Editorial
^ __ Cuit Wagner, Editor, 472-1766
JJaily ^ Amy BJwardi, Editorial Page Editor
^T rtln ^ ^J*ne Hirt,Managing Editor
l^y M |f | Cl Q Cl 33 Lee Rood, Associate News Editor
^ A M^A\(>tA 1. Diana Johnson, Wire Page Editor
Unlvtrtlty of Nebraska-Uncoln Chuck Green, Copy Desk Chief
Lis# Donovan, Columnist
Complacency rules
ASUN makes big mistakes on big issues
As the ASUN Senate voted down two pieces of vital
legislation Wednesday night, it became apparent
that a wave of complacency and fear of university
officials will govern the body next year.
First, the Association of Students of the University of
Nebraska, led by Sen. Steve Thomlison, failed to bring to
emergency status a resolution that urges the NU Board of
Regents to add “sexual orientation” to the non-discrimi
natory section of the NU Charter. Then the body voted
down a bill that would have appropriated funds to pur
chase and distribute condoms in the ASUN office.
Two important issues, two big mistakes.
During discussion on the resolution, some senators
asked why “sexual orientation” wasn’t already added by
the regents, as if ASUN legislation should be governed by
regent reasoning.
The senate then voted against emergency status so the
resolution could be studied further by the Special Topics
committee. But thinking realistically, the resolution
probably will be voted down by the committee. The ever
righteous Thomlison chairs Special Topics.
as i nomnson nas proven many times, ne is against
funding for a gay/lesbian group and diametrically opposed
to the gay/lesbian movement.
Thomlison and others argued that the resolution is not
worthy of emergency status. But gay men and lesbians are
discriminated against daily, and this resolution would
show that ASUN does not support any prejudice.
Thomlison also led senators into mirroring UNI. offi
cials on the condom issue. They echoed administrative
concerns when they Said distributing condoms would
cause an image problem.
But in debate, Sen. Julie Jorgensen brought up 1989
ASUN election results that showed 69 percent of the
students voting supported distribution of condoms in
university buildings.
Thomlison said 69 percent of those students voting is
not 100 percent, so the bill should not be passed. But
earlier in the semester, when Thomlison quoted voter
percentages from the 1986 ASUN elections, he said 85
percent of students vriting were against funding a gay/
lesbian group.
r.v That percentage is not 100 percent either, yet Thomli
son used it to urge that funding for the Committee Offer
ing Lesbian and Gay Events be denied this year.
So, does Thomlison believe that ASUN should follow
the majority’s wishes, the minority’s wishes or whatever
he sees fit so the body can uphold his dated, backward
personal agenda? Does he feel ASUN should do only
what pleases administrators?
ASUN must work to be a champion of everyone’s .
rights and a progressive government not afraid of change.
Senators must not fear what administrators think. They
do not work for administrators, they work for the student
body.
- Curt Wagner
for the Daily Nebraskan
Guy blasts DN for following rule
I am shocked to find that a news
paper, even if it is the Daily Nebras
kan, failed to report the name of the
football player involved in the do
mestic incident reported on the first
page (DN, April 19). Everyone who
is studying journalism or has any
thing to do with a newspaper would
realize that the DN didn’t write all the
* facts.
Besides the sloppy reporting is
■>uc, what about our beloved football
players?
I’m not saying that the name was
withheld because the man was a foot
ball player, but the possibility exists.
If this were the case, then the DN Is
about as Irresponsible as the player
committing the crime. After all, why
mention the victim’s name without
naming (he alleged assaulter? Yes,
you mention his address, but not his
name?
I hope the DN is not in the business
of protecting our athletes from public
embarrassment because of an alleged
crime. They are people like every
body else. For example, the alleged
rape at the Phi Gamma Delta house
named the offender. If I, or any other
“Joe Blow” were arrested, I would
be willing to bet that it would appear
in the DN.
Lloyd Guy
sophomore
broadcasting
Editor’s Note: According to the DN
Policy Handbook, revised Nov,
1988, the DN followed policy on this
story. On page 11, under the head
' ing “Identifying Persons Accused
of a Crime,** policy reads as fol
lows: The DN will not print the
name of any person accused of a
crime until the person has been
arrested, charged and arraigned.
Also, tbe alleged rapist at the Phi
Gamma Delta house was not
named until he had appeared in
const and was arnmgned.
• f ♦. /' i
. : ---!_]__ *
o? :
/
Reality: actuality; fact; truth.
- Webster’s Dictionary.
Just what is real and what is fic
tion is not always the easiest
thing to determine. This is par
ticularly true when people are deal
ing with the federal government.
Supposedly, having a free press
eliminates this problem.
Wrong.
This week in class, during a talk
about El Salvador and Latin Amer
ica, a discussion of this sort began.
