Editorial
■ Daily
■ 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 Chiej
Lisa Donovan, Editorial Page Editor
Polish election
' Problems don’t end with new leader
A decade ago in Gdansk, Poland, a movement began.
In the last year, that movement swept across Eastern
and Central Europe, culminating in the collapse of
I Communist governments and punctuated by the dismantling of
the Berlin Wall.
It was poetic justice when Solidarity leader Lech Walesa,
who led the Gdansk trade union since its beginning, won the
I Polish presidential election this week.
More than any other country, Poland symbolizes the changes
going on behind the former Iron Curtain. Walesa, a former
shipyard worker, now becomes one of the new kind of political
leaders in Eastern Europe, joining his neighbor to the south,
playwright Vaclav Havel of Czechoslovakia.
Even though people’s movements triumphed in both ol
I those nations, not everything is rosy.
Walesa steps into the leadership of a nation in the transition
from a command economy to a market system. Earlier this
I year, Polish farmers went on strike when the open market
didn’t prove to be a quick fix.
News reports also indicate that anti-Semitism still is a
problem in Poland, even though few Jewish people remain.
In Czechoslovakia, Havel also faces ethnic problems.
Slovakia, the country’s eastern province, has threatened to
secede over a power-sharing agreement with the central gov
ernment and the western Czech province.
Havel has asked the parliament for emergency powers to
keep the democracy intact.
In lime, Walesa will have to deal with similar crises. First,
though, he has to get Poland’s economy on track. His opponent
in Sunday’s elections, Stanislaw Tyminski, had promised to
use his knowledge of the Western business world to improve
the economy within a month.
Polish voters took a more patient view when they gave
Walesa a landslide victory. But that shouldn’t surprise him.
He’s been wailing for 10 years.
— Erk Planner
for the Daily Nebraskan
opjmm_
Rap show coverage failed
to feature black people
I would like to comment on the
Daily Nebraskan’s coverage of the
“Yo! MTV Raps” College Tour.
It sucked.
First of all there was no article
written about the event before or after
the event. That so-called “write up”
that was in the Dec. 5 issue of the
Daily Nebraskan was bull-.
Whoever interviewed the people
in that article was led the wrong way.
The information about who ran the
show was incorrect. The person who
wrote the interview spoke to the wrong
people.
As a matter of fact, all the people
interviewed were while, the people
you gave credit to were white and the
pictures taken at the show were of
white people.
Oh wait, it gets better.
No pictures were taken of Ed Lover
and Dr. Dre, no credit was given to
the African American Special Events
and Entertainment Committee, who
did most of the publicity, ticket sell
ing and production of the show.
I am really upset because my
committee and I gave this campus the
first major rap show ever seen and no
black people were given credit.
The Daily Nebraskan advertising
was good, but whoever controls the
entertainment section should be dis
missed. The reason is simply because
it’s a minority thing and he docs not
understand. The Arts and Entertain
ment section docs not cover or focus
on minority-sponsored events.
My committee and 1 say this: Once
you get rid of STUPID, find someone
who would be willing to show that
African American students can also
get together and make something work
instead of just playing sports.
So Daily Nebraskan, what is the
deal? Do you only cover stories that
glamorize white people or what? That
is the impression that most minorities
are gelling, especially African-Ameri
can students and especially me!
I want to end this with the fact that
rap music came from the African
American culture and for the first
time rap music was brought to this
campus by African American stu
dents.
Victor Williams
junior
computer science
Editor’s note: In the Daily Nebras
kan’s “Yo! MTV Raps” preview
Dec. 5, the UPC African American
Special Events and Entertainment
Committee was credited in the sec
ond paragraph.
IS THE GtKSS HME FUU OR HMF
^---*
Moo-ove on to a new issue
Letter writers have slaughtered veal topic; gulf, crossword vital toe
The Daily Nebraskan has pub
lished at least 17 letters on the
veal scandal this semester.
Unfortunately, several more remain
in the letter file. During that time
we’ve had an election, endured a
scandalous presidential selection for
the University of Nebraska, and cur
rently are trying to uncover Eugene
T. Maleska’s conspiratorial crossword
puzzle that is published on the back
pages.
So I asked my editor if I was going
to be destined to a life of typing in
letters about eating veal, letters re
butting letters about veal, letters re
butting the rebuttals about eating veal,
letters about veal farmers, letters
rebutting letters about veal farmers,
letters saying that veal eaters and
farmers should be forced to write 3
million times “I will read ‘Diet for a
New America’” after which they will
be hung by their toes and slowly
lowered into the fiery flames of Hades.
I wanted to write about some of the
important events that have happened
this semester.
