Editorial
(Daily
Nebraskan
University of Nebrsska-LIncoln
Amy Kdwards, Editor, 472-1766
Ixc Rood, Editorial Page Editor
Jane Hilt, Managing Editor
Brandon Loomis, Associate News Editor
Victoria Ayoltc, Wire Page Editor
Dcannc Nelson, Copy Desk Chief
--
Affordable education
Students need a promising future
So a decade-long, nationwide trend toward increased
tuition costs has slowed this year.
According to an annual College Board survey,
the average tuition increases at some four-year public
colleges have dropped from 20 percent in the 1983-84
school year to a mere 5 to 9 percent in the last five years.
Gee, what a relief.
The Chronicle of Higher Education puts the average
undergraduate tuition for a four-year public college at
about $ 1,694, a 7 percent increase over last year.
This increase may seem like a drop in the bucket com
pared to the increases of the early ’80s. But tuition hikes
keep coming, and students continue to face cost-of-living
increases that suipass the rate of inflation.*
“For each of the last eight years, the price of college
has outrun inflation, and the majority of students will see
that trend continue in 1989-90,” the Chronicle reported in
its Aug. 16 issue.
In the same article, College Board President Donald
Stewart puts all minds at ease by reminding us that a
college education is still within the grasp of those who
yearn for higher education.
“Planning is the key to paying for college today,” he
said, ‘ ‘with financial aid providing the boost over the top
for many families.”
Indeed, John Beacon, director of the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln’s Office of Scholarships and Financial
Aid, is quick to boast that the office has $35 million in
award money for this year - a noted increase, he said,
over last year.
However, most of that money is available to students m
loans, not grants. And even if students do take on the
burden of a loan, or two or three, many will not make
enough in their chosen fields to pay them back in a timely
manner if they are expected to live independently.
And planning? True, keeping an eye toward the future
is important for parents and students to remember when
planning for higher education. But many parents today tell
their children to work their way through school, “like I
did.” A student who attempts to stay out of college in
order to save for his or her education is a student who
later will be behind in today’s competitive job markets.
Where exactly does the buck stop?
Even the cost of attending UNL, what Vice Chancellor
for Student Affairs James Griesen likes to call a4 ‘fantas
tic bargain” ~ still is too expensive for many Nebraskans.
lawmakers and politicians have to make providing an
affordable education their No. 1 priority. Otherwise, a
student’s future is not the only one at stake.
-LmIwMI
for th* Daily Ntbraskan
Concessions connoisseur
protests proposed change
I hope lhat the university athletic
department isn’t serious about
awarding a new concessions contract
to Johnny Rodgers. I really have
nothing against Mr. Rodgers, but the
fact is that the current provider of
concessions is doing an outstanding
job.
I do not know who holds the cur
rent concessions conlract and have no
personal interest in it other than to
credit them for their excellent work.
No stadium lhat 1 have attended can
compare with the prices. Most of the
items are $1 or less, which is very
reasonable. The food and service are
always pretty good, and while the
variety is slim, I think most of us
really just wanted the basics (Coca
Cola, hot dogs, popcorn) anyway.
This proposal is just the type of
move that no one notices until a
change is made and wc get poor serv
ice at a higher price. I hope the Daily
Nebraskan and the UNL students
who attend games will take a look at
this issue and urge the athletic depart
ment to leave the system alone. Why
change one of the few things on
campus about which no one is com
plaining?
Joe Schuelc
Lincoln
'Z+rp
Uj+y
' V
A V/EW OF THE NEW M/LUOAT# BOMB
OETECT/OA/ FAC/L/Ty A T JFK
Pledge programs rarely of value
Education by fear, public ridicule degrades fraternity pledges
Exactly four years ago tonight,
I was fearing the unexpected
with my 22 other pledge
brothers and 50 active brothers at a
cabin out by Milford. That night, we
sat around a fire and talked about
ourselves, where we had come from
and, more important to me, where we
were all hoping to go in the next year.
The next morning, my 22 pledge
brothers and I crawled out of bed at 7
a.m. to scrub toilets and mop floors.
Hazing in fraternities and sorori
ties is given many different names
and rationalized in many ways.
Actives sometimes call it “char
acter building,” telling pledges:
“This is how brutal the real world is.
We’re just toughening you up.”
