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EDITOR
Erin Gibson
OPINION
EDITOR
Cliff Hicks
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Nancy Christensen
Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
Jeff Randall
Bret Schulte
Our
VIEW
Gap
the lid
Restrictive initiative
trouble for students
UNL’s main focus in the future could be
. scraping for money to make ends meet, not
striving to become better, if big business has
its way in November.
If passed, Initiative 413 - a proposed
amendment to the state constitution - could
cut 20 percent from university budgets
according to University of Nebraska esti
mates.
Entire programs could be eliminated from
the curriculum, and university officials have
predicted tuition would rise dramatically.
The amendment would limit the amount of
tax dollars the state could take in each year -
effectively capping state spending at current
levels, with small adjustments made each year
for inflation.
But so far, only a small group of students
has banded together to fight the tax lid that
would put a major folk in the road of UNL’s
planned path to greatness.
Students Against the Lid, a group that has
formed under the leadership of student gov
ernment President Sara Russell, is fighting
hard to get students to join forces against the
amendment.
At a rally against the lid Saturday in
Omaha, U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey said the amend
ment would have negative effects not only on
education, but also on health care and other
public services.
He said educating the voting public about
the amendment’s effects would be the key fac
tor in swinging the large and important unde
cided vote.
An Omaha World-Herald poll released
Tuesday showed 26 percent of Nebraskans
were still undecided on how they would vote
on the amendment.
With 41 percent of those polled in favor of
die amendment and 33 percent of those polled
against it, Kerrey’s call to action must not fall
on deaf ears - students and others affected by
the lid must organize and publicize the lid’s
devastating effects.
Citizens for Nebraska’s Future, a thinly
disguised group of big businesses supporting
the lid, contends that the amendment would
not harm education, and would be a needed
break for taxpayers.
But a state that recently has had surpluses
in its coffers is not taking advantage of its
prosperity to improve its services.
The University ofNebraska is consistently
underfunded as administrators struggle to use
meager means to compete with richer peer
institutions.
The proposed lid will only make UNL’s
financial situation worse and will cripple its
efforts to improve.
Students must rally against this initiative to
save the university from terminal mediocrity.
And to save their pocketbooks.
Start by attending today’s Students Against
the Lid meeting at 5 p.m. in the Nebraska
Union.
Idlttrfal 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
Unterky 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 toe editorial
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the hands of its student employees.
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LETTERS
Street sense
I don’t believe I have a cold heart.
Well, maybe I do, but that’s not the issue.
My issue is that I’m annoyed.
Wednesday’s front page human interest
spread on “Habitat for Humanity”
showed a student subjecting herself to
the life of a homeless person.
This is nothing but misplaced effort
and a degradation to the truly homeless.
I have spoken to homeless persons who
are dismayed at this method of hinging
attention to their “cause.” Living in a
box for several hours on a street comer
or ‘playing’ homeless only points to die
lack of dignity we as a society show to
the homeless.
Once you’re back in your dorm
room warming some Top Ramen in
your microwave, drying yourself from
your warm shower, and calling friends
to make plans for the rest of the evening
on O Street, the game’s over.
I doubt if society would approve if
students took turns wearing a sign on a
street comer that read, “Hi, I’m gay,” or
used costume clothes to illicit the
appearance of being severely over
weight. The fact is, you only mock the
homeless by pretending to understand
their plight
My point -1 would be offended if
my situation in life were used as a bill
board to draw sympathy by persons who
never can and never will know that situ
ation intimately. Magnify that and
imagine the indignation a homeless per
son may feel walking along the street
and seeing a student taking her one
hour turn at playing homeless. Ith a sad
state when one’s social conscious can be
appeased by spending an hour in a box.
Eric T. Sanford
College of Law
Very homeless
On Tuesday, the Union Board
approved a policy which ^ —
restricts access to the northwest
study lounge to those with a UNL
ID after 6 p.m. Sunday through
Thursday.
