Officials say racism declining
By Kim Spurlock
Staff Reporter
Ku Klux Klan letters have resur
faced the issue of racism on campus,
but two University of Nebraska-Lin
coin officials agree that racism at
UNL isn’t on the rise.
James Griesen, vice chancellor for
student affairs, and Jimmi Smith,
director of the Office of Multi-Cul
tural Affairs, said significant improve
ments on campus have helped lessen
the problem of campus racism.
Racism reared its head recently,
however, when the multi-cultura!
affairs office received several racist
letters from the Ku Klux Klan, one of
which criticized the Big 8 Confer
ence on Black Student Government
hosted at UNL in February.
Despite these incidents, Griesen
and Smith cited improvements in the
campus atmosphere.
Griesen said that in his work, he
has seen evidence that may justify his
perception of a decrease in racism on
campus.
“I think we’ve had a good recep
tion to the cultural diversity retreats
that we’ve had in the last three years,”
Griesen said, from both majority and
minority students.
The recruitment of minorities also
has increased from the past academic
year.
‘‘Last year alone, there was a 16
percent increase in minority students
enrolled, and that’s significant, be
cause part of having a pluralistic
campus is simply reaching the criti
cal mass where minority students don’t
feel as much in the minority,” Grie
sen said.
The total enrollment of minority
students on campus this academic
year is l,034,or4.2 percent of 24,453
students, Griesen said.
Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska senators also
have taken a role in dealing with
racism on campus, Griesen said,
i Despite the controversy last se
mester over a standing minority af
fairs committee in ASUN, Griesen
said he has seen considerable prog
ress by senators in getting more mi
nority students appointed to ASUN
positions, committees and task forces.
Although the racial affairs com
mittee issue is at an impasse, the
impasse shouldn’t be construed as
ASUN leaders trying to block the
committee, Griesen said.
“Two-thirds of the senators still
voted to create a racial affairs com
mittee. It was simply that the outgo
ing president, (Phil Gosch), felt that
the structure was not proper, and he
felt that it should be done properly.
So it’s not a dead issue— it’s going to
come back,” Griesen said.
Smith said racism at UNL is com
paratively no worse than at any other
Big Eight university.
“According to people (at Big Eight
schools), there is less violence here
(at UNL) than other Big Eight schools,”
Smith said.
However, racism on campus is not
a dead issue, Griesen said.
He said a number of students have
come to him claiming racism in the
classroom.
“I’ve had students say that their
classroom instructors displayed rac
ist attitudes. I’ve heard students say
that they feel singled out in the class
room — not with (bad) intent on the
part of the instructor,” Griesen said.
He said that any time a minority
issue comes up and the instructor
turns to the minority student for
comment, “they feel tired of carrying
the burden of representing all of the
minorities in all of the country.”
Smith said the weight of stopping
racism is on the students.
“The key to keeping (out) racist
organizations and to controlling rac
ist people, in large part, the burden
lies with the student because there’s
more students on this campus than
anything,” Smith said.
He said that in order to recognize
the difference between racism and
prejudice, students need to become
more aware.
If someone doesn’t like another
person because of what they wear.
Smith said, that person is showing
prejudice, but the person who is being
criticized still can function.
However, a racist will stop a per
son right in his or her tracks, he said.
“The racist will attack you and get
in your way and stop you from being
successful in the classroom, stop you
from having a job so that you can
spend your money; they will out and
out viciously try to cut you out of
society and they will put you down,
not as a person, but as a race,” Smith
said.
He said Gricsen is working to reduce
the negative altitudes toward racial
minority students.
“It’s been an issue that (Griesen)
has sought to attack,” Smith said. “As
a major part of his goal for the next
several years, he’s listed improving
race relations through cultural diver
sity. It’s one of his primary goals.”
In an effort to reach his goal, Smith
said, Griesen helped supplement funds
for cultural diversity programs, at
tended cultural diversity meetings and
celebrations and talked with minori
ties on ways in which they feel UNL’s
campus environment could be im
proved.
Smith said Griesen also supports
the disbursement of minority schol
arships, including the Davis Scholar
ship,
“He (Griesen) is the first vice
chancellor to go in front of the legis
lative board in support of the estab
lishment of minority scholarships,”
Smith said.
But more needs to be done, he
said.
Smith thinks that there is a lack of
minorities in meaningful positions at
UNL and that there needs to be racial
minorities in positions in which they
can make decisions.
“They can’t determine what’s good
for them. They can’t control their
destiny,” Smith said.
Smith said that although the cul
tural diversity retreats have “opened
up the lines of communication be
tween black student leaders and white
student leaders,” there needs to be a
requirement of ethnic study classes
for everyone.
Faculty members should be knowl
edgeable of other cultures besides
European cultures, he said, because
they have more than just European
students in their classes.
The university needs to put more
known resources in the community so
students who are uncomfortable with
one particular university office still
can find people they can talk to and
report such violations, Smith said.
“When you allow people to exist
inside of your environment who con
sciously try to destroy other people’s
opportunities, the sense of psycho
logical safety is disturbed. . . .The
people who are under attack can’t
really function as freely as they nor
mally would. . . .Therefore they’re
going to be less capable students
because they have to deal with ail
these distractions,” Smith said.
He said students need to observe
this kind of pattern and report it when
it is observed so the university can
look into the problem and get a better
picture of how bad the situation is.
“Racism is an illness, and that ill
ness, when it gets together, spreads,”
he said.
Budget
Continued from Page 1
Stevens of North Platte.
