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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1990)
Editorial (Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Linccln Amy Hdwards, Editor, 472-1766 Bob Nelson, Editorial Page Editor Ryan Sleeves, Managing Editor Hric Pfanner, Associate News Editor Lisa Donovan, Associate News Editor Brandon Loomis, Wire Editor Jana Pedersen, Night News Editor . ...- 1 —i Priorities on iine Recommendations reflect student needs Gov. Kay Orr and the Nebraska Legislature recog nized last week what the true priority should be for the University of Nebraska^-Lincoln « its students. The Appropriations Committee on Thursday advanced ' $6.6 million in requests from the University of Nebraska into the 1989-1991 budget alterations bill with the money 1 requested by the NU Board of Regents for needed instruc I tional equipment and computers for university students in the College of Engineering and Technology. The committee did not recommend inclusion of $400,000 for 1989-90 and $1.2 million for 1990-91 for instructional equipment outside of the College of Engi I neering and Technology. But the $825,000 the committee f and governor did recommend will go a long way toward I alleviating the computer shortage problem at UNL. According to Roy Keller, chairman of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, almost all UNL de f partments are short on computers. The shortage results ;; from Orr’s veto in 1989 of NU’s request for instructional 1 equipment, he said. “UNL’s equipment replacement and improvement is not financed by the state, and we made a big proposal to obtain some of the funding needed,” Keller said last month. “Upper administration is now trying to get some of the funding back.” The regents and NU central administration succeeded in part of that effort with Orr. The Appropriations Commit tee followed the governor’s budget proposal that did include money for instructional equipment in the College I of Engineering and Technology. The rest of the Legisla | ture is likely to follow suit. Aitnougn other departments on campus are snort on | equipment, the most crucial need was in the engineering j college so it can maintain accreditation. Appropriations Committee members did not grant $1.4 | million for asbestos abatement in Burnett Hall. If the hall * is not an immediate health threat, the committee was right to put equipment for the engineering college and Depart t mem of Computer Science & Engineering above an ad | ministrative concern. The computer science department has suffered the con sequences of a lack of equipment. The number of gradu I ates decreased from 87 in 1987 to 65 in 1988, department statistics showed. It’s no wonder UNL has problems attracting computer I science majors when it has an outdated Harris computer I system with 160 students vying for time on 16 lines into I the mainframe. More of these students are using personal computers on | campus, increasing competition for computer time in other labs with personal computers. “In general, we have only one-half to two-thirds the 1 amount of equipment that we’d like to have,’ ’ Keller said. “And with students who need to use these computers a # lot, we have a definite need for more. ’ ’ Last year, the Legislature appropriated money for the | instructional equipment but did not have enough time to | overturn a veto by Ore. This year, the governor and Appropriations Committee | are putting their priorities in the right order. Hopefully the rest of the Legislature will follow through on that com | mitment to students and allocate more money for comput ers. « Victoria Ayotte for t/u Doily Ntbraskan W - A A — HEV DAD, CAN I HAVE SOME . LUNCH MONEV ? _ -\ Us ECONOWt AIP J Panamanian -- Demons present new problems Methods must be established to punish innately bad offenders It’s almost spring and, for once, we’ve got a bigger problem than winter fat and ASUN elections. Oh sure, you won’t be able to get to class this week without being ac costed by well-dressed, nitrous-oxide freaks soliciting buttons in an array of offensive and unnatural colors. And sure, Spring Break is almost here and you still can’t fit your big toe into the slinky swimsuit you bought last November when you started the exercise program that ended a week later when Oreos and Sugarbabies went on sale at Super Saver. But these are mere unpleasantries, my friends. There is something much worse than politicians and fat. Yep. It’s demonic possession. John O’Connor, a Catholic Cardi nal, said Sunday that the rare rite of exorcism has been performed twice in New York City just this year. Also, a Dec. 12 article in the San Francisco Chronicle stated that Pope John Paul II recently increased the number of exorcists in Rome. And here s the real sunkcr. Ac cording to the Associated Press, po lice in Indianapolis last week asked a priest to pray and sprinkle holy