The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, March 16, 1998, Page 4, Image 4

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    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
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