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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2000)
Friday Movember 17,2000 Volume 100 Issue 62 dailyneb.com Since 1901 Get a look at the coming sports season with the DN^ Winter Sports Preview In Sports/9 The Husker soccer team will face the Huskies again in the next round of the NCAA Tourney in SportsWeekend/12 ft The Nebraska Wesleyan singers add a 16th Century flair to Christmas In Arts/7 A helping hand? David Gasen/ DN tody Rockenbach, a junior family and consumer sciences major, and her dog Astrid wait for a ride Tuesday in the Services for Students with Disabilities office in the Canfield Administration Building. Rockenbach said some students haven't felt comfortable in the office since the semester began. Students haw expressed con *m about the ayoutofthe iffice. Students ilso haw com bined about the timeliness rf the notes service the rffice provides. Derek Lippincott/DN Disabled frustrated with office changes BYJ1LLZEMAN Senior family and consumer sciences major Tim Schultz usually gets good grades. But Schultz, who is visually impaired, has watched his grades slip this semester because he has n’t gotten the notes from his classes on time. Schultz uses Services for Students with Disabilities to get notes from his classes. SSD workers recruit students who volunteer to take notes in class es for disabled students. And Schultz didn’t receive notes for one of his classes all semester until two weeks ago. Schultz said he blamed the new director of the disabilities office for the problems he’s experienced. Last year, the office was without a permanent Please see HELPING on 3 Debate rages over Electoral College votes BY GEORGE GREEN The recent election turmoil has spawned political questions that promise to linger long after the next president takes his seat in the Oval Office. In particular, concerns about the legitimacy of the Electoral College promise to scream to the forefront of political discussion when the political dust settles. It appears as if some Democrats and Republicans are already drawing lines in the sand over the issue. Bob Hopkins, a spokesman for George W. Bush, said it was hard to predict the fate of the college. Nevertheless, he said, Bush firmly supported America’s Constitunon, which out lines the Electoral College. “Governor Bush is a strong believer in the Constitution,” he said. John Cavanaugh, an Omaha Democrat who served with Gore in Congress during the 1970s, takes a different approach to the issue. Cavanaugh said the Electoral College should be abolished before voters lose confidence in die politi cal process. “Every voter needs to be assured his vote matters,” he said. John Gruhl, a political science professor, said opposing views on the system would create a storm of political confusion. The only thing citizens can count on is lots of dis cussion about elections, he said. “We will see a lot of debate about it,” he said. Beyond these discussions, no one knows how or if the Electoral College will be altered, he said. Gruhl said people upset with the college had sev eral options to change it The most fundamental change would be to aban don the college for a straight popular-vote system, he said. But such a far-reaching decision would take a constitutional amendment, something that is chal lenging to accomplish, he said “It would be very difficult to pass an amend ment,” he said. John Hibbing, a political science professor, said the problems with a popular-vote scheme extended well beyond the amendment process. When the amendment passed, Americans would have to decide whether the winning candidate need ed to secure an absolute majority of the votes, or if some arbitrary percentage would be adequate to crown a winner, he said. "Every voter needs to be assured his vote matters." John Cavanaugh Omaha Democrat With more influential third-party candidates’ sur facing in national elections, the likelihood of having a contest without a clear winner becomes more of a possibility, he said. Fortunately for disgruntled voters, the list of options doesn’t end with simply mandating a mini PleaseseeDEBATEon5 JFK adviser contrasts elections ■Theodore C. Sorensen says while the Nixon results would not have changed with a recount, Gore has every right to ask for one. BY BRIAN CARLSON For many historians and political observers, this year’s spectacularly close presi dential election hearkens back to 1960, when John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Richard M. Nixon. But one native Nebraskan who was inti mately involved in the 1960 contest says the comparisons only go so far. Theodore C. Sorensen, a speech writer for Kennedy who went on to become his special counsel in the White House, wrote in a recent op-ed piece for The Washington Post that while the two elections are similar in some ways, there are also important differences. A Lincoln native who graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the NU College of Law, Sorensen is now an interna tional lawyer in New York City. In a Thursday interview, he said Democrat M Gore’s situation was different from Nixon’s. Unlike Nixon, Gore has a chance to win if cor rected irregularities in just one state, Florida, reveal he is the winner. He said Gore’s offer Wednesday to accept the results of a statewide hand recount was a reasonable