Opinion
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
Reality bites
Homeless deserve fair treatment
Welcome to the real world, kids.
Here in the real world, in case you haven’t figured it out for
yourself, life is hard. Some people aren’t happy; others struggle to
get by.
And some, in the richest nation in the world, don’t have homes.
Once again, there has been some talk by officials about trying to
rid the Nebraska Union of the homeless. Daryl Swanson, director
of the Nebraska Union, said he was working with police to pros
ecute vagrants for panhandling, consuming alcohol on campus and
causing public disturbances.
Of course, criminals should be arrested.
But our concern is that those people, who just happen to not have
homes, will be harassed by police and made to feel like criminals
by students in the unions, even if they have done nothing wrong.
And many of the homeless people who use the union do nothing
wrong.
What better place than the union for people who have nowhere
to go? The union is a public building at a public institution.
If a professor in the department of mathematics were to stagger
drunkenly into the union and yell at a student, would union officials
be talking about prosecuting all math professors in the union?
The narrow focus of the union officials’ ire begs a question about
how much respect is given to homeless people on the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln campus.
Do the homeless deserve any less respect than a high-level ad
ministrator, only because they do not have homes? We say no, and
any argument to the contrary is a shallow, materialistic one at best.
The university gives its students lessons in life along with les
sons in academics. In students’ lives, they are going to have to deal
with homeless people. Unfortunately, many will have to deal with
criminals in one capacity or another.
The criminals are not always going to be homeless — the home
less are not always going to be criminals.
Some homeless people have college degrees, were senior-level
executives and members of a family at one time in their life. Cir
cumstance is all that separates anyone from being homeless.
The homeless are people and deserve to be treated as such. Crimi
nals are criminals who also deserve to be treated as such.
Don’t blur the line that separates the two.
In one breath
Opening Day has come and gone. It’s great to see the boys of
summer back in action. But let’s not ignore reality. The players and
owners still don’t have a permanent agreement. They should come
to one soon so we can avoid further strikes or lockouts.
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 not necessarilyreflect the views
of the university, its employees, the
stuHants or the NU Board of Regents.
Editorial columns represent the opin
ion of the author. The regents publish
the Daily Nebraskan. They establish
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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.
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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,
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Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all mate
rial submitted Readers also are welcome to submit
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Higher education
I found Beth Finsten’s commen
tary (April 13) a breath of fresh air.
It’s true that the style and structure
of the majority of classes offered
have their foundations firmly set on
the concept of quantity instead of
quality of the information presented,
and that students cram their heads
full of facts and figures only to
forget them prior to or (if they’re
lucky) immediately following the
exam.
It is a candid and honest admis
sion that the typical grading scale
not only helps to maintain a high
GPA, but also in just passing the
damn class.
But Finsten misses the real point
behind her undergraduate education.
The bachelor’s degree has replaced
the high school diploma as the
minimum level necessary to land a '
lucrative service-industry job. The
diploma you one day will receive
will primarily signify that you can
complete a required task, and little
else.
Sure there are classes and
instructors that are helpful and
entertaining (and actually encourage
the student to think), but by and
large, the majority, Uke their
counterparts in the administration
building, are nothing more than
track attendants who set up hurdles
in your path.
Alan M. Green
senior
political science
Rodeo
I was quite surprised and
disappointed to see the front page of
the Daily Nebraskan promoting a
“sport” that thrives off the blatant
exploitation of defenseless animals.
Rodeo is cruel, it is sick and it is
archaic. Peggy Anderson, in her
letter (April 14), discussed this
exercise in testosterone-flexing as “a
time-honored tribute to our country
and its colonization..."
So too is the legacy of the
African slave trade and the
ethnocide of Native American
Indian tribes. This “tribute” to our
great nation is the purest example of
man displaying his pathetic domi
nance over nature.
Performed in the name of sport,
glory, masculinity and tradition,
rodeo is nothing more than a fool
promoting desensitization, destruc
tion and dominance—aspects all
too rampant in American culture.
We don’t need to live this way.
Nick Myers
senior
secondary education
Pro-Bill Byrne
I have to respond in Bill Byrne’s
defense to the editorial “Learn from
legacy” in the Daily Nebraskan
(April 14).
Yes, Bob Devaney was a great
coach, a good athletic director and
he did create the great tradition that
is Nebraska football. But unfortu
nately, college football today is all
about money. Without the almighty
dollar, Nebraska football would
quickly slip into mediocrity.
That’s where Bill Byrne comes
in. In his short tenure, he has
brought Memorial Stadium into the
20th century. Sure, he may have
raised the cost for group seating, but
that’s what it takes to maintain a
program like Nebraska’s.
So before anyone criticizes Bill
Byrne, they should look at the
package he brings to the table. He is
a great money-maker, and he is the
best thing to happen to Nebraska
athletics since Bob Devaney.
Gary Bazis
junior
teachers college
An apology
I would like to comment on
Martha Miller’s letter (April 11)
about Brent Bartu’s involvement in
the “stolen sax” case. First, I realize
Brent was put in a very unfortunate
case, as well as the others involved.
And I would like to apologize for all
the hurt and inconvenience I have
caused to him and those involved
with the UNL School of Music.
In a case such as this, where I
was formally charged with unlawful
theft and then given the opportunity
to have my charges dismissed
through the pre-trial diversions
program, Brent Bartu, as well as
anyone else who was involved, is
guaranteed restitution.
What I have done was extremely
wrong and I regret every decision
made to instigate the situation with
the saxophones. But I made a
contract with the diversions program
and Brent Bartu was made well
aware of it.
Diversions is programmed to
give individuals who’ve had no
prior criminal record a second
chance. Yes, I made a terrible
mistake and I can only extend my
apologies to those I have involved.
It’s time to let this issue settle.
Gail Tvrdy
former UNL student
Gail Tvrdy was charged in
connection with an incident in
which three saxophones were
stolen from the Westbrook Mu
sic Building and pawned at Lin
coln shops. Brent Bartu is the
owner ofBanner Music Co., 1239
$. 14th St. He has said he pur
chased one of the instruments,
not knowing it was stolen.
—Editor