The problem under discussion was
that many (if not all) of the nations in
Latin America are, or have been,
human rights violators. I’m not refer
ring to little things like poor living
conditions. But there arc some major
violations of basic human rights
gwmguii. luuuic.iapc, imprisonment
without cause and wholesale murder,
for example. Most of these countries
receive varying amounts of eco
nomic and military aid from the
United Stales. El Salvador, for in
stance, receives more than SI.5 mil
lion - per day.
Why docs the United States gov
ernment continue to supply these
countries with aid, and more impor
tantly, why docs the American public
not care or know about it? Our class
discussion centered on the latter part
of this question. Why isn’t the Ameri
can public informed? Two institu
tions arc at fault here; the federal
government and the media.
The federal government has great
reason to keep the public ignorant. It
would not look good for the people of
this country to find out that they are
giving money to questionable foreign
governments. So the administration
releases only the bare minimum of
information. It often withholds the
.. . »v»»* »ctuon oi your
editorial page, a continuing battle
will take place. I have a message for
the participants in these arm-chair
shouting matches:
1. When you have a controversial
idea, people will disagree with you.
It s OK not to write back with a page
and-a-half retort/maybe people will
be more inclined to agTce with you
then.
2. Try to be reasonable. It really
gets sickening for us readers when
rfernH.s...
c*\ cle**\ kH a ( 5 ?'
C'^v*V t Ct*^JL v^eu/ Cl**Ut
mL'i k*/ W u htrv l^ud. 1 I
Press collides with government
Americans continually not informed about government actions
pertinent information that could
make a difference in public opinion.
A common ploy of past administra
tions was to overshadow the unfavor
able image with some more favorable
image or action.
The best example of this took
place in 1983. A few days after the
killing of 243 American servicemen
in Beirut, Lebanon, the Reagan ad
ministration make the decision to
invade Grenada. Our v ic lory over th is
powerful island overshadowed the
tragedy of the deaths in Lebanon.
i — - ■■ i r»i
By withholding information or
giving misleading or false informa
tion, the government puts the press in
a difficult position. Sometimes there
is a real reason for keeping informa
tion from the press, but most of the
lime, the reasons arc for appearances
sake. Take Watergate and the Iran
Contra scam. In both eases the press
found out what the government was
up to - and reactions from the public
were less than favorable.
But often the press is to blame for
our ignorance of certain events. Look
again at the Grenada invasion or the
Beirut bombing. While the admini
stration tried to overshadow the trag
edy, it did not force the media to
cover the two situations like it did.
The press was not forced to put the
bombing on page 12. Editors did it by
choice, and in doing so, they contrib
uted to the diluting of the Beirut trag
And what about the human rights
situation in Latin America? The gov
emment does not want the people to
know that we support some foreign
governments, and for the most pan
they don’t Look at the newspapers,
television and periodicals like Time
and Newsweek. You may be hard
pressed to find any information about
government aid in El Salvador
Who’s fault is that?
It’s everybody’s fault. Yours,
mine and the next guy’s. As long as
the people in Washington can get
away with telling half-truths and
outright lies they will. As long as the
media continues to place certain
important issues on the back burner,
while sensationalizing others (Gcr
aldo Rivera, Phil Donahue and Oprah
Winfrey to name a few), and as long
as the American people don’t care,
the government will get away with it
Why should wc care? Who cares
where our lax dollars go as long as
they fight the red menace of commu
nism? Such is American public opin
ion. Ii saddens me lhai people are
more concerned about some mythical
Easi-West confrontation than about
the conditions human beings are
placed in and forced to contend witiv
I don’t mean to say that we should jus
capitulate to the Soviets right now,
but wc should place a little morc
emphasis on other factors, say human
rights, for example.
I realize that it is usually n°l w‘sc'
for a columnist to bile the hand
feeds him, but something needs ^
change. No longer can wc let
sions cloud our vision for a pcaceiu
world.
Heckman Is a aenlor international rela
lions major and a Dally Nebraskan editoruu
ndunfat
Reader gives message to battlers of opinion I
you simply call each other names.
3. Try to be rational. 1 would like
tt> read aipuiMMation.iioiaKript far
a screaming contest.
“Wm Pig?,ly’ * demofl8iralion’ w
Mr. Vela, Mr. Weldon, 1 am
young, but 1 have a right to speak. Mr.
Vela, you started by saying that you
weren t insulted. Please write in and
£? tomPcIled y°u to write
the Chilly Nebraskan. I suspect you
were insulted, and in this ciwerather
than arguing (or trying to) about the
. v
word “war?’ which is, at least
me. indomitable as the p**"**®,
the U.S Aimed Forres, argue
•WfjEr-WiSfll
ss&essivz*
ion. You aaepifii
Scot Pyer '
freshman
ctossics/philosopny
P.S. Now that wasn’t so bad, was i
