Vote where
your mouth is
Don’t complain about ASUN
if you don’t get involved
Tonight marks the start of yet another round of ASUN party
election debates. __
Impact, Empower, A-Team and Duff will square off in the
Nebraska East Union, answering questions from audience
members.
Here’s the only problem: The only people who will attend
tonight’s debate and the debates in the next two weeks are the
debates’ sponsors and the parties’ members.
Sure, maybe a few other students will straggle into the room
by chance. Or a few students outside the normal political crew
will attend because they want to learn about the parties’ plat
forms.
But, in general, if you attend the debate tonight, you can
expect most people attending will be students who have been
... Most
people
attending
(theASUN
debates) will
be students
who have
been helping
out with the
campaigns.
neipmg out wun campaigns.
The students have questions pre
pared for the opposing parties’ candi
dates.
They have studied the platforms,
found their weaknesses.
And they have planned to ask ques
tions to expose those weaknesses, not
doing the general student population
much good, especially if no one else
attends.
In addition, the debate sponsors,
most of whose members are not con
nected to the election, will have ques
tions prepared for candidates.
But there will be few students not
already familiar with the platforms
there to hear those answers.
Like any other political debate, the
ASUN election debates are set up to
give Joe Public the opportunity to
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resent the student body.
If you care about who will be sitting in the president’s chair
in 136 Nebraska Union come April, and what that president’s
views are, attend a debate and discover for yourself.
The debate starts tonight at 9:30 in the Nebraska East
Union. The next one, on city campus, is Feb. 24, and the final
debate will be held Feb. 29 in the Nebraska Union.
You could count on the Daily Nebraskan’s stories that will
be run the day after, but that won’t give you the chance to ask the
candidates the questions that matter to you.
This year, many students complained about current
President Andy Schuerman’s stance on the aborted fetal tissue
proposal in the Legislature.
Present senators shot back at these students that they should
have attended the debates and voted in the elections. If the stu
dents had done that, the senators said, they may not have been
surprised by Schuerman’s move.
They may have a point.
Editorial Board
Josh Funk (editor) • J.J. Harder • Cliff Hicks • Samuel
McKewon • Dane Stickney • Kimberly Sweet • Lindsay
Young
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ters@unl.edu
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Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the spring 2000
Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views
of the University ofNebraska-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 acts as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan;
policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The
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vises the publication of the paper. According to policy set by
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age; any corrections or clarifications will be printed on page
three.
Obermeyer’s
VIEW
This campus should recognize its
student leaders for their contributions
to this institution.
However, the University of
Nebraska has used Eddie Brown and
his accomplishments to legitimize its
efforts to promote diversity. From
including him in recruitment videos
to celebrating his roles in student
government and Scarlet and Cream,
he is everywhere.
In the eyes of the powers that be,
Brown is the face and voice of minor
ity students. This university has
exploited him for the positive image
he conveys to the point where he has
been dehumanized, objectified and
marketed. The University portrayed
Eddie Brown as a mascot long before
I ever did.
My cartoon was attacking the
institutional exploitation of a student
at UNL. This was not an attack on
Eddie Brown or his success; this was
an attack on the University.
In spite of my intentions, people
are entitled to their own interpreta
tions. I have no right to tell students
they shouldn’t be offended, just as the
chancellor has no right to tell students
they should.
Chancellor Moeser is telling stu
dents what to think. I’m telling them
what I think.
However, in the eyes of
Chancellor Moeser, my intent is irrel
evant. After he called my work racist,
I felt that I had the right to explain
myself to him and that he should
explain himself.
I made several attempts to contact
the Chancellor, but he refused to
speak with me unless I apologized for
my “racist’ cartoon.
I had to first admit guilt before I
could defend my innocence.
This is an abuse of power on
Chancellor Moeser’s part. He jumped
to conclusions about my character
and used me to brandish his authority.
While attempting to teach lessons on
responsibility, he exemplified
unchecked power gone too far.
I had the opportunity to speak
with Mr. Brown on this issue. He
wanted to publicly voice his opinion,
but he had the decency to first contact
me to hear my side before he made
any such statement. That was a very
admirable move that I respect greatly.
Sadly, in the chancellor’s attempts
at salvaging this situation, we see
none of these same admirable quali
ties.
In his statement, the Chancellor
has proven my point completely.
Why can’t Moeser see Brown as
anything more than an icon for
African Americans? Why must
Moeser bestow the title of
“Representative of All Minorities”
onto the shoulders of this one man?
Chancellor Moeser should cry
racism when he sees racism. But for
him to cry racism to cover up for his
own university’s exploitation of a
minority student to further his* goals
is deplorable.
It disturbs me that his power is
abused in such a way.
