Eric Pfaner, Editor. 472-1766
Tlailw BobNelscn. Editorial Page Editor
P«IQP ^ • W m r 1 Victoria Ayoae, Maugiag Editor
f 2 mi m 1 /\yi Nebraskan ^£5±sr«fi%*,
4 opinion g^rr^5^rJ
. Divided and unjust
Race-neutral policies are not enough
In 1962, educational apartheid at Mississippi public
universities supposedly ended when a black student was
admitted to Ole Miss for the first time.
Two years earlier, in 1960, Mississippi spent almost twice as
much per student for universities with traditionally white en
rollment as for historically “black” universities.
A generation later, in 1986, that gap had edged somewhat
closer, but a substantial discrepancy remained. The state spent
about one-third less per student for black schools as for their
white counterparts.
That’s an improvement. But it doesn’t constitute desegrega
tion. That’s why the Supreme Court, at the request of the Bush
administration, has taken up the issue.
The court, sometime in 1992, wall decide how far states have
I to go to rectify past racial discrimination in their public univer
sity systems.
So far, at least, desegregation doesn’t appear to have worked
in Mississippi. Public higher education is still separate and
| unequal.
I In addition to the funding gap, white and DiacK students are
not intermingling to any degree approaching integration,
despite the formal end of segregation.
In 1985-86, 99 percent of Mississippi’s white students still
attended “white” schools; 71 percent of the black students at
tended “black” institutions.
It’s easy to look at the funding difference and clamor for a
simple solution. But the situation is not cut and dried. A
successful end to segregation requires that both discrepancies
be narrowed.
Traditionally white institutions in Southern states such as
Mississippi are those states’ research universities. They receive
more funding than other state schools, just as the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln gets more stale money than Chadron State
College. To truly desegregate higher education, more black
students would have to attend the larger research institutions
like Ole Miss.
To accomplish that goal, the state needs to do more than
continue the “good-faith, race-neutral policies and procedures”
that a federal appeals court determined last year to be enough.
But even with Affirmative Action, increased integration
could take years.
In the meantime, the state at the very least has a responsibil
ity to give students who still leam under a segregated system
_ an equal education. They should not be cheated by demograph
• ics, race and tradition.
I—E.F.P.
_I
-LETTERS tTh°e EDITOR
Love doesn’t belong in combat
I do not claim to be an authority on
the subject of homosexuals in ROTC
and the military, but I do have an
opinion and the gumption to write on
this subject. I have yet to hear analy
sis of the situation with which I agree.
Although being boo-fooed in a fox
hole is every heterosexual soldier’s
worst nightmare, I don’t think it should
be the focus of the argument against
homosexuals in the army.
Consider what might happen if
two lovers were in combat together.
Love is a tremendously, overwhelm
ingly powerful emotion, and one which
has no place in the army. To what
lengths would you go to preserve the
life of your lover? Would you sacri
fice the life of a fellow soldier you
barely know? Two others? Ten? A
whole company? I know I would. I
would do absolutely anything to save
she whom I truly love. That emotion
does not belong on the battlefield.
Furthermore, what if there were a
gay officer who took for a lover a gay
enlisted person? How willing would
you be to send your lovers to perform
a most onerous task, like die. I think
love would overpower objectivity. The
officer would send to battle hoards ol
others, that he might spare his lover,
I think it is stupid to say thal
homosexuals would not be able tc
control their sexual urges in the face
oi idlow soldiers whom they find
attractive. But, besides the fact thal
straight soldiers would harass the gay
soldiers nearly to death, the possibil
ity that the emotion of love mighi
interfere with the business of wai
should never be allowed to exist.
Matthew Lamt
junioi
secondary educatior
Conservative policy attacked
Why are there so many letters about
homophobia, religion and abortion,
since nobody seems to have anything
new to say about these topics? Is the
Daily Nebraskan a student newspa
per / The few times I caught a glimpse
of some creativity and spirit, it was in
the Arts and Entertainment section. I
therefore question your editing pol
icy, which, in my opinion, tends to be
rather conservative. Or maybe it i<
the same bunch of “readers” hiding
behind fake names?
David Berges
graduate student
modem languages
CDARhi, BOB 7 I THOUGHT THAT MS A SHORT R/gHT HoMR"
PAT DINSLAGE
N U life mirrors the real world
Spring’s here. Campus Recrea
tion has its booth outside the
Nebraska Union, saying students
can rent rafts and canoes, the tulips
are blooming in the flower beds and
we’re on the final slide to the end of
the school year.
