CHRIS HALLIGAN
Greek system ripe for change
Ican never forget the first day I
stepped on to this fabulous
campus, bearing witness to the
breath-taking array of fraternities and
sororities.
I knew then that my destiny awaited
within this glorious system and, relin
quishing my self-control to the ac
tives of my chosen fraternity, pro
ceeded to go on a most interesting,
colorful ride in self-righteous broth
erhood that would change my life
forever.
Without a doubt, UNL’s greck
system is one of the strongest in the
country. Its powerful stronghold on
UNL’s student government and basic
student culture has paved the way for
future generations of both greck and
non-grcck students.
Somewhere out there, in the depths
of the Midwestern fields of life, is a
person, innocent that he may be,
waiting to be “enlightened” by col
lege. But more influential than that
will be his fraternity, which will teach
him the social graces and leadership
skills that will guarantee him success
in all that he docs.
50 as i say too-aoo-ioo to my
greck system forever, and know that
there will never again be a time when
I can make an impaclon itas an active
member, I have decided to take this
opportunity to communicate some
things I see that need to be changed in
our system.
These changes would help our friend
from Bumblcfarm, Nebraska, and
allow him more fundamental growth
as a greck.
For the past four years, I have been
paying A LOT of money to live in my
fraternity. As a pledge, I had to clean
my own house. As an active, I have
had the responsibility of hiring staff,
planning a budget for our various
needs and playing policeman when
the brothers got out of hand.
However, although we run our own
homes, we still fall under the campus
policies and codes of conduct.
University officials do not pay for
our food. They do not pay for our
cleaning. They don’t donate to reno
vating our homes. However, they do
.feel they have jurisdiction over the
way we live our lives.
This university must realize that
the grccks do very well on our own.
We prove ourselves time and lime
again through our generous philan
thropy projects and leadership abili
There are also the
little things that must
Slay, such as. drink
ing beer and inter
fraternitv brawling.
Of course, what
would be the, greek
system without these
ingredients?_
ucs. we ao noi need 10 dc nany-sat. 11
we warned lo be, we would have lived
in the dorms.
We need lo do whal Ihc University
of Washington greek system did many
moons ago — secede from university
policy.
Hitting much closer to home, I
have found that over the past four
years, our beloved Intcrfratemity
Council office has been, to put it
mildly, asserting itself in ways many
do not describe as fair.
To put it less mildly, the greek
system has been run by an IFC dicta
torship that has handed down some
baseless decisions and punishments
from that small office in the Union.
I say it’s time lo clean house. I say
it’s lime lo get some people in there
who see the greek system not as a tool
for manipulation, but as a potential
force for good that needs to be guided
in the right direction.
Like the United Slates government,
our greek system has been infiltrated
by inconsistent leadership and stag
nant policies far too long.
Of course, we cannot forget about
the illustrious community of secret
subrosa members who reside within
our greek homes. These guys also
definitely need to go.
In attempting lo legilimwe the greek
system, these buffoons accomplish
nothing more than lo make it look
like it is being run by a pack of illiter
ate lackeys, claiming that they are the
chosen few obligated to “tell it like it
is.”
It is one thing to be a member of
the Skull and Crossboncs subrosa at
Yale and quite another to be one at
UNL. These guys think they will be a
bunch of future George Bushes, when,
in fact, they will be lucky to be members
of the Million Dollar Club at Century
21 realty.
I can sec it now: Ten years down
the road, when the subrosas have their
reunion, we will see a bunch of guys
running around with their gold poly
ester coats on with buttons that say,
“I’m a TNE’er too!”
On a much more serious note, our
grcck system needs to sec more mi
nority recruitment. The days of grcck
Euroccntrism arc dying, and it would
be in the best interest of the greeks to
start bringing in some different cul
tures.
I have been told that the IFC presi
dent, Mak Azadi, is striving to acti
vate a new minority recruitment pro
gram, but we can only hope that his
work will carry over into the terms
following his.
Isolationism equals ignorance, and
we don ’ t want to encourage our friend
from Bumblefarm to remain as racist
and ignorant as he already is.
