I
Opinion
Friday, January 20,1995
Page 4
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
JeffZeleny...Editor, 472-1766
Jeff Robb.Managing Editor
Matt Woody. .Opinion Page Editor
DeDra Janssen.Associate News Editor
Rainbow Rowell.Arts & Entertainment Editor
James Mehsling..Cartoonist
Chris Hain....Senior Reporter
Move on
Omaha engineering college is old issue
Sen. Chris Abboud and 13 other misguided Omaha senators
signed on to a bill Thursday in the Legislature calling for a sepa
rate engineering college in Omaha.
Talk about beating a dead horse.
LB735, sponsored by Abboud, is two paragraphs long and says
nothing new or substantive in this lingering debate. The bill says
economic conditions in Omaha demand a separate engineering
college and calls for the Legislature to appropriate money for it.
These legislators are sticking their overzealous noses where they
don’t belong.
U-niversity President Dennis Smith has decided a separate en
gineering college isn’t in the best interests of the U-niversity, the
U-niversity Board of Regents agreed and the Governor has funded
improvements recommended by the U-niversity.
In case state senators don’t understand, the U in U-niversity
stands for United, Unanimous, UNL, UNK and UNO. The task
force has spoken. The consultants have spoken. The president has
spoken. And finally the regents have spoken.
The decision did not abandon the Omaha engineering problem.
It established programs there and additional monies have been made
available to Omaha.
If LB735 moves through the Legislature, it will sure to be a
fight between urban and rural senators. Sen. Abboud, don’t waste
our time with this bill. It’s time to move on to legislation that hasn’t
been debated.
Quotes of the week
“Our conciousnesses are not up for majority rule.”
— State Sen. Dave Landis, an abortion rights advocate,
at a Thursday night rally.
“Lincoln is a family town, and many people don’t want
it. I don’t think women in Lincoln would use it.”
— Pam Tabor, president of Lincoln Right to Life, on the
probable creation of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.
“A part of scouting... is learning to be a responsible
citizen. And part of that is paying your taxes.”
— Maine tax assessor John LaFaver, on a state-proposed
6percent “snack tax” on Girl Scout cookies.
“It says a lot about this team that we stuck together
through thick and thin, with thousands of people
against us. Nobody ever gave us a shot.”
— Wide receiver Tony Martin of the San Diego Chargers,
after the Chargers defeated Pittsburgh 17-13 in the AFC
Championship on Sunday.
“Thank you for bringing the children out. I promise
you I won’t say or do anything on stage to embarrass
you or your family.”
—- Blues musician B.B. King, at Sunday night’s concert
at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
Editorial policy
Staff editorials represent the official
policy of the Spaing 1995. Daily
Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editori
als do notnecessarilyreflecttbe views
of the university, its employees, die
students or the NU BoaidofRegents.
Editorial columns representthe opin
ion of the author. The regents publish
the Daily Nebraskan. They establish
the UNL Publications Board to su
pervise the daily production of the
paper. According topolicy set by the
regents, responsibility for the edito
rial content of the newspaper lies
solely in the hands of its students.
Letter policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to *'
editor from all readers and interested others. Letters
will be selected forpublicarion on the basis ofclarity,
originality, timeliness and space available. The Daily
Nebraskan retains the right toedit or reject all material
submitted. Readers also are welcome to submit ma
terial as guest opinions. The editor decides whether
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Requests to withhold names will not be granted.
SutHnitmaterial to the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska
Union, 1400 R St, Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
-EUKTM&
P^OOFT
NebraskanS
readers say: f
Send your brief letters to:
Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, 1400 R St,
Lincoln, Neb. 68588. Or fax
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Great Idea
According to the Daily Nebras
kan article “Peers now will decide
student parking appeals” (Jan. 18),
some genius cooked up the idea that
students should hear students
appealing parking citations. And
“two faculty groups” will form a
“separate faculty appeals board.”
These are great ideas.
However, our genius didn’t
think it all through. Where can the
staffs concerns be heard? They
need a separate board.
And full professors, of course,
can only be judged by other full
professors. So we need a separate
board for them. And separate
boards for the associate and
assistant professors. And a board
for visitors. And regents.
And come to think of it, men
could only be judged by other men.
Ditto for women. Oh, and don’t
forget the different ethnic groups —
the Irish can only be judged by the
Irish, etc.
And let’s apply this to other
committees, too: A search commit
tee for a dean position ought to be
composed only of other deans, the
Police Advisory only of police, etc.
ad infinitum!
Ah, my beloved UNL, someone
really put the cart before the horse!
Chris Brantner
Lincoln
Abortion clinic
The way we say something often
reveals as much as what we say.
Dominic Pynes is reported, in the
Daily Nebraskan article “Planned
Parenthood fears violence, tightens
security” (Jan. 19), to have said that
the proposed Planned Parenthood
clinic might invite violence to
Lincoln.
He asserts that 99 percent of
abortion opponents are nonviolent,
but that the violent majority could
be drawn to Lincoln by the clinic.
The rhetoric is familiar. It lays
blame for acts of violence at the feet
of the victim.
The thinking works like this:
Sure, some abortion opponents go a
tad far by stalking and shooting
people or firebombing clinics. So if
you open a reproductive counseling
clinic (which, for ease of conversa
tion, we call an abortion clinic),
you are asking for such zealots to
travel across the country to view the
abomination.
Once they arrive, the very
existence of your clinic invites
violent attack. Your horrible
practices beg our weapon-toting
colleagues to kill doctors. Or
nurses. Or staff members. Or
women clients. Maybe even their
unborn fetuses. Don’t blame us.
Righteous murder means never
having to say you’re really sorry.
Robert Bergstrom
associate professor
English
AmySchmidl/DN
Jamie Karl
Last semester, we eagerly made
our way down to the breakfast table
every Friday morning. We sat down
in hopes of finding a Daily Nebras
kan that some early riser had
already brought home. Ignoring
coffee stains and encrusted Lucky
Charms marshmallows, passing by
the front-page headlines and even
“Calvin and Hobbes” we’d flip to
the opinion pages. We dragged
ourselves out of bed to read Jamie
Karl’s latest column, where we
were assured to find eloquent and
refreshing examples of values,
traditions, family, religion and
conservatism. He never wrote one
that we didn’t go right back to and
read over again. Sometimes he
challenged our views. Sometimes
he made us mad. Sometimes he
made us laugh at ourselves.
Following our second run
through of Karl’s column, we’d
scan the letters to the editor to
scrutinize the feedback still being
generated from the previous week’s
Karl column. Anyone familiar with
the Daily Nebraskan knows that
this feedback was rarely, if ever,
positive.
We decided it was high time
someone voiced a bit of support.
Whether Karl examined the
dangers of homosexuality, pointed
out the importance of traditional
values or simply highlighted the
beauty of lessons found in “Forrest
Gump,” his columns were appreci
ated in our book. We look forward
to reading Karl’s columns again
this semester.
Keep up the good work, Jamie.
You have more supporters than you
might imagine.
Shelley Moses
junior
advertising
Stephanie Nelson
junior
sociology
Pay for play
Sen, Ernie Chambers is wrong.
Football players and other varsity
athletes do get paid. It’s called a
free college education.
Let’s remember, they are here as
students first, who just happen to
play a little football along the way.
Mark D. Mercer
sophomore
broadcasting