V
Opinion
Nebraskan
Thursday, April 7,1994
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska Lincoln
Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Rainlww Rowell
Adeana Left in. .
Todd Cooper
Jeff Zeleny.
Sarah Duey.
William Lauer
.Editor. 472-1766
Opinion Page Editor
Managing Editor
.Sports Editor
.Associate News Editor
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Senior Photographer
Em I OKI \l.
Fijis forgiven
Hazing incident shouldn t impede fraternity’
For the members of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, the last six
months haven’t been easy.
They have had to face the conscqucnecs of Jeffrey Knoll's
fall. They were publicly punished for his hazing. There were some
people at the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln who thought the
fraternity shouldn’t be allowed on campus anymore.
But they were here. They accepted the sanctions given them,
including community service requirements and a live-in graduate
adviser.
And they survived.
The Fijis should continue to work to make their fraternity
stronger. They should remember what happened to Knoll, but they
should not let the incident hold them back.
Hazing and alcohol abuse have been problems throughout the
grcck system, not just in their fraternity. What happened to the
Fijis helped opened everyone’s eyes. It led to a state law that made
hazing a crime.
Now the Fijis should be allowed to heal. Yes. they must abide
by the sanctions laid down by the Judicial Board, but their mis
takes should not hold them back.
A stronger Fiji Fraternity will strengthen the grcck system,
which in turn brings a stronger university. If the Fijis show they
arc sincere about reforming their fraternity, the rest of the univer
sity should respect them accordingly.
Justice needed
Clinton s court pick should not be political
he retirement of Supreme Court Justice Harry A.
Blackmun will give President Clinton a second chance to
appoint a justice to the court. In many ways, Clinton’s
appointment ofjusticcs to the court arc the most important deci
sions he will make.
In their job of interpreting our laws, the court members closely
touch the lives of all Americans. The person Clinton helps place on
the court will likely serve for most of his or her life and will
directly influence generations of Americans.
The court determines exactly what the law means. In American
history, they have used that power to both discriminate and liber
ate. They arc the last stop in the American judicial process.
As can be expected when a justice retires, there is a frenzy of
speculation about who Clinton will appoint. Sen. George Mitchell
of Maine is high on many lists. Janet Reno has also been men
tioned.
Whoever is picked should be chosen for his or her devotion to
the law and his or her wisdom and experience. America does not
need another Supreme Court justice placed on the court because he
or she believed in one political philosophy or another. In these
often troubled times, America needs justice.
All eyes will be on the president in the weeks ahead as he
considers his choices. We can only hope he will make a choice that
will serve American interests, not political ones.
Himioki \i 1*01 u n
Staffeditorials represent the official policy of the Spring 1004 Daily Nebraskan Policy is set
by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board Editorials do not necessarily relied 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 tire Daily Nebraskan They establish the UNE
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the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of
its students
III 11 U POI It \
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I can't Tlllf WE'RE
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SAM KKIM IKU)
Bamboo cane serves justice
The big buzzword for th is year’s
elections will be crime. Con
gress is considering yet an
other crime bill, which includes 40
new capital crimes (House version) or
52 (Senate version).
These new death penalty ofTenscs
include genocide, use of weapons of
mass destruction resulting in death,
and murder on an offshore oil plat
form. President Clinton promised
100,000 new police officers on the
streets in his campaign, but current
proposals will fund only 10,000, and
those will be mostly administrative
support positions.
Meanwhile, in Singapore, authori
ties are preparing to punish Michael
Kay.a teen-age U.S. citizen convicted
of vandalism. Fay faces Hogging with
a bamb(K) cane, administered by a
martial artsexpert, which often causes
heavy loss of blood, unconsciousness
and permanent scarring.
when they appealed the case, hay s
mother and counsel pleaded that he
was “psychologically troubled" and
had been for years. Besides, it was
only h ls first offense, so why not 1 ighten
upon him? It’s a classic protest of the
middle and upper classes in America,
but it didn’t work in Singapore.
Fay’s case has generated sobbing
protests from his mother on ABC ’s
“Pr i meT ime Live" and pleas for mercy
from President Clinton. Yet most
Americans want to sec him punished.
The sentiment for Hogging Fay (a
punishment not unknown to the
Foundi ng Fathers) tells us much about
the crime problem here in America.
No federal crime bill, no matter how
many new and exotic capital crimes it
contains, will solve the issue until we
get serious about crime and punish
ment. Some assume the federal gov
ernment can do this with a sweeping
dictate. False.
Only 3 percent of all crimes fall
under federal jurisdiction, to begin
with. The U.S. government has not
executed an>one since March 15,
1963, and only last week did it begin
r
In Singapore, the old defense of
“he’s a troubled boy” didn’t cut
it, and Michael Fay has to take
his punishment like a man.
building its Hrst execution chamber in
Terre Haute, Ind. The only problem is
that the government hasn’t figured
out what exact procedures to follow i n
carryingout thedeathsbylethal injec
tion. After 30 years, the feds are plan
ning their first execution, in Powhatan,
Virginia's slate penitentiary.
In 10KX. being a “drug kingpin”
became a capital offense, federal pros
ecutors have sought the death penalty
for this 37 times, and it's worked only
six tunes. Meanw hile, states have pro
ceeded with 135 actual executions
since I9XX.
And what of the capital crimes
process in the states? Look no further
than Roger Bjorklundor HaroldOtey
to observe the dismal slate of our
judicial system. Bjorklund can bom
bard judges with requests such as not
getting enough law library time, or
with complaints that Uxxi servers in
prison are not wearing hairnets.
i ncjudge nasto actually near these
motions, because to tell Bjorklund
that he’s a pathetic, whining piece of
human garbage and that he’s sup
posed to be in PRISON forchrissakc.
not Club Med, would be to open the
door for challenges to his incarcera
tion and conviction based on the
Eighth Amendment’s ban on Cruel
and Unusual Punishment. Bjorklund
is going to be around a while to let us
know how ill-treated he is, too. Even
i f he gets the death penally,judging by
current Nebraska standards, he won’t
get anywhere near the electric chair
before the year 2009.
In Singapore, the old defense of
“he’sa troubledboy”didn’tcut it,and
Michael Fay has to take his punish
ment like a man. Citizens are tired of
seeing well-dressed punks from gwxl
l am il ies get off w ith a slapon the wrist
for drug trafficking or murder. The
same olTenses by poor m i nori t ies draw
hard prison lime — at least until some
compassionate liberal judge orders
them released. Notice they never go to
the neighborhoods where the judges
live, either.
America celebrates individualism
but has twisted it so that excuses for
criminal behavior are rampant. We
manufacture new rights or psycho
logical excuses almost daily. This cre
ates the violent ghettos and broken
families that arc breeding grounds for
mayhem.
Anu men we look to tnc icoerai
government to pass a crime bill to bail
us out. We deride anyone who sug
gests that the real cure is changed
societal attitudes toward the family
and responsibility as hopelessly old
fashioned at best — and bigoted at
worst. Getting serious about crime
comes from within a society, not from
Congress. It means equal justice for
all and equal punishment for all. If it
means perm anen t ly sea r ri ng some r ich
kid’s lily-white butt, then so be it. It’s
a damn sight better than our current
body count.
kepfleld ii a graduate student in history
and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
"I
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