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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1972)
doilu (ni(i)brsk(ni monday, march 20, 1972 lincoln, nebraska vol. 95, no. 88 Critics question orientation representation by Chris Harper A student, representative for the 1972 UNL Summer Orientation Program will be Caucasian, a campus resident and probably affiliated with a fraternity or sorority - at least that's what the selections for this summer's program indicate, says ASUN First Vice President Michele Coyle. Coyle, a 1971 orientation host, said that of the 13 student representatives announced last week by Peter Wirtz, coordinator of student activities, none are minority or foreign students, all are campus residents and eight are affiliated with sororities or fraternities. The 10-year-old orientation program introduces new students and their parents to UNL in one-day programs during the summer. The $25,000 project, funded by UNL student fees, begins June 6, 1972, and ends July 1 2. Hosts receive a $500 salary and free housing and meals. Student applicants first are screened in their colleges by a committee which includes the college dean, a faculty member and one student from the advisory board. This year the colleges selected about 35 out of 300 applicants to be interviewed by the summer orientation planning committee. According to UNL records, minority and foreign students constitute five per cent of UNL's enrollment. Nine per cent of the applicants for host positions were identified as minority or foreign students. None were chosen as orientation representatives. Both the minority and foreign student counselors said they received no information about the program. Wirtz said no groups were contacted specifically but the job applications were advertised in all buildings and made available in the Nebraska Union. The UNL housing office says 60 per cent of all UNL students reside in off-campus living facilities. Although 28 per cent of the host applicants were off-campus students, none were selected to serve as a student host representative. The Inter-fraternity Council and the Panheltenic Association report that 14 per cent of UNL students are fraternity and sorority members. Twenty-nine per cent out of the summer orientation applicants were Greek house members. Almost two-thirds of the final host selections are fraternity and sorority affiliates. "The most important thing is to pick people on the basis of their enthusiasm about the University," said Jonette Beaver, student member of the planning committee. "That's more important for the program than to pick a stratified group on the basis of minorities and living units," she added. Questions of race and Greek affiliation aren't included on the applications. Identifications were made by addresses and organizations listed by the student, such as the Afro-American Collegiate Society (AACS). A student host must be "able to project himself in a manner that makes a good first impression and creates a lasting impression on the parents and students." according to Wirtz. Other criteria include broad involvement in University life and knowledge of his college. Wirtz said prior experience in public relations would be helpful to a student host. The office of student activities made little effort to involve minority students in the summer orientation program, contends Ray Metoyer, a member of AACS executive board. "If student activities personnel were really interested in minority students participating in the orientation program both AACS and the office of special services should have been directly informed about applications for the program," Metoyer said. However, Wirtz said foreign and minority students rarely come to the summer orientation program. The office of special services holds a separate orientation program with black hosts for black students in late summer, he added. A member of the UNL Faculty Senate Human Rights Committee, Paul A. Olson, said he believes the omission of minority and foreign students warrants investigation by the committee. One 1972 parent host whose major is elementary education said, "When 1 attended orientation last year it made me feel a lot better. I hope I can help freshmen students adapt to U N L One of the three freshmen chosen for the program, she listed participation in Builders Red Coats and her former high school's "College Days" representative as qualifications for the orientation position. She said she is also president of her sorority pledge dass. "I haven't been very active in Teachers College but maybe next year I'd like to become mvolved,"she said. Another host selection, a dormitory student assistant, said she has served as International Club program chairman. She also listed participation in International House, Young Democrats, her dormitory executive council and election as dormitory floor president as qualifications for the student host position. "I haven't worked much with the College of Arts and Sciences but I'm really excited about working with incoming freshmen," she said. Another freshman chosen as host listed election as president of her dormitory floor and a Residence Hall Association (RHA) representative as her principal qualifications for the host position. "Since I'm a freshman I'm not well-versed on the College of Business Administration," she said. Bill Lock, a member of Teachers College Advisory Board, said he was not recommended by the Teachers College selection committee. Lock said he believes the program does not represent the campus at all. "It is only the office of student activities' definition of the UNL campus. Many of the student hosts know very little about the campus to adequately represent the student body." He said his qualifications for the Teachers College host position include: member of Teachers College Advisory Board 1971-73. coordinator of the freshmen seminar program 1972-73, co-chairman of Nebraska Free University 1971, a host for regents scholars orientation 1970-71, participation in the freshman seminar program 1971-72 and a two-year participant in the Centennial Educational Program. "Peter Wirtz has a prejudice against people Turn to Page 9 A THERE ttPMES, Becker long marriage commitment unnecessary by Carol Strasser Communal living, and group and trial marriages have one advantage over traditional marriage. They don't end in divorce. In 1970, there was one divorce for every three marriages. Some people would say the high divorce rate shows a careless attitude toward marriage and spells the end of the family institution. it's the peeple who worry about the disintegration of the family who hold just those moral views which cause the breakdown, said Ed Becker. UNL assistant professor of philosophy who has been divorced. The social more that yoa can't have sex unless you're married causes people to marry too young, he said. "Young people aren't fully developed in terms of their final personality. They continue to change as the years go by, and a couple might grow in opposite directions. Compatible at the start, they end up being incompatible." Backer, 31 said he advocates a change in moral attitudes so that people wiiil feel more free about living together. "People say, "We're in love, let's get married, when the more rational thing to say is "We're in love, let's try and live together for awh He." Many young people who think they're ready for marriage are ready for a fairly stable relationship, Becker said. If young people are ready to live together, it s a mistake to think they should go ahead and get married, he added. tAany young people, those who are trying alternative life styles rather than marriage probably would support Becker's contention that a life time contract is unnecessary. "If the institution of marriage makes sense, it's only as an institution for rearing children," Becker said. If no children were involved, it would be an improvement if people could live together without the hassle of a lifelong commitment" Normally, a couple should be married before deliberately having a child, he continued, but added most people in their early twenties aren't ready to have children. Often couple, fearing that their marriage is failing apart wi3 have a child in the hope that it win bind them closer together. This romanticizing makes it mora difficult for the couple to cope with the hardship and only produces additional responsibilities, Becker said. Marriage too has been romanticized in our socity, he continued. It's assumed that you can't have a warm, loving relationship unless you're married, he said. Becker said he thinks 30 is a good age to be married: when a person is settled into a life style that looks tike it's going to be permanent.
