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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1989)
Editorial I Nebraskan University of Nebraska-Lincofn Curt Wagner, Editor. 472-1766 \mv Ldwards, Editorial Page Editor Jane Mirt, Managing Editor j Lee Rood, Associate Sews Editor Diana Johnson, M’trt Page Edpor | Chuck Green, Copy Desk Chief [ Lisa Donovan, Coiurnnist NU institution thrives Ranks sixth in development contracts • % t a time when the University of Nebraska’s budget is iCka source of constant concern, one part of the institti ^ *uon is thriving* 1. 3fp;l SJI'V ip v p P p' ! NU recently ranked 6th in International development contracts among 1131 universities, according to a study • done by Internet, * No*d|€aroiina company. . ":N i Ahead of NU Is Johns Hopkins UutvmSIr* the Harvard I Institute of International Development, Michigan State University, North Carolina State and Oregon State* |t NU was ranked with these schools on me basis ctf the $90 million it receives under active international develop ment grants and contracts, according to Robert Kleis, executive dean of international affair* |w§ | I Kleis tm the mat nan otjnus proceeds come from one project, a $45 million Morocco dry-land agricultural research contract which will con tinue until at least 1993. That project has involved as many as 63 NU faculty members, with 31 Moroccan students earning degrees. The Agency for International Development finances the Moroccan project as well as the Sorghum and Millet Collaborative Research Support Program, which will net $46 million from 1979 to 1994. NU is the leader of this global research network, which includes seven other U.S. land grant universities, Kleis said. Kleis said NU has smaller contracts in university development in Nigeria aud Costa Rica, ami collaborates with researchers in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Colombia. The more than $90 million that ,J8i|U great and expertise World nations evolve into com. with other countries can only be beneficial. At a time when the mention of money makes adminis trators nervous, it*s satisfying to know that one NU activity is alive and well Legislators should remember this when they appropri ate money to the university for research and faculty salaries. Money going into research eventually filters! back into the state through projects such as these. | fat fit /Mi <•: . . v.;.- • <r * .TT/W;T*T Thomlison rebuts DN editorial In response to the recent editorial (DN, Feb. 16), I feel compelled to clarify and defend some of the issues you raised. My motion to remove funding for the Committee Offering Lesbian and Gay Events from the budget was based on two points. First was the fact that a majority of students do not want their student fees going to an organization that represents homosexuality. Your claim that the ASUN Senate is not a representative body because only 15 percent of the student body voted and therefore the senate cannot claim a majority of student support does not hold weight as a valid argument. We live in a democracy where the major ity rule. The majority consists of those people who choose to follow the mandate presented by that group. In this case the mandate was to refuse funding of student fees to COLAGE. Secondly, my motion was based on the fact that we are not machines, but humans. As humans we are forced to deal with what is morally right and wrong when we make a decision. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that moral guidelines can legally be the reasoning behind a governing statute. Your assumption that my arguments concerning sodomy had no business in the debate was also incorrect. Even though COLAGE does not “go to organizing sodomic orgies,” it does promote a sexual activity (by the pure definition of COLAGE) that is illegal in 24 states and the District of Colum bia. My point was that the ASUN Senate should think twice before we agree to give student fees to an or ganization whose members’ sexual practices are illegal in several parts of our nation. My comment dealing with Chris tianity was not intended to offend or alienate any person or organization. I realize that not all of the university’s students are of the Christiari faith. My statement should have been “As fol lowers of a divine leader we can all appreciate that there are certain in trinsic laws that arc passed down to us from that deity and we should take those commands into account with each and every decision that we make.’’ I apologize to any who were of fended by my comment on Christian ity. No offense was intended. I will close my letter by saying I continue to be amused by the attacks the DN makes. To call for the resig nations of all senators who voted against funding for COLAGE vio lates the very principles of freedom of choice that our nation was founded on. To claim that any one who voted against funding COLAGE made a serious enough infraction to warrant resignation is to indicate that CO LAGE is inherently good and su preme in every way and that there is no possible, reasonable, or legitimate way that a vote against could have been justified. I find that logic unrea sonable and unacceptable. Steven Thomlison freshman general studies AS UN senator [ ThoHLISQN CAST5 The First ST°NE.. j Alleged campus rape spurs discussions among UNL students Sexual assualt myths do exist "No two of us think alike about it, and yet it is clear to me, that question underlies the whole movement, and our little skirmishes for better laws, and the right to vote, will yet be swal lowed up in the real question, viz: Has a woman a right to herself? It is very little to me to have the right to vote, to own property, etc., if I may not keep my body, and its uses, in my absolute right..." -- Lucy Stone, in a letter to Anto inette Brown, July II, 1855 I wonder how many people who picked up the Daily Nebraskan Monday felt a little uncomfort able after reading about an alleged sexual assault on the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln campus last week end. I’m sure this article hit home for many UNL students. I wonder how many men look a deep breath and felt a paralyzing guilt. I wonder too, how many women felt the sting of reliving such a horrible crime as rape. I didn’t have to guess, however, how some people reacted to the al leged incident. To tell the truth. 