Editorial
I Daily
I Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Eric Pfanner, Editor, 472-1766
Victoria Ayotte, Managing Editor
Darcie Wicgert, Associate News Editor
Diane Brayton, Associate News Editor
Jana Pedersen, Wire Editor
Emily Rosenbaum, Copy Desk Chief
I.isa Donovan, Editorial Page Editor
IJNL’s peers?
Accurate self-image needed for change
For more than a year, the structure of Nebraska higher
education has been under a microscope. Now it’s time to
turn that lens inward, at changes in the individual institu
tions.
After a successful constitutional amendment, the governing
system will be strengthened. A permanent president finally was
i hired for the major post-secondary institution. And a consulting
i firm's report to the Nebraska Legislature last month sounded
what it referred to as a “call to action.”
The report uses predictable imagery to portray the coming
j transition in Nebraska higher education:
“The winds ... move relentlessly from Chadron to Alliance
and Kimball, Valentine and Broken Bow, and cross Highway
I 80 before icing the waters of the Missouri and the sidewalks of
2 Lincoln and Omaha.”
And then, if readers haven’t grasped the theme yet:
“The winds of change arc incessant — they serve as a
f metaphor for the winds of change that also sweep across this
great state.”
Until recently, gauging the pace of change in Nebraska’s
higher education system would have been easier using a
different metaphor from western Nebraska — the Sand Hills.
I Get it? Sand in an hourglass, moving siowly as time runs out.
But now, it seems inevitable that the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln will see changes over the next few years. First,
however, it needs an accurate self-image.
That’s where its circle of friends, or peer institutions, moves
into the picture.
In the past, UNL has used the peer group — composed
| primarily the Big Ten universities, along with a pair from the
; East Coast and two from the Big Eight for good measure —
primarily to compare faculty salaries, said James Griesen, vice
chancellor for student affairs.
But as the Legislature draws up implementing legislation for
the restructuring amendment and the university responds to the
: Widmayer and Associates study, the peer institutions could
1 take on even more importance.
The numbers indicate that UNL belongs in a different
(league.
UNL ranks second to last among the 11 schools in enroll
ment and library holdings. Minnesota, the largest member of
the peer group with an enrollment of more than 60,(XX), also is
the largest university in the country. Ohio State, also on the
list, is second-largest in the nation. Michigan State is fourth,
Wisconsin seventh, Illinois ninth, Penn State 10th, Maryland
11 th and Purdue 12th.
UNL is No. 73 on the list, with less than two-fifths of Min
nesota’s enrollment.
Of the 11, only UNL and Iowa State are not ranked as
leading research universities by the Carnegie Foundation for
the Advancement of Teaching.
Instead, UNL based the peer group choice on its member
ship in the Association of American Universities. The 11
f schools are the land-grant members of the A AU.
Even by a loose definition of “peer,” however, one of these
things is not like the others.
All week, the Daily Nebraskan will examine UNL’s vital
statistics in greater detail in a scries on the peer institutions.
State senators and university officials will have to do the
same thing as post-secondary education weathers another
winter in the Legislature.
— Eric Pfanner
for the Daily Nebraskan
Sexual assaults of women
lack needed media coverage
Is ii more important for cattle to
roam free in the pasture and for people
to cat vegetables than it is for women
to be able to walk at any lime of the
day or night, an> where on the face of
the earth, free from the fear of sexual
assault and/or murder? I guess it is,
since there has been a great lack of
response on Lisa Donovan’s column
(column, DN, Nov. 28).
Donovan’s column discussed the
media’s response and favoritism in
reporting specific incidences on the
rape of women. The New York Cen
tral Park Jogger was given immediate
coverage on her assault, while an
other woman in Boston received a
small article, consisting of, perhaps,
two paragraphs, on her brutal rape
and murder a month after it hap
pened. The jogger was white; the
Bostonian was black. While race is a
major issue here, so, loo is the me
dia’s lack of attention toward vio
lence against women, all women,
regardless of color.
Even in our “safe,” clean, little
city of Lincoln, there is a deplorable
absence of print on this subject. Maybe
it is due to women not reporting these
assaults, but I seriously doubt that.
Newspapers will not print reports of
sexual assaults because they say they
do not want to plant any ideas into
peoples’ heads. How asinine!
It is a sad stale of affairs to see
people close their eyes to humanity
and the abuse of women and keep
them wide open for animals and vege
tables.
Mary E. MeGinr
senioi
English
NOW IN1HIS FlNM_ SCE.NL , W)U PlDe OFF INTO THE
RISING SON.
Jury duty makes for bad week
Jurors must temporarily give up life to decide fate of others
Last week was one of the worst
of my college career.
Not because I did poorly on
a test or skipped too many classes —
those things were old hat by the lime
I was a sophomore — but because I
was chosen to serve as a juror.
