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Thursday, November 2, 1995 Page 4
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
Bret Gottschall/DN
Football ethics
Time to make athletic department liable
This year h is been plagued by issues involving the football team.
It’s no coincidence that the negative attention comes in a year when
we are also reigning national champions—the public eye has turned
on us in a way we have to get used to.
It looks like Lawrence Phillips will play this weekend, something
which should prepare us for another wave of questions and accusa
tions.
And there will be further events and further inquiries — it won’t
ever end, not unless we start losing.
That’s just the way the news is.
Fortunately, we don’t stand much of a chance of losing.
So, by way of preparing ourselves for the coming storms, it’s time
to take a serious look at the way we do things around here.
We need to be able to make an accounting for our actions.
The NU system is really five campuses, not four: UNL, UNO,
UNK, UNMC and UNAD — the University of Nebraska Athletic
Department.
As long as we were left to ourselves, athletics officials were allowed
to pretty much make it up as they went.
They could play it by ear, fly by the seat of their pants.
No more.
What we need at UNAD is accountability — not to some Sunday
school teacher ethic, but to boards and review systems and finally
to us, the university community.
They are our teams, after all.
No longer can decisions be made without some sort of due process.
No more whims of head coaches.
That’s not saying anyone but a coach can say who plays when and
how much — you can’t coach winning teams by committee.
But it does mean that decisions that have nothing to do with game
day but have to do with students’ rights and the university’s rights to
protect itself from legal prosecution have to be made. They have to be
subject to a process of review, and have to be taken, in some measure,
out of the hands of those who have, until now, run their teams and
departments like minor gods.
The time has come for the UNAD to fall into line.
And not a moment too soon.
Editorial policy
Staff editorials represent the official
policy of die Fall 1995 Daily Nebras
kan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebras
kan Editorial Board. Editorials do not
necessarily reflect the 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 the paper. Accord
ing to policy set by the regents, respon
sibility for die editorial content of die
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 the
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
material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union,
1400 R SL Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
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Chilly reception
All I could do after reading the
most recent article by “the frosh,”
Adria Chilcote, was grit my teeth
and wince.
Maybe she doesn’t know what
the word transition means, or
maybe it’s the whole adjective thing
that stumps her.
art in your face like a red rag
because they know you aren’t of the
social class raised to appreciate it or
recognize its value. But don’t you
know their children go to private
schools and learn all about Monet
and Corcoran?
Christopher, art isn’t just
something that people “like.” That’s
a bad Hollywood ioke. Art can be
opportunity to see it.
Lauri Morris
Graduate Student
Art
Rainbow rebuttal
Jim Vance (Letters, Oct. 30) says
he is disappointed with the “lack of
i just can t Tatnom wny tne uin
gives a third of a page to her every
week. Thousands of students read
this paper. How can the DN justify
printing an article that wouldn’t
even receive a “C” in English class?
She starts with cars, takes a
move toward hair and just when you
think you’ve got a grip on the
article, she takes you on a journey
into her in-depth analysis of
television.
Whoa! Wait a second, my brain
has to rest.
She’s writing about nothing, and
she’s writing about it badly.
Megan
Sophon
Undeclar
Artsy fer art,
see?
Regarding the letter by
Christopher Nollett (Oct.
seriousness and thought-provoking
ideas” in the columns of Rainbow
Rowell.
Mr. Vance’s letter brings to mind
two of my favorite Rainbow
columns. I usually refer to them as
“the serious ones.” One was a
meditative column about race
relations and the other was a
personal story about living on
welfare.
These two columns were among
the most thought-provoking pieces
of writing to appear on the Daily
Nebraskan opinion pages in
recent years. In fairness to Mr.
Vance, one or both of these
columns may have been
written before he came to
the university.
Semester after
semester Rainbow
brings creative
strength to an
otherwise weak
linpnn nf DN
j i) i am conrusea ana • Cv,a
dismayed by your ill- °P,n!°" ™ters'.,She
considered alack on
public funding for the intelligent and
a %, n . ■ flair. This is true for
The fact ts. our nearly every
government spends i J J
such a relatively tiny
percentage of its
budget on the arts (.005
percent) that, economically
speaking, it is a non-issue.
Politically speaking, unfortu
nately, is another matter. The Right ‘ * VI ’ Bret Gottschall/DN
loves to see uninformed persons
such as yourself take this bait and
run with it — they hope that in your
fury at having spent that oft-quoted
68 cents on art for the year, you
won’t notice the $2,000 you spent
on the S&L bailout.
What do you really know about
art? You think Republicans in
Congress aren’t elitist? They shake
social critique, spiritual experience,
or just plain old affirmation of
humanity. If you knew what you
were missing, you’d be demanding
your right to see it. The paltry
amount that the government spends
on the arts in this country helps to
ensure that you will have the
topic she addresses, whether it be
frivolous or serious.
The DN is lucky to have her,
both as a managing editor and a
columnist.
Mike Lewis
Former DN staff member
Lincoln
1 Send your brief letters to:
Daily Nebraskan, 34
tv-') tA-)/^ Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.,
^ _ Lincoln, Neb. 68588, or Fax
to (402) 472-1761, or email
cletters @ unlinfo.unl.edu.>
t-1- Letters must be signed and
Nebraskan 'nec“®tf0phone number ,or