Intervention called ‘essentially humanitarian’
By Kim Sweet
Staff writer
For the first time since the Cold War, the United
States is engaging in a full-fledged humanitarian
nission by taking action in Kosovo, political sci
mce professor David Forsythe told an audience of
nore than 50 students and community members
Monday night.
Speaking at the Unitarian Church, 6300 A St.,
for a lecture sponsored by Nebraskans for Peace,
Forsythe talked about the history of U.S. nonin
/olvement in human rights issues beyond its own
^orders.
“The Kosovo crisis represents that rare situa
:ion in international relations in which a group of
states risks things for human rights for others,”
Forsythe said.
While nations such as the United States often
jive a lot of lip service to the importance of human
ights in other countries, they usually aren’t willing
:o sacrifice much to back up their words, he said.
Forsythe cited numerous examples after the
md of the Cold War in which the United States was
mwilling to take action.
He cited the fall of former Yugoslavia, Somalia
md Rwanda as examples of situations in which the
Jnited States did not intervene on behalf of human
ights.
The actionsJ^ATO is taking in Kosovo on
behalf of the western nations constitutes the most
principled use of force by the West since the Cold
War, Forsythe said.
He said there were a variety of reasons NATO
decided to take action in this particular situation.
With the large number of ethnic Albanians flee
ing the country and becoming refugees, Forsythe
said, the stability of neighboring countries was at
stake.
The conflict in Kosovo is also an opportunity
for NATO to prove itself, Forsythe said. If the orga
nization fails, its future power will be questioned.
But NATO is also genuine when it says the pri
mary reason for stepping into the situation in the
Balkans is to protect ethnic Albanians, Forsythe
said.
“If ever there were an essentially humanitarian
intervention ... this is it,” he said.
While NATO has had good intentions, that has
n’t made the mission successful, he said. The air
strikes have led to more repression of ethnic
Albanians and to the death of thousands of civil
ians. - '
However, in order to stop the driving out of
thousands of ethnic Albanians by Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic, Forsythe said he
thought sending ground troops into the area would
, be necessary, just like it was to stop Adolf Hitler’s
attempted genocide during World War n.
“If one was going to stop genocide by the Third
Reich, one would need to use force,” Forsythe said.
«
Does this look like it will be
another Vietnam?
That's a wonderful question,
and I'll know the answer
when it is over"
David Forsythe
political science professor
Committing ground troops to the situation will
not ultimately guarantee success and could cause
the situation to turn even uglier than it has,
Forsythe said.
“Does this look like it will be another
Vietnam?” Forsythe said. “That’s a wonderful
question, and I’ll know the answer when it is over.”
UNL junior Elizabeth Goodbrake said Forsythe
was very informative, but disagreed with his way
of solving the problem.
“Violence will never solve anything, and that is
why I am here.”
Goodbrake said she favored the United States
developing a peace plan and stopping the airstrikes
against the Serbs as soon as possible.
“Let’s stop bombing,” Goodbrake said. “There
are way more atrocities going on now than before.”
Diversity proponent, professor retires
By Nicole Hall
Staff writer
As a young boy in Texas, Vernon
Williams was hired to hand out pam
phlets for a local politician in a predom
inantly black neighborhood.
During the door-to-door canvassing
of the neighborhood, Williams, UNEs
retiring career counseling coordinator,
learned to respect and celebrate all peo
ple.
It’s a lesson he carried with him for
the rest of his life.
While handing out pamphlets, he
came to the door of a black woman’s
home. She responded to his offer of the
pamphlet by saying: “There isn’t no
point in giving that to me; I can’t vote
because I didn’t pay the poll tax.”
Williams said he was struck by her
response and its contradiction with
democracy. It was the first time he saw
inequality iin the United States first
hand.
Since then, the professor of educa
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ore-mail dn@unl.edu.
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THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
tional psychology has used this and
other experiences to work for equality
and diversity on the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln campus.
Williams is retiring from his work
after 35 years at UNL.
