T Editorial bS&ssl
. Mike Rei I ley, Editor, 472-1766
-Daily Diana Johnson, Editorial Page Editor
XTi-J Jen Dcselms, Managing Editor
| \PI || nS |\<rll 1 Curt Wagner, Associate News Editor
Chris Anderson, Associate News Editor
University of Nebrsska-Lincoln Joc, Carlson. Columnist
Racial harassment
Employees should be able to prosecute
he Supreme Court is pos
sibly in clanger of violat
ing the trust of minority
The court said Monday that it
will consider overturning a key
| civil rights precedent allowing
people to sue private citizens
accused of racial discrimina
tion, according to The Associ
ated Press. It said it will use a
North Carolina case involving a
charge of on-thc-job racial har
assment to consider throwing
out the 12-year-old decision.
The decision stems from an
appeal by Brenda Patterson, a
black woman who wants to use
a post-Civil War law to force
her emplc er, McClean Credit
Union, t< pay actual and puni
tive dar ages for alleged harass
ment. The 4th U.S. District
Court of Appeals, in 1986,
upheld a ruling by a federal
judge in Winston-Salem, N.C.,
that threw out her suit.
The appeals court said Pat
terson could not use the Civil
War-era law to charge racial
harassment. The appeals court
said the law is designed only to
ban racial discrimination in hir
ing, firing and promotion.
The law was also enacted in
the a/fermathofthcCivi] War to
ensure that recently freed slaves
would enjoy all the rights of
Citizenship. It seems that
Patterson’s idea is a bit out
dated. It’s confusing that the
law would still be available for
consideration by any suing citi
zen.
So Patterson will be allowed
to charge her case under a 1964
civil rights law. It provides that
those who win their cases in
court only may collect back
pay, not potentially heavy
damages awarded as compensa
tion for emotional and mental
suffering. Gvil rights groups
say the more limited 1964 law
may not be a sufficient deterrent
to harassment
Patterson, who worked as a
teller and file coordinator at
McLean Credit Union for 10
years until she was laid off in
1982, charges that her boss
repeatedly harassed her because
she is black.
The point is, if Patterson’s
cries hold out to be true, she
should be able to prosecute her
employer for whatever damage
he caused her, be it emotional,
occupational, mental or physi
cal. Discrimination and harass
ment in any case justly deserves
punishment. It is the responsi
bility of the highest court-of
justice to uphold the rights of
citizens of the United States and
especially those of minorities.
Students should challenge ‘book mongers’
So the managers of the bookstore
monopolies don’t think the book
exchange proposed by the Associa
tion of Students of the University of
Nebraska will work (Daily Nebras
kan, April 26). 1 am sick and tired of
students being ripped off by the book
stores.
If all students would take advan
tage of the book exchange, they
would benefit financially while gam
ing the satisfacuon that they may be
forcing the book monopolies to re
examine their despicable treatment of
students. The only use for the book
mongers would be for new issues of
books.
How healthy is it for the consumer
when a business doesn’t even worry
about any form of competition? I
think the overconfident attitude
shown by the money-hungry book
mongers in the recent article success
fully answers the question. It is high
time that students lake a stand against
these despicable book hoarders. The
worst aspect of this situation is that
one of the book palaces is owned and
operated by the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln. What a crock!
Charles W. Vascy
senior
finance
uinl boxing coach commends bigma Chi
I would like to recognize the
Sigma Chi fraternity — Jeff Johnson,
Pat Pensick and Mike Montanez in
particular—for an outstanding job of
organizing and running the 1988
Greek Fight Night. As former coach
of the Texas A&M University Boxing
Club and now a coach with the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln Boxing
Club, I am quite familiar with all the
time and effort required to present a
boxing event. I also would like to
commend them for using this event to
raise money for such a worthy cause
as the Wallace Village for Children.
Finally, I alsocommend all the boxers
who participated for their tremendous
effort.
Cliff Walton
UNL Boxing Club
faculty adviser and coach
• - -
IF I JUST MARK. V00 0AS UNPEODEP
gee George,
THAT'S AMtaws,
HOW DO VOU DO
THAT WHEN/WE'5
Doming ?
_
__I
Imbecile awards announced
Reagan, Democrats, among ‘One Born Every Minute’ honorees
Well, they tell me seven is the
perfect number. If that’s
true, then you are in for a
treat in this column, because I am
proud to present the seventh semi
annual “There’s One Bom Every
Minute” Awards.
Since the spring semester of 1985,
politicians, school officials, average
citizens and newsmakers around tne
globe have waited anxiously for the
revealing of each semester’s winners.
