OPTNTON Nebraskan
XI 1 XVyi 1 Tuesday, April 6,1993
Neljraskan
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
Power struggle
Regents, commission should work together
Stupid.
It is the only word left to describe the ongoing conflict
between the NU Board of Regents and the Coordinating
Commission for Postsecondary Education. The two groups’
continuing battle over UNL’s peer group has moved beyond
“cute,” “silly” and “annoying” to downright dumb. Without even
trying, the two groups have successfully proven that the univer
sity needs less bureaucracy. But by working apart the two groups
have given UNL additional headaches.
The commission and the
board — both blessed with
some amount of oversight in the
dealings of the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln — have been
bickering back and forth about
the school’s peer group for
nearly a year.
Unlike most bureaucratic
bodies, the two groups have
both achieved quite a bit in the
peer group search process. In
fact, they have done too much.
But the situation should
have been settled long ago —
when the regents proposed a
peer group composed of Colo
rado State, Iowa State, Purdue,
Missouri, Colorado, Kansas,
d«vw Badders/DN Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio State
and Iowa.
That would have been enough if the commission hadn’t
stepped in with an almost completely different group of its own
last week. The commission’s group also includes Colorado State,
Iowa State, Purdue, Missouri, Colorado and Kansas. But it added
Auburn, Kansas State, Louisiana State, Oklahoma State, Georgia
and Tennessee to replace the other schools.
Now, two groups exist — the regents’ and the commission’s —
and they will both remain because the two groups can’t reach a
compromise.
Obviously that will lead to future problems. Both the regents
and the commission work with the university when it is examin
ing its budget, salaries and programs.
UNL Chancellor Graham Spanicr and NU President Martin
Massengale have both said they would abide by the regents’ peer
group, and that leads to further questions.
How will the university handle its dealings with the commis
sion? Is UNL going to have to do additional work to get its
proposals past the commission even if the regents have already
approved them?
Already the commission has interfered in the establishment of
the College of Fine Arts at UNL — a plan that had already been
approved by the regents. The problem, which amounted to
nothing more than a financial misunderstanding, only slowed the
process a bit, but it is indicative of the problems when the power
of two groups overlap. If the commission was set up to coordinate
postsccondary education it should do what it can to accomplish
that, but it should work with — not against — the existing
structures. >
Considering the actions of the regents in recent years, it seems -
that it would be difficult to find a more inept group of people to
lead the university. But the commission, thus far, has succeeded.
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Working together will pay off
From all the controversy that
has surrounded Bill Clinton’s
health-care reform proposals
in the past weeks, you'd think the
president was proposing a sweeping
program that could change the direc
tion of American politics.
Perhaps it’s because Clinton is
doing exactly that.
The United Stales has been asleep
domestically over the past 12 years.
The decade was a period in which
America went through a regrettable
time of rest from active politics as
well as compassion fordisadvantaged
Americans.
Ronald Reagan liked to say in the
1980s that it was “morning in
America.” Unfortunately, if you arc
asleep during the day — as Reagan
really often was—it m ight as well be
night.
But now America seems to be
waking from that sleep. We are cut
ting the deficit and considering the
most significant social progqpn in our
history since Franklin Roosevelt’s
New Deal.
Our politics over the past 12 years
have been based on self-interest.
Americans were encouraged to do as
well as they could for themselves and
forget the interest of the country and
their fellow citizens. The end result
was supposed to be that a minority of
the population would do very well
and that would mean the rest of the
population would prosper as well.
The policy worked. Well, at least
half of it did. A minority of Ameri
cans did very well. The rest of the
country just didn’t get to share in the
opportunity.
The philosophy of the 1980s was
everyone for themselves. If people
were in economic trouble, it was per
ceived to be their own fault.
That philosophy bankrupted the
United States and left Americans with
domestic challenges that arc worse
By paying more
now, we will
eventually pay less.
It’s an investment,
as Bill Clinton is so
fond of saying.
than they’ve been in 20 years.
Now wc arc beginning to realize
that America can only prosper if we
all work together. More than 250 mil
lion people working individually
failed in the 1980s. Perhaps now if
those same people would work to
gether, we would discover there is
little we could not accomplish.
The fact that wc are now contem
plating a national health-care system
is evidence that a new attitude is
starting to lake hold in America. Wc
arc beginning to realize that wc can
only guarantee health care to indi
viduals if wc arc willing to assume
responsibility for providing ittogether
as a society.
Health-care reform might mean
we will all have to pay higher taxes.
But it will also mean that people who
have major health problems will be
covered and not be instantly put into
bankruptcy.
By paying more now, wc will even
tually pay less. It’s an investment, as
Bill Clinton is so fond of saying.
Of course, wc should not rush into
health-care reform. Such an immense
social program will have an impact on
our society for many years. Once in
place, it will not be easily dismantled.
We must make sure the program is
right the first time because it will be so
difficult to correct. But we should not
allow the difficulties or complexities
involved make us shy away from act
ing. The issue cannot wail. Neither
can the millions of Americans who
have no health care and live one major
illness away from poverty.
The months ahead are likely to be
stormy politically as America consid
ers Clinton’s health-care proposals.
Old systems never simply lie down
and die. Those with a stake in the way
America was in the 1980s will fight.
Those who are doing well will resist
helping the many who are not.
But health-care reform will pass. It
is inevitable that some change must
come to a system that is not providing
for far too many Americans.
We should hope that change will
be representative of a larger change in
the country. “Greed is good,” the motto
of some in the 1980s, has been shown
to be a recipe for self-destruction. In
the short term, it has its rewards. In the
long term, it costs America a very
dear price in the budget deficit we will
be paying off for decades to come.
Maybe the goal of Americans will
change in the ’90s from individual
interest to general responsibility. We
would be a richer — not poorer —
nation if we could come to perceive
that Americans will cither move for
ward together as one nation or stand in
place as individuals.
We arc lucky to be the generation
that is coming of age at a major turn
ing point in American history. With
the Cold War over, we have the op
portunity to move America forward
or fail to do so. That is our choice.
Fitzpatrick, to a Junior political acicnce
major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
Response
I’ve been trying to figure out what
to say about Sam KepfieId’s article on
the beleaguered white male (DN,
March 31, 1993) or whether it de
serves the dignity of a response. All I
can come up with is: No, Sam, you
don’t have a clue. We white males are
not being persecuted unless vou con
sider it your right to play bull in a
china shop. I’ve had black and female
friends routinely run across sdxist and
racist behavior that has denied them
jobs for which they were qualified
(jobs which less qualified white males
received). In comparison, this “re
verse discrimination” is merely anec
dotal.
Get a clue. The idea that we are the
only ones here is not viable anymore.
The world isn’t fair, and we will have
to be just another group on whom
unfairness falls. All the breaks aren’t
going to some other group; they arc
cing distributed among all qualified
people now. There are those among
some minority groups whose rhetoric
is not helpful in creating a better
tomorrow, but these minorities of
minorities don’rhave the violent and
real history David Duke’s movement
docs.
Oh, another thing. Let’s put an end
to this idea that there are no scholar -
•--V
ships or organizations specifically for
white people. Perhaps only mud
headed racists like Duke prefer the
generic term “white” in their organi
zation names, but these things exist
in abundance for Euro-Americans.
How many Irish, German, French,
Italian or other such ethnic-American
organizations are there?
The issue is not will while males be
the next great oppressed group, but
will they be able to grow up and play
fair in a world comprised of others.
I’ll try. And you, Sam? >
Trevor McArthur
senior
teachers college
