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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 1989)
Editorial (Daily Nebraskan University ot Nebraska-Lincoln Amy Edwards, Editor, 472-1766 Lee Rood, Editorial Page Editor Jane Hin, Managing Editor Brandon Loomis, Associate News Editor Brian Svoboda, Columnist Bob Nelson, Columnist Jeff Petersen, Columnist I Time to cut losses Society should let Indian artifacts rest n lea$e ^ames Hanson, please, please stop. W* Once again the director of the Nebraska State I Historical Society has sounded off on the injustices I he feels have been unduly inflicted on the society pertain I ing to the reburial of Indian artifacts. I The Sunday Lincoln Joumal/Star reported that Hanson I was upset about the fact that the society is forced to return I artifacts it has had for several years in accordance with a I bill passed last year by the Nebraska Legislature. In an address to the society, Hanson accused state m government of censorship and said a dangerous precedent | had been set, the article said. “When next we meet, those impressive collections will no longer exist,” Hanson said of the artifacts. Hanson also was quoted in his annual report which stated: “Nebraska thus becomes the first state to censor museum collections in order to avoid offending religious * beliefs of individuals or groups. ’ * Who’s censoring whom, Hanson? By refusing to return the artifacts and Indian remains, the society had, in fact, censored Native Americans’ religious and tribal beliefs. No museum in the world should have the right to keep and display the identifiable : possessions -- or the bodies -- of individuals without the u consent of that individual or that individual’s family. Nebraska’s Attorney General Robert Spire already has I ruled that Indians’ First Amendment rights prevail over the rights of scientists. And the Nebraska Legislature already has passed LB340, requiring that the artifacts be returned. I Hanson, it s time to cut your losses and let tne issue rest in peace. By passing LB340, the state of Nebraska gave a coura geous, progressive and morally correct example to the rest of the country. Even the Smithsonian Institute, the na tion’s most prestigious museum, has agreed to return its own collection of Native American remains. Yet you continue to babble on ... At the society’s annual meeting Saturday, members of its executive board also hired two lobbyists in hopes of improving its stature among the public and state govern ment and to protect itself from further legislation that the society fears would erode its operation, according to the Journal article. Much of the bad rap the society has received in recent times from the press, the community and the Legislature comes from Hanson’s irrational logic, inhumane attitude and intolerant behavior. If the society is looking to improve its image, perhaps it should start with its leader. - Lee Rood for the Daily Nebraskan Students plan Fremont retreat Last year, students, faculty and staff from across the campus met in Gretna to provide a forum of action and planning for continual attention to diversity at UNL. In addition to this, the retreat’s objectives listed improving communication among minority and majority groups as well as discussing strategies for change. Also included were discussions on racism and the exclusion of minori ties by whites. This year, a group of committed students from various students’ or ganizations have been meeting to continue to focus on this very impor tant topic. With the aid of the Student Affairs Office, we have planned a retreat called Breaking Through Racial Barriers which will take place on Oct. 14 and 15 in Fremont. The goals of the retreat include increasing knowledge and appreciation of other cultures, creating a better under standing of racism, and building plans for continual programs in this area. Student participation in this re treat is crucial. Letters have been sent to various student organizations on campus requesting their involvement in this program. Opportunity for stu dents at large is also possible. Appli cations arc located at the offices of Campus Activities and Programs, Multicultural Affairs, and Student Affairs. These applications are due on Sept. 28 and retreat participants will be selected. I would encourage those students interested to apply. This is the perfect opportunity for you to get involved in an issue which affects the entire university. Recog nizing and appreciating the diversity in others can only enhance our cam pus as well as influence you in other aspects of your life. This is your chance to make a difference, to be an agent for change and to significantly affect the environment at the univer sity. If there arc any questions regard ing the retreat, please call the Student Affairs Office at 472-3755. Jennifer L. Johnson senior international affairs Cultural Diversity Planning Com mittee /the CONTINUE* 4 /EXISTENCE OFCHENlfiHV /WEAPONS IS SIMPLY h UMACCEPTASL£. THE L lus. is READY ID 8E<S/N 4 1NDW TO MOVE TOWARD l yA CHEMICAL WEAPONS gAMJ| DOES THAT INCLUDE pLOOROCA&BONS? rCC\ . iflh Issue isn’t ‘us’ against ‘them’ Columnist comments on inherent flaws in his manhood, feminists Here’s all I know about the park ing issue. This will take only a