Opinion
Nebraskan
Friday, February 19,1993
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Chris Hopfensperger.
Jeremy Fitzpatrick. .
Alan Phelps.
Brian Shellito.
Susie Arth.
Kim Spurlock...
Sam Kepfield.
F.l)l inkl \i
.Editor, 472-1766
Opinion Page Editor
.. .Managing Editor
.Cartoonist
... .Senior Reporter
,.. Diversions Editor
.Columnist
No more words
COLAGE to blame for its loss of funding
Ideals and politics aside, the ASUN senators did their job
Wednesday night^- and they did it pretty well.
The senators’ main duty is td'y/ork in the interests of Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln students. And while that is a vague
charge at times, it is never more clear than when the senators are
examining student fees.
This year, as every year, the penny-pinching etlorts ot the
Committee for Fees Allocation offended some students on
campus. While examining UPC’s budget request, CFA decided to
strike, among other things, the $1,500 request made by the
Committee Offering Lesbian and Gay Events because the group’s
efforts this year fell far short of what should be expected of a
group using student fees.
Wednesday, the senators approved the fee requests of the three
Fund A recipients — including the University Program Council
— as proposed by CFA.
They approved the proposals without a great deal of contro
versy, mainly because they didn’t give representatives of UPC a
chance to speak.
But Wednesday night was not the time for words, and it was
too late for promises of action from COLAGE. The group had all
year to prove that it deserved the money it was receiving from
UNL students; it failed.
COLAGE does deserve funding; it represents students and
ideas that should have a voice on this campus. But the members ,
of COLAGE are to blame for the trouble they have found them
selves in — not ASUN or CFA.
Ql <>lh$n|- I HI W'kkk
“After year after year of budget cuts, the stu
dents say, ‘No more. ’ We will no longer be the
chicken In the eyes of the Legislature’s fox. ”
— Andrew Sigerson, ASUN president, protesting the proposed
$14 million cut in the university’s budget.
“This Is not something off the wall. ”
— Jack Kasher, University of Nebraska at Omaha physics
professor, justifying his theories that two groups of aliens are
abducting and studying humans.
“Dr. Kasher is a respectable physicist, but he is
gullible in this subject. ”
— Edgar Pearlstein, University of Nebraska-Lincoln physics
professor.
“If this package is picked apart, it will have
something that will anger each of us. But If It Is
taken as a whole, It will help all of us."
— President Clinton, asking Americans to support the eco
nomic plan he outlined Wednesday night.
“The American people would do well to remem
ber: When you hear a Democrat call for taxes, do
not ask for whom the tax rises — it will rise for
you.n
— Bob Michel, House GOP leader, in the Republican response
to the president’s speech.
I I >1 I < >l<l M l>()l i( N
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.
1.1 I IJ U Pol l< V
The 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 rejeaall material submitted. Readers
also are welcome to submit material as guest opinions. The 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.
Midk
l HERE
h^feWiRE.
Rainbow Rowell
Not everyone gives beer a shot
Hello. My name is Rainbow,
and I’m not an alcoholic.
That’sright—I don’t drink.
I can’t.
In the sixth grade I was a member
of a group called 4PC. That stood for
Positive, Parents, Peers and some
thing else — maybe Porcupine —
Culture. The group was organized to
keep youngsters like myself from
drinking and drug-using. —
Every year, for the giant4PC rally,
Omaha’s sixth graders filled
Rosenblatt Stadium to watch the Roy
als lose to some team from Kansas. At
some point, all six million preteens
stood, hand over heart, and took the
4PC pledge.
It was the spring of ’86 when I
stood in those bleachers. I promised
not to use drugs, and I promised not to
drink until I was 21.
That’s that. I still have my mem
bership card. I promised. I won’t be
21 for a vear and five days. Until then,
and probably after that, I will remain
dry. I’m under oath.
So, while my fellow students cel
ebrate Thirsty Thursday huddled in
an anonymous basement, puking on a
stranger’s shag carpet or happily tip
ping glasses at a chic pub with pals, I
play board games, watch TV or go
home to Omaha.
Don’t get me wrong. Staying sober
weekend after weekend has its draw
backs.
First and foremost, it limits your
peer group. It takes a few semesters to
find the 8.3 UNL students who don’t
recreate, beer in hand. I played a lot of
solitaire my freshman year.
