-
EDITOR
Erin Gibson
OPINION
EDITOR
Cliff Hicks
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Nancy Christensen
Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
Jeff Randall
Bret Schulte
i
Our
VIEW
Death of
a legend
Hussein remembered
for stable leadership
Today, the country of Jordan will shut
down for three days of formal mourning over
the death of King Hussein Ibn Talal Al
Hashem of Jordan.
The world, too, will mourn - even those
little pieces of the world tucked onto this cam
pus and into the Daily Nebraskan basement.
Mourners worldwide know King
Hussein’s legendary leadership did not die
with the 63-year-old Sunday in Amman,
Jordan’s capital.
His leadership, defined by his stable char
acter, discipline and hard work, will guarantee
his place in political and historical annals.
His fame arose from his ability to survive
as a powerful leader amid struggles, his abili
ty to promote peace in a tumultuous land, and
the respect he garnered from all nations’ lead
ers - even when his politics infuriated them.
He was bom Nov. 14,1935, in Jordan, 13
years before Israel was created, and while
European powers held fast in the Middle East.
He became king at age 16 after his schizo
phrenic father had ruled for one year and then
abdicated the throne. One year prior, he had
witnessed the assassination of his grandfather.
Hussein later would survive about 11
assassination attempts on his own life and sev
eral attempted coups. The largest potential
coup came when military officials opposed
his moderate policies in 1956.
He survived and held to the moderate, cau
tious political stance that would mark his
reign. He was only 20, and his greatest strug
gles still lay before him.
His country would lose the West Bank and
Jerusalem to Israel in 1967 after he overruled
his own generals to enter the Six-Day War. He
would weather “Black September” in 1970,
when his army would put down a Palestinian
uprising demanding his resignation.
In the midst of constant tumult, Hussein
was described as cordial and genteel - a bril
liant diplomat whose power didn’t corrode his
thoughtfulness. Followers heralded his self
confidence and calm demeanor.
His continuous making and breaking of
alliances, including with Palestinians, Iraq
and the West, never soiled his reputation for
acting with caution and careful evaluation.
For example, he riled American leaders by
siding with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war of the
1980s, and by not backing the West in the Gulf
War. Three years later, while he ailed from
cancer in 1994, he came to the United States
to pursue a successful peace treaty with Israel.
He was welcomed on U.S. soil. Four U.S.
presidents will attend his funeral in Jordan
today.
They will attend because his modest lead
ership never wavered. He kept an air of calm
and respect for his country, the Middle East
and perhaps all people, through all things.
As a result, people will respect him and his
legacy of leadership after their mourning
ends.
--|
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Spring 1999 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 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.
Letter PaUcy
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, major and/or group
affiliation, if any.
Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln,
NE. 68588-0448. E-mail:
letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
Telnaes’
VIEW
1 The Next Media Obsession 1
DN
LETTERS
Accentuate the positive
When I read the paper on Tuesday
(Feb. 2), staring me in the face in large
bold print was “Sophomore falls from
Chi Phi window.” On Thursday, I was
again reading the paper and tucked
away on page 3 in small print was
“Student cited for drug use.” Why was
it not on the front page in large bold
print? Because it happened in a resi
dence hall, that’s why.
If something good happens in the
greek system (incidentally, good things
happen weekly) it is hidden (if printed)
on page 7 next to die advertisements.
The opposite seems to be true for the
residence halls. Good things go on the
front page in large bold print, bad
things hidden away if printed. I find this
unacceptable.
Unfortunately a bad thing hap
pened to the greek system. But
nowhere in the article of “drunken ^
sophomore falls from greek house”
was it mentioned that the person who
fell lived in the residence halls. This j
event is unfortunate, and hopefully i
will not happen again, anywhere
Instead of smearing the
greek systems image with bad pub- J
licity, why not cover (on the front { /
page) our successes. How about ? j
“Fraternity and
Sorority raise thou- » "
sands for the \
American Heart V
Association”? Every
greek house has a phil
anthropy it does year
ly and donates the
money raised to charity. I don’t recall
counting 38 stories covering all these
philanthropies last year. I think it is time
for a change.
Michael Consbruck
senior
agronomy
Interfraternity Council
President
Honor differences
I live on Earth. I am a human being.
I am a female. I am a part of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln com
munity. I am a student. I am a freshman.
I am an English major. I am a partici
pant in the honors program. I am a
Pepsi Service Scholar. I am a volunteer,
at Cedars Youth Services. I am proud of
each of the titles I have just written.
Along with these titles are ones that
also define who I am. For instance, I
collect pigs. I write short stories. I am a.
daughter, a sister, a girlfriend, a cousin,
a granddaughter and a friend. I like to
travel and have seen many places and
learned many things. I am religious.
My list of titles could continue on and
on. Each title defines a part of who I am
and what I believe in.
Everyone has a similar list of titles.
Some things I have in common with
some people. I’m sure most are from
Earth and are human. I am sure fair
amounts are women. And I am fairly
--w sure that the
into the honors program.
I enjoy being in the honors pro
gram. The honors program encourages
me to maintain high grades to keep my
scholarships, allows me to take honors
classes that have fewer people and are
described as being more in-depth than
other courses, and gives me the oppor
tunity to write a thesis and graduate
with honors.
Honors housing is not meant to seg
regate the honors students from the
non-honors students. Rather, it is meant
to provide a learning community by
having people with similar interests and
goals live together. These learning
communities aiiow you 10 uve wun uui
ers who are taking the same classes as
you so that you can study with them,
develop relationships with those who
have similar interests, and participate in
programs geared towards your inter
ests.
This does not mean that students
segregated. It simply means
that the university is trying to pro
vide a wide array of housing expe
riences to assure that students are
comfortable. My choosing to live in
honors housing does not mean
that I do not like non-hon
ors students or think that I am
smarter than they are.
But this means that I do not live
with very many non-honors stu
dents. Members of the University
of Nebraska community, more
specifically the students,
Shawn Ballarin/DN view this as segregation. And
majority of readers are a part of the
community here at the university. Still,
everyone’s titles are different. Just
because a person does not bear the
same title as me does not make him or
her any less of a person. Neither does
where I live affect how good or honor
able I am.
Yes, I am an honors student. Yes, I
live in Neihardt. I live in Neihardt
because I am a part of the honors pro
gram and Neihaidt is the learning com
munity for honors students. This does
not make me more intelligent, more
honorable, or more anything else than
any honors or non-honors student who
does or does not live in Neihardt
What does it mean then? It means
that I applied for the honors program.
The Honors Program Faculty
Committee reviewed my application
and academic potential. I was accepted
pernaps mey are rigni.
Perhaps the learning community hous
ing that is meant to enrich a student’s
educational experience instead is seg
regating that student.
But this is the way that the world
works. Humans are not simply humans.
We identify ourselves by our titles.
I identify myself as being a student
at this university, majoring in English,
participating in the honors program and
as a Pepsi Service Scholar, volunteer
ing, and countless other things. I apolo
gize if, because I am identifying myself
as being an honors student, I am offend
ing someone. It is not my intent to
offend, segregate, or claim myself as
more intelligent or honorable.
Giuli Chingren
freshman
English
