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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1988)
Editorial —^ *1 Curt Wagner, Editor, 472-1766 . Da ily ^ Mike Reilley, Editorial Page Editor 1^. T am j-Diana Johnson, Managing Editor I I || /ISI.ee Rood, Associate Sews Editor J- ^ fc/XMl-rXnlf 1 m. Boh Nelson, Wire Page Editor University of Nebraska-Lincoln Craig Heckman, Columnist l Andy Pollock, Columnist UNL, ASUN take note KSU sets pace infighting discrimination B> ihe end of the year, Kansas State University can become one of the first universities in the nation to have an official policy condemning discrimination on college campuses. And the University of Nebraska-Lincoln needs to follow suit. The Kansas State Collegian reported Sept. 8 that working drafts of the policy are being considered by i members of the Faculty Senate, Classified Affairs Com mittee and Student Senate. According to the Collegian, Kansas State Provost James Coffman said the document is an anti-racial harass ment policy. “The intent (of formulating the policy) is to raise i>v»rvhivtv'c 1j»v*»1 nf r'Ancrinucivct ” Pr'iffman <aifl “Wfi just felt like it was a step that had to be taken at this time.” It’s a step that the Associa *on of Students of the Uni versity of Nebraska should ‘.ike, too. With upcoming legislation concerning minority faculty recruitment and retention, ASUN should take heed of the Kansas State action and deliver the same type of docu ment to UNL administrators. Coffman said the policy has two purposes: “to increase ^ the number of ethnic minorities and to contribute to a community atmosphere more attractive to minorities; and 1 to decrease attitudes of discrimination against minorities.” Kansas State professor Charles Rankin, chairman of the committee that formulated the policy, said the most important thing about the policy is that it “has teeth” and I provides a course of action if violated. And that’s exactly what’s missing from the ASUN bill. It skirts around the issue, refusing to clearly define the I discrimination problem and arriving at an intelligent solution. But Rankin said Kansas State's policy helps the univer sity in “coming to grips with things that have been ig nored and overlooked in the past. The most crucial thing about this is keeping it out in front.” The Daily Nebraskan agrees. It is important to recog nize the problem before you can work to solve it. That’s something ASUN and UNL administrators must under stand. Alcoholics can’t seek help until they have admitted % their problems to themselves. The next round’s not on us. — Curt Wiper for the Daily Nebraskan Dyrda’s response blasted Annette Dyrda s response (Daily Nebraskan, Sept. 1) to Jim Ander son’s letter (DN, Aug. 29) about Contra aid provided a typical ex ample of the sort of arguments used by supporters of Contra aid. The gist of these arguments is that not only arc the Sandinistas a wrong and uncxcusable government, but that by being communist and sup ported by the Soviet Union, they pose a threat to national security by provid ing a starting point for communist infiltration and invasion. There are no black and whites in world politics — the Sandinistas arc no angels. Keep in mind that neither are the Contras, who from all reports appear to be much less noble than these “freedom fighters’’ we keep hearing about. Human rights viola tions of any kind in any severity are m * a • m unacceptable. You can rationalize, justify, argue and support all you want, but the fact remains that Nicaragua isn’t the United Slates, part of the United States, or under its jurisdiction. All the arguments for Contra aid fall apart and become moot when we rcaJizc that. Not only is it arrogant of us to assume that a form of government that works here is going to work in a small, still-developing country with a vastly different culture, but it’s also immoral and dangerous when we extend that train of thought so far as to believe that we have the right to cor rect “errors” in other countries. Kirk Johnson sophomore English - Signed staff editorials represent the official policy of the fall 1988 Daily Ne braskan Policy is set by the Daily Ne braskan Editorial Board. Its members are Curt Wagner, editor; Mike Reilley, edito rial page editor; Diana Johnson, manag ing editor; Ixe Rood, associate news •ditor; Andy Pollock, columnist; Bob Nelson, wire page editor; and Craig Heckman, columnist. Editorial columns represent the opin ion of the author. The Daily Nebraskan’s publishers are the regents, who established the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content ol the newspaper lies solely in the hands ol its student editors. TODAY • • • SEPT^l ... IS THE. ANNIVERSARY I OF 3AF>aH BombiHeI pearl harbor. O oo?s J N\»SPot<E . . . S r—^ its Twe ^ AMMIN/ERSAry of GERMANY Bombimg PEARL HARBoR . L J _ Allen not too far off mark Greek life criticized as hypocritical, elitist Many faithful Daily Nebras kan readers