Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1993)
Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chris Hopfensperger. Editor, 472-1766 Jeremy Fitzpatrick.Opinion Page Editor Alan Phelps. Managing Editor Brian Shellito. .Cartoonist Susie Arth. Senior Reporter Kim Spurlock.Diversions Editor Sam Kepfield.Columnist Foreign focus Russia important to U.S. domestic policy While the United States turns its attention to its domestic concerns, it should not forget the world events that have allowed it to do so. President Clinton could not have won an election on a theme of reviving America’s economy if the former Soviet Union had not moved toward democracy and friendship. We could not be considering major cutbacks in defense spending and reinvestment in our country if our relations with Russia had not improved. Now, as Clinton’s plan to deal with our ballooning debt and to revitalize America is gaining steam, the political and economic situation in Russia is deteriorating and threatening that progress. Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s democratic leader, fought off a bid to start impeachment proceedings against him Wednesday. Yeltsin is under fine from Communist-era members of Russia’s parliament. Clinton has taken steps to slop the unraveling of the political situation in Russia. Wednesday he urged Western leaders to offer help to the beleaguered nation. He proposed an emergency meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized nations before their scheduled July summit to address the crisis in Russia. Elected on a domestic agenda, Clinton is demonstrating that he understands he cannot ignore international events in pursuit of a better America. The Congress and the American people should support him in his efforts to support Yeltsin and the Russian government in any way possible. If Yeltsin — and democracy — is defeated in Russia, then the United States might have to again face competition with Russia and the end of our domestic revival. Come out It’s time for VOICE to show their faces It could be said that UNL students asked for one more year of the same sort of leadership from the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska by electing VOICE’S executive candidates. But judging by this year’s campaign, it really isn’t clear what kind of student government they were asking for. And it is even less apparent what kind of ASUN we’re all getting stuck with. This year, as every year, a dismally low number of students voted in the election. But this time, it isn’t only the apathetic students who are to blame for the ftjture ASUN administration. This time even the involved students are to blame for electing questionable leaders. Neither group produced truly stunning platforms or ideas. Neither group produced any substantive debate during the cam paign. Only PARTY produced three candidates, and they still lost. Hopefully the race wasn’t indicative of what students can expect from VOICE. It doesn’t bode well for true student leader ship. The current AS UN administration was cnanengea to onng out students to protest proposed university budget cuts. To an extent, it succeeded. A fairly respectable number of students showed up at Broyhill Plaza, and many of them even made the march to the Capitol. It was a positive sign that student government, if applied correctly, could be a powerful force. It would be ambitious to expect victorious VOICE members to pull off such a success early on in their reign as student leaders. The campus can’t expect a candidate who couldn’t even make it to the campaign to actually accomplish something tangible quickly. But University of Nebraska-Lincoln students — since they did elect the members of VOICE — should be able to expect Jill Anderson, Trent Steele and, yes, even Keith Bcnes to come forward and outline their goals for the new administration. Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Spring 1993 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. 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, original ity, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all 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, 140QR St., Lincoln, Neb 68588-0448, Opinion Thursday, Mara* 11,1M) I \ -TOUJER "TO OPT. <??M\ER. OR EMGlHR Mo. A TO W?tWE l rVJEL. GUDE 1UE \ REVANUOER OF SOUR COURSE. CNtR-tA-OUT. \ Reading series will ease fears Some graduate students in the English department have been active and eager to make a difference in the department and at UNL as a whole. The English Graduate Student’s Association has been a professional student organization for many years and has organized a variety of activi ties for graduate students. There are about 150 students pur suing master’s and doctoral degrees in areas such as creative writing, lit erature, women’s studies, composi tion and rhetoric. Because there are so many gradu ate students, it’s hard to get them to mingle together in one place to talk about their work. The greatest opportunity for a pro fessional exchange will occur at the annual EGSA Spring Conference to day and Friday m Andrews Hall, the home of the English department. I have been involved in the prepa ration of the conference for several months, along with the other mem bers of the executive