Editorial
I Daily
Nebraskan
University ot Nebraska-LIncoln
Amv Hdwards, Editor, 4 72 I7f>f>
I ce Rood Editorial Paye luiitor
Jane llirl, Maruiginx Editor
Brandon Loomis, ,\xxociate * Mews Editor
Victoria Ayoilc. Wire Page Editor
Deannc Nelson, Cop\ Desk Chief
Curt Wagner, ( olumnixt
---- -i
I Not enough lots
Parking committee should monitor permits
'"i our or five years is a long time to wait.
That’s how long it may take the Parking Advi
sory Committee to implement a new parking plan -
a plan that would include raising the parking rate $10 for
both students and faculty members.
Currently, students and faculty pay $40 a year to park
on campus.
Bryan Hill, president of the Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska, disagrees with the commit
tee’s proposal.
Hill said students should pay less for parking than
faculty, because most faculty lots are closer.
Hill might be right, but the lack of parking spaces at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln is bigger than who pays
what for a closer space.
The problem is that there isn’t enough parking on
| campus.
Students pay for a parking space on campus, but unless
$ they get to school at 8 a.m., they may have to park in a lot
C that is not even on campus.
And if those students have night classes, they either
have to move their cars sometime during the day, or walk
through a dark lot to get to their cars at night.
But university officials don’t want to add more parking
lots, because that would make the campus less aestheti
cally pleasing.
II he Parking Advisory Committee should look into
monitoring which students get parking permits.
At Purdue University, freshmen who live in residence
Jhalls arc not allowed to keep their cars on campus.
, The same type of plan could work for on-campus
students at UNL, who don’t rely on their cars to get to
school.
Students who need their cars for a job could have their
j employers sign their parking request, to allow them to
| keep their cars on campus.
Lincoln is a university community. The downtown
| shops cater to UNL students and are within walking
j distance from campus.
Fewer cars on campus would alleviate the parking
I problem.
- Amy Kdwards
for the Daily Nebraskan
Second Amendment defended
The Daily Nebraskan published a
letter by professor Franz Blaha in
which he criticized Robert Gale for
his defense of the Second Amend
ment. Blaha indicated that as a prod
uct of the American system of educa
tion, Mr. Gale couldn’t understand
the alleged dependence of the right to
bear arms on participation in a mili
tia. Is it Blaha’s superior Austrian
education that makes him better able
to see this? I won’t bother to cite the
contrast between the modem histo
ries of our two countries, but the
insults to America and Mr. Gale are
not justified.
I wo tacts about the second
Amendment need to be better under
stood. First, the writers of the
Constitution had a different concept
of militia than we generally do today.
The Militia Act of 1792 defined the
militia as “all able-bodied while
men.” I think we may expand that to
“all citizens” today. Secondly, the
National Guard was not established
until this century and has nothing to
do with the constitutional militia.
That we foolishly neglect the training
and support of the militia doesn’t
cancel the right for its members to be
armed. We would do well to emulate
the Swiss, who supply a fully-auto
matic battle rifle to nearly every male
citizen for him to keep in his home.
Each man is allowed to retain owner
ship of this weapon when he reaches
an age where active participation in
the militia is no longer required. The
Swiss have the right idea except that
they arc perhaps sexist. I think
women have more to gain from
proper firearms training than men. It
would create genuine feminist em
powerment
Blaha objects to ideas which can
be stated simply, as on a bumper
sticker. Perhaps his keen logic can’t
cope with “When guns are outlawed,
only outlaws will have guns.’’ To
restate this in syntax more appropri
ate to Blaha: Criminals do not make
use of the statutorily mandated sys
tem of firearms distribution, so con
fiscation of privately-owned weap
ons would lead to increased criminal
victimization of disarmed, law-abid
ing individuals. I pray that his consti
tutional philosophy never prevails in
America, forcing us to be defenseless
against human predators. The obvi
ous result of that policy is evident in
Washington, D.C., a city in which
private gun ownership is forbidden
and a truly horrible place to live.
Guns are dangerous when mis
used. Their ownership is a serious
responsibility which is nonetheless
the right of all law-abiding Ameri
cans. Neither Blaha nor anyone else
may justly deny them that right.
Jonathan Skean
electronics technician
Chemistry
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DN editor has learned a lot
The most important lesson: Fight for what you believe is right
"He who travels far will often see
things
Far removed from what he believed
was Truth.
