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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1988)
Lincoln drivers beware: Out-of-towners on loose Being “one of those Lincoln driv ers,” I must object to Michelle Ebadi ’s letter (DN, Oct. 3). Surely she was being sarcastic. The biggest problem on Lincoln streets, espe cially around campus, is out-of-town ers. I don’t mean to place a label on a whole group of people, but I would like to inform the maniacs from Omaha that it doesn’t pay to speed through downtown. The lights are timed so you won’t have to stop if you go 25 miles per hour. Omahans would save a lot of money on brake repair if they realized this. These “ 1 -county jerks” should also realize that there is a stick on the left side of the steering column which controls the turn signal. I drive by a simple rule that if you don’t signal before you try to cut me off. I’ll wreck my car fand yours) before I’ll let you in. So I warn all Omahans to watch for a white Citation from Lincoln before they change lanes without signaling; it might be me. As for her friends from Crete, Grand Island, Columbus and Gothenburg, perhaps they should stick to cruising their four-block main street in their hometown. If you sec a Lincoln driver who isn’t doing the speed limit, it is almost always be cause one of these lost sheep with a large-numbered license plate isahead of them. I’ve seen these people drive for miles with the turn signal on. The streets of Lincoln are great in the sum mcr. Allot the oul-of-lowncrs arc gone and all of the drivers arc courteous to one another. I would like to invite Ebadi to come to Lincoln next summer and see for herself, just as long as she has a Lincolnilc drive her. I guess I had better apologize to those drivers from out ot town who arc good drivers. There arc a few. My observations are only generalities, and this letter may seem a little ex treme, butextremism and generalities seem to be popular today, especially in Ebadi’s letter. T.J. Schirmcr sophomore electrical engineering Students must stand, speak up Nebraska ... Hie Good Life. The slogan brings to mind many positive images of our state. The peaceful serenity of the plains. The Comhusker state is the home of well-mannered conservatism. Peo ple are polite, cordial, helpful and friendly. Take for instance, the kind eld erly gentleman who offers assis tance to the person in need and when asked if he has lived in Ne braska all his life he responds, “Not yet” Well, we do live in a good stale. However, sometimes I think it’s too “good.” A few events last week have motivated me to do what is un thinkable in Nebraska, create con troversy. During the last week l heard a number of people talking about the sedate attitude of Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln students. During my uiree years of in volvement in student government, I have heard time and time again that die students want to be heard. People constantly accuse ASUN of not listening to the student input and to listen to whatsuidents had to say. However, there is one prob lem: In order to be heard, you must first say something. Dunng the last couple of weeks ASUN senators have been holding meetings with their college con stituents. The student representa tives have obtained rooms in their college building and publicized the opportunity for students to come and speak. Not one student showed up at the meetings. Many of you will say, “you should come to us and ask us, we shouldn't have to come to you." Well, since the current admini stration took office in April, ASUN representatives have gone to nearly every residence hall and greek house on campus. In addition, we liave had a strong communication link with many other student or gnizauons. The only thing we ven’t done is go door-to-door, and plans are in the works for that. All of this is merely a side note to the major issue I’m trying to address. Students in Nebraska do not actively fight for what they believe in. ff you’ve been a UNL student for long I urge you to try and remember the last tinw our student body, and I mean large numbers of students on campus not otar student government, really fought for something. There are more than 24,000 students attending this university, and in my four years I can only remember one event that rallied a couple-hundred students. That was in 1986, when the construction of the George B. Cook Pavilion came up for debate. ASUN pulled together a few hundred students to sit in the legis lative chamber and raise their hands as a show of support for the Cook Pavilion. This was a pretty strong effort, and it’s the only event I can remember. I guess what really made me sprite this letter was watching Phil Donahue at the end of last week. As I was flipping through the many channels of mindless “entertain ment” on television, I happened to see that Donahue was being broad cast from Boston University. I began watching the program and I became quite intrigued. It seems Boston students were having a major