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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 16, 1998)
EDITOR Paula Lavigne OPINION EDITOR Kasey Kerber EDITORIAL BOARD Brad Davis Erin Gibson Shannon Heffelfinger Chad Lorenz Jeff Randall Quest VIEW They’re watching Grade system misuse should be stopped \ Daily Utah Chronicle University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah (U-Wire) - You’re being watched. Everything you’ve done is open to scrutiny. People you don’t even know have knowledge of some of your life’s details. No, you’re not the subject of some secret CIA investigation. The FBI doesn’t have you under surveillance. Big Brother’s watching, and he’s the University of Utah. In October of 1997, Brandon Winn, one of the Chronicle’s own sports columnists, was writing a column about how he didn’t like fans who jumped onto bandwagons. As a prime example, he mentioned the fans of the then-red-hot Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He jokingly commented that these fans were “about as bright as a Parks and Tourism major.” In retaliation, Dr. John Crossley and Gary Ellis, two offended Parks and Tourism faculty members, looked up Brandon’s grades and forwarded them to Chronicle Business Manager Robert McOmber and Editor in Chief Robert A. Jones. The two faculty members criticized his grades and demanded disciplinary action. You see, they inappropriately accessed Brandon’s records in direct violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Ouch! Unfortunately, their actions were not isolated; they were only manifestations of a bigger problem. On our campus, a lot of people have access to the Master Academic Records System, and that access isn’t very restricted. For example, if you applied for a job on campus and your potential employer had access to MARS, your records could be accessed as a factor toward your potential employment. It’s illegal, but possible. Because of past violations, President J. Bernard Machen named members of a new ad hoc Committee to Ensure the Privacy of University Student Records. One of this committee’s responsibilities will be to make recommendations to the president about how to protect student records. We at the Chronicle would like to make a few suggestions of our own. We feel it’s necessary to install a system log-in which would leave a “fingerprint” on every stu dent file accessed. That way, we’ll know who’s accessed files and why. We also feel it necessary to severely limit access to a few people. Most impor tant of all, anybody receiving access needs some extensive training, and reminders of this training need to be posted within the MARS program itself. letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee tneir publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submitted material becomes property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify ttiemselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affixation, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, NE. 68588-0448. E-mail: letters@unlinfo.uni.edu. Editorial Ptficy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Spring 1998 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 senres 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. i__ Haney’s VIEW 1 DN LETTERS Show me the issues! Once again the ASUN campaigns, typical and modeling the campaigns of the United States, chose to address banal and fairly meaningless issues on the 1998 ASUN election ballot. Questions included were like, “Would you like $X of student fees to go to improving the Health Center?” or “Do you want $X fees to upgrading the Recreation Center?” These questions are completely weighted, and any conscious or unconscious member would agree that their “student fee” should go to these essential facilities at UNL. Where was the question, “Do you want $X of student fees used to get some healthy eating alternatives in the City Union?” or “Do you want $X of student fees to be used to evaluate and improve the waste policies of UNL?” Again, any member of the UNL community would want to see this be done, but apparently one must be thinking beyond the current conven tions to even address the above men tioned, “real” issues concerning UNL community health. Graham Johnson German graduate student Beyond rights and rites Barb Churchill’s article in Friday’s DN regarding the Methodist same-sex ceremony controversy expresses well the common percep tions that 1) this is simply an issue of equal rights, and 2) at the heart of the controversy are a mere handful of controversial Biblical prohibitions. It really goes much deeper than that, and our simple models of “rights” and of “choosing between our heads and our hearts” do not do 1— — justice to the matter. Forgotten in these approaches is that from the very first chapter in Genesis, right on through Christ’s explicit teachings on marriage, the Bible repeatedly affirms and reflects wfiat is already engraved into the very physical fabric of our creation: that man and woman are fundamentally differentiated, and in that difference lies a life-giving complementarity that cannot be realized in a same-sex union. As a result, trying to redefine “marriage” to include same-sex rela tionships bears a strong resemblance to trying to legislate gravity out of existence. We can imitate the form but it no more constitutes “marriage” than a photocopied dollar bill consti tutes legal tender. That God loves us all, and under stands we are imperfect, is not in question. That every one of us, gay and straight alike, must struggle with sexual righteousness in a society that glorifies a debased and cheapened vision of human sexuality also surely cannot be disputed. But that the position of the Methodist church is founded on much more than just politics or prejudice also must be recognized and respect ed. Paul Marxhausen electronics technician engineering and technology The short of it On Thursday I sat down to read the DN and I came across Anthony Colman’s piece. After the first full paragraph I was a little ticked off; by the end I was just mad, - At what height does Colman con sider tall? I have the same problem that he does in finding clothing, yet I’m 6-foot-1. For a woman, that is considered tall. He may have all the 28/30 jeans in the city, but I have almost all the 28/36 jeans in two states. I’ve had to settle for 30/36 and in men’s because they don’t carry them any smaller at that length or in women’s that long. Now hopefully Colman doesn’t have this problem but I have an even harder time finding skirts and dresses that are an appro priate length because I am TOO tall for the manufacturers’ products. I can’t even special order longer length because the longest most things come to is 5-foot-ll. Do you know how hard it is to try and fit in with “average” sized people and finding that you have to slouch in order to hear and participate in con versations? I am not ashamed of my height anymore, but I was because I felt out of place because I was 5-foot 6 and in the 5th grade. I was always the tallest in my class, and my brother and I were the tallest girl and boy in my high school. When I came up here, I was ecstatic to find other people my height or taller. I just wanted you to know that it’s not just short people who are height discriminated. It’s small mindedness that people, like you, have that cause it. I have no other choice than to walk straight with my head high because I cannot change my physical appear ance. You should do the same and let it go. Jennifer Varenhorst freshman vocal performance fine and perfoming arts j§y j ii M • . • Send letters to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 "R," St., Lincoln, NE 68588, or fax to (402) 472-1761, or e-mail <letters@uhlinfo.unl.edu. .letters must be signed and include a phone number for verification .....
