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
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Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. E
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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.
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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
