opipJm_
Readers fight political apathy with letters
Reader opposes
proposed increase
I'm a working wife of a University
of Nebraska-Lmcoln graduate stu
dent who does not participate in
many of the functions that arc sup
ported by the fees allocations.
I think the Committee for Fees
Allocation should not support feed
ing for the Gay/Lesbian Program
ming Committee. I am vehemently
opposed to their beliefs and think
they arc morally, socially and above
all spiritually wrong and I am op
posed to increasing fees for this
cause.
I commend Libby York, Associa
tion of Students of ihe University of
Nebraska senator and CFA member,
for representing the student body.
Mary Gillespie
Princeton, Neb.
Student wants say
in appropriations
I found the lead story in the Daily
Nebraskan (Dec. 2) to be somewhat
disturbing. Its headline read: "CFA
urged to fund gay/lesbian program
ming," and concerned a Committee
for Fees Allocation forum last
Thursday that I was ignorant of and
unable to attend. There was one
quote in particular by Gl.PC's Chris
Carroll that I look exception to.
"Students had rejected (GLPC
funding) last year because of their
rejection of the homosexual life
style, not rejection of the GLPC,"
Carroll said. "They're denying fund
ing because of the morality of the
issue."
The DN also paraphrased her as
saying student disapproval is not
I
relevant to the funding decision.
This letter is not intended to lam
baste the homosexual sector of the
university community, although
homosexuality is contrary to my
Christian background and morals.
I'm not going to tell them where to
live and what to do. But when it
comes down to where my money
goes, I would like to have a voice,
and I'm sure anyone else would, too.
You see, the 6.06 cents that GLPC
seeks from me and every full-time
UNL student through the University
Programs Council foes means very
little to me monetarily. I'm certain
that I lose that much change every
couple of days. But, morally, that
money means a lot.
Those six cents would add up to
$1,600, which the GLPC would use
to tell me, through programs and
posters, that "being gay is OK,"
something with which I and quite a
few other students disagree. Why
snouiu wc pay to near it; i realize
that GLPC could do some good by
dispelling "homophobia," but the
odds arc that the most violent anti
gays wouldn’t listen to the programs
anyway.
So, Carroll, I’m afraid I’ll have to
agree with CFA member Libby York
in that "overwhelming" student dis
approval for GLPC is relevant.
David Schwartz
freshman
civil engineering
Reader: Educating
bigots is wasteful
The Gay/Lcsbian Programming
Committee would like 51,600 in
student fees to educate students on
the "subject of homosexuality"
(Daily Nebraskan, Dee. 2). Appar
cntly this education would be meant
to rid the campus of homophobia
(fear of homosexuals). But even if
homophobia is "rampant," this does
not justify funding.
Let's assume that every hetero
sexual student suffers from homo
phobia. Does this mean that GLPC
should automatically receive stu
dent-fee money? No.
We don't allocate student fees to
end students' fears of closed spaces
or heights. It's unfortunate that a
person has a phobia, but it is not our
responsibility to rid them of it. Per
haps one could say that ridding
people of the fear of closed spaces or
heights has nothing to do with rid
ding people of homophobia because
phobias such as the former affect
only the fearful person while the lat
ter affects others, too.
Homophobia does noi imply that
homophobic people are dangerous in
any way toward homosexuals. The
people who lend toward violence arc
called bigots. If GLPC desires to
educate bigots in order to eliminate
their tendency for violent behavior,
then GLPC should say so. However,
trying to change a bigot's behavior by
educating them would be a goal that
no amount of money could help ac
complish. Education relics on the use
of reason, which is the very thing a
bigot refuses to listen to. It seems
very unlikely that a bigot of college
age will listen to reason now when all
the previous years of school have not
had an effect.
If there arc other reasons why
GLPC thinks it should have student
fee money, then it should slate them.
Asking for money for the sole pur
pose of educating people on homo
sexuality is not a justifiable reason
for GLPC funding.
Bill Bcrgfcld
sophomore
engineering
-! HHHHM
U.S. has its reasons
SENNETT from Page 4
I am sure that the official story
would be that die difference is one
of overture. The Soviet Union has
made great strides toward interna
tional cooperation under Gor
bachev and fiscal policies have
begun to recognize the rights and
desires of Soviet citizens in un
precedented ways.
Soviet satellites fed a freedom
to protest and suggest that they
have never known before.
“Glasnost” and “Pcristroika”
have become household words,
and arc the only Russian that many
of us know. To refuse to play
footsie with Gorby would be to
discourage a trend that we should
rather do all wc can to encourage.
b ut why docs this reasoning not
apply to Arafat? From Gorbachev,
we demand only movement in the
right direction. From Aralal we
demand total concession. One U.S.
official was quoted as saying,
“We will be glad to welcome
Arafat to this country - as long as
he brings ail the U.S. hostages with
him.”
Yet nc one is demanding that
Gorbachev’s ticket be paid for by
the release of all political dissi
dents or the legalization of solidar
ity in Poland or the dismantling of
the Berlin Wall.
No. The difference is quite
clear. It is one of power and immi
nent danger. Arafat poses no real
threat to us. We can shove him
around, feel self-righteous about
it, and not lie awake worrying
about the consequences.
Arafat has no nuclear warheads
aimed at Western Europe or mqjor
U.S. metropolitan areas. Arafat
has no contracts to buy American
grain. Arafat does not have the
capability to wreck the U.S. econ
omy by engaging us in a no-holds
barred arms race.
All Arafat has is a cause and a
grievance - and a right to speak.
And that carried little weight in the
major league game of power bro
kerage.
Is it not irrevocably ironic that
we welcome Gorbachev during the
very week that wc deploy a top
secret, state-of-the-art, all
weathcr spy satellite over his na
tion? An American proverb says,
“Good fences make good neigh
bors.’ ’ An even older Arab proverb
says, “Trust Allah, but tic up your
camel’’
The United Stales is making
nice with Gorbachev because it
must. It would be fiscal, political
and international insanity to do
otherwise. Sure, he is the first
Soviet leader in memory to pack a
plea for rationality in Superpower
negotiations. But he is also the
fourth Soviet head of state in the
Reagan years - and Reagan met
with them all.
I do not wish to dow nplay cither
Soviet advances or Palestinian
crimes. I simply wish to point out
that, on the level of official ration
alisation, the moves of last week
and this week are unquestionably
inconsistent And this was the de
ciding factoi in my effort to form
an opinion about the Arafat em
bargo.
Sennett is a graduate student in
philosophy and is a Daily Nebras
kan editorial columnist
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