Opinion
NelJraskan
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
__ __J
Dual careers
UNL steps in to help partners find jobs
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has reached the level of
modem society by implementing a program that allows for
the best of both worlds.
UNL’s dual career program helps partners of prospective
faculty find a job at UNL or in Lincoln. The program became
official UNL policy July 14. But it came years after it was
needed. —
One can only wonder how many top-notch employees, namely
women, were lost to other universities more in touch with the
modem working world.
More than half of the women in the United States arc in the
labor force. Many professionals arc married to other professionals.
uuai career iamincs aren i a new irenu. auen iamincs nav<j
long been on their way to becoming the “normal” families of the
future in the United States.
Married women have the right to pursue a career. They
shouldn’t have to give up their dreams to follow those of their
husbands. Employees shouldn’t have to split their families to
make enough money to support them. Now at UNL, they won’t.
UNL Chancellor Graham Spanicr was careful to ensure that no
one would be hired because of their spouse’s appointment.
“It is not about creating two jobs when there is only one
opening,” Spanicr said. “It is about facilitating the employment of
a spouse; it’s about caring beyond the 40 or 60 hours (an
employee) works for us.”
The program will be a tool to recruit ethnically diverse faculty
members. It will be an incentive for these employees to stay at
this university where the majority of professors arc white, middle
class men.
And most importantly, quality employees won’t be lost from
UNL because of its lack of a dual career system.
Cookies and cable
Republicans bring up another non-issue
Republicans continue to plug away at the non-issues in this
year’s presidential election: Bill Clinton’s weight, Hillary
Clinton’s cookies and, now, President Bush’s veto of the
cable bill that Congress overrode Monday.
The bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to
set rates for basic cable service where cable companies have a
monopoly, and it enhances competition from other companies that
can provide programming similar to cable. It also requires cable
companies to negotiate with local broadcasters before carrying
their signals.
Some Republicans have accused the Democrats of trying to
make the veto of the cable bill an election-year issue intended to
make Bush, who had successfully vetoed 35 other bills, look bad.
But the call for increased regulation crossed all party lines. The
74-25 Senate vote to override the veto was identical to the roll
call vote to pass the bill last month. The majority included 24
Senate Republicans. The 308-114 House vote was equally one
sided.
“This is an attempt to embarrass the president 30 days bciorc
the election,” Senate Republican leader Robert Dole said. "That’s
what this is all about.”
Republicans took care of embarrassing Bush themselves by
accusing the Democrats of dirty politics. The overwhelming
majority in the two votes not only overrode Bush’s veto, but it
also sent a message to the public that the president is out of touch
with what Americans want.
The vote was nothing more than an example of democracy
working the way it should: the elected voting in the best interests
of those who elected them. It should be left at that.
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Books tell truth about Columbus
n °w> r°w y°ur B°at<
§W Gently Down the Stream;
Merrily, Merrily, Merrily,
Merrily,
Life is but a Dream.
I wonder if this song could have
been brought over by those coura
geous voyagers of the Nina, the Pinta
and the Santa Maria; those brave and
timid souls, who under the great Chris
topher Columbus, set sail across the
deep, dark ocean to set foot on vast
new undiscovered lands. Christopher
Columbus is a true hero without whom
America would be an
entirely different place.
1 used to love Christo
pher Columbus Day in
grade school. Actually,
one of my favorite epi
sodes of “The Brady
Bunch” centered on
Greg filming his family
in a rendition of the first
Thanksgiving for his history project.
All that great TV sitcom fodder
about how the Indians and Pilgrims
sat down and ate huge turkeys to
gether. I used to take such pride in my
grade school art class projects: my
pilgrim hats, my Pintas, my “hand”
made Turkeys and especially mycof
fcc-can Indian drums.
History and I grew together quite
nicely through the ages just like a
faded pair of Levis fits snuggly around
your thighs. My first A in college was
in my freshman honors history course.
It wasn’t until my junior and senior
years in modem fiction classes that I
finally came to know the truth about
a voyage 500 years ago. There is a
very brilliant §gid talented author who
was highlighted by the professor who
taught these two English courses.
The author was Jamaica Kincaid
who penned such novels and stories as
“Annie John,” “Girl” and “Lucy.”
Kincaid is a native of Antigua, an
island in the West Indies, as are her
main characters. #
She writes coming-of-agc stories.
In “Lucy," the main character of the
story writes a particularly powerful
passage about defacing the picture of
Christopher Columbus in her history
book. Part of Lucy’s growing up in
cludes the refutation of the standards
and ideals imposed on indigenous
people by the white majority.