Once you find the few, the proud,
the nondrinkers, you can’t be choosy
because you’re kind of stuck with
them. Lying, cowardice and peculiar
body odors just don’t seem so offen
sive anymore.
Sometimes staying sober on a dry
campus gets me down. I feel weak. I
come dangerously close to breaking
my 4PC vow. The shadow falls when
I’m tired of playing Candyland and
I bet drinking
would open a
whole new world
for me. I might
start understanding
country music and
the Beastie Boys’
"License to III.”
Trivial Pursuit, when I can’t afford to
rent a movie and Adam Sandler isn’t
on “Saturday Night Live.”
I think if I drank, I’d at least have
someplace to go — even if it is just
somebody’s cruddy basement.
I bet drinking would open a whole
new world for me. I might start under
standing country music and the Beastie
Boys’“License to 111.” I’d pay a pretty
penny to know what Brass Monkey is.
It would surely sharpen my con
versation skills. When people say to
me, “God, I’m so hung over,” I’d have
more to say than “Yeah ... I have
really bad sinuses.”
I’d have something to look for
ward to. My 21st birthday would be
more than a grim reminder that I’m
one year closer to death.
Although it’s true that each morn
ing when I wake up, I can clearly
remember the night before ~ I usu
ally don’t remember anything excit
ing.
Who am I fooling? I wouldn’t drink
anyway. There’s too much risk in
volved. I know I’d get caught. I
couldn’t pick my nose in an empty
room without getting caught.
Many times, my drinking friends
have said to me, with alcohol on their
breath, “Rainbow, you should at least
try it. You don’t even know what
you’re missing. You might really like
it.”
That’s precisely what I’m afraid
of. I probably would like it — I’d
probably LOVE it.
1 know I have the propensity for
addiction — I can never eat just one
potato chip. I won’t even inhale around
alcohol. I’d take one sip, and pretty
soon I’d be like Otis from “The Andy
Griffith Show,” drunk 22 hours a day,
waking up in a jail cell.
ANDY — WOULD YOU
PLEASE STOP WHISTLING.
I have a whole keg o’ reasons not
to drink.
To look really cool, you have to
drink out of bottles, and I’ve never
learned to drink out of bottles; I’m
scared it will slip and I’ll chip my
tooth.
Usually, I create some weird
vacuum between my mouth and the
bottle. Because I’m suctioned to the
bottle, the nonalcoholic beverage of
my choice just sloshes back and forth
until it spills.
I’m told that people get clumsy
and stupid when they’re drunk. I’m
also told that I’m pretty clumsy and
stupid already.
Furthermore, I don’t like vomiting
that much.
And I need a big old beer gut as
much as I need a hole in the head.
No thank you. Looks as if I’ll be
getting high on life for another year—
at least until my 4PC pledge expires.
It’s Friday. Another weekend is
here.
Bartender, another round of
Pictionary! This one’s on me.
Rowell Is a sophomore news-ed itorial, ad -
verUsing and English major and a Dally Ne
braskan columnist -
U:tti;ksto ink kdnok
M
Choice
I am writing in response to those
who believe that homosexuals should
be let into the military. I am highly
opposed to this. The military has ev
ery right to exclude homosexuals. For
one, die military is not a democracy.
It is not a citizen’s right to join the
military; it is a privilege.
Another thing people argue is that
the military let women and African
Americans in; why not let in homo
sexuals? You cannot put homosexu
als in the same category as women
and African Americans. Homosexu
ality is not the same, because it is a
lifestyle or a choice. There is no con
elusive evidence to prove that one is
a homosexual from birth. Therefore,
it is ludicrous and insulting to com
pare these groups to homosexuals.
Kirk Goings
freshman
computer science and math
Univision
If Kevin Ellis understood the Span
ish language cable station he feels
“has the effect of undermining the
nation as a whole,” he would realize
that the “socialistic and communistic
overtones” he deplores are a fiction,
an all-too-common stereotype bor
dering on the paranoid.
As far as bilingualism and lan
guage learning through the mass me
dia are concerned, a brief glance at a
few other cultures will show the re
sults of such so-called propagandis
tic, cultural undermining. People in
Switzerland, for example, often speak
four languages, while in Germany or
Japan, children study English from
grade school on. Tne last time I
checked, these countries seemed to be
doing fairly well, especially in the
competitive, globally oriented world
economy.
David Fiero
I adviser and graduate student
modem languages and literature
