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
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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.
