Erik Unger/DN
Nelson Potter, an associate professor of philosophy, has taught inmates at the Nebraska State Penitentiary since 1974. He
has worked closely with Harold LaMont “Willi” Otey, a prisoner who has been on death row for 14 years.
Inmate education
UNLprofessor donates free time, philosophy to penitentiary
By Matthew Grant
Staff Reporter_
Nelson Potter, an associate
professor of philosophy at
the University of Nc
braska-Lincoln, spends much of
his free time at the state peniten
tly
/ Potter has taught inmates at
tne Nebraska State Penitentiary
about philosophy since 1974. In
return, they have taught him
about crime and punishment.
Poller is a member of the
steering committee for Nebras
kans Against the Death Penalty,
which proposes legislation for the
repeal of the death penalty in
Nebraska. He has worked closely
with Harold LaMont “Willie”
Otey, a prisoner who has been on
death row since 1978.
Otey was scheduled to be
executed Aug. 6, but the day
before the deadline, the U.S.
Supreme Court upheld a stay of
execution. Last year, Otey came
within six hours of execution.
Potter said three criminal
psychologists who studied Otey
last year concluded that he was a
“remarkably rehabilitated
individual,” and stressed the
importance of rehabilitation
programs in prison.
“One of the important points
about the death penalty is that it
throws away the chance of
rehabilitation,” Potter said.
Potter has taught the philoso
phy of logic to Otey since 1985,
but, he said, Otey already had
turned his life around before
then. Potter said that while in
prison, Otey consciously decided
to seek out people to help him.
Many groups in Nebraska see
the Otey case as a test for the
stale’s infrequently applied death
penalty. Since 1920, there have
been only five public executions
in Nebraska. The last time the
death penalty was enforced was
in 1959 for mass murderer
Charles Starkweather.
Potter said he was opposed to
capital punishment before he
began leaching at the stale
penitentiary, but meeting people
on death row humanized the
issue for him. w
A passage from George
Orwell’s essay “A Hanging,” in i
which Orwell describes a
Burmese execution, is an
example of this humanization,
Potter said.
While being led to the
gallows, the prisoner steps aside
to avoid a puddle in his path. “It
is curious,” Orwell writes, “but
till that moment, I had never
realized what it means to destroy
a healthy, conscious man.”
Potter said he became a firm
abolitionist of the death penalty
after considering the international
perspective. Almost all the
countries that the United States
regards as its friends no longer
have the death penally, he said,
while those that retain it arc
considered barbaric.
“I fear we promote violence
by having the death penalty,”
Potter said. “We encourage
violent solutions to violence.”
He also said that while he
favored rehabilitation of crimi
nals over simple punishment,
more should be done to prevent
crime.
“If you’re talking about
rehabilitation, you’ve maybe
already lost half the battle,” he
said. L
Imprisonment isjincffcctivc
for minor offenses, he said.
“The United Slates imprisons
at a higher rale than any other
country in the world,” he said,
“but it doesn’t reduce the crime
rate.”
He cited the war on drugs as
one reason for the boom in the
prison population. He said he
would favor legalization of “soft"
drugs, such as marijuana, to
focus instead on limiting the use
and sale of more harmful
narcotics, such as crack cocaine
and heroin.
Potter said he first visited the
penitentiary to sit in on a self
improvement group at the
suggestion of a friend. During the
meeting, some of the inmates
expressed an interest in learning
about philosophy.
Since then, he has given both
individual and group classes in
logic, ethics and aesthetics. Right
now, he teaches at the peniten
tiary for about one hour every
two weeks.
See POTTER on 3
Committee studies adding minuses to system
By Susie Arth
Senior Reporter
An Academic Senate committee is re
searching a proposal to add minuses to
the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
grading system, an official said.
Fred Wagner, chairman of the Academic
Senate’s Grading and Examination Commit
tee, said the committee had conducted a survey
of UNL faculty members to determine their
feelings on the proposal.
Wagner refused to comment on the results of
the survey, but said the committee would issue
a report to the Academic Senate cither before
Christmas or at the beginning of next semester.
“We’re looking at (Che proposal), we’ 11 evalu
ate it and forward a report to the Academic
Senate," he said.
James Ford, an associate professor of En
glish at UNL, initiated the idea to add minuses
Survey conducted to determine support
to the grading system because he believed they
would more accurately reflect students’ grades.
Wagner said he didn’t know how the Aca
demic Senate would acton the proposal,Jbut he
said he hoped a decision would be made by
spring.
Wagner said he believed most students feared
the proposal because they believed it would
bring down their grade point average.
“Everybody is going to look at this as ‘Oh
my God, my B will now be a B-,”’ he said.
“Well, maylxi your C+ will be changed to a B-.
“There are two sides to the issue; it’s not
designed to reduce the GPA of a student.’’
Wagner said he was uncertain how the sys
lem would be implemented and whether it
would affect students already enrolled at UNL.
“The faculty senate would have to lake into
consideration the grandfather clause,” he said.
Wagner said he also was uncertain how a
minus would affect a student’s GPA.
One idea, he said, is adding .25 point to any
grade accompanied by a plus and subtracting
.25 point from any grade accompanied by a
minus.
But Ford said he believed the system of
awarding only pluses was not balanced.
“I’m interested in combatting grade infla
tion,” he said. “I find this to be asymmetrical.”
The transition to the new grading system
would be simple, Ford said.
“We’re just talking about different grada
tions within the existing diffcrcntdlvisions,“he
said.
Ford said he had surveyed several college
deans, department heads and faculty members
about his idea, and it received overwhelming
support.
Of eight deans surveyed, he said, six favored
adding minuses to the grading system, and two
were neutral.
In addition, the results of a survey of 200
faculty members on East Campus indicated
that 70 percent were in favor of adding minuses
to the grading system, while 12 percent were
opposed to both pluses and minuses.
Ford said he had heard little response from
students.
“But I haven’t talked to any students who
have been violently opposed to this,’’ he said.
Student's
trial date
to be set
i
From Staff Reports
A University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln graduate student who al
legedly tried to lire a semiau
tomatic rifle in a classroom full of
students has waived his right to a
preliminary trial.
Arthur McElroy, 43, was sched
uled for a preliminary trial Monday in
Lancaster County Court.
He now is scheduled to appear
8:30 a.m. Wednesday in Lancaster
County District Court, where a trial
date will be set, said Lancaster County
Attorney Gary Lacey.
McElroy was charged with at
tempted second-degree murder, mak
ing terroristic threats and two counts
of use of a weapon to commit a felony.
See McELROY on 3
Committee
urges UNL
to mobilize
against cuts
By Angie Brunkow
Staff Reporter
Student mobilization will be the
key to keeping Gov. Nelson
from targeting UNL for more
budget cuts, a student government
representative said.
Jennifer Lodes, chairwoman of
ASUN’s Government Liaison Com
mittee, said the governor was respon
sive to the concerns of University of
Nebraska-Lincoln students.
“We’re all his constituents,” said
Lodes, a senior political science ma
jor.
Students have a voice in state gov
ernment, she said, and they should use
it.
Nelson will present his two-year
budget proposal to the Legislature in
January, Lodes said. At worst, she
said, the university could face a 2
percent cut over each of the next two
years. The university absorbed $4
million in cuts last year.
Lodes said GLC and members of
the Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska already had
written letters to the governor ex
See GLC on 3
i