Editorial
(Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Eric Pfanner, Editor, 472-1766
Victoria Ayotte, Managing Editor
Darcie Wiegert, Associate News Editor
Diane Braylon, Associate News Editor
Jana Pedersen, Wire Editor
Emily Rosenbaum, Copy Desk Chief
Lisa Donovan, Editorial Page Editor
Off the wagon
Coors deal a new twist on UNL policy
The Nebraska Athletic Department is using a six
pack solution to solve a keg-sized problem.
A deal with the Coors beer company that places
the Herbie Husker logo on cans of Coors Light will raise
about $5,000 for the department, Athletic Director Bob
Devaney told The Associated Press.
But that amount won’t even come close to making up
for the $1.8 million the department lost last year. Devaney
said the deal was made to help the department financially.
The 500,000 cans will mark the beginning of the second
century of Cornhusker football.
Devaney also has said that other Big Eight universities
have made similar deals.
But UNL’s agreement has run into opposition.
Football coach Tom Osborne has complained that
putiing the wholesome, corn-fed Herbie on beer cans
sends the wrong message to UNL students and to kids, on
whom the football program makes a big impression.
He may be right. But that’s not why the deal is wrong.
After all, the relationship between advertising and
athletes is nothing new. Sports stars have endorsed prod
ucts for as long as advertising has been a medium.
The marriage between beer sales and athletes has been
an especially close one, and it won’t take Herbie Husker
to testify to that. Former Los Angeles Raiders coach John
Madden might be able to do the job.
What football-loving Husker fan hasn’t seen Madden’s
“Less Filling-tastes great” advertisements for Miller Lite
beer during broadcasts of football games?
Kids can watch television. But they can’t buy beer --
including those Coors cans with the Husker logo on them
— at a liquor store.
No, it’s not Herbie who makes the Coors deal wrong.
Instead, it’s the University of Nebraska-Lincoln policy of
prohibiting alcohol on campus except in rare, pre-ap
proved circumstances when enough important people or
money are gathered.
On the one hand, UNL policy says, it’s wrong to
associate alcohol with the university, even for students 21
and older. On the other hand, the Coors deal says alcohol
is OK — if it’s kept off campus and if UNL makes money
from it.
As anyone attending a Nebraska football game can
attest, UNL’s alcohol policy doesn’t keep fans from
drinking - and it’s not just students who break the rule.
Eny would occur if faithful Husker fans started
e Herbie Husker cans into games, supporting
i while at the same time breaking its laws.
Id drive even Herbie to drink.
- Eric Pfanner
for the Daily Nebraskan
, Divestment views ignorani
I have ycl lo read in the Daily
Nebraskan of anybody expressing an
anti-divcsimcni opinion, so I want to
give it a shot although I doubt you’ll
print iL
The whole divestment movement,
I think, is an indication of just how
confused liberals have become about
the moral implications of commerce.
It used to be that liberals thought
trade was a wonderful way to civilize
the world. If barbarian nations had
traded with the enlightened West, they
would realize the superiority of the
West’s tolerant and democratic insti
tutions and would discard their own
backward ones.
In addition, commerce would act
as a coolant on traditional rivalries,
because competing nations would now
have a common interest in their mu
tually profitable trade. World peace
would result.
The anti-apartheid movement
turned their pro-trade attitude on its
head. Not only were U.S. corpora
tions which did commerce with South
Africa incapable of exerting a benign
influence on that country’s antiquated
prejudices, but their trade actually
reinforced and strengthened the op
prcssivc elements of South African
society.
Now the same people who started
the divestment movement are threat
ening yet another evolution in the
liberal attitude towards commerce.
Jesse Jackson’s old pel organization
Operation PUSH, is calling for a
boycott of Nike shoes, because Nike
allegedly docs not “reinvest” its profits
in the black community. Whereas Coca
Cola, according to these people,
strengthens the oppressive whit<
community in South Africa by selling
them expensive shoes, and therefon
owes them something (in addition u
sHoes) in return. In the one case, a fre<
market works to the detriment of th<
consumer, in the other, to his benefit
Liberals who make these argument;
seem to have an incredibly palronis
tic attitude toward American black;
and their ability to make rationa
decisions in a free market and ar
equally incredible belief in the ability
of Coca Cola to act as an elixir tha
will cure whit South Africans of al
their problems.
Chas Baylor
junior
arts and sciences
r^odR SPEECH 70 theV—:
MERlCAfJ PUBLIC.
J>/Da(»T iVoRK... THEIR
I
I
I
Lincoln razed into the future
Downtown redevelopment plan bulldozes old joints, new dreams
Wiicii i was a iresnman, i met
a long-haired hippie peace
freak. In my slight percep
tion he was like all the baby boomer
wannabees: He talked about the way
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
and the city used to be.
