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Think before you drink
Members of Farmhouse fraternity and the Lincoln-Lancaster Health Department display a wrecked car on
Broyhill Plaza in an effort to raise awareness of the dangers of drinking and drivmg.
Morality of death penalty debated
Ethical battle over
deterrents, prejudice
waged in city union
By Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Senior Reporter
In a heated debate Wednesday, former
U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meesc III
argued that the death penally was needed
to protect innocent people from murder, while
American Civil Liberties Union President Nadine
Strosscn countered that it was a barbaric and
unconstitutional form of punishment below a
civilized society.
The two clashed over the morality of the
death penalty in the Nebraska Union. About
400 people attended the debate, which was
sponsored by the University Program Council
Talks and Topics committee.
Strosscn said “the United Slates stands alone”
among civilized nations in using the death
penalty as a form of punishment. Among in
dustrialized nations, she said, only the former
Soviet Union and South Africa execute their
citizens.
“There is no place in a civilized society for
the death penalty,” she said.
Mecsc said a majority of Americans — 79
percent, according to a poll he cited — sup
ported the death penalty.
“The reason that there is this overwhelming
majority of Americans who do believe the
death penalty is necessary is because they
indeed do believe in the sanctity of life—” he
said.
Strossen said the ACLU did not support the
death penalty because “state sanctioned kill
ings give the lesson that the taking human life
is a legitimate way of dealing with society’s
problems.”
She said she favored life in prison without
parole or restitution instead of the death pen
alty. In restitution, a convicted person would
be required to work to provide financial com
pensation to the victim’s family.
Mccse said society was responsible for
punishing those who had killed innocent people.
“The whole focal point of any nation’s crimi
nal justice system,” he said, is to provide retri
bution for crimes.
Life imprisonment is not a sufficient deter
rent to criminals, he said, because they can be
paroled and released.
“Life in prison means in some stales being
out in seven years, he said.
Strosscn said the death penalty was not a
deterrent to criminals.
“States with the death penalty do not have
lower crime rates_” she said. “There simply
is no evidence of a deterrent effect.”
Meesc disagreed.
“For most people, reason and logic would
suggest that the death penalty is a deterrent,” he
said.
When the death penalty is used, he said, the
murder rate goes down; when it is not used, the
rate goes up.
The two also disagreed over whether the
death penalty was discriminatory against mi
norities.
Strosscn described the death penalty as
“random at best and discriminatory at worst.”
She also said the death penally was almost
exclusively assigned to the killers of white
victims.
“The only possible explanation is that the
justice system values white lives more than
black ones,” she said.
Meesc argued that the death penalty actu
ally discriminated against whiles.
“All of the studies have shown that it is
discriminatory toward while males as much as
any group in our society,” he said.
Bush targets
UNL studies
for cutbacks
Officials unsure why
3 projects selected
By Alan Phelps
Senior Editor
Officials involved with the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln’s agriculture college
projects appearing on the Bush admini
stration’s “hit list” of recommended rescis
sions said they were unsure why their programs
were targeted.
The Bush administration recently released a
list of budget rescissions that would save the
federal government $3.6 billion in the next
fiscal year. While the bulk of the money saved
would be in a submarine-building program the
administration previously had said was to be
slashed, other cuts deal t w ith a variety of lower
profile programs across the country.
The UNL College of Agricultural Sciences
\Iotnro 1 D m'Ai■rr'nc’ r\rr\iAr<Ic on iKn lief
were two wetlands research studies that totaled
$100,000, and a $1.5 million joint water qual
ity study between the University of Nebraska,
the University of Kansas and Iowa Slate Uni
versity.
James Merchant, an associate professor with
the UNL Conservation and Survey Division,
said the purpose of the three-university water
project was to better understand non-point
pollution sources and their relationship to water
quality.
Non-point pollution sources, he said, are
caused by water runoff from areas where chemi
cals have been applied, such as farm fields or
See HIT LIST on 2
UNL regains
stolen books
From Staff Reports
Forty-five rare books, including a volume
valued at SI,000, have been returned to the
UNL Libraries after they were stolen by an
Iowa man and reclaimed by the FBI.
The books were stolen by Stephen Blum
berg, who now is serving a five-year, 11 -month
sentence, the Lincoln Journal reported. Blum
berg traveled the nation, stealing 21,(XX) rare
books.
Joan Giescckc, assoc late dean for col lection
and services at the UNL libraries, said the most
valuable of the stolen books, “An Account of
the English Colony in New South Wales,” was
valued by the FBI at SI ,000.
The volume was published in the late 1800s,
Giesccke said, but most of the stolen books
were published during this century.
Outgoing senate opposes parking hike
By Kara Morrison
Staff Reporter
The 1991-92 AS UN Senate, an
hour before its term expired
Wednesday night, passed
emergency legislation expressing its
“extreme displeasure and disapproval”
with a $20 parking permit price in
crease.
“I’ve seen a lot
of railroad jobs,
but this tops it,”
former Business
college Sen. Rob
Broomfield said.
The meeting ....
came before the inauguration of the
1992-93 Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska execu
tives and senators.
Senators said ihcy were upset about
the procedures the Parking Advisory
Committee used to secure an extra
$300,000 in revenue that would result
New senate promises detailed
plan to address price increase
from the increase.
The Senate’s resolution urged the
university administration to reopen
discussion on the increase to “allow
for student and other input through
the appropriate channels.”
Former law college Sen. Gene
Collins said the Parking Advisory
Committee excluded student input by
meeting a week early without suffi
cient notice. The committee also failed
to release its agenda until an hour
before the meeting, he said.
Collins called the increase “crazy,”
especially after an increase in park
ing tickets earlier this spring.
Broomfield said it was ironic that
the university spent 140 hours in
hearings this fall to cut more than $2
million from its budget but “raised
$300,000 in ten minutes.”
Susan Oxley, student life chair
person, said the committee staled the
$300,000 would be used for parking
lot safety, but said the committee’s
written proposal stated almost
$200,000 of the revenue would be
used to pave several parking lots. One
of the lots, Oxley said, is only for
faculty use.
Former Journalism College Sen.
Pat Jilck blamed University of Ne
braska-Lincoln Business Manager Ray
Coffey for the increase and for disre
garding student opinion.
“Ray Coffey, last fall, said he val
ued student input, then kicked us in
the face,” Jilek said.
After the 1991-92 Senate’s final
meeting at the Wick Alumni Center,
President Andy Sigcrson and the new
AS UN senators were inaugurated.
Sigerson.in his address, expressed
his disapproval of the increase and
the administration’s failure to consult
student opinion.
“Students are tired of being left
out of important meetings and deci
sions,” he said.
In the next 30 days, Sigcrson said,
AS UN will present a detailed plan as
to how it will implement all of the
goals on its platform.
State Attorney General Don Stcn
berg administered the Oath of Office
to Sigcrson, who assumed the new
role of Student Regent, and Collins
was named ASUN’s 1991-92 outstand
ing senator.
I
Creighton crushes Huskers
19-1. Page 13
lA/. INDEX
Wire 2
Opinion 4
Diversions 5
Sports 13
Classifieds 14
