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
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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.
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