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Tor you I die.
An assistant principal at Beecher District High
School in Flint, Mich., found a solution to society's
failure to achieve racial harmony. Four years after
becoming a teacher, Paul Cabell Jr. left only a note
explaining why he chose to take his own life.
On the last day of Cabell's life, Feb. 24, he
expressed great dismay concerning the situation in
which he found himself. In his words, "I am weary of
trying to bring insensitive trainers, also known as
teachers, a curriculum -old or new - which does not
attack the major problems of socialization of students
and parents too busy making a living to live and
understand together. It is more than a one-man job."
Cabell's colleagues described him as a dedicated
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teacher and school administrator. He was in charge of
student discipline at Beecher High. Beecher District
High School has 1 ,000 pupils, 65 per cent of them
white.
Cabell, on the day of his death, was attempting to
deal with clashes between white and black students.
Even on Feb. 24, there were some incidents marring
the peace at Beecher High.
In his note to the Beecher community, Cabell
continued: "I am a leader, but I can not march alone.
To all those black students who worked hard at
bringing sense to the errant and foolish brothers and
sisters at Beecher, thanks for your efforts, I
appreciated them." "To the white students, I
commend you for keeping your cool as long as you
did. Tolerance and patience be yours forever."
"To the vast majority of black students who did
not take a stand, but let a few hotheads and several
others turn your mind away from what it's all about,
I say it is for you that I die."
"I die to emphasize to you and all minority people
who ever dreamed to be free that it can only come
through working together. It seems to me there is no
other way for me to get your attention."
Paul L. Cabell Jr. has become a martyr. He has
become a symbol for many people, oppressed and
free, so that all may one day be free.
Anyone hearing of the story of the life and death
of Paul L. Cabell Jr. must be in some way touched.
At one time or another, everyone is made aware of
man's inhumanity to man.
The inhumanity that surrounded Cabell was too
great for him to bear. It became his cross.
For the moment, we may hope that the death of
Paul L. Cabell Jr. becomes a symbol in the hearts of
many, a symbol to make people realize their blind
prejudices and discard them
Just as Martin Luther King, Paul L. Cabell Jr. had
a dream. It is up to every individual to help that
dream come true.
Barry Pilger
The 1972 student government
elections ought to set a record for
disinterest and apathy among the
students. A whole two dozen people
showed up Tuesdav night at a
widely-publicized ASUN presidential
candidate debate at Schramm Hall.
People are past being fed up with
student government, and are sitting back
in mute acquiescence, laboring under the
convenient but erroneous assumption
that things cannot get any better, so why
try?
This year can be termed a watershed
year. How people choose to exercise the
franchise will set the stage for campus
government to come.
What confronts us now are very real
issues and profound questions of scope
and structure of student government
itself. I speak of the proposed new ASUN
constitutioa It is in part a measure of
ASUN's current ineffectiveness and
snobbish parochiality that few" people
have even heard of a new constitution,
much less know what is in it.
In essence, the present 35 senate seats
would be reduced to a smaller body of
IS, with executive offices to be
abolished. The chairperson would be
hand-picked from among the IS. The size
reduction would make things more
manageable and efficient, but there is a
threat of tyranny, as ASUN presidential
candidate Steve Christensen recently
pointed out. If this is the point, why not
simplify things further and reduce to 10
or S, or even install a solitary dictator?
Are we not sacrificing representativeness
and diversity of opinion when we lower
the number of elected representatives?
Furthermore, IS would make it far easier
for one. political party to dominate, with
only eight needed for a majority.
. Also to be considered is the absence of
separation of powers among the threat
branches of government with this new
constitution. The judicial branch is a
creature of the chairperson, members of
the Student Court being appointed by
him alone. The executive and legislative
branches end up virtually synonymous,
with the chairperson exercising
stranglehold control over task forces and
committees, and the board itself wielding
enormous influence over the Council on
Student Life (CSL).
Equally; significant is that the
chairperson is to be elected from among
the original group of 15. Gone would be
the accountability and checks and
balances that go along with letting the
University community, itself, decide who
should be their president.
This chosen one could easily set
himher self up as a virtual dictator,
violating the will of the people and
beholden to no one except the 14 other
people who elected himher.
The All University Party (AUP) has
endorsed the proposed new constitution
without qualification. The document
reeks of the influence of its presidential
candidate, Roy Baldwin. Adding support
are Bruce Beecher and his Student Cause
Party. Bill Schwartzkopf's Concerned
Students Party has yet to make up its
mind. The only group to come out
against the constitution is the Student
Interest Party (SIP), lead by ASUN
Senator Steve Christensen.
Also on the ballot is the Nebraska
Public Interest Research Group
(NEBPIRG) proposition, allowing for the
creation and initially forced funding of a
Naderesques public advocacy group
financed by a fee of $1.50 per student
per semester. As the wording on the
ballot states, the student automatically
would fork over the money at tuition
time, and four weeks into the semester
would have to trudge over to the
administration building to obtain a
refund if he did not wish to participate.
Now NEBPIRG is all very well for the
people who want it, but a person who
does not wish to subsidize yet another
item should not have to pay for it in the
first place, much less go through the
hassle of getting a refund. While all four
presidential candidates favor NEBPIRG in
principle, only candidate Christensen has
come out for funding a la PACE, with the
original choice left up to the individual
student.
So where finally, do the candidates
stack up?
For president, the obvious choice is
Steve Christensen, whose background,
integrity, and courageous stands against
the proposed constitution and mandatory
student NEBPRIG funding, for voluntary
ASUN fees and polling places in the
dorms, place him far above the others.
For first vice president, Sam B rower is
both the most likable and most
accomplished of the group. Running on
the SC ticket, he serves this year with
dedication on the Inter-Fraternity
Council and the ASUN Legislative Liaison
Committee.
For second vice president, Doug
Voegler would serve as a valuable voice
for conservative and moderate students.
His past work with the Regents
Committee on PACE, as a World in
Revolution Steering Committee member,
and as new UPC Talks and Topics
Committee chairman establish him as an
industrious and exceptionally
well-qualified person. Voegler is opposed
to the new constitution.
It is evident that if we carefully
consider each candidate and issue on the
individual qualifications, merits, and
implications involved, the real winners
March 22 will be a group that has not
won in a long, long time-we, the student
v.
PAGE 4
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1972