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Dear editor,
As a student at Colorado University, I wish to
apologize to the students of the University of
Nebraska and especially to members of the band and
the football squads for the disgusting display of poor
sportsmanship shown by many of the "fans" at
Saturday's game. I hope that I spesk for a majority of
the students here in denouncing the inexcusable
snowballing your people suffered through.
Congratulations on your victory. You have s uperb
team and admirable school spirit and decorum.
Seymour Wheelock
Speaking out
Dear editor,
Paranoia and apathy are pretty big words.
Especially for Ron Clingenpeel. You all might recall
his article about East Campus students. He talked
about style, political involvement and student
attitudes, comparing the differences between
campuses. Too bad he had to generalize so much;
rhetoric is a poor substitute for facts.
What exactly is style? If one is fashion conscious
one changes with the current trends. But that's
downright superficial. Everybody knows that. That's
why the self-proclaimed city liberals disclaim concern
with superficiality. They say they accept people for
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'hat they are, not what they appear to be. So
Clingenpeel obviously means something more
substantial. An attitude towards life perhaps?
That implies a sense of direction, of purpose, of
that which is meaningful. Probably a good attitude
would be one which deals with the quality of life.
Ecology deals with the quality of life. It's probably a
good thing to be concerned about ecology. Many
people are, you know. Why, it hit City Campus just a
year or two ago.
But I kind of like the word "ecology." It's a lot
easier to say than "efficient resource allocation,
utilization and conservation' Especially for all us ag
majors.
There might be something to be said about static
styles after all.
i Political involvement next. My old Uncle Milo
used'to -say that '.'pragmatists stay out of piddley
politics." Take that for what it's worth.
There are many paths to involvement, and they
don't all go downtown. Most students out here, due
to their commitment to substance, belong to
departmental clubs. But we do go downtown for one
very political reason. Grades are a little harder to pull
here than on City Campus, so we truck down for
some city classes to pull them up. Now that's political
involvement coupled with financial commitment!
And I guess that a dorm full of angry kids
confronting Dick Strait isn't involvement. Or
collecting 530 signatures (20 of the entire student
body out here) in one day to support East Campus
college representation on CSL. Or other piddley
things like getting the statistical lab to stay open at
nights for student, or a student advising system, or
active student participation in evaluating teaching.
I'm sorry-l probably just don't know what
politics or involvement is all about. But I dare say
there's a bit more student involvement in academia
out here in the land of pragmatism than down in the
ivory towers.
Phil I amh
Australian
plan doesn't
give answers
michele
coyie
Tuesday threatened to be a dismal day just about anyway
you looked at it. Even the neighbor's dog, whose cheerful
barking usually wakes me every day at the same early hour,
just couldn't quite get it together. A little late, and with a
definite sense of impending doom, I climbed aboard my trusty
bicycle and headed toward campus in the misting rain.
By the time I had reached 1 5th Street, I was pretty much
preoccupied with avoiding puddles, people andor cars that
seemed to delight in splashing, but not quite drowning, already
soggy bicyclists. Nevertheless, I wasn't too blinded by the rain
and mud to notice that a strange sort of vehicle was slowly
making its way up 14th Street.
It was a cross between a hearse and a circus wagon. I just
caught a glimpse of its bright red, white and blue exterior
before it disappeared around the corner.
"Hm. . ." I thought, "very strange." But things were to get
stranger still.
That afternoon as I was standing outside a Lincoln polling
place distributing literature, the same wierd car-truck cruised
by, slowed down, and finally stopped. A tall, thin man with
scraggly white hair wearing a wild red, white and blue costume
came scrambling out of the hearse end of the car. He was
clutching a crumpled wad of $10 bills in one hard, and holding
a star-spangled 10 gallon hat in the other. It might have been
the gold studded suspenders-l just couldn't help staring.
"Guess who I am' he asked, in a strangely familiar voice.
"The Cat in the Hat," I ventured, getting more and more
incredulous the longer I looked at him. (He even made a
clinking noise as he stepped up to the sidewalk).
A mild frown crossed his worn face. "Hen, heh, heh," he
chortled brightly, "never mind. By the by, have you voted
today?" he asked abruptly as he lazily flaunted a $10 bill in
the general direction of my face, "You may have heard of the
Australian plan, you know, the system wherein a prospective
voter is fined up to $10 for not exercising hisher right to vote.
Well, this being the United States, and the American way being
the way it is, I'm part of a new experimental government
program which pays each and every voter $10 for voting, or
deducts said amount from hisher yearly income tax. What do
you think about that?"
"I think this system of buying votes is not foreign to the
American way as you might think' I cautioned the old man.
He looked disappointed. "But we must do something about
the millions of American people who do not choose to
exercise their voting privileges. How can a democracy function
if its constituency refuses to accept any responsibility?"
"Well you know," I said slowly, but carefully, as I
suspected my friend was a little hard of hearing, "it depends
upon how you look at it. There will always be some who by
nature follow a policy of least involvement. I don't imagine
much can change them. Then there are those who have to be
shown that their individual involvement can make some
difference. It takes time, lots of it, to show them.
"Finally, but most importantly, there are those who are
convinced by their years of experience that change and
progress are hampered, rather than furthered, by the political
system. These are the alienated conservatives, moderates and
liberals who no longer feel society is really a part of them.
What do you have to say or give them old man? A $10 bill? I
wonder if that will really work."
My strange friend just jingled the change in his pockets and
looked back to his car. A few bars of "The Star Spangled
Banner" started up from somewhere, so he quickly saluted and
marched to the car. I never did get an answer.
fill 1
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thursday, november 9, 1972
daily nebraskan
page 5
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