OPTTSTIOM Nebraskan
X, J M 11 IV^l 1 Thursday, December 2, 1993
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jeremy Fitzpatrick...Editor, 472-1766
Kathy Steinauer.Opinion Page Editor
Wendy Mott.Managing Editor
Todd Cooper.Sports Editor
Chris Hopfensperger.Copy Desk C hief
Kim Spurlock.Sower Editor
Kiley Timperley.Senior Photographer
- 1
Game over
Spanier should follow IFC recommendation
Members of the Interfratemity Council recommended
Wednesday night that the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity be
suspended for five semesters because of an accident
resulting in serious injury to pledge Jeff Knoll.
James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs, confirmed
days after Knoll fell from a third-story window that hazing was a
factor in the accident. Knoll’s family plans to move him to a
Colorado rehabilitation center that specializes in memory loss.
The council’s action is only a recommendation. UNL Chancel
lor Graham Spanier will now have to make the final decision on
whether the fraternity will be suspended. Spanier should treat this
grave issue seriously and follow the recommendation.
Knoll’s accident proves that hazing is a dangerous, life
threatening game. It supposedly is done to promote brotherhood,
but in this case and probably others, it could easily have been
fatal.
Many members and leaders of the greek system at UNL have
expressed regret about this incident. Some have also implied it is
an isolated event. They insist hazing does not happen at all
fraternities, but rumors and stories abound on this campus and
others about hazing.
The only isolated thing about the hazing Knoll underwent is
that the Fiji house got caught, blazing happens more often than
the greek system will admit, and this accident should serve as a
grim reminder of what can happen when fraternities haze.
To prevent more hazing accidents at UNL and at universities
across the country, the greek system needs a change of attitude. It
needs to enforce policies forbidding hazing and drinking, espe
cially at a school like UNL, which is supposed to be a dry cam
pus. Without a change in enforcement of hazing policies. Knoll
will not be the only student injured during hazing.
Direct pressure
Clinton s influence could help in Geneva
More than 200,000 people have been killed, and 2 million
have been made homeless by the war in the former
Yugoslavia. The end apparently is not in sight.
Peace talks on Bosnia-Hcrzcgovina in Geneva, Switzerland,
were deadlocked Wednesday. Rival leaders refused to compro
mise on the division of the country among its three ethnic groups.
Bosnia’s Muslim president, Alija Izctbegovic, and Bosnian
Serb leader Radovan Karadzic met for a second day of negotia
tions, but were unable to reach an agreement.
The United States has been mostly silent throughout the war.
While the Clinton administration made a wise decision to avoid
committing troops to Bosnia-Hcrzegovina, it should step forward
now and take an active role in promoting the peace.
Clinton’s options arc limited, even more so because the United
States has stayed out of the war until now. But that does not mean
the United States should do nothing. Clinton could direct as much
attention to Bosnia-Herzegovina as he has to Somalia and Haiti.
John Mills, a spokesmen for mediators Thorvald Stoltenberg
and Lord Owen, said the negotiations were not likely to end soon.
“The impression of the co-chairmen is that these negotiations
will take time,” Mills said.
The United States can help end the killing by pressuring both
sides to come to an agreement. President Clinton’s ability to
influence the negotiations is limited, but he can make a difference.
Staff 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
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I
I
i
Kevorkian hype clouds issues
I love being part of “the liberal
media.” Often, on these cold
winter evenings, 1 am warmed
by the thought that I, too, am playing
a small part in the grand, sweeping
plan to manipulate the minds and
spirits of the American people.
Before I began writing my col
umns this semester, I had no idea how
successfully subversive this organi
zation was. After I became immersed
in this operation, though, 1 quickly
became aware of the power of the
cvcr-so-subtlc and cvcr-so-succcss
ful controlling forces that hammerout
predetermined media slants before
hand.
Or something like that.
When it comes right down to it, the
only way in which the media, if we
have to persist in the belief that such
an entity actually exists, tends to con
sciously “improve” upon the events
that it reports on is in its annoying
tendency toward sensationalism. Part
of it is inherent to the nature of the
work, I suppose. The whole point is to
bring the news to you and make sure
you know what’s happening.
In the pursuit of this goal, howev
er, news folk tend to belittle important
issues or water them down for general
consumption to the point of absurdity.
Case in point: Dr. Jack Kevorkian,
a.k.a. The Suicide Doctor.
The Suicide Doctor. Dr. Death.
Sound like pro wrestlers or titles of
Perry Mason murder mysteries to me.
