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Tuesday, February 27, 1996 Page 4
Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
•* University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J. Christopher Haiti..Editor, 472-1766
DougKouma.*.Managing Editor
Doug Peters.Opinion Page Editor
Sarah Scalet... .Associate News Editor
Matt Waite..Associate News Editor
Michelle Garner.I.Wire Editor
t
Jennifer Mapes...Columnist
Ftee at test
Decision to trash term limits applauded
I t
The Daily Nebraskan would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to
the Supreme Court of the great state of Nebraska.
The highest court in our humble state has made a monumental
decision by throwing out term limits. In a unanimous decision, the
Supreme Court said Friday that term limits in Nebraska were invalid
because the U.S. Supreme
Court last year declared term
limits unconstitutional for con
gressional officeholders. The
court also threw out term limits
for state offices, saying the fed
eral and state provisions were
inseparable.
For upholding our consti
tution and abolishing the threat
to democracy that term limits
represented — thank you.
Truthfully, it was the only
decision the Supreme Court
could make. The constitution
already provides voters the
opportunity to implement term
limits through their votes.
i 1 ne Daily in eoraskan also
-----J would like to denounce Ne
braska Attorney General Don
Stenberg and term limits activists Ed Jaksha and Ally Milder, and
rebuke the 350,000 Nebraskans who foolishly supported term limits
in last November’s election.
Stenberg threw a temper tantrum Friday in response to the tossing
of term limits.
“It’s time to clean house in die Supreme Court,” Stenberg said in
a news release. “There are many reasons why term limits are now
needed for the Nebraska Supreme Court.”
Certainly, our attorney general should act with more maturity than
he did in attacking those who made decisions he doesn’t like.
Jaksha and Milder should be chastised for creating this mess in the
first place. They are responsible for bringing to voters a quick-fix for
a more serious problem.
And to Nebraska voters. Term limits may be a solution to careerism
among legislators. But term limits also promote ineffectiveness and
shift power from the Legislature to legislative staff, lobbyists and the
bureaucracy.
California, which has had term limits in place since 1990, already
is experiencing some of these problems with its legislative assembly.
The problem is a lack of legislative maturity. Those who have
experience and the knowledge of how things work always will have
the most influence. An inexperienced Legislature will deliver inef
fective leadership.
As Alan Peterson, the Lincoln attorney who successfully chal
lenged term limits, said: “Our view was that term limits don’t make
sense.”
Agreed.
Editorial policy
Staff editorials represent the official
policy of the Spring 19% Daily Ne
braskan. Policy is set by the Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials
do not necessarily reflect the views of
die university, its employees, the stu
dents or the NU Board of Regents.
Editorial columns represent the opin
ion of the author. The regents publish
die Daily Nebraskan. They establish
the UNL Publications Board to super
vise the daily production of the paper.
According to policy set by the regents,
responsibility for die 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 aid space available. The Daily
Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject afl 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
material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union,
1400 R St Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
"THE BRmi BILV IS
For 'i'timuive
STO SUCKERS.
foJCHAUAV] m FRKftskr ?
Students get
squeezed
The February 26, Daily Nebras
kan reported that the Board of
Regents increased residence hall,
room and board rates by 5.2 percent
for double rooms with 20 meals and
4.4 percent for double rooms with
14 meals. This increase is an outrage
for all people living in the dorms
this year. At the beginning of this
year, situations like three people
being shoved into a room that fits
only 2 and students living in TV
lounges with even fewer comforts of
home were schoolwide. The
rationale of the university was that
this overcrowding would benefit all
students because by filling all the
rooms, room and board rates would
go DOWN, not up.
This increase will force students
to live off campus because they
cannot afford to live in the halls.
Thus, rooms will be left unfilled and
rates will continue to rise. For a
university that prides itself in
providing a low cost, quality
education, it seems as of late that
they will do anything to nickel and
dime us to death.
Wayne Bena
freshman
accounting
Men threatened?
I attended a meeting of the Union
Board on Tuesday February 20.
Open for discussion was a motion to
change the women only status of the
“Ladies” lounge in the union to a
unisex/co-ed area. Apparently, one
man complained that the current
status of the lounge discriminated
against him because he does not
have the same kind of place to go.
Was it not just two weeks ago that
there was a motion to cut the budget
of the Women’s Center? Are men on
this campus suddenly feeling
threatened that women are seeking
respect long overdue? Does it bother
men that we are working together,
establishing places of support and
speaking up, and that we have a safe
private area where we can read,
relax, feel safe and, among other
things, breast-feed our children?
During the course of the meeting
this man said he would like to have a
quiet place on campus to lie down
and relax, like the women’s lounge.
He wanted the women’s lounge to
be opened to both women and men.
: jr
The director of the union admitted
that if the lounge was co-ed, the
room would be completely changed
as the doors would be removed and
the privacy factor would disappear.
He said it would be stupid for a
woman to enter a lounge area alone
at night if it was a co-ed room
because of the possible danger she
would put herself in. The threat
being men. A student member of the
board, while not agreeing with some
of our reasons for wanting it to
remain women only, moved to
knock the motion down. In his
explanation he found it difficult to
refer out loud to our “menstrual
cycle,” which was a reason he gave
for us needing extra privacy. The
issue of breast-feeding was no
problem for one man at the meeting.
He said he would not mind if
women did it in front of him. The
board member said, however, that he
would leave the area if he saw a
woman breast-feeding her infant.
When the issue of danger was
raised, he addressed it by recogniz
ing the need “to protect our women.”
Women do not belong to anyone. We
are not possesions. I am glad the
lounge will remain as is. At least
there, I will not have to be a witness
to the subtle and blatant sexism that
was evident at this meeting and
throughout the campus.
Tina M. Giambastiani
freshman
general studies
Musical equality
Throughout the semester Music
Reviews appear periodically, and as
a Music minor and lover of music, I
quickly direct my attention to this
section of the paper to see what new
CDs my favorite artists are releas
ing, but I have been disappointed
every time I read the Music Review
section because I have never heard
of any of the artists being reviewed.
I know that I am now in an environ
ment where alternative and rock are
king, but there is no excuse to
hammer only one end of the musical
spectrum down out throats. I’m
not suggesting that one particular
style of music is better than another.
I’m just saying that all types of
music should be more equally
recognized. Maybe instead of
having four reviews all on a certain
type of music, have each review
concentrate on a different style of
music. By doing this, the majority of
people would not get upset because
they would still hear about their
music. But the minority of people
who want to know about their
favorite music would be satisfied as
well.
It has been said that music is the
one universal communicator. With all
the recent attempts by society to no
longer be culturally or racially biased,
should the attempt to not be musically
biased also be considered?
Doug Helvering
freshman
advertising
Help the homeless
I would like to commend Bob
Ray on the incredible snobbery he
displayed in his “Move It” column
(Feb. 23). Just where are these
people supposed to go? The Union
is a huge, heated, partially state
funded building, whose space is
wasted most of the time. Why
shouldn’t we share it with the less
fortunate? Because some of them
have alcohol problems? I hate to
break it to you, but alcoholism is
something of a hobby on this
campus. The homeless aren’t the
only ones puking in campus
bathrooms. And yes, it’s true that
some of them may be mentally
disturbed, but how stable can your
mind be when your life isn’t? Don’t
be selfish and petty. Homeless
people are people, too. They need
our help, not our hatred and con
tempt.
Lesa Hoffman
freshman
psychology