EDITOR Paula Lavigne OPINION EDITOR Jessica Kennedy EDITORIAL BOARD Erin Gibson Joshua Gillin Jeff Randall Julie Sobczyk Ryan Soderlin i Our VIEW News suit Ames Daily s battle over advertising The New York Times published a story yesterday about tiny Ames, Iowa. It wasn’t about VEISHEA. It was about the legal battle between the Iowa State Daily Publication Board and the Ames Daily Tribune. Last spring, the Iowa State Daily was found to be a “governmental body” and subject to the Iowa open records and open meetings law. The Tribune sued the Daily for not opening up documents to the Tribune. The Tribune claimed they wanted access to the Daily’s records because the Daily was unfairly competing in advertis ing and distribution in Ames. Although the Daily lost the suit, the judge said the Daily acted in “good faith” with the law, and thus, was not liable to pay the Tribune’s legal fees, which amounted to nearly $135,000. The Tribune has appealed the judge’s decision. Factual errors in a New York Times’ story included the giving the wrong advis er for the Daily and increasing the mone tary amount for student fees by more than $25,000. We think former Daily faculty adviser Thomas Beell summed it up eloquently by calling Michael Gartner, Tribune editor, and Gary Gerlach, Tribune publisher, “corporate thugs.” These two men, part owners of the Tribune, have suggested that the Iowa State Daily restrict their news coverage and advertising to campus and the Campustown area. ISU students make up almost half of the Ames community. Limiting the student ad reps at the Daily to only seek advertis ing from the campus area is ridiculous. The Daily used to be circulated all over Ames, but now it can only be distributed on campus and the immediate surround ings. \7 nmu mom? f \;mi mox; Ko ocVinrt why this is going on. Why would Gartner, a former editor of The Des Moines Register, former presi dent of NBC News, Pulitzer Prize winner and a lawyer buy and become the editor of a small 8,000 circulation, black-and-white newspaper? It could be because he truly wanted the Ames community to have a quality news paper. But we don’t think so. The true answer is quite simple: He wanted to get mo’ money. The minute they get a little competition from the campus newspaper they go to the courts with their tails between their legs like some corporate dogs. In the Times’ article Gartner states: “I love the kids at the Daily. I teach over there, I give them an enormous amount of my time and I want to see them succeed. I just don’t want them to stab me in my back when I put out my paper and sell my ads.” Well Mr. Gartner, show us the love, because we haven’t seen it yet. You decide who’s stabbing who in the back. —Iowa State Daily. Please see the DN online for more on this issue. -1 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. totter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their pubfcalion. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submitted material becomes property of Nebraskan and cannot be Anonymous submissions wW 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. 4 tHaney’s VIEW *■ * I n, A'«t 1 l&Attt. i I J \ Guest VIEW Time to talk Annual diversity retreat moves people together JOHN LEONARD HARRIS iithe special assistant to the UNL vice chancellor for student affairs. Yes, it’s that time again. Time for the annual Cultural Diversity Retreat and I’m excited about it! Every year for the last six years I’ve been a part of this event. Four out of those six years, I have actually led the facilita tion of the retreat, along with several of my University of Nebraska Lincoln colleagues. As far as I know, most people would say it’s a great experience. What we do is simply this: I find a place, somewhere off campus, like Aurora, Milford, Gretna, Louisville - a place I probably wouldn’t go to if not for the retreat Well, maybe Gretna ... die oudet mall is there. Anyway, I then invite UNL students, administra tion, faculty and staff to attend. I don’t tell them too much prior to die retreat with the hope that they won’t have any preconceived notion about what is ffninff tn take nlar.e Then T wait for the applications to come pouring in. And I wait and wait. After the applications are in, (and the $ 10 registration deposit that the person gets back after the retreat) we read through them, and pick those people who really want the experi ence and really want to make a dif ference on this campus. Then, Saturday, Oct. 11 arrives, and the first phase of the retreat begins. We gather to load into the vans before heading out to the retreat site. The trip there provides a great opportunity to meet everyone, and do a quick introduction exer cise. Most of the participants have at least one funny story to tell about their van ride to the retreat; I’ve never figured out how we get so many funny stories from such a short trip. Once we get to the retreat site and unload, the second phase of the retreat begins. As the retreat gets rolling, and we clarify the objectives and engage the participants, I’m reminded why I do this work. As we go from exercise to exercise, session to session, the energy of the retreat unfolds. It’s great! The retreat partic ipants are interacting, talking, and sharing with one another. They chal lenge one another, disagree with one another, and work together on devel oping ideas that can help our cam pus. Some just take it all in, not knowing what they have gotten themselves into. Everyone has a dif ferent reason for being there and it is the task of the facilitators to bring all of these people together. This goes on in a fairly intense fashion for a day and a half. By the end of the retreat, the experience has come to mean differ ent things to each person: Some have established new friendships, some , have had a light turned on; still oth ers have been touched by the sheer reality that they actually stepped out side of their comfort zone and faced their fears. I maybe going out on a limb, but I believe that most people leave the retreat with a greater sense of their own responsibility to make a difference. Moreover, they know they are not alone: There are others who feel that there is hope for change. As facilitators, we know every one comes to the retreat at different levels. We are aware everyone comes with their own perspective, their own filter and their own way of looking at the world. We do not tty to change everything about a person, but we do try to challenge how they have been taught to see things. Ultimately, we hope that what we M ^ have to give and what the participant has to give brings us to a p)gee of understanding that will(help this campus. And believe me, this cam pus needs help,. I submit to you that one way to make some progress toward a better campus climate is to continue to talk, - which is what we are going to do next month at the 10th Annual Cultural Diversity Retreat, October 11-12, at Camp Kitaki in Louisville, Neb. The theme for the retreat is: “Moving Forward Together,” and that is exactly what we will be talking about. How can we, as members of this community, move forward together in spite of the challenges that we face individually and collec tively? I do not expect us to come up with all the answers, or solve any of the world’s problem during the weekend. However, I do expect that some people will come to the retreat optimistic, just like I am. Some will come with an expectation that things can actually get better at UNL, in Lincoln, across America and the rest of the world. And they will hear something, or do some thing over the course of the week end that will say to them, “We can move forward together.” These peo ple will then come back to our cam pus and say to their friends who will say toothers, “We ban move for ward together.” This attitude Will spread like wild fire and before long UNL win lie the kind of place where diversity is something.we * enjoy talking about, not something we hold our noses to discuss. UNL will be the kind of place where peo ple — men and women, Asians and T otitiAO tro/litiAnol an/1 tional students — know that there is a place for them. UNL will ensure their safety and their comfort. Why? Because this will become a caring community of people who are" drawn together by the pursuit of higher education. < iK Please apply to Attend this year’s retreat. I promise, you will not be sorry.-ft really is a great experience w$h a great purpose. If you have a ' free weekend, or can take off work, we would love to have you there. Again, we have no illusions that this weekend alone will make the whole difference, but it’s a place to do more than hope for things to get better or hold hands and sing “We are the World.” If you have never gone to the retreat before, check it out. You will be glad you did! Editor’s note: If you ’re interested in attending the diversity retreat, there is a booth set up near the east doors of the union with information and registration forms. Or call John Harris at 472-3755.