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OPINION
Nebraskan
Wednesday, February 23,1994
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jeremy Fitzpatrick.'.Editor, 472-1766
Rainbow Rowell.. ..Opinion Page Editor
Adeana Leftin..Managing Editor
Todd Cooper...Sports Editor
JeffZelenv . ..* . . . r . ; . .Associate News Editor
Sarah Duey.... ., t -vr ...__ . .Arts & Entertainment Editor
Willian Lauer.... .,.. Senior Photographer
t Dl lOKI \l
The Big Twelve
Merger with Southwest means revenue
The Big Eight Conference made the right decision by
inviting four Southwest Conference teams to join the
league.
According to the Associated Press, an informal offer was
extended from the Big Eight to Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and
Texas Tech to become part of the conference. SWC schools Rice,
Southern Methodist University, Texas Christian and Houston
were not invited, according to the reports.
The merger would be good for the University Of Nebraska
Lincoln and the rest of the Big Eight. It would bring four quality
schools into the conference.
That would mean the Big Eight would be in a stronger position
to negotiate for television rights when the current College Foot
ball Association contract expires after the 1995-96 season. The
large television market in Texas would mean more Big Eight
games would be televised. The increased revenue from the games
would help all schools in the conference.
It is unfortunate that college football has become a big business
with television contracts worth millions of dollars. Amateur
athletics should not revolve around corporate decisions made for
financial reasons. But unless the system is changed, Nebraska has
to compete within that framework.
The Big Eight should push to complete the merger with the
Southwest Conference schools to ensure it will survive and
prosper in an uncertain future.
Cheap skate
Focus on scandal degrades competition
Enough is enough.
Not long ago, Tonya Harding became a household name.
Americans were fascinated by the attack on her competitor
Nancy Kerrigan. We couldn’t stop asking questions. Was Tonya
involved? Did she know?
Every newspaper, national magazine and television news show
fed hungry Americans details about Harding’s life, her colorful
family, her failed marriage.
As the U.S. Winter Olympic team was chosen, we all won
dered if Harding would be permitted to go.
After the team landed in Lillehammar, Norway, Harding
remained in the spotlight. Even now, daily reports tell what she
does in practice, what she wears, how many times she falls, if she
looks tired or indifferent.
Tonight, both figure skaters will begin competing.
The time has come for the media to put an end to the hype
surrounding Harding. There are no developments in her case.
There is no news to tell.
When she takes to the ice Wednesday, the media should focus
on her skating and the skating of her team members.
Members of the media should not cheapen themselves and the
Winter Olympics by focusing so tightly on Harding. They should
not assume Americans are only interested in scandal.
Besides, there’s no need to further hype the Harding/Kerrigan
competition. America will be watching.
I Dlloui \l I’m K '>
SufTeditorials 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 the
university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents Editorial columns reprMMt
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 regeots, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of
its students. __
l l I 11 It I'OI l( \
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NO WORR\E$
SHE'LL FIT
NO PROBLEM.
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Crossword
I’ve just finished reading Rainbow
Rowell’s entertaining piece that ap
peared in the Feb. 17, 1994, DN. I
regret to inform Rowell that Eugene
T. Maleska permanently retired from
crossword-puzzle writing — as well
as other mortal activities—in the fall
of 1993. So it is unlikely that Rowell
will be able to question him about his
creative methods.
1 ’ m certain that he would be pleased
to know the DN continues to offer his
challenging puzzles even after his
death.
Nora Keith
secretary
Barkley Speech-Language and
Hearing Clinic
Discrimination
I don’t care what color an individ
ual is who sits behind a desk at the
Multi-Cultural Affairs Office, as long
as he or she is mature and responsible.
I guess there are those who believe
they can’t tell problems to someone of
another color because they think
they’ll be discriminated against. Well,
that’s their problem.
These people arc so worried about
percentages and color, they don’t re
alize they’re discriminating against
colors already behind the desks.
Is it that they aren’t qualified to
listen to your whining, or do you feel
you are too good to talk to them?
I don’t believe one minority isn’t
qualified to understand the problems
of another, as if the lessons one has
learned don’t apply to the other.
Jobs aren’t distributed by color.
They are distributed to whomever is
most qualified. If you tell someone
they didn’t get the job because they
aren’t the right color, you haven’t
fixed the problem. You’ve only
changed its shape.
