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Political football
The recent controversy over the Time-Out
Conference on human sexuality again demonstrates the
susceptibility of the University to political maneuvering
and pressure.
It is sad to see the public and politicians use the
University as a political football. Two Regents and
various candidates for political office were obviously
trying to gain political points with their unfair attacks
on the conference, which was sponsored by student
fees.
The bad publicity from the conference will not help
the University argue its budget case before the
Legislature in 1972. This is unfortunate since the
conference was an objective presentation of many
sexual issues that are being hotly debated in this
country.
The attacks on the conference could have a long
lasting effect on the school. The memory of the
Time-Out controversy will probably discourage
University officials and students from staging similiar
conferences that deal with controversial subjects.
In addition, Regents and state senators will probably
increasingly concern themselves with how student fees
are spent. The use of student fees should always be
scrutinized to protect the rights of individuals. But it
should be done primarily by the students since it is their
money.
Political pressure in University affairs seems to be
on the upswing After the campus protests of May, 1970,
the Board of Regents have been under pressure to "put
their house in order."
Such pressure played an important role in the
Regents' decisions during the last school year not to hire
Michael Davis and Stephen Rozman because of the
pair's involvement in protest activities. Criticism from
politicians and the public also forced the University to
scuttle last year's controversial course on homophile
studies.
Politics will always play a role in the University since
the school is supported by public tax money. However,
such pressure should be kept at a minimum. It is not a
good practice to sacrifice individual rights, academic
freedom and educational opportunities for political
expediency.
ih bob russell
rr Coming of age,
Fa, painfully
j- -
&Hmammltm'immmt'al
Brevity in letters is requested and the
Daily Nebraskan reserves the right to
condense letters. All letters must be
accompanied by writer's true name but
may be submitted for publication under
a pen name or initials. However, letters
will he printed under a pen name or
initials at the editor's discretion.
Dear editor:
Ever
i n c e the
This column is going to be about sex
today. I used that opening line to attract all
of you depraved readers. I'm going to tell of
my coming of age, of my change from a
regular looking kid with a butch haircut to
an eleven year old who had to sh;-ve, who
eventually turned out to be the bearded
individual you see in the picture above.
Coming of age, the change from
childhood to adolescence to adult, is usually
thought of as a pretty rough time. And the
main thing that makes this development
rough seems to be sexual development.
I've been reading a lot of Freud lately.
According to him, my development thus far
seems to be pretty normal, since I can't
remember any resentments I might have had
at a tender age.
About the only thing I can remember is
getting caught playing doctor and nurse with
the neighbor kids. I couldn't really figure
out anything to feel guilty about, so I didn't
feel guilty. Of course I didn't play doctor
any more either.
I was a neuter until about fifth grade, I
wasn't exceptionally normal or
exceptionally abnormal. I played football,
baseball, etc., but didn't get the biggest
charge out of those games. What I did
mostly was read our set of World Book
Encyclopedias. I enjoyed being able to tell
people that the capital of Outer Mongolia
was Ulan Bator.
My senses were awakened in fifth grade. I
got a crush on this girl, but i was really too
shy to do anything about it. In fact, she
never even knew I had a crush on her. About
the most romantic thing that happened to
the two of us was when we got kicked out of
class together for playing dot-to-dot in sixth
grade.
Around sixth grade or so all the boys of
my age were "into" proving their
masculinity by getting into fights, playing
football, and doing other sorts of crude and
gross things that seem to go along with the
American tribal ritual of being a "man." I
must admit that I went along with the ritual
somewhat by playing football and I suppose
doing several crude and gross things, but I
never could see the logic of fighting. Any
way you look at it, when you fight, you
lose.
If you win the fight, the guy is going to
want revenge, so you just have to put up
with another fight. If you lose, you lose.
And either way, you are liable to get
somewhat messed up in the face, if not
elsewhere.
Since I wasn't a Flaming Heterosexual
(FH-having above average physical qualities
of whatever sex you are and taking
appropriate actions to prove it, like getting
into fights or walking funny, like lots of girls
do) I had a hard time breaking into the
junior high spin-the-bottle social scene. We
hadn't heard of drugs yet, like the kids
nowadays, so that left spin-the bottle.
