Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1969)
J 1. 'r qj 2 u u THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1969 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA VOL. 92, NO. 66 ,; S' Thg ) f i And now, the staff of Don L. Love Memorial Library sings that proverbial University favorite ... Too many books and not enough room. Unicameral to vote on contractual age by Ron Talcott Nebraskan Staff Writer A bill which would give Nebraska 20-year-olds 'the full responsibilities of citizenship" will soon be voted on by state legislators, according to Sen. Elvin Adamson of Valentine, sponsor of the bill. Adamson gave two reasons why he preferred 20 rather than 19 as the age at which Nebraskans can make legal contracts. "I consider this bill as sort of a companion to the voting age amend ment (a proposal to lower the voting age to 19) which the people rejected, he said. "I see no reason to harass the peo ple by making the contractual age 19." ADAMSON ALSO said that many 18 and 19-year-olds are still in school, but by age 20, "65 per cent of them have made the transition into the military or labor. They get the realistic- instead of the theoretical ap proach to life." - Why lower the contractual age at all? "I believe by the age of 20, a person has had some experience and has the maturity to enter into legal contracts and to purchase all consumer goods, including alcoholic beverages," Adamson said. On this point, Adamson explained the difference between the contractual age bill and Sen. Terry Carpenter's bill to lower the drinking age. oreign F Di education, friendship at University Editor's note: The following is an analysis of the situation of foreign students at the University. by Bachittar Singh Nebraskan Staff Writer The 29th of August, 1968, will always be a day to remember. . It was the day I stepped into the United States. That day was the commence ment of a new era in my life. My host family met me at the Lincoln airport. My first week in Lin coln was spent with them. On the 7th of September I moved into Benton Hall, the graduate residence hall, which is a part of the Selleck Quadrangle complex. A total stranger to all those around me, I felt utterly lest. It was an experience I had never had before. Although surrounded by people, I felt desperately alone. . IT WAS THEN that it dawned on me what a wonderful thing friendship is. Slowly the ordeal ceased. Un familiar faces became familiar. In dividuals began smiling and saying hello. People began speaking to me. I could find my way around campus. The worst part of being in a foreign country was over. This is my fifth month at the University. During this time I have come to realize the general conditions prevalent on campus. Unhappily, I am dissatisfied with my observation. ,. ; -"I-.".-.-' it . ( ' - ;' " ' . V'" ' ' 1 7 "HIS (CARPENTER'S) bill would lower the age to 18 and also reduce the alcoholic content of the beverages he could buy. Under this bill (LB 167), the drinking age would be 20. but a person could buy as hard a liquor as they make," Adamson said. In discussing the opposition to LB 167, Adamson said that he thinks the student demonstrations have had an adverse effect. "Many feel they haven't shown the maturity that could be hoped for," he continued. "Another argument against the bill," Adamson continued, "is that 20 year olds are inexperienced and would be subjected to con artists who they couldn't cope with. But records show that the elderly are the most suscep tible to these people, so if you use that argument, perhaps we should set an age at which people can no longer enter into contracts." If LB 167 passes, one would wonder if a "companion bill" to lower the voting age to 20 might be introduc ed. "NO" ADAMSON SAID. "To change the voting age requires a corstitu tional amendment. These other things (contractual age and drinking age) are statuatory." "The judiciary committee amended LB 167 to lower the age to 19 instead of 20," Adamson said, "but this amendment was rejected (by a ma jority vote in general file." student recollects I WOULD LIKE TO express my reactions. As opposed to the majority of foreign students, I have actively tried to participate in many areas of campus life to observe and com prehend the American way of life. Finding the Americans reluctant to talk to me, I talked to them. And sure enough, a majority of them responded. Living in a dormitory gave me numerous opportunities to mingle with the American students and to talk with them. It resulted in my coming to know them better as individuals and not just faces without personalities. I soon found that the overwhelm ing majority of foreign students live, off campus, frequently in cluster groups. The prime reason for this is the food problem that exists in the dorms, and I share their sentiments. But the real reason is, I feel, simply that most foreign students are for the most part unnoticed, neglected and do not feel that