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 Navratil.Writing Coach
Stacey McKenzie...., Senior Reporter
Jeremy Eitzpatrick.. . . ..; .*•.. . .. Columnist
Elections
Vote for Hoag land, Finnegan and Barrett
If the polls are correct, paradoxical Nebraskans appear to be
ready to approve term limits with one check mark and send
three incumbents back to the U.S. House of Representatives
' with another.
The voters’ reluctance to practice what they preach makes little
sense, but the inconsistency is a bit more understandable in at
least one of the three races.
-» Peter Hoagland ol the
| 2nd District is the most deserv
ing of re-election. Hoagland is
more experienced and capable
than his rival, Ronald
Staskiewicz, an Omaha restau
rant owner.
Hoagland has pledged to
continue working for education <
and the environment — issues
vital to students. He also sup
ports the idea of a tuition
assistance program in which
students could pay for college
by performing public service
after graduation.
On the other hand, Doug
Bcrculcr, the seven-term Repub
I lie an serving the 1st District, has
^ v-&/ *r/ » - lasted beyond his limit.
David Badders/DN Bereuter said that last
year, he was a part of the “most partisan and least productive
House” in his 14 years in Washington. His solution is “balance,”
and he urges voters to reduce the Democratic Party’s majority in
* Congress. *
A better way to effect change would be to reduce Congres
sional gridlock by voting for more able Democrats. Gerry
Finnegan of Lincoln is one such man.
Finnegan is dedicated to reducing the federal budget deficit and
reforming the health care system. Bereuter and other long-term
professional politicians have presided over the problems for years,
with little result.
Many voters this year believe that there hasn’t been a lot of
good news in Washington worthy enough to write home about.
But Bereuter has kept in touch anyway, sending his 1st District
constituents 1,232,872 pieces of franked mail in 1991 alone.
In the 3rd District, the choice is not quite as clear.
Barrett, in his first Congressional term, hasn’t much of a record
to discuss. But the Lexington businessman, a former state senator
who has held several state Republican offices, seems poised to
tow the party line and jump on the career politician bandwagon.
And while Bill Barrett, like many of his Republican colleagues,
has accepted campaign funding from the National Rifle Associa
tion, Lowell Fisher is definitely his own man.
‘it’s difficult to change the system if you arc a product of the
system,” Fisher said. “Lowell Fisher is not a product of the
system.”
That may be true, but Fisher is, in fact, so far out of the system,
he leaves a bitter taste in many Nebraskans’ memories — few can
forget Fisher’s hunger strike over the Boyd County nuclear waste
dump.
While dedication to a cause is admirable, extremism does not
often get much accomplished in a system where compromise is
the key.
Vole Hoagland, Finnegan and, ahem, Barrett next Tuesday.
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 NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent
the opinion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL
Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by
the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of
its students.
Ihe Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others.
Letters will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity, originality, timeliness and space
available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all material submitted. Readers
also arc welcome to submit material as guest opinions. Ihe editor decides whether material
should run as a guest opinion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the
property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be
published. Letters should included the author’s name, year in school, major and group
affiliation, if any. Requests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily
Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
j
-1
‘Cheap shot’
*C.
1 am writing in response to your
editorial on Oct. 26 (“Get a bike”).
Congratulations on yet another
brilliant piece of journalism on the
topic of parking at UNL! The days of
calling parking officials Gestapo seem
to be over, only to be replaced by
uneducated comparisons of a student
representative to Don Quixote (I rec
ommend taking a Spanish literature
class to fill you in on that character!).
Ridiculing people working on park
ing and campus security issues is a
cheap shot, especially since students/
staff/faculty moan and groan non
stop, but never volunteer constructive
input.
After you have sunk the time and
energy into a similar project like Mark
Goldfcder ’ s parking garage proposal,
then you may shoot your mouth off!
Citizens of this campus always sug
gest parking garages as the solution to
all parking problems; now Goldfeder
has given this concept a financial
framework. This at least ends the
daydream ing and activists can start to
hunt for donations.
Christina Brantncr
assistant professor
German
students out of a large class, as this
one was, for allegedly speaking to a
classmate, and denying any possibil
ity of it being racially biased, arc
being viewed as an insult.
- M
The justifications Mr.
Griesen gave... were,
for the lack of a better
term, pathetic.
