Opinion
Tuesday, January 10,1995
Page 4
JejfZeleny.
Matt Woody
Jeff Robb..
DeDra Janssen..
Rainbow Rowell
James Mehsling
Chris Hain....
Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
....Editor, 472-1766
... Opinion Pages Editor
.... Managing Editor
.......Associate News Editor
..Arts & Entertainment Editor
..t.Cartoonist
...Senior Reporter
i: i) 11 < >n i \i
On the watch
Allen’s criticism responsible, but too loud
Shortly after 2 p.m. today, fireworks could erupt at the monthly
meeting of the Academic Senate.
That is when Regent Robert Allen of Hastings and UNL Chancellor
Graham Spanier will take the stage at the Nebraska Center for
Continuing Education.
It should be interesting to see what, if anything, the two say to each
other. It seems when they are on their own turf— 104 miles away from
one another — accusations and comments fly freely.
On Dec. 19, Allen wrote a letter to NU President Dennis Smith
calling for Spanier’s termination. On Dec. 22, Spanier tried to defend
himself in a letter to Allen.
Back and forth. Back and forth.
This squabbling has served only one purpose: providing the news
media with fodder during an otherwise quiet semester break.
It’s no secret that Allen speaks his mind about any — and often
every — issue. It’s also no secret that Spanier often tends to conduct
some of his work behind closed doors.
Both are to blame.
But overall, Chancellor Spanier has been good for the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln. His list, of accomplishments goes on and on.
However, putting Allen’s stance on social issues behind, his
comments also aren’t entirely bad for the university. UNL needs a
watchdog, even if it does bark too loudly at times.
During Spanier’s first two years at UNL, he remained fairly quiet
and low-key. But during the last six months, the changes he has made
are enough to make one’s head spin.
We are certain Spanier generally does what he feels is best for the
university and the state, but we cannot take that assumption for
granted.
Regent Allen certainly can — and should — keep a watch on all
university officials; that is his job.
But he should just bark a little quieter.
NRoll nonsense
Inefficiency plagues registration system
The Fall 1994 semester brought a revolution to the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
For the first time ever, students could register, drop and add classes
without even getting up off their sofas. The NRoll system—long overdue
at a school like UNL — allowed students to avoid the massive lines that
once were as much a part of the registration process as bubble sheets and
the Nebraska Union ballroom.
But as much of a booh as NRoll is, it reeks of administrative ineffi
ciency.
Last semester, a number of students were dropped from all of their
classes after inadvertently pressing a button. The NRoll system was
adjusted for a student’s verification of such an action.
However, the most inane feature about NRoll is that students can only
access it until 6:30 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays, according to the
Schedule of Classes.
During the week when students’ class schedules are foremost on their
minds, NRoll’s hours should be extended for dropping and adding.
Why should an automated registration system be shut down at 6:30
p.m.?
The administration responded once to an NRoll oversight; let’s see it
happen again.
Km i < mi \i l’< h i< \
Staffeditorials represent the official policy of the Spring 1995 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by
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Year in sports not promising
One day through the new year, ,
Nebraska sports fans had to be
thinking that 1995 was going to be
a great year for sports.
The Nebraska football team
ended its bowl jinx and gave Tom
Osborne his first national champi
onship.
While the athletes ran across the
field at the Orange Bowl,
Cornhusker fans ran through the
streets of Lincoln, Omaha and
other Nebraska towns and released
years of pent-up frustration.
Since the win, most fans have
had broad smiles showing teeth
whiter than their national champi
onship T-shirts.
Fans waiting in line for more
souvenirs seem to entertain
themselves with their thoughts as
their blank stares take them back
to the Orange Bowl.
For more than a week, Husker
fans have been dazed by the
hysteria that has surrounded the
national championship.
But fans are completely con
fused if they think 1995 is going to
be a great year for sports.
In fact, 1995 could prove to be
the worst sports year since the days
of World War II.
The National Hockey League
started the new year off on the
wrong skate as players and owners
rejected offer after offer and hit
fans with a slapshot across the face.
The owners set Jan. 10 as the
final deadline for the death of the
NHL season.
If you’re one of the sports fans
blinded by the Husker football
frenzy, wipe the drool off your chin
and check your calendar — the
hockey season dies today.
And if you want some even
more ominous news, no profes
sional sports league has ever halted
play for an entire season and
Jeff Griesch
survived.
The NHL may be gone forever.
But what the hell, nobody in
Nebraska cares about professional
hockey, anyway.
Besides, the NHL season just
cuts in on NBA highlights.
But the future of professional
basketball is not exactly as clear as
the crystal of the Sears Trophy
either.
The 1994-95 National Basket
ball Association season was
threatened with a similar fate as
hockey, but owners and players
swallowed their pride temporarily
so they could enjoy a non
competitive sports entertainment
market.
But the NBA’s problems haven’t
gone away.
If basketball doesn’t get its
management and labor problems
solved this summer, the players
will strike next year and the 1995
96 season may be doomed.
And let’s not forget those
balking, babbling, babyish Major
League Baseball buffoons.
After more than four months of
pointing fingers, sucking thumbs
and crying for their mommies,
baseball owners have refused every
offer that the players’ union has
proposed.
The owners keep saying the
future of Major League Baseball is
in jeopardy unless a salary cap is
imposed and every other unwork
able, unattainable, uncontrollable
financial plan that the dumb, old
men have is accepted.
The owners’ ultimatum rings of
‘My way or the highway,’ and the
players are beginning to respond.!
Shane Mack, one of baseball’s
best outfielders, has signed to play
in Japan next year.
Mack is a proven veteran just
entering the prime of his career,
and he doesn’t want to waste his
best years waiting to play.
Hundreds of other free agents
are in the same position as Mack,
and they may resort to similar
measures.
Mack’s exodus shows that he
and a lot of other big-leaguers have
given up hope on starting the 1995
baseball season.
If the players have given up
hope, the season will not start. If
the owners refuse to give up some
of their more ridiculous ideas, more
than 100 years of baseball may be
washed away.
So that leaves Nebraska sports
fans with even fewer sports options
than usual.
In 1995, sports fans can count
on an anticlimatic Super Bowl, a
boring and drawn out NBA Finals
and the College World Series.
But with flashbacks of bowl
magic and national titles filling
their heads, Nebraska sports fans
could care less.
They have a title. They have a
U-Haul full of memorabilia. They
have a great recruiting class to
dream about. And they can rest
easy at night knowing that spring
football is just a little more than
two months away.
Griesch is a senior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan senior sports
reporter.
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