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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1999)
EDITOR Erin Gibson OPINION EDITOR Cliff Hicks EDITORIAL BOARD Nancy Christensen Brad Davis Sam McKewon Jeff Randall Bret Schulte i— -— Our VIEW First contact ASUN should focus on student voices This year, the ASUN parties may have fig ured it out. Both ASUN party tickets this year offer well-qualified candidates for executive posi tions, and both parties seem grounded in offer ing students the three things they’ve lacked in ASUN: a voice, some focus and a chance to express their opinions. Both parties are trying their hardest to get their message out through well-advertised work parties, town hall discussions and some serious attention to student opinions. The Daily Nebraskan hopes, though, the campaigns won’t be the only medium used to get die Focus and Voice messages out and to consider all students’ opinions. rT'_- XI_*_J._ A OT FKT_1__ ivaj uuwi 111 pcwi y^aia,njui> pcuuca iiavc relied mostly on the Daily Nebraskan to publi cize their ideas to change and improve student government. This year, with Paul Schreier and Andy Schuerman at the helms of the Focus and Voice parties, respectively, things should change. Because of the traditional relationship between the media and government, the Daily Nebraskan expects to remain an important cog in the ASUN-student communication machine. But the parties should also do their parts to inform students through fliers, campus forums and one-on-one chats. Low voter turnout has often been blamed on student apathy - a convenient term that moves the blame from the government to the students. This year, we encourage ASUN hopefuls to take it upon themselves to fight to get more students involved - not just pay lip service to an increased sense of “diversity” and “campus community” without following through. Somehow, the parties must strive to make the average student feel a part of campus gov ernment. A CT TXT 1— A~ -*_1 1 iU*L» JV/lUV piUglVJO lUVVOlU UiC goal of involving more students by enforcing the rules that its senators visit certain student organizations each month. We also applaud the ASUN senators, including the presidential hopefuls who have gone out of their way to gauge student opin ions on campus. Perhaps producing a student government newsletter, fully updating the ASUN Web page or increasing ASUN meeting publicity would help promote the fact that student government is working on important issues facing the uni versity. We don’t have all the answers to help ASUN increase communication with its stu dent constituents. But with capable leaders at the top of both the Focus and Voice tickets, the Daily Nebraskan hopes party representatives next year will continue work to include and to inter est more students in the body that should best represent them: student government. 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-Uncoln, 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. Accorctingto policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial oontent of the newspaper lies solely in the 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 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. SubmS material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 fl St. Lincoln, NE. 686884448. E-mail: leders@unfinfo.unl.edu. Lupo’s VIEW JtH6 VALENTINES J?AV, 6IVE. Wooe. Gilfct- WHAT SHE vTKVLV DESEIZ.V6S; a \ PATE WITH SOMEONE \ ELSE!». k - DN LETTERS Pro-life or pro-active? Congrats to you, Jessica, on a well written and researched column (“Out of Control,” Feb. 4). It was nice to see a viewpoint that made sense for a change. I saved your column to share with my friends and relatives who also found it inspiring. It saddens me to read Jennifer Edbauer’s misinformed response. I do hope Jennifer takes the time to find out that the majority of abortions are repeat abortions. Abortion has become a means of birth control and this should be remedied. I do agree that abortion is not an easy decision, so why ever have to make it? Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, both sides seem to come into agreement that no one wants to have unwanted children and every child should be a wanted child. Therefore Jessica’s point makes sense, if a woman who does not want to be preg nant takes the necessary precautions to avoid pregnancy, then there would be no issue of abortion, no issue of anoth er child on welfare and no issue of another child who might have to be in the state’s custody. To reach this point, women and men (as Theresa Gray pointed out, “it takes two to tango”) need to take more responsibility for their actions. If you are not ready to have children and/or don’t want chil dren at this time of your life, then use some form of birth control or self-con trol, in the form of abstinence. Our society needs to have more education at all levels in the schools to promote the use of birth control. Of course abstinence is always the best policy, but if people are going to have i^B sex, they need to be informed. If Planned Parenthood would use their resources to promote sex education and low cost health care for women instead of reaping the economic bene fits of promoting abortion, society would be better off. We should all stop pointing fingers at pro-choice or pro life and work on the real problem of stopping the spread of unwanted preg nancies and sexual diseases. Instead of offering up your criticism and “hot air taking up space,” Jennifer and Theresa, where are your solutions? I don’t seem to see any. Perhaps your blinders are still on, and you need to be more socially responsible. Karla Schrock senior business administration Label madness I commend J.J. Harder for his bril liant idea to label animal flesh sold in stores with information about how farm animals are treated and killed. An informed public is a good thing. Harder hopes that you will find this idea crazy, and that if you do, you’ll think that labeling furs with similar information is also crazy. But labeling a fur with a 32-word description of how these animals are killed doesn’t require, as Harder alleges, a “history of the product novel-style,” with irrelevant details about, for example, “who the guy was that cleaned up the feces from the fac tory floor.” Come now, J.J., even you aren’t that stupid. Right? Of course, Harder knows that if you would buy this claim, then you’d v think that the idea is Jk c r a z y . A Well, I’m V i not buy ^j§ mg it MattHaney/DN Unfortunately, Harder’s only argu ment against the idea is that those who advocate labels for furs are “liberal hooligans” and “wackos.” But even if this were true, it would be completely irrelevant to the merits of the idea. Finally, I reject any interpretation of the Bible according to which an act I know to be immoral is claimed to be permissible. God declaring it permis sible to kill an animal by electrocu tion? Are you kidding? Rodney Cupp graduate student philosophy Drink to this I am not a fan of the greek system, nor of some of the events that have occurred within the greek system. I will, however, be the first person to admit that there are some good people in the greek system, including a few friends of mine. rucuawg un uic lccciu uitgcuy m a greek house when a person fell out of a window, I only know what I have read in the DN, but I cannot place blame on the greek system. L et’s ana lyze what is known about this incident: 1. Does it matter how the person got drunk? No. 2. Does it matter where the person is from? No. 3. Does it matter where the person was? No. The person could have fallen out of a window at an off-campus house, or possibly at a residence hall while vomiting out the window. But if she were at an off-campus house or resi dence hall, I would expect to find her in the bathroom vomiting. In fact, I would expect a person to vomit at the bathroom at a greek house as well. It is not the entire greek system’s fault that a person fell out of a window. We should focus our attention on why that person was left alone to hang out the window. And since the accident, there have not been any updates in the DN on the condition of the victim. Isn’t it important to know how the victim is doing? That should be our focus, not blaming the greek system or attacking any student’s choice of housing. David Short senior meteorology