EDITOR
Erin Gibson
OPINION
EDITOR
Cliff Hicks
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Nancy Christensen
Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
Jeff Randall
Bret Schulte
i
Our
VIEW
Throwing
in the towel
Public votes lead to
high-dollar ad wars
We have a state government for a reason.
Legislators are supposed to make laws for the
betterment of society after they research leg
islation. They’re supposed to be the best
informed citizens who represent their con
stituents and act in their best interests.
But when the going gets tough in the state
Capitol - when senators might have to go on
record as voting yea or nay on a divisive, hot
button issue - at least one senator wants to
give up. He wants to take the easy road, pawn
his job off on citizens by tossing the issue on
the ballot and go home without being held
accountable for voting one way or another on
a tough issue.
On Thursday, that issue was the proposed
concealed carry law now debated on the floor
as LB476. If passed, the bill would allow citi
zens who obtained a permit to carry con
cealed handguns in the state.
And the senator who thought legislators
should throw in the towel and let voters
decide via ballot was Omaha Sen. John
Hilgert.
Hilgert, during floor debate of the con
cealed carry law, asked senators on each side
of the debate if they had the most public sup
port for their side. Both said yes, so Hilgert
proposed the Legislature “let Nebraskans
decide” by putting the concealed carry law on
the ballot. The idea was quickly shot down.
It sounds sweetly egalitarian at first. If leg
islators aren’t in tune with people’s support,
even though their jobs r?st on their pro
claimed ability to represent the people,
excuse the issue from the Unicameral and
take the issue directly to citizens. Why not let
LB476 become ballot Initiative 476, then let
democracy work?
Because democracy doesn’t work when it
comes to the public debate of ballot initia
tives. Advertising works. Any Doubting
Thomas need only recall the ad blitz on initia
tives 413 and 414 in the November election.
Most voters base their votes on ballot initia
tives on a collection of 15-second advertising
sound bytes.
i nat serves deep-pocketed groups sued as
the National Rifle Association well, because
they can afford statewide ad campaigns. But
everyday citizens can’t afford to influence a
high-dollar ballot initiative campaign with
sadly important TV ads.
Ballot initiatives fail Nebraskans every
time. They’re the tool of big business, big lob
bies and big money, not of workaday citizens.
They were created to circumvent our republi
can system of government, and they result in
lawmaking by stereotype and sound byte.
For the Nebraska legislature to promote
the use of ballot initiatives is irresponsible in
and of itself, but creating a ballot initiative out
of a bill that would determine whether citi
zens can carry concealed instruments of
destruction - thus letting advertisers do the
work of legislators - would be unforgivable.
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 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.
Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln,
NE. 68588-0448. E-mail:
letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
Siers
VIEW
tmvm-mio
now or u* in
HROKW COUNTRY
NUfflOOT FEAR.
I (A
WTSfR1.
mm kr't
COUNTRY!
V
w&ummfo
mR&at to
raoMvi
BUT <tm
ABOUT
CHKRNYAT
TIBET’
V
ire OMifr-ne ,
TOfRB PBOEFROH
A 0CTMDR1M
imam'.
i
BUT THEN
mT ABOUT
SAOOAMt
\
mi DOING
TM TO STOP
THE SWODGHEP
NtD GENOCIDE!
>
wmt
mi
mm
OK!
OK!
OK!
'ff'RE DCtt&TO
BECAUSE
t& CAN
DN
LETTERS
Scare someone else
I was interested in reading a letter
entitled “The Red Menace” in Friday’s
Daily Nebraskan. It is fascinating to me
that while most of us have lost touch
with the “Red Scare” since the end of
the ’80s, one student has held on to this
bizarre paranoia.
It is paranoia that would cause an
“enlightened” college student of the last
decade of our century to support a man
who sold out his colleagues simply to
further his own career. We, of course,
having been bom in the ’70s, have no
evidence at all that any of the names
given to the House Un-American
Activities Committee by Kazan were
involved in any sort of communist plot
at all. What we do know is that, when
confronted, Kazan turned over a list of
names to a government organization
whose purpose was to suppress free
speech and political thought. Such an
organization never could have existed
without the willingness of people like
Kazan to step on other people’s heads to
protect themselves.