committee. The response from graduate students has been incredible. The idea of the conference is to provide a secure and responsive envi ronment for the students in which to read their writing. It will also act as a practice session for the graduate stu dents before they present their papers at national or international profes sional conferences, such as the Mod em Language Association or the As sociate Writing Programs. Also, theconference will provide a number of panel discussions such as mock interviews. In the interviews, students will be interviewed by pro fessors who may be on personnel hir ing committees at universities where Because there are so many graduate students, it’s hard to get them to mingle together in one place to talk about their work. the graduates will seek employment in the future. This will give the stu dents an idea of what to expect in future interviews for teaching jobs. Besides this panel, there will also be a panel on “Divisive Issues in the Classroom” and “Publishing: Class Assignments to Published Works,” But the most interesting aspect about this conference will be the va riety of papers presented. More than 25 papers will be read, as well as creative writing pieces including po etry, fiction, non-fiction, drama and performance poetry. The works will be presented in time slots ranging from 25 to 40 min utes in Andrews Hall starting al9 a m. and ending at 10 p.m. today and start ing at 9 a.m. and ending at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The public is welcome and may move from room to room to listen to readers of their choice. During the conference, this year’s newly recognized university organi zation — the “No Name Reading Series” will sponsor a reading by Debra Cumberland and Mary Beth Kwasek at the English department library. The series has existed for two years, and I have been involved in its organization both years with other English gradu ate students. The series provides an opponun ity for graduate students and faculty members of the English department to present their newly written work in fiction, non-fiction,drama, poetry and translations every two weeks. During the past year, the series has been held downtown at Valentino’s. The readings are free. The series is extremely helpful to those of us who entered this department from another state or country because we can learn what kind of writing the other gradu ate students and faculty arc creating. 1 am very excited to be able to attend this year’s 25th Annual Asso ciated Writing Programs Conference in Norfolk, Va., at the end of March. Last year the conference was held in Minneapolis, and it was a wonderful ex perience because I got to meet other American writers who have been widely published. I also got to present my own poems at their noon Muse reading. 1 read after a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Henry Taylor, and he sat and listened to my work afterward. I am hoping to read again this year. The ECS A conference and the No Name Reading Series will provide graduate students with the necessary practice that will help us overcome our fears of standing in front of a distinguished, published audience of scholars. Obraiavk to a gradual* student la creative writing-poetry and a columnist. White trash I want to applaud Kirby Moss on the March 8 article about while trash. Our society has indeed made “those kind of people” invisible. Moss’ in sight is very accurate. I would add one more thought. As Americans turn their backs on^’white trash,” I think we should all take a look at our tenuous social status. If we belong to the working class, we may only be one financial disaster away from “white trash.” A major illness of one family member would financially wipe out most working-class people. Even if we belong to the middle class and happen to be female, a di vorce can take all the assets. Then the children must be supported on a single income, and without enough educa 't lion or formal training, suddenly a woman ’ s middle class status becomes one of a single parent with children, easily translated to “white trash." And what about our growing population of eldterly in every class/ We are all living longer; have we indeed saved enough to keep our social status in our old age? Larger society may be hiding its shame for now, but we need to take heed. Our “shame” has great potential of becoming the larger society. Lanclle Kuhnel Kant graduate student - 44- ~ ~ sociology India Mark Baldridge’s account of his time in India (DN, Feb. 25,1993) has hardly endeared him to cither Indians or India-philea like me. And it is likely to discourage other students from wanting to experience that mar velous land. While it’s templing to satirize his effort, it’s not worth my time to do so. Instead I wantto address the general provincialism heprojecis. Part of adventure is to learn to appreciate the good that is there, as well as to understand (and not just experience) the problems. For me, India is not defined by the problems — the dust and the smell of urine and the pesky beggars — though they arc all there. No, India has much more to do with the exuberance of the people, the wisdom of the culture, the beauty of a city sunrise bathed in a haze of dung fire smoke. Sally Stoddard Lincoln - 4 —J