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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 1997)
EDITOR Doug Kouma OPINION EDITOR Anthony Nguyen EDITORIAL BOARD Paula Lavigne Joshua Gillin Jessica Kennedy Jeff Randall Erin Gibson Our VIEW Bounced message University shouldn't wait on using system The Lotus Notes initiative on the Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln campus has a lack of initiative. The students of the so-called “flagship” University of Nebraska will likely be the last students in the NU system to board the Lo tus Notes cruise liner. We’ve had our modem pool eliminated and our technology fees subsequently raised. We are still identified by a long series of num bers on accounts on the archaic bigred e-mail system. For many of us, Lotus Notes would be a Welcome change. Lotus Notes supports ap plications for learning and advanced class room-type dialogue that bigred cannot facili tate. It could be a boon for distance educa tion and for on-campus, student-teacher com munication. Also, the Lotus Notes program supports a directory, which would appear as a series of folders on an e-mail screen. Organized by campus, the directory would contain an e mail address for everyone on Lotus Notes in the NU system. Students could easily look up and write administrators and faculty. Administrators and faculty could easily write students. It seems communication campuswide would be a thousand times easier. After all, when Lotus Notes was first proposed, that was the plan. Central administration and the NU Board of Regents talk constantly of technology ini tiatives, upgrades and infrastructure. It seems regents and administrators should be embar rassed the premier institution of higher learn ing in the state will lag behind other cam puses. Kent Hendrickson, UNL associate vice chancellor for information services, said stu dents would have to show critical demand to be considered for the Lotus Notes system. ASUN showed ample enthusiasm for Lotus Notes when it was presented this spring. ASUN members said they felt their demand for the new e-mail system clearly represented the demand of UNL students. How long must the university wait for the situation to become critical? Why is UNL waiting? It seems logical to avoid an anticipated crisis, not to wait until it arises. Some faculty members have said Lotus Notes is an unnecessary expenditure when some e-mail software is available free on the World Wide Web. Some have said it is not a helpful e-mail system, and some protested the approval of Lotus Notes in front of the Board of Regents. They claimed there’s a better answer, but no one publicly came up with a well-thought out counter-plan to Lotus Notes. Lotus Notes, at about $2 per user, seems to be a good deal for students stuck in the e mail pre-Cambrian period with bigred. In a university setting striving to put stu dents and learning first, administrators and regents should be ashamed if they allow stu dents get shoved to dead last. 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 Nebraska-Lincoln, 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 the edi torial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands 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 Unioa 1400 R St. Uncola Neb. 68538-0443. H-mail: letters(a»unlinfo.unl.edu. Mehsling’s VIEW DN LETTERS Selective Memory I would like to thank the Daily Nebraskan for totally destroying any interest that I had left in the opinion pages. What has possessed the columnists to write such pointless columns? And why does the editor let these things be printed? Over the last few days, I have read four columns filled with inane babble and drinking stories that have no place on an opinion page. J.J. Harder’s column about cartoon nudity “Shake your booty” (DN, April 9) has got to be the stupidest piece of journalism I have ever read. Are you serious, Mr. Harder? Was your column a joke? “Encouragement of Bestiality”? Come on now. You’re talking about CHILDREN’S cartoons like “Yogi Bear” and “Looney Times.” Next time, write about something that could happen to kids in this dimen sion. Steve Willey and Brent Pope are no better. Mr. Willey’s column “King of the outdoors” (DN, Thursday) about getting drunk and spending a night alone in the woods was almost entertaining and served no purpose at all. How many people do you think actually care about your little adventure? I see Mr. Pope likes to drink, too, and in his column “In the N-A-V-Y” (DN, Monday) tries to put in that cheesy column humor that nobody laughs at. Guys, I have drinking stories too, by why print them on an opinion page? Last of all, Anne Hjersman’s column “Small pint” (DN, Friday) about alcoholism left me staring at the wall with drool running down my chin. (I can play the cheesy column humor game, too, Mr. Pope) Is the girl in the story supposed to be the author? Are you trying to tell us that alcohol can cause family problems? Wow, I didn’t know that. You’ve got to be joking, Ms. Hjersman. The word “alcohol” is not even used in the story. The only way you know it’s alcohol is by the title and the reference to “bottles scattered [on] the floor.” You know, if I want to read a short story I’ll go to Barnes and Noble. Next time, try to support the story with a thought out opinion and, God forbid, — FACTS. I would have liked to respond to a column with a subject and had an intellectual discussion about it, but it seems the lack of subject has forced me to skip the opinion section every time I pick up a DN. Thank you, DN columnists! Jeff Bumgardner junior biochemistry Shares for All In response to the article that was written, “Regents OK student fee increase for next fall,” (DN, April 7) I would like to speak out for some of the students, particularly the students on East Campus. Every year it seems like there is always a drastic increase in our student fees, but when it cones to the areas where spending is to be extended it seems like there are hardly any changes made. As a student from East Campus, it is very hard to see some of these improvements that are being made, especially when it comes to techno logical improvements. I understand that the overall population on East Campus is a lot smaller than that on City Campus, but I feel that we should also see some of these new improvements. in response to tne increase in spending for technology at UNL, I feel that maybe they should start a little lower in the overall amount. I do understand that when it comes to an improvement such as the ones that are requested for technology you must spend a fairly large amount of money. Maybe the choice should be made to extend it over a longer period of time, instead of hitting us with such a large amount all at once. Then, the next step must be to place the overall improvements equally over the entire university and not just in a few areas such as the ones on City Campus. The University of Nebraska, as everyone knows is a wonderful institution and should be taken care of. Are all of the different fee changes going to go to all the students? I understand that the improvements are for the benefit of the students, but when it comes to some of the changes there are many students who never see them. Maybe if we are spending more money in student fees there should be some other areas that should be looked at. For instance how about the East Campus recreation building? There are a large number of people who use this facility every night. Personally, if I am going to pay for an improvement on City Campus — for instance, toward its recreation building—then I feel that the university should do the same for me. There needs to be sane percent age of improvements being made to this university that every student uses. There should be some magic number that lets all the students, from East and City campuses, eventually see these changes. Overall I think that the increase in spending in these areas should be looked at a little harder before making the large decision to have students pay more. In conclusion, I also agree with Regent Drew Miller when he said that “We’re spending too much at the University of Nebraska. We should be looking at ways to cut back.” Carrie Lynn Ortegren junior agribusiness Solid Job This is in response to Michael Donley’s “Privileged Demographics” (DN, Wednesday). When I read the first line “Yes, I admit it, (crime of all crimes) I am a white male.” I thought I would raise a ton of objections to his column. However, his information from Peggy McIn tosh was very solid. Something I learned from being in the Diversity Council at UNL is that we’re more of a mixture than an absolute — in regards to being a majority or minority. For instance, I am a majority for being white and upper-middle class, but a minority for having a mental illness. Also on thinking “Wow, she is gorgeous!” about a classmate during their response isn’t sexist—it’s just a natural response. As long as your focus is on what she is saying, you’re doing all right. I also feel it is unfair and false to place the blame of all racism and injustice upon white males to the point where they’re having to defend themselves constantly. Overall, I think your column was on the ball. Alison Hays senior studio art