I don’t believe Sam lCepfield(DN,
Feb. 16,1994) is the radical extremist
some people have made him out to be.
He made some good points. If other
people would listen to his words, we
wouldn’t have many of the problems
we’ve got.
Christopher W. Winkelmann
sophomore
mechanical engineering
Kepfield
I want to take this opportunity to
thank Sam Kepfield for his numerous
“profound insights” over the years. If
it hadn’t been for these, I might have
thought the world was made up of
“shiny happy people, holding hands.”
I’ve been through plenty of crap in
my life. (I’ll spare you the details.) I
wouldn’t doubt that many of the peo
ple Kepfield made blind generaliza
tions about in his Feb. 16 article have
experienced a great deal worse. I’m
I i 111 i<s i(» 1111 I'm iou
tvell aware of how nasty the world can
3e, which is the very reason I’m still
righting it.
I refuse to take a “lie back and
;njoy it” or “if you don’11 ike it, get the
heck out” approach, and I encourage
Dthcrs to do the same.
Yes, life is messy, the world can be
a cruel place, and people can be jerks.
The universe is based on entropy.
Why then bother believing in heaven?
After all, it’s just a Utopian dream.
Why encourage abstinence or safe
sex? Or punish people who have mo
lested. raped or killed another human
being?
Why enforce any laws, for that
matter? Why treat the mentally ill or
discourage suicides?
Why not just “get used to it?”
Because if we didn ’ t, we’d be even
crazier than we are now, and we’d be
Amy Schmidl/DN
shooting ourselves in the head.
Mental laziness — simply saying,
“Oh well, that’s just the way the world
works” — is easy. Making changes
and taking chances requires practice,
dedication and efTort, more than most
of us are willing to give.
People who are willing to dedicate
themselves to making such improve
ments, in spite of all the inherent
risks, deserve our admiration and re
spect.
We can’t “fix" all our problems,
but that hardly absolves us from the
responsibility of trying to make im
provements.
Also, I’ve noticed that Kepfield is
the first to scream himself hoarse and
stamp his feet when things aren’t go
ing his way, or when the grass might
be turning a little too green in some
one else’s yard, as evidenced in his
articles about feminism, health care
and other issues.
Peggy Haas
senior
general studies
Justice
I feel there was no justice in Sam
Kcpfield’s article about the Mexican
American Student Association and its
fight to make changes at the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln (DN, Feb.
16).
Change is just what this campus
needs. MASA is boycotting the Multi
cultural Affairs Office to get the
message across that we need to be a
more diverse campus.
They have been asking for these
changes for years now, but nothing
has been done.
The DN has made MASA out to be
the bad guys, but in reality, they are
good guys, trying to find a solution to
a problem everyone talks about —
hiring behind closed doors. MASA is
speaking out for those people and
groups who are too afraid to speak out
for themselves.
This is not a fight to get more
Hispanic professionals at UNL. It’s a
fight to have equal representation of
professionals irom different back
grounds on staff throughout the cam
pus.
MAS A is not in tnis ngnt aione.
The Vietnamese Student Association
will help MAS A in this fight. It’s true
that VSA declined to help with the
boycott, but that does not mean VSA
will not help in other forms of protest
ing and working with the administra
tion to reach some kind of agreement.
Many VSA members are individually
supporting MASA’s boycott.
UNL talks about diversity, but in
reality, we know it’s all talk. The
boycott is focused on the Multi-Cul
tural Affairs Office because it is the
best place to start changing the hiring
practices on campus.
The office may already seem di
verse to some people, but if you take
a close look at the department, races
are not equally represented.
There are six African Americans,
five whites, four Hispanics, one Na
tive American and no Asian Ameri
cans.
If the office knew it needed to
become more diverse, they should
have considered that hiring an Afri
can American would not help them
become more diverse.
One would think hiring an Asian
American would make more sense,
for there is a need for an Asian Amer
ican to represent the growing number
of Asian students on campus.
1 support MASA in its fight, and 1
encourage everyone else to look into
this and join in the fight. It should not
be a fight for MASA only, but for the
entire campus. Let’s be a campus that
does more than just talk about diver
sity.
Tram Nguyen
freshman
VSA member