What better way, they say; is there to
teach pledges discipline (than) by
making them do 50 push-ups on
command?
Another famous fraternal pledge
education tool, which is supposed to
save the lost souls and unorganized
lives of high-school graduates, is to
create pledge activities, allegedly
aimed at teaching pledges time-man
agement skills. These activities arc
supposed to help build unity within a
pledge class and dedication to the
fraternity.
Rarely do these activities have any
real educational value.
Actives tell pledges the privilege
of being surrounded by 75 beautiful
people doesn’t come without hard
work. Pledges must show their loy
alty to a standard of brotherhood or
sisterhood by acts of ritual, like
drinking 14 beers at a party and
making sure they have a pretty face at
all limes.
This rationalization touches on the
issue of elitism in the greek system
which some people might think
makes all this talk of hazing a secon
dary concern and a waste of our lime.
The Majority Rules Rule, most
widely known for its role in justifying
discrimination against minorities in
America, also is used by sororities
and fraternities to overlook the rights
of a pledge.
One fellow greek once conceded
to me the conflicts surrounding
pledge education. “Well, they are
pledges so they shouldn’t have the
same rights as actives.” What a con
cept. As if all human existence ought
to be separated into these two strata;
those who have rights and those who
don’t.
Behind ail of these “fraternal
doctrines,’’ which attempt to justify
an unjust system, arc men and women
who are only slightly conscious of
their actions and the effect that they
have on an 18-ycar-old pledge - also
called a maggot, or squeak, or even
associate member.
Yes, fraternal doctrine has created
a system where the abused become
the abusers. The menial anguish and
physical pressures of plcdgcship by
hazing culminate with the right to
become the cause of some young
pledge’s torment.
And you say, “Well, if a pledge
doesn’t like it, he or she can get out.”
True. And some do. But the unfortu
nate thing about grcck hazing is that it
takes its greatest toll on human
beings who arc in the midst of an
already-confusing and unstable tran
sition from high school to college.
The young and insecure minds of
18-year-old college freshmen seem
to be an invitation for someone or
something to take control of their
lives.
Rather than haze and degrade
other human beings, fraternities and
sororities could offer support to
young college students. If programs
for new members focus on the REAL
needs of a college student, joining
that greek organization can be a bene
ficial experience for him or her.
With hazing, the opposite occurs.
Pledgcship focuses on the preor
dained needs of “The House” and its
fraternal doctrine. The fraternity
pledge who doesn’t need the social
support can see hazing for what it is
and get out.
Unfortunately, college students
who need the security and support of
others, may pledge a fraternity or
sorority blindly in order to fulfill
Grsonal needs, even though it may
ve a detrimental effect on their
physical and mental health.
Fledges who need the security of
social acceptance and a positive self
image the most probably arc most
oblivious to seeing what education by
fear, physical discomfort, thought
control, public ridicule and authori
tarian leadership is doing to their
spirituality and intellectual endeav
ors and their physical well-being.
This not only explains why “fral
rats” exist but also why religious
fanatics and drug and alcohol abusers
abound on the UNL campus.
The cycle of hazing is mean and
cares little about a pledge’s feelings,
fears, goals and values.
So how do we break the cycle of
pledge abuse? The media has long
used informative tactics to try to get
fraternity and sorority members to
confront the issue of hazing.
The rational approach of cducat.
ing through awareness has helped
many greek houses examine their
pledge education programs and do
away with pledge-destroying activi
ties.
But hazing still exists and tne
deceiving justifications still are being
used in pledge programs.
Actives have invested much ot
their own emotion into hazing
pledges. As long as the hazing system
stays in operation, the actives reap
the rewards of their plcdgeship. If the
system is interrupted, the world they
thought they could depend on col
lapses. To expect actives who were
hazed to relinquish their investment
in the hazing system is asking an
enormous sacrifice.
But it is one that must be made.
Fraternity and sorority leaders
need the support of their local and
national fraternity advisers, the UNL
administration, the Panhellcmc As
sociation and InterFratcmity Coud
cil, as well as the support of the stu
dent body, to deal with hazing.
Fraternity and sorority mem[\ln
need guidance and resources to he P
them develop alternative ncw-mc -
ber education programs that loc
positively on the needs of individu
college students.
David RohMng b • senior Englbh/hbtoj
education m^Jor and a Dally Nebraskan col
umnbt
