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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 28, 1998)
' EDITOR Paula Lavigne OPINION EDITOR Kasey Kerber EDITORIAL BOARD Brad Davis Erin Gibson Shannon Heffelfinger Chad Lorenz Jeff Randall i Our VIEW Silence isn’t golden Harassment issues need to be addressed The recent allegations of sexual harass ment in the political science department have proven silence can only tarnish the university’s effort to address such issues. Many people in the department have responded negatively to their publication because, “We never heard about any of this.” Well, of course you didn’t. As the handling of this incident comes to light, it is obvious the mute button was pressed at every turn. And within the silence, there was no provocation for action. There were singular voices speak ing from the minority to the authority and getting nowhere. It seems that unless you were a victim of sexual harassment in the department, you did not hear what was happening. While it is understandable that exact details must sometimes be omitted to pro tect one’s privacy, the complaints, actions and sanctions must be made public to know someone is being held accountable. And if this doesn’t happen, the silence is going to come back and haunt those responsible. 1 he nature ot the complaints should have been open to public review in their initial stage. There should have been open meetings to discuss the general issue** among the other faculty members. Some type of awareness, either through individual counseling or group discussion, should have been started to teach people about the effects of this type of behavior. Either the dean or the department chairman should have set forth a clear pro cedure for how he was going to address this incident, specifying what action would be taken and what time it would be completed. There should have been notification that the Academic Senate’s Rights and Responsibilities Committee was going to review the matter, and people should have been allowed to submit their independent testimony to the committee. And this report should not have been confidential, especially at a state universi ty. Far from randomly releasing photo copies of the report, the Academic Senate’s Rights and Responsibilities Committee at least should have acknowl edged there was a report and issued a sum mary of what it said. To the committee: Do that next time. For now, it is the department’s respon sibility to call its faculty, students and staff together to go over the nature of this report. Yes, speaking out is going to subject the department to some criticism. But speculation will damage it even more. Editorial Policy 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 serves as pubfisher 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. Latter Ptlicy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their 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 themselves by name, year in school, rreyor and/or group affiliation, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. E-mail: letters@unlHifo.unl.edu. rf Haney’s VIEW -AiM/rty ic, UwKep oti .. - . - srs A r HT * DN LETTERS Leadership is not tolerance A number of incidents have occurred within the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus communi ty that create a less than welcoming climate for some of us. While I can’t comment on specif ic cases under review, I want to rein force what I*ve said on several previ ous occasions. We have talked a great deal about being a tolerant community, but that does not include tolerance for harass ment or unprofesskmal behavior. 1 have zero tolerance for behavior that prevents others from taking advantage of our learning environ ment. The time has come for others on campus to adopt this zero tolerance attitude as well. Faculty, staff and students alike must be the positive forces of change. Why can we not learn enough from each other to eliminate racist, sexist and homophobic behavior from this campus/ Why can we not be more accept ing of those with disabilities? To have the kind of climate we want to have on this campus requires positive leader ship from each of us. We must all prepare to step for ward and say “this is wrong” when we witness acts of discrimination or harassment. Standing by passively is not leadership. I speak out on these issues because to be silent is to be complicit. Now I appeal to the larger academic community to join me in working toward change. Together, we can make a difference. James Moeser chancellor University of Nebraska-Lincoln Planned response... part 2 I feel I must take a moment to comment on Josh Moenning’s col umn, “Poorly Planned Parenthood.” He quotes Margaret Sanger as having Nazi-esque and quite disturb ing views of the minorities of this country. This is possibly, even likely, true, given the society of the early 1920s. “Birth of a Nation,” a blatantly anti black film, had been released and endorsed by Woodrow Wilson, which sparked a huge growth in the KKK. Lynchings occurring as far north as Minnesota and the pseudoscience of eugenics was widely accepted. However, Moenning’s specious research leaves doubts. The only source he lists is Human Life International. HLI was founded in 1981 by a Benedictine monk, Father Paul Marx, who was a pro-life activist in the 1960s and 1970s. According to their Web page, which can be found at www. catholici ty. com/cathedral/hli, “the organiza tion sees itself as broadly promoting what Pope John Paul II has called ‘a culture of life’ and opposing those groups that advocate a ‘culture of death.’” This biased source only makes me more skeptical of the validity of Moenning’s claims. Also, HLI and Moenning contend that “in the 11 major U.S. cities with less than 10 percent minority popula tions, there are only 15 abortionists present per million people. But in the 11 major cities with more than 70 per cent minority populations, there is an average of 53 abortionists per million people.” While this appears disturbing, those cities with a smaller percentage of minority population generally have a smaller TOTAL population, thus the suggestion that “abortionists” have settled, like seething bombs of infan ticide, in racially corresponding pockets across the country, is absurd. Seth Felton freshman undecided Melanie Falk/DN