It was in our discussion of Lucy
that I realized the horrible truth about
Christopher Columbus and what hap
pened in 1492. The childhood hero
became part of an ugly, skewed pic
ture of power, rac i sm and dec i mation.
So, as I reflect on our upcoming
celebration of Columbus Day on
Monday, it is with disdain and dis
gust.
I think the celebration of Colum
bus Day is paradigmatic of air the
subtle “isms” we have running ram
pant through our society — racism,
sexism, antisemitism, etc. Of course,
many people will tell you how far
we’ve come as a society, that we no
longer discriminate or deny access to
opportunity to minorities. How blind
and ignorant they arc!
Sometimes I wish I had a lime
capsule to go back to the 1960s or
even to the 1860s to see just how bad
it was for minorities.
Some days I really think I would
rather have been the totally repressed
housewife of the 1900s than thesemi
rcpressed-but-cvcryone-thinks-I
have-the-same-opportunity-pre-med
student of 1992.
I just can’t help but feel that overt
sexism would have been better than
trying to fight covert sexism that is
almost impossible to directly, empiri
cally quantify, much less justify to
members of the majority.
Wc, as Americans, pretend wc are
so progressive in our attempts at
muliiculluralism and the inclusion of
minorities in our education process.
Do you think a country trying to im
bue multicultural education would
purposely, systematically and overtly
attempt to promote minority aware
ness by presenting Christopher Co
lumbus as a hero?
Our cducatorsfWcn’t staling the
facts, namely in the form of shocking
statistics such as: In 1620,10 million
to 20 million Indians inhabited the
United States. In 1900,250,000 Indi
ans inhabited the United States, most
of whom were confined to reserva
tions.
Do you think the vocabulary word
for next week in elementary schools
could be “genocide” instead of “pil
grim?” This is not an education sys
tem wc are so anxiously willing to put
upon our young students; instead, it is
system ol perpetuation and prolifera
tion of ignorance and racism.
And it is these little things, like
Columbus Day, that matter.
As if this brainwashing of our chil
dren is not enough, adults are just as
willing a participant in these subtle
dynamics of racism.
What government allows this “tra
dition” of racism to continue in lieu of
the hard facts after 500 years? Do wc
need a holiday that badly? Why is it
that Philip Glass’ dance piece, “The
Voyage,” a tribute to Christopher
Columbus and exploration, is appear
ing in 20() U.S. cities and stars such
bankable artists as Twyla Tharp and
Mikhail Barishnakov?
You know, there is a reason why
Indians arc also referred to as Native
Americans.
Perhaps it is because THEY LIVED
HERE FIRST!
And how did our majority-status
ancestors treat them? We hunted the
Indians like animals,and if thatdidn’l
work, we pushed them onto their own
self-contained barren lands to live
amidst the extremities of Mother Na
ture and the cruellies of human na
ture.
I realize this is not easy to stomach.
I realize I am presenting counter
intuitive ideas to the basic, patriotic,
non-biased themes most Americans
have been raised on. But this is the
only way to confront and stymie rac
ism by re-evaluation.
Don’t take it for granted that terms
like freshman or non-traditional stu
dent are the best descriptions for
people in such groups, that just be
cause you don’t yell out hateful ob
scenities to persons of a different race
that you, therefore, are not racist, and
please don’t let history’s ability to
mix perception with reality deter you
from finding out the real truth about
the holidays you celebrate.
Do something different Monday.
Don’t celebrate Columbus Day be
cause someone said you had to. If
you’ve thought about it and still want
to celebrate Columbus Day, be my
guest. But what I hope is that you take
an alternate route to celebration.
.... ■ . 1
Write your congrcsspcrson a letter
saying how our stale should follow
South Dakota’s precedent by not cel
ebrating Columbus Day.
Read “The Red Convertible” by
Louise Erdrich, or, better yet, struggle
through N. Scott Momaday’s brilliant
“The Ancient Child.” Rent “Dances
with Wolves” one more time.
Gain insight into Native American
living. Educate yourself. Read and
absorb a different culture. Denounce
the hatred and perpetuation of racism
for us all today, for our children to
morrow and for our country.
With re-evaluation and education,
Monday and every day ensuing, we
can be better Americans who accept
our sometimes sordid past to con
struct a more harmonious and proud
future.
Krnisse is a senior pre-mod major and a
Daily Nebraskan columnist.
