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Thursday, October 26, 1995 Page 4
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.-.J. • • Cartoonist
Sticky charges
Accusers need to be held accountable
There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about victim’s rights—
maybe too much talk.
This issue is not a PC issue.
This issue is a civil rights issue!
Half-baked references to U2 aside, victim’s rights is an issue
everyone seems to agree on—victims of crimes should be protected,
right? They should not be put on trial — criminals should be put on
trial.
Problem is, it’s just never
that simple.
Victims have to have the
same rights thatthe accused have;
anything less leads to the tyr
anny of the accuser.
T ake the example of sexual
harassment.
It’s a social problem whose
time has come — our society is
determined to shed light on it.
No longer will bosses or
teachers oranyonebeal lowed to
keep to the shadows and con
tinue to abuse or harass their
employees, students — what
ever.
And there are some who
sav that the victim should be
Bret Gottschaii/DN granted the shadows formerly
reserved for the perpetrator.
This is not a good idea.
If the accuser is protected, if his or her name is not printed in the
papers that cover the story, if they never have to face public scrutiny,
then the potential for abuse is multiplied.
Don’t like me?—Accuse me.
No one will mention your name, you will never have to answer to
the damning attention which your accusation will inflict upon me and
my family.
Even if you cannot prove your allegations, you can hurt me, badly.
Or I could do the same to you.
This is not an acceptable way to run a society of equals.
But there are obvious drawbacks to the system as it exists: Those
most harmed by something like sexual harassment have to face almost
unbearable scrutiny after the fact. '
They are forced to participate in the machinery of judgment they
themselves have set in motion.
And they have to live with the possibility that the perpetrator will
go unpunished — that for one reason or another, they will go free.
This is almost certainly why so many abuses of power go unre
ported: Fear of the consequences of reporting outweighs the fear of
continued harassment.
And it’s too bad when those who have been victimized have to
endure so much on top of the abuse they’ve suffered.
But it is also unavoidable.
Justice is hard to come by, in any system.
Until someone thinks of a better way to do things, this is how our
civilization runs.
Hopefully.
Because there a lot of ways it could be made worse.
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 the
university, its employees, the students
or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial
columns represent the opinion of the
author. The regents publish the Daily
Nebraskan. They establish the UNL
Publications Board to supervise the
daily production of die paper. Accord
ing to policy set by the regents, respon
sibility for the editorial 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 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 die
property of the 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
materia] to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union,
1400 R St Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
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Positive message
You’ll never believe what I just
heard on the news tonight. Appar
ently, the university feels that the
sanctions placed on Lawrence
Phillips should be a positive
message to victims.
I agree wholeheartedly that this
is a positive message. However, it
is a positive message for abusers,
not victims.
This positive message says it’s
OK to beat up women. As long as
you go to counseling, attend all
your classes, and stay away from
her, it will all be forgotten.
In fact, you may even get to
play football again. Wouldn’t that
be great?
The university will let you
attend a few counseling sessions to
help you control your anger and
then allow you to participate in the
most violent sport in America!
The message to victims of abuse
is you should just grin and bear it.
It is part of our society and you
have to get used to feeling like you
don’t amount to anything.
As a woman I find this decision
offensive.
Apparently at “good old Ne
braska U” an abuser not only has
the right to continue his education,
but he also is given the chance to
ruthlessly beat someone again.
Unfortunately, a victim may not
get a second chance.
Jenny Sievers
Senior
Family Science
via e-mail
Abortion
Regarding Emily Poulsen and
Zoe Triantafillou’s column (“Free
dom to choose keeps women safe,”
Oct. 23):
There is nothing in the Constitu
tion about “reproductive choice”.
This was an interpretation by the
Supreme Court in the Roe v. Wade
decision.
The Supreme Court has been
wrong before, like in the Dred
Scott decision.
It was wrong again with Roe v.
Wade.
David Oldham
Junior
News-Editorial
via e-mail
More abortion
To “Our Special Guests”: If people
would simply accept the responsi
bility that comes with the funda
mental rights of choice, there
would be no need for drastic and
deadly measures.
Rosie Jimenez had those
fundamental rights guaranteed to
citizens by the U.S. Constitution.
She had the right to reproductive
freedom. She had the right to make
the choice, the choice between
having sex or refraining.
What Rosie did not want was to
accept the responsibility that comes
with her fundamental rights.
The ability to have sex is a right.
To destroy life is not a right. No
one has the right to decide that
their life is more important than
someone else’s, especially a
defenseless little child. I feel sorry
for Rosie and all the other women
who have died due to complica
tions in “back alley" abortions. But
let’s not forget that since 1973
millions of innocent children have
been legally killed.
When we join in the rally in
front of Broyhill Fountain to honor
Rosie Jimenez what we should
really be remembering is the death
of the'child in her womb and the 5
year-old whom she selfishly left
behind simply because she would
not face responsibility for her own
actions and wanted the easy way
out.
Brian Carlin
Freshman
Business via e-mail
Culture vulture
1 am writing in response to Mr.
Peters’ column (“Culture barons,"
Oct.24).
I disagree with his attack on Ted
Turner. What Mr. Turner has done
is nothing short of fabulous.
He does not destroy classic
movies as Mr. Peters stated. First
they are restored on black and
white to upgrade their condition.
After that, they are colorized.
Contrary to belief, the films are
still available in the original black
and white.
Those “bastardized” movies are
then shown to a new generation of
people and are available on home
video.
If not for the efforts of Mr.
Turner, films like “Gone With the
Wind” would have been lost a long
time ago.
Robert Brown II
Senior
Chemistry
Head ditto
Mr. Burger, who will find job
hunting a bit frustrating, is obvi
ously liberal (Letters, Oct.24).
Those who I hear bashing Mr.
Limbaugh can’t say they have ever
listened to Rush for any length of
time or at all. Rush is self-confi
dent, well-read, and always right,
in both senses.
Reporters are notorious for taking
a single statement out of context and
characterizing him based on that
statement alone. If your English pro
fessors can teach you no more, get
out. Rush did it on his own, perhaps
you can too.
Nolan Carson, B.A., M.A.
College of Dentistry
via e-mail