By profession, Williams was a
career counselor in the Career Services
Center. However, he wait beyond coun
seling and touched many students by
sharing his passion for diversity. v
“What is so interesting about Vem is
that he does it quietly,” said Marty
Ramirez, counseling psychologist at the
Counseling and Psychological
Services.
Williams’ desire to educate people
about ethnic differences has always
been visible during his time at the uni
versity, those who know him said.
Since the annual Diversity Retreat
began more than 10 years ago, Williams
has assisted John Harris, recently retired
special assistant to the vice chancellor
for student affairs, with its planning.
At the Diversity Retreat about two
years ago, retreat participants generated
an idea to form a council composed of
many campus organizations to bridge
the gap between various groups.
From this idea grew what is now the
Diversity Council. Williams served as
the council’s faculty adviser.
Williams said it was important for
students to participate in activities that
would allow them to interact with dif
ferent cultures.
“Races are separated (in all places
across the United States) greater today
Former bar owner denied license
‘ By Eric Rineer
Staffwriter
Despite listening to requests by
businessmen for permission to pur
chase a liquor license to open a bar
downtown, the Lincoln City Council
voted unanimously Monday to deny the
bar a permit.
The bar, which would be located in
the basement of Gold’s Galleria at 1033
O St., was originally scheduled to open
in late July, said Don “Doc” Sanders,
who would own and operate the estab
lishment.
Council members denied Sanders’
requests for a liquor permit after hearing
reports by Lincoln Police Chief Tom
Casady about Sanders’ past business
practices several years ago.
Sanders, a former manager at
Aftershock and Epicenter nightclubs,
both previously located at 1330 P St.,
than 10 years ago,” Williams said.
“(Races) don’t interact with each
other - even more so (now) than at the
time of die Martin Luther King assassi
nation.”
He explained that someone can’t
completely understand a person of a dif
ferent race without effort
“We are all a little reluctant to step
outside our comfort zone,” Williams
said. “It becomes a self-perpetuating
circle.”
When a student came to Williams
expressing the need for a gay men’s dis
cussion group on campus, he consid
ered it an extension of his passion to
counsel people and eliminate preju
dices.
He was then asked to advise the stu
dent group, Allies Against
Heterosexism and Homophobia.
Williams worked to increase diver
sity where he worked as well.
Ramirez began his career at the uni
versity working with Williams on joint
projects between the career counseling
center and a minority services counsel
ing program, in which Ramirez was
employed.
Jake Kirkland Jr., who worked with
Williams for 12 years, said he always
tried to make things better.
“His practice is to take the human
being where they are and try to make
them better individuals,” said Kirkland,
assistant director of Career Services.
Ramirez said in the late 1970s the
counseling center had a lack of diversi
ty
-r
was cited for a number of violations
between 1993 and 1994, Casady said.
Casady read down die list of viola
tions committed by Sanders at
Monday’s public hearing.
Sanders’ violations included two
alcohol-related convictions. The con
victions, both in 1994, included sale of
alcohol without a license and providing
alcohol to minors.
Sanders, CEO of a personal busi
ness, said he was disappointed at the
motion to deny by council members.
“One event doesn’t make a man’s
life,” said Sanders, who said he planned
to appeal to the state liquor commission.
Sanders said his prospective bar was
in the best interest of Lincoln citizens
because of its dynamic atmosphere.
The bar would include a dance area,
“One of the first things I noticed
about (Williams) was that he was ahead
of his time,” he said. Williams made a
decision to hire a black man in die early
’70s, he said.
Williams became conscious of
racial differences and inequalities grad
ually. He did not begin to seriously think
about the issues that surrounded
inequalities until the second semester of
his senior year in college.
To finish his degree, which he
received from Southwestern University
in Georgetown, Texas, in 1954, he had
to complete an oral examination. The
proctors of the exam asked a series of
questions that included the question:
“Do you think this country will ever
become integrated?”
“Not until this point did I begin to
think about these issues,” Williams said.
Williams considers one ofhis great
est accomplishments to be his work in
establishing the Teaching and Learning
Center.
