Getting what’s
deserved
ASUN should support
domestic partner benefits
Wednesday night, ASUN will decide whether or not to
support the adoption of domestic partner benefits at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The decision should be quite easy for ASUN.
A good teacher is a good teacher regardless of sexual
orientation. The time has come for UNL to recognize that
fact and offer attractive benefits to all prospective
employees and students.
Iowa, Iowa State and Minnesota all provide domestic
partner benefits for same-sex partners, and UNL should
do the same.
But the issue is purely monetary. It really doesn’t deal
with respect, like many members of
WnO ktlOWS the gay community have claimed.
, And the monetary basis only
nOW many lends credence to gay teachers’
crnnri rights to equal compensation.
gUUU Contrary to homophobic beliefs,
teachers gay people are just like anyone else.
For example, they want to be finan
We ve lost daily secure as much as any non
gay person.
because It’s just too bad it has taken this
T TATT ’ long f°r ASUN to support domestic
UJyLS partner benefits. Who knows how
l ^ many good teachers we’ve lost
OenejllS because UNL’s benefits weren’t up
weren't up to t0 par?
r ™ According to the ASUN bill,
par? domestic partner benefits would
enable “equal opportunity and
quality education for all faculty, staff and students at
UNL.”
The passing of this bill would certainly be a strong step
in that direction.
ASUN’s support could add needed momentum to a
new domestic partner benefits bill that soon will reach the
university-wide Fringe Benefits Committee.
The committee permanently tabled an earlier bill
because it was not backed by any state law, and it lacked
clarity.
ASUN could send a clear message to the committee
stating UNL’s need for an inclusive and inviting atmos
phere for all.
Even if the university-wide committee doesn’t agree,
at least ASUN will have spoken in favor of the well-being
of UNL’s students.
Editorial Board
Josh Funk (editor) • J.J. Harder • Cliff Hicks • Samuel
McKewon • Dane Stickney • Kimberly Sweet • Lindsay
Young
Letter Policy
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The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any
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Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union,
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ters@unl.edu
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the spring 2000
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 acts as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan;
policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The
UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, super
vises the publication 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.
The Daily Nebraskan strives to print fair and accurate cover
age; any corrections or clarifications will be printed on page
three.
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Letters to the
EDITOR
Teaching the DN
I am disappointed at the way this
publication portrayed the Teach For
America program in its Friday,
February 18th edition.
Teach For America is a program
designed to recruit college seniors des
tined for graduate school to commit two
years before entering graduate school to
teach in under-resourced school dis
tricts around the country. Applicants do
not need to have a degree in education.
TFA is a wonderful program, but it
is very controversial because many peo
ple see it as depriving qualified educa
tion majors of a chance at landing a
good job right out of college. In the two
years I was involved in the program, I
never once saw a single example of
such job-stealing. Instead, I saw exuber
ant people helping to lower classroom
sizes and improve educational stan
dards for students in urban Baltimore, a
school district that would have an aver
age of around 60 vacancies per year
were it not for TFA.
I have three problems with the way
the Daily Nebraskan ran this story. First
of all, there were several factual inaccu
racies, including the stated salary paid
to TFA teachers. Your article made it
sound like these teachers get paid only
$4,725 per year, when in actuality all
teachers make between $21,000 and
$36,000 per year plus a $4,725 per year
stipend to use toward one’s outstanding
student loan debts or to apply towards
upcoming graduate school tuition
expenses.
Secondly, I believe that the editorial
staff chose to run this story either
because it is a good way to raise social
consciousness or because it is timely,
given the fact that seniors are trying to
figure out their lives after graduation. If
you published it for the first reason,
then I believe the quote you chose to
enlarge regarding my initial apprehen
sions about the program is misleading. I
did indeed have two or three nightmares
about going to teach in the inner city,
but the reporter who interviewed me
concentrated on this aspect of the story
instead of the bigger picture, which is
that this experience was definitely the
best two years of my life, and I would
highly recommend this program to any
one.
Jeffrey L. Hellbusch
Omaha
---
His interpretation
Yes, I was offended by Obermeyer’s
View, and I did not take the cartoon to
be a compliment. I’m not asking you to
agree or disagree with me. I cannot
determine how you interpret this car
toon, and I will not try to. Therefore,
stop telling me what my interpretation
should be.
I wanted to comprehend what the
Daily Nebraskan was trying to convey
with the Feb. 9 cartoon, so I scheduled a
face-to-face meeting with Editor in
Chief Josh Funk and cartoonist Neal
Obermeyer to have open dialogue on
the issue.
In Neal’s opinion, the university as a
whole “uses” me as a mascot and
exploits my involvement to represent
their goals of being an institution that
welcomes cultural diversity. Neal said
the point of his cartoon was “to show
the degree to which the university has
exploited you and positions you to be
the minority spokesman.”
Unfortunately, the cartoon did not con
vey that message to me.
Those who truly know me under
stand that I am involved with extracur
ricular activities because they keep me
focused on my ultimate goal of matric
ulating through undergraduate school
to obtain a degree. I enjoy being
involved.
As a result of my involvement, the
university has called upon me as well as
other student leaders to sit on panel dis
cussions and to appear in recruitment
brochures and videos. If this is seen as
the university ‘‘using” me as a recruit
ment tool, so be it.
It was my junior high and high
school involvement that provided a full
ride scholarship to this university
through the Tom Osborne Teammates
Mentoring program. It would be ridicu
lous for me to come to college saying, “I
don’t want to be involved because the
university may choose to ‘use’ me as a
recruiting tool.”
Guess what? I’m “using” the uni
versity to obtain a degree. The percep
tion that I have been “used” as a poster
child is beyond me. Why doesn’t Mr.
Obermeyer choose to look at our stu
dent athletes as being “used” by our
university for their prowess? Those
individuals are also doing something
they enjoy, so who are we to criticize
them or the university for utilizing those
students?
I do not feel the need to be a recipi
ent of praise; however, I do believe I
have tried to make a difference on this
campus. Therefore, it is demeaning to
compare me to two inanimate objects. It
is insulting that Mr. Obermeyer is ques
tioning my efforts on this campus,
though I recognize his freedom to do so.
The cartoon certainly expressed
racial undertones to me. Why? The
choice for us to make in the cartoon was
between two mascots and an African
American student.
The Daily Nebraskan editorial on
Feb. 14 states that had the third choice
been a white student leader, there would
have been no objection. The fact is, I am
black and therefore my ethnicity does
raise the question of possible racism.
Does every African-American stu
dent on this campus or in our communi
ty feel the same way? No. As stated in
the initial story, I am not the spokesman
for all people of color.
Neal Obermeyer and Josh Funk
stated that they were pointing fingers at
the university as a whole. They also
explained that the Daily Nebraskan is
part of that system, which contributed
to perceptions of my being “used.” This
has been done in different ways, but
particularly by contacting me for an
opinion on various issues regarding
race relations on our campus.
Do I want Neal Obermeyer and the
entire Daily Nebraskan staff to publicly
apologize to me? No. The editorial
board believed the cartoon was accept
able, so why would I want them to apol
ogize to me now?
Everyone is entitled to his or her
own opinion, and although I do not
agree with the way I was depicted, I can
not take that opinion away from some
one else. Despite the criticism I
received, I will continue to stay involved
with those activities that are near and
dear to my heart.
Eddie Brown
senior
business
Tom Osborne Teammates
Mentoring, Scarlet and Cream
Singers, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity,
president, Afrikan People’s Union,
undergraduate admissions assistant
' for multicultural recruitment
. • ' ■ * “ '“''t
