"IT"5 JS • « • 1
Editorial
j Daily
I Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University ot Nebraska-Lincoln
I have one goal to achieve before I
leave the University of Nebraska
Lincoln. It is not to graduate with
honors, see the Huskers win the na
tional title or put all the Regents in a
leaky boat and push them all out into
Lake Superior. Not that these aren’t
all commendable, mind you. No, my
one wish is to finish one of those
damnably difficultcrossword puzzles
edited by Eugene T. Maleska. It is my
contention that no person who walks
this campus has the intellectual fire
power to fill out everyone of those
tiny numbered squares without cheat
ing and looking at the answers the
next day.
I’m well into my fourth year at
UNL and have squandered many pre
class minutes, and even a few class
minutes, laboring on that crossword.
I gave up seriously working on them
back in 1988 and would be lying if I
claimed to have even finished haif of
one. There has been countless limes
I've picked a Daily Nebraskan up off
die floor that has been attempted by a
previous reader and never arc more
than five or six answers filled in.
Since I’ve realized I’ll never be
Eric Pfanner, Editor, 472-1766
Victoria Ayotte, Managing Editor
Darcie Wiegert, Associate News Editor
Diane Brayton, Associate News Editor
Jana Pedersen, Wire Editor
Emily Rosenbaum, Copy Desk Chief
Lisa Donovan, Editorial Page Editor
Let it die
NU’s decision is final, so live with it
NU Regent Robert Allen of Hastings wants to give Ne
braskans some advice about presidential searches.
He’s upset about the way the last one turned out. He
j was on the losing end of the vote to hire Martin Massengale as
University of Nebraska president.
Regent John Payne of Kcamey and board Chairman Don
I Blank of McCook joined Allen in opposition to the 5-3 vote.
I Today Massengale is to indicate whether he will accept a
: contract.
The vote, and the search that led to it, were fraught with
| controversy. But Allen, in the name of greater openness on the
■i board and smoother searches in the future, revealed Monday
1 why he voted against Massengale.
Instead of helping to heal old wounds, though, his statement
| gives new insight into the regents’ handling of the search.
Alien makes a number of allegations against other regents,
i Massengale, the media and members of the search committee.
Massengale will be the next president, Allen admits, but
with the statement, he wants “us all to avoid the mistakes of
1 the past in future searches such as the upcoming search for a
new chancellor.”
II hat would be nice.
But first, the mistakes must be pinpointed. Allen finds fault
with Massengale supporters. But every step of the way, it was
the regents who caused their own problems.
When the search committee failed to forward Massengale’s
name to the regents as a finalist, Allen said, “he and his sup
porters did not accept that decision. They intensified their
lobbying and their pressure calls to the regents ... undermin
ing the selection search process
If anyone undermined the search process, it was the regents.
They, not Massengale’s supporters, decided that the interim
president would be interviewed as a finalist.
“Martin put bus personal and professional goals over die
decision of the search committee and the Board of Regents by
nullifying the policy of accepting the findings of the search
committee,” Allen said.
Again, it was the regents, not Massengale, who refused to
accept the findings of the search committee. Throughout the
search process, Massengale kept his intentions away from the
public. Even if his “lobbying” for the job caused the four
external candidates to drop out, that didn’t happen until the
regents decided to interview him for the position.
The same conspiracy theory that Allen offers as a reason for
Massengale’s win also was used by his supporters. They con
tended after the search committee’s recommendations that
Massengale’s detractors were trying to assassinate his charac
ter.
The last thing NU needs is for the controversy to go on. The
fact remains that the regents voted 5-3 to hire Massengale. The
university, Massengale and the state will have to put that
decision behind them. So will the regents — even those who
voted against Massengale.
— Eric Pfanncr
for the Daily Nebraskan
Puzzle just too difficult
smart enough for the crossword puzzle,
the puzzle must become sunple enough
for me. Maybe more questions about
the stars of “Family Ties” and less
about Mediterranean seaports and long
deceased heads of state. AS an ex
ample, I offer this clue from a puzzle
about a week ago: 27 Across — King
of Lymessus, killed by Achilles. Now,
although those in the Classics depart
ment might scoff, I had no idea what
the five-letter answer might be. Fi
nally I filled in Sting and changed the
clue to “Former lead singer of the
Police.” This presents problems when
you get around to the answers that
intersect with the one you’ve altered,
but if your crafty enough you can just
alter those. Someone should fined
Eugene T. Maleska and tell him to
ease up. There needs to be a puzzle
for the those of us who know who
killed Laura Palmer but are a little
fuzzy on whogot the Archduke Ferdi
nand.
