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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 2000)
ZM/vNebraskan Since 1901 Editor Sarah Baker Opinion Page Editor Samuel McKewon Managing Editor Bradley Davis Long overdue Building new Culture Center may benefit UNL It’s quaint. It's nice. It's cute. And these are three adjectives that probably shouldn’t be used to describe a center of culture on the University of Nebraska-Iincoln campus. Why? Because those phrases, while nice compliments, are ultimately backhanded and patronizing. The Culture Center, at 333 N. 14 St in a former Presbyterian chinch, has a more important purpose than the quaint, nice, cute building that it is currently in. There may have been a time and place when that church was good enough. Not anymore. And Interim Chancellor Harvey Perlman, based on the recommendation of the Academic Planning Committee, said this much last week by approving a plan for a new center to be built just east of die Nebraska Union. The plans call for a 30,000 square-foot, three-story building. Let’s just say that’s a far cry better than the cur rent, too-cozy-lor-comiort trap There has pings of the old church. been so Because of size limitations much talk and the fact that some rooms of the UNL cannot be temperature-con Diversity Plan, which some students might dismiss as just that - smoke and mirrors. trolled, and therefore, cannot be used in extreme weather condi tions, the real potential of a Culture Center has not been real ized. Critics of a new plan might say not much goes on in the Culture Center. But they'd be missing the very possibilities that a new, swank building offer to prospec tive organizations, bands and special ceremonies. By opening the doors to more options, the Culture Center would grow in its versatility, as well as its reputation. It would matter to students, and therefore, become a greater part of the UNL vernacular. And while it'd only be moving across the street, attaching the Culture Center to the Nebraska Union itself is critically important. It automatically increases visibility. Assuming its users take advantage of the new surroundings (and that’s a safe bet), foot traffic through the building would increase tenfold As it is now, the Culture Center doesn’t have much “walk-in" traffic -you have to be going for some thing, or have been invited or be unusually curi ous to see its insides. The more the Culture Center can enhance its ability to be a place of conversation and commiseration, not just some random dive where your buddy's band is play ing, the better. The plan also sends the message that UNL no longer subtly adheres to any sort of separations of minority and majority students on campus. Not that the current Culture Center is some bla tant sign of racism; still, it’s hard to deny the sep aration, which has never been necessary. There has been so much talk of the UNL Diversity Plan, which some students might dis miss as just that - smoke and mirrors. A new completed Culture Center is a definitive answer to those students. While this is still in the planning stages, we don’t expect the type of opposition to greatly slow its development and construction. For cer When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privi lege to be free" —Charles Evans Hughes The proponents of strict separation between church and state have won many important victories in this century: We've seen the end of Jeremy Patrick iorcea scnooi prayer, religious tests for political office and the teaching of creationism. Of course, sometimes these issues are re-ignit ed under different guises: “moments of silence” in place of school prayer and “intelligent design theo ry” in place of creationism. A slightly different but growing controversy in this country is the dispute over the Constitutionality of so-called “ceremonial deisms.” Ceremonial deisms are the little things govern ment does to invoke religion in specific circum stances, such as opening sessions of legislature with prayer, placing references to God in the Pledge of Allegiance and engraving “In God We linst” on coins. They’re called “deisms” because they’re generic references to a Supreme Being and not references to specific deities, such as Jesus or Jehovah. Until recently,-ceremonial deisms laid largely unnoticed in the war for separation between church and state because civil libertarians had so many other important battles to fight. When legal challenges were brought, they were dismissed out of-hand as not involving government sponsorship of religion. While this is still in the planning stages, we don’t expect the type of opposition to greatly slow its development and construction. For cer tain, the vision of the Culture Center’s inhabi tants is just as important as the building itself— it’s their job to make this truly work. And then, cheap compliments won’t have to be made in the wake of low standards. The Culture Center will be an impressive, ever-flour ishing staple of UNL - all of UNL. Just as it should be. Editorial Board Sarah Baker, Bradley Davis, Josh Funk, Matthew Hansen, Samuel McKewon, Dane Stickney, Kimberly Sweet Letters Poficy The Daly Nebraskan welcomes briefs, totters to the edtor and guest columns, but does not gu» artee their pubfcation. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject aiy material submitted. Submitted materiel becomes property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions wi not be pubfehed. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by nane, year in school, major anchor group affiSadon, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. E mal: lettBrsOunlinfo.unl.edu. Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Fall 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, a cartoon is solely the opinion of Ns artist The Boad of Regents acts as publsher of the Daily Nebraskan; po§ cy is set by the DaNy Nebraskan EdMorial Board. The UNL Pubications Board, established by the regents, supervisee the production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, rseponsi bNty far Ihe edtorial content of the newspaper lee solely in the hands of its employees. .m th e friwifive humans US£D IT To lure foW6*fUL BEINGS FKWl Letters to the editor Badtstabbing journalism? Well, congrats kids. In one fell swoop a single DN “journalist" managed to lose UNL Alumni funds, insult UNUs third district students, give all journalists a bad name and ostracize the majority of the state with the editorial “Come Bill, Come” Who knew the power of a simple editorial? The pen truly is mightier than the sword. As a journalism major, I can tell you that this isn't journalism that you printed, it was simply a malicious message from someone unfortunate enough to have an outlet. Regardless of my opinion of the article, however, I think that due to die sheer volume of the responses to the article, not to mention the heartfelt content of those responses, the author of this article, as well as the editorial staff of the Daily Nebraskan, owe Nebraska and the citizens of Kearney and the third district an apology. I don’t know how you can possibly begin to undo the damage to this state and its people you've caused, but you need to try. If you have any pride in Nebraska at all, you'll try to rectify the divide you’ve created between the two parts of the state. As one writer ade quately put it, we are all Nebraskans. We should func tion as a complete state, and support each other. StaciSohl journalism/advertising senior Ranting and raving rhank you DN for confirming my view that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I graduated from UNL almost 10 years ago. In die time I was in school I was a daily reader of your newspaper and was usually appalled and sometimes even amused by the ignorance and triviality of your editori al page. Since graduating, I have lived in several different communities in this great state and currently reside in Kearney. This community is one of the most vibrant and exciting places to be in Nebraska and represents our state wonderfully. I am also one of those ultra-conservatives you so liberally denounced, and I happen to be excited and pleased the President is visiting our community. In the years since I have graduated from UNL, I have gained much perspective and have changed considerably. After seeing this editorial, I realize that the editorial page of the Daily Nebraskan has not. They are still wallowing in the same ignorance they did a decade ago. However, the perspective I have gained allows me to see this section for what it really is: a place for chil dren to rant and rave while they are trying to become adults. R. Mitchell Kearney Impeding religious freedom For example, although the Supreme Court has never ruled on the issue, federal courts have thrice upheld the use of “In God We TYust” in coins. The Ninth Circuit says its because the inscription “is of a patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise.” Other courts hold that no objective observer could consider this antiquated view of ceremonial deisms a beginning to change. Recently, a federal court held that Ohio’s state motto “With God, all things are possible” violated the separation of church and state. Although an appeal is pending, the court’s decision was sound. If, for example, the State of Nebraska placed the motto “In Capitalism We li-ust” on all of its license plates, would we say it’s not an endorsement of capitalism? Could we truly say the State is neutral on whether people should believe in capitalism, socialism or communism? The fact that ceremonial deisms like "In God We Trust” do not name specific religious figures is irrelevant. Even the term “God” excludes many religions. Wiccans who believe in a Goddess are not included; Hindus who believed in several gods instead of one God are not included; Native Americans who believe in nature and earth spirits are not included. For them, the only implication is that they are not part of the “We" and therefore, they are some how less-than-American. The Constitution does not only bar the govern ment from favoring a particular religion, it also bars it from favoring religion over non-religion. Any objective observer would be forced to admit that a phrase like “In God We Trust” clearly indi cates that theism is preferred to atheism or agnos ticism. Of course, research studies could easily show what Americans believe the symbols mean, but courts have invariably held that they can tell what an “objective observer” would think without the use of empirical evidence. When courts act irrationally like this, religious minorities can only see ceremonial deisms as a cry for conformity instead of diversity. Some courts uphold ceremonial deisms because they believe there is no real harm done. These