THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
Commentary
Page 2
AvAONDAY, MARCH 20, 1967
The ASUN Mockery
Some 20 senators and executive lead
ers either knowingly or unknowingly tried
in the Daily Nebraskan's opinion to make
a mockery of student government last
Tuesday night.
Bill Of Rights
The situation is surrounded with
disbelief and confusion, but apparently
someone called a meeting at Abel Hall
last Tuesday for certain senators to dis
cuss the Student Bill of Rights.
The Nebraskan has nothing against
political caucuses or gatherings of peo
ple who have similar opinions, but we
feel that this meeting was obviously
meant to represent only one side of the
issue and to influence as many unin
formed senators as possible.
We cannot see how these student gov
ernment members thought they could pos
sibly represent effective and meaningful
student government when they met for
this meeting.
Apparently the senators went to be in
ormed on the Student Bill of Rights, but
the Nebraskan fails to understand who at
that meeting besides the Student Conduct
Committee chairman could possibly have
known what they were talking about in re
lation to the document.
Non-Attcndance
The Nebraskan feels that every sen
ator there should have noticed the ob
vious non-attendance of the majority of
the Student Conduct Committee and oth
er student government leaders who had
been working on the document for al
most seven months.
Furthermore the Nebraskan must ask
these senators why if they were so in
terested in the document didn't they at
tend the Student Conduct meetings or the
Bill of Rights assemblies?
How could the majority of these sen
ators have ignored the Student Conduct
meetings all year long and the Student
Bill of Rights assemblies and then at
tended a selective meeting to be told all
about the bill in less than four hours?
The Nebraskan feels that a majority
of the people who took part in this meet
ing owe a great many apologies to the
senators who worked on the bill all year
long and weren't even invited to the
meeting. We feel this meeting exhibited
the worst kind of student politics.
A Silly Situation
This campus may soon be famous for
something other than the "Big Red" foot
ball team. It's notoriety may in fact any
day make nationa news.
Pentagon Halls
Certainly the halls of the Pentagon or
the offices in the White House could
never have approached the activity orx
confusion which has recently engulfed stu
dent politics on this campus.
No doubt the national political parties
will soon be flying observers to this
campus in order to study the conflicts,
the mud-slinging and the issues now
bombarding the University.
The ASUN elections several weeks ago
looked to the Daily Nebraskan like they
might be relatively quiet and well-mannered.
Important issues would be dis
cussed, but for the most part it promised
to be a quiet campaign.
Recent Split
However, with the recent split in the
Party for Student Action and the di
vergence of opinion between the experi
enced student government leaders we
feel that anything could happen.
The Nebraskan feels that the spilt in
this party is extremely unfortunate since
it promised to provide the campus with
much responsible and progressive leader
ship. We feel that everybody in the ori
ginal party plus the campus itself was
badly hurt when the party divided
The student political atmosphere has
now changed from a constructive move
ment toward bettering student govern
ment to a confused, emotional conflict
between all the candidates.
Very Unfortunate
The Nebraskan is not sure who is
responsible for this situation. nor do
we expect that most people will ever
understand exactly what has happened or
what will happen during the ASUN elec
tion but we feel all of this confusion
is very unfortunate.
Some how we strongly feel that mis
understandings and ignorance have forced
all parties in this year's ASUN elections
to take ridiculous stands and do things
that they otherwise would not do.
The Nebraskan really feels that this
campus should be notorious for creating
one of the most unreasonable, silly situ
ations that ever existed.
Other Elections
Applications for the College of Agri
culture, Teachers College and Arts and
Science Advisory Boards are due Friday
in the ASUN office.
The Daily Nebraskan encourages stu
dents to file for these advisory boards and
considers the elections to these positions
almost as important as the ASUN elec
tions. The advisory board elections will
be held April 12 at the same time ASUN
elections are held.
The advisory boards, if effectively
Our Man Hoppe-
managed and well supported by the stu
dents, could be extremely important in
giving students a larger role in Uni
versity classrooms and education policy.
It is extremely important that students
support the advisory boards and insist
that they play an important part in the
University community.
The boards could be extremely helpful
and effective in making needed changes
and improvements for the students' bene
fits in the areas of curriculum and faculty-student
relations.