Kirk Rosenbaum
junior
English and history
* MBL Wtt SHOWED CONSIDER A
trade - IN ’
1 f,
Glamour won’t help homeless
Plans for downtown sidewalk stars gloss over city’s problems
About two weeks ago, Lincoln
city officials announced plans
for a “gift” to the city. It proba
bly will make a few people happy.
But, of course, like many deci
sions our elected leaders make, it
won’t do a lot of people any good at
all.
City officials announced on Nov.
21 plans for 3-by-3-fool panels to be
placed into the sidewalks along P,
12th and 13th streets around the Cin
ema Twin, Douglas 3, Plaza 4 and
Stuart theaters.
The panels will picture artists’
renditions of Nebraska-born enter
tainers such as Marlon Brando, Johnny
Carson, Dick Cavett, Henry Fonda
and Gordon MacRae.
The first stars are scheduled to be
laid in this spring around the new
Lincoln Theater, which is being built
at 12th and P streets, across from the
Plaza 4 Theatre.
Along with the stars, plans call for
new landscaping, complete with brick
sidewalks, benches and lighting and
maybe even a sign, chock full of
biographical information about the
celebrities.
The project carries a $40,000 price
tag, excluding the cost of the tiles.
The City Council approved use of
funds from the downtown redevelop
ment bond issue to pay for the ven
ture.
Isn’t that nice?
I have a proposal for the next City
Council meeting: Why not raise funds
for a big billboard with the photos of
Mayor Bill Harris and council mem
bers who approved this farce? We
could call it the Lincoln Hall of Shame.
More than $40,000 for a self-serv
ing project that will soon be forgotten
by Lincoln residents, vandalized and
dumped on by the starlings that in
a a a _
habit downtown’s trees. Somehow,
spending that much money on an
undertaking like this doesn’t produce
visions of holiday cheer and good
will.
On any night, one can take a walk
Chuck
Green
mammmmmmammmmmmm
through downtown and be treated to
the sight of homeless people sleeping
on park benches and digging through
trash cans for meals and aluminum
cans to recycle. Often, these people
are arrested for vagrancy.
On cold, snowy nights like die last
couple, these same people huddle in
bus shelters and doorways, without
the luxury of blankets.
But never mind that. What’s im
portant is letting the world know how
cool we are for having various celeb
rities grow up in our state.
Hams and other city officials are
giddy with excitement over the proj
ect They just can’t wait for the wave
of tourists to engulf Lincoln, spend
ing millions at the film shops and
hotels, just to “ooh” and “aaah” over
the plethora of stars Nebraska has
spawned.
There’s nothing like putung the
city’s money to good use, huh?
Steve Janovec, executive director
of the People’s City Mission, said it
costs $12 for the mission to provide
services for one person for 24 hours.
Those services include three meals,
personal clothing, counseling and job
referrals. All for $12.
For $40,000, the mission could
provide those services for 3,333 men,
women and children down on their
luck.
It’s hard to imagine Lincoln plan
ners coming up with any more ideas
about how to beautify the Star City.
There arc enough fountains, gardens,
parks, rocks, historical monuments |
and other “pretty” things downtown
to make a historian gag.
But all the beautification in the
world doesn’t solve any problems. It
just makes them less visible.
Lincoln's economy isn’t going to
be transformed into a wonderland of
surplus just because Gordon MacRac’s
face is smiling up at moviegoers. People
aren’t going to make detours to this
city on the way to Florida or Califor
ma just so they can come stand on
Johnny Carson’s face, or walk and
spit on Henry Fonda’s likeness.
Certainly, Nebraskans should be
proud of fellow citizens who have
made it big in Hollywood. But pride
can come just as easily in the form of
helping some of this city’s less-fortu
nate residents.
Donations to the city mission would
be more importart than little gold
tiles in the sidewalk. Affordable
housing is needed everywhere — even
here. And the Lincoln Food Bank
could always use a few extra bucks.
Lincoln always has been an above
average entry in the attractive cate
gory. But, as we’ve all heard, beauty
is only skin deep. The unnoticeable
aspects are the most important ones.
How beautiful is any city that
doesn’t take care of its own? Pretty
ugly.
Uglier, even, than an artist’s ren
dition of Marlon Brando peering up
from the sidewalk.
(irwn is a senior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan night news editor,
sportswriter and columnist. ij
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