It upsets me further that he con
tinues to behave in such a manner
with no accountability as chancellor
of this institution.
Letters to the
EDITOR
Colorless World
I guess I must be colorblind.
When I saw “Obermeyer’s View,” I
didn’t see anything wrong. Does it
make a difference what race Eddie
Brown is? No, but here in the
enchanted land of politically correct
speak, we are determined to bludgeon
and beat the life out of the horse with
racial undertones.
I am a minority, and I am going to
tell you that this crying racism every
day is really getting old. Why should
n’t Eddie Brown be ridiculed?
Because he’s a minority? What if he
weren’t a minority? Would it be okay
to include him in this picture? So now
we are going to have separate rules
for ethnic groups? That sounds scary.
We minorities are big boys and
girls by now. We are not asking for
your help in identifying when a
minority infraction has taken place.
So politically correct masses settle
down, and practice being colorblind.
Yasmin Helen McEwen
’98 UNL graduate
Generalizing Neal
Everyone makes generalizations.
Unfortunately, some people are more
reckless with generalizations than
others. Neal Obermeyer, apparently
you wrongly determined that your
entire audience is understanding and
refuses to jump to conclusions. I’m
sorry, Neal, you shouldn’t make gen
eralizations.
Some of your audience members
seem to think you are a closet racist
who tries to place subtle persuasion
in your cartoons. That would person
ally offend me. If I were you, I would
want an apology from Chancellor
Moeser. Luckily for you, I am not
you.
However, I want to offer you
some help if you want to avoid the
backlash in the future: Make me the
subject of all of your cartoons, the
butt of all your jokes, your humor
fodder.
You have my permission -1 may
be the last safe target available. Sure,
you can only have so many decent
cartoons about a goofy-looking com
puter nerd, but at least you will be
safe from offending anyone. No one
will misconstrue a Rick Johnson
mascot gag as a strike against nerds.
Consider it, if you would.
You could save Chancellor
Moeser from a number of sleepless
nights spent weeping over your car
toons.
Rick Johnson
sophomore
computer engineering
Questioned Commitment
I believe we have a new opportu
nity for a teachable moment about
the way we treat each other on this
campus. I refer to the controversy
about a cartoon published in the
Daily Nebraskan last week featuring
a caricature of student leader Eddie
Brown as a campus mascot along
with Herbie Husker and Lil’ Red.
The editors of the Daily
Nebraskan insist that there was no
racist intent in this caricature. I take
them at their word. However, I do not
believe that the matter rests with
intent -1 question their judgment.
My appeal now is for an atmos
phere of compassion, understanding
and consideration of the feelings of
others as we discuss this incident.
Setting aside the issue of racism, no
one has mentioned the fact that this
caricature constituted a personal
attack on an individual student. I
object to it, no matter the race or gen
der of the student.
However, this cartoon and much
discussion has been hurtful to minor
ity communities. Once again, our val
ues and our commitment to diversity
are being called into question. How
we respond to these questions are
now as important as the original inci
dent itself.
I want to see other minority stu
dents aspire to and succeed in becom
ing campus leaders. Already, these
potential student leaders face pres
sure to abstain from working in the
channels of student organizations
dominated by the majority culture.
We must work hard to make sure
that they do not face an additional
hurdle of cynicism and ridicule that
will further discourage these rising
leaders.
Let us all work together to create a
campus culture celebrating success
ful leadership and accomplishment,
irrespective of ethnicity, national ori
gin, gender or sexual orientation. I
believe most women and men on this
campus subscribe to these values.
Now, let’s act on them.
James Moeser
UNL Chancellor
For thefull text of the chancellor s
statement, go to dailyneb.com.
Nonchalant Accusations
Mr. Larrick (DN letters, Feb. 14),
if every editorial cartoon could only
be made using the permission of the
subject, there would be no such thing
as a political cartoon. We as a society
would be robbed of a great source of
social commentary.
You say it is hard not to perceive
the cartoon in a racial sense. On what
basis do you make this assertion? I,
for one, find it hard to perceive the
cartoon on a racial basis.
To me, it is obvious that the car
toon was meant to lampoon the
administration’s “Look, we are racial
ly tolerant, here’s our example!” atti
tude toward racial inclusion.
We need to be careful and give
compelling and irrefutable evidence
when accusing a person of being
racist. This is something that
Chancellor Moeser and many others
neglected to do. The accusation of
racism is a very serious matter and
should be treated as such - not just
something that one throws around in
a nonchalant manner.
Tim Matas
senior
political science
P.5. Write Back
Send letters to: Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 “R” St., Lincoln,
NE 68588, or fax to (402) 472-1761, or e-mail letters@unl.edu. .
Letters must be signed and include a phone number for verification.