Opinion
-J
Behind the times
New student information system needed
About a month from now, thousands of UNL students will
file through the Administration Building. They won’t be
lined up for free pizza, beer, condoms or parking.
Instead, they’ll be trying to adjust their schedules. While
many universities nationwide have moved to high-tech com
puter student information systems that make possible class
registration over the phone, UNL will continue to borrow time
on its existing, overburdened technology. That means course
request forms, bureaucracy and lines.
At a time when University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials are
trying to figure out how to cut comers on costs, it may seem
silly to suggest taking on an additional expense.
But if UNL does nothing to upgrade its curreni siuuem in
formation system, officials have said, it could simply collapse.
And students will continue to miss out on the benefits of newer
technology, such as touch-tone registration and the “degree
audit” service — a sort of automated, fast senior check.
The new system would cost $800,000 to $1 million. Not a
big-ticket item, perhaps, but one that becomes huge against the
backdrop of a 2 percent budget reduction.
A new system, and the conveniences it would bring to
students and administrators, wouldn’t change the quality of
education at UNL. It wouldn’t decrease class sizes, diversify
curriculums or attract better instructors. It wouldn’t make
students smarter, and it wouldn’t teach them more.
At UNL, however, students crave convenience. If you really
want to rile up the student body, don’t talk about apartheid or
the collapse of the Soviet Union. Organize a sit-in to protest
parking shortages. If students knew what they were missing by
not having the benefits of a new student system, there probably
would be a riot.
UNL officials arc looking at several options to finance a new
system. One would be to make students pay for it. But Jim Van
Horn, associate vice president for administration, said that t
would be a last resort. We hope it remains that way. While
students would be the most visible beneficiaries of a new
system, administrators would gain just as much from improved
service.
In addition, the new system would be inoperable for a few
years. That means some students might have to pay for a
system they wouldn’t get to use.
The Office of Student Affairs has long been neglected by the
NU Board of Regents. At its Saturday meeting, the board could
go a long way toward rectifying that problem by shuffling
UNL resources and priorities to include a new student informa
tion system.
—E.F.P.
What others think
Take AIDS for what it is: impartial killer
Take AIDS for what it is and quit
lecturing. Like it or not, today’s kids
„ are having sex. Thai’s a fact that no
amount of parental haranguing is going
to change.
Parents should be concerned about
the precautions their sons and daugh
ters are (or are not) taking against
sexually transmitted diseases, not that
the act is occurring.
AIDS doesn’t care which church
you go to, god you pray to, or how
many A’s you got last semester. It
performs one function unfailingly well.
AIDS kills. We must do all we can to
prevent its spread. Uatex condoms
reduce the risk of contracting AIDS
through sexual contact.
Debate over.
— The Daily
University of Washington
U.S. no stranger to days living in infamy
While Dec. 7, 1941, is remem
bered as a “day that will live in in
famy,” the United States itself has
engaged in no small number of inva
sions throughout its history. Central
and South America, traditionally
regarded by U.S. rulers as our “back
yard,” have been especially hard hit
by U.S. military attacks, from direct
intervention with troops, as in Pan
ama, to the use of proxy forces like
the Nicaraguan contras. Now, as the
United States establishes a perma
nent military presence in Saudi Ara
bia in the wake of the gulf war, it
appears we can look forward to an era
of either “low-intensity conflict” or
all-out battles in that region as well.
— The Daily Iowan
University of Iowa
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Buchanan to run on convictions
Shortly after the gulf war, po
litical commentator Pat
Buchanan was shouting that
George Bush was unbeatable.
Now Buchanan is taking aim to
beat Bush himself. On Tuesday, he
announced that he is running for the
Republican nomination.
Buchanan has never served in public
office, but he has a great deal of
experience in politics. He was a
speechwritcr for President Nixon and
served as director of While House
communications for President Reagan.
His campaign in New Hampshire is
being managed by Angela Buchanan,
his sister and former U.S. treasurer.
The mainstream media refer to
Buchanan as an “arch-conservative.”
