EDITOR
Josh Funk
OPINION
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Mark Baldridge
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Lindsay Young
Jessica Fargen
Samuel McKewon
Cliff Hicks
Kimberly Sweet
Our
VIEW
Pocketful
of change
UNL student fee
■ policy makes sense
Here’s our 2 cents - and you can have
it back.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a
case today involving the use of student
fees.
At issue is whether public universi
ties should be able to use mandatory stu
dent fees to subsidize campus groups
that pursue political goals.
We don’t really care how the court
decides, and neither does the University
ofNebraska-Lincoln.
It won’t much affect any of us.
UNL decided nearly 20 years ago that
students who disagree with the public
forums their student fees subsidize
should be able to get their money back.
As a result, students can decide to
give up their subscription to the Daily
Nebraskan or forgo events sponsored by
the University Program Council, for
instance.
In return, they will get a pocketful of
change - in the cases mentioned above,
the grand total would reach $3.83, to be
exact.
That may not seem like much but, for
some people, it’s the thought that counts.
This was true for Scott Southworth, a
law student at the University of
Wisconsin. Southworth brought the
original suit against the school. For him,
the effort to get a small fee back made a
big statement.
Southworth sued the university, say
ing the $15 per semester fee that helped
fund liberal campus groups forced con
servative students to subsidize political
views with which they disagreed.
Spokespeople from the University of
Wisconsin defended using fees to subsi
dize campus groups.
The groups the fees subsidize bring
* forward issues that wouldn’t otherwise
be discussed, they said.
This isn’t the case at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
Controversial speakers who come to
campus are often sponsored by groups
that use their own means to fund them.
There are some cases where the
University Program Council will
cosponsor speakers that might lean to the
political left or right.
But students who disagree with the
use can get their money back - and
maybe buy a Whopper.
Most likely, students won’t take the
time to get the refunds back. Less than 1
percent at UNL take the time tP do it.
If other colleges and universities
adopt the same policy, regardless of the
Supreme Court’s findings, they will like
ly find their forum remains intact.
And students will feel better about
* the deal.
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Fall 1999 Daily Nebraskan. They do
not necessarily reflect the views of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoin, 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 t
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, 20
Nebraska Union, 1400 Ft St. Lincoln,
NE. 68588-0448. E-mail:
tetters@.unl.edu.
Obermeyer’s
VIEW
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DN
LETTERS
A Polite Aggie
Dear Nebraska Band:
Don’t worry too much about the
“yeah, whatever” response you
received from your crowd during
halftime on Saturday, while the Aggie
band received several standing ova
tions.
Our band doesn’t get much
respect at home, either.
Some people are just too spoiled
to know a good thing when they see
it, and judging by the success your
football team and marching band
have had over the years, I’d say your
crowd is pretty spoiled.
If it’s any consolation, I was
awestruck by your performance. That
was perhaps the best college march
ing band performance I have ever
seen in the style in which it was done.
No, it was not the rigid, military
style of our band; in fact, it was quite
the opposite.
But that’s what I loved, ft was
new, different and fun to watch. Your
drill writer is to be commended.
Thanks, Nebraska Band, for a fun
halftime. Too bad most of your fans
missed it while they went and got
their hot dogs.
Chris Johnson
College Station, Texas
Another Polite Aggie
I would like to thank you and your
fans for a wonderful weekend. I have
traveled all over this nation and par
ticularly Texas, and nowhere have I
found more welcoming and conge
nial fans.
I am a senior member of the
Corps of Cadets, and this weekend I
had the privilege of standing on the
field for the game.
I was extremely impressed by
the spirit and support you
have for your team.
While I am not happy
with the outcome of the 'JBA
game, I would like to con- |IN|
gratulate your team and wel- Jh
come all of you down to Texas
to see how loud Kyle Field can •— *
be.
If you come, I only
hope you will be as well
received as we were and
have half as much fun.
• n
Trent Tompkins
class of 2000
Texas A&M
University
Corps of Cadets
A Bitter Husker
This past Saturday, my
friends and I left earlier than normal
for the Huskers/A&M game so that
we could get a parking spot in the lot
between the Beadle Center and
Cather-Pound.
We had parked in that same lot for
the first four games for free.
Well, were we ever surprised to
find out that when we turned into the
lot, there were people telling us we
had to pay $5 to park there.
My question is what in the hell
does Parking Services have against
the students here?
If we are able to park in a lot for
free for the first four games, why is
that lot turned in to a pay lot at the end
of the year?
I am glad to know that since I paid
$ 117 for my parking permit, I am not
able to use it when parking is at its
worst.
Is it really that hard to cater to the
students for once?
The decision-makers at this insti
tution need to realize why they are
here in the first place, because with
out us, they would be without a job.
Casey Leth
junior
actuarial science
Forcing In Tolerance
I journeyed to the University
Health Center a couple of weeks ago
and made an amazing discovery.
The university
charges married —0-f|ir
couples more
for health
insurance
than it
does for
two
single people.
In my Spanish class on Monday, I
was thrilled that a captive audience
was shown a movie that contained
pornographic scenes and homosexu
ality.
It seems UNL is discouraging
marriage and condoning and promot
ing premarital sex and homosexuali
ty
I just wanted to thank this fine
institution for throwing morals out of
the system and forcing tolerance in.
Chase Petsche
senior
English
Pest
In Friday’s “At Large,” the car
toon depicting China Disney includ
ed the “one child policy” among the
bad things China did/is still doing.
Isn’t it true that the vast majority
of our animal neighbors on this plan
et naturally “know” how to keep their
numbers in check?
In fact, the few who transgress -
mostly insects - we call “pests.”
But in all fairness, seeing how we
fill and impact the planet, shouldn’t
we consider ourselves a “pest” too?
And in this one issue at least,
might China not perhaps be a world
leader rather than the all-around
skunk?
Christian Richter
graduate student
1 chemical engineering
Melanie Falk/DN