Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 1970)
Union reorganizes by Dave Bun tain Students who have been bitching about Union programs now have an opportunity to change them. This Saturday, the city pro gram council is interviewing for "project chairmen" for the coming year. For the first time in years, prospective chairmen need not have previous Union experience. Nor must they in terview to head any of the Union's current projects. Students who have an idea for a new Union-sponsored program may present their ideas to the program council. If the program council feels the project has merits, the in terviewee and his program will enter the Union organization. IN DISPENSING with its committee structure, the Union is attempting to involve those students who do not feel that the Student Union is, in fact, their Union. With student sup port, these changes should transform the Union organiza tion from a traditional campus activity to a programming body that is in step with an ac tivist campus. Like most campus organizatons, the Union has faced an "identity crisis" in the last two years. Students in Union have looked at themselves and discovered that they are white, members of fraternities and sororities (is that redundant?). Clearly, such a make-up is not reflective of the students they purportedly represent. THEY HAVE further recognized that many Union programs were relics of another era trips, concerts and shows which no longer ap peal to the University student. The perpetuation of old pro grams was largely a result of the Union structure, which en couraged orderly advancement through a rigidly-defined organ izational chart. Union is not the only group to make these discoveries. ASUN, Builders and other groups have faced a similar crisis over membership and programming. But, unlike these other group, the Union Is not playing for penny-ante stakes. Indeed, this year students in Union will supervise a $150,000 budget, spending five times the amount of funds available to student government. Thanks to the recent student fee Increase, $4.50 of each student's fees Is routed to the Union program group each year. It is therefore In every student's Interest that the Union plan events which reflect his desires. THE NOTION that "power follows money" has been noted with concern by other student organizations, especially ASUN and the. Council on Student Life. Each has indicated its In terest in seeing that the Union spend Us budget wisely. Nevertheless, until now the primary motivation for chang ing Union has come from within. The Union Board of Governors which supervises both the operation and pro grams in the city and east campus Unions has expand ed itself to include represen tatives of student government, in addition to representatives of the Union organization. The City Program Council has been expanded to include more students, some of whom have not had previous Union experience. It was the new, expanded group which decided to eliminate committees and choose "project chairmen" in stead. THE WISDOM of this change will not be known until the project chairmen are chosen and begin their work. Yet, the potential for innovative Union programs has already been enhanced by the changes. Even before the interviews, the Program Council has been discussing the development of a Union coffee-house, a spring arts festival and new speaker programs. The ability of the Union to continue developing good pro grams will depend largely upon the quality and creativity of the chairmen selected Saturday. Suppository by DAN LADELY "Up yours," Fairmont Foods Company of Omaha, Nebraska. "Up yours" for creating and marketing "Indian Corn Chips, the fast vanishing American." The "Flower of Freshness" from Omaha had best take another look around the country and find out just who is "fast vanishing." I, for one, would like to see those "Indian Corn Chips" vanish from the shelves or change the copy on the packages to be less derogatory and a bit more truthful. For those of you not familiar with "Indian Corn Chips," they are a product of Fairmont Foods described on the package as "crunchy chunks of maize." The "Chips" are similar to other brands of corn chips except that they are uni quely shaped like little arrows. I wonder what public reaction would be if some company came out with a similar pro duct, shaped in the likeness of the Ken nedy brothers and called them "Kennedy Corn Chips, the fast vanishing American?" THIS MAY seem relatively unimpor tant in light of the horrendous treatment the Indians have been dealt from White America. However, I think it is another of the many things which contribute to "bad" attitudes among the less enlightened of our citizenry. Think of all the "Cowboy and Indian" movies you have seen. Not one has even been close to the truth. The Indians have survived some three or four hundred years of "you savage, me civilized" treatment from the white man. Of all the groups of offenders in our society, the most notorious has been the United States government. The government has a perfect record of breaking every treaty and agreement ever made with Indian tribes in this nation some four hundred and the latest treaty was broken in 1964. How about that for a credibility gap? Surprised that we are involved in the Vietnam war illegally? The Indians aren't. Things have to change in our dealings with all minority groups in this country and the biggest change must be our attitudes towards these groups. Those "Indian Corn Chips" certainly don't help. I am asking that Fairmont Foods take heed and change. I DON'T THINK the people at Fair mont are being malicious or even think they are doing anything wrong. I am certain they don't realize the implica tions of what they are doing. I am also asking that anyone who agrees with me to boycott "Indian Corn Chips" and not "buy-um the fast vanishing American." Let the people know your sentiments. They will react much faster and much more positively to a falling sales chart than to anything I could write. Perhaps the only glimmer of truth to be found in the copy on the "Indian Corn Chip" package is the last sentence: It's the American way." The time has long since passed that the American way was the only way. RAPPING Sir: I was ordered to report for Induction into the U.S. military service on May 12, 1969. Through delays in red tape, this date was successively postponed until after I had entered Canada, about the end of August. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have informed me that a warrant has been Issued by the U.S. for my ar rest. It seems strange to find the U.S.A., the traditional epitome of freedom, in the role of persecutor of political criminals. The Declaration of Independence clearly asserts the rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, all of which are violated by the draft. Further, the Declaration holds it to be self-evident that these rights are inalienable. That is, they are not to be abrogated by majority vote, political crisis, or any other means whatsoever. Unfortunately, the Declara tion of Independence does not have the status of constitu tional law, and the Constitution itself is not so clearly worded. Even so, and despite the Supreme Court, at least two clauses In the Constitution clearly proscribe conscrip tion. But laws change and con stitutions can be amended. My argument against the draft rests on absolute principles, which, by definition, are not subject to arbitrary altera tion. The fundamental charac teristic of man is that he must survive by means of reason; since life is his ultimate value, he has a clear right to attack the problems of reality with his own mind, and to reap the rewards. An immediate conse quence is that man has a right to his own life. The fundamental law of civilized society is: no man, nor group of men, including governments, may initiate the use of physical force against others. Retaliation is the only proper use of force. I assert that I have an absolute right to my own lfie. The United States has claimed my life as its own to control at will. I assert that I have an absolute right to be free of physical force. The United States has stated that I will be subject to physical coercion within its jurisdiction if I do not recognize its claim on my life. I have come to Canada to live. David F. Hoot Editor's note Hood Is a '65 NU graduate with high distinction in Electrical Engineering. His letter was originally addressed to Pres. Richard M. Nixon. 1 -r- FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1970 i i ) THE DAILY NEBRASKAN PAGE 5
