Opinion
Net?raskan
Tuesday, March 15, 1994
Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Rainbow Rowell
Adeana Left in. .
Todd Cooper.
Jeff Zeletiy.
Sarah Duey.
William Lauer . .
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Editor. 472-1766
.Opinion Page Editor
Managing Editor
.Sports Editor
Associate News Editor
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Senior Photographer
Cm IOKI M
A class act
Despite glitches, NRollis an improvement
For students trying to register Monday morning, NRoll may
have seemed like just another cruel joke of the computer
age.
The new enrollment system was down for about two hours
because of computer problems.
But we must expect a few glitches in the system. It's only
natural that NRoll should have some problems on its first day. We
should be patient.
Later that afternoon, the system was fine and most students were
able to get through on the first try.
NRoll is more than just an experiment; it's a move forward for
the university. In the past, students woke up early to drop off
preregistration packets by 8 a.m. to receive priority processing.
But you wouldn't know for weeks if you had made an error, or if
you simply didn't get into your classes. Even if you did everything
right, you still might have had to go to Drop/Add. This could have
meant waking up at 6 a.m. to join hundreds of others in a line that
snaked through three floors of the Administration Building.
If NRoll is successful, it most certainly will be an improve
ment. With NRoll, you know right away if you have a time
conflict or if the class is closed.
If you need to drop or add a class, you just call. And you can
call from anywhere. No lines. No bubble sheets. No early morning
time card trips.
So we should try not to be cynical with NRoll. Sure, it might not
be perfect, but how could it be worse than the previous system?
Dirt cheap
Special soil for green space is worthless
The debate over green space has moved from a discussion
about parking to the ridiculous.
When University of Ncbraska-Lincoln Chancellor
Graham Spanicr introduced the idea of the green space, there was
legitimate debate over how it would affect parking. The NU Board
of Regents voted on the proposal and approved Spanier’s plan to
remove the parking lot north of the Nebraska Union and replace it
with a grassy area.
Now the process of building the green space is under way. What
was the first issue that came up?
Dirt.
Yes, dirt. Contractors, architects and other potential project
bidders were on campus Monday at a conference, examining the
area that will become green space. The conference was a chance
for interested bidders to review the project before the March 22 bid
date.
UNL is asking that Kennebec dirt be used for the green space.
Kennebec dirt is harder to find, more durable and more expensive.
But Gary Varley of Land Constmction said the special dirt
wasn’t necessary.
“Somebody in the agronomy department or the landscape
department is so set in their ways that they have to have the
Mercedes of black dirt on their campus,” he said.
Varley said the Kennebec dirt might add as much as $30,000 to
the bid.
Howard Parker, UNL campus architect, defended the special
dirt. Parker said it was necessary because cheaper dirt would cost
more to maintain.
If UNL can get by with cheaper dirt for green space, it should.
But whatever dirt is used, UNL should avoid senseless debates over
an issue that already has seen too much controversy.
I HI I < >|<| \l |’( >1 |( N
Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Spring 1994 Daily Nebraskan Policy i> set
by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the
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the opinion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL
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the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of
its students
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Li i ik.us io im Lm ior
Agriculture
In response to Paul Koestcr’s col
umn on prairie dogs (DN, March 7,
1994): Yes, it is a very large ecosystem
for rattlesnakes, badgers and coyotes,
all of which are pests. Of course, the
prairie dogs also have their unique
talent for destroying the land and grass
for many years. I cannot honestly say
they take only 4 to 7 percent of the
grass. I think they leave only 4 to 7
percent. Anyone who has had the plea
sure of owning a large prairie dog
town knows that cattle receive very
little grazing benefits in these areas.
Their tunnels wash out after heavy
rains and later cave in, leaving a big
hole in the land. After eradicating our
40-acre dog town, we saw that we
could place a considerable number
more cattle to pasture. We have no
regrets of exterminating them, and we
sure don’t miss them. It costs money
to feed the prairie dogs, turkeys, deer,
coyotes, badgers and all the other an
imals of the ecosystem. I think we are
overrun with wildlife. For ranchers, it
is a full-time job to protect your invest
ment from the wildlife that urban
dwellers just have to preserve.
I am tired of Koestcr’s negative
comments about agriculture. I don’t
feel farmers and ranchers have de
stroyed the environment or that they
don’t care.
ror example, me danunms eco
system has improved dramatically over
the last 150 years because cattle graze
and keep the grass short. This reduces
the wildfires that would ravage the
whole land. So there is one good point
about agriculture and especially the
beef industry. Another point of inter
est is that agriculture feeds the world
and without agriculture, there would
be world starvation.
