Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1989)
Editorial Daily Nebraskan University of Netor sske-Lincoln Amy hdwards, Editor, 472-1766 Lee Rood Editorial Page Editor Jane Hirt. Managing Editor Brandon Loomis, Associate ''ens Editor Victoria Ayoae, W ire Page Editor Dearmc NeJson, Copy Desk Chief Questions remain Regents’ silence on Roskens not wise Welcome back. A few changes took place at the University of Nebraska while students were away for the sum mer. Some of those changes were good, some not so good. One of them has snagged headlines for the past month, and promoted a little distrust in the upper echelons of the state. The headlines began when the NU Board of Regents announced that Ronald Roskens, president of the Univer sity of Nebraska, had stepped down from his 12-year post The distrust began when the regents closed the doors to the public about the reasons for Roskens’ dismissal. It continues because the regents have refused comment on the matter ever since. Their rationale is vague. A personnel matter? Maybe. After all, Roskens did agree to the contract. A legal matter? Hmmm. The re gents’ lawyer has told them not to talk about the issue, in case their statements turn out to be libelous. At any rate, the unanswered questions surrounding the ? regents’ decision leave something to be desired. The regents gave Roskens a pretty hefty salary increase last year, and signed him on for three years. That salary increase implied that the man was doing his job. So did the figures. Roskens raised more for the univer sity system last year than in any other year he has been here. He also had a good rapport with state senators, a rap I port that is pretty much the university's lifeline when it I comes to more public financing. Roskens did have some problems, like the Kearney State issue last spring, but none that has been made public offers reason enough to fire the man. So why was Roskens ousted? Why give a man a raise one year, and fire him the next? The questions have yet to be answered, and regents are tight-lipped about the deal. That’s their prerogative, but it may put them in court. The public has a right to some answers, especially | when $250,000 is shifted around to buy out Roskens’ contract. Unfortunately, the regents don’t see it that way. And even if it doesn’t bring them a lawsuit, it could hurt the university when it comes time for next year’s legislative session. Senators already have grumbled about the dis missal, and they may not want to support a university that won’t offer explanations about how and why money is spent People are upset about Roskens leaving, but the prob lem isn’t just his dismissal. Elected officials are not being accountable to their constituents. The media are making the deal out to be a big, nasty secret And because the regents won’t comment, they are lending probability to that idea. The only other option points to Roskens losing his job over some petty power play between him and the regenu. Ah, bureaucracy. Welcome back, look forward to a semester full of it. - A«y Edwards for the Dotty Nebraska* ■y jedltQrial Signed staff editorials represent the official policy of the fall 1988 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its members are Curt Wagner, editor; Amy Edwards, editorial page editor; Jane Hirt, managing editor; Lee Rood, associate news editor; Lisa Donovan, columnist; Diana Johnson, wire page editor; and Chuck Green, copy desk chief. Editorials do not necessarily re flect the views of the university, its employees, the students or the Nl Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent th< opinion of the author. The Daily Nebraskan’s publisher; are the regents, who established the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the edito rial content of the newspaper lie; solely in the hands of its student edi tors. i989 Aa24 Pi'ly an H UNL students can get a quality education if they want to learn Freshmen can avoid failures I Dear freshmen, Starling Monday you will begin a college career in one of the least selective universi ties in the country. Since Proposition 48, the UNL football team is a more elite academic institution than your university. Combine this fact with the general triviality and materialism of college students today and you and all of us enrolled here could go down in his tory as the lamest simpletons ever to receive college degrees. Not too impressive, but gee, maybe we’ll still have a nice car when we grow up. Now„usually I’m not one to curse the darkness. I’d much rather write about my sadistic landlord or Old Milwaukee burps. But you guys need to know what your elders forget, and oesiaes, a lime venom never kills, especially when you’re already dead. Of course you, like all of us, don’t feel very dead. You’ll marvel at the cute guy or gal, you’ II drink too much at a football game and make friends with a toilet, you’ll get a few good grades and think you’re smart, you’ll fall in love, you’ll get