Jay Turns Over Old Leaf
Washington
Howdy, there, folks. How y'all? Time
for another tee-vee visit with the rootin'
tootin' Jay family starring ol' Elbie Jay,
who believes a feller ought to be himslf.
Unless it ain't doing him any good.
As we join up with ol' Elbie today,
he's a-settin' in the parlor all alone,
smilin' kindly. S mil in' kindly? That's
right, smilin' kindly.
His pretty wife, Birdie Bird, enters,
notices his expression and is so surprised
she drops her garden trowel.
Birdie Bird: Elbie are you sick?
There's not a photographer in miles.
Elbie (smiling kindly): Now, Bird, I
know folks think I put on a little in pub
lic. And maybe that's been true in the
past. But we all have our human frailties
and I sure am no exception.
Birdie Bird (shocked): You have hu
man frailties? Let me take your temper
ature. Elbie (smiling kindly): No, Bird, it's
true. I used to have a mighty bad tem
per. And I used to push folks around.
And I used to take no back talk from
anybody. And maybe I wasnt as humble
as I might've been.
Birdie Bird: Whe did you decide that,
dear?
Elbie (frowning): Actually, I've al
ways loved everybody in the whole wide
world. Only I never let on (smiling kind
ly). But then I decided to turn over a
new kJ. I decided to be gentls, humble
end soft-spoken at all times.
Birdie Bird: When did you decide that,
dear?
Elbie: Right after the last elections.
Why, everj' body around here talks of
nothing else but the New Elbie, that
Arthur Hoppe
sweet, unruffable fellow. Hadn't you no
ticed? Birdie Bird (hastily): Oh, yes, dear.
I just wasn't sure that was the real you.
But if it is . . (calculatingly) my, not
to change the subject, but did you see
that editorial saying your nitwit off-again,
on-again tax policies are wrecking the
country?
Elbie (smiling kingly): Well, we all
make mistakes. I just try to do the best
I can.
Birdie Bird: And did you see where
Senator Fulbright says you're some kind
of nut?
Elbie (smiling kindly): Well, we all
make mistakes. I just try to do the best
I can.
Birdie Bird (nervously): I guess, then,
that I can tell you the news from Myna
Bird. They aren't going to name the
baby "Elbie."
Elbie (visibly controlling himself and
smiling kindly): Well, now, I reckon it is
sort of an old-fashioned name. And that
rascal, Myna Bird, she's always been a
rebel. Bui anyhow, I love every name
in the whole wide world. What's she go
ing to call the tad? .
Birdie Bird (screwing up her
courage): Bobby.
Elbie (turning pink, red, purple and
exploding): Why, that's the ugliest thing
I've ever heard.
Birdie Bird ( w r i n g i n g her hands) :
Please, dear, be kind and gentle and . . .
Elbie (thundering): I am, damn it
And don't you forget it.
Well, tune in again, folks, and mean
time, as you mosey down the trail of life,
remember what Elbie's ol' granddaddy
used to say: "It takes a big man to ad
mit his mistakes. But it's better not to
get caught"
The Peaceful Sroaftch
...BY STEVE ABBOTT
Recently Columnist talked to Dick
Shugrue, former Daily Nebraskan editor
who taught political science here last
year.
Since Dick is a professional politician,
and since Columnist was once a national
officer in the Teenage Democrats, it is
not surprising that we discussed the fu
ture of American politics. But is there a
future to politics as we know it? That is
the question I would now like to pose.
Traditional Answer
Most people aren't interested in pol
itics (are you?). Everybody realizes this
situation but the traditional answer of
teachers and politicians has simply been,
"Well, people should be interested, they
should be involved." I think that this an
swer misses the boat.
If people aren't involved, there must
be a few reasons why, because we are
involved in affairs we feel concern us. It
has become too easy to lay problems at
the doorstep of apathy and leave it at
that.
The task of educated men is not to
whine around about apathy (as do so
many NU intellectuals) but to investigate
the reaons "why" beneath this apathy, to
describe the nature of the situation more
clearly and exactly. One must know the
enemy before he can effectively fight it.
Columnist suggests three causes
behind current American political apathy.
First, our major political parties are ir
relevant to us because they are ideolog
ically bankrupt. They don't stand for
anything. Oh, Democrats can claim to be
the party of the poor. They can mouth a
few New Dea1 slogans, but as 1984 ap
proaches, these are not only irrelevant,
they are repugnant and frightening.
