OQIIU
friday, October 20, 1 972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 96, no. 28
Funding
cutback
threatens
Indian
students
by Sara Schwieder
A $17 million cutback in funds to the Bureau of Indian
Affairs that was announced last week may deprive 40 Indian
students of their college education next semester, according to
John Twobirds Arbuckle, Indian student advisor.
Of 47 full-time students on the UNL and UNO campuses,
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GOP anticipates Nebraska win
by Michael (O.J.) Nelson
'There are only two sure things in life:
death and taxes."
That adage might be true in other states,
but in Nebraska it's almost necessary to list a
third: Richard M. Nixon.
According to political observers, Nixon is
a sure bet in Nebraska. According to all the
polls, the President is leading his opponent,
Sen. George McGovern, in the Cornhusker
state.
His advantage is no surprise to at least
one Republican office holder.
"Richard Nixon is personally popular
here in Nebraska," U. S. Sen. Carl T. Curtis
said Thursday. "I've found that both his
personal popularity and support for his
programs has grown tremendously."
Besides the President's personal
popularity, Curtis said, Nebraska's fear of
George McGovern's policies will help deliver
a strong vote for Republican candidates.
"You'd have to say Nixon got started off
on the right foot here in Nebraska,"
Congressman Charley Thone said.
The first district representative said
Nixon had campaigned in Nebraska while
still a U.S. senator.
"As I remember," Thone said, "he came
out here to campaign with (then US. Sen.
Kenneth) Wherry. Wherry was very popular
at the time and that helped Nixon."
The President "hits the issues like
Nebraskans want them hit," Thone said.
"Even the young people will support him.
He offers the best hopes, long-range-wise, for
peace and prosperity."
Nixon also must have "hit the issues the
way Nebraskans want them hit" in 1960 and
1968. In 1960 the state gave him his highest
percentage vote in the country, 62.1 per
cent. While not as high, the totals eight years
later continued to reflect the President's
popularity. Nebraska once again gave him
the highest percentage vote in the
country-59.8 per cent.
"You've got to admit," Thone said, "in
Nebraska, he's the man."
Beyond his historical popularity, there
are other reasons for Nixon's popularity
among Nebraska voters.
According to Lt. Gov. Frank Marsh,
Nixon "embodies a lot of the common
man." He said Nixon has a humble
background and a desire to succeed. He said
he believes Nebraskans find both appealing.
"I identify closely with Nixon," he said.
"When he was campaigning for vice
president with Eisenhower in 1952, J
campaigned with him. That was my first
year in state politics (Marsh was running for
secretary of state, a race which he won) and
it was his first year in national politics."
Marsh said Nixon has an appealing style.
"When you talk to him, you know he's
talking to you," he said.
Nebraskans are individualists and vote for
candidates who believe in the same
philosophy, said Milan Bish, GOP state
chairman.
"Nebraskans believe in individual liberty,
individual dignity and individual rights,"
Bish said. "I think the President believes in
the same things."
Young people are individualists, he said.
But, he added, they also are activists and will
support an active President.
"At first we were almost writing off the
young people," he said. "We thought the
majority of them, especially the college kids,
would support McGovern. But they have
become disenchanted because of the
Eagleton affair and the lack of credibility of
their candidate."
He estimated that 55 to 60 per cent of
Nebraska's young voters, those between 18
and 24 years of age, will support the
Republican presidential ticket.
only seven have enough money from other sources to stay in
school. The other 40 will need a total of $25,000 in
supplemental funds or they may have to drop out after first
semester, Arbuckle said.
In addition, 25 new students that have been admitted to
the University may never get here because of the loss of
funding.
"Right now students here are faced with a real crisis,"
Arbuckle said Thursday. "They won't be able to go to school
next semester unless we can come up with $25,000 soon."
Arbuckle said there were conflicting reports concerning
who is responsible for the budget cut. The Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) is part of the Health, Education and Welfare
Department (HEW), and when HEW's budget was pared by
Congress, the BIA also was pared. Cutbacks last year by
President Nixon in the Aid to Higher education program
helped diminish financial resources of Indian students,
Arbuckle said. In addition, the Bureau of Indian Affairs
requested $27 million but was allotted $12 million for the
fiscal year 1 972-73-bef ore the $17 million cut last week.
University of Nebraska students were to receive $21,000 of
the BIA's $12 million 1972-73 budget, but that sum will be
greatly lessened by last week's cutback, Arbuckle said.
"Indian students were just beginning to gain a little more
confidence in the school system. Indian enrollment was up 34
per cent this year, and now we'll have to back up," Arbuckle
said.
Arbuckle said the tribal chairmen have been in Washington,
O.C. to discuss the BIA's budget, but "being second-class
citizens, we don't exactly get VIP treatment.
"The people in Washington mostly just wine and dine us,
then put us back on the plane and forget about us," Arbuckle
said.
The BIA helps many Indian students through college by
offering $550 grants each semester. That sum is matched by
the University, totalling $1100 per student each semester for
room and board, tuition, books and personal spending money.
"We are receiving indications that the University and the.
community will help us meet our needs," Arbuckle said. 'The
University is trying to help by offering some funds that
haven't yet been used."
A concentrated fund-raising effort is beginning to gather
strength, too, Arbuckle said. Letters have been written to
foundations and organizations for assistance.
The Council of American Indian Students has begun a
petition drive , to gather signatures to send to Washington
protesting the budget cut, according to Council member Karen
Butler. Signatures are being collected at a Nebraska Union
booth through the week, Buller said. She said about 300
names already decorate the petition, but that she wasn't sure
how many altogether had been collected.
Another Indian organization called the American Indian
Movement (AIM) met Thursday night at the Milo Bail Student
Center at UNO for a pow-wow and news conference on the
budget cut. AIM plans a caravan to Washington D.C. next
week to protest the BIA cutback, Arbuckle said.
A news conference about the caravan will be held Saturday
at 10 a.m. at the UNO student center.
University explores
telephone change
by Bob Shanahan
A proposal for changing the UNL telephone system
currently is being explored by the University.
For the past three years, according to Ron Wright, Assistant
Director of Business and Finance, the University has been
exploring a proposal from the Lincoln Telephone and
Telegraph Co. dealing with a possible change of the University
to a Centrex telephone system.
The Centrex system is totally automated. It ould include
the entire University. Centrex would allow each dormitory
room its own phone. All University phones would have the
Him prefix, as all phones except those in the dormitories do
now.
A change to the Centrex system is also recommended by
the Cresap Report, a management study of the University. The
report stated: "In addition to the cost factor the present
phone service is of marginal quality.
'The buzzer system for alerting residents that they have a
call occasionally fails, causing disruption and inconvienience.
There is also competition for available phones when phone use
is at a peak."
Wright said that there are both advantages and
disadvantages to the system. Since the Centrex system is
completely automated, it doesn't have the same information
capabilities as the present system which uses operators.
"When it snows, for instance," Wright said, "the University
operator handles many calls that are just trying to find out if
school is closed.
'There is no question that Centrex is the thing of the
future" Wright said, "but even if we cotHd get a contract
tomorrow it still takes two years for installation of the
system."
The high cost of the system is another prohibitive factor.
Right now the University is looking at the present phone
system, finding the problems and "shaking them out" Wright
explained.