“Doesn’t anyone care about the
impending war, the united Gcrmanys
and whether there is a relationship
between the slow service at Burger
King and the fact that BK employees
now arc allowed to wear their own
clothes?”
My editor shook his head.
He told me there wasn’t enough
money in the Daily Nebraskan budget
to send me to the Middle East and to
get out of his office.
So 1 was on my own. 1 decided to
pursue this like I was taught to in the
journalism college — go straight to
the source.
Instead of reading reactions, l
decided to find out first-hand what all
of these letter writers were alleging.
I closed my eyes and began clicking
my Birkcnstocks together: “There’s
no place like the veal farm, there’s no
place like the veal farm.”
I awoke and everything was black
and white.
1 was in the middle of nowhere. No
paved road, nothing but a messy salad
bar that stretched west to the horizon.
To the north and south were stacks of
letters addressed to the Daily Nebras
kan that read: “Urgent. Veal facts
enclosed.” To the east was an older
house. It was an inviting home —
lace curtains hanging in the window,
a big porch and a white picket fence
that sort of secured the entire estate.
But the house was just the cover to
a book with many horrid tales, I was
sure.
No one seemed to be around, so I
Lisa
kDonovan
L__.
made my way around the premises.
Lo and Behold — behind the lovely
old farmhouse were two large mod
em bams. One building was marked
“equipment,” and the other “the tem
porary home of poor young innocent
calves that will soon be slaughtered.
But we need to make a living too, ya
know.”
I advanced toward the door of this
cold slave house. My preconceived
notions led me to believe that this was
the dwelling of Lucifer. I cracked
open the door. As 1 expected, it was
all dark. Nurses in white garb walked
up and down aisles of the enclosed
cages.
I stepped into the lobby and let the
door close behind me. There was no
turning back. I took off my coat and
laid it on a huge stand marked “Daily
Nebraskan.” Yep, they took the Daily
Nebraskan here loo.
In the farthest comer of the barn
was a large-screen television blaring
“Footloose.” In the other corner a
bartender scrubbed madly on the top
of an enormous bar. In the middle of
the place was an entire Nautilus set
up, complete with two tanning beds.
What the hell?
1 moved my way into the room.
The smell was more than I could bear.
No one seemed to notice me. So 1
look a deep breath and pulled out my
pen, pad and keen sense of observa
tion.
1 walked over to a cage that was
marked “Brad.” I bent over and peered
into the little hole.
“Excuse me, my name is Lisa
Donovan and I’m with the Daily
Nebraskan. For months, people have
been writing to the paper complain
ing that you are being treated horri
bly. Any insight on this?”
“You got any cigarettes?” Brad
asked.
“Sure. Unfiltcred Camels OK?”
“My favorite.”
I took care of lighting the ciga
rette.
“Now listen, do you have an\
comment on this?”
“Yes, Lisa, and I’m glad you asket
that question. You see, I’ve beer
reading all of that crap in the DN. Ant
I guess I shouldn’t call it crap, be
cause much of it is true. But who art
these people? They’ve never ever
been here. Never helped us in oui
coup attempts. Haven’t even beer
candy stripers out here.”
“So you’re saying that all their yap
isn’t helping you diddly?”
“I suppose.”
“And your health?”
“Well, just imagine how healthy
you would be if you were forced tc
eat, sleep, drink, relieve yourself, and
watch “Footloose” from a toilet bowl
that didn’t flush.”
“Do you think your situation would
be any better if you didn't smoke? I
mean you’re awfully young and
“It doesn ’ t matter any way — I’m a
goner in a few days.” The senti
ment was the same throughout. A
number of the. calves remarked that
they would rather die this way than in
a nuclear war. Several others said that
they would rather die than live through
UNL’s chancellor search. I told them
that if the presidential search had set
any precedent, wc would ali have
taken the eternal dirt nap by the time
that was completed.
I fell a nudge of discomfort. I was
making friends with my sources. Very
unethical. It was time to leave.
1 asked Brad if there was anything
he wanted to tell the people out in
lctterland. .
“Well, because I’m not going to be
around nrnch longer, what would you
like lo see?”
1 said I would like the letter writers
lo quit beating a dead horse and get on
to a new issue.
Donovan is a senior news-editorial ma
jor, the Daily Nebraskan editorial page edi
tor and a columnist.
editorial -—
Editorials do not necessarily re
flect the views of the university, its
employees, ihe students or the NU
Board of Regents.
Editorial columns represent the
opinion of the author. The Daily Ne
braskan’s publishers arc the regents,
who established the UNL Publica
tions Board to supervise the daily pro
duction of the paper.
According to policy set by the re
gents, responsibility for the cditoria
content of the newspaper lies solely 111
the hands of its students.