Committee members said they
would draw up a rationale for their
budget proposal and attach it to the
budget bill.
The senators looked at several
options of how to allow for the distri
bution of the funds, including allot
ling the money campus-by-campus
or giving the regents a lump sum with
a directive of how and where the
money should be allotted.
The committee also advanced a
proposal to place in the budget bill 2
percent and 3 percent across-the-board
cuts for state agencies, including
Nebraska’s colleges and universities.
This is a smaller percentage than the
formerly suggested 4 percent cut.
Beadle
Continued from Page 1
lion dollars will come from the ciga
rette tax and $1.5 million from the
state’s general fund.
Nelson had suggested that the money
from the 4-ccnt cigarette tax be used
for prisons.
“He may still come back and say
he has to do that,” Splinter said. “This
is only the Legislature’s side of it.”
Lee Rupp, vice president for uni
versity relations, was optim istic about
the proposal.
‘‘I think it will work, and 1 think it
has a good chance of passing,” he
said.
The proposal went through a lot of
amendments before a compromise was
reached, Rupp said.
He said that originally the proposal
would have earmarked funds from
the tax for nine to 10 years.
But the Legislature “didn’t want
to tie up funds for that long,” Rupp
said.
He said the Legislature had to find
a plan that would fit Nebraska’s eco
nomic climate.
Under the proposal, the funds would
be appropriated for three years.
Rupp said that means only $17
million of the scheduled $40 million
of construction on the Beadle Center
could be completed and some profes
sors would not be able to begin proj
ects they had planned.
The three-year plan provides “more
of a pay as you go” process, he said.
Marion O’Leary, director and
professor in the Center for Biological
Chemistry, said the important issue
solved by the committee was state
commitment to the project. The pro
posal means money for the project
will be there when it’s needed, he
said.
U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb.,
said earlier this month that a state
commitment was needed to secure
Beadle Center funding from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Brian Rockey, public affairs di
rector at the governor’s office, said
the governor did not yet have an offi
cial response to the committee deci
sion.
“It’s still being evaluated on this
end what the governor wants,” Rockey
said. “There’s still a long way to go in
the budget process.”
Official: UNL
should ignore
Klan letters
From Staff Reports
Students shouldn’t give the
Ku Klux Klan members who
sent letters to the Office of Multi
cultural Affairs the satisfaction
of seeing their frustration, one
official said.
“1 think it’s wrong to overre
act to these things. We don’t
want a single racist citizen in
this city of Lincoln or elsewhere
yanking us around like yo-yos
on a string,” said James Grie
sen, University of Nebraska
Lincoln vice chancellor for stu
dent affairs.
The racist letters were sent
after UNL hosted iha Big 8
Conference on Black Student
Government in February.
Griesen said nothing can be
done about the letters unless
they violate a university code.
And the letters should not
receive much attention or the
Klan members may be spurred
to more action, he said.
“We cannot ascribe that much
power to an individual racist.
It’s regrettable that they’re out
there... there’s no room for that
sort of thing in our society, yet
our society also has values of
freedom of expression.”
Personnel Pool
Temporary
Services
iBIHI
Office Clerical
Light Industrial
223 N. 48th St. Suite U
Lincoln NE 68504. 466-1996
Located between Target &
Super Saver
Nebraskan
Editor Eric Ptanner
472- 1766
Managing Editor Victoria Ayott#
Assoc. News Editors Jana Pedersen
Emily Rosenbaum
Editorial Page Editor BobNeleon
Wire Editor Jennifer O’ClIka
Copy Desk Editor Diane Brayton
Sports Editor Paul Domeler
Arts & Entertain
ment Editor Julie Naughton
Diversions Editor Connie Sheehan
Photo Chief William Lauar
Night News Editors Pat Dlnslaga
Kara Wells
Cindy Wostral
Art Director Brian Shelllto
General Manager Dan Shattll
Production Manager Katherine Pollcky
Advertising Manager Loren Melrose
Sales Manager Todd Sears
Publications Board
Chairman Bill Vobejda
436-9993
Professional Adviser Don Walton
473- 7301
The Dally Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) Is
published by the UNI. Publications Board, Ne
braska Union 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE,
Monday through Friday during the academic
year; weekly during summer sessions.
Readers are encouraged to submit story
ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan
by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a m and 5
p.m. Monday through Friday. The public also
has access to the Publications Board For
information, contact Bill Vobejda, 436-9993
Subscription price Is $45 for one year.
Postmaster: Send address changes to the
Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R
St. Lincoln, NE 66566-0448 Second class
postage paid at Lincoln, NE.
ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT
1991 DAILY NEBRASKAN_
«
AppleCVzre®
makes your
college's Apple
computer
maintenance
costs a matter
of course...
And keeps
them wife*
strictly
within budget.
Having a computer on the fritz can
be tantamount to missing school.
Schedules get scuttled. Classes are
rearranged. Term papers are postponed.
Research grinds to a halt. Learning stops
while everyone waits for service.
The problem is a growing one.
-
Because increasing numbers of
students, professors and administrators
depend on computers More students are
taking courses to learn to operate comput
ers. Professors are creating courses on
computers. And computers are integral to
analyzing a variety of academic data.
With a growing number of
computers in use, the incidence of com
puter breakdowns is inevitably on the rise.
And at a time when most people can ill
afford sizable or unbudgeted repair bills.
For students, professors and
administrators who really care about
controlling computer service costs, there's
Apple Care.
For departmental^ owned
computers contact Virg Ward at 472-5656
and for personally owned computers
contact Becky Kalinski at 472-5785.