I didn't play junior high football when I
was in eighth grade. I rationalized it in many
ways, but wouldn't admit that I just didn't
like the game, except in a disorganized way
on Sunday afternoon. I suppose one reason I
didn't like the game was that all the Flaming
Heterosexual males wore football spikes,
whereas I made due with tennis shoes, thus
exposing my feet to obvious hazards.
My rationalizations folded in ninth grade.
I succumbed and went out for football.
One reason was that I was somewhat
unsure of my masculinity, not having proved
it for two seasons. Another was a crush I had
on this girl who was a Flaming Heterosexual
at the time, although she has since reformed.
I had gone up to see her a few times the
previous summer. Her parents really liked
me, but she thought I was just OK. The next
fall, midway in the football season, she was
stolen from me by one who was more
flaming than I. At this point I finally
realized the ridiculousness of the whole
thing.
I decided to remain above it all, or rather,
to the side of it all. But I still had some
latent Flaming Heterosexual qualities to
shed. You will hear about it next week in
"How to Be Heterosexual without Being
Flaming."
announcement of the Regent's
meeting on the Time-Out
Conference everyone and every
organization around this state
has been lining up on one side
or the other, whether they are
ambitious politicians from
Omaha or Scottsbluff or a
minority of individuals trying
to justify their different
moralistic (or lack of) views.
There is one organization of
individuals that up to this
point have been silently
watching the situation and who
now wish to be heard from.
Although the membership
of the Young Americans for
Freedom (YAF) is very
divided on subjects such as
abortion, birth control and the
role of homosexuality, basic
points have to be defended on
both sides of the argument.
Everyone is an individual and
should have the right to
practice and preach his own
beliefs as long as they don't
infringe on anyone else's rights.
The Time-Out Conference
clearly brings this point to the
front. I would like to ask
certain critics why these people
should not be allowed to
express their point of view.
A very important and
overriding fact remains to be
evaluated, and that is whether
or not the conference should
be permitted. This is a question
of the allocation of student
fees. Throughout the country
YAF has been fighting the use
of student money to further
moral and political beliefs that
all students cannot support.
The people (ASUN) who whine
about government spending in
Vietnam from a moral
standpoint are the same ones
that copy the very activities
they criticize when the
opportunity arises.
The unbelievable amount of
our money that has been
allotted should be put to a use
that all students can benefit
from, not just a few. If no
acceptable program is available
why not return it and all the
rest of similarly spent money
to the students?
Griggs Bennett
Chapter Co-Chairman UNL YAF
Dear editor,
The trend indicated in the
allowance of student fees to be
used to sponsor the Time-Out
Conference and The Daily
Nebraskan is alarming.
The freedom of speech issue
is not relevant here because I
feel these homosexuals should
be allowed to have their view
stated. However I feel that I
should not be forced to pay
them to speak. The use of
compulsory student fees to
support The Daily Nebraskan
constitutes another injustice.
Although the students voted to
continue use of student fees
for the paper last spring,
minority rights should be
respected. If the The Daily
Nebraskan has so much
support it should be
economically feasible to run it
on voluntary subscription
money. Freedom from the
financial dependence of its
subscribers can and has led to
blatant irresponsibility in our
student newspaper.
These two examples point
out the trend toward socialism
of our campus. It is time to let
the students decide how to
spend their money and give
them back one of their
fundamental rights, economic
freedom.
John F. Scamehorn
Member YAF
Dear editor,
After having attended
the speech given by Dr. Alan
Bell, I feel compelled to write
you regarding Steve Kadel's
report of Dr. Bell's speech,
which appeared in last
Thursday's Daily Nebraskan. I
was very sorry to find what I
would call a very striking
contradiction between what
Dr. Bell actually said and what
was reported.
This article, in my opinion,
was highly slanted. It related
only the negative aspects of
homosexuality. I would have
to agree that Dr. Bell did relate
some of the negative aspects,
and that this article did report
what he said. What it did not
do was to show what he said in
its true light. This article was
so slanted toward the negative
side of what was said that
anyone reading it would in no
way be able to understand
what Dr. Bell was really
saying.
Dr. Bell did not say that
homosexuality was in any way
as negative toward society
andor life in general as this
article points out.
I only hope that the rest of
the people in the audience did
not hear just that which
apparently was heard by the
reporter.