few seconds. If there isn’t a riot, there will be task forces, committees, studies, hearings, conferences, discussions, seminars and debates in which stu dents will say “the parking sucks” and so-called officials from different useless branches of the administra tion and student government will say ‘‘we’ll get right on it” and, by the time something is finally accom plished, we’ll all be more concerned with emptying our colostomy bags and winning the nursing home’s weekly Bingo-Rama than with the gala opening of the university’s new 23-stall parking garage. Until then, I’ll ride my bike. Enough said. But although I don’t know much about the parking issue, I do know a lot about other editorial-page issues, namely the flaws inherent in my manhood. You sec, if you read Monday’s cd page, you would know as much as I do about the exploitation of women by the Daily Nebraskan, by condom makers and, to be a little more gen eral, by “the male species.” Carol Grcll, a “concerned par ent,” wrote a letter to the editor Monday in which she blasted the DN for helping to exploit women by printing a story about a female con dom currently being tested by the Food and Drug Administration (DN Sept. 21). She said that the female condom once again is a case of males placing the responsibility for contraception and disease prevention on the female. “Why is it,” she asked, “that society is constantly making conces sions to men; allowing them to abdi cate responsibility for their own sex ual conduct.” She also said, “You slate in your article that people often think con doms for males interrupt spontane ity.* “Perhaps,” she said, “this is a value of the condom for males. This * interruption ’ should give men a moment to think about their actions, take control of their hormones and* accept responsibility for contracep tion and disease control. “Or,” she asked, “is this lack of control an inherent flaw in the male species?” For some reason I thought the Sept. 21 article was about a company developing a device for women that allows them not only to protect them selves from pregnancy, but also from disease. A nice new bit of equality. Men have condoms, women have condoms. Besides that, lest results cited in the article show the female condom to be seven limes less likely to have or develop defects. Sounds like an in credibly effective method of prevent ing unwanted pregnancy $nd the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Wrong. It’s sexist. My mistake. One other tidbit. Grcll attacks the DN for perpetuating the double stan dard because she had never read in the paper “an equally graphic de scription of the use of a condom for men.” Grcll must believe the DN de scribed how the condom works so men could read erotic words like vagina and labia and then masturbate. Or is she, for whatever reason, just assuming the DN wouldn ’t print male sex organs if we ran a story on how a male condom works? We already know this Carol, but the male condom fits over the penis. Whoopdccdo. Calm down ladies. OK, enough fun. I’m afraid jerk ing Carol’s letter is a case of shooting fish in a barrel. It’s not real sport attacking arguments like hers. It’s too easy to pick at the extremes. Anyone could do iL I apologize. The problem is that this brand of “conspiracy feminism’’ can hurt the real battle for sexual equality. It cheapens the rational arguments. It also makes the whole issue “us” against “them.’’ Grcll, like many other feminists, has divided the human race into two conflicting gen ders, 4he very thing she claims men have done. She seems to see this gender battle in every local or na tional issue. Everything becomes a battle with men. I’ll be a little sexist here. Men love to battle. Men will fight just for the sake of fighting. This column is proof of that. Grcll uses male traits she hates to incite the same detestable male trait. That’s not good diplo macy. Now I’ve begun to sound like a conspiracy nut. I think it’s all this labeling crap. Carol’s a woman, I’m a man. She’s a feminist. I’m sexist. She’s a man-hater, I’m a scxmongcr. And so on. We’re both guilty of name-calling and stereotypes. I suppose when she slops believ ing I’m a sexist sexmonger, I’ll stop believing she’s a man-hating femi nist Or maybe it’s the other way around. I don’t think I’d mind being the first to apologize. Until then, I can only beg that Carol Grell and the few women who believe all men are monsters do ev eryone a favor and keep their opinion to themselves. Without fear of sounding like a hippy: Make love, Carol, not war. Both men and women would be a lot better off. Bob Nelson Is a senior news-editorial major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist. editqriaL^: 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 Amy Edwards, editor; Lee Rood, editorial page editor; Jane Hirt, managing editor; Brandon Loomis, associate news editor; Bob Nelson, columnist; Jeff Petersen, col umnist; Brian Svoboda, columnist. Ediiorials do not necessarily re tlect the views of the university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author. The Daily Nebraskan’s publishers are the regents, who established the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the re gents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student editors.