Wednesday, march 15, 1972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 95, no. 85
ASUN candidates lose to 'West Side Story7
by H. J. Cummins
Questions about student apathy began a debate
turned nevs conference Tuesday night when "
Schramm Hall residents chose West Side Story over
ASUN presidential candidates.
Student Cause (SC) candidate Bruce Beecher
suggested one solution to the problem would be a
speaker's bureau to inform students about student
government legislation.
He said he believes students would be more active
if they were better informed about legislation, some
of which, he said, "directly affects many of them."
Roy Baldwin disagreed with Beecher's plan, saying
he was involved in a similar program last fall that
dissolved because nobody came to listen to the ASUN
senators explain legislation.
Concerned Student (CS) candidate Bill
Schwartzkopf complained that one reason student
input is so low is that ASUN "has really become
centralized - it's a self -perpetuating entity."
He said student government has not accomplished
anything this year and, when pressed for an example,
he named the ASUN educational reform committee
as one that's been ineffective.
Steve Christensen, presidential candidate of the
Student Interest Party (SIP), said he would try to
"involve more students in the decision-making
process."
He suggested town hail meetings for important
votes and Baldwin quipped, "Fine, as long as they
don't conflict with West Side Story. "
Schwartzkopf and Christensen said they oppose
the proposed constitution as it now reads.
The constitution would narrow the number of
senators to 15 from 35, with the chairperson of the
senate being chosen by its members.
Schwartzkopf said the smaller body would deprive
students of representation.
'The change would not have been necessary if the
executives had delegated authority as they should
have this year," he said. But he emphasized that he's
not very pleased with the current constitution, calling
it "a mass of contradictions."
Christensen said he Wants to see a constitution
that will give more power to students.
The Council on Student Life (CSL) should be a
subsidiary of ASUN he said, or better yet, he added.
dissolve it and have "Faculty Senate take care of
faculty problems and student senate take care of
student problems."
Beecher said he favors the proposed constitution,
but has reservations about the clause that allows
two-thirds of the body to recall any senate
appointees.
'The beautiful part of CSL is that it's apolitical so
it can make more independent decisions," he said.
Baldwin, who helped frame the new constitution,
called it "a realistic document" under which "a group
of people at the top can carry out the day to day
work of student government while representing the
people."
He said he pictures the arrangement as one similar
to labor unions and added that, in his opinion, it will
really expand the number of people making decisions
since, now, "it is basically the seven members of the
executive committee that decides what's going to go
on.
He also said he believes the senate's recall power
will make appointees more responsive to senate, and
student wishes.
Christensen and Baldwin said they favor adding
NEBPIRG support - through voluntary student fees -to
students' tuition statements.
The other two candidates said they favor
NEBPIRG, but hesitate to keep adding voluntary
support programs to the tuition statements.
All four candidates said they favor legalization of
beer on campus.
Other scheduled ASUN presidential debates
include:
Wednesday 8 p.m. Burr Hall
Thursday 3:30 p.m. Hyde Park, Nebraska Union
8 p.m. Cather-Pound
Tuesday 8 p.m. Abel-Sandoi
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ASUN presidential candidate. . .spoke at a "debate turned news conference" Tuesday.
City-Wide Tenants tell
CSL of housing hassle
In an attempt to communicate some "very, very
deep frustrations," the Poorhouse Coalition sent a
letter to NU President D.B. Varner demanding that
University officials keep promises made to the
coalition last February.
At a meeting between the Poorhouse Coalition
(coalition of low-income groups in Lincoln) and
University officals Feb. 4 to discuss the campus
impact on Lincoln housing, the coalition was told
that meetings of the Regents' Committee on Housing
would begin immediately.
However, no meetings have been held, Bea
Richmond, president of the City-Wide Tenants
Association and member of the coalition, told the
Council of Student Life Tuesday.
Contact after the CSL meeting, Ed Schwartzkopf,
chairman of the Regents' committee, said the
committee hasn't met because "we have nothing to
meet about."
The committee has applied for federal funds to
finance a city and University housing study, and
"there's no question that we need the study before
we can apply for federal funds for housing," he said.
The coalition says it has the necessary studies.
Schwartzkopf says the studies aren't comprehensive
enough.
Richmond and Bill Arfmann, VISTA volunteer
and member of the coaliton, asked CSL to endorse
the coalition's Declaration of Responsibility which
calls for the activation of the Regents' committee.
The committee is charged with overseeing a survey
of city and University housing, the first stage in
attempts to remove the conflict over housing between
students and low-income families.
The University failed to keep promises to hold
meetings within the community to discuss the
University's five-year expansion plan and to consult
the coalition in plans for a community relations
committee, Richmond said.
CSL formed a committee to prepare a statement
based on the coalition's Declaration of
Responsibility, Varner's response to coalition
demands and Faculty Senate recommendations.
The Faculty Senate Tuesday adopted
recommendations from its Committee on
Low-Income Housing which request the University
- Recognize its obligation to house its students,
both single and married.
- Take immediate steps to secure sufficient and
appropriate housing for its students.
-- Encourage students not to compete for low-cost
housing in the community.
- Adopt an advocacy -leadership function and serve
as a catalyst to bring together various resources "to
achieve a coordinated, socially sensitive and
systematic approach on the part of all parties to
resolve low-income housing problems.
- Work with governmental agencies and other
groups to inform them of the low-income housing
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carrying out action programs.
Student Court denies
election postponement
The spring ASUN election will not be postponed,
the Student Court decided Monday night in ruling
against ASUN presidential candidate Steve
Christensen's suit against ASUN president Steve
Fowler. .
Christensen had asked the court headed by Mike
Rumbaugh, to postpone the election because ASUN
executives' nominations to next year's Student Court
were not presented to the ASUN senators 30 class
days before the election.
"You can't just selectively enforce the
constitution," Christensen said before he filed, the
- suit seeking to postpone the election two weeks.
Student Court ruled in agreement with ASUN's
representative Bill Kitlion that delaying the election
because of late appointments would enable the
executives to postpone elections indefinitely by
refusing to turn in appointments.
Rumbaugh also stressed the importance of
out-going executives appointing the new court so the
newly elected student government doesn't begin by
filling the Student Court with its friends.
ASUN
