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October 24,1988 University of Nebraskan-Lincoln Vol.88 No. 40
Speaker calls homophobia
discriminating and painful
By Lisa Donovan
Stiff Reporter
Once people deal with their own
homophobia, they can educate
others to accept and understand
homosexuality, said Judith Nelson
and Terry Tafoya. Tafoya and Nelson
spoke to about 40 people during the
second annual ‘RAP on Homopho
bia* at the East Campus Union Satur
day.
Nelson, from Jefferson County
Public Schools in Colorado, defined
homophobia as “a form of oppression
which discriminates against and
causes great pain to gay men and
lesbians and limits heterosexuals in
the fullest expression of their huma
neness.”
Everyone has homophobia, she
said.
“Noone knows what causes homo
sexuality,” Nelson said. “It’s not a
choice. It’s a given.”
The day-long event, sponsored by
the Lincoln’s chapter of Parents and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays and the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Department of Educational Psychol
ogy, featured discussions on Ac
rred Immune Deficiency Syn
me, religion and youth as well as
presentations by Nelson and Tafoya.
In a speech about “Youth at Risk,”
Nelson said youths need to be edu
cated about homosexuality so that it is
acceptable for gay youths to ‘come
out of the closet.’ Education also will
allow gay youths to live in positive
growing environments, she said.
According to Nelson, homosexual
youths risk AIDS, bullying, drug
involvement, exploitation, loneli
SeeHCMOPHOBIA on 3
Star Wars is wrong
Analyst says SDI holds up agreements
Erte Grmgory/Oeity N«jK»*k*n
\PZ «ary8la»rs,ftojn Danvw, Cola., and Jerry f^ewcombot Omaha comiort each otherdurlno
vi^Htor AHPS vlgtimsat the Capitol Building Friday night. Tha two said thay
By David Holloway
Senior Reporter
A spokesman from the Union of
Concerned Scientists Voter
Education Project spoke
against President Reagan’s proposed
Strategic Defense Initiative on Fri
day.
Nebraskans for Peace sponsored
Allan Krass, a senior arms analyst for
the union, to speak in several Univer
sity of Ncbraska-Lincoln classrooms.
immmmnmhhnim
‘We believe SDI is
holding up major
arms agreements
which would cut
nuclear arms by 50
percent.'
—Krass
“UCS ’s major focus is SDIKrass
said. “We believe SDI is holding up
major arms agreements which would
cut nuclear arms by 50 percent.”
Krass said the concept of SDI,
commonly known as Star Wars, is
wrong. He said defending people
against nuclear weapons is impos
sible. No matter how many anti-nu
clear weapons a country has, people
still will be killed in the event of a
nuclear war, he said.
. President Reagan did not know
what he was getting into when he
announced his plans, he said.
Krass said the union, which is
made up of concerned scientists na
tionwide, has focused on SDI since
1983. He said that before 1983, the
groups put their main focus on the
safety of nuclear power plants. Krass
said SDI will continue to be its focus
until the program folds.
“The president made the decision
by himself with the help of a small
group of scientists," Krass said. “The
Pentagon keeps changing the plans
for SDI as the public finds the flaws."
Krass said the United Slates needs
fewer weapons and more arms con
trol.
Krass said the science union does
not endorse any presidential candi
date. He said that if the people care
about the arms issue, the president
they choose will have to take voter
concerns into consideration.
Krass, who travels around the
country four to five limes a year to
educate the public about the SDI is
sue, said he docs not know how effec
tive the presentations are. He said his
main purpose is to get the voters
concerned with the issue.
Vigil avows crowd, memories
Vicki Gardner of Lincoln said
she attended the event tot#dtscate
otiiersof die problem, She said that
good attendance at the event, would
shut dm time to the piobtan§. _
“I this* it's a matter of impof*
lance,” Gardner said. “It’s impor
tant people be educated about
what’s going on” v
“ft’s got to stop,” she said. “1
hope that may be others will see and
want to learn more about it.”
Mary Sietns of Denver also said
she attended the vigil to bring
about awareness of AIDS. S ^
“l think it's really important we
raise consciousness of everybody,
to be ’.oropassicmate and loving to
people with AIDS and see this is
going to affect all of us,” Siems
sai»l '
Missy Hasselbaich of Lincoln
said the ignorance associated with
AIDS is “sad.” v
“Awareness should be height
ened,” Hasselbaich said.
“We need to get it across u>
people,” ferry Newcomb of
Omaha added.
Frankie Blankman of Omaha
said she thought the vigil was
“good* but sad at the same ume . ”
the
of the h*e
bmska AIDS project said, “We
^owwBMpily^tt^of
! Joel Gajardc, the coordinator
of the Hispanic Community Cen
ts; Minority Education Task
Force, said his organization
helped sponsor the ei'cm to bring
awareness so au» as a disease
that “is affecting potentially ev
eryone.” ■ .
G a jar do led the group in a ren
^We’regoin^to^sing ‘someone
is crying‘someone is hurting,’
‘someone is dying,’ but the one
we’re going to sing extra strong is
‘someone is hoping,'” Gajardo
Afterward* Gajardo said he was
pleased with the event’s turnout
“Look at them,” he said of the
many still huddled together after
the event. “They don’t want to
leave.”
■ - ~
Faculty disagree on importance of grammar
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By Lynn Schwebach
Staff Reporter
Grammar, some University ofNebraska
Lincoln professors say, is only a tool to
polish writing, yet other UNL professors
maintain that grammar is the essential element
in learning how to write.
At the beginning of each semester, Frank
Beasley, a teaching assistant in the English
department, said he tells students in his fiction
writing class not to worry about grammar in the
first drafts of their papers.
Beasley said that grammar, a mechanical
process, can get in the way of students’ creativ
ity. The main emphasis in the first draft,
Beasley said, should be content and meaning.
“There is a large school of thought that says
expression should be focused on the most, and
grammar should be a supplement," Beasley
said.
However, Beasley said he doesn’t think
grammar is unimportant. Grammar becomes a
tool to polish the second and third drafts, Bea
sley said.
But R. Neale Copple, dean of the College of
Journalism, has a different view.
“Grammar does mot inhibit the creative
but. M: Milpfc to guide the student,"
Copple said.
Grammar. Copple said, provides a common
vocabulary for both the teacher and student to
use when analyzing the student’s work.
For example, ira sentence does not make
sense because theobjectdoes not agree with the
subject, students need to know what those terms
are inorder tocorrect the sentence,Copple said.
Since students frequently do not know the
basic parts of speech, they do not understand a
professor’s analysis of their writing, Copple
said. This frustrates teachers in the College of
Journalism, Copple said.
Copple said that in the business world, good
writing skills arc just as important as in journal
ism.
Good writing skills, Copple said, means
composing a clear, understandable and
grammatically correct sentence.
Robert Brooke, assistant professor of Eng
lish, said teachers today need to study the
research completed in the last 20 years to
approach the grammar issue.
Brooke said research clearly demonstrates
that the traditional approach to teaching gram
mar — drills, workbooks and “fill-in-ihe