Editorial
I Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-LIncoln
Amy Edwards, Editor, 472-1766
Lee Rood, Editorial Page Editor
Jane Hirt, Managing Editor
Brandon Loomis, Associate News Editor
Brian Svoboda, Columnist
Boh Nelson, Columnist
Jerry Gucnlhcr, Senior Reporter
(Time for change
Greek system improvements long overdue
IK Tft' Talt Keim, an alumnus of Delta Upsilon Fraternity and
W Christian campus minister, delivered a message well
worth heeding Monday night in the Nebraska Union
Ballroom.
The Greek Affairs office brought Keim, a nationally
renowned speaker from Oregon, to the University of Ne
braska-Lincofn to help fraternity and sorority members
address problems within UNL’s grcek system.
If UNL’s fraternity and sorority members want to prevent
the dissolution of their houses, Keim said, they need to shed
their “Animal House’’ image, and return to the more
admirable ideals of the greek system’s founders.
In order to do so, he said, fraternity and sorority members
should drink responsibly, “lay off’’ drugs, be sexually
responsible, stop hazing and conduct themselves in a way
they will be proud of later.
A few additional improvements could be added to the list,
but it’s not a bad start.
Fraternal organizations do offer a great deal to college
students and society — but only if members respect and
adhere to the noble reasons such organizations were
founded.
IKeim noted that many or the United Mates leaders are
fraternity and sorority alumni -- 85 percent of the U.S.
Supreme Court justices, two-thirds of all Cabinet members
and all but two presidents.
Admirable.
However, he also noted that the greek. system has changed
in recent years. Some members today care little about what
a fraternal organization can offer, and focus instead on the
system’s “party” reputation.
Keim warned students of the numerous alcohol-related
accidents occurring at fraternities and sororities, adding that,
“as a campus minister I have to bury you when you don’t
listen to me. I would much rather watch you get married.”
All UNL students could benefit from that message.
Unfortunately, UNL’s fraternity and sorority members
also must contend with issues such as hazing and discrimi
natory behavior. Though many UNL students outside the
system also contribute to unsavory behavior on campus,
such action by fraternity and sorority members could cost
them their national charters.
If those UNL fraternity and sorority members who packed
the ballroom Monday night listened to Keim’s message,
UNL has something to look forward to.
An improved UNL greek system could benefit future
members and improve the system’s image in the community
— two changes that are long overdue.
/or the Daitf Nebraska
Ofiipinn_
Money spurs T-shirt sale
Imagine everything around you,
clothes, buildings, music, art and
everything else, a bland generic
color.
This seems to be the direction that
the University of Nebraska is head
ing. Minority groups complain about
everything from “offensive T
shirts” to Homecoming posters. The
only way to do something is to do it as
bland and plain as possible. If you
don’t you will end up with some
minority screaming for blood.
Gargi Sodowski wrote a letter
(DN, Nov. 8) stating “Phi Kappa Psi
suould publicly apologize to the uni
versity community ... They need to
actively persuade fraternity members
and friends not to wear the T-shirts.”
These “offensive” T-shirts por
trayed a bro\0n-colored jungle girl
driving a tricycle out of a jungle.
Minority groups claimed the shirt
was offensive and degrading to
blacks. The T-shirts were not show
ing anything factual, it was simply a
cartoon.
Minority groups seem to be com
plaining that everyone is against
them. This “out to get us” attitude
only causes problems. I have seen
offensive T-shirts. That is, T-shirts
created solely to offend someone.
The Phi-Psi’s T-shirts were done to
raise money, not to offend.
Variety is the spice of life. “Of
fensive” T-shirts need not be bought
if they offend the individual. I sug
gest the minority groups who arc
complaining follow in the footsteps
of recovering alcoholics who don’t
complain about alcoholjc T-shirts, or
non-smokers who don’t seem to mind
if someone wears a Camel T-shirt.
Wake up Ethnic Minority Affairs
Committee, stop crying wolf.
Dave Codr
general studies
freshman
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Andy Manhardt.Daily Nebraskan
Congress must reduce deficit
Arguing over pet projects wastes time, stalls planning process
How many billions upon tril
lions of dollars docs this coun
try have to owe before Con
gress gets serious about reducing the
federal deficit?
We’ve got so much debt piling up
that the figures have become mean
ingless. In 1988, the U.S. deficit was
S155.2 billion. Well, so what? The
country didn’t go under, did it? So
Congress keeps pushing the limit and
now it is predicted that the 1989 defi
cit will check in at about $ 165 billion.
It looks as if 1^90 will be even
more promising.
The fiscal year, which began Oct.
1, so far has no budget. No, not be
cause Congress decided to eliminate
all programs for a year and save us a
whole lot of money.
