EDITOR
Paula Lavigne
OPINION
EDITOR
Matthew Waite
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Erin Gibson
Joshua Gillin
Jeff Randall
Julie Sobczyk
Ryan Soderlin
I
Editorial Paliey
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 serves 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
Urge to
overkill
Group should not
suffer for individuals
Stealing is never a good idea.
It is a crime. There is no doubt. Those
caught stealing should be held accountable
under the law. No question.
Four fraternity members were cited for
theft early Tuesday morning. Police claim
they stole $110 in boards from a construc
tion site on North 14th Street. If they hadn’t
been driving their Chevy S-10 pickup too
fast - and had been able to keep the wood
in the truck - they would have gotten away
with it.
rsut the sharp eyes ot the Lincoln police
are all around. Criminals, no matter how
petty, beware.
In our society, four young men stealing
lumber in the early morning hours hardly
turns a head. Crime-related headlines are
usually meant for shootings and murders,
drugs and other scourges of society.
But since these four were from the
Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, and they
were stealing wood to make a homecoming
float, the news media picked up the story.
Any other day, any other circumstance,
any other young men, this story would
never have made it out. Thefts from con
struction sites are reported constantly, and
nary a word is written or said about it.
For the actions of four initiates, the
entire fraternity was disqualified from the
homecoming float competition.
That’s silly.
And judicial affairs administrators are
talking about possible Student Code of
Conduct violations.
Is that really necessary?
Are we overreacting?
And why is that?
This smacks of Sigma Chi. When that
fraternity brought hordes of criticism upon
itself and the university for burning a cross,
the administration grossly under-reacted.
Some argue they didn’t react at all. And the
administrators were roundly criticized.
Now, it seems to us, the administration
is bringing the hammer of justice down
upon a fraternity as an overreaction to their
own past mistakes. We let one get away, we
can’t be merciful on the others, right?
" They are swatting flies with Buicks.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon should not have
been kicked out of homecoming competi
tion for what four of their members did. At
worst, they should have been forced to put
a sign in their yard that said “We stole to
build this float, and we got caught.” A little
public humiliation goes a long way.
The house should have been allowed to
compete - the four offending members
should not.
The individuals will have their day in
court, the group will not.
Judicial affairs should let the courts do
the punishing in this case.
And Sigma Alpha Epsilon should go to
the lumberyard and pay next time.
. I
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DN
LETTERS
Sex Education 101
It seems I read Gregg Madsen’s
columns with a greater sense of bewil
derment each week. There seems to be
a dream utopian world in which he
lives where premarital sex, smoking,
and drinking have simply been abol
ished.
They haven’t. They won’t go away.
Better education and a more
relaxed attitude to it all is the only
answer. Take the example of the
Netherlands, where the legal age of
consent is 12. They have the lowest
rate of teen-age pregnancies in
Europe, mainly due to superlative sex
education and an open and frank atti
tude from an early age.
The same argument can be applied
to Madsen’s other pet hate of the
extreme dangers of alcohol. Having
recently moved to the United States
from the UK, I find it quite staggering
that someone coming to a university at
the age of 18 is not allowed to buy
alcohol. These people are old enough
to vote, drive, fight (and die) for their
country, get married, have children,
etc. Yet they can’t buy a bottle of wine.
It seems something is very wrong.
In my home country, and else
where in Europe, buying alcohol from
the age of 14 is perfectly normal.
Banning alcohol until you are 21
merely encourages the binge mentali
ty that seems to occur here when you
hit that age. That is not to say binge
drinking and deaths don’t occur, but
on the whole the approach is balanced.
Families share bottles of wine over
meals with their children. In this way a
sensible attitude is established.
I feel it is time for better education
and the introduction of more liberal,
yet responsible, attitudes in what is
meant to be the home of the free.
Peter Dampier
information technology support
More Sex Ed
Dear Gregg Madsen,
You are so right, abstinence really
“is the only 100 percent effective cure
for all STDs and unwed pregnancies.”
Maybe I have not caught the irony or
the complexity of the concept? So
simply put, you really mean that if I
never ride in a car, I will be 100 per
cent sure not to get hurt in a car acci
f .. ■ 1 ...
dent? Or if I never swim, my chances
of drowning will be zero? But wait!
Here is a good one - what if I never fly
on a plane? Will I be 100 percent sure
to avoid a plane crash? That’s truly fas
cinating, I could continue all day long.
I send you my most cordial greet
ings, in the hope you can shed some
light on these and other pressing issues
in your next insightful column.
Simone Sinigagiia Liverani
graduate student
journalism
Just be
Mr. Anderson of late seems more
interested in the Daily Nebraskan than
his own studies, for his interpretive
abilities fall far short of developed.
Mr. Carson was not using “queer”
as it is intended - negatively - but
because the “Night Chalkers” used it
and to emphasize a point. Nor was he
suggesting that homosexuals stay in
the closet, but that if they, and anyone
for that matter, are happy with who
they are, they need not reveal their
preference to anyone.
Most heterosexuals do not talk
about their sexual preference because
to them, it is not the primary topic on
their mind - it simply is. I find it
absurd to promulgate the notion that
heterosexuals created homosexuality
to define themselves, as if heterosexu
ality exists only in the light of homo
sexuality.
Writing “Shakespeare was gay,”
while bold, is not correct. Shakespeare
may have been gay, that is true, but his
sexual preference is not a matter of
historical record, therefore not sub
stantiated as fact.
Gay rights rallies, just as vegetable
rights and peace rallies, are great, but
the people that need to change their
beliefs and attitudes are not there; they
are bashing out car windows in the
parking lot during the rally. Fear,
hatred and ignorance will not be
changed by your coming out, it will
only validate and serve to further a
cause created by the politically moti
vated with something to gain by dis
crimination and violence against you.
Nolan Carson
College of Dentistry
In his defense
Although Anderson makes some
valid points, in “Chalking the bard,”
(Wednesday’s DN) he seems to have
missed the integral point of my argu
ment.
I wrote the response to condemn
the anti-homosexual chalkings and to
argue that the chalkings could have
been and probably were anticipated by
the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender
organization. This is to say that the
group knowingly provided the stage
for the anti-homosexual voice.
The interesting thing about this is
that after the “anticipated” anti-homo
sexual activity, the Gay Movement
used this negativity to validate or con
firm their necessity. 1 1 1
Should not a homosexual “come
out” to intimate, trusted friends and
not to the public, which has no reason
to know or care about someone else’s
sexuality? This is not a “clandestine,
elaborate subterfuge” or oppressive
act. It is normal to talk to intimate
friends about relationships, any kind
of relationship. Being rejected by
someone due to sexual preference says
more about the person rejecting than
the person being rejected.
But, don’t assume that everyone is
against homosexuals, the defensive
assumption on which the gay move
ment perpetuates itself.
Also, I must say it is ineffective to
use gay-bashing as a reason or para
digmatic example of why we need dis
course or forums on gay equality.
There are laws against hate crime,
which obviously includes crimes
against homosexuals. But you cannot
pass tolerance edicts. Peoplpia^e
always going to hate someone or
something. No matter how many times
we “take back the night” or hold hands
and sing “We shall overcome,” hate
and intolerance will remain. Rallies
and forums held to promote tolerance
are held by tolerant people and attend
ed by tolerant people drinking coffee
and waving flags all in the name of tol
erance. Where are the intolerant peo
ple, the people we really fear?
Benjamin D. Carson
graduate student
English
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