CEP hippies,
or intellectuals
by Mary Voboril
In its two and a half year history, it's been labeled
a hippie haven, a drug colony, a think tank and a
don o thing educational system. But its real name is
the Centennial Educational Program (CEP), and Ted
Beck calls it an intellectual community.
Beck, a senior "fellow" or teacher-adviser at CEP,
commented on the program's progress after five
semesters.
Academically, CEP is "as strong as it ever was,"
but Beck said the social chemistry leaves something
to be desired. He said tha community was most
cohesive its first year.
The 1969-60 moratoriums and the May 1970
student strike helped unite the community that first
year, he said. The most 'wntroversial issue this year
was coed visitation in dornvtories. hut a compromise
was reached before the planned mat visitation could
occur.
"If this dorm protest had gone through, it might
have helped student cohesiveness," said Beck, smin.
CEP, initiated in 1969 in conjunction with the
University's 100th birthday, was first intended to be
an experimental college of problem solving. But Beck,
who has been with the program since it began, said
this idea is "preposterous."
"It's impossible to force all courses taught at
Centennial into a problem-solving format," he said.
While many courses do involve problem solving
exercises, others, like a history of Darwinism course,
do not.
There are three academic objectives at CEP, Beck
said. The first is that students be able to think
critically. Another is that they develop a range of
intellectual and cultural interests. A third is that they
learn to communicate effectively.
Beck, also an associate professor in English, thinks
of CEP as an intellectual community because people
there become more interested in ideas, reading and
tha arts. He believes people studying in CEP discuss
issues and ideas more freely than other students. He
attributes this to the atmosphere at CEP, where most
students live within the complex and study together.
Beck announced last Tuesday the next series of
4-week projects in CEP. Schizophrenia, parisitotogy,
poetry-writing and Russian culture are among the 24
courses offered. After the fourth week of study
comes a week of evaluation, in which each student is
required to turn in a written report on how well he
thought he and the group as a whole performed.
Some courses are taught by CEP students, in
which cases some CEP fellows become students. Beck
thinks th is is a good arrangement.
"A professor is really a professional student," he
said. "In a group learning situation, the fellow
becomes a model of a student. Everyone learns
together."
The senior fellow said the staff has learned not to
expect too much from regents' scholars.
"Some do beautifully, but others do absolutely
nothing," he said.
Other students enter CEP with mediocre or worse
high school records, but Beck has seen some
"suddenly blossom," studying hard and turning out
productive work.
Admissions to the college are "completely
random," although exceptions are made for minority
students. One student used the word "homogenous"
to describe CEP personnel. About 200 students, 40
per cent freshmen, are in the program. Twelve
fellows, most of whom are on leave from their
departments for two-year intervals, study with them.
Lee Neiiigh, now a student assistant in-Heppner
Hall, is in his sixth semester at CEP. He said CEP is
good because "people really get excited about
education here."
' "You could stay in Centennial all four years and
never duplicate your experiences," he said. People in
CEP are "continually growing" intellectually, he
added,
"CEP teaches people how to use facts and
motivates people so that they want to think."
A CEP dropout is Linda Brownie, a sophomore in
business. She said she left because CEP took too
much of her time and she feared she would not be
able to meet her course requirements. CEP takes six
hours a semester, and no mora titan 10 hours of
outside courses are allowed.
Brownlee said she learned more about how to live
with people than about academics at CEP, but found
the program a little too closely-knit.
"Most people just stayed in Centennial at night
and on weekends," she said. "Or when they did go
somewhere, they went with people from Centennial."
She said she did not get to associate with enough
people outside the college. CEP ss something like a
Greek house, she said.
"It's a place to identify with."
A freshman CEP student, Kathy Rice, called her
high school classes "a complete waste" in comparison
to her classes at CEP. She finds herself studying
harder and enjoying it more because she can take
whatever course she's interested in. Right now she's
interested in anthropology and Dante.
She likes CEP's pass-fail grading system.
"You are working for yourself and the people in
your project group, not for a grade," she said. She
said she likes the idea of continuing further in
independent study.
"in a class outside Centennial, if you don't learn
the material by the end of the semester, it's too bad.
But here you can go on and learn more."
First-time voters converge on '72 elections
T.te following article on young voters is the first of
a three-part series by Daily Nebraskan staff writer
Steve Arvanette on election year activities. The other
articles will consider young candidates and third
parties in both local and national elections.
by Steve Arvanette
Long after tfie votes in Tuesday's New Hampshire
primary election are counted, politicians and political
experts will be scrutinizing the results to see how
strongly the state's 1 8 and 1 9year-olds voted.
According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, 25
million Americans will be able to vote for President
for the first time this year. That figure includes 1 1
million 18 to 20-year-olds, and 14 million people who
will have reached age 21 since 1963.
