(posted by DS. Written by UNODems Community Chair Brandon Bone)

Dear Mr. President,

In my life, I have lived through four Presidents. The first two terms, I have absolutely no conscious recollection of. The third, former President Bill Clinton, I remember mostly for his fiasco in the White House that would later lead to his impeachment. As a child though, I remember numerous times feeling as though I lived in an invincible country where I felt safe not only from external harm, but also internal. I remember reading in elementary school about the various governments throughout history and, of course, about the birth of our own government. We were taught, and believed to the fullest extent, that it was not within the rights of the government to tell us what we can or cannot think, say, or believe. As a child, I felt that the government did a fantastic job of nurturing that belief into a mere fact of life.

But now, we are in a time that leaves us wondering what attempts you, sir, might make to change what the government can and cannot do. We live in a time where foes rise up out of the rubble created by your “good intentions”. We live in a time where one must fear whether or not they are being spied on. You continue to state that your actions are in our best interest, and that without the realization of your plans our great democracy will be forced to succumb to external foes. My response to you Mr. President comes from a former President who spoke about the perpetuation of our political institution. I urge you to listen to this man.

“At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
-Abraham Lincoln (1838)

I beg of you Mr. President, don’t sacrifice our rights and fulfill this prophecy.

Respectfully,

Brandon Bone

UNO Chancellor Nancy Belck resigns - Omaha World-Herald

UNO has lost a great chancellor. It’s an absolute travesty when problems with the athletic department bring down someone who’s done so much good for the university.

I could go on and on about how many great things Belck has done, but I want to talk about the hypocrisy in this state.

The UNO Athletic Department has clearly gone through some mismanagement, and Chancellor Belck decided to divert some university money to help keep the program going. You can make an argument on both sides whether this was right or wrong, but ultimately, this isn’t what brought Belck down.

Then came revelations that her top aide, Vice Chancellor Jim Buck, had been receiving perks funded out of the athletic budget, including a Cadillac and country club membership, even as the department was seriously in debt.

After prevailing in a public records dispute, The World-Herald last week published the full extent of Buck’s spending of university funds. He spent thousands of dollars on trips to the NCAA Final Four, travel by his wife, expensive dinners and golf outings, even billing athletics for his own charitable donations to the department.

It isn’t really clear if people are mad about this because it was happening, or if people are mad about this because it was happening while the athletic department was in debt. If offering perks is wrong, then we need to AUDIT THE UNL ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT FINANCES IMMEDIATELY.

Most students at UNO were not directly impacted with the problems at the athletic department, but these problems forced the resignation of our chancellor and now every single student is impacted.

In the words of Regent Chuck Hassebrook of Lyons. “I have confidence in Nancy Belck. It would be a shame, highly unfortunate, if we took down a chancellor over problems in the athletic department.”

If the Omaha World-Herald has created a standard that offering perks through the athletic department is wrong, then that standard needs to apply to every university in the state. If you were to audit the athletic department at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, I would be frightened to see what’s going on. WARNING: This is my very personal opinion… I think auditing the UNL athletic department would reveal “perks” that are 100 times worse than what was happening at UNO.

So, why isn’t anyone calling for an audit of the UNL athletic department. Is it because they’re not in debt? Is it because the Board of Regents love UNL and think UNO is a red-headed step-child? Or, is it because you are Un-Nebraskan (similar to unAmerican or unpatriotic) if you question anything relating to the Huskers?

I’m sure it’s a combination of all three.

The sad thing is if UNL was audited and “perks” were revealed, the athletic department would say it’s a cost of doing business. But, in UNO’s case, it’s tagged as inappropriate.

Maverick Values, Husker Values, Nebraska Values. It seems they’re not all the same.