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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1972)
editorial Solidarity for success rwjji '.l ql i.J -,lt,liM III tilt H Bl H &L il ,m mm m -- ------ ..ei-fio 1 t n j - Tl 6 kk Kfc a a i a a a ? aaii n i The Residence Hall Association's move towards dorm solidarity was a measurable success last night as they voted unanimously to begin their own use of the proposed guest rights policy. Despite the fact that the Regents have not acted formally on the student-parent survey results the deck is obviously stacked against the badly needed reform , of dorm social regulations. Solidarity is needed at this point. Hopefully all students will unite to show the entire community the undying need for the recognition of students as adults and not as adolescents guarded by the institution and Board of Regents in the name of parental pleasure. Factions developing at this point will serve no constructive purpose. RHA has decided to show their position with a statement of purpose. Fraternities and sororities must back it also if RHA's goal is to prosper. For five long years students have pursued the goal of recognition as adults in the name of self determination. This goal has been continually denied at the hands of the Regents in the name of constituents. Now, in addition to possessing data demonstrating the large number of parents opposed to the concept of visitation, the Board also has proof of the much more overwhelming, support of the liberalized policy by students. Student opinion should be recognized as the deciding factor here. Students living in on-campus housing are seeking the reasonable goal of determining their own social lives. The quest for personal privacy and intimacy and the fostering and sustaining of relationships within one's own place of residence or home is most reasonable. Should the Regents again deny students the opportunity for self expression and social fulfillment by retaining a policy impossible to administrate from either side, they could only be asking for trouble. They would be asking for a furor that this campus has successfully been able to avoid through the five years coed visitation has been an issue. There are virtually no avenues for communication left in the student-Regent discussion and consideration of the visitation question. Should the Regents decide to terminate this final responsible effort on the part of the University community, they can only . be seeking a state of depression among students. There is no telling then just how far students will go. It is regrettable that students must now prepare to pursue courses of action in spite of the Board of Regents, but it appears to be the only alternative remaining. Barry Pilger Carefree environment Dear editor: Your article on Centennial College's project at the Lincoln Free School confined itself to the most unusual aspect of the project, thereby in some ways misrepresenting the whole. The Centennial participants are contracted to three specific activities in addition to the six hours that they put in at the Free School each week. One evening each week, readings on education (we started with Carl Rogers Freedom to Learn), and writing a reflective journal based on the practical experience are all a part of the project. Moreover, we expect some short papers from those who survive the initial cultural shock. Thanks for the coverage, but I think the Daily Nebraskah made the project appear a bit more carefree than it is. For better or worse, Centennial doesn't offer its students as unstructured an environment as the Free School offers its four and five-year olds. K. Scott Morgan Centennial Fellow Facing the facts Dear editor: I think it's time for the silent majority of students to say what's been in their thoughts on coed visitation for a long time. Since it appears the regents are very reluctant to take any action, maybe, it's time they faced a few facts that haven't really all been put in the open. . 1) Students now can vote at 18. (How many are going to re-elect the present regents?) 2) According to the recent poll of parents they were against such a visitation proposal by 62.2 per cent to 37.3 per cent. (How many parents live in a dorm?) 3) The students (living on campus) favored such a proposal by 84.8 per cent (How many of them live in a dorm?) 4) The residence directors know that the present situation is impossible to enforce and doesn't meet the needs of the students. (They work for the regents). 5) The student assistants have stated a similar position. (They, too, work for the regents.) 6) The Residence Hall Association feels the students should at least decide for themselves. It should be realized that, in general, students have thus far been very patient and willing to work through channels and red tape that make this University "run," but I have a feeling their patience is about to end, and if something isn't done the regents and the University are really going to be in for a new set of problems. ' Dave Seier Greek support Dear editor: Fraternity and sorority members as students at UNL have a vested self-interest in the visitation issue in that we are all students facing the same question, "Do we or do we not have individual rights as human beings?" Wednesday evening the Inter-Fraternity Council will meet with students involved in the movement for coed visitation. Please urge your representatives to attend the meeting and all Greeks stand behind the dormitory residents in their effort for coed visitation. Bill Lock AnnPedersen Roger Story MikeHealey ' Sweet conservatives Dear editor: I would like to thank the 2,696 dear, sweet conservative parents who voted against the floor visitation policy for the University. I also would like to thank the Omaha World-Herald for printing their well-timed article concerning pregnancies on campus (which turned out to be completely unfactual). This article was printed two days before the visitation poll took place. Most- other major college campuses have a somewhat more liberalized visitation policy. But thanks to concerned parents and the vote-conscious job-worrying regents, we remain the sweet wonderful college students that our parents were 30 years ago. , - , .' : :: Tony YiEiams In defense of masturbation Dear editor: In support of the regents' and Nebraska parents' position on coed visitation, I want to point out that there is a certain validity to their unstated assumption that resisting the urge to masturbate builds moral character, whereas the urge to fornicate probably cannot be resisted atalL Certainly the political consequences of masturbation are less threatening to conservatives than those attending a philosophy of free sexual expressioa Indeed, masturbation is perhaps an ideal paradigm of political apathy. On the other hand (no pun intended), it seems to me that the regents stand on dorm segregation is inconsistent with their well-stated interest in "curing" the dread disease homosexuality. Larry Wolfley PAGE 4 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1972