aolm ID) it e s Ik a 0 u u THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1970 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA Vol. 93, No. 83 HEP: oca iK Earth day page 3 Editorials page 4 E-Week page 6 Serendipity 70 page 8 Charged with racism For primary election Law: students to register at home Students desiring to vote in the May 12 primary election "probably won't be con sidered residents of Lancaster County according to the elec toral commissioner. Under Nebraska law, only those citizens termed legal residents by the electoral commission will be allowed to vote in that county. This, however, does not mean that college students from outstate will be refused the right to vote in Lincoln just because they are students. "What it means," according to electoral commissioner Dean II. Petersen, "is that most students are not legal residents of Lancaster County. They ac tuilty have a tegal residence elsewhere." Petersen urged students in stead, to register In their respective home counties before the May 1 deadline for registering. "Under a new Nebraska law people can register by mail. I w.uld urge students to write their county clerk as soon as possible and request a registration form." he added. Students would also be wise to request an absentee ballot at the same time to avoid con tusion, he said. In order to legally register in a county tn tne state of Nebraska a citizen must be a resident of the state at least six months, a resident of the c unty 4' days and a resident of the precinct 10 days, he said. lVersn also said students who will be having their 2lst . birthday after the May i registration deadline but on or before the May 12 election should register before the deadline. The registration will be approved on the date of the individual's 21st birthday. Anyone ho has changed his or her name or place of residence, even within the county, must re-register. Peo ple who want to change party affiliation must also register again according to state law. by CAROL ANDERSON NtbraskM Staff Writer Charges of racism were leveled at the HEP (High School Equivalency Program) at Wednesday's ASUN Senate meeting by Sen. Phil Medcalf. The charges were aimed at HEP Director Gale Muller and two of his staff members, Ted Reithmeier and Mercedes M. Crawford, a HEP reading teacher, who attended the ASUN meeting by invitation. The standardized test HEP students must take at the end of the six to eight month pro gram doesn't consider the cultural differences of HEP students, most of whom are Chicanes, Medcalf said. HEP students are "culturally different, not culturally deprived," Mrs. Crawford said in answer to Medcalf's statements. She implied that this is why the program doesn't concentrate more on the psychological side of the stu dent. Several student counselors have been fired from the pro gram for disagreeing with its philosophy of Americanizing students Medcalf said. He pointed out three former counselors in attendance at the meeting. One of the former counselors, Mike Shonsey said he had resigned from the pro gram as a counselor but pro bably would have been fired if he hadn't. Shonsey said HEP frowned on counselor-student social ac tivities such as drinking together and that some students felt counselors were just babysitting. He said he is concerned because all the counselors are white, differing culturally from HEP students. Muller said special efforts are made to recruit Chicano counselors but so far none had been hired. He refused to discuss the firing of former counselors in public but offered to talk with Medcalf privately. Muller argued that HEP had a right to expect its counselors to maintain certain standards and that these standards are not necessarily value-loaded but based on experience. The ASUN inquiry was in stigated by a resolution in troduced by Medcalf resolving that "ASUN request the CSL to review the relationship of University students to the NHRRF. The NHRRF (Nebraska Human Resource Research Foundation) is con nected with the University and operates HEP as one of its 11 projects, according to Muller. He said HEP is federally funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) and operated according to GEO guidelines. Medcalf withdrew his resolution but says he "still feels strongly that HEP is a racist program." He said he brought up the issue because "it needs airing." The matter will probably come up again in the Human Rights Committee, Medcalf added. V "5 ! if ; A rA a f- . I :l ' fir 1 V vV " iMff I'll ' sif f I I iV n. m 1 f y l . h'M - ' ' Y x. 'Cabaret comes on with bumps, grinds, and all the joys of spring time. Performers will exhibit their talents April 17 and 13 at Pershing Auditorium. Ptwtq by Dan Ladely