-ff *
University officials say they want
to look into the reasons why minority
students don’t view the climate on
campus as favorable as non-minority
(white students) do and this is one of
manyrcal-lifeexamplcs! Mr.Griesen
and other university officials claim
they want to do someth ing about mak
ing the campus environment more
satisfactory to minority students, but
how all of you (the administration)
deal with this situation will prove
whether you arc truly concerned with
the present atmosphere on campus for
students or whether you arc just trying
to placate us.
Tanja D. Copeland
senior
psychology
1
no less intolerable than the racial fac
tors at issue in this case.
The police need to broaden their
focus in the interest of fairness to all
persons. The police should not ex
clude women from their dragnet
merely because the description they
have is of a male. Similarly, white
people and persons of color who are
not African-American should have
their opportunity to be equally repre
sented. Inclusion, not exclusion,
should be the rule for suspect or wit
ness identification just as it is in other
areas of society. This is especially so
because of the emotionally laden na
ture of the classifications that are
being used.
It is now true that it will probably
take several years to interview every
person who is (or was) a student at
UNL at the lime of the disappearance.
It is also the case that such police
practices will undoubtedly lead to
losses of property, assaults and deaths
that would have otherwise been pre
vented by a more timely investiga
tion. This, however, is the price we
must pay for equality and fairness.
Finally, I urge the university offi
cials to take seriously Sen. Chambers’
thinly veiled threat about gaining “an
implacable enemy in the Legislature.”
I hope that you will not consider one
person’s disappearance to bea serious
enough issue to warrant jeopardizing
university funding by continuing this
investigation. What could be more
important than money?
Phillip Lyons
graduate student
psychology
'Blatant racism'
I am writing in response to the DN
article “Senator charges police with
discrimination” (Oct. 28) and state
ments made by Mr. Griesen, vice
chancellor for student affairs. The
justifications Mr. Griesen gave for
assisting the police and other officials
in singling out five African-Ameri
can males in a large anthropology
class for questioning in the Harms
case were, for the lack of a better term,
pathetic. Also, the fact that Mr.
Griesen attempted to defend this bla
tant act of racism should not only
worry minority students, but the stu
dent population at large.
I refer to this act as blatant and
hereby openly challenge Mr. Griesen
and other officials to prove otherwise
by not just questioning those five
African-American males, but the en
tire anthropology class. Could it be
quite possible that in this large lecture
class of more than 180 students, other
people may have spoken to Ms.
Harms? And if one is going to single
out individuals and question them for
allegedly speaking to a classmate, arc
you planning to question those stu
dents in her other courses to find those
classmates who had spoken to her as
well?
I think I speak for a number of
minority students when I say that your
assistance in releasing this informa
tion on these five African-American
Chambers’ charge
I concur with Senator Chambers’
assessment of the actions undertaken
by the University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln Police Department (“Senator
charges police with discrimination,”
DN, Oct. 28) as racist. We should not
condone confining a police investiga
tion to African-American males in a
particular anthropology course merely
because the individual they seek is an
African-American male in a particu
lar anthropology course. Such con
duct is reminiscent of the heavy
handed abuse by police officers that
characterized this country in the 1950s.
I had hoped that we would have put
that behind us.
Ifwcpcrmitihisconducl we should
be prepared for the intolerable results
that no doubt would follow. The po
lice nTIght restrict their searches for
car thieves to people who can sec over
the steering wheel. They might con
fine their searches for rape suspects to
men based si m pi y on a victi m ’ s report
of penile penetration. Jhcy might
exclude from their pool of eligible
suspects in a shooting those physi
cally challenged persons who have no
arms with which to point or shoot a
gun. Such discrimination on the basis
of age, sex or physical handicap arc
Bitter truth
This letter is in response to a com-1
ment made by David Meduna in the
letters to the editor column (“Rac
ism,” DN, Oct. 29). Mr. Meduna states
he wants to hear Kim Spurlock speak
about other issues, rather than being
suffocated in a constant wave of the
same issue. Some of my friends have
told me that they’re sick and tired of
hearing about racism and racial is
sues. See, it’s easy for non-minorities
to turn their heads on the issue, but we
can’t. Racism is something we deal
with every day of our lives. Minorities
are sick of racism, too. It’s not as
simple as turning our backs, because
it’severy where. 1 believe Ms. Spurlock
is doing a great job in representing the
racial issues. To some, maybe her
articles seem to have a biller sense,
but what she writes is true to life.
Jeninc Johnson
freshman
business administration
Afrikan People’s Union