BARB CHURCHILL is a
graduate student in saxo
phone performance and a
Daily Nebraskan colum
nist.
After this week’s debate on e-mail
and racism, prompted by UNL
English Professor David Hibler,
would anyone deny the serious prob
lems that the University of Nebraska
Lincoln still face regarding racism
and racial equity?
And how about gender equity,
since Hibler appears to be an “equal
opportunity offender,” insulting
blacks, American Indians, Hispanics
and women - if not anyone that
thinks, feels and has a brain
The way the university charts its
progress in the racial/gender equity
arena itself is under fire. Different
studies disagree on whether UNL has
actually already achieved its goal by
hiring enough minority and women
faculty to keep pace among competi
tive institutions, or whether UNL still
has a ways to go and is not keeping
up with their collective university
Joneses.
It’s not that UNL isn’t trying, but
progress is slow. The slow pace is
particularly vexing, because it short
changes students in the diversity
arena. Diversity in education is
essential, because the world has
become a rainbow of colors, posi
tions, viewpoints and agendas.
However, UNL and Nebraska itself
are lily white, which fails to accurate
ly reflect the mixture of the United
States as a whole.
Richard Edwards, senior vice
chancellor for academic affairs,
shares this concern.
<
Cyber racism
Professor’s e-mail embarrassing to UNL
“I think this is an issue in which
we’re all trying to achieve the same
goal, but there are different ideas
about how to achieve it,” Edwards
said.
Edwards is referring to two well
known studies, which have been done
to address the issue of exactly how
many minority professors are teach
ing at UNL, as well as how many
women are actually teaching faculty.
But there are problems with these
studies, according to John Benson,
director of institutional research and
planning and associate professor of
architecture. Benson is upset because
the study done by the American
Association of University Professors
surveyed gender equity progress
only.
The AAUP survey criticizes the
other survey, done by the Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data
System, because the EPEDS survey
counts some librarians as faculty
members. However, Benson criticizes
the AAUP study, because it fails to
take into account that UNL does not
have its own, separate nursing school,
although most of the other universi
ties used in the study do have nursing
schools. Benson’s point is that UNL
would be treated differently (statisti
cally, anyway) if the University of
Nebraska Medical Center personnel
residing on the UNL campus were
allowed to be counted as a part of the
AAUP survey.
Benson prefers the IPEDS survey
because it’s filled out by virtually
every educational institution in die
country. It also differentiates the
racial and ethnic categories, unlike
the AAUP survey (which does not
break down by ethnic lines).
The 1997 IPEDS survey states
there are 60 minority full professors
out of 668, and 153 female full pro
fessors out of 821. (A few professors
were counted twice, as there are 12
female, minority full professors.)
Women make up just 18.6 percent of
full professors, and male minorities
make up just 7.1 percent. All minori
ties among full tenured professors
make up 7.3 percent of all faculty
tenured professors at UNL. These
fully tenured professors are the ones
who have been here the longest, and
can be used as UNL’s “baseline” fig
ure on diversity and racial/gender
equity.
We need to look at the professors
on the tenure track, though, to see
whether or not UNL truly has made a
commitment to diversity. And, by the
numbers alone, it appears that UNL
has. IPEDS lists the number of
minority professors on the tenure
track, including 12 nonresident aliens
(11 men, one woman); eight blacks
(three men, five women); one
American Indian (one woman); 15
Asians (13 men, two women); seven
Hispanics (six men, one woman); and
181 whites (102 men, 79 women).
Women make up a healthy 39.7
percent of the tenure-track profes
sors, with 11.2 percent of those being
minorities. There are many more
minority tenure-track professors (by
percent) than lull professors, since
minority men make up 24.4 percent
of the tenure-track faculty, as
opposed to the aforementioned 7.1
percent.
In other words, while full profes
sors still remain mostly white and
male, professors on the tenure track
have made up considerable ground.
There is even more good news
when you consider that minorities
among tenure-track professors make
up 19.2 percent of the tenure-track
faculty. In 1997, minorities made up
9.9 percent of all ranks of tenure
track or tenured faculty, which defi
nitely shows improvement compared
to the measly 7.3 percent of minority
faculty among full professors.
Granted, it still isn’t enough, but
it definitely IS an improvement.
The AAUP survey isn’t quite as
recent, being done last in 1995-96,
and it only refers to the percentage of
women, unlike IPEDS. AAUP states
there are 20.3 percent of women fac
ulty (all ranks), which is about 3 per
cent short of the average for our peer
institutions (which include Iowa,
Ohio State, Minnesota and Kansas).
Contrast this with IPEDS, which
states that 23.3 percent of women in
1997 make up all ranks of the faculty,
and you see where this controversy is
coming from.
1 ne AAUr survey also concurs
with the IPEDS assessment showing
improvement among tenure-track
women professors, saying that 40.4
percent of the faculty among tenure
track professors were women in 1995
and 1996. This was a significant
improvement over 1993 and 1994,
when UNL had only 32.3 percent of
women among tenure-track profes
sors.
Vice Chancellor Edwards is
pleased with the progress UNL has
made, but says more still needs to be
done.
“I believe that we’ve turned a cor
ner. We know that we need to be in
this business over the long haul,
because one or two years of progress
in this area just isn’t enough,”
Edwards said.