your heart broken, you’ll have melancholy and you’ll have Domino’s pizza. Then you’ll graduate and reminisce about how crazy you were. You’ve come to school to get a degree. You take classes not to learn, but to bag credit hours. You’ll buy Jon’s notes, you’ll borrow tests and you’ll hire fnends to write papers. You’ll use any method to get those hours easily. You’ll get your easy degree, get an easy job and find an easy spouse. You’ll have children who you’ll raise in your own image and then you’ll die. Your children will cry for a few hours after your death and then go to school and do all these neat new things over again. Of course you won’t be exactly like everybody else. You’ll buy a few really cool clothes and you’ll get a cool haircut and acquire an attitude with which you can be holier than those who have uncooi clothes and haircuts. You may even fancy yourself a little bit of a rebel and say cool sarcas tic things you read in some cool sar castic music magazine. Non-con formism is convenient for your ap pearance. You can drop it once you bag an altar-mate. The horror of your life and mine won’t be that it was trivial and worth less. The horror will come when we’re old and realize that we never listened to the warnings about affec tation, coupled with the realization that we’ve wasted a life in half-truths and thoughtless consistencies. i-:2k--1 Ignorance is only painful if it is realized and not corrected. The dull ard racist happily curses blacks on his deathbed. If you’re going to live the life of the simple majority, do it fully or expect the lies to haunt you. As freshmen, you have the oppor tunity to avoid your elders’ failures. Easy admission into this university doesn’t mean a student can’t get a quality education. Learning has noth ing to do with administrators or stu dent governments. These are only the cold machineries of the school The cor 1 union between teacher and student is the soul of the university and the strength of that communion must come from the student The professors at UNL arc by no means dumb. If you come across a bad teacher it’s probably because the teacher’s spirit has been bludgeoned into a “who cares?” altitude by herds of arrogant, ignorant “students” more concerned with a nice butt and a cold brew than with knowledge. Most professors arc aching fora | few good questions to answer; a few H good students who will challengcand be challenged noi because they want I a good grade, but because they want B to know. It’s not the teaching or the intellect §' at this university that makes it | crummy, it’s the collective attitude of B its students. At UNL, learning lies in I importance behind sex, alcohol, foot- B ball, television, pizza, hair, clothes ■ and parking tickets. If knowledge is B the key to a wise and truly prosperous B life, it is no wonder most of us live ■ “The American Nightmare' think- I ing it’s “The American Dream.'’ | Now this is not a holier-than-thou K call for an ethical lifestyle. Bertrand 1 Russell once said * ‘ethics is the art of I recommending to others what they r must do to get along with ourselves.” S Subjectivity to an extreme maybe, K uui lilt duimy iu v.ivaiv gg judgment on such a statement of eth- H ics seems nearly tantamount to any K ethic real or supposed. Learning constructs a foundation I for one’s mind set from the genius of fi the world, not from the opiate lighiol j§ the television or the two-bit philoso- tt phies of whoever one happens upon H in the street. The lies inherent in our ■ lives manifest themselves under the p light of knowledge. This doesnt I deny drinking and sex, it only places Ij them in their rightful place ol impor- b lance. If that is ethical, so be it. Now if all this sounds pedantic and pretentious, I assure you it is my fault and not the fault of the idea. We all forget why we’re in school. It’s just vitally important that you keep re membering and keep learning and keep ahead of the death of the status quo. Fun and frivolity are fine in perspective. It’s just very rare at UNL to see perspective. , So please keep your head out o* the gutter, enjoy your sojourn in Lin coln and most importantly, don t lor get your bluebook. Bob Ndwn Is a senior nws-edltorUl mx)«r ; The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all : readers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publi cation on the basis of clarity, original ity, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit all material submitted. Readers also are welcome to sub mil material as guest opinions. Whether material should run as a let ter 01 guest opinion, or not to run, is left to 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. LcW I? should include the author’s nan»* year in school, major and group am' ' l| ation, if any. Requests to with no names will not be granted. |l Submit material to the Daily N* U braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 4UU Sl, Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