have cringed at the recent discovery of “The Best of Bill Allen” being printed this semester on the editorial page. Many readers, namely freshmen, don’t even know or care who Bill Allen was. Those are the lucky ones. Bill was a columnist, an Arts and Entertainment editor and resident madman at the DN for several years. He had a bad habit of making a lot of people very angry. Others considered Bill “very good humor.” On campus. Bill was cither loved or hated for his sarcastic, often one sided beliefs about some of the Uni versity of Nebraska’s oldest institu tions: grcck system, Husker football and alcohol. Bill didn’t have very many friends at the Association of Students of the University of Ne braska and was never invited to a little sister social event. What many people didn’t under stand about Bill w as that he thrived on “pissing people off.” Letters to the editor, nasty phone calls and dirty looks in local bars only increased his fun. The more he angered people, the worse his columns became. Most of the lime, Bill wrote for fun. Unfortunately, the groups and individuals he poked his fun at look the topics very seriously. I enjoyed reading what Bill wrote, I’ll admit that. I didn’t always agree with him, but I always got a good laugh. But what I always wanted Bill to do, along with other fans, was, for once, to come out and give logical reasons why something wasn’t right instead of hinting at it. Bill had mostof his fun with frater nity and sorority members. He made fun of how they dressed, how they talked, their social functions and their ideals. He wrote about everything from them taking greek life too seri ously to rumors about sorority women. But what he never pointed out, at least in the columns I read, is some of the most fundamental reasons why the grcck system is pointless. In my own defense, let me say that I am talking about the system, not the individuals in it. I have several grcck friends, whom I respect very much. But 1 would respect them more, if they made an effort to change several aspects of the system that arc clearly wrong. The idea of a fraternal organiza tion is a nice concept. It would be nice to think that students could have homes full of friends, brotherhood charity and learning. But today, the greek system seems to have other priorities. The philosophy of brotherhood has given way to a sense of elitism — those up and coming young people who arc special enough to be “the chosen ones.” Its clear to those outside the system that everyone is not welcome in greek houses. The process of rush is a prime example. Girls dress up in their finest clothes, do their hair “just right,” and hope to say the right things in order to fit in. Men arc told by fraternity ac tives that their house has the prettiest women come to their parties, test files to help them breeze through class and a cool reputation. But you won’t sec too many mi norities in these houses. Blacks have had to develop tneir own nouses m order to belong to the grcck system. I haven’t met any Asian or Native American grccks, so to speak. And the grcck houses arc not accessible to people in wheelchairs. During rush, some brothers and sisters stress the importance of house philanthropic activities. But those activities arc once or twice a year and looked upon by many people as an other reason to gel drunk. Grccks have parties like the rest of us on campus. You can’t complain that they get drunk a lot. But the parties arc always behind closed doors — opening them to some strangers, shutting out others. Greeks will have parties with other greeks before they’d even think about “dormies.” A football player at a I rat party: rurgct u. rv pic.uy « nice —? You bet. Those stupid things arc what Bill liked to dwell on. And that’s what made grccks so mad. That’s what made others so damned happy. I don’t intend to be a grcck-bashcr, ASUN-slammer or administration hater this year. Bill did that well enough on his own. Bull might cover some of the same ground every once in while, if 1 think students still need to open their eyes. Hopefully, the DN won’t have to print loo many Allen reruns this year. Receiving 20 letters once a column is enough. Receiving the same amount the second time around makes you laugh. 1 won’t be mentioning Allen s name anymore in my columns either. Seeing it, may drive the few readers I have away. Instead, with this column I hope to help put his memory to rest. He definitely had a way with words, but I needn’t replace mine with his. Rood Is a senior news-editorial major and a DN associate news editor. Editor s note: This strip will appear Campus Notes three times a week on the editorial page. \» Bnan She I h to we've oku been v^Re Tv*> WttKS Nto V'Vt SKNT U3ST HV riR<»r fMR CJFSWE.5 • ^\SS£C> TWO cussts... P ^-7 rrr?~7KL t^ ... FAUEN BEHIND \N EVEK1 (U6S ; gotten in Tvj\ce; ANt> HAVEN'T %m NWMWAN 4 Wojrs between date*. and all TVf - I YeM , i kno^ what \ou II’M GIM> TO f>t Wtt KT %WOL TOO.