James L. Field
Taking a chance Lawyer s join student-power alliance
Gov. J. J. Exon's pledge not to raise the income and
sales taxes has threatened to delay many high priority
capital construction projects for the state. However,
state Sen. John DeCamp of Neligh says he is going to
introduce legislation next session to correct this
situation.
DeCamp proposes establishing a state-run lottery
with the state's proceeds (estimated at S6 million
annually) going to help build a new law college and
library addition at the University and a new state prison
complex. Under DeCamp's formula, 45 per cent of the
proceeds would go to the state while the other 55 per
cent would go into the fund to pay the winners of the
lottery.
Most people mentioned it to are stunned at
first," he said, "but after examining the lottery, they
came back and said it was the best way to get these
projects done."
The beauty of the lottery, as DeCamp pointed out, is
that it is voluntary and doesn't increase taxes. Some
have criticized the lottery as gambling, but the state
currently has bingo and betting on horseracing.
While the lottery has merits, DeCamp's proposal is an
open admission that the Governor and the Legislature
refuse to meet the needs of the state through
conventional methods of financing.
The chances of the Legislature increasing taxes
during the upcoming election year are very slim. It
appears that necessity may require the state to adopt
the lottery to finance the long over-due building
projects.
Gary Seacrest
PAGE 6
by M. Howard Gelrand
College Press Service
As the student power movement
shifts from the street to the
conference rooms, college and
university students are finding new
tools and unlikely allies in the
perennial struggle to wrest power
from administrators,
A new breed of young,
anti-establishment attorneys is
creating a legal power base from
which students can deal with
everything from greedy landlords to
college presidents. Some of the
lawyers emphasize protecting the
student as a consumer. One such
lawyer is Jim Boyle, who has been
defending University of Texas
students for two years.
Boyle, whose salary is part of
the student government budget, is
not allowed to sue the university,
so he spends much of his time
helping his clients cope with
insurance salesmen, auto mechanics
and landlords.
One of the most radical of the
new breed, Richard Howland,
counsels University of
Massachusetts students. He was
hired in 1969 when the University
chancellor --a botanist whom
Howlands calls "rosebud"- irked
students by controlling the student
fees budget.
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Another students' lawyer,
Robert Ackerman, has been
defending young people since he
graduated from the University of
Oregon in 1963. "Our clients
became more and more youth
oriented in 1965, with the
proliferation of dope busts,"
Ackerman says.
His crucible was also a legal fight
over student fees, and he helped
Oregon students gain control of
how their student fee money is
spent. Those fees now pay his
salary .
Boyle, Howland, and Ackerman
are part of the handful of student
government attorneys working in
the U. S.; they would like to see
more adder! to their number.
"If the president tells you you
can't get a lawyer, get a lawyer to
see if you can get a lawyer,"
Howland said. He does not advise
asking first, however.
Boyle, unlike Howland, ran into
resistance from University and state
officials. The Texas state auditor
ruled that he could not bo paid
with student government money, so
Texas students set up a
corporation. The corporation sells
insurance and may soon establish a
janitorial service.
Boyle enjoys telling the story
about the student who was assessed
$600 in repairs on a 1969
Volkswagen. Boyle was ready for
the attempted swindle: he retained
a mechanic who checks out
questionable work and fees of other
mechanics; in this case, it was
decided that drastic action was
needed.
"Our mechanic went to get the
car and said 'Let's take it for a
test drive before we pay the bill,' "
Boyle says. "And then he diove it
right home."
Another way to achieve power is
through the press. Boyle, with the
help of 15 law students, regularly
issues press releases that contradict
conservative dispatches of the
University of Texas public relations
department.
While Boyle has been helping
students through the press,
Ackerman spent last year lobbying
at the Oregon state legislature.
Asked why they want to defend
students, the lawyers say that
young people, as a group, aie
oppressed and need legal aid.
Boyle, who represented poor
people in Louisiana before coming
to Texas, says, "I was reluctant to
sarve students because they were
only temporarily poor. But I took
the job because it was a challenge,
especially with the hostile board of
regents."
Just having a lawyer around,
says Howland, can completely
change the student-administration
relationship. "When the university
tells a student who wants
something, "We'll check it out with
our attorney,' and the student says
'Fine, we'll check it out with ours,'
it really blows their mind. It
removes the mystique of the law;
you've got your own witch
doctor."
