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.
A column 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
Higher
Standards
Learning experience
must match price tag
The tougher the better.
Admission standards at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln got tougher this year.
Incoming freshmen needed more high school
English, mathematics, social sciences, natural
sciences and foreign language to be accepted
into UNL.
This past spring, UNL officials said they
expected to turn away 200 to 300 freshmen
who would not meet the new requirements.
The university recommended that those stu
dents defer to a community college for a year
or two until they could better meet UNL’s stan
dards.
Thoncrh hiahpr standards have thpir hpnp
fits for UNL and its students, the administra
tion must not let its vision of academic excel
lence turn UNL into a school for the elite.
There is no doubt that standards need to be
raised; it is time to lose the nickname
“University of No Learning.” But those stan
dards should not limit the opportunities of
Nebraska’s youth.
As the state’s largest university and as a
land-grant institution, UNL has an obligation
to provide a quality education at a reasonable
cost. Chancellor James Moeser has a vision for
this prairie university. But great things tend to
come with great big price tags. And if trends
continue, that great big price tag will be passed
on to the students.
If tuition begins to rise rapidly and admis
sion standards tighten too much, students may
be forced into less-than-desirable options. The
University of Nebraska at Omaha and the
University of Nebraska at Kearney are won
derful opportunities and choices for many
Nebraska students. But while administrators
shoo deficient students to those campuses,
they must realize that all things are not equal.
For instance, UNL's journalism program is
accredited and can offer many opportunities
that UNK’s unaccredited journalism program
cannot.
For students who do choose (or for stu
dents who have no other choice) to attend two
year programs, UNL needs to establish a
method of communication between the
schools. Deferred students must know that
they can still have a chance to attend the flag
ship campus of the University of Nebraska and
that their time and money won’t be wasted at a
junior or community college.
In the end, everyone must realize that for
the university, these higher standards mean
better students - and a chance at lowering the
25 percent dropout rate of students from their
freshman to sophomore years. And of course a
university with higher standards gamers more
respect from peer institutions. Likewise, stu
dents with degrees from UNL will see the
value of that degree increase as the university’s
prestige increases.
But this prestige cannot come at the
expense of future generations of Nebraska stu
dents who deserve a quality education at an
affordable price. To do anything else would
cheapen the very foundation our great univer
sity was built upon.
Letter Pallcy
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 arty. - -u '
Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, 1400 H St Lincoln,
NE. 68588-0448. E-mail:
letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
Haney’s
VIEW
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Letters to the
EDITOR
A Christian response
I am writing this letter in
response to Daniel Munksgaard’s
editorial, “Calling a Modern
Messiah,” (DN, Tuesday). I have a
number of problems with the sce
nario that he set up in his article. He
starts out by saying that he used to be
a Bible-carrying believer, but now he
is not, and that he missed something
along the way.
The first thing that he must have
missed is the fact that he needs to not
just carry the Bible, but actually
make it a part of his life! By the way,
I would be interested in knowing
what has replaced that in his life. I
agree with him that there is an incon
sistency in the so-called Christian
have no time for the good, middle and
upper-middle class Christians who
faithfully attend church every
Sunday” (God is there for everyone,
not just the lower classes of society).
Daniel, I am sorry that you, like so
many other people, are missing out
on what true Christianity is all about.
I, like you, wish that more people
would listen to what Christ ACTU
ALLY said. Jesus Christ came so that
ALL men would come to Him. He
came to seek and to save that which
was lost.
We are all on a path to hell until
we realize that Jesus Christ died for
our sins and rose again on the third
day to pave the way/or us to spend
eternal life with Him. Isaiah 53:6
sums up our society best. It says, “All
of us like sheep have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity
I challenge instructors in all
fields to teach bisexual, lesbian, gay
and transgendered topics in their
classrooms, just as many would
include multicultural curricula and
women’s topics. This includes all
fields. For example, political science
could include a serious examination
of the political strategies of ACT-UP
or Queer Nation; history classes
could study gay and lesbian histories;
English literature classes could focus
on the sexualities of their respective
authors, such as UNL’s own Willa
Cather; art classes could study the art
of gay artists such as Robert
Mapplethorpe or Keith Haring, and
what impact they’ve had on society.
This challenge isn’t just to facul
ty and staff, however, but also to stu
witumum^ iuua^. u 10 mipuooiuit iu
separate those who are truly born
again Christians from those who sim
ply call themselves Christians. That
is the cause of the inconsistency. He
brought up the issue of homosexuali
ty twice in his article. God has given
everyone an equal chance to come to
Him! God does love everyone! BUT,
God hates the sin of homosexuality
as He does with any sin. Daniel
argues that the Bible does not deal
with homosexuality. This again
shows that all he did with his Bible
was carry it around, rather than actu
ally look at what it says. Clearly in
both the Old Testament as well as the
New Testament God deals with
homosexuality. For example read 1
Corinthians 6:9, where God flat-out
COVC VtnmAOAVi 10I0 unit ma!
dents. Ask queer questions of your
instructors; ask them why transgen
dered, lesbian, bisexual or gay sub
jects are not on their syllabi; ask them
about the sexualities of authors being
read, artists being studied, politicians
being examined, and so on.
Lastly, I challenge the adminis
tration of our university to address
bisexual, gay, transgendered and les
nian issues seriously and with equity.
For example, the administration
needs to take a serious look at partner
nenefits for faculty and staff who are
nvolved in long-term same-sex part
nerships, particularly with the
Hawaii decision soon to come. Also,
hey need to address the heterosex
_ _1 _r_ • i * • r ,«
ui us dii iu lau un mm. i^aniei, you,
like millions of others, will try and
fill your life with something else,
whether it be another religion, sex,
drugs, homosexuality, etc., but the
fact of the matter is that NOTHING
else, other than realizing that Jesus
Christ died for your sins and wants
you to come to Him, will fill your
life!
Jered Thomas Dworak
Junior
Teachers College
Open your minds,
ask questions
With the beginning of a new
semester and a new academic year, I ,
would like to challenge the |
University of Nebraska-Lincoln to
become positively queer, by which I
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it the kingdom of God. In other words
they WILL go to hell. It is NOT gay
bashing to state what God says will
happen to them. Yes, God does love
them and they have just as much
opportunity to go to heaven as I do,
but they must repent from their sin,
just as I had to repent from my sin!
There are other issues which
Daniel raises that have no relevance
to the one true God, such as turning
water into beer to “save a local keg
party from sobriety” (God would not
promote people getting drunk), being
ticked at McDonald’s (God can only
produce a righteous anger!), “He’d
I-."r--• * - -»■
Dili, anu mciciuic viuiaiiun ui uic
londiscrimination policy, of such
nstitutions as campus housing for
narried students and the homopho
)ia of the ROTC programs.
With a new academic year and a
tew semester, we as a community
;an bring about positive change,
-et’s make this campus a safe space
"or queer students to pursue their
studies.
Robert W. Anderson
graduate student
English
-->
campus from one of hostility toward !
lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and
gay persons to one of acceptance. As
a community, particularly one that :
pursues the liberation of minds, we
need to make homophobia and het
erosexism unacceptable on our cam
pus.
- ,;1i
to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 "R" St., Lincoln,
68588, or fax to (402) 472-1761, or e-mail <letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
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