In 1968,Williams contacted staff on
campus he thought would be interested
in joining a task force to improve teach
ing at UNL.
Out of the task force came the idea
for the center, which works to build pro
grams and learning resources for teach
ers on campus.
Ramirez said Williams’ commit
ment to UNL and diversity has never
slowed since he first arrived on campus.
Kirkland agreed.
“He is truly concerned about human
beings.”
pool tables and several televisions for
people to watch sports, Sanders said.
He said the bar would target people
between the ages of 25 to 50 by bringing
in bands geared to older people and
requiring those under 25 to show two
forms of identification.
Chris Holland, a University of
Nebraska-Lincoln senior informational
systems manager and a prospective
manager at Sanders’ bar, said the
motion to deny was a minor sethack.
Holland said he did not understand
why the council voted to deny the
license, as there are only a few night
clubs in Lincoln.
“We don’t have any place to go and
dance right now-” Holland said.
Casady expressed his own concerns
over the matter.
“I simply don’t believe, based on my
personal experience with (Sanders)...
that I can be assured he is now going to
tell the truth and abide by the law.”
*
Petition drive set to begin
for state term limits
Within about a month, a cam
paign to gather about 110,000
Nebraskans’ signatures to get a
term-limit measure on the ballot
will be set to begin.
A petition filed with the
Secretary of State on Friday would
limit state senators to two consecu
tive four-year terms.
Nebraskans for Limited Terms
filed the petition, which would
need around 110,000 valid signa
tures to be placed on the ballot. If
all the valid signatures are gath
ered, the initiative becomes a pro
posed constitutional amendment
on the ballot.
The petition was turned in
more than a year in advance of the
signature deadline.
Under the proposed constitu
tional amendment, senators could
serve more than the two consecu
tive four-year terms, but would
have to wait four years before run
ning for election again. The restric
tion would-take effect in 2001.
Guy Curtis, a lawyer in
Imperial, is one of the petition’s
sponsors.
Curtis said he supported term
limits because he thought that as
terms piled up, so did special
interest tiesJ Curtis believed the
influence of/lobbyists on senators
may be linked to increased state
spending.
“We distrust professional
politicians,” Curtis said. “It isn’t
the experience that hurts, it’s the
increased spending that’s the prob
lem.”
Of the 49 state senators, 17
have been in office eight years oi
more. Nebraska voters approved
term limits for state and federal
posts in 1$92 and 1994, but the
Nebraska Supreme Court invali
dated both of them.
Johanns’ property tax
plan amended
Gov. Mike Johanns’ plan to
reduce Nebraskan’s property tax
bills got a boost and a facelift
Monday thanks to an amendment
offered by five senators.
Johanns is supporting the
amendment to his direct property
tax relief plan that he unveiled in
January.
Under the original plan,
LB881, Nebraskans would receive
direct property tax relief through
an 11 percent rebate on the amount
of property taxes they paid.
Under the proposed amend
ment to LB881, Nebraskans would
get a 10 percent rebate of each
property tax bill in 2000 and 2001.
But in 2002 there would be no
direct rebate plan, because relief
would come in the form of the
Legislature’s planned reduction in
the school levy from $1.10 to $1.
After 2002, the direct rebate plan
would kick back in.
Money for the rebate checks
comes from excess tax revenues
and spending restraint.
Under the amendment, relief
payments for two years are esti
mated at $152.5 million, while the
Johanns plan would have used
$275 million for rebates.
LB881 has been stuck in the
Revenue Committee since early
March because it lacks the votes
needed to advance it to the
Legislature’s floor.
The amendment was proposed
by Lincoln Sen. David Landis,
Grand Island Sen. Chris Peterson,
Omaha Sen. Pam Redfield, Wahoo
Sen. Curt Bromm and South Sioux
City Sen. Pat Engel.
In a memo to the Revenue
Committee, the senators said they
would propose the amendment to
the bill once it got to the floor.
Legislative notebook com
piled by senior staff writer
Jessica Fargen.