doily (nicbifygilsaitro
friday, april 28, 1972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 95, i no. 104
Comhusker falls victim to changing times
by Michael (O.J.) Nelson
"The idea of a yearbook dying doesn't bother me,"
said Bill Ganzel, editor of the 1971 Comhusker,
"they're obsolete. But the idea of the Comhusker
dying bothers me."
The Comhusker, a University student publication
since 1905, will be discontinued after this year.
James Homer, chairman of the UNL publications
board, said the discontinuation is due to financial
problems.
"It all comes down to dollars,
has been losing about $3,000
three or four years."
He said the book is
self-supporting" but had been
even." To help remedy the situation, the board had
proposed a "fee-check-off" card, he said. The
proposal was rejected by UNL Chancellor James
Zumberge.
. Under the proposed system, a student would be
able to include the cost of his yearbook in his tuition
payment. The system would be voluntary, said
Horner.
"Zumberge has effectively killed the Comhusker,"
' he said. "The book
a year for the last
"supposed to be
unable to "break
said Ganzel. He called the check-off system the
yearbook's 'last hope."
Jody Beck , editor of the 1972 Comhusker, said the
UNL administration "might be sorry the book is
gone." She said the University "doesn't realize the
public relations value of the book."
Greg Scott, a member of the 1972 Comhusker art
staff said he agrees with the board's decision.
"Although I don't think it would have made much
of a difference," he said, "I think the Pub board and
the Chancellor should have taken a look at this year's
book and seen the reaction to it before they decided
to cancel it."
The 1972 book will be an "innovation" according
to Scott. The book is based on Alice in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll.
But an innovative yearbook at UNL is nothing
new, according to Beck. She said the Comhusker had
consistently been in the 'Top 10" of the nation's
yearbooks and had won all-American ratings for 10 of
the last 1 1 years of publication.
She said the book had been praised by
professionals across the country and had been copied
by many other schools.
"We've actually had pages copied exactly by other
people. The Comhusker is just a great book it's a
leader' she said.
If the book is so good why can't it sell more than
2,000 copies to a student body of 20,000? According
to Ganzel and Beck "change" is the reason.
"The University has changed," said Beck. "People
aren't part of the University community like they
used to be."
Ganzel said the Comhusker had always covered
campus organizations and said the people who were
involved in those organizations bought the book.
"Anymore there are many students who just come
to the University V rtudy or go to class and then go
home," he said. "How do you make a book for
someone like that? Why do they want to know about
Kosmet Klub or the Tri-Delt Spring Formal?"
The Comhusker had traditionally been filled with
pictures of campus organizations and student leaders.
But in 1970 the book changed; it contained in-depth
articles and emphasized events more than people.
"We tried to broaden our base, to appeal to more
students," said Ganzel. "We tried to show what is
really happening in the University, not just on the
Greek row.
But the change caused problems.
"it was like walking out on your girlfriend or
getting a divorce," he said. "The Greeks had been our
major readership and they didn't like the change.
Many houses threatened not to buy space in the book
unless the format was changed back."
He explained that the book was iot trying to
"Wast" the Greeks, but to just "broaden it's coverage.
"They got turned off in the process of us trying to
turn on other people," Ganzel said.
Even if the new format discouraged students from
buying the book, the staff felt they still could not
change to a different style.
"If students are used to a progressive book going
back to something else would kill it," said Beck.
Ganzel said the book could not change because "if
we have lost a group that has been buying it for years
we can't get them back again."
Alternatives to the yearbook have been proposed.
Beck said many universities have gone to a quarterly
magazine format. Scott and Ganzel also advocated a
magazine. However there are currently no definite
plans for such a publication, and the only thing that
appears definite is the Comhusker's demise.
KITZy
commune
avoids
sex roles
by Randy Beam
"A lot call us the ritziest commune
they know ofand I might say it's
probably true."
The speaker is teletype operator Toni
Hilliard.
Since last August she and her husband
Stephen, an associate English professor,
have lived in a rather off-beat
community.
Along with eight others-four men and
four women-they share a three-story
house at 19th and B Streets.
In some ways, their community
parallels modern social structure. In
others it's different.
Toni said the average income for the
men living in the mansion tends to be
higher than the women, although salaries,
in general, are large. Four of the men are
University professors, the fifth operates
the Lincoln Free School. Of the women,
two are "working girls" a third is a
University instructor, and the other two
are students.
The average age for the women is
about 24, she said. The men average
around 30.
As in many communal living situations,
the work is divided equally. There is no
job definition along sexual lines.
"There was a tendency at first not to
make the smaller women mow the lawn,"
Stephen said, "but we're over that now."
Toni said the egalitarian set-up
between the sexes is what interested her
most in their community living
experiment.
The idea for such a community
originated among four members of the
group, she explained.
They had considered trying communal
living for some time, when "this house
came along and captured our
imaginations. It made what we'd been
talking about a reality.
"Actually the house is rather special,"
Toni said.
Built in 1917, it once belonged to a
Nebraska state senator. Much of the
interior woodwork is solid cherrywood.
Recently, the group bought several
thousand dollars worth of rugs for the
place, she said.
And ifs large-seven bedrooms, a
ballroom, a living room, two pantries, a
dining room, drawing room, kitchen and
recreation room.
For convenience, one member of the
group bought the house, although all are
involved in its operation.
Rent varies depending both on what an
individual can afford and how much
space he or she uses.
Each person pays abut $45 a month
for food. All the buying is then handled
by one person per month.
"We live pretty high off the hog,"
Stephen said. "I suppose we could live a
lot cheaper, but we don't really have any
desire to do so."
He said that although it's not true
communal living, because everyone keeps
their own bank account after living
expenses are taken care of, it come closer
than any other living experience he's had.
Stephen said when he lived, first as a
bachelor, and then married-to Toni,
it gradually became easy for him to
isolate himself from others.
Community living, he said, keeps you
from doing that. "It keeps you from
shutting yourself off."
But at times, continuously being in
close contact with the others can strain
relations. It really forces one, to cope
with the different life styles, he said.
Turn to Page 6.
