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.