they are part of the group. Is there any valid basis for this phenomena? From my personal observation, I feel there is, to a cer tain degree. Intentionally or uninten tionally, the majority of the American students seem disinterested in the welfare of foreign students. Most of them seem to make no efforts to create friendship with the foreign students. And even if they 'Love Library's situation desperate due to lack of space, book shortage! by John Dvorak Nebraskan Staff Writer Ten years ago, Frank A. Lundy, the director of libraries, warned that Love Library was in trouble. Now, he says the situation is desperate. "As of now, we are only able to seat 10 per cent of the students," Lundy said Wednesday afternoon. "We should be seating 25 per cent." Many evenings Love Library turns away students. THE BOOK budget, too, is in sad shape, according to Lundy. An in creased budget is needed, both for the purchase of new books and to buy old volumes not purchased in former years. In terms of total volumes held, Love Library is fast sinking into the depths of nowhere. The Library is currently ranked 61st out of . 71 members of the Association of Research Libraries, Lundy pointed out. The library contains about 860,000 volumes. That means Love is ranked somewhere between small and medium-small according to the Association. If present trends con tinue, Love Library will rank smaller than small by 1976, Lundy said. "NOW WE are not attempting to keep up with the Harvard and Yale libraries," Lundy stressed. But soon, Love Library will be com parable to libraries at Montana and North Dakota. "We have always lagged behind in the purchase of books and materials," he said. For instance, eight or ten years ago Love Library completed its microfilming of the New York Times and the London Times. Most other universities had completed this 25 years ago. Recent explosions on the frontiers of knowledge mean that more types of reserch material are available, and Senate approves by Sue Pettey Nebraskan Staff W riter After much haggling Wednes day over parliamentary procedure, ASUN Senate finally passed Sen. Bob Zucker's proposal for the organiza tion of the ASUN Constitutional Con vention to be held on March 1. The motion passed with 22 votes for, none against and three absten tions. Before the senators got to the business of discussing the motion at hand, Sen. Larry Donat took the floor to lament what he claimed the death of ASUN a week ago. He said that the constitutional convention was called for the sole purpose of "cram ming reapportionment through," but that it could still play a big part in the much needed revision of student government. HE ASSAILED what he termed personal, political motives of many senators as obstructing valuable ASUN work. Donat concluded by do, the effort is so superficial. A nod, a smile, a word "Hi," and that's all. American students who were the best of friends with me durng foreign American student functions, ignored me on campus the very next day. This attitude of the Americans con fuses and frustrates the foreign stu dent. , For instance, at times I wonder if people were interested in me as another human being or a freak with a turban. The attitude and behavior of some Americans towards foreign students makes them feel inferior, which they are not. How many foreign students have been pledged to fraternities and sororities? Has there ever been a foreign stu dent senator? AS A' RESULT FOREIGN students feel a great deal of resentment toward the American superiority syndrome American human beings. However, foreign students are not absolved of sharing the blame either. In talking to them, I have concluded that many of them indulge in self-pity that many are just as apathetic as the Americans they have come to despise. ' Discrimination exists with the same intensity among foreign students as their American counterparts. There is also that group of foreign the University must have this, Lundy said. .,. MORE BACK FILES of periodicals are also needed. By these, Lundy doesn't necessarily mean popular, widely read magazines, but the more scholarly journals and reviews. "We don't want to buy all the books that are available, but we can't bor row a lot of books from other institu tions, either," he said. However, with an increase in the total number of volumes comes a need for an increase in storage space. To compensate for the lack of space, the library is shuffling books to other locations. "This will barely get us through the next three or four years." Lundy cautioned. "We must have more space. It may get to the point where we will have to put up some old army quonset huts." THE OBVIOUS answer to space problems is a new addition to Love Library, which has already been - , J .''j-'l::.,!!:S!ii'V . s . w " " The library, a nice place to study saying that he could no longer func tion as part of a dead organization, submitted his resignation and walked out. The proposal under consideration