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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 1994)
Opinion Daily t Nebraskan Wednesday, February 9,1994 Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln Jeremy Fitzpatrick Rainbow Rowell. Adeana Left in. Todd Cooper. Jeff Zeleny. Sarah Duey. IVillian Lauer . . .Editor, 472-1766 Opinion Page Editor Managing Editor .Sports Editor Associate News Editor Arts & Entertainment Editor .Senior Photographer Km ioui w 1 ime to talk UNL officials must answer MASA boycott The University of Nebraska-Lincoln often has been divided on racial issues over the last several years. Those problems surfaced again Friday when the Mexican American Student Association decided to boycott the Office of Multicultural Affairs. MASA said it implemented the boycott because the office allegedly had unfair hiring practices. The group said it was unfair that four of the last five people hired by the office were black. However, of the six fiill-timc staff members in the office, two are Hispanic. Cathy Maestas, MASA president, said the number of Hispanics in the office was not high enough. “Students don’t feel comfortable without being able to relate to someone like them,” Maestas said. The conflict between MASA and the Office of Multicultural Affairs has gone on too long. UNL administrators should step forward and take action to settle the problem. Administrators should first make a clear public statement on UNL’s hiring policies. As long as officials remain silent, accusa tions will continue unanswered. For example, Eric Jolly, director of the Affirmative Action and Diversity Office, has failed to answer MASA’s charges. Jolly has had ample time to show leadership on this problem, and he has neglected to do so. Chancellor Graham Spanier and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs James Griescn have done more. Both met with MASA Tuesday to listen to their concerns. But more needs to be done. Only when this issue is discussed in the open can it be resolved. It is not clear whether MASA is right. But the group has made its case. It’s time for the administration to make a loud and public one as well. Making the grade Reforms should he evaluated on merits The Academic Senate was half right Tuesday when it consid ered proposals to change the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s grading system. The senate should not have rejected a proposal that would have added minuses and an A plus to UNL’s current letter system. This would have made the system more accurate. By doing this, a grade would have better reflected a student’s performance. This accuracy would have improved UNL’s reputa tion in the educational community. At the same meeting, the senate was correct in tabling a propos al that would change the current 9-point system to a 40-point decimal system. The tabled proposal would have eliminated letter grades. In stead, professors would assign grade points like 2.6 or 3.4. The plan offered too many options and would have made grading at UNL ambiguous, not accurate. The senate should not give up on reforming the current grading system. If a change could improve UNL’s academic reputation and add prestige to the university, it should be made. There is room for improvement in the current grading system. The proposal to add minuses, for example, would have been an improvement. Changes can be made, but they should be made with care. I 1)1 I OKI \l 1*01 l( \ Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Spring 1994 Daily Nebraskan Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of (he university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regent s. 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 III 11 K I’m l< \ The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from ail readers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity, originality, 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, ifany. Requests to withhold names will not be granted Submit material to the Daily Nebraskan, .14 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St , Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448 w~~ ill 11 US It) I III Kl>11 OR Hazing Kevin Gregorius’ letter (DN, Feb. 4) had one good point, but only one: Hazing is a terrible activity. If frater nity actives feel they need to mentally or physically abuse apledge because it supposedly makes wearing a greek letter sweeter, then there truly is no brotherhood in that fraternity, save one of suffering. The rest of Gregorius’ letter is full of arrogance, ignorance and his own kind of elitism. To think that Jeffrey Knoll is a fool for having joined a fraternity leads me to believe Gregorius has no contact with the greek system. Docs he think Knoll was told he would be the victim of hazing? Does he think Knoll knew he would be forced to drink alcohol and be humil iated by his “brothers?” Fraternities arc supposed to be places of brother hood and friendship. If they turn out to be something different, should we think those who were rushed knew it would turn out this way? Probably they were deceived. I was in a fraternity. I left because I did not think it lived up to the ideals on which it was supposedly based. Yet, I know no one in that fraternity intentionally did anything that would cause injury to another member. 