debate with the president of their university. They were argu ing about a new housing policy implemented by their president. The policy pertained to alcohol and visitation in the residence halls. However, it was the student participation, not the topic, that got my attention. The program showed a full auditorium of extremely vocal students. As 1 watched the program I began to think to myself, “Why don’t UNL students fight for their rights like this?” It’s a ques tion that’s been on my mind ever since. Being unaccustomed, and lliereforc skeptical, of such great student activism and participation 1 decided to look into the issue. After all, maybe these students were just trying to be T. V. stars. However, what 1 found out was these were students who not only cared about what was happening to them, they were doing something about it I have since spoke with Andrew Harris, president of Boston Uni versity Student Union (student government). According to Harris, students began to grow concerned about this issue at the beginning of the year. He said it began to be the hot topic of debate at Boston University’s weekly Free Speech Hour. Free Speech Hour is simply a weekly open forum at which stu dents could speak their mind on any issue. And much to my amaze ment, the attendance at the hour generally averaged around 200 students. However, when the presi dent of Boston University imple mented the new housing policy this year students became outraged. Consequently, attendance at the Free Speech Hour has been consis tently above 500 this year. It has even gone above 1,000. Consider ing the fact that Boston University is about the same size as UNL, this is incredible. Anyway, the student outrage led to a student/administration forum to discuss the issue. Ap proximately 1,200 students at tended the event and many more watched on closed-circuit televi sion. All these events culminated last week as over 1,500 students and Bostonians voiced their opin ions on national television. The best part of all is that it worked The students weie able to get the university president to form * a special student/admaiistration task force (consisting of more Stu dents than administrators) to look into the issue. Wow! What I wouldn’t give to see the students of UNL fight so diligently for what they believe in. The point of all this rhetoric is not to get our students to fight for any particular issue, it’s simply to get them to fight On a smaller scale, we saw an example of this action with the minority students on campus. They don't like the way tilings are at UNL and they didn’t like the way ASUN handled the issue, so they fought for what they believed in. If there is something you don't like at our university don’t just be upset, do something about it. Tell ASUN what you think, and if wc don’t do anything tell some other people. There are probably quite a few other people who agree with you. We as students must realize the incredible collective power wc Ecssess. In a stale the size of Ne raska 24,000 people is a pretty significant number. Wc, not stu dent government, bul students as a whole, can control our own des tiny. We have the collective power but wc can’t accomplish anything if we don’t use that power. I’m glad to be a Nebraskan, I’m glad people are happy and things are good, but life is not all fun limes and football games. There are many serious issues facing our university, our slate and our coun try. It is time that we no longer let things pass and be internally upset about issues. It’s time to fight for our future. Jeff Petersen AS UN President Travel this winter December 26-January 14 * Drama in London * Sights & Sounds of Spain * Interior Design in London and Paris * Language & Culture in Mexico * Ski Austria * Visual Artfin England * Paris! Paris! * Industrial Engineering in Pueito Rico * CREDIT OP TIONS AVAILABLE For details: Christa Joy International Educational Services, 1237 R Street, Room 102, 472-3264 BUDWEISER REG.-LIGHT $10.38 $5.87 WARM CASF. COLD 12 PACK MEISTER BRAU $6.99 $3.99 WARM CASE COLD 12 PACK STROHS REG. OR LIGHT $7.99 $5.49 WARM 30 PACK COLD 15 PACK PABST $6.99 $4.65 WARM CASE COLD 12 PACK || PRICES GOOD WHILE QUANTITIES LAST! || **Can you play a musical instrument? **Are you an exciting and enthusiastic person? **Is basketball your favorite sport? If you answered "yes" to the above questions, consider playing in the Basketball Band (performs at men’s home games). Auditions October 10 and 11. Call the Band Office at 472-2505 for an appointment. ———mmmm^^fmmmmmmmm^g^gmm^^m^mmssfmgsBBSSBSSCSE3CS3BBBS^3SSSSSSSSSBSSSSI^m • I * * Good Luck Cornhuskers! Experience the Jayhawk fans at their best ******************************* And after the game.... We'll see you at Lawrence's Premiere Night Club From the stadium: Go south to 23rd Street. We're located inside the Southern Hills Shopping Mall between Naismith and Iowa. Look for Arby's and Perkins in the mall parking lot. Get here right after the game We expect to reach our 600 capacity early!