Now, once again, their anticipation is
about to be rewarded.
These awards are among the most
prestigious in the news media. Only a
handful are offered each time, and
they are reserved for the cream of the
crop — those who have gone out of
their way to make our lives unbeara
bly trivial, pedantic and otherwise
inconceivably insidious. These arc
the people who have made us wonder
if there is any meaning to the phrase
“civilized country”; w ho have chosen
as their goal in life the eradication of
OAm m on ennen onrl /I n
cency; who have sworn not 10 rest
until intelligent dialogue is toppled
and stultification reigns supreme.
The envelope, please.
The “Piece of the Action at Any
Price” Award for heroic hindrance
of effective negotiation goes to
President Reagan, who decided that it
was time to send the National Guard
to Honduras just as the possibility of
peace talks for Central America was
looking the best it ever had. There are
those who will say that this action was
the catalyst that finally drove the
Sandinistas to the bargaining table,
but something has always bothered
me about peace at gunpoint. I think
they used to call that “surrender.”
At any rate, from the halls of
Managua to the shores of Tehran,
Reagan has once again demonstrated
his paranoid fear that, if we are not
extremely cautious, peace could
break out at any moment
The “It’s Easy to be Color Blind
When Your Eyes are Tightly
Closed” Award goes to the National
Democratic Party for its under-the*
table Anybody but Jackson cam
paign. It’s good to know that the op
portunities for blacks are completely
unlimited among Democrats — as
long as they know and keep their
place. Jackson has done what no black
has ever dared to do before — taken
these bureaucrat fat cats in bleeding
heart clothing at their word. He has
made an impact and threatens to
expose many of the dreams of minor
ity equality as simply nightmares they
thought would never come true.
I began supporting Jesse because 1
liked the vision he embodied. I sup
port him now because he has become
a line of demarcation for just who arc
really serious about equal opportu
nity, and who are simply appeasing
the masses to gel ahead.
Nebraska State Sen. Roger
Wehrbein receives the coveted
“Now I Are One” Award for his
totally incomprehensible letter to the
Daily Nebraskan, published April 14.
Wehrbein wrote in protest of the DN’s
April 1 spoof issue, the Daily Half
Asskin. However, with sentences
such as “Although it may not be
‘news’ to pre-college students, it is
certainly not raising up any ideal and
values of a college education,” it was
really hard to tell just what he was
trying to say. I agree with Wehrbein
that the April 1 issue hit new highs in
low humor, that it was crude, lewd
and probably tatooed. However, I did
notice that the sentences were all in
English.
Speaking of letters to the DN, the
“Don't Make Me Laugh” Award
for misplaced senses of humor goes
to the myriads of students and faculty
who wrote in response to Scott
Wilhite’s stunningly satirical letter
concerning prejuuicc un campus.
Wilhite presented a study in irony that
should have sent A1 Franken and
Andy Rooney to their respective
phones to offer him jobs. Yct there are
apparently many people on this cam
pus who are just aching tohearaword
that sounds anything like bigotry. So
many made total fools of themselves
by writing to condemn Wilhite tor his
alleged obscenely blatant suprema
cist attitude. He finally had to respond
with a “Read My Lips — It’s a Joke,
People” letter in order to stem the
tide. Real smooth, people.
We will never tear down the walls
that separate us as long as there are
those who love to be hated so much
that they refuse to recogni/.c parody
press at its best. Keep up the good
work, Scott.
Television Evangelist Jimmy
Swaggart rounds out this
semester’s lucky few as he brings
home the “Once Is Not Enough"
Award for evangelical copycatling
„f.l.» i: ViMini'
ui uiiu i uiiimj * w
cried louder than the Parson Pianist
when the Bakker bungles were an
nounced last year. Now we Iwd that
Swaggart has been copping a tew
snuggle bunnies of his own. The re
ally juicy news is that sell-proclaimed
media-minister watchdog Jerry Fal
wcll recently announced that the sins
of yet a third well-known preacher ^
would soon go public. 1 can hardly
wait. Who needs the National
Enquirer when you’ve got Sunday
morning television?
Well, there they are. I know that
some of your favorites were left out
— some of mine were, too. But deci
sions of the judges arc final, and there
are always those for whom the word
must be ‘Try harder next lime.” This
is not an easy slate to make. With the
total imbecility that we have come to
deem important, there will never be
any lack of fuel for these purifying
fires. See you in the fall.
Sennett Is a graduate student In philoso
phy and a Campus Minister with College
Career Christian Fellowship.
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