Poge 2
Daily Nebroskon Election Edition
Friday, May 4, 1962
Gage Raps False Prestige Grab
By Steve Gage
Student Council President
I welcome this opportunity to give some of
my views just prior to the General Spring
Elections. When Editor Ferguson approached
me with the proposal to prepare a page for
this Special Election Supplement, I was both
encouraged and apprehensive. Encouraged be
cause someone was making a constructive
effort to remedy the general student opinion
on governments composed of their peers. Ap
prehensive because I feared I would lapse
into an assorted collection of cliches bound
together with the vested interest of my ego.
To attempt to examine sto
dent government nnder new
light means simply that a new
light, or at least a new per
spective is available. I do not
claim to have a new light I
would let stand the estab
lished criteria against which
anv governmental body most
be' compared. They have
served free aad democratic
It, as fas as we tarn tell is
thc itavc Rut it ic tM ner-
cnH-lira that ic imnortanL It is where TOO are
standing (or whether yon are standing at
an).
C M
Gage
It is hard to reiterate, in the relatively
free society in which we find ourselves, the
purposes toward which we strain ourselves
without resorting to blinded chauvinistic dog
mas, usually bandied about in passion and
without mental exertion. We find this true
on the national level. President Eisenhower
felt compelled to establirh a commissi:: as
signed to the task of determining our na
tional purposes. The Student Council found
it necessary last year: anyway President
Tempera appointed a committee to decide
on the purpose of the Student Council on
the University campus.
Cow Id Be Suspect
While the results of any such committee
could be held suspect (it must be remembered
that the committee could have become the
naive dupes of some sinister conspiracy),
generally the consensus of such a group is
a conscientious reappraisal of the govern
ment's present position in light of justifica
tions used by the founding nucleus to con
vince the people that they should be gov
erned. Or at least the nucleus convinces it
self that its decision to govern is right and
proper. The results, in any case, will ery
probably be accepted or rejected by tne gov
erned, usually in a bland and trepid response.
This points toward the perspective that I
w ish to discuss. Aad, tboagh m man com
fortably wears a cloak of righteous indigna
tion (this is a persoaal matter), here is
where I begin to wrap myself ia the cloak's
all too ample folds aad to asrame a bet
ligereot attitode. Here begfas what may be
trite, bat to me an indispensable viewpoint.
We stedests are members of an academic
commanity fundamentally, aad members of
sororities, glee clsbs, footbaQ teams, bridge
teams, and service groups secondarily. We
are "citizens" to a semi-excuufve "commn
nity, aad mast assame something ia the
latere of a "cowunanal interest or else be
satisfied wha existing aw9 'W-existiag' at
the sane time. American stodeets, and most
assaredly, Nebraska stodeats, have chosen
the latter alternative. Now certainly there
are restrictions to the applicability tt this
claim; no general hypothesis would include
all of the iadfridaals foand within the col
legiate sphere of inflneare. Bat this con
clusion that most "stodent citizens" shesld
be at least passively interested ia the "af
fairs of stale" is more generally applicable
than most students would let themselves ad
mit. I would suggest two reasons for the quality,
or rather lack of quality, in the Student
Council. One is the general campus attitude
towards stodent leaders, student organiza
tions, and the adnunistration and faculty.
To analyze these facets separately, I would
say that student leaders have .not helped to
create a favorable image for themselves.
Some of them become so "pushy" that the
students can easily perceive their "lean
and hungry looks." Some get involved in sub
rosas, espouse the virtues of the "brother
hood elite" one minute, and prove to be
brother to no man the next. Their lot, of
course, is infected with the grab for false
prestige and is complicated by the arbitrary
tackling of thirteen "leaders" every year by
the Innocents and by the masking of any.
female leaders by the Mortar Boards in some
years. I should quit lest our local "Lady
Macbeths" admonish thusly:
"Thou wouldst be great; art not without
ambition but without the illness should at
tend it."
Wears White Sneakers
Student organizations have generally done
little else besides establish a hierarchy of
prestige levels and, I suppose, take up the
idle time of busy workers who might other
wise be studying or learning. As for atti
tudes toward the administrators and faculty
members, it could be said that the situa
tion has somewhat improved. At least, not
all of the fraternity pledges are instructed
that the Dean of Student Affairs wears white
sneakers so as to nab the well meaning seniors
when they venture for an innocent beer.
Credit goes to a constructively oriented In
terfraternity Council for the long-needed
straight thinking and talking on this account
The second b the prevalent attitude of the
Establishment ("committed campns lead
ers). Reflecting the low caliber of Nebraska
politicians on the date-wide level, the stsdest
leader asaaOy reverses wha high regard a
state-wide attitade: there isn't much to do
and if we move slow enoagh we won't have
to do anything. Stmctared as the Stodent
Coaacfl is at the present time with too
many representatives from stodent organi
zations, it is the victim of the Establish
ment's nse of Coaacfl positions to better the
political advantage of members of their own
organizations. The reasonings of the Estab
lishment also pervade the Coencil thresgn
the college representatives since many of
these in dividual are "on their way p" ia
the prestige organizations. - A cirenmstance
owning its origin in part to the Establishment
is the perennial btoe of IFC-slated candidates.