Leave it to reporters to massively lose
the forest for the trees on this one. No
one really thinks about the real issues
involved here. Instead, they think
about his defiance of court orders, his
beingdragged off, literally, to jail, his
countless assisted suicides. He’s a
nut, one side will argue. He’s an angel
of mercy, replies the other. In actual
ity, Dr. Kevorkian has very little to do
with what is going on.
What’s at stake in this right-to-die
debate? To be blunt, the right to choose
your own destiny. What’s hanging in
the balance of this oftentimes heart
wrenching controversy is the right to
determine for yourself what you want
What’s hanging in the balance
of this oftentimes heart
wrenching controversy is the
right to determine for yourself
what you want your life to be.
your life to be. Superficially, we all
try to aspire to that ideal. When it
comes down to crunch time, though,
a lot of people jump ship.
It seems odd to me that most of the
people who appear to be the most
adamantly opposed to the idea of a
right to die are the same people who
support the traditionally conservative
idea of a limited role of government in
financial and various other personal
areas. The notion of wanting to min
imize governmental interference in
places such as health care and educa
tion is a very legitimate point of view
to work from.
How then can these same people,
who mold their lives around the idea
of self-actualization and personal re
sponsibility, oppose the notion of
keeping the government out of the
most personal decision imaginable?
Overall, we tend to be a compas
sionate people at heart, and we like
alleviating pain and suffering wher
ever we can. We rush to send aid to
homeless families along a flooded
Mississippi River. Wegraciously take
in orphans from an economically di
lapidated Romania. We stumble over
each other trying to help save a baby
who falls down an abandoned well in
Texas. We’re good at these kinds of
things, the clear-cut, casy-answer
kinds of problems.
The same compassionate ideology
is at work behind the movement to
eliminate the kinds of activities that
Dr. Kevorkian takes part in. The prob
lem is that it isn’t so cut-and-dry in
this case. As a result, then, we screw
up and make things worse. “Suicide is
never the answer!” opponents balk at
the completion of an assisted suicide
of a victim of Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“It’s just taking the easy way out!”
they shout after the death of ancldcrly
cancer patient. No one really notices
that these protesters are often the same
people who can’t stand the fact that
they will have to pay higher taxes to
pay for skyrocketing catastrophic
health care costs.
Mercy killings and assisted sui
cides are serious issues, and I don’t
think Dr. Kevorkian has necessarily
helped his cause with his activities.
The impression he has left, with his
seemingly endless line of clients who
are eager to end it all, is that the
harmful potential of his activities has
come true. Simply depressed or con
fused or despondent people have come
to look on suicide as a way to take care
of all of their problems.
It maybe true that some innocent
people might be harmed because of
this. But Dr. Kevorkian, or the por
trayal of him that has come through,
shouldn’t cloud the issue.
When it comes down to it, an indi
vidual must have fundamental con
trol of his or her own life, and it
shouldn’t be left to the government or
the moral majority to decide when
and where it is appropriate for a per
son to die. In any case, there isn’t
necessarily anything wrong with the
“easy" way out, when you compare it
to the alternatives.
/.Immernian I* a Junior Kngliih major
aad Daily Nebraskan columnist.
Social issues
Apparently several students at the
College of Law, not all, feel the set
ting of a higher education should pre
clude the discussion and exploration
of social issues, or, dare I say, selected
viewpoints on certain issues (DN, Dec.
1). Incredible!
The institution of higher education
is supposed to include a facilitation of
vigorousdiscussionofsocial issues. It
is through the university that we be
come prepared for the rest of life. If
we are insulated from the challenges
that face our fellow students, espe
cially in dealing with controversial
issues, we will certainly fail. An edu
cation that does not include a thor
ough exploration and evaluation of
social values would be “valueless.”
The university is designed to in
corporate multitudinous viewpoints
from varying social settings, ethnic
backgrounds and political and reli
gious perspectives. The very point of
such a diverse setting is to improve
our understanding of one another.
Last point—if someone like Rush
Limbaugh thinks poorly of the Uni
versity of Nebraska, then we must be
doing something right. The following
behind his close-minded assaults, es
pecially attacking attempts to remedy
the plaguesof discriminat ion and hate,
provide a solid reason why political
and business leaders should not be
allowed to have too much influence
over what is taught at UNL.
When should students and faculty
stop focusing on social issues? Not
while people continue to verbally and
physicallyassault other men and wom
en because of their sexual preference,
the color of their skin or their belief
system. Not while society struggles
with the resolution of these problems.
In other words, not in this lifetime.
James Vihstadt
second year
College of Law