LISA PYTLIK
Graduation gapes ominously
L C rcshmen, beware! You will
■1 NOT live forever as un
dergraduates. Four or five
(or, if you are like me, six) years from
now, your life as an undergraduate
will die and you will enter into an en
tirely new ‘afterlife.’
“I beseech thee! Heed my call and
repent of your apathetic ways before
it is too late!”
Perhaps I’ve been under just a bit
too much stress lately. I’ve spent the
past two months filling out numerous
applications. I’veapplicd to the Peace
Corps, various graduate schools and,
at the end of this week, my graduate
degree application is due.
When I started college, I suspected
that graduation would be like dying
and going to heaven, but I didn’t
know how often my undergraduate
life would flash before my eyes be
fore that death (i.c. graduation) actu
ally took place. The stress of these
numerous life reviews is taking its
toll on me.
Still, I’m luckier than many sen
iors because, early last semester, I
had a dream that changed my life. I
dreamed that I was standing on the
edge of Broyhill Fountain preaching
to a crowd of freshmen. It was as if I
had become one of those firc-and
brimstonc preachers I sec in front of
me Nebraska union every spring and
fall, except that, instead of a large
wooden cross, I was carrying a rep
lica of a giant diploma.
“Get thee to your adviser!” 1
preached. “Get thee applicable, prac
tical experience! Don’t let yourself
get lost in the system and become just
another anonymous student number!
Get thee to know your instructors!
Take heed before it’s too late!”
I was finally awakened from my
dream by a misty while light glowing
from the corner of my dorm room. At
first I thought I had left the light on in
my aquarium, but then I heard a low
rumbling voice that seemed to come
from the light.
“Lisa,” the voice said.
“Who’s that?” I asked, bolting
upright in bed and clutching at the
covers I had pulled up to my ears.
“I am the adviser of college days
past,” the rumbling voice said. Then,
out of the light stepped a man who
looked a lot like the professor who
advised me back when I was in the
Engineering College.
“Dr. B? Is that you?”
“Yes,” he said. “What can I do for
you?”
“Uh, I don’t know,” I said, con
fused. “Don’t you know?”
“Of course I know what I ‘can’
do,” he replied. “But what do you
want me to do for you?”
“Well,” I said, “I am supposed to
graduate at the end of this year. Could
you take me flying through the night
to sec significant visions of my past
college life?”
“No,” he said. “First of all, this is
the University of Nebraska, not ‘A
Christmas Carol.’ Second, budget cuts
won’t allow us to do anything as
extravagant as that. And third, I’m
not even your adviser anymore. You
switched colleges, remember? Why
don’t you go talk to your new ad
viser?”
“Well,” I stammered. “To tell you
the truth, I’m not even sure who my
adviser is. I did talk to someone when
1 first switched colleges, but that wasn’t
very helpful, so I never went back.”
Embarrassed, I turned away from
Dr. B and looked out my window.
“I have been following my bulle
tin and trying to take the classes it
says arc required, but I’m afraid that
I may have made a mistake or two
along the way. How can I find out for
sure whether I will graduate in May?”
When I turned around, however,
Dr. B was gone and a stranger was
standing in his place.
“Who arc you?”
“I’m the adviser of your college
days present,” the stranger said. “Here,
take this form and a copy of your
transcript and make sure you meet all
your degree requirements. If you have
any questions, sec the department
secretary or call to make another
appointment.
“Now, you must excuse me,” he
continued. “I’m responsible for ad
vising all the undergraduates in this
department, and I have 12 more ap
pointments waiting for me.”
Then, with a swirl of confusion
and a flash of forms, he was gone. But
my nightmare wasn’t over yet.
Peering into my hypothetical fu
ture, I saw myself standing at the
pearly gates of a prospective graduate
school. A man with a white beard was
sitting at the gate reading through my
application file. His name tag read:
St. Peter, graduate admissions secre
tary.
“Hmmm.he mused. “Accord
ing to your file, you have no research
experience and your references all
claim they do not know you well
enough to either evaluate or recom
mend you as a graduate student. Fur
thermore, you have not yet taken the
required entrance exams. The grad
school god-head will not let you in
without first taking the GRE. Surely
you knew that.”
“Uh... uh_” I didn’t know what
to say.
“Sorry,” St. Peter said. “But the
competition is stiff, and we cannot
admit you at this time. Of course, feel
free to apply again next semester if
you like.”
Suddenly, I was back in my room
again, panicked and sweating pro
fusely from the nightmare I had expe
ncncea. 1 aian i sieep muui uic iwi
of that night, but the next day I did
lake action.
I got involved in a research proj
ect, I made more of an effort to get to
know a couple of professors belter,
and I took the GRE. My nightmare
had saved me, in the nick of time,
from the limbo of graduating as an
unknown number rather than as a
student with a name.
Since then, I have talked to many
other students less fortunate than myself
who also have not received much, if
any, help from their overloaded ad
visers. These seniors arc finding it
very difficult to get letters of refer
ence because their classes have not
been conducive to personal contact
with their professors.
Therefore, I repeat: Beware! The
university system is very easy to get
lost in and many advisers arc unsym
pathetic. If you do happen to find a
helpful and informed adviser, go
immediately to the CAP office and
nominate him or her for the $1,500
Student Foundation Builders Award
for Outstanding Academic Advising.
All advisers arc not created equal.
So, for our own good, we students had
better do all we can to encourage
them to do their best to help us do
ours.
PyUik is a senior art and psychology
major and a Daily Nebraskan staff artist and
columnist. — »
“Get thee to vour
adviser!” / preached.
“Get thee applicable
practical experience!”
What others think
San Salvadoran harmony
leaves questions remaining
Last week, San Salvador, the capital of El
Salvador, was filled with people. They had a
good reason to celebrate: the end to 12 years of
civil war that had cost the lives of more than
70,(XX) Salvadorans. That is more than enough
reason for mirth.
Though the exact details of the agreement
are still being finalized, the treaty that was
signed by the Farabundo Marti National Lib
eration Front guerrillas and Salvadoran Presi
dent Alfredo Crisliani levels most of the road
blocks that had stood in the way of peace.
There is little reason to believe that this peace
will not be a lasting one.
... To a great extent, signing the peace
treaty was the easy part; now that the civil war
is at an end the laborious task of rebuilding and
acclimations begins.
Even with the new accords, questions re
main. Will the right-wing oligarchy accept the
former guerrillas as full participants in that
country’s political landscape? Will the guerril
las accept their new role inside the political
mainstream? And, finally, will the two sides
trust each other enough to continue working
together? All of that remains to be seen. But
whatever happens, at least now the battle will
be primarily political, and more killing will not
be the only result.
— The Minnesota Daily
University of Minnesota
Catholics providing abortion education
In response to Eric Mechalke’s
letter (“Anti-abortionists should re
serve judgment, educate public in
stead,” DN, Feb. 3), the Catholic
Church has just begun Project Ra
chel. Project Rachel is counseling
and support for anyone affected in
any way by abortion. Whether it be
the women, the fathers, grandpar
ents, or those who advised in the
abortion, this project helps them
all. The name Rachel comes from
Jeremiah 31:15-17 in the Bible. It
basically says that Rachel mourns
the loss of her children. It is not our
position to judge, that is left to
God. But it is our position to for
give and help all those affected by
abortion.
The Right to Life movement
now is trying to educate as many
people as possible about the hor
rors of abortion and then let the
individuals make their own choice.
Most of Mr. Mcchalke’s difficul
ties with the Right to Life move
ment already are being addressed,
Tom Dougherty
senior
electrical engineering
IJJ
btrCttlM
towM
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