courts, however, overlook the fact that the existence of ceremonial deisms is used to support other unconstitutional practices. As legal scholar Steven Epstein put, “the impli cations of ceremonial deism are far-reaching because courts frequently employ this amorphous concept as a springboard from which to hold that other challenged practices do not violate the establishment clause.” Religious conservatives have realized this as well and often invoke ceremonial deisms to justify other laws. For example, according to the Associated Press, when the Colorado Board of Education considered whether to display “In God We Trust” in public schools, supporters said they “believe the courts cannot object to a phrase that appears on U.S. currency.” Advocates of displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools, placing nativi ty scenes on public property and having prayers at graduation ceremonies have all used similar argu ments. The line between church and state is not always easy to draw. It does not require government hos tility towards religion; an upcoming Supreme Court decision will address whether schools should be required to treat religious student organ izations like other student organizations when it comes to the use of school facilities. For most civil libertarians, this is not a real problem because the school is acting neutrally, and neither the intent nor the effect will be a gov ernment sponsorship of religion. An important interest in allowing intellectual discussion to grow unhindered is served. But the government has no legitimate purpose in using ceremonial deisms. There is nothing served by ceremonial deisms (such as rendering an occasion “solemn”) that cannot be accomplished by non-religious invocations. The harm they cause, on the other hand, is very real: They margin alize religious minorities and add strength to those who advocate even more entanglement between religion and government. And if ceremonial deisms are really so non-reli gious in character, why do religious conservatives fight so strongly for their preservation? Blessed are the Meek... By the time she came in, he had already been waiting the past two hours. She felt his gaze, and, in turning, her eyes caught his and lingered, then she moved Yasmin McEwen on witn ner party. Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, she knelt and quickly said her thanks be to God, then pulled herself up onto her crutches and worked her way back out of the pew, despite her family's stem glances. Mass is starting you must sit down, said her mother. Instead she headed to the back to find him. His eyes watched her coming toward him, and when she got there, he smiled and told her she smelled nice. “Thank you," she said. Her hands were trembling, and her eyes were wet He just looked at her. “I want to give you some money, not to offend you, just so you can get some thing to eat. Would you like that?" She wished she had more to give. Yes, he would like that, he said, and she put her shaking hand with the cold rolled up bills into his palm and said, “Merry Christmas.” After mass, when he was fading off into the bitter cold night with just a thin jean jacket to cover his tall thin frame, she’d said, “Why can’t we ask him to come home and sleep on the sofa just for tonight?” “Are you mad?” her step-father had said. She refused to believe that he was ordinary or human even, and after he had died, she could not believe that he was anything less than Holy. A month later, she had devised a plan. She would save all her extra money, and when she had a couple hundred dollars, she would put it in a little pocket bible and hand it to him the next time she saw him. But the next time she saw him, he was scrunched up in a thin sweater with holes, sipping coffee as if it were his Last Supper. Huddled over the cup he seemed to be trying to eat the curling steam as it rose to his face. She wondered if he wouldn't knock the bible out of her hand when he saw her coming toward him with it. Or if he wouldn't laugh in her face when seeing the money, as if he would ever accept pity. In the thoughtless light of the world, it was hard to see that God had ever taken interest in this man’s condi tion. This man, whose Grecian sea blue eyes made her feel ashamed as she zipped into the parking lot in her shiny new red car. This man, whose very gaze spelled out how a perfect world should be; simple, kind, mindful of a common man’s needs. This man, whose very presence foretold and warned against the arrogance of people and mocked their inexhaustible quest for material consumption. This man, she would find him watching her while she and her Mends smacked their gum and flipped their hair as they discussed their disgust with the injustices that came of being a college student. She could just feel his beating heart as they passed by him. So many times she wanted to reach out to touch and feel that heart, to take him in and, somehow, find a new world for him to be reborn into. She refused to believe that he was ordinary or human even, and after he had died, she could not believe that he was anything less than Holy. The longing for him refused to go away, and she remembered how she had wanted to be his lover, or wife, or savior. When he died, he had been alone, outside of a cold building with no where else to go but Home. Tell us what you think. (402)472-2588 letters@dailyneb.com