EDITOR
Paula Lavigne
OPINION
EDITOR
Jessica Kennedy
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Erin Gibson
Joshua Gillin
Jeff Randall
Julie Sobczyk
Ryan Soderlin
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Fall 1997 Daily Nebraskan. They do
not necessarily reflect the views of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its
employees, its student body or the
University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
Acolumn is solely the opinion of its author.
The Board of Regents serve as publisher
of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by
the Daily Nebraskan Editorial 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 editorial
content of the newspaper lies solely in
the hands of its student employees.
Our
VIEW
Learning
safety
Take precaution
to provide security
The traditional social season: beautiful
debutantes in gorgeous white dresses,
floating through grandly decorated ball
rooms hanging on the arms of gallant
young men.
The social season at University of
Nebraska-Lincoln: basements full of high
ly-intoxicated women, hanging on any
man - or for that matter, anything - that
will hold them up, rushing through the
room trying to reach the bathroom in time.
Welcome to the beginning of school.
A new school year, the release from
parental supervision or a wake for sum
mer’s passing - each and all an excuse to
celebrate, to party with wild abandon. For
most UNL students, the reason isn’t really
important; getting drunk and silly is.
Enjoy yourselves, but be careful.
UNL’s campus is cozy and seemingly
safe, and for the most part it is. But bad
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you that, but a little advice can’t hurt.
The key to staying safe while having
fun is learning how to balance caution
with paranoia. And, basically, taking cau
tion will negate paranoia. Makes sense
now, but it’s not now that you need the
information. You’ll need to understand that
concept when you go drinking with your
pledge class or the gang from the floor.
Freshman women: You must under
stand that the chances of date rape rise dra
matically when people drink. When out
partying, stick with the people you arrived
with. Being alone in unfamiliar surround
ings with people you don’t know very well
is stupid and dangerous.
Walking through campus or the parking
lots after a night on the town puts you fool
ishly at risk, leaving you vulnerable to
attacks and preventable accidents.
Also, considering the campus rapes at
University of Nebraska at Omaha and
Union College last year that happened
inside buildings, take precautions if you’re
in a campus building by yourself, such as
locking the door or having a friend accom
pany you. And call Campus Escort at 472
1167 or a friend when you’re ready to
leave if you’re alone.
While taking precautions for yourself,
you also can keep in mind that you share
this campus with more than 24,000 others.
When you’re out walking, take note of any
areas that need better lighting or create
good hiding places for perpetrators.
If you’re the president or chairperson
of an organization, arrange to have a
University Police Department spokesper
son talk to your members about campus
safety.
Be safe, be careful and be smart.
The most dangerous thing you can do is
to be too comfortable or too sure of your
self.
letter Policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief
letters 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.
Submitted material becomes 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 Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln,
NE. 68588-0448. E-mail:
letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
Haney’s
VIEW
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Patriotism and beyond
Making country work better first step
u
Being patriotic is more than just
waving a flag and celebrating our
independence.”
States of America,” a practice that I
continue to this day. For those of you
who do not know of me or have not
read my writings, I am a black man,
bom and raised in this country, who
genuinely believes that the Divided
States of America has numerous
transgressions and atrocities which
it must atone for, now, if it wishes to
survive. It is because of this belief
that I call myself a SuperPatriot.
Why does ranting and raving
about everything wrong with the
Divided States of America make me
a SuperPatriot?
Well, my parents always pointed
out when I was wrong because they
loved me. (Obviously, they must
have loved me a whole lot.) They
only wanted me to fix mv flaws, to
in response to a column by Mike
Lupica of the New York Daily News.
That column was about Mahmoud
Abdul-Rauf and how he refused to
sing the national anthem. Remember
that? Abdul-Rauf protested the
racism in the Divided States of
America and the hypocrisy inherent
in the flag and anthem. Lupica
thought that Abdul-Rauf was being
disrespectful and anti-American and
that anyone who had been given as
much in his life as Abdul-Rauf had
should be more grateful. And what
did I think of Abdul-Rauf?
I thought he was a SuperPatriot.
But since Lupica saw and heard
Abdul-Rauf bad-mouthing the flag
and the country, he saw things differ
ently. Just like how my friend stared
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eric e. crump is a sopho
more sociology and politi
cal science major and a
Daily Nebraskan colum
nist.
Sigh ... it’s almost September.
For those of you out there who aren’t
stark-raving mad Big Red Football
fans (which is probably just me),
September means little more than
the beginning of school - which, by
process of elimination, means the
end of summer. Summer has always
been my favorite season. I know lots
of people say that - usually because
there isn’t any school - but I liked
the summer because it’s hot and the
pools were open and I could play all
uay ui me uun auu water, ui course,
the fact that my birthday is in July
doesn’t hurt.
I never made it to the pool during
the summer of ’97, but it was pretty
good all the same. My favorite sum
mer day in the summer (with the
exception of my birthday) is
Independence Day. My friends and I
had planned to go down to Kansas
City to see the renowned light show,
but we ended up at Holmes Lake
with almost everyone else. The dis
play wasn’t as-big as I had hoped, but
it was still enjoyable.
That night, I offhandedly men
tioned to one of my friends that the
Fourth had always been my favorite
holiday. He gave me one of the most
disbelieving looks I have ever seen.
It occurred to me then how easily
people can be misunderstood.
To be honest, I very rarely say
good things about this country. In
fact, in a letter to the editor last year
published in this very newspaper, I
called this country “The Divided
become a better person, much like I
would like this country to become a
better country. That’s why I say what
I say and why I’m writing these
columns in the first place.
Being patriotic is more than just
waving a flag and celebrating our
independence. Sometimes it’s
reminding ourselves that we haven’t
lived up to what that flag is supposed
to stand for. Sometimes it’s realizing
that not all of us got our indepen
dence on July Fourth.
Sometimes, being patriotic is
saying the ugly things that need to be
said.
However, it seems that some peo
ple have forgotten that the most
valuable freedom, and perhaps the
most underutilized, is protest. Some
people apparently think being patri
otic is being silent and looking the
other way.
The first letter to the editor that I
ever wrote to a major newspaper was
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of my love of Independence Day.
Just like how several angry authors
wtote letters to the editor following
my published remarks last year.
I’ll bet they don’t consider me -
or Mahmoud - a SuperPatriot.
Mike Lupica could be consid
ered a SuperPatriot too. I suppose
we’re just two sides of the same coin.
No doubt he loves the Divided States
of America just as much as I do. We
just express it differently. Perhaps,
reverence versus fervency? Positive
reinforcement versus tough love? I’ll
leave that for you to decide.
Either way, I know that this time,
I won’t be feeling the post-summer
blues like I usually do, because this
year, back in January (on Black
Independence Day), I made a resolu
tion: to celebrate my love of the
Fourth of July all year long.
Nice to meet you.
Let the fireworks begin.