I got the notice right before Thanks
giving. Good citizen that I am, I filled
out the form, returned it, and forgot
about it.
You see, I am one of the iruly
disorganized people of the world.
Unless I make a note of it, I won’t
remember things. I’ll write out the
checks for the bills, th^n find them in
envelopes, stamped and ready to go a
week later.
So the fact that I forgot about jury
duty was no surprise.
Besides, I had checked the little
box that said I was too busy to serve
now, and could they please postpone
my duty until the next time around.
They must have known that I’m
graduating and would be leaving town.
Last Friday, I came down to the
Daily Nebraskan to check messages,
and was told that I must report to
Courtroom Number Four, on the third
floor of the County-City Building at
9:30 a.m., Monday.
You must be kidding. I had class at
10:30 a.m. Monday, and wanted to
find out what 1 ’d gotten on my test the
week before.
l wouldn t go.
But there was this nagging image
in the back of my mind of an official
knock on my door in the dead of night
and a police officer with handcuffs
telling me that what I did was despi
cable for an American citizen, and
that I’d have to go to jail for the rest of
my life.
So Monday morning, I showed up
at Courtroom Number Four. I f igured
there was no way I would be chosen
to sit on a jury. I had polled some
friends who gave me solid advice on
how to get out of it. Sure-fire ways,
they assured me.
“When you walk in, ask if you’re
going to get a chance to hang some
one.’’
“Tell them you think the police are
biased and unethical, and there wa*
no reason to arrest this person in the
first place.”
“Ask if the defendant is single, and
could you get his phone number after
the trial.”
No luck. Out of the 25 or so people
called up for jury duty, 18 names
were called, and those 18 people had
to go sit before the judge and counsel
for questioning.
I was one of them.
I was mulling over smart-aleck
remarks to get myself kicked off the
-4
v Amy
Edwards
panel when the judge asked us lo
leave, so the counsel could debate
their choices.
Six of us would be set free.
1 became one of the 12 to choose
the fate of two people in one of the
truly exciting trials of the year.
A murder? Armed robbery? Some
precedent-setting case that would
change Nebraska law forever?
This 1 would not have minded. I
had already resigned myself to the
fact that my life would not be my own
for the next week or so, but I had
hoped that I would at least be able to
do something of great value to my
fellow citizens.
Not a chance. The case I had been
called up to serve on was a paternity
suit between two very ordinary people
— no famous stars or sheriffs for me.
1 won’t bore you with the details.
Lawyers know how to make even the
most exciting things sound drab and
confusing, with words that arc three
times longer than they need lo be.
But I will tell you some of the
requirements of being on a jury.
You have to be patient. The big
gest part of j ury duly is being asked to
leave the courtroom and wait for the
attorneys and the judge to make a
decision on details of the arguments
that jurors arc not allowed to hear.
So we sat around and talked about
everything but the case itself.
You see, as a juror, you aren’t
allowed to form an opinion on, or talk
to anyone about the case — not even
fellow jurors — until the case has
been presented lo you in its entirety,
at which time you are sequestered —
locked in a room with 11 other people
to debate a decision.
You learn a lot about people when
you sit around with them for four days
with nothing to do. I served with a
hairdresser, a student who went back
to school after raising her three boys,
two insurance salespeople, a man who
sold mechanical parts and worked on
the road for most of the week, a
sheriffs deputy who couldn’t make
gravy, two women who worked in
their homes and two people w ho never
talked about their careers.
We all made jokes about the ap
pointments we were missing and the
generous compensation from die court
— S20 a day — that we would get for
missing those appointments.
By the time we had to debate the
case, we had all agreed to postpone
our decision until the court gave us a
free lunch.
The vote was unanimous. We gave
a child a father in the eyes of the state.
And though the case didn’t seta
precedent, it was an important one to
a little boy who is only 2 1/2.
That made me feel good.
1 won’t say doing jury duty was the
best experience I’ve ever had, but I
had always wanted to sec what it was
like.
i guess something like that never
comes at a good time for anyone.
When I was complaining about hav
ing to pul off my 40-page paper and a
final project in favor of sitting in a
courtroom all week, I wasn’t thinking
about the reason I was there.
Nobody likes postponing work
it means that much more to do later.
But nobody let the fact that they were
too busy with their own lives cloud
their decision in the case.
Our problems were nothing com
pared to the people who w ere in the
trial. .
I guess if I gel called up again n
still on call this week), I’ll go tocoujj
without complaining, hoping that i j
I’m ever unfortunate enough to hav
to be on trial myself, I’ll have a jury
that is as easygoing as the one I serve
on.
Edwards is a senior news-editorial
and a Daily Nebraskan Diversions co-eo»
und a columnist.
