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thursday, february 1 5, 1 973
lincoln, nebraska vol. 96, no. 72
ASUN frees Day Care funds
by Sara Schwieder
ASUN voted Wednesday to give $702 to the
Child and Infant Day Care Center. The vote was
21 for with 1 against and 3 abstaining.
The Senate also endorsed two bills currently
in the Nebraska Legislature. One is a proposal
for a student regent and the other provides for
a College of Environmental Design. An ASUN
committee to study the Student Fees Task
Force report also was approved. The reports
came under fire early this week from the Daily
Nebraskan.
The day care issue drew a crowd of parents
and occasional children for the second week,
and the Senate again heard discussions from
day care supporters.
Pat Strong, an assistant at the day care
center, said the center "happens to be a vital
activity while all others are amusement
activities. (
"We're not asking you to support our
children, we're asking for money as an activity:
We're a minority activity," she said.
Senators wanted to know why the
"desperate situation" of the center aired at last
week's meeting had not been aired a month ago
during Budget Committee hearing. Day Care
Center Director Mary Jo Ryan told the Senate
that she knew the center was on a tight budget,
but that she hadn't realized that without ASUN
support the center would have to "work on a
shoestring.
"When the Budget Committee asked if the
center would continue to operate, I said 'yes,'
but we may have to sell everything' in the center
to keep it going.. .it would be very difficult."
She said she thought about $600 had been
donated to the center by parents since budget
hearings a month ago. Legal requirements
forbid parents to give directly to the center, so
she didn't know the amount exactly, she said.
"For the most part, parents who use the
center don't have children in order to get
poorer.. .most have been out working and want
to come back to the University to improve
themselves-and they can do it with the
center," Ryan told the Senate.
Money for the center was transferred from a
part of the 1972-73 budget which provided for
a Big Eight Government Conference that never
materialized.
In other action, the Senate voted
unanimously to endorse LB323, which would
provide for a student vote on the Board of
Regents. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Richard
Marvel of Hastings.
Should the bill be approved by the
Legislature, it will go to the voters for approval
as a constitutional amendment, according to
Legislative Liaison Chairman Ann Henry.
"ASUN students have done a lot of work on
this bill, and its a major accomplishment of
ASUN," said Sen. Vince Boucher.
The Senate also came out for LB275, which
would establish a College of Environmental
Design.
Behrooz Emam, sponsor of the resolution,
said "They (the School of Architecture) don't
get enough money from the Engineering
College (of which the Architecture School is a
part) because there are not enough students."
Emam said college status would help the
School of Architecture get more money.
The Senate also voted to set up a committee
to look into the Student Fees Task force
reports.
ASUN President Bruce Beecher announced
thai-consultants for ASUN.V study of fthe
library system at UNL will ari've.Sun., Feb 26.
r- V. ,
Day Care child . . . will benefit from
Wednesday's ASUN decision to fund the Day
Care Center.
Fee bill threatens budgets of UNL groups
by Nancy Stohs
A legislative proposal which, if passed, would
abolish collection of some mandatory student fees is
officially called LB362. But for some UNL groups
LB362 means a nightmare-in terms of building
debts, loss of jobs and the threat of being closed
down.
The bill, introduced Jan. 31 by Sen. James
Dickinson, of Millard requires that funds for "student
activities, athletics, a student union, social activities
or other student purposes" would be collected
voluntarily.
UNL fee-supported organizations affected by the
bill include ASUN, the Daily Nebraskan, UNL
intramural activities and all Nebraska Union
programs.
According to ASUN First Vice President Sam
Brower, passage of the bill could "cast a death spell"
on student government. Almost all of ASUN's current
$41,000 budget comes from student fees, he said.
Art Thompson, Union program director, said the
proposal would have a "drastic effect" on all Union
programs.
Student fees support art displays, speakers, films,
Sen. Taft speaks
today in Union
Sen. Robert Taft Jr. R-Ohio . . . will speak at
8:30 p.m. today in the Nebraska Union.
U.S. Sen. Robert A. TAft Jr., R-Ohio, will
address UNL students on "The Future of
American Political Parties" in the Nebraska Union
ballroom today, according to the Union Talks and
Topics Committee.
The son of the man known as "Mr.
Republican," Taft is a Republican who frequently
preaches a doctrine of fiscal responsibility. He has
been active on committees dealing with finance,
banking, labor and insurance.
Taft will deliver his main address at 3:30 p.m.
after a press conference. He also will participate in
a discussion from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Schramm
Hall.
The senator has been active in GOP party
affairs and has served in the Ohio House of
Representatives (1955-62), the U.S. House of
Representatives (1963-70) and the U.S. Senate.
He was a delegate to the GOP national
conventions of 1956, 1960 and 1964 and was
chairman of the GOP coordinating committee task
force on functions of federal, state and local
governments from 1 965-68.
Taft was also a member of the Republican
revenue sharing study group in 1967-63 and
chairman of the House GOP conference research
committee in 1969-70. In addition, he served as a
member of the House GOP leadership in 1969-70.
He is former partner in the law firm of Taft,
Stettinius & Hollister and has been active in civic
affairs. He is a graduate of Yale University and
Harvard Law School and holds an honorary
Doctor of Law degree from Centre College.
KemucKy.
free meeting rooms and the Model United Nations,
among other things. .
"A lot of (UNL) departments would like to bring
in speakers," he said, "and if we didn't, I wonder who
would."
Fees also are used for the Union's programming
staff salaries, Thompson said.
The main concern of Vice Chancellor of Student
Affairs Ken Bader is a possible default on UNL
building bond' agreements.
According to Bader, a debt service was started
several year ago to loan money for constructing the
Union and University Health buildings.
However, according to the Feb. 1 Daily
Nebraskan, fees used to retire revenue bonds and
money for "direct and primary purposes" of the
school still could be demanded under LB362.
One of Dickinson's protests against mandatory
student fees is that many students are neither aware
of nor interested in some of the fee-supported
programs.
Bader said he admits that UNL hasn't done the
best job communicating to students where fees are
spent. He added that the information is available to
whomever asks.
The UNL General Information bulletin lists the
registration office, laboratories, the library,
University Health services, the Union and intramural
activities as fee users. It does not mention building
debts, ASUN or the Daily Nebraskan.
"While the fees are mandatory and not necessarily
of paramount importance to each person, I'd think
that throughout the year there would be one or two
events or services or chairs to sit on that every
student could use," Thompson said.
Bader said that although some students couldn't
care less, interest is hard to measure until a student is
faced with a situation, such as a need for health
services.
What would some of these groups do for a source
of funds if student fees were made voluntary?
According to Thompson, the Union would have to
increase existing service charges, add new ones or
look into state support.
UNL Comptroller Bill Eberle said he thinks that
on a voluntary basis UNL would be lucky to collect
one-third the fee money it now gets.
He pointed to the program for Active
Committment to Education (PACE) as an example.
Now that a student volunteers to contribute, rather
than checking "no" on his tuition statement, funds
collected dropped about 80 per cent.