Opinion
Cans with trash
Low-cost recycling hits residence halls
Beginning this week, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
residence hall students will be able to dump cans
along with trash.
Through a cooperative effort of the Office of Univer
sity Housing and Ecology Now, receptacles for aluminum
can recycling have been placed on every residence hall
floor.
Glen Schumann, assistant director of housing for main
tenance operations, said operating costs must be kept
minimal for the program to succeed.
The project is starting on the right foot. Schumann said
the housing department has spent about $10,000 so far,
mostly for the purchase of receptacles, liners and lids.
That is less than what other universities have spent to start
similar programs, he said.
Part of the credit tor the low cost snouia go to resi
dence hall custodial employees, who initially will be
responsible for can collection. Credit also should go to
Ecology Now’s Jeff Riggert, who spent his summer
working on the project.
In the future, recycling in the residence halls also may
include glass and paper. But for now, can collection is a
good place to start.
The residence hall project was prompted by the success
of a can recycling program in the Nebraska Unions. If the
residence hall program is as successful as its union
counterpart, a comprehensive, campuswide recycling plan
should be implemented.
Ego trip
Model environment project not scientific
I t sounds both like a visit to a fun house and a trip to a
torture chamber. * ' ,
Beginning Thursday, four women and four men
will lock themselves for two years inside Biosphere II, a
space-age model Earth the size of three football fields.
Biosphere II is composed of seven different ecological
systems, called
biomes. The air
tight glass house
contains more than
3,800 species of
plants and animals,
combined with the
work of more than
200 researchers.
Financed by
about $150 million
in private funds
through project
developer Space
Biospheres Ven
tures, Biosphere II
carries the aura of
human scientific
knowledge con
Bnan Shellito/DN
quenng the environment.
In reality, the project has very little to do with science.
Margret Augustine, president and chief executive
officer of SBV, told The Associated Press, “We’re a
business, number one. We are not a big-time science
project.”
That’s evident from Biosphere literature, quoted in Life
magazine, which describes the project “as a struggle to
survive, all pervasive and relentless, but for the transient
forms that populate it, moments occur in which the whole
process is seen, an identification with the life-force surges
through the organism, delight dances our blood.”
It sounds like those behind Biosphere II are trying to
play creator. Meanwhile, the media — and the American
public — are eating the project up.
Here’s to hoping the eight “biospherians” will emerge
in two years from a more prosperous journey than the ego
g I their glass house appears to be built on.
-—LETTER POLICY
The Dailv KlstU.-l« » _ ■_■ _<_•••__
brief leucrs to the editor t
readers and interested others.
Letters will be selected tor publi
cation on the basis of clarity, origi
nalily, timeliness and space avail
able. The Daily Nebraskan retain
the right to edit all material submi
ted.
/uiunyiiiuu) Miumiaaiuiia wm in»
be considered for publication. Lct
. icrs should include the author’s
, year in school, major and
' lion, if any. Requests to
s will not be granted.
■ fcJSf - Daily NC
1400 R
If
CHRIS POTTER
» v. ' ' ■
Beware of DN monopoly
• • > • ' ' ' • -.v. ■ '.
You probably are being duped.
If you are reading the Daily
Nebraskan uncritically, you are
being duped.
; The way you perceive the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln — its insti
tutions, its controversies and aspira
tions—depends largely on the people
who create the newspaper in which
this editorial column appears.
They have a political agenda. I
have apolitical agenda. Readers must
realize that.
This is not to say that diabolical
Orwellian conspirators arc deliber
ately feeding you a political ortho
doxy that will, once implanted in your
mind, make you a brainwashed drone.
It is merely to say that in the process
by which you came to read this piece
of journalism, journalism was col
ored by innumerable biases.
Subjective journalism is not unique
to the Daily Nebraskan. All newspa
pers are created by human beings
who have human opinions on the way
the world should be. The goal of a
purely objective news source is unat
tainable, even when journalists strive
for it.
But that does not mean that jour
nalists arc inherently unprofessional
or lack integrity. It does mean that
readers should be aware of the nature
of a newspaper and the people who
write it.
This is particularly critical for a
college newspaper, when readers may
not have developed the art of critical
reading and journalists have not yet
perfected their own art. Many stu
dents read more of the Daily Nebras
kan than they do of their class assign
ments. They can hardly help it DNs
are strewn so liberally about campus
that to avoid them would be Hercu
lean.
Because of its prevalence, the Daily
Nebraskan becomes invisible. People
stop thinking about it. They absorb its
stories and headlines as by osmosis
without thinking critically about them.
Day after day after day.
This gradual uncritical acceptance
is natural. After all, the Daily Nebras
kan is a newspaper. It has a bold
Like all monopolies.
the Daily Nebraskan
readership monopoly
is detrimental. We
only see the news
from one perspective.
Uncovering a politi
cal agenda in tar
more difCicult when
the reader is forced
la rely, an one sauree
qjthe news.
nameplate. It has headlines. It has
typeset stories. It has quotes. It looks
like other newspapers. It looks very
slick and authoritative.
But behind this slick appearance
lies the Daily Nebraskan’s substance.
Simply because it has a pretty photo
graph placed in an aesthetically pleas
ing place next to the very profes
sional looking story docs not mean
that the newspaper reflects an unbi
ased picture of what happens here and
elsewhere.
A former ASUN president and
student regent once remarked, off the
cuff, that the editor of the Daily
Nebraskan is the most powerful stu
dent on campus. Given the decisions
the editor makes in determining the
content of this newspaper, and by
extension the “news,” he was almost
certainly correct.
It is no secret that the Daily Ne
braskan has for many years been a
very liberal newspaper on many is
sues. It opposed the war with Iraq, it
supported divestment (jrom South
Africa. It initially favored the crea
tion of a racial affairs committee and (
later the creation of a subcommittee
within AS UN last year. As such, its
analysis of the news is bound to be a
very liberal one.
A simple explanation for the lib
eral stance of the Daily Nebraskan is
elusive. A new editor is hired every
year. Reporters and editors arc cer
tainly not given a political litmus test
before being hired. It may be that
liberals are more inclined to enter a
career in journalism.
But it is no crime for a newspaper
toespousea political agenda. As long -
as readers recognize that agenda and
read critically, agenda-driven news is
healthy. It inspires debate. But the
fact that the Daily Nebraskan is the
only student newspaper with a large
readership makes that difficult.
Like all monopolies, the Daily
Nebraskan readership monopoly is
detrimental. We only sec the news
from one perspective. Uncovering a
political agenda is far more difficult
when the reader is forced to rely on
one source of the news.
Some colleges and universities, such
as Harvard University and the Uni
versity of California at Berkeley, have
at least two newspapers competing
for student readership. Just as at U NL,
they began with only one. But the
natural evolution of the institution
inspired students to break the news
monopoly and establish new student
newspapers.
The time is overripe for this to
happen at UNL. A number of fledg
ling newspapers have sprung up, but
have yet to command a readership
comparable to that of the Daily Ne
braskan. Establishing a second news
paper here will be difficult. It w*ccs
enormous effort and money.
In the meantime, readers must
beware. What they read in the Daily
Nebraskan must be read critically.
Potter is a senior math, physics, philoso
phy and history m^Jor and a Daily Sebns
Wan columnist
-EDITORIAL POLICY
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes
brief letters to the editor from all
readers. Letters will be selected for
publication on the basis of clarity,
originality, timeliness and space
availability. The Daily Nebraskan
retains the right to edit letters.
Letters should be typewritten ant
less than 500 words.
Anonymous submissions will noi
be published. Letters should include
the author's name, address, phone
I number, year in school and group af
filiation, if any.
