Author questions masculine role By Kara Morrison Senior Editor Studying gender is not just a matter of biology, but of improving relation ships, which can improve almost ev ery aspect of a person’s life, an author said Friday. Mark Gerzon, who wrote “A Choice of Heroes: The Changing Faces of American Manhood” in 1983, said if men and women were not conscious of their own images of masculinity and femininity, they would not know themselves well enough to maintain good relationships. Gerzon, speaking at Nebraska Wesleyan University as part of its Forum presentations, said relation ships encompass physical, emotional, social, financial and professional well being. Gerzon likened past gender roles in America to a play in which men and women were expected to read from written scripts. “In the ’60s and ’70s women said, r Wc don t want these scripts’ and walked off the stage,” Gerzon said, “But men kept reading theirs.” Gerzon said when men finally re alized that no one else was listening, they began examining their roles, only to be confused by messages that con flicted with the American archetype of masculinity. He showed a number of advertise ments in which men were depicted as heroic, aggressive, rough and com petitive — traits that culminated in the most famous character in adver tising: the Marlboro man of the Marlboro cigarette advertisements. The advertising images are power ful, Gerzon said, because “they are attitudes rooted in American culture.” Gerzon said the first masculine hero in American history was that of the minuteman, a soldier who was pictured with a musket in one hand and a plow in the other. Ge^on called: this “soldier and breadwinner archetype.” In early American history, Gerzon said, war was something men were expected to go through in their life times, and boys were brought up in the soldier archetype. Gerzon said it was this image of soldier-like, rough masculinity, which made it difficult for many people to envision homosexual men in the mili tary. Changes in technology and in women’s roles, Gerzon said, have confused the historic American ar chetype of man as the soldier and breadwinner. “Men can’t prove their ‘manhood’ anymore by being a workaholic” when their co-worker or boss is a woman, Gerzon said, and technology in the military has changed the role of the soldier because long-range bom bs put everyone in a battlefield. Gerzon, who used to work in Hol lywood as a film producer, said, “The John Wayne monopoly is over, but we are in a time when all cultural heroes are conflicting.” RHA approves smoking ban for UNL food-service areas By George K. Stephan Staff Reporter The Residence Hall Associa tion approved a resolution Sunday recommending a smoking ban in food-seivice of resi areas dence halls. The resolu tion created a lot of discus sion for resi dence hall rep resentatives before passing 18-5. The RHA recommendation will be taken into account by the Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln Division of Housing. Brad Prall, president of Selleck Hall, said that RHA needed to‘‘pro tect minorities’ rights.” Prall, who favored an amend ment that would “significantly re duce” smoking in food-service ar eas, said he feared that a total ban might strike too quickly and create a sharp reaction from some resi dents. Most representatives, however, said they believed that only reduc ing smoking areas would defeat the purpose of a smoking ban that seeks to protect otherresidents from the health risks of secondhand smoke. Other RHA representatives, see ing the resolution as too important an issue to pass without the partici pation of individual residents, fa vored leaving the decision on a smoking ban to the individual resi dence halls. Lawrence Gibbs, RHA vice president, said that smoking in the East Campus food service may not be affected by the ban because it is inside the East Campus Union, and any ban becomes the decision of the student unions. and 8oz. Coffee Expires 2/26/93 Student Union Only | BUSCH LIGHTS Big Screen TV for B-ball mi o St. Coupon Strip "9 mm mm mm ** mm mm *" "" ^ ' The Watering Hole Big Monday--6:30-Close Aunt Mable’s Hats (wiih coupon) These soft warm fleece hats are great for biking or skiing. THE DINO HAT (Exp. 3/15/93) 27th & Vine 15% 5*5"® ^ Audia.99 Cheeseburger $2.49 4 pc. Chicken Strips and Fries Choose any of these items at this price with $1 purchase and coupon See us at 905 N. 16th 438-2262 We accept Call-in orders and cany-out 15% OFF any purchase of $10.00 or more! THE. r \ Paul Mitchell • Matrix • Aveda • KMS • Redken • Joico • Nexxus • Graham Webb • Goldwell • Brocato • and many more brands! 14 &P 474-2214 3-Years Continued from Page 1 fore entering college than the typical American student. She said UNL students, with ad vanced preparation and summer school, could complete their degree in three years. I I But, she said, “there’s no program available at UNL that can be pack aged very well as a three-year de James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs, said several medical schools in the United States switched to a three-year program in order to speed up the number of doctors enter ing the work force. “I think that every one of those schools switched back to four years/* he said. Griesen said neither the students nor the faculty at the medical schools were satisfied with the three-year pro grams. “Too much of it was going by in a big blur," he said. Griesen said time to mature, grow and assimilate knowledge was impor tant. He said with a three-year program, students would miss out on valuable things such as internships, campus activities and part-time work. Changing to a three-year curricu lum would take away from these ex periences, he said. “I’ll not deny the economics of it,” he said. “But it’s definitely not for most students.” | E-Mail | Continued from Page 