The major problem, however, seems to lie in
getting new voters to register.
A Gallup Pol released March 5 showed 65 per cant
of an colSege students had registered to vote. That
figure is considerably higher than those non-coSSefa
people 13-20. Gallup's pen showed that only 43 per
cent of the non-student voters had registered.
Nationally, Gallup figures show 74 per cent of the
American population has registered to vote.
Gallup's statistics do not seem to correspond with
Nebraska figures. Nebraska Secretary of State Allen
Beermann estimates there are 100,000 18 and
19-year-olds eligible to vote in Nebraska.
According to Beermann, about 23,C00 of
Nebraska's young people have registered thus far. "A
lot of them probably plan to register disisj spring
break Baarnumn said.
"Too many of they voter drives have bean aimed
at college students, B jerrnrnn said.
His criticism may be valid if a Gallup Poll of April
18,1971 is correct. That poll showed that of the 11.4
million 18-20-year-olds. 4.9 million are students, 4.1
million are employed, 1.6 million are housewives and
the remaining 1300,000 are serving in the armed
forces.
Even in Lancaster County, with t8 largest
student population in the state, only 2.CZ0 18 and
l&ysar-cids are registered thus tar. What makes that
figure wvan more significant is that LancasSar County
has roufy 19 per cent of the state's registered
votars. ,
One problem with registering young voters is the
frequency with which they change their residence.
Beermann noted a student who claims a campus
address when registering would need to re-register if
he moved into a new dorm room across the hall.
Several small communities with large campus
populations feared students could take over the
town's politics if they were permitted to register at
their college address. As a result many election boards
required students to show an unusual amount of
proof that they were residents in the community.
In case after case, courts have struck down these
stringent proof of residence requirements. "It is no
longer constitutionally permissible to exclude
students from the franchise because of the fear of the
way they may vote," John Swain son a Michigan
supreme court judge said.
City elections last fall in some communities such as
Berkeley, Calif., have seen students elected to such
posts as city council largely through strong campus
turnouts.
Beermann stressed his office has not taken a
position on where students must register. "We think
it is best they register at their parents' home address,"
he said, however.
Beermann noted students may find it financially
feasible to register outside of Lancaster County.
When entering the Lancaster County election
commissioner's office, a sign easily obserable says:
"Students If you intend to be a legal reisdent of
Lancaster Country, you are eligible to register to
vote. If you register to vote you will legally be
responsible to: 1) Register your motor vehicle in
Lancaster County, 2) Change the address on your
driver's license, 3) At age 21, become eligible for jury
duty."
. 8y registering a car in Lancaster County, a student
would pay a higher property tax figure plus a wheel
tax. He could also notice a substantial increase in car
insurance premiums.
Assuming a considerable number of young
voters will register to vote this year, the question of
interest to politicians is what effect the young will
have on elections.
Gallup's figures show students registering 42 per
cent Democratic The Republican party nation-wide
is registering only 19 per cent of potential student
voters.
Beermann, a Republican, acknowledges that
Democrats are registering more young voters. He
described the advantage as a slight "edge."
Statewide figures are not available yet. However,
in Lancaster County as of Feb. 1 with just short of
2,000 18 and 19-year-old voters, 55.8 per cent were
registered Democrat, 315 per cent Republican and
1 2.7 per cent independent.
Robert Sittkj, UNL political science teacher, said
there has been a national trend to the Democratic
party since 1920.
"Candidates for the President may have
encouraged some students to register Democratic),"
Richard Marvel, state senator from Hastings and
political science instructor at Nebraska Wesleyan,
said.
"Facts in any study that 1 have seen show younger
voters tend to vote less than those in their 30s or
40s," Marvel said.
Sittig agreed, saying the turnout of "young voters
this year will be less than the national average unless
something should spark their interest.
A special congressional election last spring in
Maryland had only six per cent of the eligible 18 to
lear-old voters registered. Over 35 per cent of
those young voters participated in that special
election, far above the statewide average.
If jut six ffimkMi of Cva 25 tniXion new vctsrs
were to vote in 1372 presidential election, splitting
3-1 Democratic, that would give the Democrats a
three million vote advantage. Such a vote would have
changed the out-come of the 1SS8 race for the White
House.
New young voters will out-number by three times
the. margin of victories that 71 House of
Representatives seats were won by in 1970. Of those
71 seats, 40 are held by Republicans and 31 by
Democrats. -
It remains to be seen if young people will take
advantage, in any significant number, the right of
suffrage that the 28th amendment to the US.
Constitution has provided them. That amendment
was ratified in record time of two months and seven
days with the approval of the Ohio legislature last
July 1. ,.: .
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