Nebraska Unions Director i
Daryl Swanson has said repeat- *
edfy that the union is safe. But his
justification for this policy '
Tuesday was, in part, safety.
Apparently non-students, such as my
mom, are a threat to safety.
Of course, if you have a UNL ID,
you may attack anyone who does not in
the northwest study lounge after 6 p.m.
Sunday through Thursday. I feel safe
now, don’t you?
Anyone who would propose and
approve this policy in order to make the
union safe has got to be an idiot
The real reason for this policy is to
<■ -
keep the homeless away from students
in fee study lounge at night The home
less, you see, make some people
uncomfortable and nervous.
America has tried this kind of thing
before, of course. City buses, like the
union, are public property. African
Americans were once forced to sit in the
back of the bus because they made
whites uncomfortable and nervous. And
I thought Americans didn’t do this sort
of thing any more.
Not only has fee Union Board done
an idiotic thing, it has done an immortal
thing. And Swanson was there to make
sure that they approved this policy,
doing whatever was necessary to push it
through, including contradicting him
self.
The board will meet again before
Thanksgiving to evaluate fee policy. I
urge you to show up and write letters.
Perhaps we can persuade fee board that
this policy is rotten in spite of Swanson’s
rhetoric.
Rodney Cupp
graduate student
philosophy
Get God now!
As a born-again Christian, I felt
compelled to respond to the hysteria of
last week as well as fee articles written
on Wednesday in the Daily Nebraskan.
Let me first say that I appreciated
fee article written by Adam Klmker. The
true message of Christianity is, as Adam
said, “faith, compassion, love and for
giveness.” Many of you who are reading
this letter had the opportn- f <
nity to listen to
“Brother Jed” and °
others
that were on
campus last "”~*L
talking
“Christi
As
Christian
would
Melanie Falk/DN
like to point out that Jed does not repre
sent what a true relationship with Jesus
Christ is all about Jed made many erro
neous comments about Christianity.
Two ofhis comments I find very impor
tant to refute.
First of all, he made the statement
that once someone becomes a Christian
they no longer sin and are therefore per
fect. That is absolutely false!!
Comments such as that one lead to the
belief that all believers see themselves
as better than everyone else. God tells us
that “all have sinned and have fallen
short of the glory of God.” As a
Christian I have the ability, by the power
of die Holy Spirit, to not sin. That does
not mean that I will always choose to do
what is right. Believers still struggle
with sin.
The second incorrect idea brought
15) by Jed is die idea that it is his or any
other Christian’s responsibility to judge
whether people are going to heaven.
This is where a lot ofpeople like to jump
on the “God is love” bandwagon. Yes,
God is love, but He is also a God of
vengeance. If God was not a God of
love, every person that has ever lived
would spend eternity in hell. But, by
God’s grace and love, He sent His only
son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to
pay the penalty for sin. That is the ulti
mate expression of love.
There is a flip side, however. Even
though He is a God of love, He also
makes it clear what is not acceptable.
Just because He loves, does not mean
that everyone from any lifestyle will be
allowed into heaven. Yes, Jesus paid the
penalty for sin, but that free gift
must be accepted by repentance
from sin and believing in the Lord
Jesus Christ It does not mean, as
Jed says, that you will be perfect
for die rest of your life. It means
that you are so thankful for the
love that Jesus Christ has shown you
that the goal of your life is to be perfect
. as Jesus Christ is perfect
I It is NOT my job as a Christian to
^ decide whether you will go to heaven
|J or not, but it is my job to fet you know
1/ the truths of Scripture and that
includes that things that are unaccept
able to God. I urge anyone who is read
ing this letter to accept die free gift of
salvation offered to you, by the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ
Do NOT Mow the words of Todd
Munson and try to find religion on your
own time, when it is right for you.
Everyone has a need for a savior.
Everyone has that need right now!
Don’t wait, because tomorrow may be
too late! ,
Jered Dworak
Teachers College
junior
