Opinion
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Chris llopfensperger.Editor, 472-1766
Dionne Searcey.Opinion Page Editor
Kris Karnopp. Managing Editor
Alan Phelps.Wire Editor
Wendy Navralil..Writing Coach
Stacey McKenzie...Senior Reporter
Jeremy Fitzpatrick ..Columnist
Catch-22
College athletes hindered by NCAA policy
Somewhere along the line, the NCAA forgot what college
athletics was all about.
The organization has tried to even the playing field of
major institutions by limiting scholarships and cutting back
recruiting efforts.
It has tried to make contracts more fair by taking control of the
lucrative bowl game and television coffers.
But the NCAA has overlooked the thousands of athletes who
make the institution necessary.
As the Comhuskcrs approached their first game two weeks ago,
the Nebraska athletic department was battling to determine the
effect of a new state law.
The law guarantccs^athlctcs the full amount of financial aid
they are eligible for, and it puts
those athletes in violation of
current NCAA policy.
Questions concerning the
eligibility of the athletes and the
whole team swirled around
Memorial Stadium.
As it stands, the situation
is far from perfect. Nebraska
has 15 football players who
were eligible for need-based aid
this vear The Comhuskcrs
would violate NCAA policy if
any of the athletes accepted the
aid and competed at the varsity
level.
Eight of the players were
redshirt freshmen, who will not
play this season.
Robert Borzekofski/DN Of the other seven, two
of the players accepted the aid but have not played. If they do
play, an NCAA official said, Nebraska could lose scholarships
next year.
Five of the athletes eligible for the aid turned it down.
All seven were faced with making a choice between money
they deserved and endangering the eligibility of the team they v
played for.
That is not a fair burden to pul on a college football player who
is fighting for playing time as well as an education.
College athletes should not have to make a choice between
their athletic and academic futures when they deserve a chance at
both.
Assistant Athletic Director A1 Papik cleared the smoke around
the situation, but a bomb remains that could go off in the Husk
ers’ faces.
Next year, the NCAA will cut the number of scholarships
allowed from 92 to 88 per university. The change will further
limit the number of opportunities universities can offer to stu
dents, who otherwise may have received an education,
Nebraska may be further handicapped if the school loses
additional scholarships because of the new law.
But the law isn’t what needs to be fixed: It is the NCAA’s
skewed view of college athletes.
The NCAA constantly louts student-athletes as “students first,”
but it punishes those students who strive to put their education on
an equal playing field with athletics.
Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Fall 1992 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by
the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the
university, its employees, the students or the N'U Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent
the opinion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL
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the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of
its students.
he Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others.
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Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.. Lincoln, Neb. 68589-0448.
i
HuiMINKriWh -We 9VMN6 PWH
Racism
I read with interest two articles that
appeared in your paper (“Racism at
UNL,” DN, August 31 and “Black
grad says key to survival is attitude,”
DN, Sept. 1). Both articles touched on
the subject of racism.
The first article was a letter by
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chan
cellor Graham Spanier that apolo
gized to the family of a Mexican
American student who was assaulted
last November by a group of six male
students.
The second article contains a
woman graduate student’s advice to
incoming African-American fresh
men on how to survive at a predomi
nantly white university.
The word “survival” suggests ob
stacles and challenges that need to be
overcome. To survive one has to spend
energy to overcome those obstacles
and challenges.
As a Pacific Islandcr-American
graduate student, I believe it is unfor
tunate that people of color at this
university have to spend energy to
overcome racially based obstacles and
challenges when that energy could be
better spent toward more productive
gUdl*.
I believe a university is an appro
priate place to learn to appreciate
differences in others. Ideally, one
should learn to appreciate those dif
ferences from one’s parents.
However, if a person docs not learn
to appreciate diversity in others from
one’s family, he or she needs the
opportunity to acquire such skills at
school or church. It is better to learn
those skills in school than in the work
place where mistakes could cost more.
In the one year I have been at UNL,
I have experienced not blatant, but
very subtle racism, which is harder to
identify but equally painful neverthe
less. I grew up in a community where
I was a member of the dominant cul
ture and felt no discrimination. How
ever, since coming to UNL, I have fell
that I have been treated differently.