While alignment on minor issnes asaaSy fol
low the individual prejudices of the Council
members, the cobesiveness of this bloe has
been decisively demonstrated the last two
years ia the major issues considered by each
year's Council. Aa analysis of the votes on
the election coercion issne and the NSA af
filiation would prove that the IFC btoe was
responsible for defeating both issnes. Maybe
anknowMigty this segment of the Establish
men! is committing mass fratricide. Cer
tainly these are the type of men whom in
dustry wants on the "management team."
Sach dedication to a caase!?
What is the perspective offered then? It
is simply, and with the inherent difficulties,
the assumption of a role within the expand
ing student community by each student This
is the theoretical solution to our j-xoblem
interest would eventually lead to participa
tion; participation would provide greater com
petition and cooperation among the student
leadership; the leadership might be meti
. vated to undertaking more worthwhile proj
ects, would prove their maturity and ability
to administrators and the student body, and
would riove the campus toward responsible
and disciplined self-government The practi
cal solution lies in each student's hands, or
rather in his vote and personal involvement
The practical solution lies with the emer
gence of a more politically mature and posi
tively oriented student leadership, positive ia
the sense that the leaders efforts are ex
pended for somewhat more altruistic ends
than being tackled for membership ia Inno
cents Society.
Activity Jocks
Now this sounds like a Hoe c&Uectivistie
Ideal for irtegrating the diverse interests of
"activity jocks" into a monolithic organiza
tion structure. But actually the opposite is
true. As the quality of Council members im
prove, as campus leadership improves, the
opportunity for individual development in
creases tremendously. This has been happen
ing on the Council the past two years. Better
members mean a divergence of interests and
the conflict to resolve these differences proves
almost as stimulating as the individual inter
ests. What I'm hitting at here is that the
often-mouthed cliche that activity work is
training for adult life should be given some
truth. Activity work can be stimulating and
maturing. It can be a complement to the
in-class study. And with the slant of student
government work tending toward considera
tion of national and international issues, stu
dent government and its associated activities
can be co-curricular in nature.
To the stodent reading this, it probably
appears to be an apology for stodent govern
ment or else the philosophic bases for the
work undertaken by this year's Council. But
I personally hope that a few stodeats will do
some new thinking on their role in the aca
demic commnnity. This re-thinking e o n 1 d
have its effects in several years.
I have not attempted to present specific
programs for next year's Council in t h i s
space. Actually the groundwork for most of
next year's work has already been laid. The
biggest task faced by next year's group will
be unraveling the mysteries of programs set
up this year. Several programs have been
disappointing. This was expected. But the
Council Associate program, the Public Rela
tions area, and the Public Issues area need
to be semi-formaJIy structured and their
purpose needs to be set down in writing. A
plan of action for next year should be es
tablished yet this spring. And I certainly
hope that these programs will not be aban
doned in the swing back to a "conventional
Council;" I feel these programs even in their
initial year have proved their value to the
campus.
Ttont Bleck Vote
What should you do in Monday's election?
Actually only one thing remains that you
can do. Vote and exercise your best judg
ment in selecting good Council members for
next year. Do not, and I repeat, do not vote
a bloc as a bloc; pick out candidates who
you feel would think independently and would
vote independently. Before the IFC screams,
I do not urge the defeat of their slate, or
the slate of the SCBC for that matter. But I
want yoa to vote for individuals who will
not flock to the "cause of the Greeks" just
because the IFC president happens to be of
one mind on an issue. The IFC has its meet
ing on Wednesday nights and there is no
justification for it to hold its executive meet
ings on Wednesday afternoons in the the
Council meetings. The Council and the IFC
are two separate organizations, contrary to
appearance. The Daily Kebraskaa has been
doing a good job in covering the campaign;
you should refer to the platforms of the can
didates before voting. They at feast indicate
how much time the individuals have spent
talking to upperclassmen. Even "handme
down" ideas are of some value to the Coun
cil's work.
Again, vote and exerrise cssOa when yoa
mark your ballot. Then plan to pay atten
tion to what the CoancO is doing next year.
Make Coencil members earn their prestige.
Ask them to speak to yowr fcoese or yoar
organization. Find oat nkat is going on. And
when selfish motives begin dictating the de
cisions of the CmwcO, step in and raise year
pretest It is ep to yon.
As for me, IH be gone. Graduate school
or bust But my hopes will still be with the
newly elected group. IH hope they prove
themselves; 111 hope they accomplish some
thing of their promises. Student Government
has been a rewarding experience for me. I
think it could be rewarding for any of yoa
also. Why not find out for yourself?
