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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1995)
Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln J. Christopher Haiti.Editor, 472-1766 Rainbow Rowell.Managing Editor Mark Baldridge.Opinion Page Editor DeDra Janssen.Associate News Editor Doug Kouma..Arts & Entertainment Editor JeffZeleny. .Senior Reporter Matt Woody. Senior Reporter James Mehsling.Cartoonist Reach out Awareness builds bridges For years America has devalued diversity. Often, immigrants to this country weren’t completely accepted until a generation had passed and they were assimilated into Ameri can culture. All over the world, ethnic groups are attempting to break away from assimilation and hold onto their individual cultures. Because cultural differences will always exist, ignoring them only fosters prejudice, discrimination and hostility. The racial division on the the verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial has highlighted strong differences in American culture and a corre sponding difference in perception. g The challenge to Americans is cultural understanding. The challenge is to look at ourselves, our attitudes and our percep tions. We all have prejudice, but have we taken any steps to reduce it in ourselves and in those around us? One of the things that makes America so great is that we have the power to change. But it’s up to the majority to make the first move ment. Reaching out to create an environment that accepts all cultures wiU belp bridge a gap that so often causes hostility across color lines. It’s about sensitivity. It’s about awareness. It’s about understand ing. Open gates UNL needs more diversity Awareness and understanding toward diversity can only go so far. There needs to be action. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that action cannot be seen. UNL is more diverse than the state and surrounding community, but barely. The state of Nebraska is 94 percent white. The UNL student population is 89 percent white and the faculty population is 92 percent white. Not good enough. To raise the level of cultural understanding there needs to be more diversity, more cross-cultural interaction. There is a movement across the country to rid affirmative action from hiring practices. That movement assumes that diversity has been established and prejudice has been eliminated. Not so at UNL. The large part of the UNL student body comes from Nebraska and its culturally narrow population. It always will. But the university needs to provide students with a culturally broad experience. Obviously a more diverse university means recruiting outside of Nebraska. And obviously that requires a change in current prac tices. Students currently on campus need to interact with those outside of their sphere of similarity. The new gates on the south end of our campus need to be opened wider to people of all colors and to people from all over the world. Editorial policy Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Fall 1995 Daily Nebras kan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebras kan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect die views of die university, its employees, die students or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent die opinion of the author. The regents publish die Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. Accord ing to policy set by the regents, respon sibility for the editorial content of die newspaper lies solely in the hands of its students. Letter policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor frcm all readers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publication on die basis of clarity, originality, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all material submitted. Readers also are welcome to submit mate rial as guest opinions. The editor decides whether material should run as a guest opinion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of die Daily Nebraskan and cannot be re turned. Anonymous submissions will not be pub lished. Letters should include the author’s name, year in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Re quests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. THOSE HO?LE IU UN6,' 'THEXKE RECtsi*^ mFARE CHECKS-AHE) mi 1 W& V»ER«Vb W HUO COOU) KEENER 1HEW SOWE OP SooK-iUftcKKees? A (#£*%**/ Miscarriage II As a law student, I am always grateful for the opportunity to leam from eminent attorneys. I’m double honored that Chief Deputy Attorney General Steve Grasz, apparently in his official capacity, would take the time to instruct me in Nebraska Law by responding to my Sept. 26 letter concerning the Ruby Scott case. And, of course, Mr. Grasz is correct: Under Nebraska law, “No abortion shall be performed after the time at which the fetus is viable in the sound medical judgment of the attending physician...” It is worth noting that the physician whose letter sparked Washington County Attorney John Samson’s action was not Ruby Scott’s attending physician — he had never examined her — but that’s a minor point. The central issue of this case is whether a county attorney can prevent a person from leaving Nebraska to do an action in another which, although possibly illegal in Nebraska, is legal in that other state. According to the petition he filed, Mr. Samson believed that Ms. Scott was in the 23rd week of pregnancy. That put her, as far as anyone knew at the time, within the second trimester of pregnancy, and there are states other than Nebraska in which an abortion at that time is legal. „ Ruby Scott, along with her parents, intended to travel to just such a state to consult with physi cians there and, if advisable in their opinions, to have an abortion. Will the attorney general’s office issue instructions to the Nebraska State Patrol to block bridges between Omaha and Council Bluffs to prevent Nebraskans from going to Iowa to gamble just because it is illegal to gamble in Nebraska? Or is that unlikely, as such an action would not gamer votes for a senatorial candidate? Stephen G. Charest College of Law ... Send your brief letters to: TO tri£2 Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., - Lincoln, Neb. 68588, or Fax to (402) 472-1761, or email <letters @ unlinfo.unl.edu.> 1T- Letters must be signed and Nebraskan tilings that make you go... sure would be inter ested to know what E. Benjamin Nelson (Letters, Oct. 9) thinks of Jamie Karl’s other columns. Martha Desmond Graduate Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife via e-mail Justicepni donee It seems that people are doing their favorite thing again. They are switching one word for a wholly incompatible word that is suppos edly similar. O.J. Simpson did not have American justice served. American justice involves horse heads in your bed, or drive-by shootings, or arson. O.J. did not have any kind of justice served. Why not? O.J. did not go through a “justicial” system. O.J. went through the American JUDICIAL system. There is a very big difference. The judicial system is for deciding whether a person had his or her rights infringed upon. The jury decided that the police infringed upon O.J.’s rights when they collected the evidence thus negating a large amount of its incriminating effect. If O J. had been a lesser man, he might have been convicted. But, I don’t know. I wasn’t paid five dollars a day to decide any thing. Neither were you. Jared Solomon Freshman Undecided via e-mail Bah’i “Close your eyes to racial differences, and welcome all with the light of oneness” was the call of Baha’u’llah almost 150 years ago. Why, then, do we have such a hard time grasping this concept of the oneness of humankind? At this time, with the O J. Simpson Trial complete and divisive racial attitudes resurging, we must not ignore racism, but arise without further delay to resolve this funda mental social problem. I do not wish to be characterized by the color of my skin, eyes, hair, height, weight, or any other superfi cial “differences” one may conjure up, but rather by the content of my character. Color Me Human! Chad Dumas Freshman Music Education and Math Right on! 1 appreciated Jamie Karl’s column (“Christian politicians right on,” Oct. 4). It is encouraging to see the Nebraska Republican Party, under the leadership of Chuck Sigerson, forging an alliance with those of us who care so deeply about the moral malaise in winch we find our state and nation. Christian Coalition is the largest pro-family organization in the country. We are not partisan and do not endorse candidates for office. Instead, we seek candidates who will endorse our agenda, an agenda supported by the majority of Americans. Nebraska Christian Coalition welcomes the inclusive spirit of cooperation expressed by Sigerson and the NRP. It is unfortunate for the many common-sense Democrats that their party seems to have abandoned their belief in faith, family and freedom in pursuit of a smothering nanny-state with government as savior. Doug Patton Executive Director Nebraska Christian Coalition