When he talks about it in the fields at
home,
He is often accused of lying,
For the obdurate people will not be
lieve
What they do not see and distinctly
feel.
Inexperience, I believe.
Will give little credence to my song.' ’
— Herman Hesse
“The Journey to the East”
A s Mr. and Mrs. Hiri handed me
ZA the four chairs serving as my
^ ^graduation present, Mrs. Hirt
asked if I would miss the Daily Ne
braskan.
“Oh no,” I said. “Not at all.”
After three years at the Daily
Nebraskan, I am ready to move on;
after three years at the University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln. I am ready to
move on.
But I’ve been fortunate to see
many things as editor-in-chief this
year. I’ve been able to meet many
people who showed me little truths I
had not believed, and many who reaf
firmed to me that what I believe is the
truth, indeed may be.
Mr. and Mrs. Hirt arc only two of
the people who showed me that
maybe, just maybe, most people are
inherently kind.
“Really, I’ll pay for the chairs.”
“You’re graduating, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I think.”
“Well, congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
Inc purpose of this column, I
guess, is to thank those people who
showed me many possible truths this
year.
Thanks to the NU Board of Re
gents and NU central administration,
I believe even more than before that
one must make bold moves to
achieve goals.
Through their fumbling of the
Kearney Stale University issue they
showed me that.
I thank regents John Payne and
« A A_
Donald Blank in particular.
Payne, while discussing why he
would not support the addition of
“sexual orientation” to the non-dis
crimination policy at the University
of Nebraska, reaffirmed my belief
that wanting to improve things
shouldn't stop alter college.
“Maybe someday you will under
stand,” Payne told a DN reporter.
“When you arc 45, you look at the
world differently.”
n
1_
Blank taught me a similar lesson.
Earlier this semester I spoke with
Blank about why the regents didn’t
shoot for the moon when asking for
appropriations. Their request will get
cut anyway, I said, so why not ask lor
more so maybe they will end up w ith
more.
Blank said that wasn’t the way it
worked in the real world. Me said that
in their positions they can t be so
drastic because it isn’t politically
expedient.
I heard that many tunes this year,
from stale senators to members of the
Association of Students of the Uni
versity of Nebraska.
1 wish they would have heard my
other “teachers.”
During an interview with the DN
editorial board, Slate Sen. Ernie
Chambers told us that we were in a
unique position as college students.
We continue to try to make a differ
ence. He said in the real world we will
be forced to be less vocal in order to
get along with our superiors.
He didn’t want that to happen, but
that is the real world.
But Chambers said more - about
not being ignorant of other people’s
views, about looking at both sides of
an .ssuc before forming an opinion.
This is what I wish more people
would have heard.
Chambers said that after that opin
ion is formed, you should stand by it
and fight for it even if the fight brings
you criticism. He said that opinion
shouldn't be changed because of
pressure from other groups, unless
that pressure proved that you may not
be right.
It is loo bad many elected officials
fear for their future so much they
don't have the guts to stand up for
what they truly believe. It is too bad
they need to be politically expedient.
The final and most important les
son I learned this year came from a
woman I was fortunate enough to
interview while covering an anti
nuclear testing demonstration in
Nevada.
Everyone makes a difference,
Karen Lipps of Indianapolis told me.
And if people have the information
before them, they have to act on it. If
they don’t act on it, they will have to
live with the guilt caused by their
complacency.
Payne and Blame were wrong. We
don’t have to see things differently at
45. We don’t have to be politically
expedient.
Like Lipps and Chambers >aid.
there is no reason people can t light
for what they believe is right. There is
no reason people should cower to
others who are in the majority.
We cannot hold an opinion unless
we are ready to act on it. We cannot
gripe about something unless we try
to change it.
Yes, indeed, working ul ihc un
has taught me many lessons. I wish
the new DN editors luck, and I hope
they arc able to learn as much as I did.
As Mr. and Mrs. Hirt handed me
the four chairs serving as my gradu
ation present, Mrs. Hirt asked me ii I
would miss the Daily Nebraskan.
The words didn’t come, but the
thought bounced in my head.
“Yeah, I will.**
Wagner is a graduating senior in news
editorial, a former Daily Nebraskan editor
in-chief, and newly hired news/wire/business
editor at the Fremont Tribune.
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes
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braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 14W *
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