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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1996)
EDITOR Doug Kouma OPINION EDITOR Anne Hjersman EDITORIAL BOARD Doug Peters Matt^&ite Paula Lavigne Mitch Sherman Anthony Nguyen “I hate The Edge for more reasons than they have songs on their rotation.” — DN staff reporter Bret Schulte, on why he describes radio station 101.9-FM, The Edge, as “the air-borne plague that has descended on the metro Omaha and Lincoln area” “It's the educational equivalent of blam ing the victim for the crime.” — University of California Student Re gent Jess Bravin, on the UC system’s pro posal to charge students who do not gradu ate in four years $1,000 for each additional quarter “Children can be children — especially when they're not brought up properly.” — Claudia James, mother of Baylor quarterback Odell James, on the “disrespect” some Husker players showed her son when he came to NU on a recruiting trip “Here, about 75 percent of our birds that hatched died of just being stupid. I had to baby-sit these guys 24 hours a day. They're dumber than doornails.” — Kay Kunze, a junior fisheries and wildlife major, on ostriches being raised for meat in the Poultry Science building on East Campus and on farms southwest of Lincoln “We already have a lot of people with drug and alcohol problems. The patients will have little impact.” — Ed Beranek, president of the Everett Neighborhood Association, offering no ob jections to moving homeless drug and alco hol treatment patients into the neighborhood “1 don't want to just mess with your head. I want to mess with your life.” —Author Stephen King, on his purpose in writing “We’re not nearly as bad a football team as we may have looked today.” —Baylor Football Coach Chuck Reedy, on his team’s 49-0 loss to the Huskers “There’s a clear precedent that we have not had nude performance by students at this university.” — Gene Wubbels, UNK senior vice chan cellor for academic affairs, on the recent ban ning of nudity in die university’s production of “Tis a Pity She’s a Whore” “We are not in the business of hassling kids.” — York High School Principal Scott Koch, defending a surprise drug raid at the school . “We almost want to shake people and say, ‘look at what’s at stake here.’” — Oklahoma Sen. Don Nichols, cam paigning for Chuck Hagel “It’s not the economy, stupid. It’s moral ity, stupid, and that’s where the issue’s going to be decided in this campaign.” — Pat Robertson, founder of the Chris tian Coalition, on the decision not to support Bob Dole in the presidential elections Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials are die opinions oftfieFall 1996 Daily Nebraskan. They do not neces , sarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its student I body or the University of Nebraska Board of ' . Regents. A column is soley the opinion of its author. The Board of Regents serves as pub lisher of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by ' the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Hie UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, supervises the production of the news \ paper According to policy set by the regents, l responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its stu dent employees. «, ' j 'V. '-— ---r Letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief let ters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submit ted material becomes the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affiliation, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebras kan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400R St Lin coln, Neb. 68388-0448. E-mail: lettersliunlinfo.unl.edu. —_ r f \ &mxM AMb ™ bONOO bOMN6 MRVRES- I i ^f/Em V,._/ braes: __' —. t Animal Rights Americans’ crass and egotistical ethics are reaching almost unbeliev able lows. We will cross any natural barrier and contrive any circum stances to fit out visions of desire. Ostriches are the latest victims of these severed ties with human decency. The quotes from Kay Kunze said it all. She said ostriches are adorable, “so happy to be alive that they start dancing,” and in spite of some dismal death rates, ostriches are happy birds.” She also indicated that 75 percent of their birds died of just being stupid, and were dumb as doornails. What game of self-delusion is she playing? Dismal death rates? As far as die birds are concerned, they’re 100 percent. None will live to the average life expectancy of free South African ostriches; even the breeder ostriches will be killed when their productivity runs low, right? Happy birds? Send them back to Africa and let lazy, health-conscience Americans eat more vegetables instead of ensnaring yet another wild species into their slave industries. If you want to eat something low fat, eat an apple. Scott Ferguson Senior Anthropology Nudity Not Censorship The Daily Nebraskan ran my letter about the ban on nudity at UNK under the headline “Censorship Applauded”, which is a complete misrepresentation of the position I took in my letter. What I applauded was a ban on nudity which I did not believe constituted censorship. - If the DN disagrees about what constitutes censorship, they have their own editorial column to speak firm However, iftheDN is going to solicit letters to the editor from the Aaron StcckelberoDN university community, then the DN has a responsibility tarun those letters without headlines that are thoroughly misleading. Brad Pardee AThreat Any time a governmental author ity restricts intellectual freedom, especially in a university setting, fundamental civil rights are threat ened. In response to Brad Pardee’s letter (“Censorship Applauded” Oct. 16,1996), singly because no political issues were censored by Chancellor Johnston does not mean ideas were not banned. Artistic freedom was compro mised and artistic freedom is a form of intellectual freedom. The director’s decision to include nudity in the play, which did not originally include it, is much akin to the rather common technique of presenting a Shakespeare play with all the characters wearing modem dress. It is an artistic choice, and in an intellectual community, there is no place for restrictions upon such choices. We do, in fact, “fund the theater department at Kearney or anywhere else simply to enable a director to make artistic statements” regardless of whether they “further the educational purpose of the institution.” To do otherwise means someone must define what “furthers the educational purpose of the institution” and what does not and academic freedom is threatened As a university, we should encourage students to think about issues and to be presented with a wide variety of ideas, artistic and otherwise, and through the free marketplace of ideas let those that are good show their inherent value over those that are bad. By censoring those that one person in authority believes to be bad, the university fails to educate its students. , • Robert W. Anderson graduate student unclassified Not afraid’ Homophobia, by it’s root words, should be a fear of homosexuals. I have been constantly referred to as a; “homophobic person,” when in fact, ! am not afraid of homosexuals, rather, I disagree with whole concept of homosexuality on the moral level. I am not, nor have I everbeen, afraid of a homosexual male or female. Please choose your words wisely when addressing others, Nick Wiltgen. Also, in response to Kent * Downing’s letter, the actual figure of homosexuals in the country is not 10 percent, as is often rumored. The actual figure is much lower, accord ing to Psych 181’s text (Exploring Psychology, by David G. Myers). The figures listed in this text give the percentage of the male population as being 3-4 percent gay, and thefemale population as 1 percent lesbian. Please check your sources and your facts before printing such a blatant mistake again. Thank you. R. Peter McClellan freshman mechanical engineering % II m*a -. . - . .....-•