proposal Republican George W. Bush should not have rejected. "I’m surprised Bush rejected that,” he said. “Nobody knows how it would have come out “I think until there is a count that both sides are satisfied represents the true wish of the voters of Florida, both parties have an obli gation to pursue that outcome.” Some Republicans have called on Gore to concede the race, as Nixon did in 1960 despite evidence of widespread voter fraud in Cook County, 111., that may have cost Nixon the state. But Sorensen wrote Nixon decided not to challenge the results Theodore C. Sorensen omy aiier realizing ne had no legal basis to win a timely victory. Even if he had won Illinois, he would have fallen short of Kennedy’s elec toral vote total. “Had massive voter irregularities in Illinois and elsewhere been found to have altered the national electoral vote result, reversing the ver dict of the American people and depriving them of their most fundamental right, I have no doubt that Vice President Nixon ... would have brought a legal action, not as ‘sore losers’ but under a constitutional obligation,” Sorensen wrote. That “constitutional obligation,” he wrote, is to find the full, fair and accurate result, which is more important than premature “finality.” Courts can play an important role in settling such conflicts, he wrote. In 1960, Kennedy said a margin of only one vote would be a mandate, and that is still true, Sorensen wrote. But the public must have con fidence in the accuracy of the election results to ensure the next president is not hampered by the impression that his victory was illegiti mate. “If the votes are counted fairly and com pletely, the winner has a mandate, regardless of the margin, and there won’t be a stain or shadow over the legitimacy of the next presi dent when he takes office," he said Sorensen wrote that the tenor of the 1960 and 2000 campaigns also differed. “Ideas and issues mattered more than money; foreign policy was seriously debated; first-time voters were genuinely excited; and a record-high number and percentage of sup porters and detractors of both candidates turned out on Election Day,” he wrote. Despite his narrow victory in 1960, Sorensen wrote, Kennedy carried out his man date. He worked cautiously and incrementally, but he fulfilled campaign pledges on issues such as health, education, Social Security and unemployment, he wrote. Kennedy worked with Republicans, such as Senate Majority Leader Everett Dirksen, on issues such as civil rights and a limited nuclear test ban. He asked Republicans to serve in his administration, including Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon. “Some objectives Kennedy achieved by executive action. Some, he realized, could not be obtained until he had won a second term with larger margins in both his own race and Congress,” Sorensen wrote. “Sadly, he had no second term.” The next president, whether he is Bush or Gore, can learn from Kennedy’s approach, Sorensen said. With a closely divided Congress and a pres ident elected by the slimmest of margins, the next president will have to work in a bipartisan fashion. “I certainly hope people in both the execu tive and legislative branches recognize the importance of bipartisan cooperation,” he said. "Bipartisanship doesn’t mean watering everything down to the lowest common denominator. It means shaping your legisla Please see ELECTION on 5 Abel Hall Allies sign keeps disappearing BY MARGARET BEHM After a controversial decision to place an Allies Against Heterosexism and Homophobia sign on the Abel Hall government door, the sign now keeps disap pearing. The Allies sign on the Abel Residence Hall Association’s door has vanished at least 10 times since it was first posted in September. Andy Krejci, ARA president, said taking down the sign is futile because it would be put up again. “It is up continuously, but people keep taking it down,” said Krejci, a junior electrical engi neering major. “We’re going to keep putting it up.” Pat Tetreault, sexuality educa tion program coordinator at the University Health Center, said there was a perpetual supply of Allies signs. "I will supply them with as many cards as they need,” she said. With many students’ voicing opposition to posting the sign on the ARA door, Krejci said he expected some student reaction, but he didn't foresee this. “We figured there would be some concern about it,” he said. Tetreault said she was not sur prised the signs have vanished from the door. ‘They’re trying to control what people say and do and who they support.” Pat Tetreault University Health Center Students are often harassed when try to post anything that supports the concerns of the gay community, she said. “It’s all about power and con trol,” she said. “They’re trying to control what people say and do and who they support” The sign’s disappearance from the door shows homophobia affects everyone, Tetreault said. “What they are saying by tak ing down the sign down is, not only do we not support a safe space, but we don’t want you to indicate that this is a safe space," she said. Krejci said putting the sign up repeatedly was frustrating. “It’s really irritating,” he said. “If they have a problem it’s not our problem. They elected the people in office who voted for this.” The people who have decided to revolt against the sign are cow PleaseseeABiLon3