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Mpm zu, i^u___University ot Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No. 138
UNL professors examine
‘fighting words’ policy
By Pat Dinslage
Staff Reporter
Three UNL professors Thursday offered
qualified support to the proposed “fight
ing words” policy.
Two of the professors from the University of
Nebraska Lincoln College of Law, at a Student
Code of Conduct Review Committee in the
Nebraska Union, said the proposal may pass
} constitutional challenges, but would not ad
- dress the real issues of verbal attacks and
discrimination against minorities.
John Snowden, professor of law, said the
proposed policy does not prohibit the sharing
of racist or sexist ideas, but focuses only on
“fighting words,” which are not protected
under the First Amendment.
One of the problems with the proposed
provision is that it attempts to punish violators
only if the words arc used to harass someone or
a hostile environment is evoked, he said. Those
situations could be addressed if they were
included in existing disturbing-the-peacc pro
visions of the student code, he said.
And indirect racist, sexist or degrading state
ments in classes or on banners displayed on
campus wouldn’t be addressed by the policy,
he said.
The consequences of adopting a “fighting
words” policy also need to be examined, Snow
den said.
“Historically, these statutes have been used
against the very people they were trying to
protect,” he said. “Fighting words policies
have been used to oppress minorities.”
Anna Shavers, assistant professor of law,
said she is not sure what kinds of constitutional
challenges would result from passage of the
provision.
Verbal assaults on racial minorities cur
rently arc not subject to UNL penalties, she
said.
Shavers said she would like to see the code
of conduct contain some mention of the kinds
of acts addressed by the “fighting words”
policy, rather than leaving it as as is.
“4 4
One result of the narrow
drqfting of this policy is
that its not going to reach
the kind of thing we want
to stop.
Anna Shavers
assistant professor of law
-» f
But she said one result of the narrow draft
ing of the proposed policy - it would only
penalize “personally abusive epithets” - is
that “lots of things offensive to people arc not
addressed by this policy.”
“One result of the narrow drafting of this
policy is that it’s not going to reach the kind of
thing we want to stop.” she said.
Colin Ramsay, assistant professor of actuar
ial science, said that to be substantial, a “fight
ing words” policy would have to infringe on
freedom of speech.
Ramsay said if the university wants to make
a “serious attempt” to address discrimination,
education is required, and courses should be es
See FIGHTING on 3
involvement needed to solve
Earth’s problems, speaker says
By Julia Mikolajcik
Staff Reporter
The environmental crisis is not just about
dirty air and acid rain, but about the
survival of humanity, a UNL profes
sor said Thursday.
Royce Ballinger, di
rector of the School of
Biological Sciences,
spoke in the Nebraska
Union as part of a series
of speeches in conjunc
tion with Earth Day.
Ballinger said most
people don’t seem to care
about the environment
or think about the long
term effects that pollu
tion and global warm
ing will have on the Earth. He said people may
be interested, but they may have more immedi
ate obligations.
Many people think some unknown science
or technology will solve the Earth’s problems.
Ballinger said it takes more than technology,
and people will have to change their lifestyles
to improve the environment.
“It will probably take a major environ
menial crisis” for people to act on environ
mental problems, he said.
Ballinger said people waste lime question
ing global warming. Instead, he said, they
should do something to stop it.
Global warming probably already has be
gun because in 1880 the average global tem
perature was 57 1/2 degrees compared to a
1989 average of 60 degrees, he said.
Ballinger said a seven-degree temperature
rise is predicted to melt the polar ice caps,
raising the sea level by two to five feet in the
next 50 to 1 (X) years.
To save the environment, he said, drastic
changes arc needed. He recommended using
wind and solar energy, and not burning fossil
fuels.
Ballinger was involved in the first Earth
Day in 1970. He said 20 years ago, “the new
word was ‘ecology’ and every lay person thought
it was a general term for all kinds of pollution,”
he said.
