Editorial
| Daily
I Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Amy Hdwards, Editor, 472-1766
Lee Rood, Editorial Page Editor
Jane Hirt, Managing Editor
Brandon Lootnis, Associate News Editor
Brian Svoboda, Columnist
Bob Nelson, Columnist
Jerry Guenther, Senior Reporter
What others think
Minority needs should be recognized
At a university where the word “diversity” has
become a catch phrase, the search for a new presi
dent seems a perfect place to turn words into action.
Recently, different student leaders have called for rep
resentation on the Council for Corrynon wealth Student
Governments and a minority student on the University
Board of Trustees’ presidential search committee.
The committee is responsible for selecting nominees to
replace university President Bryce Jordan, who is sched
uled to retire Aug. 31, 1990. Currently, the Undergraduate
Student Government and Graduate Student Association
nominate students for the two student seats on the com
mittee.
Although the trustees reserve the power to change
composition of the committee, they seem reluctant to do
so. Trustee President J. Lloyd Huck cautioned last week
against making the committee too large.
But a small committee is ineffective if it is unrepresen
s tative. The exclusion of CCSG and failure to recognize
minority concerns through separate seats would reflect an
; irresponsible attitude toward proper student representa
tion.
Minority students also have different concerns which
merit a separate seat. A separate minority student seat
would ensure these concerns receive attention and would
provide a different perspective on search committee
actions.
Certainly one representative could not represent the
concerns of every minority group at the university; to
I assume all minorities have the same concerns is ludicrous.
But the student could serve as a coordinator for under
represented groups’ concerns by meeting with those
groups to form an agenda and list of desired qualifications
for the new president.
A separate minority seat would provide a definite
forum for presenting at least some concerns of under
represented groups to the committee.
Diversity on the committee can only augment the
chances of finding a university president sensitive and
dedicated to minority needs.
•• The Daily Collegian
Pennsylvania State University
Open ears instead of mouth
i am writing in response 10 me
article written by Mark Lage, entitled
“Journeying through known city
sounds” (DN Oct. 3).
1 am sorry to hear that the appre
ciation of the band’s music only ex
tends to the point of a flushing toilet.
I realize that everyone has different
tastes when it comes to music and it’s
quite obvious that some people fail to
sec this. The Comhusker Band tries
to take this fact into account in pro
gramming a variety of shows
throughout the season.
I want to clarify that as a member
of the marching band, I may be biased
in my opinion. However, I also have
sat through several other band per
formances and have never noticed
even a slight resemblance to a flush
ing toilet in the sound of any band.
I also feel that our band director,
Professor Jay Kloecker, deserves
more credit than he has been given. I
Know nc nas never cnarica a snow
where, and I quote, “three tubas, a
trombone, six snare drums, and a
baton twirlcr,” face in one direction
alone and he never would. Almost
every one of our shows is charted to
face either cast or west as a general
direction for all horns possible.
1 feel that beauty is in the eye of the
beholder and it is obvious to me that
some people do not agree and do not
have the sensitivity to appreciate the
overall sound of the band. After all,
there arc 254 instruments on the field
and I know we can be heard if a
person simply opens their ears. Might
I suggest that people open their ears
instead of their mouths, or else spend
their halftimes in the rest-room where
a real flushing toilet can be heard.
Tina L. Wright
senior
criminal justice
band librarian
Jim s Journal a hoax
Bravo, Bob Nelson! In a semester
overrun by quasi-sophisticates much
too protective of their avant-garde,
“aren’t we with it” images, the
Everyman of the Daily Nebraskan
has found the intestinal fortitude to
declare the Emperor buck naked.
“Jim’s Journal” is a hoax. There is a
difference between subtle humor and
no humor. “Jim’s Journal” has
crossed that line and turned to dare
any of the educational elite to notice.
Most were taken in. Most thought,
“This is so apparently pointless and
unfunny; it must really be deep. I
better not say I don’t get it, or people
will know just how out of touch I
really am!” But not Bob Nelson.
Having learned to be comfortable
with his incurable square-peg status,
Bob has never been afraid of calling
the rest of us on our bluffs. Now
maybe everyone else will admit that
she, he or it sees no clothes. “Jim’s
Journal” is an insult to every repu
table and hard-working cartoonist in
the country.