Many conservatives are unhappy with
Bush, but some of them are not thrilled
with Buchanan, either.
It isn’t hard to figure out why. In
some ways Buchanan sounds like a
Democrat.
Recently, the Democrats were
having a ball criticizing Bush’s world
wide travels. They wanted the Presi
dent to “come home.”
Buchanan is say ing much the same
thing. He wants to focus the powers
of the government on strengthening
America first. Indeed, “America First”
is the slogan of his campaign.
Buchanan is an isolationist. He
opposed the gulf war prior to its out
break. His main reason was that fight
ing the war was not central enough to
U.S. interests.
Buchanan doesn’t like foreign aid
much. In Tuesday’s announcement,
he affirmed the importance of con
tributing humanitarian aid whenever
it is needed, but he strongly denounced
routine programs of foreign aid be
cause they do nothing but transfer
U.S. wealth to other nations.
Some conservatives disagree with
Buchanan’s isolationism. They think
the United States must have a promi
nent role in shaping world events.
Another sore spot for some is that
Buchanan favors protectionist poli
cies that would tend to insulate
American workers, form the harsh
competition currently provided by the
Japanese.
I---J
Many conserva
tives are unhappy
with Bush, but some
of them are not
thrilled, with
Buchanan, either.
It isn’t hard to fig
ure out whv. in some
wavs Buchanan
ssmndi like a Dmuiz
crat.
Conservatives criticize protection
ism as a socialistic policy inconsis
tent with a frcc-markct approach to
economics. They think protectionist
policies would have undesirable con
sequences in the long run.
There arc also worries about
Buchanan’s advocacy of restrictive
immigration policies and his criti
cism of Israel.
Regardless of the merits of his
particular views, there are a variety of
reasons to welcome Buchanan’s can
didacy.
First, there is the observation made
by Eleanor Clift, a political commen
tator and regular participant on “The
McLaughlin Group,” on which
Buchanan also regularly appeared until
his candidacy. Clift said jokingly that
Buchanan’s leave of absence from
television has created enough new
jobs that this may turn the economy
around by itself.
r
The Buchanan campaign is guar
anteed to make the contest more in
teresting. It would be great fun to
watch Buchanan debate Bush.
Buchanan is a professional debater.
Bush may be good at foreign policy,
but let’s face it: He is no Michael
Kinsley, Buchanan’s liberal sparring
partner on “Crossfire.” Unfortunately,
the White House has said that Bush
will not debate Buchanan.
A more serious positive effect of
Buchanan’s challenge is that it will
force the Bush organization to figure
out what it believes. Or at least what
it is going to say. Even if conscrva- |
tives do not win concessions from
Bush, they, along with everyone else,
should be happy just to have Bush’s
position clarified.
The most important contribution
of Buchanan’s candidacy is that he
will provide an alternative to Bush’s
political model. The president’s po
litical efforts are aimed at consensus.
Buchanan, on the other hand, vows
to practice what he calls “the politics
of confrontation.” It is not that
Buchanan desires confrontation for
its own sake. Rather, he secs it as a
necessary outgrowth of the commit
ment to principles.
Again and again Buchanan stresses
the importance of principles. His pri
mary criticism of Bush is that the
president has “walked away” from
the conservative base of the Republi
can party. And Buchanan says Gerald
Ford lost to Jimmy Carter in 1976
because he too abandoned the prin
ciples of conservatism.
One gets the impression that when
Buchanan talks about the politics of
confrontation, he means business.
On ABC’s “This Week With David
Brinkley,” Buchanan said he would
shut down the government for three
months if that were necessary to get
his budget proposals through Con
gress.
Buchanan’s campaign may not
succeed.*; t *
But it will almost certainly dem
onstrate something we need to see
much more of, especially in politics:
the courage to have convictions and
stand by them, even if it means los
ing.
Reiter Isa graduate student In philosophy
and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
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Readers also arc welcome to sub
™ [Material as gucsl opinions.
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I
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