? FHHnrial Netfraskan
4 JL-J vt A V Ar A A d A Wednesday, March 2,1988
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Nebraskan
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Mike Rcilley, Editor, 472 1766
Diana Johnson, Editorial Page Editor
Jen Deselms, Managing Editor
Curt Wagner, Associate News Editor
Chris Anderson, Associate News Editor
Joan Rc/ac, Copy Desk Chief
Joel Carlson, Columnist
Repeating history?
Research in Niger may help economy
Soon the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln’s In
stitute of Agriculture
and Natural Resources may
choose to cooperate with three
; other institutes in a five-year,
multi-million-dollar crop re
search project in Niger.
Meanwhile, the Nebraska ag
riculture economy wavers in
uncertainty. At question is the
responsibility of UNL to aid in
the state’s own research project.
John Yohe, associate director
of the International Sorghum and
Millet Program at UNL, said
some people think the university
is helping other countries com
pete with U.S. grain exports by
participating in crop research
programs in Morocco and Niger.
The research programs im
prove crops in poor countries and
boost their national economics so
they can afford to buy U.S. grain,
he said.
In the past, the United States
helped South Korea and Taiwan
buy U.S. grain by improving
crop production through similar
research programs.
“History has proven that they
can be our best customers,’’ Yohc
said.
! Dean-Glen Vollmar said dry
land and irrigatcd-crop research
in Niger may improve crop pro
duction in Nebraska. The crop
research might develop hardier
sorghum hybrids that can with
stand the hot, dry climate in
Niger, which is similar to, but
more extreme than, Nebraska’s
climate.
Pearl millet, the main cereal
crop in Niger, grows well in hot
and dry conditions and is nutri
tious, he said.
The program will replace Pur
due University’s Niger Cereals
Research Project. Purdue, Ala
bama A&M and Winrock Insti
tute also would be involved in the
project
It’s certainly possible that
such research could eventually
apply to Midwest crop produc
tion, but time and money that
might otherwise be spent within
the boundaries of Nebraska is in
question.
But as Vollmar stated, history
has proven that previous similar
projects have worked to the
university’s advantage. If history
stands true, the success of such
projects will continue and the
university’s responsibility to
ward research will stand ful
filled.
Critics need to understand finance situation
This is in response to the letter
written by Brent Boettcher (Daily
Nebraskan, Feb. 29),“ASUN ‘spits in
face’ of student constituents.” First of
all, where were you, Brent, when the
budget debates took place in CFA and
Senate? 1 sure didn’t see you! There
was intense investigation of all budg
ets submitted to CFA. Many long
hours of work were put into each of
the budgets by both Fund A and Fund
B users and CFA made appropriate
cuts. Without student fees there
wouldn’t be any Health Center, Un
ion or UPC which you would realize
if you were more than a freshman oral
least attempted to ask where the fees
g°
You also claim that if ASUN
would really help the students, we
would offer Fund B refunds. First,
ASUN doesn’t have that jurisdiction,
which you would know if you had
done a little research before spouting
off about something you obviously
know nothing about.
Eric Lee Peterson
sophomore
finance
Sarcasm in letter taken the wrong way
The responses to Scott Wilhite s
letter (Daily Nebraskan, Feb. 23) sur
prised me quite a bit. When 1 read the
letter, it was obvious to me that the
* author was using sarcasm, even be
fore I read Wilhite’s name at the end
of the letter and rccogn i/cd a friend of
mine.
As a friend of his, I can vouch for
Wilhite’s open-mindedness and re
spect for all people; and, hopefully, I
can assure readers that he holds great
admiration for the teachings of Dr.
Martin Luther King and that his words
in the letter were meant only to show
the closed-mindedness of Jon
Dewsbury’s anti-homosexual letter
that he was responding lo.
I believe that Wilhite went about
this criticism the w rong way, because
the letter has generated several re
sponses from people who look
Wilhite’s words seriously. But more
than that, 1 think the large response
shows that many blacks on campus
feel they have not yet achieved equal
ity. In that respect, the letter has unin
tentionally served as a catalyst for
discussion of an important issue and
shows there is still a long way lo go
toward racial and sexual equality.
Thomas Irvin
sophomore
arts and sciences
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 to 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 will not be granted.
Submit material to the Daily Ne
braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R
Sl, Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
—.- — -n 1 —iium if r" M
Drinking all a part of college
But does the tendency toward alcoholism end after graduation?
The Eskimos arc among us.
As I watch my friends and
myself drink ourselves into
insensate oblivion at the end of each
week, I always think of an article 1
read some time ago in National Geo
graphic about alcoholism above the
Arctic Circle. The article said the
boredom of Eskimo life forces many
to drink because there’s not much
else to do in places like Point Barrow,
Alaska.
I’ve recently realized that people
I know arc living like Eskimos. When
there’s nothing to do, we make like
Eskimos and head for parlies and the
bars, hoping a few drinks will send us
off to some hedonistic netherworld
where we can forget about the lack of
sex, culture and identity known as the
1980s.