1 messages. Increasing availability and other developments will cause E-mail to radically alter the way UNL operates in the future, Liss said. E-mail has developed far beyond simply being a means of sending messages, Liss said. In the future, she said, professors will be able to stop having office hours and will be able to set up meetings, receive and grade papers through E-mail. Such func tions are known as “mail-enabled applications,” she said. Students also will be able to obtain materials from the library through E mail, Liss said. As the price of the technology drops, she said, students may even attend classes carrying portable com -ii I'd like to see UNL, In a couple of years, be at the point where every faculty, staff member and student has E-mail. — Spanier UNL chancellor -ft - puters with a list of their schedules, syllabi and assignments stored in memory banks. In a 1992 vision statement, the UNL Academic Senate Computa tional Committee also mentioned the probability of increased use of laptop computers by students. The statement says that, as the use of facilities such as E-mail increases, information re sources “will become globally avail able through worldwide electronic networks making network access and information display as valuable to scholars as libraiy access." This process has already begun. UNL is a member of Internet, an international organization for E-mail users funded by the National Science Foundation. About 5 million comput ers are linked to the Internet system, Liss said, providing unrivaled com munication facilities to researchers. William Lewis, chairman and as sociate professor of mathematics, said every member of the math depart ment has an E-mail account. Many use them for research project commu nications all over the world, he said. Stephen Hilliard, chairman and professor of English, said faculty in the English department also use’E mail, but the department is “still on the up-scale of the learning curve.” Aid Continued from Page 1 “It’s no longer to one’s advantage to be independent. It’s to one’s advan tage to be dependent,” he said. “Middle (income) Americans are really going to benefit.” In contrast, he said, the financial contribution expected of married in dependent students without children would increase. . . The standard maintenance allow ance for these students would be $3,000 if both are enrolled and $6,000 if one was enrolled. These figures are less than previous deductions, which were at least $8,000 per student. The expected contribution for single independent students and inde pendent students with children would remain similar to this year, he said. Borrowing limits for Federal Stafford Loans have been raised for all students after the first year, in accordance with Congress’ attempt to increase student access to financial aid. For 1992-93, sophomores could borrow up to $2,625. In 1993-94 they may borrow up to $3,500. Borrowing limits for juniors and seniors will be raised from $4,000 to $5,500. Congress also implemented the Unsubsidized Stafford Loan program. The program requires no demonstra tion of need by students, but requires payments on the loan’s interest dur ing the student college career. Under the regular Federal Stafford Loan program, the government pays the loan’s interest while the student remains in school. Despite some initial confusion about the new regulations, Beacon said he expected the financial aid process to operate similarly to past years. “We’re very comfortable we’ve made correct assumptions,” Beacon said. “We don’t expect students to be impacted by it. We’re going about business as usual.” Beacon said the new forms have been simplified and students need to fill out only one application for all federal loans, instead of separate forms for different loans, as in past years. “Hopefully, it will be a little easier and take a little less time,” Beacon said. Budget Continued from Page 1 to $4.7 billion in five years, according to the General Accounting Office. “If the system works, there would be significant savings t> the taxpayer," Beacon said. “Yourve eliminated the middleman.** But Beacon said the .proposal should be considered carefully. Private banks are efficient, driven by competition. A direct-loaning pro gram would take the competitive edge away from the student-loan business. Beacon said national leaders should consider the trade-off between the loss of reliable relations with private banks and the gain of savings for students. “Banks have been good partners for us." Beacon said. ‘Take away the competiti ve edge and arc you going to get the kind of service and delivery you get from banks?" A final proposal, national service, could be key in reducing the number of students who fail to pay back their loans, Beacon said. The proposal would let students work off their debts after graduation through service to the government. Beacon said the idea would be good for some students who get out of college and can’t find a job. Those students would be given a job, experience and a way to pay off their debts. But Beacon said the government might be stuck with recent graduates who are unproductive or try to “slide by” until their debt is worked off. A lot of details of the plan have to be worked out, he said. Beacon said he had some reserva tions about one aspect of the commission’s proposal, the proposed increase in the money available to students. All students would be a eli gible for up to $14,000 per year in grants and loans. Currently, the limit for the first-year loan is $2,625. ”1 see these limits going up and up and up,” he said. If students are offered more money, they'll probably use it even though they could have gotten by on a lesser amount, Beacon said. “People have to see they have to someday pay that back and not bor row more than they need to borrow,” he said.