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tuesday, October 20, 1981
lincoln, nebraska vol. 107 no. 40
Copyright Daily Nebraskan 1981
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Photo by Dave Bentz
Dianne Lutzi sits back in the warm' fall sunshine on the steps of Woods Hall near a sculpture.
Poles flee homeland for future
By Laura Garrison
On June 25, 1981, they left Poland. They left the apart
ment they owned. They left their family and friends. And
they left behind the Communist government, which they
believed they had no future with.
Dariusz and Ewa Musierowicz, both 27, and their 6 year
old son Marcin fled the country they had been born and
reared in, in an attempt to make a free life for themselves.
The fact that the young family had nothing to eat and
the constant fear of waking in the morning to find Rus
sian tanks in the streets added to their decision to flee Po
land. The family lived in Loze, Poland, a textile center with a
population of about 1 million. Dariusz said his family was
financially secure by Polish standards, but said in Poland,
wealth means nothing.
"There is a certain reality that the Poles face," Dariusz
said. "There is no word in Polish that means Ho buy',
you can arrange or you can fix but you can't buy any
thing. There is a total economic breakdown."
Dariusz, who has a masters, degree in English, taught
school for only one year. Then he became a businessman
for a Polish fur trading company. Two years ago he made
the mistake of expressing an opinion about terms of trade
with the Soviet Union. He said the USSR was milking Pol
ish trade dry. A few days after the comment he was asked
by company management to resign. For 18 months he was
unemployed, because every time he applied for a job, the
employers would check his references from the previous
job. Finally, he started his own textile workshop.
Ewa was a dental student at the time. Although in the
ory, education is free, Ewa had to pay back the govern
ment for three years of her studies after she graduated,
Dariusz said.
Last Aprfl the family decided to apply for a passport.
Dariusz told officials that his family was taking a vacation
to Greece. It can take up to two or three months for pass
ports to be cleared in Poland and many times authorities
will turn down the requests on grounds of social and mor
al reasons, he said. The reasons are never explained in de
tail, Dariusz said.
Dariusz had to bribe an officer to clear his passport. The
family, in a small car with only summer luggage, crossed
the Polish border and headed for Austria. The family was
put in a refugee camp 20 miles outside of Vienna, Austria,
where their passport was taken away and they were grant
ed political asylum for the United States Embassy in Vi
enna. At the refugee camp, the family applied to the
World Council of Churches for a sponsor. The WCC placed
them with the Marvin Johnson family of Lincoln, who are
members of Lincoln's First Presbyterian Church.
The WCC paid the Musierowicz's air fare from Vienna to
New York and then to Lincoln.
"At the time we found out we were going to Lincoln,
Nebraska, all we knew was that Nebraska was in the heart
of the United States and that it had a lot of farmland,''
Dariusz said. "We were pleasantly disappointed in the U.S.
at our first glance because in Poland we had heard that the
U.S. was like stepping into the 21st century, but instead
we were greeted by friendly generous people."
Dariusz said that even if the Polish Solidarity Union has
won rights for Poles, the future does not look bright if
one studies past experiences in Poland.
"There have been three attempts since World War II that
Poland has tried to get freedom from the Soviet Union,"
Dariusz said. "In 1956, 1967 and 1970, each time it has
ended with Russian tanks coming into Poland and blood
shed." Continued on Page 6
Student association nets two awards
By Melinda Norris
The Nebraska State Student Association clinched two of
the nine awards Saturday at the Ninth Annual National
State Students Association Conference at UNL.
The NSSA was awarded a plaque for the Most Improved
New SSA Category and Nette Nelson, member of the
Board of Directors of the NSSA, received the Rookie of
the Year Award.
"After working for a year organizing the SSA, it's good
to get a pat on the back," said Rick Mockler, a member of
the NSSA Board of Directors. "We're delighted to be
recognized on the national level."
Nebraska received the awards in recognition for the crea
tion and development of its state student association in
nine months, Nelson said.
"They are a reflection of students in Nebraska and how
we can put it all together," she said.