New Names
As each new candidate coins new
names for old cliches we become in
creasingly sickened, (the definition of a
progressive is "one who rewords cliches,"
eg. Fair Deal, Square Deal, Big Deal,
et al- to the New Frontier and Great
Society)
Republicans, unfortunately, are even
more irrelevant. The Conservative sticks
his inveteratejiead in pre-Roosevelt sands
(wouldn't be so bad if he'd learn from the
past instead of merely relive it) while the
Liberal parrots progressive Democrats
(though from "Federalism" to "creative
Federalism" is no fundamental change in
vision).
Republicans who squawk "states
rights" usually do the least for states
they control, and the label "party of busi
ness" isn't valid anymore as so many
corporations have gone Democrat. If fur
ther proof, be needed of our parties in
tellectual bankrupty, recall YD and YR
columns of last fail. They were just as
vapid as their party's platforms.
Politics Victimized
A second reason we're not interested
in politics today is that we know politics
has fallen victim to the peaceful snatch.
It doesn't make any difference who is
elected, the System remains firm in con
trol regardless of who is at the helm, the
same national policies prevail.
Bureaucracy breeds bureaucracy and
only "safe" robot workers advance to con
trol positions in governmental machinery.
Just as even the powerful personality of
Chairman Mao couldn't dislocate bureau
cracy in China, so too there is no per
sonality in America who can control the
bureaucracy of the State Dept., CIA, De
fense Dept., et. al (MacNamara might
"seem" to be an exception but there are
those who maintain he doesn't "control"
his machinery so much as function ef
ficiently as a part of it).
Thus it is foolish to blame LBJ or
any single leader, for the war, for CIA
activities, or for anything else since they
.ARE ONLY "fronts" for the System.
It may even be that LBJ is a peaceful
man who has been unknowingly duped by
his monolithic governmental bureaucracy
and if our elected leaders can't control
the System, who can?
Cultural Lag
To even think traditional politics could
be relevant to contemporary culture is to
be caught in what sociologists term a
"cultural lag." Our belief in the efficacy
of traditional politics is analogous to
Louis XIVs belief in the efficacy of Di
vine Right of kings-
(Marshall McLuhan refers to this as
the rear view mirror theory. When peo
ple are confronted with new situatations,
they retreat to methods that were ap
plicable in old situations, even if those
old situations were basically different in
kind as well as degree). I ask you to test
this theory by your own experience.
Isn't watching national party conven
tions on TV rather like watching reruns
of Gunsmoke? We're given the atmosphere
of a quaint past with a few superimposed
superheros (eg. Ronald Reagan, Bobby
Kennedy, Tricky Dicky Nixon). The pas
sive viewer doesn't bother to change
channels because he knows all station:
carry the same show, even commercials
are the same. Still its too much trouble
to turn off the set!
TV Tolerable
Some cling to the faint hope that TV
will someday get a better caliber eater
tainment. But, for the average voter a
mediocre TV spectacular every four years
isn't too intolerable, no worse than Gun
smoke or Ed Sullivan. And that is where
the relevance of traditional politics be
gins and erds.
I have tried to show what we're up
against Professionals have only looked at
politics In its outmoded, irrelevant, (albeit
"traditional") framework, so natural
ly their suggested solutions are outmoded
and irrelevant also. An occasional intel
ligent person will think up a temporary
gimmick to make politics seem relevant
again (eg. TV debates, giving 20 dollars
to Bill Steen) but so long as these gim
micks are piecemeal, their value will be
shortlived.
Gimmicks Not Enough
What is needed is a fundamentally
new framework and context for politics
to operate in. Gimmicks aren't enough to
meet the crisis.
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I Campus Opinion
Nebraskan Remiss
Dear Editor:
It seems to me that the Daily Nebraskan has been
remiss in its duties. Its function is to inform the stu
dents and to help them achieve a "total education." This
it has not completely done.
Improved Immeasurably
Although I admit that in recent years it has im
proved immeasurably, there is one area in particular
where it has been a significant failure. This is in the'
area of informing students of what is going on on cam
pus and around Lincoln. There are many worthwhile and
entertaining things which happen in town or on campus
which students never find out about. I put much of the
blame for this on the Daily Nebraskan.
