—————————^, I , Ill - ■ ■■■ ■ ~
,v • ' -
. , VI* ■ * f.
s
. • • • .
. • ✓ * , ■ - .
.
....
' .— — ■ . .. —
Daily
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
Wilted lettuce
Party’s river of ideas seemingly stale
It is a good thing students who aren’t in sororities and fraternities
haven’t been in control of ASUN in anyone’s recent memory.
The dominant group at UNL never has been able to lead anyway.
Until you prove you can lead, don’t try to get elected to ASUN.
This is the same view that is seemingly doomed to dominate ASUN
year after year, election upon election. This is the same view that has
led to nothing but a sliver of the student population being repre
sented.
This is a view that was once again represented at an ASUN cam
paign debate. But the party spouting that attitude this time was LET
TUCE, a group that purports to sell itself as outsiders to the ASUN
machine.
In Thursday’s debate, Chad Pekron, ACCESS presidential candi
date and, apparently, one of the two true outsiders in this year’s
campaign, said greeks had overrun ASUN.
LETTUCE vice-presidential candidate Andy Smith, who com
mented that his party was 99 percent greek, rebutted that until other
groups proved they could lead, greeks would remain in charge.
What happened to “drinking from the river of new ideas,” as LET
TUCE said it would do? What happened to reinvigorating ASUN
with new blood?
LETTUCE’S appeal is based on the idea that it would do things
differently. Bringing the view posed Thursday to ASUN would hardly
do that.
Students have seen hope in this party. LETTUCE doesn’t take
campaigning too seriously, and they can be blunt at times, which is
refreshing in a climate of jargon, double-speak and public relations.
But the latest display of bluntness could reveal who LETTUCE
truly is. If so, that is unfortunate.
This again?
UNL doesn’t need new grading scale
Last week, six UNL faculty members introduced a 12-point grad
ing proposal for consideration by the Academic Senate.
This policy would expand the current grading scale to include
minus grades and eliminate grades of A-plus. The reason for this
proposal is, in the words of one proponent, that UNL needs to “get
with it.”
The question this raises is what, precisely, “if’ is.
Perhaps “if’ is the system used at contemporary universities, which
often include minus grades.
Perhaps our system makes us less competitive with these institu
tions in situations where national job or graduate placement are con
cemed. If this were true, however, it would be safe to assume that the
call for change would have been a unanimous clarion that came long
ago rather than a muddled suggestion from six faculty members.
Or, “getting with it” could refer to enhancing the academic envi
ronment on campus. A concern is that stricter grades should reflect a
more rigorous curriculum. By analogy, a new grading scale would
be a cart placed before our horse.
In this context, “it” should most certainly be the will of the stu
dents. Quite simply, the new grading policy is not only unnecessary
but also unwanted. The recent ASUN vote on the issue demonstrates
this.
Similar proposals have come up and gone down numerous times
in the past and as recently as the last academic year. This current
proposal should follow the other ones into oblivion.
Editorial policy
Staff editorials represent the official
policy of the Spring 1995. Daily
Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editori
als do notnecessarilyreflecttbe views
of the university, its employees, the
studentsortheNUBoardofRegents.
Editorial colimans represent the opin
ion ofthe author. The regentspublish
die Daily Nebraskan. They establish
the UNL Publications Board to su
pervise the daily production of the
paper. According to policy 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 the
editor from all readers and interested others. Letters
will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity,
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
material should run as a guest opinion. Letters and
guest opinions sent to die newspaper become the
property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be I
returned. Anonymous submissions will not be pub
lished. Letters should included die author’s name,
year in school, major and group affiliation, if any.
Requests to withhold names will not be granted.
Submitmaterial to the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska
Union. 1400 R St, Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
VJV\KT WAS
tuat?
I -
Send your brief letters to:
Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, 1400 R St,
Lincoln, Neb. 68588. Or fax
to: (402) 472-1761. Letters
must be signed and include a
phone number for
permeation.
Jamie Karl
The Daily Nebraskan is truly
lucky to have a writer like Jamie
Karl! I will admit that sometimes
his opinions and writing style are
inflammatory and extreme, but
more often than not, he confronts
the liberal intellectual elite with
truths they simply cannot deny.
His latest column, “Ladies, men
have it bad, too” (Feb. 16), is an
excellent example of this. In this
column, he points out the undeni
able truth that men and women are
different.
The liberals and the feminazis
will scream bigotry and chauvin
ism, because they, in their
pompousness and high-mindedness,
have become too arrogant and
blinded by their own egos to
acknowledge another point of view,
or even a simple truth, which
contradicts their own point of view.
Ryan Grone
freshman
general studies
Biological facts
In their letter (Feb. i5), Jo
Dilallo and Dennis McGucken
agree “biological facts” prove that
“a fetus is both a living and human
organism.”
I’ll bet they’re glad their
mothers thought so too.
Martha Miller
UNL Alumna
Shaky argument
In Dilallo’s and McGucken’s let
ter (Feb. 15), we heard exactly what
many abortion proponents believe.
We are told that an unborn child
cannot be considered a person be
cause “any parasite in the body can
claim uniqueness.”
The truth is that even this pro
abortion voice could not overpower
the unborn cries from those who
had no choice. For “it is perfectly
obvious that a fetus is both a living
and human organism. These are
biological facts and no one disputes
them,” Dilallo and McGucken
wrote.
I find it quite hard to swallow that
they could make such an evident er
ror, unless of course, there is a hint of
internal struggle over their own be
liefs.
Jeff Fulton
freshman
elementary education
AmySchmidt/DN
Satire
This letter is in reply to the letter
“Liberal Ideology” (Feb. 13). I am
not a supporter of Todd Elwood’s
sociological research scheme, but I
have to admit the column was quite
humorous.
I just don’t understand how two
people like Aemi and Waymire can
actually believe something like that.
I just have one question for both
of those two spout-offs: Have you
ever heard of satire? I believe
Elwood was making a deeper point
than what was actually written.
Come on, wake up and smell the
coffee.
Erik Montemer
freshman
modern languages
Women
The article entitled “Women in
abusive relationships need plan of
action for safety” (Feb. 10) ne
glected to mention the departments
on campus that are available to
assist victims of domestic violence.
The Women’s Center has support
groups and counseling available to
women who are victims of domestic
abuse. Along with medical assis
tance, the health center has counse
lors available to students.
The Employee Assistance
Program has counselors available
free of charge for staff, faculty and
family members who are affected by
domestic violence.
Along with these programs is
the Victim Services Program.
Although the Victims Services
Program does not offer counseling,
it does act as a central place where
victims can receive information and
referrals to other departments and
agencies on campus and in Lincoln.
The Victim Services Program
provides information about report
ing incidents to police or medical
personnel, assists in obtaining
protection orders and also assists
with getting back into the routine of
classes or work after an incident of
domestic violence.
An important issue pointed out
in the article is the change pro
posed by Sen. Hillman to include
people who date or have dated in
the domestic abuse act.
According to the National Crime
Victimization Survey (1992), 51
percent of the victims of intimate
violence were attacked by “boy
friends or girlfriends.” UNL is not
immune from this type of violence.
Sen. Hillman’s bill could directly
affect students who need to report
domestic violence or obtain
protection orders because of
violence in a dating relationship.
Lisa Cauble
Victims Services coordinator
