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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1972)
doilu m friday, march 17, 1972 lincoln, nebraska vol. 95, no. 87 Chambers: 'Sometimes I feel like I'm Alice in Wonderland7 by Robin Hadfield If a bill to abolish all churches in Nebraska would pass. State Sen. Ernest Chambers, Omaha, said in an interview that he would introduce it in the Legislature. "Churches teach people to believe in a god, the devil and ghosts," he said. "People who practice religion are ugly, "he said. He termed himself a non-believer. Chambers said Nebraska and its educational system are three years behind. "Education can't be geared to the lew who will make it anyway," he said. The purpose of education is destroyed fay making a curve and saying a certain number have to pan and certain number of students win fail, he said. Schools can destroy individuality, he said. As an example. Chambers said in a deck of playing cards, all cards can be shuffled together, but each card still has a meaning and its individuality. Public school children should be able to keep their identity, he said. Chambers favors election of school board members by districts and hopes to have a bill passed by the Legislature this season putting this into effect for Omaha. One reason Chambers is a senator, he said, is because "we keep producing children" and the children need someone to protect them. "Something might happen that will make a difference, but I don't know what that is." Referring to the recent alleged attempt to bribe State Sea John DeCamp. Neligh, Chambers said he is against bars, walls and penitentiaries, but if a poor person can go to jail for writing a bad check, a rich person should go to jail for attempting to bribe a public official. A bank president allegedly offered $500 to OeCamr to change -his vote on the personal property exemption bill. The state's only black legislator. Chambers termed the Unicameral a "white people's legislature," and said being black or white doesn't have to affect "how we treat each other." He believes black students or citizens should come to the Legislature to see the "men who are destroying them. It would show them there is a master class and a slave class." He used an allegory about a fox and rabbit talking of food The rabbit is looking at the carrot while the fox is looking at the rabbit. 'They are Chambers. . ."It's not pleasant to be honest.' playing into each other's hands. That's what happens here in the Legislature," Chambers said. The senator said this year, his second in the Legislature, is different from last year because he didn't introduce as many bills, so he didn't "expose" himself to others as much. "I'm more upset than I was. I wouldn't accept a bribe or sell out the interests I represent'he said. The Unicameral is not "fun" for him. "It's not pleasant to be honest," he said. "There are times when I can laugh, but it is laughter from the teeth out I don't feel the mirth of the others. There's too much hurt where I come from. "The people I represent are not accepted, so I am not accepted either. The reality is back home. I'm like Alice in Wonderland and where everything is bigger or smaller than .life" Blacks are not going to have success no matter what they do. Chambers said. "If I could turn the whole state around, that's still only one out of 50," he said. "As long as there is antagonism, no one will wind up with anything." ' He said whites are going to make blacks into monsters, like a comic book story where a robot started out good, but humans made him into- a monster by telling him he was one "I don't knew you as a concrete enemy. I've been hurt by more whites than helped by them. I'll be as honest as I can be, but I would never trust you with my life," he said. Chambers said there are somethings that must be said by indirection, rather than straight out. "If everything . is said as it is, people will allow their minds to be hand-fed," which allows for misunderstanding, but "you run the same risk of being misunderstood if you do tell everything that is on your mind." If you speak in parables, those for whom the message is intended will understand, he said. "I want to be idealistic and remain realistic at the same time." New ASUN constitution loses ground The number of ASUN Senate presidental candiates who support the proposed ASUN constitution dwindled to one following a debate Thursday afternoon in the Nebraska Union The lone supporter of the proposal is Roy Baldwin, All University ' Party (AUP) presidential candidate and one of the framers of the new constitution Students' Cause (SC) presidential candidate Bruce Beecher said he's withdrawn support for the document because he's heard complaints from large numbers of students The "chairperson" in the new 15-member senate will play the same role as the current president but, since he or she will be appointed by the senators, will not be directly responsible to the student; and the senate's power to recall any of its appointees will drive politics into the Council of Student Life (CSL) and the Student Court Presidential candidates Steve Turn to Pes 8 -V t ft Zumberge announces new student fee study James H. Zumberge, UNL chancellor, late Thursday released a statement calling for a "full review" of the funding of student fee supported programs. "I am not convinced that student fees are an appropriate source of funds to support activities such as the recent World in Revolution Conference on Justice in America," he said. He said of the conference: "I was pleased to see that some attempt was made to achieve (political and ideological) balance. "However, two aspects of the conference left me less than satisfied with the net results. The general attendance was appallingly low, and the language employed in some of the sessions was in no way compatible with the scholarly atmosphere that should be the hallmark of an academic institutioa" Zumberge said the review would include UNL President O.B. Vamer and others in the University community. He said he hoped the review would be completed before the fall semester. The NU Board of Regents placed a freeze on the use of student fees during the planning stages of the conference. If c ? I t III 1 t ' ft r 4