I find it disappointing that in a
country that professes to be the show
case of democracy in the world and
where all persons arc supposed to be
bom equal, one still experiences bla
tant or subtle racism.
As Richard West, a Cheyenne
Arapaho who is the director of the
new National Museum of the Ameri
can Indian, was quoted in USA Today
this past summer: “I think that there
are a lot of people coming to the
conclusion that Western civilizations
may not have gotten everything quite
right. People are more receptive about
looking to other worlds and othci
ways of thinking.”
Guadalupe Borja
Adult and continuing education
Football fakes
Believe it or not, Ms. Ernissec, I
had no trouble following your article
about females having to fake interest
in football (“Female football fans can
fake it,” DN, Sept. 11), after which
you state: “This might not be a fair
introduction for a column geared to
ward women.”
Thal’sbecausemy interest is genu
ine.
This may come as a shock to you,
but we females who can tick off the
names of NFL quarterbacks (and even
the back-ups like Young and Bono of
the 49crs) do exist. In fact, my 64
_Ck
year-old mother is one of the biggest
football fans I know.
She is the one whose eyes glaze
over on Sundays as she watches as
much NFL football as her schedule
allows while my father watches some
thing else in another room.
Universities arc supposed to
broaden students’ minds and help dis
pel stereotypes.
While I found the article humor
ous, I was disturbed by the underlying
stereotype of women wishing they
could get their male significant others
to give up their marathon football
watching.
I have had a thorough understand
ing of the game and its rules for many
years, and when I cheer along with my
husband and son, my enthusiasm and
enjoyment arc genuine.
Pam Murray
Administrative Coordinator
Center for Sustainable Agricultural
Systems
UNL Institute of Agriculture and
Natural Resources
‘Ethnocentric'
Will someone please inform Alan
Phelps that he is writing for a
NEWSpaper. His article (“Brits wig
out over headgear,” DN, Sept. 14)
was probably the single most point
less article printed in the DN so far
this year— more filling for a Return
to the Redneck Way of Life pamphlet
than a “newspaper.”
It seems ridiculous to me that he
should concern himself withacustom
of another country’s court system
when our own is such a pathetic joke.
Why not take a real stand on a real
issue such as the death penally or
prison conditions and overcrowding
— or don’t any of your opinion writ
ers have a backbone?
I’d also like to invite him to come
live in Sellcck Hall or Piper Hall and
meet some of these Britons before he
pretentiously declares that HE would
never pass their “rudeness exam.” So
far none of them have slandered our
culture like he has slandered theirs.
Frankly, I doubt any of them care as to
whether Alan likes their wigs.
Can you say “ethnocentric,” Alan?
Obviously you can. Wouldn’t the
“ideal society” be one where cultural
understanding also used words like
nigger and spic, Alan? Or do you
confine your brand of racism to Brit
ons?
Laura Fasano
freshman
theatre
Religion
“... One nation, under God, with
liberty and justice for all.” Sounds
good, doesn’t it?
The founders of this country were
Christians. They wanted God to be on
the dollar, in the Congress, in the U.S.
Supreme Court, in the schools and in
public areas. They were aware of the
danger of a denomination becoming
all powerful as it had in England so
‘‘religious freedom” went into the
Constitution. They didn’t say no God
in government or no Christianity in
government, but no single denomina
tion in government.
We were not to be a country of no
religion, butaChristiancountry toler
ant of all religions. We have gotten off
track, and look at what we have al
lowed to happen in the Supreme Court.
Christianity slowly is being outlawed
—in the name of‘‘separation of church
and state,” which is not in the Consti
tution.
God can be pul back into govern
ment if the Christians demand it, and
the churches provided organized lead
ership.
It is time that the majority make
themselves heard.
Ask your legislators what they will
do, and if they will support a bill
declaring Christianity the national
religion, but guranteeing that all other
religions have tolerance and freedom.
We must tell Congress and the
Supreme Court to back off. Enough is
enough.
Malcolm D. Crawford
Gillette, Wyoming