Edwards mentioned that UNL has
problems in recruiting quality minor
ity or women faculty because of our
locational disadvantage. Qualified
applicants may feel somewhat isolat
ed because there aren’t too many of
their peers here. After all, Lincoln
isn’t exactly known for its large com
munities of Asians, Hispanics or
blacks (among others).
Edwards says UNL is trying
everything it can to recruit qualified
minority and women applicants, and
I believe him. However, things will
NOT be helped by Hibler’s apparent
ly racist (or if you prefer, racial) e
mail.
Now, I don’t care what Hibler’s
motivation was. Maybe Ik didn’t
mean to come off as badly as it
seems.
but the tact remains mat how and
why Hibler said what he did, using
racial slurs is still wrong. Hibler’s
actions are embarrassing, because
they devalue the quality of our educa
tion here at Nebraska.
Think about it. What Hibler said,
regardless of his motive, really hurts
the university in minority and gender
recruiting because it makes us all
look like a bunch of racist, ignorant
idiots. Hibler’s comments reflect neg
atively on and actually slight UNL’s
efforts to expand racial and gender
diversity, which surely can’t be what
Hibler wants, as Hibler has a biracial
son.
Professor Hibler, can you answer
this question for me? Why on earth
should any qualified woman or
minority applicant (much less a sen
sitive, aware, feeling white male
applicant) want to come here, after a
long-term Nebraska professor can
say something so ignorant?
Singled out
Valentine's Day practices are painful for the dateless
MARK ZMARZLY is a
senior English and speech
communication major and
a Daily Nebraskan colum
nist
Do you know what Saturday is?
That’s right, it’s Single People Suck
Day.
It’s a day when everyone you
know in a relationship gets to look
down on you. It’s a day where you get
to sit around with your single friends
and complain about die opposite sex.
If you’re really lucky, you will have to
go to work and serve food to cute lit
tle couples who like to hold hands
and make out
We have had to endure the bar
rage of Valentine’s Day advertise
ments since Jan. 1. Florists, Hallmark
stores, Russell Stovers and newspa
pers have all been informing us that
Feb. 14 is a very important day for
people in relationships. If you are not
in a relationship when these adver
tisements begin, you have two
options:
1. Find someone to date until
Sunday.
2. Throw yourself into a deep
depression after realising that these
cute advertisements are actually
telling you, “You suck.”
In case you haven’t realized, these
options are not very healthy. Where
has society gone wrong? When did
this holiday go from cute to annoy
ing? Here’s what happened, as I see it:
Roughly 2,300 years ago,
Romans practiced a pagan celebra
tion around the middle of February.
This festival was a celebration of a
young man’s rite of passage to the
pagan god Lupercus. During this fes
tival the young men of die area select
ed the name of one of the teenage
girls from a box. This teenage girl
would become the man’s sexual com
panion for that year. (It was like a
good old-fashioned Arkansas family
reunion.)
Eight hundred years later, Pope
Gelasius attempted to get rid of this
pagan festival by changing the rules.
Instead of the name of a girl, both
young men and women were allowed
to draw the name of a saint from the
box. The challenge was to emulate
tiie behavior of that particular saint
(They sure knew how to party.) Pope
Gelasius then chose St Valentine to
be the new “poster boy” for the festi
val.
Why St Valentine? Valentine
became the patron saint of love after
his beheading by Emperor Claudius
in 270 A.D. Claudius outlawed mar
riage in his empire because he felt a
married soldier was a poor soldier.
Valentine continued to perform secret
marriage ceremonies despite the
Emperor’s orders. Valentine was
imprisoned and sentenced to death
when the Emperor discovered the
secret marriage ceremonies.
While in prison, Valentine fell in
love with the blind daughter of tiie
jailer. Their love was so strong and
Valentine’s faith so pure that the
young woman was cured of her blind
ness. Before Valentine’s beheading he
left a message for his love signed,
“From your Valentine.”
The mid-February celebration
then changed from a sex lottery to a
holiday where young Roman men
would attempt to show their affection
to the woman they desired. They - -
would give handwritten messages
containing Valentine’s name to the
woman in question.
Valentine sent a sincere letter dis
playing his love. He did not -1 repeat
- did not send two dozen roses, a box
of chocolates and a life-sized teddy
bear, and he did not take out a person
al ad in the Roman Daily News. He
did not send a singing Gladiator-O
Gram. He did not give her a dozen
roses made from panties. He simply
wrote down the emotions and feel
ings he had for the love of his life.
Valentine’s Day is the day when
all unromantic guys get a chance to
repent for their sins. In one day you
can lavish your loved one with a
dump truck full of sweet, soft and
fuzzy tilings, and she will forgive you
for the time you showed up drunk at
her sister’s wedding and threw up in
the holy water. You guys out there
running around buying this crap are
the reason that Hallmark is raking in
the cash. You are the reason that I’m
sitting here typing and listening to “A
Classic Affair Limo Service” adver
tisement on the radio.
At this point there is nothing you
can do. Don’t give your girlfriend a
love note and a copy of this article. I
don’t want you to blame me for get
ting slapped. Buy the roses and jewel
ry or whatever else you had planned.
Take her to dinner or whatever. Then
promise yourself that you will be a
romantic year round, that you will not
have to rely on one day out of the year
to show your partner that you care.
When this happens, Feb. 14 will
cease to be the day that all single peo
ple are reminded that they are ALL
-ALONE. - - -
