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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (June 14, 1990)
Editorial IW3R£BM.MBMbw jMpw ' ■*■■■■■■■ Daily Nebraskan Ecg&rfct Board ^tnlv«rsHy<^ J^«ra*ia-UnCoto - wpn .. ^w*n.wj ' hi ■ «>■■■.* f J«n« Wswi, Editor, 472~{ 766 [ Msb $«$(, NwsMm .■■■'■■ ■-■ -■■■-■■ ■ -.. .1 I UNL must hire, promote more women \W7 dcwftc to 1978. Welcome to bell bottoms, Farrah hair W and gender inequality. 1 T Welcome to UNL. The UNL Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of Women released a study Monday that shows UNL has made mde progress in the past 12 year* us improve inequalities , between men and women faculty members. ’ The study said UNL women faculty members still are paid | less and have lower rank and status than men faculty members, in fact, the percentage of women faculty members at UNL currently is only 16 percent, up a scant 3 percent since 1978, and women’s average salary was $600 less annually than their *. men counterparts, according to the report UNL ranks below its peer institutions in promoting women, according to the study. The average rank of women faculty members at UNL was below it peer institutions by a range of 1 percent for professors to 7 percent for associate professors. The study also showed that women faculty members aren’t staying or being promoted as quickly at UNL. If the same percentage of women as men had stayed at UNL and had been promoted at the same rate since 1978, more than 20 percent of UNL’s associate professors today should be women, but only 15 percent arc. And only two UNL colleges, journalism and law, arc hiring I women at a rate that is comparable to rise available pool of i prospective employees, according to the study. To help solve the problem, the commission proposed several ideas, including a mandate from the NIJ Board of Regents to adjust women faculty members’ pay and a plan to hire more senior women administrators, among other ideas. At the very least, women with the same level of experience j as men deserve equal pay, and UNL should have promotion rates comparable to its peer institutions’. To go beyond that, UNL must hire more women from the pool of prospective employees and must develop a plan to increase the retention I and promotion rates of women assistant professors. Until that happens, women faculty at UNL can look forward to at least another 12 years of inequality. 9 _ arran *VNfta rvversrn for tk* itoJy Sei*esk*ty L_tlHHMHHHHMi letter y__ 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 arc welcome to sub mit material as guest opinions. Whether material should run as a let ter or guest opinion, or not to run, is left to the frtiior’s discretion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Letters should be typewrit ten. Anonymous submissions will not be considered for publication. Letters should include the author’s name, year in school, major and group affili ation, if any. Requests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily Ne braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R $L, Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. YX V\ i 7 ^ Tour TRUMP I OM , GOV5 ... VJMT k MINUTE. v-— Ku KIux Klan generates fear Outlawing white hoods as expression may lead to domino effect The Ku Klux Klan has its mis chievous face in the news again, and that face is generating a bit of fear. I always like to see fear. I think it can be a healthy way to re spond to things that scare us. But 1 fear this current fear is being used in a negative way, when it could be pul to work exposing racism as an irrational institution. Everybody know s Klansmen wear pointy white masks. Apparently, several states have had it with this ritual and arc banning it. People arc supporting this effort, seeing it as a black and-white issue. Well-intended legislation and emotions with disastrous effects just drive me to distraction. Let me explain those effects. First, the obvious point, the argument which civil libertarians have beaten into the ground since they read Milton’s “Aereopagitica” and which has fallen upon deaf ears equally as long. If you outlaw expression - - even bad c xpres sion - you can expect other forms to follow. One thing leads to another. The domino effect. Or how about this one - if you outlaw ideas, only out laws will have ideas. You get the picture, and you’re not impressed. But there arc other things we stand to lose in our haste to sweep racism under the magic carpeL Namely, we lose our friend fear. The inventor of modem American political life said he didn’t like fear, and in fact said the only thing we had to fear was fear itself. But even he didn’t believe it. Look what he did with fear. He was reluctant to do it, but when he made up his mind to save the world, he corralled all the fear he could muster into a unified war effort. Where would we be without that fear? Where would Hitler be? Would there be any need for Klansmcn to wear masks? Simply put, those silly masks scare the hell out of us. Obviously, that’s what they’re intended to do, but the ironic thing is that if we let the KKK get its way in that respect, we really let it cut its own throat. JTW Brandon 'JjjjjlI Loomis Consider this. There is growing talk among media folk and civil rights leaders of a terrifying renewal -- or at least the beginnings of a renewal -- of blatant racism. But the rest of us re ally don’t like to talk about it, or even remember it. We look at Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” and see an incitement to rioting rather than a depiction of very real problems that plague our cities and the actions - right or wrong - that those problems can squeeze from human emotions. We want to believe that 1965 was the end of racism, and we act accord ingly, never taking positive steps because we don’t want to acknowl edge that there’s any room for im provement. Bui then we see Klans mcn on TV wearing while masks. Something in our hearts takes a dive. We see it, we can’t deny that it’s real, and, maybe, we feel compelled to do something. But let’s not lake that positive feeling and use it to gel things back to the status quo. If the Klan has scared us, we’ve gained something. If we make it meet, disrobed, in garages, our fear is gone. Our willingness to respond is gone. Let’s not mix the issues. If a Klans- a man, hooded or not, bums a cross on someone’s yard, that is a crime. If he threatens someone, that is a crime. If he kills someone, that is a crime. Some people suggest that allow ing the hoods is what leads to the crime in the first place, since people would not commit crimes if their faces were exposed. I can’t agree. I can think of nothing that draws more at tention from police or from anyone than a white hood, except perhaps a burning flag. These days, in which most people at least want to be egali tarian, it’s not a good idea for racist killers to be conspicuous. George Bush wants more blacks to vote Republican. Rcpublicansaround the country arc getting ihc message and sponsoring legislation which - like this new batch -- has civil rights written at least on its surface. Demo crats know the game, and wouldn’t dare vote against anything with such a label. And so we forget the Constitution and common sense, and our own tendency to judge America by ihc standard of living of the white, upper-middle class. I hope people can take the hot emotions that Klansmen stimulate and use them constructively, rather than dousing the opportunity and tram pling on ihc First Amendment. Some people arc just so liberal that they become conservative. Maybe FDR would have been more on the mark had he said, ‘‘We have everything to fear but fear itself.” Maybe my scary grandfather would have voted for him. Loomis is a w-nior news-editorial major and the Summer Daily Nebraskan editorial filfftSffiiMWtuuMimHnii'iii'i
