EDITOR
Josh Funk
OPINION
EDITOR
Mark Baldridge
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Lindsay Young
Jessica Fargen
Samuel McKewon
Cliff Hicks
Kimberly Sweet
Our
VIEW
Wrong
information
Changes could
improve directories
You get what you pay for.
In the case of student directories, stu
dents aren’t paying anything.
But the product that ends up in their
hands by mid-November may not be worth
much.
Students on campus typically receive
directories in their mailboxes by the first
week in November. Off-campus students
pick up their copies in Room 135 of the
Nebraska Union.
By the time students actually have
access to the important information the
directories contain, the semester is more
than half over.
— Because college students are so mobile,
their information often changes each
semester, rendering much of the informa
tion in the directory useless.
Of course, putting the directory together
is not an easy task.
The university has to document the
names, telephone numbers, local and per
manent addresses, majors and years of
more than 20,000 students.
It also has to update the names and
phone numbers of the personnel in offices
across campus, such as the Association of
Students of the University of Nebraska, for
example.
Then, employees in the registration and
records office must go through the records
and erase information for those students
who request not to have it published.
The process of gathering the informa
tion is lengthy. The time to get it printed is
even lengthier. It takes as long as a month
_once it is sent off to the publisher.
By the time some students receive the
directory, Thanksgiving is approaching,
and students are already planning how they
are going to ditch their roommate and move
to another address the next semester.
Of course, we can’t really complain. We
get the directories free of charge. The uni
versity even ends up benefiting from the
deal with profits that come from advertis
ing in the directory.
But perhaps students want the informa
tion bad enough to pay to get it sooner.
A fee could be added on to a student’s
housing bill to pay for what it would cost to
speed up the printing process.
Off-campus students could pay a couple
of dollars to get their copy.
We know everyone involved in the
process of putting together and publishing
the student directory is doing their best to
get the most current, most comprehensive
information out to students.
Perhaps we just need to think of better
ways of doing it so the directory isn’t out
dated just weeks after the students finally
get it.
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-Lincoln, its
employees, its student body or the
University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
A column is soleiy the opinion of its author.
i 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.
a
Letter Policy
The Daly Nebraskan welcomes brief
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but does not guarantee tneir publication.
The Daily Nebraskan retains the tight to
edit or reject any material submitted.
Submitted material becomes property of
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Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20
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* .k • • T •
Obermeyer’s
VIEW
Todkv IS the
great American Smok£'-out.
DOESN’T THIS LOOK
Yumky?
I-——-I
In case of emergency, smoke this cartoon.
DN
LETTERS
Blind Optimism
In all of the construction going on
in downtown Lincoln, a major over
sight was made.
No temporary sidewalks were put
in. In at least two spots, 11th
and 13th streets, this mistake was
made.
This may not seem like a big deal,
as there are sidewalks on the east sides
of the street. However, an event I wit
nessed the other day made it a big deal
for me.
On the comer of 11th and P streets
there was a visually impaired man try
ing to walk north towards Q Street.
The construction site left him with
approximately three feet to maneuver
through. On one side of him was on
coming traffic separated from him by
flimsy orange cones, and on the other
was a chain-linked fence.
As he attempted to use his stick to
guide himself down the street, he kept
getting caught in the chain link. It did
n’t take much to realize how scared he
was trying to get down a street that
was supposed to have a sidewalk to
protect him and not being able to see
to get himself out of what became a
trap.
He couldn’t figure out how to get
across the street. He couldn’t figure
out how to get down the street. He
couldn’t get back to where he started
from.
Something needs to be done to
prevent this from happening again. I
am asking that everyone write to
Mayor Wesely (555 S. 10th St.,
Lincoln, Neb. 68508) and Governor
Johanns (Capitol Building, Lincoln,
Neb. 68509) to insure that they take
the steps necessary to put in tempo
rary sidewalks on construction sites to
prevent this from happening again.
Jennifer Allen
Lincoln resident
Know God
In regards to “Hell Hath No Fury”
•- ' S
I ... ...*..
(DN, Monday), Samuel McKewon
paints a beautiful picture.
I once believed as he does, that
everyone gets to go to heaven because
God is full of grace.
Unfortunately, this type of think
ing was only based on what seemed
most appealing to me.
I didn’t ask God for his thoughts
on the matter until two years ago. His
answer changed my life for eternity.
We can choose what to believe,
but believing something doesn’t make
it true.
So before any of you “bank on
everybody getting a free pass,” why
don’t you sincerely ask God to reveal
to you what is true? There’s nothing to
lose — except illusions.
Betsy Severin
sophomore
broadcasting
No God
There are several objectively
observable reasons why Christianity
(or any other religion that purports to
be “true”) is “wrong.” ^
How can any one religion be right
when there is always another religion
that claims it is wrong?
The diversity of religions in the
world, each of which claim to have
found a model of “truth” pertaining to
the existence of the universe, suggests
that religions are nothing more than
social constructs used to facilitate
social conditioning.
Look at how many mathematical
and astronomical discoveries were in
common across the world in ancient
times—each in fundamentally differ
ent cultures — and then look at the
religions of the respective cultures.
How can a religion be an observation
of an objective truth when indepen
dent observers make completely dif
ferent conclusions?
I don’t see why or how'an omni
scient and omnipotent God would
create a world that can easily be
understood by preachers and faith
believers who are far less intelligent
than I.
The world isn’t simple, and when
you describe it in terms of God/Devil,
good/evil, you must ignore a vast
continuum of circumstances and his
tories that don’t directly pertain to
your world view.
The best thing that can happen for
our society right now is to get
our heads on straight and to reject reli
gious thinking.
We must establish ethics that
stand on the foundation of selfish
needs, such as the rights
of property and of personal freedom,
that are irrefutable by rational
people.
We must learn to idealize reason
and rationality. Otherwise, we’ll
just keep running around in circles
like we have been for the past 2,000
years.
Jake Glazeski
music/math
senior
Von Mouth
Once again, Ms. Flanagain
opened her mouth and had absolutely
nothing intelligent to say. I am writing
in response to “Discounting
Christmas” (DN Nov. 11).
Did you ever think that there could
be such a thing as non-Christians?
Could you think for a moment that
they may get tired of being bombard
ed with Christian music at every other
store they visit?
No, of course you didn’t, because
once again you only thought of your
self and your simpleminded views.
Please, Ms. Flanagain, find some
thing worthwhile to write about or do
us all a favor and just don’t write
at all.
Jill Hickman
sophomore
marketing
PS. Write Hack
. .
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NE 68588, or fax to (402) 472-1761, or e-mail letters@unl.edu.
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