Blowing smoke
Proposed ban will not improve reputation
MALCOLM KASS is a
senior chemical engineer
ing major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
What ever happened to common
sense? What ever happened to that
little voice that used to say; “Don’t
should not fight in a war against
Iraq”?
Everywhere you look, there are
people with puzzled expressions
because they don’t understand why
you can’t use KY-Jelly on toast.
Someone actually filed a lawsuit
because the product’s label did not
specifically state that it was not fit
for human consumption.
Even on campus, practicality
escapes us, which is why football
players, who are the fastest and most
athletic students on campus, still
walk to class the slowest.
Something that lately is eating at
my brain concerns the administration
and why they would want to make a
college education more expensive
and unattainable by not allowing cig
arette sales on campus. A mystery,
indeed.
I smoke. I couldn’t even think of
abandoning an addiction as
American as apple pie and as deli
cious as a scotch and tonic. We all
should smoke and let the marriage of
nicotine and tar make our lungs feef
like big country.
Surprisingly enough, the admin
istration actually disagrees with this
opinion and has declared that smok
ing is actually BAD for us. They
must be European or something.
The administration is laying
down the law with Chancellor James
Moeser playing the part of Wyatt
Earp.
Now, one would think that a man
like the chancellor would come from
a rough-and-tumble background of
conflict-resolution and communica
tion skills. However, Moeser
assumes the gritty and in-your-face
attitude that only an educational
background in musicology could
provide. Yes... musicology.
The fact that our chancellor
comes from the same background as
AC/DC doesn’t exactly put him on
the same level as other great leaders
in American history, such as Lincoln
and FDR.
When he proposed the idea of
eliminating Cigarettes, he was proba
bly wearing a tie and suit coat with
shorts while playing a guitar solo
and hopping on one leg, saying “I’m
a fast machine, I want this campus
clean, and I don’t want cigarettes to
be seen....”
The administration is using the
logic that this campus has a dedica
tion to wellness, and therefore
should eliminate selling cigarettes.
Why the administration would want
to stop a habit that has tinted the
windows in my car without my hav
ing to purchase them from a
mechanic, I don’t know.
If my occupation was to try to
create a more prestigious university,
I would certainly start with incoming
freshman and present the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln in the best pos
sible manner.
Knowing this, I would not think
that parents of high school seniors
visiting the university would be
impressed to see a flock of students
smoking their tobacco logs in front
of the residence halls and the unions.
Thus, the administration has decreed
the eternal “No way, Jose” to the
Marlboro Man.
My cynicism regarding the
administration’s action stems from
the unknown reasons for this propos
al. It reminds me of an incident four
years ago when a parking lot across
the street from Selleck Hall was
replaced by “green space.”
Similar to the current situation, it
was an issue of students vs. adminis
tration. Finding a student who want
ed to eliminate the parking lot would
have been as difficult as finding
someone who admires Dr. Hibler for
his level-headedness.
Graham Spanier was the chancel
lor back then. He held his ground,
neglected the students wishes and
got his green space. Then he system
atically padded his resume, took a
position as chancellor at Penn State
and gave the academic fmger to the
students.
I am certainly not accusing
Chancellor Moeser of any of this.
Actually, I have met him two or three
times and rather like the guy, but I
hope the administration understands
why the elder students are raising
their collective eyebrow. Chancellor
Moeser, please show us that you’re
one of the good guys.
Back to the issue — I ask the
chancellor to not make higher educa
tion at this university more expen
sive — approximately $31,140 more
expensive — and focus on the under
lying issue in all of this: increasing
the academic quality of this universi
ty.
If Harvard decided to relocate to
Point Barrow, Alaska, would there
still be tons of applications to its law
school? Damn straight — because
Harvard is Harvard and it is one
bitchin’ school.
Trivial things such as eliminating
cigarettes in the residence halls and
unions will not increase die universi
ty’s academic quality. It will simply
inconvenience the smokers and make
should pay for me smokers problem. T
Besides, who wants a campus ,*
with a bunch of nic fits, anyway.
By the way, all of you who relish
Valentine’s Day, smokers or not, can
go to hell (some things just have to
be said).
Bump ’n’ mind
Sex should emphasize feeling, not action
JIM VANCE is a senior
physical and health educa
tion major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
I’m 21 years old, and I’ve never
had a girlfriend.
What could I be doing wrong?
I know I’m not perfect On a scale
of cuteness, from one to 10, most girls
would probably rate me a seven (give
or take a point).
Now don’t go thinking I’m some
pathetic loser. I’ve had chances with
women, and quite a few times I
thought relationship road was just
around the comer. But I always man
aged to screw up somehow. To this
day I still don’t know what I did, in
most cases, that blew it all up. I do
know one thing: I am in a minority
when it comes to males.
No, I’m not gay (not that there’s
anything wrong with that!). I’m just
finding I don’t seek sex.
I’ve been with a woman before.
But what was supposed to be the
greatest triumph of my first 19 years
on this planet became a slap in the
face that I was looking at things all
wrong. I laid in bed with a woman
who I had an incredibly pleasurable
experience with, but for whom I felt
no emotion. A girl whose last name I
do not recall. A girl I did not like or
care to see again.
I felt a gaping void. There was no
love.
I had a gift to give. A gift that was
the greatest tiling I could give the
woman I love, and I wasted it I let
hormones and peer pressure get the
best of me. *
My friends, who have all had girl
friends, are keeping documented .
records of who, when, how long and
how good.
Me? I’m looking for the woman
who makes me want to be a better
man.
I’m finding it hard to have sex
with a woman I do not love. I just
can’t handle that feeling of emptiness,
knowing that this woman has taken so
much from me and not given the feel
ing in return. And I did the same to
her.
I fear that no sexual experience,
no matter how pleasurable, could sur
pass tihe intensity of these feelings.
Only love can.
Many people think they follow
this example already by avoiding pre
marital sex. They’re missing the big
picture. Love is about feelings, not
actions; it is a process, with no tangi
ble measurements.
Marriage is an action. Sex is ah
action.
Both are ways of representing
love. It doesn’t matter which action
comes first, but the feeling must
always be first Both are nothing with
out love.
Look at how we stress die actions.
Guys talk about the gills they’ve
corked. Girls talk about the types of
guys they want to many. The reli
gious sects call for marriage.
Hollywood and the media sell us sex.
Schools tell us how to handle sex.
And families stress the vows.
Where in our world do we stress
the feelings, and not the actions?
I don’t know if I ever want to be
married, but does that mean I never
wish to fed and experience love?
Maybe in a society where we
stressed concentrating on and under
standing feelings, like love, we would
n’t have a 60 percent divorce rate.
Maybe there would be less
unwanted pregnancies - and less than
the 1.6 million abortions Planned
Parenthood says we have each year.
Maybe 66 percent of all 17-year
olds wouldn’t be sexually active,
which Advocate Health Care claims.
Maybe you wouldn’t have that
burning sensation you’ve been hav
ing.
Maybe we wouldn’t be so scared
to death of AIDS.
Maybe the Violence Against
Women bill wouldn’t report that one
in seven college women will experi
ence date rape.
And maybe, just maybe, guys like
me would find the women who make
us want to be better men.
But I’m 21 years old and never
had a girlfriend, so what do I know
about love?
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Friday, Februan^J*
Saturday, February 1<^VNoon
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