1 iouna some people s reactions to be both sickening and a bit frightening. “Who’s to say she didn’t ask for it?’’ one student asked. “Well, she shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” another added. “She was probably drunk and realized what she did. She cot scared.” * These arc common attitudes to ward this alleged sexual assault and toward many of the 2,000 sexual as saults that are reported each week in the United States. Comments like this arc supposed to somehow absolve an attacker from the crime of controlling another’s body. According to idle chatter running rampant across campus, it was sur prising how many myths about sexual assault exist among some of the sup posedly educated. In Jo Freeman’s book, “Women: A Feminist Perspective,” she dis cusses a number of myths about rape: • All women want to be raped. • No women can be raped if she doesn’t want it (you can’t thread a i£lt£r-1_ — The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others. Readers also are welcome to sub mit mfferial as guest opinions. Wilier material should run as a let ter p; guest opinion, or not to run, is moving needle argument). • She asked for it. • She changed her mind afterward. •If you are going to be raped, you might as well enjoy it. • When she says no, she means yes. The question here is where did these ideas start and why are they being perpetuated on a college cam pus? Our culture teaches and, in some cases, accepts sexual assault. This is a world where one can lum on the television and sec a video of Sam Kinison rolling around in a box ing ring with Jessica Hahn while a group of men cheer. The intention is humor, but there’s nothing remotely humorous about rape. It’s a world where one can turn on the radio and hear the sexual chants of Duran Duran singing ’’All she wants is ... All she wants is ...’’ The biggest myth that surrounds sexual assault is that it is a sexual act. There is nothing sexual or sensual about physical empowerment. It is an act of violence. According to the Rape and Spouse Abuse Center, rape is defined as any contact of a sexual nature against a person where consent is not given. By law, first degree sexual assault is defined as when the actor subjects the victim to sexual penetration and the victim was mentally or physically incapable of appraising the situation. It may involve the use of coercion or deception. Statutory rape means the actor is 19 years of age or older and the victim is less than 16-years-old. Second and third degree sexual assault is the act of subjecting the victim to sexual contact. It involves overcoming the victim by force — expressed or implied and may in volve the use of coercion or dcccp left lo the editor’s discretion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be considered for publication. Letters lion. The actor may know the victim is mentally or physically incapable of assessing the situation. The difference between second and third-degree is that the former includes serious physical injury while the latter does not. And although there is a penally for the violation of social mores, the legal sanctions against rapists aren’t i strict enough. Consequently, the number of rapes increases every year and victims become prisoners of their own body. The Federal Bureau of Investiga tion says that yearly statistics should be multiplied by 10 to make up lor the number of sexual assaults that go unreported. Women at UNL also arc prisoners of their own body. Instead of fighting the problem as a community, most women must take individual preven tative measures against attack. I wonder how many women are told by friends, relatives or university officials not to walk alone after dark, not to walk in secluded areas. The talcs of the “rape” parking lots abound and remember, wherever you go ... go in a rroup. In their publication, ‘ Against Rape,” Andra Mode and Kathleen Thompson say, “There is what might dc cauca a univcisai tunew un women in this country. Whenever a woman walks alone at night, hitch hikes, she is aware that she is violat ing well-established rules of conduct and, as a result, that she faces the possibility of rape. If in one of these situations she is raped, the man will almost always escape prosecution and the woman will be made to feel responsible because she was some how asking for it.” What a question. Who asks to be' raped? Noonc ASKS to be raped. Just talk to the victims who don't sleep, who wake up in the middle ol the night screaming. They will tell you how they were not asked, just humili ated and violated. In rape many things are lost.. .a faith in mankind and a faith in one’s self, as one victim said. Oonuvun is a junior news-editorial major and a DN Arts and Entertainment senior reporter and editorial columnist. should include the author's name, year in school, major and group affili ation, if any. Requests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily Ne braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St, Lincoln, Neb. 63588-0448.