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Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraeka-Lincoln
Jeremy Fitzpatrick. .. Editor, 472-1766
Kathy Steinauer.. • • Opinion Page Editor
Wendy Mott. Managing Editor
Todd Cooper. Sports Editor
Chris Hopfensperger......Oopy Desk ChieJ
Kim Spurlock. Sower Editor
Kiley Timperley. . • Senior Photographer
It ain’t easy
Being green better for UNL in long run
UNL has an obvious parking problem. There are not enough
parking places available for a university with more than
20,000 students.
At the same time, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a
pavement problem. There is too much of it on campus.
UNL Chancellor Graham Spanier has recognized both prob
lems and is moving in the right direction with his decision to
eliminate one of the parking lots north of the Nebraska Union and
replacing it with an open, green space.
The faculty spaces in the lot would be replaced in an area away
from the center of campus. No spots would be eliminated, Spanier
said, until others have been found to replace them.
Spanier said the proposal to replace the lot with green space
was part of a larger plan to improve campus aesthetics while
planning parking solutions for the next decade.
“It’s not just about one lot,” he said. “It’s really very broad.”
Opposition to the plan has been raised in student government.
It has been attacked because it would push some parking farther
away from campus. Issues such as safety and Nebraska’s cold
winters have been raised.
There are legitimate criticisms of moving parking off campus
that need to be addressed. But they do not mean UNL should back
away from trying to improve campus aesthetics.
UNL’s appearance does matter. Spanier deserves credit for his
willingness to take an unpopular stand that is ultimately in the
best interest of UNL.
Parking is a problem for many students. But the answer is
long-term planning to solve the problem, not paving over UNL
with a parking lot.
Shut out
UNL Policy unfair to same-sex couples
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln claims that it does not
discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. But its
housing policy does.
UNL’s housing policy does not allow same-sex couples to live
in any of its 70 family housing units. Students must be married to
live in the housing units, and Nebraska law does not recognize
same-sex marriages.
Doug Zatechka, UNL housing director, said it had not been
determined if UNL’s rules violate non-discrimination policies.
“That’s not an issue that has been subject to review,” he said.
“It’s never been reviewed.”
Other schools such as Iowa State University and the University
of Wisconsin at Madison have housing policies that make provi
sions for same-sex marriages. The University of Colorado also
has a policy, but it is in conflict with Colorado state law.
As a university, UNL should be on the leading edge of reform
on this issue.
It would not be necessary to violate state law to bring UNL in
line with its non-discrimination policy. UNL could resolve the
issue by changing its housing policy to recognize same-sex
couples.
Granting same-sex couples the right to university housing
would not be a popular move. But it would be the right thing to
do. Homosexual students should not be given special privileges
or rights not granted to other students. They should be treated the
same as everyone else.
-1 I
S*?JF editorials represent the official policy of the Fall 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, originality, timeliness and apace
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 aa 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. 68388-0448.
_ ■■ II ... —
Deep thinkers keep on truckin’
Driving over the lonely high
ways of Nebraska on my way
to Lincoln Sunday, I mused
upon the huge rigs with which I share
the road.
“Hmmmmm,” I mused, musing.
Thinking of the long hours truckers
must spend out in the open country, I
thought they could perhaps be the
philosophers of the Modem Age. With
all that free time, they must be think
ing of something.
Back in the 1700s, so-called Re
naissance Men were able to philoso
phize usually because they were rich
and had lots of time to ponder while
servants slopped hogs. But these days,
most new-money people are busy
making money, and those who have
inherited money are often too stupid,
probably from inbreeding. Example:
Tori Spelling?
These days, a new kind of person
has picked up the mantle of Thinking
for Everyone — people who have all
sorts of free time, as lone as they’re
not avoiding huge motor homes driv
en by crazy old retirees.
These days, the human race must
rely on truckers. Eighteen wheels of
deep thought, Peterbilt Voltaires,
screaming across the country, spread
ing knowledge and big loads ofbutter.
Eager to tap into this wealth of
ponderment, I flipped on my citizens
band radio. My previous experiments
talking to truckers taught me that they
don't exactly like “four-wheelers,** as
they call them. This time, 1 wanted to
pose, as it were, to meld with the
truckers as ONE OF THEM, tooling
down the highway, linked across the
miles by CB.
“I’m too busy tryin’ to keep my
doggone eyes open, I didn’t see the
sign,” my CB squawked. This wasn’t
a perfect beginning to my experi
ment. But then, not every trucker can
be a philosophizer. And, contrary to
whatoneusedtosce in trucker movies
of the late 1970s, CBs can’t reach
every truck in the country. Range is a
factor.