water in a house after they saw a radio, a vase and other objects inexplicably move. The police had been called to in vestigate a possible burglary after the resident came home and found smashed dishes, windows, a lamp and eggs. A 14-ycar-old relative who had been slaying there was believed to have been involved in devil worship, au thorities said. Maybe I’m overreacting, but 1 get terribly nervous when law enforce ment officials begin calling priests to solve burglary cases. Besides the fact that this is a blatant mixing of church and state, this also is an extremely dangerous precedent for criminal investigations. Just imagine: OFFICER: “Mrs. Smith, we be lieve your cat has been placed in the . tree by demons. We’ll contact the proper religious authorities. Goo dbye.” Or. FRIEND: “Joe, don’t try to drive home. There’s a lot of cops out there, and I think you’ve had one too many demons.” That last one didn’t make any sense. Let me try this again: OFFICER: “Hold it right there or I’ll squirt ya!” Get it? Water gun? Holy water? Anyway, it seems unlikely that a group of police officers would all lie about seeing normally inanimate objects move on their own, let alone a radio and a vase. The last logical explanation is that they have a new kind of mandatory Bob Nelson I drug lest for police in Indiana: DOCTOR: “Officer, you’ve tested positive for every hallucinogenic on Earth except LSD.’’ OFFICER: “I’M MELTING!!!” DOCTOR: “Maybe, but you’re not fit for duty. Drop two tabs and call me in the morning.” But what if the police, the cardinal and the pope are telling the truth? All these people hold truth in pretty high regard. This leaves me with only one conclusion. We have a demon epidemic on our hands. I suppose that, like all epidemics of this nature, we must establish a method whereby we can punish the holy living crud out of the offenders those being the demons. Let us use the Indiana case as an example. First, we must make sure that demons actually are responsible for moving the radio and vase. Second, we must establish whether or not moving a radio or vase is illegal, and third, we must institute a fair punish ment and rehabilitation program for the guilty demon. The problem of guilt is an easy one to solve. Radios and vases, as inani mate objects, do not move on their own. Therefore, the vase and radios were moved. If they were moved and the police officers didn’t sec what moved them, then the vase and the radio must have been moved by a demon. Is it a crime for demons to move things? I say yes. Because demons are evil, anything they do is evil. Crime is evil. Therefore, if they move a vase and a radio, they have commit ted a crime. Should they be punished or reha bilitated? I say they should be pun ished. Demons are innately bad. They can’t be rehabilitated. There is no such thing as a good demon. There fore, they should be exorcised. Now some people would say the demon in Indiana was not there by its own choice. They would say that the devil-worshipping metal head conjured the demon and that the demon is not to blame. The demon wouldn’t exist without the want for a demon, they would say. They would say that the problem stems from the 14-year-old who con jured the thing. They would ask, “Why the hell did the kid need a demon?” Well, I could do the demon and drug parallel for days. We’ve got more important things to worry about. For God’s sake, there arc police offi cers asking priests to exorcise de mons. 1 guess this story just messed with my Big Picture. Where is the Law and the Order when demons are included in a society? Worst yet. What if the demons aren’t Catholic? Nelson is a senior news-editorial major and the Daily Nebraskan editorial page edi tor and a columnist. 1—fef=> The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publi cation on the basis of clarity, original ity, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit all material submitted. Readers also are welcome to sub mit material as guest opinions. Whether material should run as a let ler or guest opinion, or not to run, is left to the editor’s discretion. Anonymous submissions will not be considered for publication. Letters should include the authoi’s name, year in school, major and groupaffili ation, if any. Requests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily Ne braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St, Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. editorial - Signed staff editorials represent the official policy of the spring 1990 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its members are Amy Edwards, editor; Bob Nelson, editorial page editor; Ryan Sleeves, managing editor; Eric Pfanner, associate news editor.Lisa Donovan, associate news editor; Brandon Loomis, wire editor; Jana Pedersen, night news editor. Editorials do not necessarily re flect 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.