would provide for a Constitutional Convention of not more than 30 delegates with represenatives from IDA, the Greek system, the colleges, the ASUN Reapportionment Com mittee and students-at-large. All full time University students are to be considered non-voting members of the convention, according to the act, with certain rights to speak before the group. Items to be included on the agenda will be submitted before the opening of the Convention so that delegates could approve the agenda in the opening session. THE SENATE approved Zucker's proposals by dividing them into articles to be voted upon separately. The first amendment received two revisions. Four representatives from pursuit students, who do not feel they have the time nor energy to devote to breaking down barriers existing on campus. These foreign students have gotten very little education for their pieces of paper given at graduation, for they have squandered the op portunity to come to understand a different way of life. .Personally, I don't want Americans to grant us special privileges or singular attention, but have them treat us as fellow human beings possessed with the same sentiments, emotions and feelings. A SMALL AMOUNT of encourage ment by our American hosts would go a long way in bringing out students who have come to a "strange land" away from home and who are unknowing and uncertain of how to act, react and behave towards the hosts of this nation. It is with this in mind that the graduate council of Benton and Fairfield hopefully plan for expansion of its present facilities for next year. I hope that other such programs can be initiated so foreign students may enter the mainstream of campus life, a dialogue may be created, ideas may be shared, different viewpoints on life may be exchanged, and that the family of man may come to a better understanding. We can and must exist as a whole. - designed. The Board of Regents, as part of the capital improvement fund, is asking for $6.5 million for the new addition. The addition would consist chiefly of book shelves and reading spaces. "The addition would make Love Library the biggest building on cam pus. It would extend north from the present structure almost all the way to Andrews and Burnett Halls," he said. THE BASEMENT of the new struc ture could be operated around the clock. It would be pegged mostly to the freshmen and sophomores. The terrace, as Lundy likes to call it, would seat 600-800 and would contain 50,000 volumes. The first floor of the new addition would be the heart of the building. It would contain card catalogues and information desks. The second floor would house the administration of the library. The third and fourth floors would consist and think if you can find a place overcrowded lacility. Convention bill the ASUN reapportionment Com mittee were deleted, and nine delegates-at-large to be selected by a lottery conducted by the ASUN ex ecutive Committee were specified to come from off-campus independent students. Sen. Larry Anderson introduced an amendment calling for appointment of delegates by ASUN Senate, with the provision that no senator wrwin -e as a delegate while still retaining his seat. He explained that there wouid not be adequate time for elections , 4 ) i 1 1 i Refusing to be part of a "dead" organization any longer, Senator s Larry Donat submitted his resignation and walked out of Wednes day's Senate meeting. The group proceeded with business as usual - . mostly of book stacks and reader space. By 1973, all currently available storage space will be filled with books. The Library will be jammed. :; :tZZ- At present, despite all the Library's troubles, the new addition has been sidetracked. Governor Norbert T. Tiemann recommended that almost all of the capital improvement ' fund recommended by the Board " of Regents be postponed for at least two years. -""' So the University is doing everything possible to persuade state legislators to reinstate funds for 'the. new Library, as well as for other much needed buildings on campus; Lundy noted. Efforts thus far hV not met with success. " ..'Z Lundy is now making a great effort to get the new addition, but everyone, students and faculty alike, must be concerned. If no new facility is con structed, he emphasized, faculty members and students could begin tQ leave. The entire University will deteriorate, he warned. to sit in the usually overlooked, ' before March 1, and that his amend ment was in the interest of time. Senators defeated the measure, with only Anderson voting for his own pro posal. The remainder of Zuckerls proposal received little criticism. Senators could not agree on whether or not to vote on the act as a whole was necessary, since each article had been approved separately. To assure egality of their actions, the senators voted again, this time pass ing the act in its entirety. 'A . - A . ; .V'J' ' 4. mil . i ,( ?-! . t t ' I t' J if ! t I i 'j V- It- I'. . V Y ; ft4 w - ; v. ir
