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* ’ Travis Heying/DN
Some officials say Generation X members talk about diversity without producing results. From right, Pedro Ramirez
H, a junior pre-law major; Nasim Fariq Suhayb, a sophomore business major; Cindy Salazar Avalos, a freshman pre
med major; Trish Mooney, a sophomore journalism major; and Yew Slew Tsuey, a junior fashion merchandising
major.
Minority officials
call young adults
too self-centered
By Alan Phelps
Senior Reporter
more appropriate name for Genera
tion X might be Generation “I,” some
University of Nebraska-Lincoln mi
nority affairs officials say.
“The ’60s was for ‘we.’ The ’90s is for
‘me,’** said John Harris, special assistant to
the vice chancellor for student affairs. “That’s
where I’m most troubled.”
Most of those who know the 1960s civil
rights movement only through television,
Harris said, don’t understand that protestors
fought for society and not for themselves.
Today’s generation, he said, doesn’t real
ize how much others have sacrificed so
minorities could have more rights and ev
eryone could enjoy greater diversity.
“People had to die for people of color to
be able to go to college,
generation to eat in restaurants, to
stay in hotels, Harris
said. “That’s a lot more
than protesting or sit
■ _ n
ins.
Much of this genera
tion has forgotten that
. willingness to strive for
• the greater good, Harris
null.
“I think we’ve hit a point of complacen
cy,” he said. “I think this generation is not
ready to put up the type of effort that was put
up for them/
Instead of working for society, Harris
said, most work only for themselves or their
own ethnic groups. And when the new gen
eration does protest, members too often
resort to violence.
“In the ’60s they were taught civil disobe
dience through non-violence. Tliey were
taught not to hit back,” Harris said. “This
generation could never do that.”
Many young people accept violence as a
means to solve problems, Harris said, just as
Malcolm X did for a time.
“He said, ‘If you’re going to slap me, I’m
going to slap you back,’” Harris said. “A lot
of people, particularly African Americans,
say, ‘I don’t have a problem with that.’”
One of the reasons for the turnaround
since the 1960s, Harris said, is the different
outlook today's youth have for the future.
“This generation is a scared generation,”
he said. “It looks like a bleak future. People
keep telling us all the time that kids might
See X on 3
Curriculum changes timely, official says
nan to create new
general requirements
up before committee
By Dionne Searcey
Senior Reporter
UNL is following an apparent trend in
higher education by revamping its gen
eral education curriculum requirements.
Robert Bergstrom, chairman of the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln general education
planning committee, said members would vote
today on a program that, in the future, would
changcevery student’s graduation requirements.
• “There have been a lot of studies done of
Angelica’s higher education. A lot of them have
been critical, he said. ‘That gets people look
ing at themselves.”
* Many colleges in Nebraska are changing
their own general education curriculum,
Bergs trom said.
“It’s going on all over the place,” he said.
“UNO has done it recently, Kearney has done
ii, Creighton has done it. It’s very widespread.”
The University of Nebraska at Omaha, the
University of Nebraska at Keamey, Creighton
University, Chadron State College, Nebraska
Wesleyan University and Iowa State Univcrsi
ty are all working on requirement cnanges.
Other Big Eight schools are following the
trend as well.
The University of Colorado in Boulder is
making ongoing changes in its requirements.
The school’s College of Arts and Sciences
revamped its general education curriculum in
1988 and is doing so again this year.
Kansas State University in Manhattan is
developing for the first time a university-wide
general education curriculum, said Peter
Nicholls, dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences. _
See CURRICULUM on 2
Clinton’s plan
to be modified
professors say
By Steve Smith
Senior Reporter _ ~
The unveiling ofPresident Qinton’s health
care reform package was the first step
toward fixing the system, two UNL pro
fessors said Wednesday.
But they also agreed that
the president’s new propos
als would not be immune to
O reform themselves.
+ Clinton, in a nationally
_ televised speech to a joint
Q session of Congress Wednes
4^ day, proposed a full overhaul
of the nation’s health care
system.
The president called for reforms that guar
anteedevery U.S. citizen medical benefits “that
can never be taken away.”