We, as a student body, do not appre
ciate political views that support fascist
dictatorships, nor did most of us appre
ciate the advertisement published in this
very newspaper last year by a group of
Holocaust revisionists. As Americans,
however, we must support their right to
believe in any view they desire, and to
express it in any manner they see fit.
Why should a student with an outra
geous “Red Scare” theory be allowed to
express his ideas at all, if these supposed
communists must be suppressed at all
costs? Neither idea lies with the majori
ty, after all.
What is even more horrifying is the
student’s understanding of the ideals of
Communism and of Karl Marx. In his
letter, this person showed himself to be
entirely ignorant of the actual political
views of Marx. I suggest, whoever you
are, that you pick up a book and read
about these matters before you dismiss
the belief in Communism as a “threat to
our society.”
The suppression of free speech was
a tool often used in oppressive, fascist
governments such as Joseph Stalin’s. It
saddens me to know that our nation ever
sank to such depths.
Dan Rempe
junior
computer science and German
Defending the professor
The goal here is to try and explain
why a professor at UNL should be given
a long-term contract to stay and contin
ue teaching. His name is Dr. Russ
Benedict of the biology department.
This past fall semester, I had the plea
sure of taking one of his classes, due to
requirements from the College of
Business Administration. I am not a per
son who enjoys science, or is hardly
ever intrigued by its activities, but there
wasn’t a choice in the matter. The begin
ning of the semester was also the begin
ning of my last year at UNL. Every
Monday, Wednesday and Friday I
dragged myself to class, sat there, lis
tened, scribbled a few notes down and
then left. A few weeks into the semester,
though, it was not that hard to get myself
to class. I actually began to look forward
to it, because it was fun, and somewhat
interesting.
My point here is this: His class was
fun, intriguing and motivating not
because of the material, but because of
the presenter. The class was rarely
empty. Most people came to class
because Russ had a way of making
learning entertaining, enjoyable and
exciting. He brings a passion to the
classroom, which so few professors
actually possess. His dedication to stu
dents is second to none. He gives them
opportunities to participate in class, and
in his research beyond the scope of their
particular class. This is a professor at a
Research 1 institution who truly loves
his work, and is able to bring that emo
tion and knowledge into the classroom.
Shouldn’t all our pro
fessors be like this? Is
that not the point of ^ *
getting top-notch ’“‘‘I
people to lead us
into the next centu
ry, the next stage of
our lives?
The impor
tance of an under
graduate educa
tion has been
preached to most
of us ever since we ^
can remember. Why
should this university
not make every effort
to hang on to its best
professors - the ones
most respected by
their students - and
not let
another univer
sity acquire the'*
benefits that come
from them? Or, are
we an institution of
higher education
that would rather
build a multimil
lion-dollar addition to
our football program?
Where are the people
who want a higher academic
standard, greater academic rigor?
Where have they gone when an issue
such as this arises? They say there is no
money for a longer-term contract, but
there is money for skyboxes that bring
in millions. Is the name of the game
money? Is that what we at UNL want to
teach our students? What happened to
the quality of higher education? A push
like this was done last year for a chem
istry professor, and the students won.
Wouldn’t the administration, the biolo
gy department and the NU Board of
Regents want a professor here who
makes a difference in the lives of his stu
dents? He made a difference in mine,
and I just wish I’d had that opportunity
when I first began. Now, I wish students
in the future could have the same oppor
tunity, because they deserve it.
There is no one here who can lose.
Everybody can gain from the emotion,
the knowledge, the excitement Russ
brings to his research, to his colleagues
and most importantly, his students. I
challenge the university not to let him
slip away. You will be doing a grave
injustice to all, even the students who
work for your multimillion-dollar busi
ness.
Jay Isaman
senior
finance
Melanie Falk/DN
