EDITOR
DougKouma
OPINION
EDITOR
Anne Hjersman
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Doug Peters
Matt Waite
Paula Lavigne
Mitch Sherman
Anthony Nguyen
Curtains
down
Budget policies cut
into administrative staff
Tice Miller has announced that he is re
tiring as chairman of the Department of The
atre Arts and Dance next semester after 10
years of service. He plans to go back to teach
ing and to writing.
Miller has said he is exhausted after an
especially strenuous year — and looking at
the prospects of a 4-percent budget cut next
year made his job almost unbearable.
It’s a shame to the university when qual
ity administrators cite dealing with budget
cuts as a reason to leave their posts. It is
clearly time to re-examine UNL’s policy for
making budget cuts and making them fair.
Though Miller emphasized his need to
dedicate more time to the book he is writing
and his desire to work as a professor again,
he included the hassles of dealing with pos
sible 4-percent budget cuts among his rea
sons for stepping down.
as an aummisiraiur m me i^onege ui
Fine and Performing Arts, Miller was handed
the short end of the stick. That college does
not receive as much grant money as other
colleges in the NU system, and its resources
are already stretched.
The 4-percent cut system requires a re
view of each department’s budget looking
for:
— How the department would cut its
budget by 4 percent.
— How it would remain at status quo.
— How it would spend the money if it
received a budget increase.
Asking the department chair and faculty
members to submit programs for possible
cuts and then asking them how they would
remain at status quo is almost like asking
them to sacrifice their heads to a guillotine
and then to figure out how they’re not going
to bleed to death.
Also, a 4-percent budget cut could mean
the end for smaller departments, such as the
Department of Theatre Arts and Dances, and
would not send a positive signal to students
wishing to major in those areas.
There’s also a chance that the money
pooled by the budget cuts would end up go
ing back to a department that, in order to save
itself, sacrificed some of its most valuable
programs.
The 4-percent plan is theoretically a good
solution, because it allows people familiar
with the programs and departments a chance
to plan the cuts instead of being shocked
when a higher-up administrator hands them
next year’s budget; but it is flawed because
it will hurt smaller departments—those that
are already hurting. And it will discourage
administrators, like Miller, already working
with sparse resources.
Miller’s job was almost like that of a
coach who had to keep kicking players —
good players—off the team. If the situation
is echoed in other departments, the univer
sity can be pretty sure that more people will
throw in the towel.
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ietters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
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Slave to marketing
I wonder if Cliff Hicks knows the
difference between commercialism
and art. It seems he doesn’t.
When I read his review of
“Romeo and Joliet,” I could not
believe he gave it a D-. Then when I
read Monday’s paper, I saw that he
gave “Space Jam” a B+. Is there no
justice in this world?
Baz Luhrmann, the director of
“Romeo,” has made a bold, visually
stunning masterpiece. Shakespeare
would be proud.
I am baffled that “Space Jam”—
a blatant marketing ploy by Nike and
Warner Brothers—could receive a
higher “grade” than that of “Romeo.”
Mr. Hicks, have you ever taken a
film class? Or do you spend all your
time watching basketball and Looney
Tunes?
Michael L. Svoboda
senior
English major with film minor
Humanitarian
history
Let me start by saying I am an
African-American woman with three
mulatto children. I was raised in an
Air Force family that educated me in
the fine points of cultural differences
and the richness of diversity.
To begin my response to Nick
Wiltgen and the flurry of responses
to his column: 1 do not believe in
quotas or the practice of hiring, firing
or denying access to people solely on
the basis of race or gender. I do
however, believe that no one person
should be denied opportunities
Matt Haney/DN
because of their race or gender.
Affirmative action, to me, means
that my brown-skinned children will
never feel the effects of racism when
they attempt to obtain their education
and/or employment. I feel that Nick
is a bit young in his assessment of
history as well his attitudes toward
discrimination going from white to
black and black to white.
The idea of a color-blind society
does not fit well the idea of an
American Melting Pot, or now
commonly referred to as the Ameri
can Stew. We must enjoy and
celebrate the different cultures and
skin tones.
Do not force me to stop being a
black woman and exist in a society
that refuses to accept me for who I
am! People should remember that a
mere 30 years have passed since
black people were first allowed to
drink from public water fountains.
I would pose some questions to
Nick: How often have you felt eyes
on you? How often have people
questioned your coming and going?
My family has been stopped by
police and had our persons and
vehicles searched by dogs—simply
because we looked suspicious (i.e.
black)! We are not all die same nor
are we treated the same.
America is a continuously
evolving democracy. Closing the
doors by dismantling affirmative
action, we will not solve the problem
between races. Nor will complaining
that black people are the problem or
justifying discrimination by blaming
your ancestors to claim no responsi
bility.
We are all responsible to our
history to insure injustice does not
infect our future! Yes, what happened
to my mother, grandmother and my
ancestors was unconscionable. I will
move past those crimes of hate, but
we as Americans must accept
responsibility for those actions.
Affirmative action is not a tool to
be used to deny anyone their place in
society, but it is a tool to ensure
everyone has access to the same
equality that is lacking in America.
Lastly, I was heartbroken that
Nick tried to use the words of the
Honorable Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr. to defend his position. I sincerely
wish people believed that the content
of their character determined the
manner in which society treated us.
Melinda Mills-Walkey
Lincoln, Neb.
i<r.
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