‘‘Recycling was something you did when
you cleaned out the bam to let the garden
grow,” he said.
The world has made some progress since
then, but environmental problems will not go
away and ‘‘all of us must get involved,” he
said.
Members of the Omaha and Santee Sioux tribes look at some of their
ancestral remains Thursday afternoon in Nebraska Hail. The remains
eventually will be returned to the Omaha for reburial in compliance with
Nebraska legislation.
Yost to join Alabama university
Thomas Clouse
Staff Reporter
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln offi
cial has been appointed provost and
vice president for academic affairs at
the University of Alabama
at Huntsville.
John Yost, UNL vice
chancellor for research and
dean of graduate studies,
was selected from a na
tional search conducted by
UAH, a university of 8,100
students.
Yost, who has been at
UNL since 1967, said he
accepted the Alabama
position because of the Yost
‘ ‘adventure and risk” involved with a new job.
The Alabama position, Yost said, gives him
the opportunity to work at a “relatively young
and developing institution at a higher level of
responsibility.”
Yost will begin his new job Aug. 1.
Louis Padulo, UAH president, said in a
press release that the university had excellent
people to choose from, but Yost was nominated
early in the search and immediately emerged as
the leader.
John Goebel, UNL vice chancellor for busi
ness and finance, said university officials will
see how Yost’s UNL position fits into UNL’s
long-range goals, then create a search commit
tee to find a replacement.
4 ‘John was really an outstanding scholar and
administrator, and he’ll be sorely missed,”
Goebel said.
See YOST on 3
Retired businesspeople use past experience
By Emily Rosenbaum
Senior Reporter___
A group of retired men and
women is helping people
SCORE in the business world.
The Service Corps of Retired
Executives is in its 26th year of offer
ing consultation to people who want
to open businesses.
Orville DeFrain, who served as
chairman of SCORE last year, said
the free service was started because
of concern about the growing number
of small businesses forced to declare
bankruptcy.
The Small Business Administra
tion, a government agency based in
Washington, D.C., started SCORE to
provide legal information, advice and
answer questions for people wanting
to open businesses.
“The idea is to help prevent, if we
possibly can, businesses from going
broke,” DeFrain said.
The Lincoln division of SCORE is
made up of 50 retired businesspeople,
who have owned and been involved
in businesses, DeFrain said. Over the
years, SCORE has included doctors,
lawyers, accountants and a shoe store
owner, he said.
DeFrain opened Camp-A-Way, a
campground located at First and
Superior streets, 10 years ago. He
said the experience of starting a busi
ness convinced him to help others if
he could.
“We had to learn the hard way,”
DeFrain said. “Experience is great,
but it sure as hell can cost you a lot
sometimes.”
He said a lot of people have “no
idea’ ’ what it lakes to open a business
and make it a success.
“Some ihink all you have to do is
open the door and have a cash register
to collect all the money,” DeFrain
said.
Another problem some new busi
nesses have is that they usually don't
make money the first year, he said.
Some new business owners don't realize
that and will sink a vast amount of
money into a business and have noth
ing left to live on that first year, he
said.
“Theyyo under because they are
actually working for nothing the first
year,” DeFrain said.
He said SCORE counselors try to
warn people who come to them about
the pitfalls of new businesses.
“We don’t try to deliberately dis
courage anyone,” he said. “We just
want to see if they can live up to all
the obligations of opening a busi
ness.’ ’
Potential business owners who con,e
lo SCORE first must fill out applica
tions. Then their requests arc assigned
to a counselor who matches their needs
most closely.
SCORE receives about 325 appli
cations every year, he said.
“We sort of lake them by the hand
and lead them through things,” De
Fram said.
Although SCORE was started by a
government agency, it receives no
government aid other than office
supplies, and the counselors all are
volunteers.
“There’s nothing more pleasing *
than watching someone you’ve helped
goon to success,” DeFrain said.