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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1970)
Library funds Of all the building needs facing the Uni versity, (law college, home economics, ath letic and intramural), the most pressing need a new library seems to have fallen quietly by the wayside. The reason is simple enough. Thanks to some legislative voting technical ities and Gov. Tiemann's veto of an appro-, priations bill which included library money, the funds cannot be used until the Nebraska Supreme Court decides on the constitution ality of the unicameral's vote on the appro priation bill. That decision will not come until April or May. IN THE MEANTIME, the library situation worsens. Bulging Love Library has trans ferred 80,000 books to C. Y. Thompson Li brary and another 85,000 to the law library annex. Both these storage locations will hold only 5,000 more volumes. Another under graduate library with seating capactiy of 1,000 and 15,000 books has been opened in Ne braska Hall, seeming miles from Love where most reference books and information is lo cated. To add to the problem, the number of books is growing at the rate of 70,000 volumes a year. Even with access to more space in Nebraska. Hall and other potential storage space, the University library system will be filled to capacity by Jan. 1, 1973. What then Statehouse and Unicameral, shall we burn books, or not buy any more at all? Solutions to the problem are limited. Within another year, 100,000 more books will have to be moved from Love, and faculty are quarreling over which department's books will be moved. An alternative would be to use the already overcrowded student study space for book storage. That is as unacceptable to stu dents as removing books is to faculty. The University is assured of $2 million for the library, but it is illegal in Nebraska to begin constructing a state-financed building before the final appropriation is made. If the. State Supreme Court decides the library monies should, in fact, be appropri ated and all proceeds as planned, the Uni versity could begin excavation by autumn. If not, nothing can be done until the 1971 Leg islature acts on the University budget, and, judging from past budgets, the University has no guarantee the library money will be included, regardless of past legislative intent. Ironically, the man who vetoed the appropria tions bill may be in a position to speed li brary construction if the court decides against the funding. Tiemann, if re-elected, could at tempt to persuade the Unicameral to consider the library appropriation in February. Like wise, the Legislature could do so on its own initiative. Unless a special library bill gets preferential treatment in February, no action probably would be taken until August. NEVERTHELESS, any action will be late and the $6 and one-half million may be too lit tle. The University spent 100 years accumulat ing one million books, but it will only take 15 more years to add another million. The Uni versity, statehouse and Legislature failed mis erably in forseeing and preventing the li brary crisis. While the University was build ing dorms to provide housing for students, it was neglecting to provide housing for one of the primary reasons students are here. The University must plan now for future library needs which in a very short time will again be a problem. im Pederscn Faculty Focus by DAVID LEVINE Chm., Dept. of Psychology Sometime during the late evening hours of July 25, 1967, three black youths were taken one at a time into separate motel rooms by one of three white Detroit policemen and shot to death. One of the policemen has been tried for murder and ac quitted; all have been tried by an all-white federal jury for "conspiring to violate the civil rights" of the victims and ac quitted. More details are presented in John Hersey's book, "The Algiers Motel Incident" and have appeared In newspapers and magazines. Are you aware of them? DURING the summer of 19C5, two white and one black civil rights worker were murdered in Mississippi by a group of white men which probably Included the County Deputy Sheriff. The events are described in "Three Lives for Mississippi" by John Huey. Whatever happened to those lynchers? Last summer in Omaha a white policeman shot a black teenage girl while she was running away from him. What became of him? At about the same time, a black barber was arrested for carrying a con cealed weapon. What is his legal status? Professor Stuart S. Nagel of the University of Illinois has "largely confirmed the hypothesis", on the basis of 11,000 state eases and 36,000 federal cases from all 50 states, that blacks are treated dif ferently from whites by our system of justice with regard to receiving a preliminary hear ing, being released on bail, having a lawyer, receiving a prison sentence rather than a suspended sentence or proba tion, and receiving a longer sentence for the same crime. ALTHOUGH INCOME for both whites and blacks is ris ing, the discrepancy between the average income for blacks and whites is becoming greater, not less. More black children are attending all-black schools now than at the time of the Supreme Court desegrega tion decision. "What can I do?" you ask. FIRST, TAKE the time to get informed and to stay informed. Isn't that the beginning of what education is about? And there doesn't have to be a course on "Race Relations" or "Vietnam in the Sixties" in order to stay informed. What's necessary to stay in formed Is to read more than the Lincoln Journal and Daily Nebraskan or watch the news on TV. : For starters, I would j-ecom-mend a $5 annual subscription to I. F. Stone's Bi-Weekly (available by writing: j I. F. Stone's Bi-Weekly, 4420 29th St., NW, Washington, D.C., 20008) SECOND, THINK and talk about what you are reading if you disagree with an instruc tor, speak up when he asks "Are there any questions?" If he never asks, see him during office hours and suggest that some time for questions from the class might be educational. If you disagree with a friend or acquaintance, speak up. If you hear a racial slur, speak up. If you disagree with what I'm writing now, speak up. THIRD, do something. Recause if you've read, thought, and spoken up, you won't have to ask, "What can do?" There's plenty for everyone to do. What you might find out is that you don't want to do what you decide needs to be done. DAILY NEBRASKAN Second class postage paid at Llneotn, Neb. Telephones! Editor 472-2591, Business 471-ISW, Nwi 471250. Subscription rates art 4 per semester or Is par year. Published Monday, Wednesday! Thursday and Friday during the school year except during vacation and axam periods. Member of Intercollegiate Press, National Educational Adver tising Service. The Dally Nebraskan li student publication, Independent of the University of Nebraska's administration, facvity and sfv ' dent government. f ' Addresst Daily Nebraskan 34 Nebraska Union University of Nebraska ; Lincoln, Nebraska atSOS PAGE 4 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN 1