Because I will finally be getting
out of here — with a degree — it’s
natural that my thoughts bounce be
tween worrying about the future and
reflecting on my sojourn at the Uni
versity of Ncbraska-Lincoln.
It’s not that I haven’t had a full
time job before; as a non-traditional
student who returned to college, I’ve
had several. But this will be the first
job in a “professional” field. What I
and all graduates arc facing is that we
now have to put our money and future
where our mouths, term papers and
classes have been.
When I came to the university, I
expected to put in my time, get the
piece of paper and walk out to a
chorus of employers clamoring for
me to join their firms.
I didn’t expect to graduate in the
middle of a recession. The only cho
rus I hear is that of other graduates
competing for the same job I want.
When I registered that first lime, I
remember thinking: “How tough can
it be to sit in classes for a couple hours
a day? What am 1 going to do with the
rest of my time?”
It took only a semester of calculus,
chemistry and computer-aided graph
ics, followed by another semester of
more calculus, physics and computer
science for me to start reading up on
time management and turning down
social invitations.
When I began this path toward the
Holy Grail of a bachelor’s degree, I
worried about how I was going to be
1 able to fit into college life and classes
with students many years younger. I
soon found that agony and stress know
no boundaries: Age, sex and race have
no meaning when you’ve got four
chapters to read, 20 formulas to
memorize, it’s 3 a.m. and the test is in
five hours. Panic makes for strange
companions.
It didn’t take long for me to realize
that I couldn’t fake it; my grades
pretty much reflected my effort.
I have cruised through some classes,
sweated blood in others and spent
some semesters totally mystified. I
have taken exams in which I knew 90
percent of the answers, and others in
/ didn’t expect &
graduate in the
middle of a reces
sion. The only cho
rus I hear is that o f
other graduates
competing for the
same iob / want.
which I couldn’t even figure out the
questions.
But what have I learned? Have 1
learned enough? Am I prepared to
return to that world of full-time jobs,
paychecks and having weekends to
myself?
The above-minimum wages I’m
pretty sure I can handle, as well as the
social life.
Most of what I’ve learned has not
come from books. That stuff I’ve
memorized, categorized and finally
filed in the dusty library stacks of my
mind.
What I have learned is that logic
and sympathy have nothing to do
with the financial aid you get. That
sarcasm, hollering and glares won’t
get your paperwork processed any
faster, but that a smile and a “Thank
you,” won’t slow them down, either.
I’ve learned that trying to beat a
parking ticket is like trying to beat
death and taxes and that sorrowful
looks and heart-wrenching stories
won’t even get you a Kleenex to dry
your tears. Also that getting your towed
away car back is a cash-only ordeal.
I’ve learned that even progressive
thinking people love red tape if
money’s involved and that talking a
problem to death won’t make it go
away, no matter how big the words
are.
I’ve listened, watched and real
ized that those who use the most
words, mean, and will do, the least.
And that the same university that
encourages you to expand your world
vision and rise above the mundane
will hold your degree until it gets
your $1.36.
I’ve found that politics run things
in higher education but organized
politics don’t; that committees on
committees really do exist and that
“spreading the responsibility’’ means
no one gets the blame but everyone
gels the credit.
I’ve discovered that most rules bend
but that deadlines don’t.
I’ve learned that people here at the
university aren’t so different from
those in the working world — they
just use bigger words for “yes," no
and “maybe.” And that education and
enlightenment are not synonyms.
I’ve learned to play the university
games and work the system to get
what I want, and that whatever I wanted
— grades, information, help, friends
—! had to do the work myself. And 1
had to pay for whatever I got, one way
or another
When I came to UNL, I knew how
to play the business world game to get
what I wanted, but thought higher
education would be different, would
function on a higher plane. I discov
ered that it doesn’t; it’s just another
playing field.
A Native American writer, I inda
Hogan, said, “Education can be a
hard process for minority and women
students who have already learned
loo much of what we don’t need to
know.”
There’s been a '.ot of that in lour
years. But the knowledge and strength
I’ve discovered has made my time
here worth it. They don’t give de
grees for that, but maybe I am pre
pared for the professional world alter
all.
Pal Dinslage Is a senior news editorial
major and a Daily Nebraskan nl|{bt ne
editor and columnist
