EDITOR
Erin Gibson
OPINION
EDITOR
Cliff Hicks
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Nancy Christensen
Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
Jeff Randall
Bret Schulte
i
Our
VIEW
Right of
the people
Public deserves to
watch final Senate vote
As senators face the impending vote on
the removal of President Clinton, a largely
ignored decision still remains to be made
before the process can go any further.
Should Congress hold the debates that
will decide the fate of America’s political
future in public?
Of course.
Throughout the trial process, the U.S.
Senate must act as ajury does in any criminal
trial. However, this is not just any criminal
trial; this decision affects not just an involved
few but the entire country - politically and
socially.
Because of the political implications of
removing Clinton from the presidency, the
Senate should hold its deliberations in public.
Although juries generally hold sacred the
privacy of their votes, the ramifications of the
debate could be just as significant as the vote
itself.
The Senators’ constituents have every
right to know exactly what their representa
tives think about the possible removal of the
President of the United States. The only way
to make this trial fair to the people who voted
for these Senators and those who voted for
Clinton is to include them in the process.
Making the process fair demands that the
final debate is open to the public and media.
According to ABC News, a move toward
open debate seems to be growing and should
be voted on by this morning. However,
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has indi
cated his dislike for the idea, and may vote to
hold the debate behind closed doors.
After what has been an open-tent carnival
of American politics the past year, it is not
just nonsensical, but downright hypocritical
to keep the final debate out of the public
view.
The public, which has been subjected to
the most unsavory details involving Monica
Lewinsky, Clinton, several senators and the
appallingly vicious political arena, now
deserves to see an honest debate by our coun
try’s leaders on the outcome of the case that
has virtually halted our government the past
year.
The public has been spared no detail so
far, so why keep one of the few moments of
real consequence secret?
Couldn’t we have left the Kenneth Starr
Report behind closed doors? Or the Linda
Tripp tapes, which revealed the real value of
Washington, D.C. friendships rather than any
new evidence. What about Clinton’s grand
jury testimony, which was aired on national
television and violated the sanctity of court
testimony? What about the admitted affairs
of Reps. Henry Hyde and Bob Livingston?
This represents the bulk of what
Americans have been hearing from
Washington throughout this scandal. Now
it’s finally time for us to hear some real
answers.
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-Lincofn, 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
UNLPitelications 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
tee hands of its student employees.
Letter Policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief
letters to the editor and guest columns,
but does not guarantee their publication.
The Daily Nebraskan retains the rigf it to
edit or reject any material submitted.
Submitted material becomes property of
the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be
returned. AnonymOsis submissions wiH
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.
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DN
LETTERS
Don’t pass the buck
I have just read Mr. Consbruck’s
letter in defense of the honorable
greek system and would like to thank
him for trying to insinuate that only a
person from a residence hall would
fall out a window. How is living in a
residence hall relevant to the issue at
hand? The issue is about the fact that
a young woman was injured in an
environment which should not have
been present on the university cam
pus.
I just find it incredibly funny that
you are trying to draw attention away
from the fact that there was a near
fatal accident under your precious
greek system’s watchful eye of lawful
obedience by pointing out its wonder
ful acts of philanthropic charity.
Here’s an idea for your next charity:
Raise money for her hospital bills.
Ben Ehlers
freshman
computer science
Accept the blame
Michael Consbruck’s indignation
regarding negative press, while per
haps justified, is also misplaced. The
greek system strives to advertise itself
as promoting higher academic stan
dards, social responsibility and com
munity proactiveness. Consequently,
it is essential that the community is
held to the standards it projects.
I found Mr. Consbruck’s state
ment regarding the student who fell as
finger-pointing at best. Whether
the student lives in f j
Universit ~ I /
Housing, greek
row or off
campus
i s
incon
I 1
V
sequential. The house hosting the
party provided the circumstances
which led to the accident. The mem
bers of the house, and any other mem
bers of the greek community in atten
dance that night, failed to live up to
their own standards in this instance.
Perhaps the greek community
should instead look inward with its
indignation. How many more tragic
accidents need occur before a serious
look at revamping traditions and
behaviors begins? Does it actually
represent the best of campus when
nontraditional and visiting students
frequently find it difficult to become
members?
The seemingly elitist position
taken by Mr. Consbruck only serves
to increase the “Animal House”
dogma facing the greek community.
Aaron McCluskey
information technology
coordinator
college of law
You earned it
All right, it takes a lot to really
upset me, but Michael Consbruck
found a way to do it. I am a journalism
student, a former reporter for a school
newspaper and president of my resi
dence hall. As a journalism student, I
learned the blatantly obvious. The
biggest story of the day goes on the
front page. Well, sorry sir, but that
was the biggest story. Would you
rather have the DN ignore their jour
nalistic
/ /y ^ duties ^
and not
report
the
news?
As for reporting residence halls
on page three in the news briefs, you
are comparing apples to oranges.
Granted residence hall students
being caught with marijuana or alco
hol is news, but the incident you com
pare it to is major. Someone almost
died; do you understand that? The girl
lived in my complex and it happened
right behind my building. That hits
close to home.
Where she lived also has no bear
ing on how the story was reported. All
your argument is saying is that you
want focus taken off of the greek sys
tem, and you take it out on the resi
dence halls.
I have never seen any good thing
that a residence hall does on the front
page of the paper. The DN was not
smearing the greek system - the
greeks are doing a pretty good job by
themselves. I’m sick of the “slam
ming frats” theory. Stop screwing up
and you’ll stop being in the spotlight.
Now, as a residence hall represen
tative, I am severely offended by your
saying that we are treated differently
than greek houses. Maybe the elite
aren’t in the houses with funny letters,
but elsewhere. Think about what you
say before you come out and slam
someone for your system’s stupid
mistake. Take responsibility for your
actions.
And by the way, you can look me
up for the apology that I feel my fel
low residence hall stu
'ents deserve.
Joe
Scharfbillig
sophomore
advertising
Harper Hall
- president