There are also the little things that
must stop, such as drinking beer and
interfratemity brawling. Of course,
what would be the greck system with
out these ingredients? They arc truly
the character-building essentials.
Sororities, of course, need not worry
about these problems, at least in their
houses. This is the area where the
beer-fly epidemic must be addressed.
It is true. The greck system and I
arc parting ways. I needed to voice
my views just one more lime, if not
for my brothers and sisters, then for
our future brother and friend from
Bumblefarm, Nebraska.
The greck system empowers its
people, and if we clean house just a
little bit, there’s no reason why UNL’s
greck system couldn’t be the best in
the nation.
Note to Rush Chairmen of UNL:
Yes, you may use this column as a
rush tool.
Halligan is a junior Knglish major and a
Daily Nebraskan columnist.
-LETTER tth°e EDITOR
Constitutional amendment no solution
On May 12 you will be asked to
vote on Constitutional Amendment
1. Per Gov. Nelson’s legal depart
ment, you would need 29 years of
education to fully understand what it
says. In simple terms, if you vote yes,
you will give our state senators power
that they have never had before — to
tax personal property however they
please at the time, as long as the tax
was “reasonable.” Whose definition
of “reasonable” do we use?
The Constitutional amendment was
worded so that Gov. Nelson’s tax law
LB 1063, which he was quoted as saying
“slinks,” would be constitutional.
LB 1063 increased the overall tax
on agriculture $8 million with virtu
ally NO relief to the average home
owner’s real estate taxes.
The railroads started out paying
$10 million, then $5.5 million under
LB 1063 and then their tax was re
duced another million in a true last
minute deal after they threatened a
, lawsuit. A “yes” vote on Constilu
tional Amendment 1 will let the
Legislature change all of this again
next year, however it pleases.
The Nebraska Legislature is trend
ing from conservative rural control to
liberal urban control. Do we want to
give a simple majority of senators —
25 — the power to do what they
please? Maybe next year they will sec
fit to tax agriculture an additional $20
million or $30 million or so.
You will soon be “bombarded”
with a huge advertising campaign
sponsored by 25 large interest groups.
They will tell you that you must vote
“yes” for Constitutional Amendment
1. These ads, paid for mainly by big
businesses, will tell you to vote “yes ’
so the big guys can be taxed instead of
the little guy. Utilities, pipelines and
telephone companies will simply pass
on taxes to the little guy in the form of
higher bills. Many businesses will
pay less under the depreciated-asset
basis than they would under the ac
tual value we had before. No wonder
big business is spending $250,000 to
try to get you to vote yes.
Gov. Nelson is trying to blackmail
us into voting yes by saying the only
other option is to tax all personal
property and inventory. THERE ARE
OTHER OPTIONS. Gov. Nelson is
playing poker (with a big bluff) say
ing there would be NO special ses
sion to fix the tax mess correctly if
Nebraskans said no to the constitu
tional amendment. In reality, the citi
zens and business people of Nebraska
would demand and get a special ses
sion.
Will your vole be swayed by the
$250,000 advertising campaign and
Gov. Nelson’s “blackmail”? Will you
vote to give our slate senators new
taxing powers?
Vote NO to blackmail! Vote NO
on Constitutional Amendment 1!
Larry Dinkcl
John Dinkcl
Norfolk
--EDITORIAL POLICY-—
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juii■ umunaiA ii/piu>uii uiu win*
cial policy of the Spring 1992 Daily
Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its mem
bers arc: Jana Pedersen, editor; Alan
Phelps, opinion page editor; Kara
Wells, managing editor; Roger Price,
wire editor; Wendy Navralil, copy
desk chief; Brian Shcllito, cartoon
i5i, jvhuiij i u/.pauitR, aviliui im
porter.
Editorials do not necessarily re
flect the views of the university, its
employees, the students or the NU
Board of Regents.
Editorial columns represent the
opinion of the author.
arc ihc regents, who established the
UNL Publications Board to super
vise the daily production of the pa
per.
According to policy set by the re
gents, responsibility for the editorial
content of the newspaper lies solely
in the hands of its students.
-LETTER POLICY
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readers and interested others.
Letters will be selected for publi
canon on uic uasia ui iiaiiijr, ungr
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