The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, March 13, 1997, Page 4, Image 4

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    EDITOR
Doug Kouma
OPINION
EDITOR
Anthony Nguyen
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Paula Lavigne
Joshua Gillin
Jessica Kennedy
Jeff Randall
Erin Gibson
Our
VIEW
A new hope?
ASUN’s latest win
relies on old faces
Here we go again.
Despite a minuscule upswing in voter
participation, the result of this year’s Asso
ciation of Students of the University of Ne
braska election is the same as last year’s.
And the year before. And the year before
that.
Once again the honor of leading the Uni
versity ofNebraska-Lincoln’s student govern
ment goes to the people who were already
there in the first place.
President-elect Curt Ruwe, 1 st Vice Presi
dent-elect Amy Rager and 2nd Vice President
elect Malcolm Kass are all ASUN veterans
— insiders, if you will.
Yet ADVANCE, like every ASUN party
before it, claims to be a new party, with fresh
goals and objectives. It says it’s not part of
what has been called a “political machine,” a
group of elitist resume-builders.
But only time will tell.
ADVANCE’S stance on updating univer
sity technology is admirable. Its desire to
improve the working and living conditions of
the university’s main consumers — the stu
dents — is inspirational. Its promise to in
crease student representation in university
related committees and advisory boards is
commendable.
But there are too many issues that AD
VANCE —which for all intents and purposes
is nothing new from this year’s ACTION or
last year’s IMPACT — has ignored.
In short, ADVANCE has shown that it is
part of the problem. If the party is truly turn
ing over a new leaf in ASUN, then it’s (ime to
start seeing some solutions.
Before the new administration takes over,
voters, new executives and senators must re
member that this is the same ASUN that
barely managed to muster quorum for 15
minute meetings while the university took
your modem pool away.
This is the same ASUN that failed to gar
ner student input on the coming beverage al
liance (the deal that will award one soft drink
company exclusive sales rights on campus).
This is the same ASUN that has been in
power while your football and basketball stu
dent ticket prices continue to increase.
It is not unrealistic for students to expect
a government the size and scope of ASUN to
deal with these kinds of problems. No one is
asking it to solve UNL’s parking problem,
lower tuition or take a Husker team — any
team—to a championship game.
ADVANCE may have received support
from only 6.6 percent of the student body,
but make no mistake about it: It received a
mandate — from the 90 percent of students
who didn’t even care enough to vote.
And if ADVANCE turns out to be proof
that ASUN can chum out a contender that
isn’t a rehash of every party since its incep
tion, then maybe those students will have a
reason to vote.
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the
Spring 1997 Daily Nebraskan. They do not
necessarily reflect the views of the Univer
sity of NebraskarLincoln, its employees, its
student body or the University of Nebraska
Board of Regents. A column is solely the
opinion of its author The Board of Regents
serves as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan;
policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Edito
rial Board. The UNL Publications Board,
established by the regents, supervises the
production of the paper According to policy
set by the regents, responsibility for die edi
torial content of the newspaper lies solely
in the bands of its student employees.
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. Sub
mitted material becomes the property of
the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be re
turned. Anonymous submissions will not
be published Those who submit letters
must identify themselves by name, year
in school, major and/or group affilia
tion, if any. Submit material to: Daily
Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R
St. Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. E-mail:
letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
Mehsling's
VIEW
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DN
LETTERS
Clearing Up
Confusion
While reading the letter “Blow
ing Smoke” written by Joan Brion, I
could not help but to shake my head
in disappointment. The article was
the epitome of the thought pattern of
a soul trapped in a sinful condition.
I don’t say that to call anyone all
bad, or to call myself all good, but to
help Joan Brion in this terrible state
of confusion.
No. 1: Nobody submits a column
to the DN to gain glory or any sort
of personal benefit. I cannot foresee
movie deals or radio-show offers
sparking from the mere submitting
of a DN column.
The benefit is for people like you,
Joan, who can’t seem to recognize
that drugs have the potential to
easily destroy whatever type of brain
you have, body you have and life you
have. Anybody should be able to
recognize that.
No. 2: You can’t attack someone
for submitting the truth to be told.
I’m glad Kasey Kerber’s column
was printed in the DN because it
was there that you read the column,
not in some magazine for moral
living—because you probably
would have steered clear away from
picking it up.
Regardless of whether this
column appeared in a comic book or
Playboy magazine it still stands
strong and bold as the truth, and try
as you may to attack and discredit
this, it’s still the truth.
Lastly, when people point out the
error of your ways they are not
condemning you, they are trying to
help you. Telling people they are
headed for destruction doesn’t make
someone holier than thou. If they
Matt Haney/DN
were doing the same self-destructive
behavior, it would be only right for
you to do the same for them.
If you don’t, you are probably the
type of person that never takes a
stand for what’s right and always
standing for what’s wrong. For
anyone who is offended by this
letter, I apologize, IT’S TIGHT BUT
IT’S RIGHT. If by chance you are
still angry and offended — don’t get
mad at me, get mad at the truth.
Willie Hibler
senior
communication studies
Belief not THith
This letter is in response to the
guest view written by Eric Crump
entitled “Thith is Hard” (DN,
Wednesday).
I have two points to address:
1. Thith (as defined by the
Webster’s College Dictionary): A
verified or indisputable fact.
Conformity with fact. According to
Mr. Crump, truth is defined as a
spouting of opinions with no actual
statistics or datu to support them.
Normally, when one writes a
column that makes accusations, he
or she would support these claims
with information that has been
collected by a reputable agency or a
research group.
This guest view had absolutely no
statistics or qualified information to
support any of the statements made
by the writer.
2. Every day, most of the citizens
of the UNITED States of America
work to maintain and improve all
that this country stands for.
We work hard to make the United
States a better place to live, and
along with that comes equal treat
ment of all people. The UNITED
States has people that are willing to
die for our safety and to preserve
what you and I believe in.
In the past, men and women (of
ALL races) have died to stand up for
our freedom, our rights and during
the Civil War, the rights and
freedom of specifically blacks.
It makes it hard to fight for
equality when people disgrace our
country, calling it the “Divided
States of America” as Mr. Crump
has done. That is an expression of
utmost disrespect for this country,
those who have fought to preserve
freedom and all that the United
States of America stands for.
Ryan Shuck
sophomore
computer engiueeriug