'True, bad things happened—most of them involving alcohol, which was misused to the extent that some lost control. That it happened uninten tionally is no excuse, I agree, but the fraternities should be reformed, not destroyed. Gregorius said they should be “de stroyed from the inside out.” He said all those who joined should receive their “just desserts” — the label he gave to what happened to Knoll. I have had a friend injured and put in serious trouble because of a frater nity. I, too, used to think fraternities were all bad. However, this is because the beliefs on which they were found ed have been forgotten; the greek sys tem has gone sour. But it can be reformed. My old tratemityhas taken steps to do just that, and I hope others will follow. The fraternities must have a desire to change, and those outside of the greek system should at least be supportive of reform. This will be as hard for me as anyone, I imagine. Yet Gregorius, ever an outsider to the greek system, would rather have many more pledg es, whom he calls “foolish,” be hurt or killed. Perhaps this will happen to one of his friends some day; by his rule, this will be a good thing, for it will help destroy a worthless institution, and, of course, give these “fools” their “just desserts.” The only fools are those who think people in the greek system are differ ent from anybody else. Brian Croft junior teachers college ‘No tourist trap' The good old days of Kay Orr and Ronald Reagan? Please Jason Beineke (DN, Feb. 3), 1 can distinctly recall 1 idle prosperity during these days and a rash of bank failures and farm fore closures. 1 would hardly call Orr a good governor considering she had U.S. Ecology building a nuclear waste dump 14 miles from my hometown. I’m not a big fan of our current governor cither, but I’m not about to scorn him with a ridiculous list of Nebraska’s failures just because the man is a Democrat. You make it sound as if Ben Nelson blatantly chased BMW to South Carolina. Thanks to the effort of our gover nor and others, Democrats and Re publicans alike, foreign corporations may consider Nebraska for a site to build their plants in the future. Then you mention tourism. 1 don’t know if you’ve had a good look at the state, but let’s look at what Nebraska has to offer. W ith the exception of the Henry Doorly Zoo and Lake McConaughy, Nebraska has no major tourist attractions. We have no moun tain ranges for skiing like Colorado. We have no national parks like Wyo ming and South Dakota. Our popula tion is too small to attract major pro fessional sports franchises like Min nesota and Missouri. We have no oceans, no cultural meccas. We don’t have much other than a few funny-looking rocks out in the Panhandle. The temperature reach es 105 degrees in the summer and plummets to 20 below in the winter. These arc not characteristic of a vaca tioner’s paradise. Let’s face it, Ne braska is no tourist trap. The rest of your letter is the same mishmash I hear from any irate con servative. With the blabber spread by people 1 ike Bob Dole, Jesse Helms and Rush Limbaugh, it seems Democrats and liberals arc at fault for anything and everything — the lousy weather, the flu outbreak, the Orange Bowl officials and so on. I’d interpret your phrase “conservatism and common sense” for what it is, a contradiction in terms. Scott Carpenter junior English Jazz In response to Paula Lavigne’s re view of the Gary Burton Quartet with Rebecca Parris (DN, Feb. 7), I’d like to know how you can possibly associ ate jazz with “elevator” music? Being from New York, that would be like me saying all Nebraskans are a bunch of rednecked hicks without having seen much of Nebraska. Secondly, before you went to the concert Saturday night, did you even know what a vibraphone was? 1 hope to pursue a career as a jazz vibist, and I really don’t see where you can con fuse Burton’s intensity thatnightwith the “mellow rhythms of his instru ment.” Obviously, if you’ vc listened toany jazz in your life at all, it must be very limited. And if you felt “peaceful and com placent” at the end, you must have reviewed the concert from the couch in your room while watching televi sion. Brian Leahy sophomore music performance Cavemen I believe Sean T. Green’s implica tion that white males who oppose abortion can be described as cavemen (DN, Feb. 7) is a little off target. I wish he had attended the annual “Walk for Life” rally held here in Lincoln Jan. 22.1 saw some white males there. They were walking beside their wives, whom they obviously loved and respected. They were walking with their children, whom they obvi ously cared about since the first mo ment of their existence. These are not cavemen. Allow me to describe an alternate definition of a caveman. A caveman might be described as a man who uses a woman to satisfy his own sexual desires and then is more than happy to have the convenience of an abortion to release him from the responsibility of the child that could result. This de scription would be a little closer to the mark. Thomas J. Baumert senior electrical engineering