But conversations between fifth
year seniors and freshmen lend to
resemble those of a grandchild sitting
on a grandparent’s lap.
He liked old things — old apart
ments, his old Birkcnstocks and his
long hair that had taken quite some
time to get to the middle of his back.
I, on the other hand, was enthralled
with everything new - my new sur
roundings, my new Eastland camp
shoes and my freshly trimmed lady
Di cut.
When I began my college career in
the fall of 1986, Mayor Bill Harris
and the Downtown Lincoln Associa
tion were just pulling the final touches
on the coordination of the downtown
redevelopment project.
Since it was in the planning, I
didn’t think much about it. You don ’t
know what you have until it’s demol
ished right under your feel.
Once the buildings started coming
down my awareness went up. Being
typically human, I didn’t worry until
the damage was done.
And so it started - the destruction
of Block 35, calling for the removal
of businesses in the area surrounded
by 10th, 11th, P and Q streets.
The damage was begun.
Now the removal continues and
those dirty old architecturally unique
buildings with lots of character arc
being razed.
In an interview with the Daily
Nebraskan in fall 1988, Harris said he
thought UNL needed to accommo
date and cooperate in order to make
the downtown redevelopment project
successful.
‘ Translated: UNL needs to knock
5 down some buildings, too.
ou we uiu our pari — we iook care
of 11 ih Street between R and Q streets.
And now wc have that less than
mediocre architectural wonder - the
Lied Center for Performing Arts.
No longer do I roll my eyes at my
friend’s nostalgia about the razing of
the Bloomer’s building (formerly
daVinci’s neighbor on 12th Street)
where he once rented an apartment;
the original O’Rourkes on 14th Street
between O and P streets; the eventual
razing of the original Bistro on 11th
Street.
Now folks walking out of the Post
and Nickel, or Bistro patrons leaving
the new location on 14th Street can
watch the glorious Nebraska sun set
behind the three-story parking ga
rage.
Sort of bitchin’ and romantic ail at
once.
But who am I to complain about
progress.
Lincoln should be commended for
its first-place national ranking for fast
growth businesses and eighth among
booming cities in 1990 by a national
business magazine. That’s in compe
tition with Las Vegas and Washing
ton, which rated first and second.
But where arc these businesses
expanding to?
Business, like the city’s popula
tion, is moving to the suburbs. What
many intrepid businesspeople have
forgotten is that the university popu
lation is still downtown.
The city is in the transitional pe
riod of redevelopment, but when
businesses that are virtually untouched
by the redevelopment move out, who's
going 10 want 10 move in: wncn a
lump of stores move out of the Cen
trum shopping center and a major
department store (which put millions
into renovation) closes -- small busi
nesses aren’t going to want to risk it.
Old joints like Bill’s Saloon or
even Ted and Wally’s aren’t going to
relocate in a shopping center’s retail
space.
So once the rest of those joints are
tom down, students will have to go to
places like the Reunion. While the
Reunion serves its purpose, many don’t
want to eat in a place that’s a cross
between a dining hall and an airplane
hangar. It doesn’t provide that close,
personal atmosphere.
The city’s redevelopment project
shouldn’t stand in the way of its char
acter. It’s not Seattle, Houston or
even Omaha.
Anyway, Lincoln should learn from
the mistakes of its big brother. Omaha:
new isn’t necessarily better. The “big”
city has plenty of big “For Lease”
signs in its new, modem downtown
buildings.
But Harris’ call for cooperation
between the city and university will
soon materialize anyway.
Businesses neighboring the Temple
Building are looking for new homes.
Some more old joints will be tom
down as part of the plan to build a
park on the University of Nebraska
L incoln linking it to downtown.
The grand plan, at least physi
cally, has been executed. In a few
years, students can sit and look at all
the nice new parking areas for the
nice empty shops in the downtown.
Now I’m a fifth year senior, I’ve
got an old apartment and I’ve got my
Birkenstocks. But I don’t want to take
a walk in the park.
Donovan Is a senior news-editorial ma
jor, the DM editorial page editor and a colum
nist.
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Signed staff editorials represent
the official policy of the Fall 1990
Daily Nebraskan Policy is set by the
Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its
members arc: Eric Pfanner, editor;
Lisa Donovan, editorial page editor;
Victoria Ayottc, managing editor;
Diane Brayton, associate news edi
tor; Darcie Wiegcri, associate news
editor; Emily Rosenbaum, copy desk
chief; Jana Pedersen, wire editor.
Editorial columns reprcsenl the
opinion of the author. The Daily
Nebraskan’s publishers are the re
gents, w ho established the L'NL Pub
lications Board to supervise the daily
production of the paper.