After a few more miles, a new
group of trucks appeared. I decided to
inject thoughts into the Electromag
netic Radiation Brain.
Green space
The space just north of the Nebras
ka Union would undoubtedly be more
attractive if that pesky parking lot
wasn’t there. However, is replacing
this already developed area with pret
ty trees and green grass really very
practical?
I won’t bother to mention theeven
tual loss of numerous student parking
space to satisfy displaced faculty. Stu
dents have to Tight for parking a mile
from campus anyway, what’s a few
more blocks to walk on a sub-zero
January day?
Nor will I mention the fact that the
project’s proposed cost of a mere
$100,000 could be better spent on
Richards or Bancroft halls, which by
all right should be condemned.
What concerns me is the impor
tance of parking to the night visitors to
campus. Am 1 to understand that after
leaving Love Library, Nebraska Union
or one of the computer labs after 10
p.m., 1 am expected to walk in the
dark, by myself, all the way across
campus to my car? Of course Chan
cellor Spanier wouldn’t worry about
this. His parking space is right outside
his office. He also doesn t have to
worry about Mace, rapists and vari
ous other unpleasantries on campus.
Fixing ola buildings isn ’t as fun as
making pretty parks, but we should
consider the students’ study environ
ment and safety above everything else.
Anne Marie Dobbs
junior
history
• -tr~
These days, the human race must
rely on truckers. Eighteen wheels
of deep thought, Peterbilt
Voltaires, screaming across the
country, spreading knowledge
and big loads of butter.
“How aboutClin ton’s health plan?”
I ventured.
“They want to tax all your sins," a
woman trucker told me. “Cigarettes,
liquor...”
This is going somewhere, I thought.
By taxing sins, the government was
perhaps trying to make us into more
rel igious citizens. What does this mean
for separation of church and state, I
wondered. Then another trucker/phi
losophizer spoke up.
“It'll turn ya into a liar, a cheat and
a thief," he said. I wasn’t sure what
that meant. The truckers’ minds were
already racing past mine, just as their
rigs were racing past my car at 80
miles an hour.
1 tried a new approach.
“How about that Mideast peace
plan?” I asked. But alas, I received
only static.
Frantic, 1 wondered what to do
next. Had they found out 1 was a mere
four-wheeler and were now exiling
me from Road Thought? I needed to
let them know I was a real trucker, just
like them.
“You know,” I began, tentatively,
“I really hate it when my trailer comes
off my rig.”
“Are you sleepy or you just want
someone to talk to?” the woman driv
er asked me. Was she accepting me as
an Over-lhe-Road Driver/ Trying to
clinch my place in the order of the
highway, 1 broadcast another truck
like thought.
“What would you guys say,” 1
asked, “if 1 told you 1 was hauling the
failed Mars Observer spacecraft in
my trailer?”
“I’d believe what you say,” a man
answered. “I’ve carried about every
thing in 27 years.” Before I could talk
to this man some more, static carried
his wispy voice from me.
From the radio I heard nothing for
some time. I thought myself ostra
cized, cut off from Civilized Dis
course, hearing only snatches of con
versation now and then.
“... some of dem security guards
don’t know how to sign their own
names...”
"... I’m goin’ to Sacramento to
pick up my son's car...”
Somewhat depressed, I turned the
FM radio back on. I stopped at the
Seward rest area. There was a tall man
in the bathroom wearing a strange
brown vest. Was he a trucker? What
did be think of the meaning of life?
Would it seem odd to ask him such a
question in the men’s room?
On the final stretch into town, I
flipped to the CB again for one last
time. Out of the magical medium
came a question that made my heart
skip a beat.
*1 just wondered if I could get an
opinion on Clinton’s economic plan,”
someone said. Finally! Philosophers
discussing our society!
“I hear it’s forecast the U.S. econ
omy will completely bust in four
years,” another said. Incredible. 1
shook my head. Four years! Not much
time!
But at least I knew the end was
coming. I had listened to the philoso
phers, and I knew what they thought
of Clinton’s plan. They must be right,
I thought. Then another spoke up.
“I wish somebody would just shoot
’im,” my radio fuzzed.
Well, maybe not all truckers spend
their idle hours in deep thought.
PM|h ti ■ Malar aawa-adMartal aiajor, a
Dally Nebraikaa Malar reporter aad a eol
aaialst.