But then I think of that tired plati
tude, “Everybody is an alcoholic
when they’re in college. It’s nothing
new.”
It’s difficult to discuss drinking
without appearing sappy, trite,
preachy, moralistic or romantic.
So much of the alcoholism issue is
saturated with “Dear Abby” rhetoric
about counseling, Alcoholics An
onymous and “don’t start” plati
tudes.
So why even talk about it? Every
wise epigram about drinking has
been said, so every warning is indeli
bly carved into our heads.
I hesitate even to mention the
thought of alcoholism because of the
life I’ve chosen. Writers arc sup
posed to be drunks, people tell me —
especially journalists. We all know
the stereotypical daily lifcol journal
ists: They do an interview, slam out a
story on the computer terminal be
fore deadline, then head for the near
est bar to reward themselves.
“It’s your destiny,” people say
jokingly.
Right now', drinking is a recrea
tional activity for people I know. We
only drink at night and usually only
after the m iddlc of the week. A soc ial
drinker drinks only after Wednesday,
but a bona fide alcoholic drinks any
Highland any morning, people tell us.
It’s all supposed to be pari of college
... like exams and term papers.
Drinking is supposed to be the
macho requirement for a male writer.
“I want to be a drunk poet,’’one writer
says, his mind thinking of the insen
sate, drunk literary romanticism of
Charles Bukowski and Henry Miller.
1 don’t want to be preachy, be
cause that would be hypocritical. I
drink as much as anyone else my age,
so why censure people?
We reward ourselves with a beer
after class, after an exam and after
each week on Friday afternoons. It all
becomes routine.
Nobody wants to sound like an
Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlet.
That would betray the camaraderie of
drinking. Nobody wants to hear you
say, “You’re developing a problem
and I think it’s lime you realized it.”
People arc tired of being warned
these days. AIDS has already de
prived us of the sexual revolution, so
we want to squeeze pleasure out of
any vice that won’t kill us.
But what bothers me is w hat lies
beyond the myth ofcollcgc and drink
ing. Docs the desire end after gradu
ation? Do career-crazed yuppies head
for the bars when boredom sets in? Is
alcoholism a prescription for a con
ventional life?
I just know that I don’t drink
because I’m a writer and I’m sup
posed to drink. I don’t drink because
I’m in college and I think I have to. I
do it because I want to — like every
one else docs. And no “Dear Abby'
discourse is going to change our
minds — not at this age, at least.
So we’re content to head for the
metaphorical North Pole to be with
the Eskimos, trying to forget where
we’re going and why we’re going
there. Perhaps it’s a choice, or per
haps it’s a hard-core problem waiting
to take over after — to borrow a line
from the Velvet Underground — “all
tomorrow’s parlies.”
Harrah is a senior news-editorial and
Knglish major.
pggiEU
Reader says letter
is inaccurate, invalid
There are more than two problems
with Professor Harry Ide’s argu
ments in his letter (Daily Nebraskan,
Feb. 29.)
First, the Bible docs clearly con
demn homosexuality. Prostitution is
wrong whether the prostitute is male
or female, adult or child. To include
only male child prostitution is incon
gruous with the rest of the list of
“general” sins, so plain, old, ordinary
homosexuality is clearly what is
meant in the Bible.
Second, I wish I knew what sort of
“recent research” he is talking about
If it’s ancient Hebrew scholarship,
then the Greek passages still stand
and vice versa. If it’s philosophical,
then ... (how could it be philosophi
calin any case, before I change my
beliefs, I’ll need more to go on than
the “suggestion” of some
pedagogue’s narrowly focused re
search.
Third, a philosopher should know
better than to create a god in his own
image and then use this god to argue
about all gods. Professor Ide is as
suming (as philosophers have for
thousands of years) that “speaking”
and “doing” arc as different for God
as they are for humans. This is not at
all clear.
Fourth, a philosopher should
know better than to use the “I can’t
sec why not” argument, especially
when he is^o ignorant of the topic. I
can see whynot. Homosexuality (and
adultery and prostitution) affects my
sense of “truth, beauty and morality”
the way rotten meal affects my nose.
I can “see” that it’s bad. Of course,
calculus isjusl as distasteful to many
freshmen, so this is a pretty weak
argument. But hcrc’sa possible “why
not.” Humans arc “amphibious"
creatures, both animal and spirit.
We can’t discover exactly what
happens on the spiritual level when
two (or more) people have sex, but
the Bible speaks so often of sexual
immorality that we know there is
more going on than just pleasure and
reproduction. Even if we knew ex
actly, we have the same problem.
Christians believe in the spiritual and
atheists don’t, so knowing God’s
“reasons” for forbidding homosexu
ality, prostitution and adultery won’t
help the argument a bit. We’re back
to “God said it. 1 believe it. 1 believe
it. That settles it.”
Bart Goddard
graduate
mathematics
