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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1998)
Don’t bench yourself Involvement is better than watching life from sideline LORI ROBISON is a senior news-editorial major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist We must participate in life if we want to live. For some students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, that means joining clubs, associations, sports teams. For others, it means attending lectures, presentations and exhibits. And for still others, partici pating in life revolves around activi ties entirely outside of the campus sphere. In the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska debate last week, candidates spoke of emphasizing community on campus. The problem with this fine idea is that, first of all, this “community” is a diverse mixture of students of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities. All of us have our own priorities, our own responsibilities, our own direc tions we travel in a given day. Second, this campus is already a community within a community. While the rest of the city blissfully goes about its daily business, the uni versity is awash with activities, forums, contests, promotions and other goings on that seem to be unique to the college experience. Third, the whole concept of increasing a sense of community on campus is vague at best. What does that goal really mean? It sounds sus piciously like just so much ambigu ous political rhetoric. Each of us must make our own choices in how and to what extent we’re going to participate in the “com munity” around us. And for the college student, involvement seems to revolve around individual circumstances. Many students cast a furrowed brow at those of us whom they deem as not involved enough in campus life, but perhaps their definition of participation is too narrow. For some students, like those living in the fra ternities and sororities, the college experience seems to exist on a differ ent plane of reality than for the rest of us. There are regular, organized activities and fund-raisers in the greek system, for instance. The sis ters and brothers live and experience the university as a cohesive group, in touch with what’s going on because they all live in the same house. When a new idea for a volunteering activity or other organized event comes along, they are there to lend a hand and participate. And it’s great, but it’s not the reality for the rest of us on that same campus. That part of the student body not making up the greek system or the other cohesive groups on campus consist of a motley crew of leftovers. Some of us live off campus, others of us live in the residence halls, and an increasing number of us are nontra ditional students in our 30s, 40s and up with families to care for. Many of these growing number of nontraditional students attending UNL would like to join more clubs and participate in more campus activities. But the realities of time and energy keep us much too occu pied to squeeze in a few more hours in an already over-packed schedule. And although almost all UNL students live with hectic schedules, the fact that many are embarking clean and free from their high school careers does make a difference. The future is wide open for these newly initiated adults, having only to take care of themselves. But for the nontraditional student embarking on a full-time commit ment at a university, life continues just as it didbefore going to school. The responsibilities, stresses, bills and demands of a previous life don’t take a break until graduation. They’re carried over to and some times even amplified by the four year roller-coaster ride through school. I’m not complaining, mind you. I love what I’m doing and would ven ture to say that most students in simi lar situations probably feel the same way. But for many of us, participa tion in our lives tends to revolve more around family, ongoing respon sibilities and furthering career goals than running for election in the stu dent government. And soon, the ASUN election on March 11 will allow us all the oppor tunity to participate in one aspect of campus life. Now, I could be deceitful to you, dear readers, and say I’ll go out of my way on that day (assuming I remember on the 11th that elections are being held) and seek out the nearest booth to do my duty as a UNL student. I could say that I fol low the ASUN meetings and actions religiously and am well-versed in the ways of student government. I could say that, but I respect all of you too much to lie (besides, the last voting rates indicate that most of you reading this won’t be voting, either). As a matter of fact, despite the fact I’ve been at UNL since 1995, I’m still not sure of exactly what ASUN does. And after trying to find out this past week, I’m more con fused than ever. A current ASUN member said the real power in the hands of the student governing body is deciding how much of our student fees goes to which organization, center or activi ty. While that’s a fine and honorable responsibility, it’s not enough for me to take my life in my hands by going to battle in the R Street parking war just to get to a voting booth in the Nebraska Union. But participation in the academic aspect of our lives can take many forms for many reasons. One freshman student I spoke with said he intended to become involved in at least a few activities so he could feel more connected with <the campus community he’s immersed