Editor: Gary Seacrest. Managing Editor: Laura Willers. News Editor:
Steve Strasser. Advertising Manager: Barry Pilger. Publications
Committee Chairman: James Horner.
Sl.ifl writers Bill Smifhurman, Carol Stressor, Marsha Kahm, Bart
Becker, Dennis Snyder, Vicki Pulos, Roxann Rollers. Steve Kadel, H J
Cummins, Randy Beam, I ucy Lien, Du.ine I eil'hart Sports editor Jim
Johnston. Photographers Bill Cmel. Gail Folda Entertainment
editor Larry Kuherl Literary editors Alan Bovu, Lucy Kerchberger.
East campus writer 1 erri Bedient Artist Al Chan Copy editors Tom
Lansworth, Jim Clemons, Sara Trask, Jim Gray, Night editor Leo
Schleicher
BUSINESS STAFF
Coordinator: Jerri Haussler. Add staff: Grew Scott, Beth
Malashoi k, Jane Kidwell, Sue Phillips, Mick Morarty, Jelf Aden, Steve
Yates, Kay Phillips, O. J. Nelson, Sui Goeliel, Phil, Merry weather,
I rry Swanson, Laurel Marsh, Chris Collins, Don Neddenroip,
Secretary. Kathy Cook.
. telephones editor 47? 2SB8, news 472 2b80. advertising
42 2b'0, Second class postdiie rates paid at Lincoln, Nebraska.
Subscription rales are $b per semester or $9 per year Published
Monday. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday during the school year
encepi during vacation and cuam periods. Member ot the Intercollegiate
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The Daily Nebiaskan is a student publication, independent of the
University ol Nebraska's administration, leculty and student
government.
Address The Daily Nebraskan. 34 Nebraska Union. University o
Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 6Bt08.
0 1 fai" tiwa,d
A
s
War only changing
Bill Tiwaldis associated with
the University of Nebraska
Coalition for Peace and Justice.
Three hundred to four
hundred people, mostly Asians,
die every day because of our
continued military involvement
in Indochina. This number has
fluctuated, but has changed
little since the war was front
page news a few years ago.
Richard Nixon says he is
winding down the war. Why
haven't people stopped dying?
Maybe this interview with
an American B-52 pilot at
Uttaphao Air Force Base,
Thailand, will begin to unlock
this mystery.
"It sure is funny to fight a
war. 1 mean, I have yet to even
see Vietnam or Laos. I get up
in the morning, have breakfast
and fly off. And man, I don't
see anything-just clouds, sky
and sun.
"I get to the coordinates on
the map, drop my load, and
I'm back in time for beer and
lunch in the base restaurant
complete with air conditioning.
After a nap, I usually spend the
afternoon swimming.
"I'm living with this Thai
chick. Sometimes we go out at
night to a bar or I go play
cards. Usually I just stay
around the house, reading or
screwing."
The war isn't winding down,
it's changed. American boys
pull levers at thousands of feet,
not triggers at human forms
one hundred yards away.
No longer are war reporters
and photographers watching
our boys kill and be killed.
They fly with them and report
their dropping of explosives
over vaguely defined targets.
The people of our country
are freed from the personal
involvement of having so many
sons fighting on the ground.
But in one important way it's
all much worse for all of us.
Our sons now succumb to the
numbness of a technological
war.
There are 250,000
American ground combat
troops remaining in Vietnam. I
doubt that Nixon will ever pull
all of them out.
Even if he does, what about
the 532,000 American men
(and some women) in military
uniforms in the Southeast
Asian Theatre pushing buttons,
pulling levers, typing reports
and building air strips?
What about you and I, who
every day live oblivious of our
government appropriating our
taxes to destroy human beings?
Herein Lincoln
the Nebraskans for Peace are
asking workers, farmers,
business people and students to
symbolically die on the steps
of the State Capitol this
Wednesday at noon.
There is a booth in the
Nebraska Union where you
may find out more details on
the demonstration.
Tuesday there will be a
Peace Fair in the Union.
7 T 2Ssv W
"
I'm not sure of the rules, but it
looks like an interesting game.'
MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1971
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
PAGE 7
S' '
MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1971