Right now, senators, representa
tives and the president are too busy
arguing for their own pet projects to
work together on solving the eco
nomic problems facing this country.
So while pet projects kept the
1990 budget on the back burner,
Gramm-Rudman kicked in. Gramm
Rudman automatically reduces the
budget to acceptable levels when
Congress hits a wall of inertia.
In theory, that’s nice. But G-R
isn’t too particular about what gets
cut. The law is kind of an equalizer,
making even cuts straight across the
board.
50 while every program is left
hurting over Congress’ inability to
make its own decisions, some finan
cial bases just aren’t bdlng covered --
like money to cover federal checks.
When money to back up the
checks ran out, concern emerged that
even social security checks could not
be issued or would bounce. To cover
federal checks, the U.S. borrowing
limit had to be raised to an all-time
high. Funny thing though, only a
handful of senators and representa
tives showed up to vote for the in
crease.
Apparently, most didn ’ t wan t their
name associated with the $3 trillion
vote. Americans can look forward to
paying about SI70 billion in interest
on the loans again this year.
What issues in Congress were
more important than passing a 1990
budget, which would have made the
borrowing increase unnecessary?
One examplcTs the debate on the
capital-gains tax cut supported by
President Bush. The cut would de
crease taxes on stocks, bonds and real
estate purchases.
Bush proposed the reduction. Af
ter considerable debate, the House
passed a bill supporting the reduc
tion. Democrats then screamed it was
a perk for the rich. Republicans re
torted that the spend-happy demo
crats would never change, that they
want to increase everyone’s taxes.
The capital gains portion of the bill
was side-stepped in the Senate. Ev
eryone then went back to the legisla
tive drawing board.
Through all this rhetoric, the pub
lic learned that the capital gains
reduction would generate S9.4 billion
in the first three years of implementa
tion and then lose $5 billion each year
thereafter.
If the tax cut passed, it would
mgjce Bush look good while in office.
But then it would lose money every
year.
These short-term politically moti
vated proposals do nothing to reduce
the federal deficit. Bush shouldn’t
have suggested it. Democrats in the
House of Representatives shouldn’t
have crossed the partisan line to sup
port it.
But this is how the legislative sys
tem works. Representatives and
senators attach proposals they want
passed to bills that eventually must
pass, like the deficit reduction bill,
and then a whole bunch of trade-offs
are made.
This is why nothing really gels
done in Congress.
Last week the senate finally
passed a deficit-reduction bill, but
not until it had picked up hundreds of
amendments to benefit farmers, log
gers, low-income families, the poor,
the sick, the oil industry and higher
income retirees. To finance this bill
and meet deficit-reduction require
ments, Congress had to add $38 bil
lion in tax increases.
It s ridiculous that pet projects
were attached to a deficit-reduction
bill.
The extracurricular activities that
come up when planning the annual
budget, including protecting pel proj
ects or appearing to be a good repub
lican or democrat, must slop.
The United States owes too much
money for its elected leaders to waste
time on political side-stepping. Ev- ^
cry budget decision must be weighed — -
against this reality.
Congress has at its disposal con
crete suggestions on how to reduce
the deficit. Two reports exist that
specifically detail ways to reduce the
deficit. One proposes deficit de
creases of S40 billion a year while the
other suggests reductions totaling
$152.4 billion.
The study that suggested reduc
tions of $40 billion annually was
compiled by the Committee for Eco
nomic Development. The non-parti
san study, by corporate chiefs and
university presidents, calls for tax
increases and cuts in major programs,
including Social Security and Medi
care. But, the group specified that tax
increases would go directly to reduc
ing the deficit rather than increased
spending.
These suggestions would lace
political opposition. But taxes either
must be increased or expenditures
greatly decreased to impact the defi
cit.
The Grace Commission con
ducted the other study, which also
called for cuts in federal social-serv
ice programs. The commission ques
tioned the need for 986 federal social
• __ irrinn
service piugiams. me ...
also reported that there are 2,478
ways to reduce the deficit by cutting
government waste. Had all the sug
gestions been implemented, the
commissions suggests that the gov
ernment could have saved SI52 bil
lion. Former U.S. President Ronald
Reagan formed the commission
while in office.
If there are 2,478 ways to reduce
the deficit, then Congress has a lot of
options. But each and every sugges
tion is sure to cut into the turf of some
member of Congress.
Too bad.
It’s time to give up the turf wars,
get out the calculators and reduce the
deficit. ,
It no longer is a question of which
programs deserve money and which
don’t. It comes down to there being
no money and admitting that current
programs are thriving on borrowed
money.
Senators and representatives
shouldn’t continue bartering with
America’s economic freedom.
Carroll Is a senior news-editorial major and
Dally Nebraskan columnist and supplements
editor.
I