James Scnnctt
graduate student
philosophy
HONECKER TAKES A bow [
Land sharks feed on takeovers
Market prices fluctuate according to rumors and expectations
I can’t help it. While it might
sound cruel and sadistic, when
the slock market takes one of its
periodic head-first dives, I enjoy the
spectacle.
Not that I really understand it It
baffles me that one day a big corpora
tion can be worth $10 billion. But a
day or two later, it is suddenly worth
only $8 billion.
It is still making the same products
that arc selhng for the same price in
the same quantity. The same people
arc coming to work and getting the
same paychecks. Yet, on paper, the
company is worth far less today than
it was yesterday.
But what I do understand is that
when this happens on a grand scale, to
hundreds or thousands of companies,
somebody is taking a financial bath,
getting clobbered, maybe even losing
their shirt, trousers, underwear,
driver and limo.
I’d feel bad if 1 thought that little
old widows in three-room flats were
being wiped out. Or those who sweep
streets, empty bedpans, or put out
fires were losing their nest eggs.
But, from what I read, that isn’t the
case. The average person is noton the
phone telling a broker to buy, sell, go
short, go long, go medium, stop, start,
hop, skip, or whatever all that jargon
is.
My guess is that if I called most of
the people I know, and asked them if
they just took a bath in the market,
they’d say, “No, I took a shower in
my washroom.”
That’s because most people have
wised up. They’d no more gel in
volved with that strange creature
called the Market than they’d buy a
gold watch or chain from some seedy
guy standing in a doorway.
The Market. All you have to do is
look at the headlines or listen to the
daily broadcasts and you think you
are hearing the latest medical report
on someone who ought to be in ther
apy, on tranquilizers, or strapped
down by the attendants. It sounds like
a manic-dcpressivc-psycho-hcad
case.
“The Market up on heavy trading
this morning, buoyed by reports of..
. The market closed sharply down on
light trading this evening, in the wake
of reports . . . The Market reacted
nervously to reports that the Presi
dent found a pimple on his neck ...
The Market bounced back on reports
that the President saw a dermatolo
gist.”
What kind of way to do business is
-r
i
L'VHI-BLJK_J
that?
No, if wc get another Black Mon
day, Gray Tuesday, or Olive-Drab
Wednesday, I won’t be shedding
tears for those with the vanishing
bottom lines. Just as I never offer
sympathy for those who try to fill
inside straights.
The last time The Market went
from manic to depressive, we were
told it was caused by computers
going berserk or some such thing. If
that was the reason, why didn’t some
body crawl behind that computer and
pull out the plug? That’s what I’d do
if my TV started spewing smoke.
This time we’re told that the sud
den drop was caused by the fear that
there won’t be any more greed-ooz
ing takeovers. If that is so, it’s a
delight.
I hal means mat me stock prices ot
companies have been going up and up
and up not because anybody thinks
that what they make or sell is gelling
better or more popular.
It’s because they think that a Wall
Street land shark has an eye on a
company and is circling. And lhai the
land shark intends to borrow a fortune
at high interest rates, break up the
company, sell off chunks of it to pay
off the big debt, and walk away with
a fat profit.
In the process, productive careers
will be ruined, workers will find their
lives turned upside down, companies
might no longer exist, but the land
sharks and those who finance them
will have full bellies.
And that’s why -- despite the hys
teria of Black Monday - the prices of
stocks have been creeping upward.
It’s been a guessing game. Will this
or that company be taken over .’ One
little rumor, and the stock becomes
manic. No, the rumor goes, now the
company is no longer a tasty morsel.
So the same stock sinks into a blue
funk.
Now on Wall Street, LaSalle
Street, and all the other places the
sharks lurk, they’re screaming:
“Nobody is going to take over noth
ing anymore for ever and ever.
And suddenly those who wanted
to be in on the kill arc in a panic.
What? No more feeding frenzies? No
more ripping and shredding of slow
swimming companies? Lemme out.
We keep hearing that the small
investor no longer is interested in ihc
stock market. Of course he isn t.
Little fish know that it isn’t safe to
swim with the sharks. •
Mike Royko is a columnist for the Chicago
Tribune.C1989
IV * * VfVnOCYl
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bigned stall editorials represent
the official policy of the fall 1988
Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the
Daily Nebraskap 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; Jerry Guenther,
senior reporter; Brian Svoboda, col
umnist.
Editorials do not necessarily re
flect the views of the university, its
employees, the students or the NU
Board of Regents.
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 w
the hands of its student editors.