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doug vooglor
Fee blues
as
There has been a lot of
rhetoric over the issue of
student fees and I think that it
is time to look at the heart of
the matter before things go too
far. Opponents to the use of
student fees state that they are
being forced to pay for a
newspaper and speakers which
express political or moral
philosophies that they do not
agree with.
The real question here is not
any idealistic, libertarian
objection to the total concept
of student fees, but rather
specific objections to the uses
to which some student fees
have been put to in the past
few years.
Many things are supported
or made possible through
student fees. It is an inclusive
concept. You cannot pick out
certain specific items such as
the World in Revolution
Co nf ere nee, The Daily
Nebraskan or ASUN. Besides
these, the Union' Program
Council (UPC) the Health
Center and ASUN services such
as the Xerox machines are
supported by student fees. To
remove all of these for the
mere sake of some libertarian
goal would do great harm to
the University.
Concerning The Daily
Nebraskan, again it is not the
concept of student fee support
which is being so much
objected to, but rather the
specific political and editorial
philosophy of the paper. A
newspaper is essential to a
University community. Its
main function is to disperse
news. Editorializing is
subsidiary to this function.
Unfortunately, you destroy
both, not merely the latter,
when you shut the newspaper
down.
What about speakers?
Speakers cannot be secured on
promises of a percentage of the
"tickets" at the gate. You must
have money in advance to plan.
No group of students could get
together $750-$2,000 to bring
a nationally-known speaker to
campus. Without student fee
support, no major speaker
could, or would come to
Nebraska.
It is impossible and
ridiculous to assume that the
intent of the selection of
speakers is to find some person
who will satisfy every single
student on campus in a given
field. It is equally stupid to say
that if all 21,000 students do
not attend an event that it is a
failure.
I give my student fee
money, I like to think, so that
an establishment can be set up
that is continually able to bring
speakers of all viewpoints to
campus. Naturally I have a
right to expect that a certain
percentage of them will agree
with my personal political and
moral philosophy, but it is
selfish to expect every speaker
to be aggreeable to me.
Anyway, what value is it to
you to hear people constantly
reiterating your own views?
The use of student fees is by
no means beyond the control
of the student. Every year the
entire ASUN Senate and its
officers are elected by the
student body. UPC and ASUN
committees are open to
everyone. The complaint is
heard that the liberals who
presently hold power,
perpetuate these as liberal
institutions, through
appointments, etc. The
conservatives moan that they
cannot get elected. Should we
eliminate these institutions
because of this?
If a group is a minority on
campus it is because it does not
appeal to the majority of
people on campus It is possible
to become a majority if you
work at changing the views of
those who do not agree with
you. The political ineptness of
a faction should not be
artificially made up for in a
society. If it is, the society is
unjust.
A great disservice is done by
not getting into the University
political arena and fighting
properly. If one faction has an
incumbent advantage, you
fight harder. You do not try to
get rid of the institution.
There does not exist in
society a perfect political
equality. Conservatives and
liberals are not balanced 50-50
in every -aspect. One of the
main functions of college is to
prepare individuals to learn to
interact in society. It serves no
good purpose to create an
artificial situation on a campus
where political factions must
be balanced 50-50 in all
respects despite actual
numerical inequalities.
If student fee allocations do
not represent the view points
(percentage wise) of the
conservatives who are a
attacking them, it is because
they have surrendered their
share of the decision-making
process and for no other
reason.
People who are opposed to
the uses to which student fees
have" been put should be
organizing on campus. They
should be applying pressure
from the campus. They should
be putting pressure on the
Publications Board and they
should be applying for
positions on the newspaper
staff. They should be running
for ASUN president and other
offices. If you run once and
lose, try again. They should be
joining ASUN and UPC
committees and making their
presence known. (This involves
staying more than a couple of
meetings.) If they are
persistent, they will certainly
succeed in altering the
allocation of student fees
proportional to their numbers.
It will not occur overnight, but
they must begin.
It is unfortunate that these
people have chosen the court
approach to the student fee
matter. They have taken a
serious gamble, for if the court
upholds the use of student
fees, they will have
accomplished nothing for all
their trouble, and created in
the process a lot of resentment
toward their political faction at
the University, which is bound
to last for a long, long time.
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER, 29, 1971
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
PAGE 3