"(These awards) show the nation that Nebraska isn't
conservative," Nelson said. "Some SSA's perceived the
midwest as being conservative and not as aware of issues
as on the coasts.
"The students in Nebraska are together," Nelson said.
"They support higher educaiton and work in the system
to do it."
Nelson was also appointed to the National Alliance of
State Students Association Board of Directors this week
end. As a member, Nelson will represent Nebraska in the stu
dent association network, improving and initiating com
munication between student associations across the coun
try. Unlike the United States Student Association, which
concerns itself with social issues, the NSSA concentrates
only on education and communication between the states,
Nelson said.
The NSAA is not ready to join the USSA, which is the
national lobbying organization, Nelson said, but is ready
to organize a statewide network.
Nelson reflected on the USSA saying, "We must be
aware of what's happening around us. We may not agree -but
to ignore it is worse."
Dual-sex housing
is family to some
By Roger Aden
UNL's co-educational residence halls are still
relatively new, but students, residence hall directors
and Director of Housing Doug Zatechka all say the
living arrangement is working well.
Zatechka said the first co-educational residence
hall, Schramm, was established at UNL in 1971.
Since he came to the university, Zatechka said, he
has not noticed any major problems in the co
educational halls - Abel, Schramm, Neihardt and
Selleck.
"Since I've been here I haven't been aware of any
increase in problems that might come from this (co
educational halls)," he said. "There are a few inci
dents here and there involving damage, but I haven't
seen any major problems.
"There's probably less roughhousing and damage
than an all-men's or all-women's hall has, but that's
a great generalization and it's not always true,"
Zatechka said. 'There is a little less vandalism each
year, though."
Joe Jordano, in his first year as residence director
of Abel North, echoed Zatechka's remarks.
"I think women tend to add a calming atmos
phere to the place," Jordano said. "It's not like an
all-male dorm where there's a locker-room atmos
phere. The guys have their consciousness raised and
watch what they say and do.
Promiscuity unchanged
"Part of the college experience is working on
social skills and relationships. Women offer a totally
different perspective than men do, which helps in
this process."
Jordano said it has been his experience that there
is no significant difference in terms of sexual pro
miscuity in a co-educational residence hall as
compared to a single-sex dorm.
"Some people outside the university say there's
more immorality, but I don't think we can take that
inference," he said.
Ed Gritzfeld, an Abel South resident, said he is
happy with the co-educational atmosphere.
"We've got two lounges, one with a TV in it and
one without. That one is more of a study place
where people can study together. It's kind of like a
family," he said.
Study atmosphere good
Wendy Buettow, Neihardt residence director,
said co-educational halls provide more of an oppor
tunity for men and women to work together.
"When you have both sexes living together a
pride starts to develop," she said. "Each sex has to
work with the other and there's more of a chance for
different views."
Buettow said there is also an opportunity for a
good study atmosphere, an assessment that Selleck
resident Terry Morgan agreed with.
"It's pretty good (the study atmosphere)," he
said. 'There aren't too many distractions. You just
have to put yourself some place where you can
study."
Joe Johnston, a Schramm resident, said the prox
imity to women is one of the benefits of a co-educational
residence hall.
'That's one of the reasons I signed up for this
place," he said. "It's a lot more interesting and
varied than if it's exclusively a male dorm."
Another Schramm resident, Lisa Christensen,
also, said the social aspect of a co-educational hall is
a plus.
' "We interact more since there's guys above and
below us," she said. "We get to know them better
so it's like a big family."
However, Christensen has one minor complaint.
'The guys are louder than the girls," she said.
i4 n
o
tuesday
Food for Thought: Author Jack Nelson says threatening
to withhold food is a weapon resulting from an erosion
in U.S. military and economic power. ....... Page 7
You Are What You Wear: Costume rental outlets in
Lincoln indicate that Halloween costumes are going
fast Page 8
Paid the Price: Nebraska football Coach Tom Osborne
said his team came out of its 49-3 win at Kansas State
with a few injuries that could keep some players out of
the Missouri game Page 10
