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monday, September 25, 1972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 96, no. 1 3
Regents begin
bylaws study
At 8 a.m. on Sunday morning in Lincoln,
not even the milkman has to work. But seven of
the eight members of the Board of Regents
gathered to begin deliberations on the report of
the Commission on Governance of the
University.
After an eight-hour closed session, the Board
had waded through only half of the report.
Further work on the report, commonly
referred to as the University Bylaws, will be
done Oct. 6 in Omaha.
A public meeting on the material, orginally
scheduled for that day, has been postponed.
Sunday's entire meeting was an "executive
session," closed to the public. The press was
allowed to attend for background purposes, but
were asked by the Board to refrain from
reporting on the meeting until the .Board
finishes its revisions of the report.
A quick public meeting followed the
executive session at which the firms of Davis,
Activities Mart set
for Wednesday
Twenty to 25 UNL student organizations
will solicit new members at the annual Builder's
Activities Mart Wednesday.
The mart, open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30
p.m., will be held in the north and south
conference rooms in the basement of the
Nebraska Union.
According to Activities Mart co-chairman
Cyndi Orr, the mart basically is aimed at
freshmen and new students and is intended to
attract new members for student organizations
participating.
Clark and Associaties and Leo A. Daly and Co.
were appointed by the Regents as architects for
the University of Nebraska Fieldhouse.
Regent Kermit Wagner of Schuyler was
absent.
Homecoming dinner
to honor Devaney
Nationally known sports figure Joe Garagiola is coming to
Lincoln, mostly to pay compliments to Cornhusker football
Coach Bob Devaney at a special Homecoming dinner in
Devaney's honor.
Jeff Hochster, president of Corncobs, the UNL men's spirit
organization, said Sunday the traditional Homecoming concert
has been scrapped in favor of a $25 a couple Bob Devaney
Recognition Dinner at the Coliseum.
Devaney is in his final season as UNL head football coach.
Garagiola, former baseball player and now a host on the
"Today" television show, will be the featured speaker at the
dinner.
Hochster also said a "prominent national political figure"
may speak at the dinner, although he refused to say who it
might be.
He said Devaney will be presented a special gift by
Corncob:, and Tassels (the women's spirit group), although the
gift has not yet been chosen.
The dinner will follow the Oklahoma State game Oct. 28.
Tickets will be $25 a couple or $15 for singles.
Tickets can be purchased by writing to Suite 345, Nebraska
Union.
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.: ly a
Student Y
to
abortions
by Debby Fairley
Little old ladies in tennis shoes they're not.
In 88 years, members of UNL's YWCA have gone from
Bible Study classes to freedom marches to plans for Divorcees
Anonymous.
And they're not even all women any more. Two years ago,
the Universily YWCA changed its name to Student "Y"when
male students began asking to join. The University's YMCA
had died in the 1960's.
Today's Student Y provides the women's information line,
abortion counseling, Y-Teens program, international luncheons
on Thursday, films speakers and the Youth Service Bureau.
But when the Y began 3t the University, student concerns
were much different. Meetings featured gospel hymns and
faculty speakers, and one of the annual projects was raising
$1 ,500 to support a missionary in China.
There were other less religious projects, too.
Hull House was started in the "Russian Bottoms," between
14th and 6th streets near the railroad tracks. Students who
lived in the house taught English, crafts and Sunday school
classes to incoming immigrants.
Other Y workers met all trains coming into Lincoln during
registration week, then helped find housing, roommates and
jobs for the new students. They sent flowers to sick girls and
ran an "association room" which offered conveniences ranging
from a cup of hot cocoa to stamps, needles and thread.
During the 1920's, YWCA records report "valiant efforts"
to persuade Lincoln restaurants to serve blacks, circulating
petitions against compulsory military training, and forming a
Cosmopolitan Club to bring American and foreign students
together.
In 1921, a Nebraska Wesleyan girl worked for a summer in
a Curtiss Candy Co. factory and came back with reports of
conditions so dangerous and unsanitary that Y members began
a boycott against Baby Ruth candy bars. The sale of the candy
dropped off in the Lincoln area so quickly that the company
threatened a libel suit.
The Depression brought a YWCA soup kitchen. For five
cents, students were given a "healthy" bowl of soup, for 10
cents, a very large bowl. According to Y records, this was
often the only food many students could afford.
In 194G, the YWCA set up an International House where
Japanese, black and white girls lived-dormitories were not yet
open to all races.
And there was still discrimination in athletics, campus
cafeterias, University threatre and collgo policies. In 1947, the
Y published a widely-distributed 'amphlet on campus
segregation. A signed poll of womc residences showed 86
per cent in favor of open housing.
Then a law student discovered that the University Enabling
Act of 1869 said no one could be denied privileges at the
University because of age, sex or nationality. In October,
1949, the Board of Regents unanimously supported the
Enabling Act, and in January of 1950, two blacks and a
Hawaiian moved into the dorm.
In the 50's, the Y participated in a picket of a local
department store after the store showed a "very conservative"
film on loyalty oaths and Americanism.
They also fought for an office in the Nebraska Union-there
were no religious groups in the Union and the Y had to prove
themselves more than a religious organization. They won, and
were given a small room in 'The Women's Suite" on third
floor, along with Panhellemc and the women's student
government.
During the 19G0's, the Student Y sent students to the south
to help in civil rights marches and voter registration. In 1965,
student exchanges between south black Stillman College and
the University were begun, although the Y later asked the
student senate to take over the project.
In the same year, thc.Y helped the newly-organized
Afro-Amcican Collegiate Society by lending their office to
the new group.
In 1966, a group of students went to a Georgia meeting of
the National Organization of Women. Later, a few of those
women started the University Women's Action Group.
Two years ago, it was followed by the Nebraska
Organization for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NORAL). The
Student Y also helped start the Women's Political Caucus on
campus and a Clergy Consultation Service on problem
pregnancies.
And they worked with ASUN and the Women's Action
Group on the controversial birth control handbooks
distributed last year.
Now the Student Y is working to organize young unwed
mothr-rs and divorced women at the University. That's a long
way from tennis shoes and Bible lessons.