William R. Williams Jr.
junior
agricultural economics
‘Fallacious
argument’
Christopher Winkelmann’s letter
on, I believe, the topic of homosexual
ity in the March 11, 1994, DN is a
truly remarkable document. I did not
think it possible to provide so many
examples of fallacious evidence, lan
guage and reasoning in so short a
letter. Yet Winkelmann has succeed
ed. I pray that this future engineer’s
mechanical systems will be designed
with more care than his arguments.
Fallacicsof evidence included non
representative instances, insufficient
instances and false repeated asser
tions. For fallacies of language,
obscuration was employed with par
ticular maladroitness. Fallac ics of rea
soning included the entire repertoire
of appeals to ignorance and popular
prejudice, faulty comparisons, over
simplifications and straw argument.
Over 100 years ago, England’s
Cardinal Newman asserted the pur
pose of a I iberal education was “to free
the inind from the tyranny of falla
cious argument.” Alas, Winkclmann
has avoided or neglected the tools o(
an education heavily subsidized by
every tax-paying Nebraskan, includ
ing gays, Afro-Americans, Native
Americans, Hispanics, et al.
Today the essential purpose ol
America’sConstitutionistofree usall
from the tyranny of those who choose
passion over reason and prejudice over
knowledge.
Charles M. Pinzon
assistant professor
College of Journalism and Mass
Communications
James Mehsling/DN
Islam
As I was reading Neal King’s letter
concerning Louis Farrakhan (DN.
March 11, 1994), 1 couldn’t help no
ticing the ignorance that has plagued
not only himself but also a large ma
jority of the population. For some
unknown reason, he uses the word
Islam to describe the Nation of Islam.
As a Muslim, I feel obligated to in
form him that he has erred.
If a person practices and follows
the teachings of the Nation of Islam,
he or she is not considered a Muslim.
You may ask who am 1 to judge such
a person. I’ll respond by stating that
by definition, what makes a Muslim a
Muslim is that he or she has to believe
there is one God and that the prophet
Mohammed was the last messenger of
God. Any alterations to this first pillar
of Islam immediately disqualifies an
individual from calling himself or
herself a Muslim.
Members of the Nation of Islam
believe in one God, but at the same
time, they believe that Elijah
Mohammed (the leader of the Nation
of Islam during the ’60s and early
’70s) was also a messenger of God.
The Islamic world docs not accept this
as being part of Islam.
It was for this reason that Louis
Farrakhan was refused permission to
enter Mecca in order to perform the
once-in-a-Iifetime Muslim pilgrim
age. He first had to convince the Saudi
Arabian officials that he no longer
followed the teaching of the Nation of
Islam in order to be granted permis
sion to enter. Being the man he is,
Farrakhan reverted back to his old
bel iefs once he completed his pilgrim
age.
I agree with some of the things
King said about Farrakhan. I believe
he should be regarded as a potential
“Black Hitler.” All I ever hear him
talk about arc the injustices the Afro
American population has suffered
under a predominately white-run so
ciety. His speeches and comments are
very similar to what El Hajj Malik El
Shaba/./(Malcolm X) was preaching
when he was still with the Nation of
Islam. Fortunately for Malcolm X. he
changed his ideologies after he real
ized the corruption that existed within
the Nation of Islam during the early
’60s.
He realized the Afro-American
cannot go around perceiving the white
man as the blue-eyed, white devil who
caused all the problems they arc going
through. Unlike Farrakhan, Malcolm
began to focus on uniting the black
and white races.
I’ve always believed Farrakhan
molded himself with the Nation of
Islam because of personal aspirations
of political power and wealth. Kim
berly Spurlock mentioned in her col
umn (DN, March 10,1994) that Afro
Americans needed someone like
Farrakhan to publicly address their
problems and grievances.
How can someone like Farrakhan
be considered a leader when he has
saturated himself with the wealth of
the poor man he has verbally pledged
to help?
In my book, the definition of a true
leader is someone solely committed to
assisting his or her people without
amassing personal wealth in the pro
cess. Someone like El Hajj Malik El
Shabazz would fit this description.
Mahmoud Al-Alawy
senior
agronomy
‘Worked up’
What the hell is Christopher
Winkelmann’s deal (DN, March 11,
1994)? Why is he so worked up over
homosexuality? For someone who asks
such odd, confused questions of the
DN’s readership, then makes vast as
sumptions about anyone who isn’t as
worked up as he is about something as
ordinary and harmless as homosexu
ality, it is surprising he has passed
enough classes to become a sopho
more.
Scott Ferguson
sophomore
Spanish, English