in. He pointed out that some of the students he’s talked to refuse to participate on campus, yet complain bitterly about living here. Perhaps if more became involved in the life around them, this freshman reasoned, life here would not seem so bad for these students. Perhaps that student stumbled on to a basic truth. Watching life from the sidelines is empty, unsatisfying, cold. For instance, the first three years I lived in Lincoln, I went to my job, came home and was totally miser able living here. In fact, looking back on that time, I was miserable every where I went. In spite of myself, I gradually became more willing to take advan tage of the opportunities to partici pate in life. Watching without doing basically sucked, and I realized that by isolating myself from friends and the chance to participate in life, I was doing myself no favors. And just as that freshman had reasoned, choosing to participate did improve my outlook, enabling me to discover many of the good things this place has to offer. Perhaps life is like a sport. Watching it from the sidelines only provides us an insufficient glimpse of what’s really going on. Each of us must decide for ourselves what posi tion we’re going to play. That’s fine, so long as we get off our butts and join the game. Castro doesn’t care i ^ncZ of economic sanctions would improve relations with Cuba SHAWN MEYSENBURG is a sophomore news-editori al major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist. I know Fidel Castro is a putz, but he’s a long-suffering putz. The United States’ economic sanctions against his country aren’t going to coerce him into turning Cuba into a democracy - he’s been giving the U.S. government the finger (figura tively, of course) for almost 40 years. The small, communist country within spitting distance of Florida poses no real threat to the United States. Furthermore, since the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba’s had a rough time. I think the United States should lift economic sanctions against Cuba. Why? There are many good reasons to abandon the embargo against Cuba, but I can think of two or three that stand out First of all, the economic sanc tions aren’t working. If they were going to break the spirit of Cuba, this would have happened already. • Second, let’s remember who suf fers as a result of economic sanc tions: the poor. The decision makers in Cuba aren’t feeling too oppressed by these sanctions, but you can bet Cuba’s poor are hating life. Removal of economic sanctions would do nothing but help the people of Cuba. I’ll give one example of how free trade with Cuba could help Cubans out: The cigar business is huge in the United States right now. Stupid people with lots of money are laymg out big bucks for cigars. If economic sanctions against Cuba were to be lifted, every tobac co lover in the country would rejoice. Cuba wouldn’t be able to supply our cigar-smoking yuppies with enough of its world-famous product. This may be a moronic example, but nevertheless it illustrates how a lifting of economic sanctions would help that country. Lifting the embargo against Cuba also would improve relations with that nation. Having a good relationship might do more to lead Cuba down the path to democ racy than economic sanctions will. At present, I think it’s safe to assume that the average Cuban citi zen doesn’t think too highly of our government. If our government were to take steps to improve our standing with Cubans, Cuba might be more receptive to making changes in its system of government. As much as I’d like to see our country lift sanctions against Cuba, don’t think our government will. The first reason is that fighting communism has been a part of our foreign policy for a long time. This sounds OK, right? Well, I’m forced to ask: What about China? China’s a communist country. Furthermore, China also has been guilty of mistreating “enemies of th« state.” Heck, if there aren’t prisoners of conscience in some of China’s prisons right now, I’d be surprised. Why, then, do we trade with China? The answer is sim ple: money. We buy many prod ucts from this country made by its huge labor force. A refusal to trade ' with China would cause economic problems for the United States. [ Cuba’s a small, seemingly insignificant country that’s easy for us to push around. We don’t suffer a great deal of economic hardship as a result of not trading with Cuba, so maintaining the sanctions against that country is easy. I’m not saying we should set up sanctions against China, we just shouldn’t allow this double standard to exist. There is another significant rea son why our government doesn’t lift the sanctions against Cuba: We would feel “inadequate.” The United States is one of the most powerful nations on the planet. Economic sanctions are, in my opin ion, a type of warfare. Our country uses them, like warfare, to put the pressure on nations that are angering us. If the United States government were to lift the sanctions against Cuba, it would be admitting defeat in its “war” against Cuba. The mighty United States would be humiliated - what a shame. There’s been bad blood between the United States and Cuba for quite a long time. If we ever want to see real changes in that country, we need to try to improve our relation ship with Cuba. A lifting of economic sanctions against Cuba could be the first step in improving relations with that nation. We’ll be helping Cubans instead of hurting them, and, hey, we’ll get some great cigars as well.
