EDITOR
Paula Lavigne
OPINION
EDITOR
Jessica Kennedy
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Erin Gibson
Joshua Gillin
Jeff Randall
Julie Sobczyk
Ryan Soderlin
I
5
Our
VIEW
Pepsi
party
University goals lost
in giveaways
We eternally young and poor university
students seldom scoff at an opportunity for
free stuff.
Take for instance the rocketing popular
ity of Big Red Welcome - a free merchan
dise festival. 1^ fact, students embrace free
stuff. But that doesn’t make us brainless,
does it?
Or does it?
When Pepsi thanks the campus this
week for letting it contribute $24.2 million
to UNL, the thanks will come in the form of
activities geared toward “alternative,” no
brainer activities.
Students won’t play Pepsi-sponsored
Jeopardy, or compete in a Pepsi-sponsored
math or geography contest. There will be
no poetry competition with free Pepsi mer
chandise as prizes.
And the thousands of free root beer
floats won’t be handed out to students
attending a faculty panel debate of academ
ic hot-button topics like creating minus
grades on campus or eliminating faculty
tenure.
But free Pepsi merchandise will no
doubt adorn the winners of Pepsi Ball -
described as a new high-scoring and fast
paced game developed by Pepsi as a com
mercial venture to hook “Generation Next”
AbdstihepetwH Jje aS alternative band
concert, a scavenger hunt and a lime-green
Jeep given away, along with tons of free
pop and food.
Since no one has announced plans to
give away books during the week, students
should find Pepsi Week a fun escape from
that stressful campus academic life.
No doubt attendance will be higher for
Pepsi Ball and the concert than that for an
academic contest.
But when Chancellor James Moeser
gave his State of the University Address
this August, he asked for faculty to support
a more rigorous academic environment. He
asked that they spawn great philosophical
debates through their lectures and that they
challenge their students mentally.
Where s the intellectual challenge in
Pepsi Ball? Or in Thursday’s ice cream
social where Moeser will speak?
If Pepsi’s goal really is to become a part
of the university and its academic endeav
ors, the company could have sponsored
academic challenges during Pepsi Week
where the grand prize was a scholarship
instead of a Jeep, or books instead of T
shirts.
But if the goal is just to win students
over to Pepsi, then ditch the senseless give
aways.
Make Pepsi Points count for credit
hours instead.
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DN
LETTERS
Scum we’re not!
This is in response to Barb
Churchill’s “Dating Hell” on
Monday. WOW! Someone had a
rough week, didn’t they?<Listen Barb
..vidon't know whayou’ve been
hanging around with but something
tells me it’s been the wrong people.
All men are not scum... in fact, I’d
go as far to say the majority of us are
quite normal and easy-going. My
real thought is this: Where do you
get off giving off this “holier than
thou” image of all womankind vs.
men? I’m sorry to say but a lot of
women aren’t exactly saints.
However, I’ll also say that the major
ity of women are all right as well.
But believe me, I take it very person
ally that you put me in the same cate
gory as all these so called “men” that
you’ve been around. And to say that
all we care about is the size of your
breasts is ridiculous. I know A LOT
of women who put a pretty hefty
emphasis on physical appearance in
the guys that they date. Most guys
that I know appreciate a good
talker/listener and like their dates to
have a thought in their head. I know I
do. Maybe you’ve got a problem in
this area. You seem to have MANY
thoughts but all of them seem to say
“guys, I don’t give a rat’s ass about
what the hell you think ... I hate you
anyway.” Not the best kind of
approach if you’re looking for a nice
guy. I still think that, at least for the
most part, most of us are basically
OK with a few exceptions. Perhaps
you should relax a little. There are
always going to be bad guys, just as
there are bad girls. It’s easy to classi
fy someone as “evil”... but a lot
harder to look for the real person.
Damon Strickland
Senior
Secondary Education
Pepsi-schempsi
Wow! A whole 1/16 of a semes
ter to “officially celebrate” Pepsi ?
Week! But before the high priests
raise their chalices filled with Pepsi
Product (PP) on the 18th to conse
crate UNL’s newest form of dollar
worship, and before we get too
sugar-buzzed to properly concentrate
on the ramifications of said deal,
cc®is|ier ihe folifewing; g| is
*
■ Since Pepsi has exclusive
rights to supply the vending
machines around campus, don’t
expect a plethora of more whole
some and healthful alternative drinks
such as fruit juice. Maybe you’ll find
a fruit “drink” offering (i.e. added
water and sweeteners) or even, if you
look far enough near the bottom, a
juice; but then again, maybe not
since it’ll depend on the kind of
machine in your building.
■ Also expect to drink more PP
since the new and improved, larger
mouthed, 20-ounce bottles allow
faster consumption, and they do so at
a higher per unit cost - 4.25 per
ounce vs. 4.17.
■ Finally, consider who pays for
this multi-million dollar deal, and
who stands to gain and who stands to
lose. That’s right boys and girls! Like
a many of the contributions made to
your education, this one is being
paid for by you.
So let me (along with your doc
tor, dentist, and other unnamed par
ties with a vested interest) be one of
the first to congratulate you. You’re
about to embark upon a unique edu
cational experience, one vyhich ;i
includes (if things go according to
plan) re-educating you to become
consumers of PP for life. Bottoms
up!
Tim Janda
Instructor
English department
The rest of the story
In response to Jamie Peterson’s
letter “Demos alive” (Monday, DN),
the tone of the letter portrays a
drowning Democratic party strug
gling for air; one not at all “alive.”
I’d like to question a few of the
points the author made. To say that
the Republican party’s candidates are
running solely for the purpose of
gaining political power and that the
DemocratVonly concern is reaching
out to $e people is ludicrous. If this
were the case, Jon Christensen (who,
by the way, spent six months making
his decision; it wasn’t overnight as
the author suggests) would not have
given up his position as a U.S.
Congressman in order to run for
governor of the state. The much
more powerful position would be to
run for Bob Kerrey’s senate seat
which will be open in 2000.
Christensen is running for governor
because he is concerned about the
direction of the state and giving our
children a quality place to live. Mike
Johanns, another Republican guber
natorial candidate, has a solid repu
tation of reaching out to the people
of Lincoln as mayor. So strong, in
fact that he was the first mayor of the
Capital City to run unopposed since
1955.
The author also states that the
Republicans have a proven record of
dirty, mud-slinging and high
financed campaigns in an attempt to
buy office. That’s rather ironic. As I
recall, it was the AFL-CIO on behalf
of the Democrats that spent millions
of dollars producing mud-slinging,
dirty commercials that completely
misrepresented the views of those
they targeted (including Rep. Jon
Christensen) as recently as the 1996
elections. The author has this one
turned around.
It is the Republicans t have the
best candidates for govewhonor this
year. The Democrats haven’t been
able to find a single person to run as
their candidate. As a result, they are
putting great pressure on Bill
Hoppner to run. The best candidates
for office run because they want to
make a difference, because they
know they can improve the good of
the state - NOT because their party
is forcing them to run as a last-ditch
effort to be represented.
Jason Ponec
Freshman
Teachers College
