Nebraskan
Wednesday, February 17,1993
Net?raskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Chris Hopfensperger.
Jeremy Fitzpatrick..
Alan Phelps...
Brian Shellito.
Susie Arth ..
Kim Spurlock.
Sam Kepfield......
i;di i oki m
... .Editor,472-1766
Opinion Page Editor
.. .Managing Editor
.Cartoonist
,....Senior Reporter
... Diversions Editor
.Columnist
Misplaced apathy
Students must raise voices, oppose cuts
ike Mulnix is right.
|Y|,, University administrators, student leaders, and even
Daily Nebraskan editorials have been saying the same,
thing for so long now that they are all beginning to sound like a
broken record.
But the message is worth
reiterating: Budget cuts of the
magnitude proposed by the
Legislature’s Appropriations
Committee would devastate the
university.
It sounds familiar because it
has been said so much recently,
but if anyone is listening, they
just aren’t getting the message
— especially students at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Maybe someone should try
shock value.
How would students react if
we told them that their favorite
professor was getting the ax
because the university couldn’t
afford to pay her salary?
. How would a student £*pectr
ipg to graduate next spring react
if we told him he would have to
stick around another year or so
because the classes he needs to
graduate were already full?
David Badders/DN HOW WOUld a freshman who
came to UNL to study speech communication feel if the univer
sity had to tell her that she would have to head off to an out-of
state school because the university could no longer afford the
department?
Hopefully that will work, because everything that has been said
so far has failed miserably. Most students continue to be apathetic
about what the Legislature is planning to do to the university.
Average students either aren’t listening or aren’t caring about the
message leaders of the Association of Students of the University
of Nebraska are trying to convey.
If that apathy is merely an extension of the attitude surrounding
the rest of what student government does, it is misplaced. Because
this is not an ASUN issue. This is a very real issue, and there is
only so much student leaders can do about it. They have already
started to do that.
ASUN President Andrew Sigerson and others have done as
much as they could to tell state Sen. Scott Moore and others that
the university couldn’t cope with budget cuts of nearly $14
million.
And Sen. Moore has responded by attacking Sigerson because
the ASUN president didn’t offer any alternative cuts from the
state’s budget.
But it is not Andrew Sigerson’s job to figure out how to
balance the stale’s books; it’s Moore’s job. And if he doesn’t have
the guts to propose a tax increase or make some other cut to
protect education, then maybe he should get out of the govem
- ment business. --.—
Sigerson is right when he says the university can’t be the
chicken in the eyes of the Legislature’s fox. Hopefully he is also
right when he says students aren’t going to let that happen.
That remains to be seen. Now, it is time for other students to
stand up and echo Sigerson’s cry.
I hi i < >KI \l IN*| !<
Staff editorial* represent the official policy of the Pall 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 regenu publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL
Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by
the regenu, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of
its students.
I I HIM P()l If \
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LETTERS K) THE EDI I OK
Terminology
Perhaps Mick Thomson, or any
one else for (hat matter, can explain
what difference it makes to an unborn
human being whether you use the
term pro-abortion or pro-choice. Call
ing yourself a pro-choice advocate
simply means that you support
someone’s right to choose death for
another innocent human being.
All we pro-life advocates or
anti-abortionists, if you will — are
trying todo4s to change a law that we
feel is wrong. We all have the right to
try to change the laws. It’s the Ameri
‘Bombastic attack’
Is Paul Koester for real?
Last Friday he unleashed a bom
bastic attack on anyone daring to call
themselves conservative. That does
not normally include me, but perhaps
I will define myself as such if he is
representative of the liberal viewpoint.
Where do I begin? Perhaps with
the fact that conservatives are not the
only people who are known to have
“hypocrisies and inconsistencies.”
Plenty of folks in the “liberal” camp
have them as well, and if Koester goes
around claiming all conservatives
have sold out their principles, toler
ance and logic, he is the greatest proof
of left-leaning hypocrisy.
Give people the freedom to be
human and different, and subject your
self to the same harsh light you shine
on others. The “hop-on-board” men
tality ascribed to conservatives has a
root among liberals as well,
won't even get into the fact that
people can lean left on one issue, right
on another, and still be consistent —
like pro-life feminists. Thu letter
proved conclusively that a person can
change political sides without chang
ing attitudes or waking up. I hope Mr.
cut way!
Thomas Baumert
senior
electrical engineering
David Badders/DN
Koester removes his head from the
sand, as he expects others to do.
Trevor McArthur
senior
teachers college
Actions
Actions speak louder than words. I
was raised in a very active anti-choice
family; as a child I regularly went to
demonstrations at abortion clinics,
hospitals and city streets, as well as
anti-choice meetings. I truly believed
in this cause. This is a life. Besides,
how could my parents be wrong? They
were Christians.
As life went on, I started asking
myself things like, “How could a
Christian society enslave black hu
man beings?,,and *4How couldaChris
tian society deny minorities equal
education and employment?” An edu
cation in history made me realize that
Christian society was not infallible.
Once I realized that mere Christi
anity did not necessarily indicate righ
teousness, I began to be OK with
asking questions concerning the
present. 1 could avoid reality no longer.
Why is it these“pro-lifers” support
politicians who cut funding to groups
idtes Planned Parenthood who are the
most able to decrease abortions
through education and contraceptive
distribution? Why have such a large
portion of these people opposed con
traceptive distribution and sex educa
tion in the public schools? Why is it
these people want to bring more chil
dren in this world but aren’t on the
home front of the environmental
movement so that there will a world
left for their children?
We must look at all sides of every
issue in order to be fair to present and
future generations. I know this is a
life, and I agree that abortion is not a
desirable thing. Reality is, however,
that the world is rapidly exceeding
carrying capacity for humans, espe
cially gluttonous humans like our
selves. Reality is, we cannot even
take care of the humans alive today;
and very often theresources to raise
another child are just not there. Real
ity is that restituuon is still not being
made to minorities; and, due to poor
education and employment, they suf
fer the worst by having unwanted
children. Reality is, there is often no
choice but to have an abortion. Real
ity is that “pro-lifers” cannot and will
not ever be able to control the moral
ity of SO percent of the population.
1 suggest to those on the front lines
of the anti-choice mevement to start
volunteering to teach sex education to
children, as well as working together
with organizations like Planned Par
enthood lo decrease numbers of abor
lions, not pushing sexual morals onto
people through legislation. _
Paul Koester
senior
agronomy
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