Although it is true that some events receive much
support from the Nebraskan (for instance Kosmet Klub
has had at least four articles on it, some on the front
page), other events just as worthwhile and definitely
more needy have failed to have any recognition and
support or at best very little (perhaps a one-inch space
on the next-to-last page).
To cite an example: on Monday and Wednesday
Henri Peyre, holder of the Sterling Chair in French at
Yale, gave the annual Montgomery lectures at Sheldon
Auditorium. In my opinion Professor Peyre gave two of
the best talks I have heard on this campus. He was
a very informative, witty lecturer. However the Daily
Nebraskan did not even take the trouble to inform the
students of the opportunity to hear this distinguished
scholar nor even admit that he was here.
Usual Occurrence
Now, if this were the only time this has happened,
one might shrug it off as a mistake, but this is the
usual rather than the unusual occurrence. It is only one
of an innumerable list of forgotten events which have
happened without any acknowledgement or support from
the Daily Nebraskan.
Such things as lab plays or even regular productions;
the weekly movies at Sheldon; plays, speakers and con
certs around town; and numerous others are lucky if
they even get mentioned.
It would seem to me that it would be more in ac
cord with the Nebraskan's philosophy if it publicized some
of these events rather than telling us who got pinned
or unpinned to whom or telling us about the progress of
some obscure legislative bill.
Publicize Events
I would like to suggest that if the Nebraskan is truly
concerned with helping and informing the students, it
shoul set aside a certain portion of the paper to an
nounce and publicize events of worth on campus and in
the town in the week or weeks ahead. This would pro
vide a useful service not only to the students but to
the events in question which often suffer from lack of
support.
Well, that is the problem, now what are you going
to do about it?
Doyle Niemann
Union Defends Flight
Dear Editor:
Re: Benno Wymar's letter to the Editor, "Flight Too
Expensive" .
No Intentions
The first clarification I would like to make is that
the Union has never had any intentions of making a pro
fit on the European Flight, and cannot possibly do so
with the low rate offered. The purpose of this trip is to
aid students, staff and faculty at the University who
desire to go to Europe by offering them a comfortable
and economical trip.
Mr. Wymar's letter stated that he believed "more
reasonable arrangements could be made especially in
light of recent airline rate reductions". I feel that there
must have been some misinterpretation of these rates.
Any rates which are lower than those offered by the
Union are not in conjunction with any American flight
lines. In setting up the trip the committee did not feel
that it was right for a University sponsored group to
charter a flight with foreign airlines. All American air
lines are under strictly supervised rates. If prices go
down for one company, they go down for all.
Of course there are many "comeons" advertised by
various airlines but if one looks into these flights, he
will find that any trip advertised for less that the Union
price has certain regulations. Such regulations include a
maximum of twentv-onfi davs in Piirnw nnrl th npppc.
sity of staying with a tourist group the entire time.
No Profit
The following is a breakdown of costs which clearly
show that the Union is making no profit on the flight:
Train transportation to and from Lincoln and Chi
cago $30
Air flight to and from Chicago and London ....$375
Total $405
A minimum of twenty-five people is needed to make
the trip possible and if up io fifty register there may be
a special governmental reduction in rates.
The deadline for final registration is May 2.
Hopefully, this letter has shown that this trip was
arranged by the Union to serve the students at the Uni
versity in the best way possible.
Kris Swanson, Chairman
Nebraskan Union Trips and Tours Committee
Closed Doors A I Rutgers
Dear Editor:
In view of the present question under consideration
concerning regular open house hours for the men's dormi
tories on campus, I would like to quote a few sentences
from a letter I received from a friend who attends
Rutgers University.
"The only other unusual happening at Rutgers was
the Board of Governors' passage of the 'closed-door
plan.' That is to say, we are allowed to have girls in
our room till one a.m. on both Friday and Saturday
nights with closed room doors."
Previously the men were only allowed to have the
girls in their rooms with doors open!
I thought this quote might be of interest to stu
dents and the administration of the University.
Roger J. Blood
Daily Nebraskan
March . 19CT
Vt. N Ne. 1
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damn vacations and nun periods, toy the students ol the University at Nebraska
nder the Jurisdiction ol the Faculty Subcommittee on Student Publications.
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Mint tw iM printed.
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enrrosUAL staff
Ed"' t!ucbe" Editor Bruce Giles: News Editor Jal
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ciinem nerr
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