination, officials say By David Uczen Staff Reporter Just by getting an AIDS test done, Nebras kans can be denied health or life insurance, said John Taylor, the executive director of the Nebraska Civil Liberties Union. Taylor said Nebraska state laws indirectly allow people to be denied insurance because they have been tested for AIDS. “State laws for Nebraska do not allow the insurance commission to regulate the under writing standards for insurance in this state,” Taylor said, “unless that standard, is itself, discriminatory.” This was just one example Taylor used Tuesday to tell about 50 people of the growing problem of discrimination caused by the AIDS epidemic. Taylor and Anne Lamb, a medical social worker at the Viral Syndrome Clinic at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, spoke at an AIDS in Nebraska symposium in the Nebraska Union. Lamb said the lack of knowledge and fear of AIDS arc causes of discrimination. “Fear is an issue we have to look at,” she said. Discrimination has occurred with all epi demics throughout time, she said. Jokes about AIDS indicate this, she said. Taylor said people often are required to get an AIDS test, for reasons such as entry into the armed forces, ROTC or the Peace Corps. Lamb said insurance companies won’t even consider why the test was given, but will deny insurance just because the AIDS lest was taken. Lamb said she hopes to sec state and federal governments regulate insurance underwriting standards in the future. New regulations would make sure compa nies don’t discriminate against individuals tested for AIDS. Another form of discrimination, Taylor said, is firing a person based indirectly on sexual orientation. “Frequently, what will happen,” Taylor said, “is that the reason for the termination finally given docs not mention sexual orienta tion but because the employer knows that the employee is gay ... they will assume he is a carrier of the virus, and will find a way of terminating him.” Taylor said there is only one state which has Dunlop: Conserving soil crucial before efforts cut By Lisa Richardson Staff Reporter Farmers should start conserving soil now before government programs that help finance conservation efforts arc axed, said George Dunlop, U.S. assistant secretary of agriculture. Dunlop spoke Tucsday at a soi 1 conservation workshop at the University of Ncbraska-Lin coln East Caippus. The workshop ends today. Dunlop said government cost-sharing pro grams and tax deductions exist to offset soil conservation costs, but arc threatened by budget pressures. He said the Gramm Rudman-Hollings Act requires $40 billion per year in federal budget cuts. Under the 1985 farm bill, farmers must develop a soil conservation plan by 1990 to qualify for USDA programs such as price sup ports and Farmer’s Home Administration loans. They must use their conservation plan by 1995 to stay eligible for the programs. Nebraska could lose more than $2 billion in USDA farm program payments if farmers do not develop soil conservation plans, said Pat rick McGrane, public affairs specialist for the USDA soil conservation service. He said two-thirds of the state’s farmers participate in the programs. Dunlop said environmental protection measures such as those in the farm bill are not likely to change. Conserving land and water now, he said, may prevent future regulations. “I want to see every farm with a plan — a working, sensible plan,” he said. Dunlop and McGranc suggested farmers rotate crops, use low-till farming methods, or build terraces and retaining walls to reduce soil erosion, depending on land conditions. Farmers whose land requires the most ex pensive conservation measures should con sider the 10-year Conservation Reserve Pro gram, Dunlop said. The program pays farmers yearly for each acre of erodable land planted with grass or bushes, instead of crops. McGranc said removing erodable cropland from production will reduce surplus crops and help the environment. In Nebraska, 90,000 acres are currently enrolled in the conservation reserve program, McGranc said. He estimated that two million acres in the state are eligible. Dunlop said the Department of Agriculture can enroll a maximum of45 million acres in the program. laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Additionally, he said, there are about 37 or 38 cities in the United States with similar laws. Taylor said no laws in Nebraska prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orienta tion. WOMEN’S : SWEIEK ‘88 upc 8 pm Keynote Speaker TONI CADE BAMBARA UNL City Campus Union-room to be posted Childcare provided Co-aponaora: Nebr. Committee for the Humanities Common Woman, Women's Studies, English Department, Multi cultural Affairs, and the Institute for Ethnir Studies at UNL Noon Video: Winnie Mandela Women’s Resource Center 3 pm DEBORAH FINK “Hidden History: Rural Midwestern Women and the Market Economy’’ East Union-room to be posted 8 pm In Concert: PHRANC Opening performance: JACI AUGUSTINE and KATHY TEJCKA East Union-Great Plains Room Students $4 * Non-Students $5 Childcare provided * Sign interpreted Noon CHRISTINE MAMIYA “Images and Issues: Feminist Art in the 1970’s and 1980’s City Union-room to be posted 3:30 pm Video: Maids and Madams Women’s Resource Center 8 pm SONIA JOHNSON “Going Out of Our Minds: The Metaphysics of Liberation’’ City Union-room to be posted Childcare provided * Sign Interpreted ECo-aponaora: CPC Talka and Topic* and other community group*. Noon Video: Maids and Madams Women’s Resource Center 4 pm JANECONOLEY “Sexual Harrassment” City Union-room to be posted 7 pm Film: It’s Up To Us (In recognition of International Women’s Day) Multi-cultural center. Noon DEBORAH McGRIFF Speaking on the needs of Women of Color on campus Women’s Resource Center Co-sponsor. Women’s Resource Center (part of the Women in Perspective series) 3:30 pm Video: Winona La Duke “Beyond Duality: The Powers of Diversity” Women’s Resource Center 7:30 pm Video: Winona Mandela City Union-room to be posted Noon Video: Angela Davis “Ideas and Experiences on the Theme of Racism, Militarism and the Quest for Women's Equality” Women’s Resource Center 7:30 pm Films: DOMESTIC BUSS (a lesbian sit-com/soap opera) and WE AIM TO PLEASE (an early feminist film on women’s oppression) City Union-room to be posted Students Free * Non-Students $1 t Child-care provided Co-sponsor. UPC Gay/Lesbian Program Committee Noon Video: Winona La Duke “Beyond Duality: The Power of Diversity” Women's Resource Center 8-12 pm Dance: With live music by AMETHYST East Union-Great Plains Room Students $1.50 * Non-Students $2 Childcare provided Unless noted, no admission charged at events. For more information, call the Women’s Resource Center at 472-2597. All events are wheel chair accessible. Class sees prison PRISON from Page 1 identification and had to leave to get it. One student didn’t get in because she could not find a photo ID. Students were then frisked by a security guard after removing all loose articles from their clothing. Janet Wilson, a graduate student monitoring the class, said being frisked was a unique experience. Students then were escorted be hind bars by security guards and saw the main control room, which moni tors the prison. Walking into the courtyard, stu dents were heckled by several prison ers. Students were taken to one of the four residential units. Several students remarked about the size of the cells. i “It’s smaller than my dorm room,” Wilson said. ; Jennifer Oconnor, a junior mem ber of the class, said the inmates must want to kill each other in that amount of space. After the tour, students gathered in the visitors’ room to meet with the Seventh Step group. The group’s purpose is to work with the community and assist con victs irtto re-entering society produc tively, explained Heze Kiah Pittman, president of the Seventh Step Founda tion. Pittman said the group liked the visit with students because his group hopes to get rid of stereotypes about prisoners. “This was an opportunity for us to be a part of the educational process,” he said. Ortega said she was impressed with the trip and plans to lake students to the penitentiary again. 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