Keith Mueller, a UNL political science pro
fessor who teaches classes on health care sys
tems, said compromise may be necessary for
the ultimate passage of Clinton’s package.
Mueller thought the president would stand by
the main objectives outlined in the speech, but
said he probably would be willing to compro
mise to attain those objectives.
“If one listens carefully to the speech, one
could get from it that Clinton will get the
package passed any way he can, as long as his
objectives are not undermined.
“He’ll most likely compromise on the plan’s
details to reach his objectives, but he won’t
change (the objectives) just to get the package
passed,” Mueller said.
Mueller predicted Clinton would undergo
much criticism for compromising on the pack
age, but he thought Clinton ultimately would
obtain his original goals.
uenerally. 1 tnink there s momentum in me
national government,” Mueller said. “The pres
ident himself said he had not talked to a single
Congressman that didn't think something need
ed to be done with health care.”
Mueller said the health care debate—which
is expected to last several months—will be less
vicious than the recent budget debate.
“This process will not divide neatly into
party camps,” Mueller said. “It’s much more of
a philosophical and ideological issue than a
partisan issue.”
Robert Miewald, a UNL political science
professor, said he thought Clinton was effective
in balancing his “pep talk" and the outlining of
the plan’s specifics.
‘Td say he was fairly fired up tonight,”
Miewald said. “He presented his facts clearly
and concisely and was very well organized.”
But Clinton’s address, Miewald said, prob
ably won’t draw a lot of additional support —
at least in the plan’s purest form, Miewald said.
“If this is a four-auarter contest, then this
speech was just the kickoff,” Miewald said.
“We’re in this for the long haul. We’ve got a
long way to go.”
Miewald said he thought Clinton would
eventually get support for the plan because, he
said, Congress realizes that the system needs to
be reformed.
“The writing’s on the wall,” Miewald said.
“Everyone will agree that we need (reform).
“However, some people who initially sup
port it may see what it will cost them and they
may back off a little.”
Recent media treatment ot athletes stimulates debate
By Tim Pearson
Senior Reporter
thletesat the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln should not be
v „ treated differently by the press
than other students are, Nebraska foot
ball coach Tom Osborne said.
“My feeling is that if an athlete is
written up in a non-sports-related sto
ry, I’d hope that they’d be treated like
any other student,’’ Osborne said.
Three recent incidents involving
UNL athletes have triggered debate
on whether news coverage of the inci
dents was fair.
Scott Baldwin, a former Nebraska
football player, was arrested in the
January 1992beating ofGinaSimanek
of Lincoln. He was paralyzed from
the chest down when he was shot
during a September 1992 scuffle with
Omaha police.
Last week it was revealed that
former Husker football player Kenny
Wilhite was involved in a car accident
that killed a child.
On Sept. 10., Nebraska basketball
player Enc Piatkowski was cited for
allegedly drinking alcohol in public.
Nebraska football player Calvin
Jones said the media and the public
•
often placed athletes “on a pedestal"
— a position that was not always
advantageous.
“The position athletes are put in,
we have be mortal gods in the publ ic ’s
eye,” Jones said.
Nebraska athletes arc viewed as
public figures, and the things they do
are of interest to the public, UNL
journalism professor John Bender said.
“They’ve voluntarily accepted
public scrutiny to some extent, he
said. ‘They perform in front of thou
sands of people every week.
“As athletes, they are going to be
role models.” '
• . f,1 * •!
- if
They didn't have to
become athletes.
They could have
done other things.
—Bender
UNL journalism professor
-tt -
Bender said all three cases were
newsworthy.
“Wilhite didn’t intend to get in
volved in the accident, and I’m sure
Baldwin didn’t intend to have a psy
chotic episode,” he said. “But once
those things happen, it’s legitimate
news.
“The W ilhite story would be news
worthy no matter what. Any time
somebody’s fatally injured in an acci
dent, it’s news.”
But Jones said Wilhite suffered
through a lot last year and didn’t need
more suffering with the media cover
age.
“With Wilhite, it’s a case where
Kenny shouldn’t have said anything,”
See ATHLETE on 6
