Top justice promotes rights
■ Australian court
official talks about humau
rights in the 21st century.
By Margaret Behm
Staff writer
The issue of human rights can be
as simple as the right to write left
handed and as complicated as trying
to form a worldwide legal system to
protect human rights.
Michael Kirby, justice of the
High Court of Australia, spoke on
these issues at the Lied Center for
Performing Arts on Tuesday in his
speech, “Human Rights in the New
Millennium.”
His visit was part of the E.N.
Thompson Forum on World Issues.
Jim Phelps, a senior business
management major, said the speech
opened his eyes to world issues.
“I thought that what he had to say
was relevant to current topics in
international politics and to the
world today,” he said. I - I
Kiiby told the audience about his
brother, Donald, who was left-hand
ed.
The teachers at Donald’s school
tried to get him to write right-handed
by using a cane on him.
Kirby’s mother responded by
going to die school with a rolling pin.
She let the school know that her
son was left-handed, and he was
going to stay that way.
Kirby said his mother’s actions
helped him later, when he discovered
he was gay.
Because his brother didn’t
change his writing style, Kirby felt
As we enter the new millennium,
we should reflect upon the horrors of
the century that just came to a close."
Michael Kirby
justice of the High Court of Australia
comfortable with being gay.
Phelps said he didn’t realize gay
people could be victims of human
rights violations.
“I never dreamed he was homo
sexual,” he said. “I guess when you
think about human rights, it’s usually
about people being slaughtered
because of their skin color or gender.
He connected it with being homo
sexual.”
Kirby reviewed human rights
violations in the past, such as in
Cambodia, to give the audience an
idea of the history of human rights
violations.
“As we enter the new millenni
um, we should reflect upon the hor
rors of the century that just came to a
close,” he said.
Religious beliefs have a lot to do
with human rights violations toward
gay people, Kirby said.
“I never accepted that I was an
evil person,” he said. “But I knew
that it was as wrong for people to put
me down or penalize me by laws and
violence.”
Kirby then asked which right was
more important: the right to practice
religion, or the right to be protected
from religious persecution.
“In our world, which is bigger
than us, there are different philoso
phies,” he said. “A consensus is hard
to reach, but we must keep trying.”
Part of this consensus will come
with a worldwide legal system,
Kirby said.
“The fabric of the global legal
system is not yet built, but it has
begun,” he said.
Because everyone is connected,
some countries look to international
law for guidance when questions are
raised.
“If they get to a statute that is
ambiguous or a gap in a law, it is now
generally acceptable to look to inter
national law to fill the gap or ambi
guity,” he said.
The idea of what rights people
should have changes as the calendar
changes, Kirby said.
“We didn’t think 100 years ago
that the right of women to vote was a
fundamental right,” he said. “Now
we would accept that voting is a fun
damental right.”
Even though children probably
won’t agree with their parents’ deci
sions, the world still needs to keep
moving forward, he said.
“The journey is never complete,”
he said.
“In 20 years, we will look back
on our time and wonder why we were
so blind.”
Union Board elects officers
From staff reports
In its last meeting of the year, the
Union Board elected new officers
and set summer meeting times.
Todd Cruise was elected presi
dent and Ryan Merrill was elected
vice president.
Scott Cameron was elected sec
retary, Joachim Nyoni was elected
public relations coordinator, and
Dustin Manhart was elected mem
bership coordinator.
The board voted to meet during
the summer on July 19 at 5:30 p.m.
and July 25 at 5:30 p.m.
The first meeting for the 2000
2001 school year will be Aug. 29.
Meeting times for next year will
remain at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays.
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Recruiters scour field
TEACHERS from page 1
But the number of recruiters and
students thinned considerably in the
afternoon. i I
Marilyn Ross, director of special
education for six school districts in
north central Kansas, said as of 2:30
p.m., she had not met with any stu
dents qualified for the four positions
she was seeking to fill.
“There are more recruiters than
people being interviewed,” Ross said.
It was a common sentiment that
afternoon.
Michael Luman, recruiter for the
Houston Independent School District,
said the 300 schools in the country’s
seventh-largest district will have 1,200
vacancies come fall.
But Luman said having vacancies
wasn’t a new phenomenon - Houston
has been growing quickly. But he did
say recruiting in the Midwest has
proven to be less fruitful than in years
past.
“Now, with teacher shortages
coming here, it’s getting more diffi
cult,” he said. So, to compensate,
Houston has expanded ijts recruitment
efforts to more states.
Luman said he expected some of
the Houston vacancies to be filled by
long-term substitute teachers.
Recruiters gave varied reasons for
the teacher shortage, including low
pay and attractive computer and indus
try jobs. Also, the teaching field is »
often viewed as unattractive compared
with more lucrative careers, such as
law and medicine.
The Nebraska Legislature passed a
bill this year that creates a task force to
study teacher salaries.
More than 1,000 teachers marched
on the Capitol in February lobbying
for a bill that would have increased
teacher pay. That bill failed in commit
tee.
Dekalb County, Ga., looking to fill
1,000 slots, boasted one of the highest
beginning salaries at $35,000, at least
$10,000 more than the average start
up pay for teachers in Nebraska.
Justin Heckman, a senior second
ary education major with a natural sci
ences endorsement, said his reason for
wanting to be a teacher was simple: “I
love it... die world needs good teach
ers.
He said pay may play a part in scar
ing teaching candidates away, but it
wasn’t “the thing” causing the short
age.
He said there was a stigma
attached to teaching - that teaching is a
fail-back profession if someone can’t
make it in an another area.
The effort to combat the teacher
shortage is a trend that’s gone past the
boundaries of Texas and California,
recruiters said. Fewer students are
going into education, said Monte
Lange, a recruiter with R&L Specialty
Services and a third-grade teacher in
Gilbert, Ariz.
R&L, started about six years ago
by Lange’s father, Ray, helps place
potential teachers in schools across the
country. Lange had 12 applicants
Tuesday at UNL.
Lange said, in his job, he has
noticed a downward trend in teaching
candidates. But he said schools are still
getting oy.
“It’s not frustrating yet,” he said.
But it will be, he said: “It’s very hard.”
Jerry Phillips, superintendent of
David City Public Schools, said his
district had lost a first-year music
teacher to private business.
Though Phillips had decent luck
Tuesday - about six students stopped
to talk to him - he had expected many
more candidates. He said he talked
with a recruiter from California who
needed to fill 350 slots by fall.
States such as California and Texas
are filling empty spots by issuing
emergency teaching certificates, let
ting the teacher work toward an offi
cial certificate while on the job. UNL
has started a program, as well, to allow
students with degrees to get their certi
fications in fewer than 11 months.
Recruiters had mixed feelings on
whether the shortage was just a trend.
Luman said when the economy is
stronger, fewer teachers enter the field
because of other higher-paying jobs.
Others said low pay and the increase in
computer-related fields will hinder
schools for several years.
But, for now, Phillips said students
graduating in May are benefiting from
what schools nationwide are strug
gling with.
“It’s a teacher’s market, for sure.”
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