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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1973)
1 cfai v thursday, march 8, 1973 lincoln, nebraska vol. So, no. 84 ASUN discusses housing The ASUN Senate Wednesday heard a report on the dormitory rate increase, listened in silence to a suggestion that the dormitories serve cranial tissue, and, regaining their aplomb, moved on to review the ASUN budget. Housing Director Richard Armstrong addressed the group on the dormitory rate increase. Armstrong blamed the $80 per year Minority students back AIM action increase on a lower occupancy rate for next year, higher food and utilities costs, possible wage increases and the added expense of four security guards who were hired last year. He said the occupancy rate in the dormitories has gone down from the usual 93.5 per cent to 91 per cent, costing the dormitories $114,000 yearly. The Housing Office did a study which showed food costs to have risen 10 per cent last semester, accounting for a large part of the increase, he said. Armstrong added that the four full-time security guards cost the dormitories $28,000. Sen. Bill Freudenburg asked if the dormitories were more comfortable-allowing coed visitation and alcohol-would the occupancy rate be higher and costs correspondingly lower. "Yes, it would make a significant difference," Armstrong answered. "A more enjoyable environment might mean a higher occupancy rate." He said he had considered eliminating security officers to help keep costs down, but that he changed his mind when he became aware of the history and the "recency of events." He was referring to at least two rape incidents that took place last year in the dormitories. The second speaker before the senate was Shaman Jack Mason, representing the Surrealist Light People's Party. "Open your minds to the great possibilities...eat in our dorms, eat cranial tissue-do it today," Mason advised an astonished senate. "Please come to our levitation session Tuesday at 3 p.m. and see a better tommorrow with your own eyes," Mason said. In other action, Sen. Mark Molacek asked about the Communication Committee's $4,917.50 appropriation, of which only $1,981.61 has been spent. "We must have over-estimated the publicity expenses," ASUN Vice President Sam Brower answered. "We were wrong and I would imagine we'll have a surplus." Brower told the group that the ASUN Record Store has entirely repayed its $1,000 debt to ASUN, and the money had been deposited under: "student services" to defer the loss incurred in a theft of the book exchange last winter. In regard to the theft, Brower said ASUN has filed insurance claims and is investigating the problems that were responsible for the theft. Sen. Ann Henry read the Senate a resolution recommending that it support LB 109, which would allow money for a new Life Sciences Building, but the senate, lacking a quorum, did not act upon it. Ron Frank, Marcia Hale, Kaul Jagan, Cami Learned, Steve Lewis, Lori Mueller, Fran Lubischer, Mike Treffer and Kathe Strong were absent. o I '..- it Y I H 1 1 Fifty minority students . . . signed a petition backing AIM's action at Wounded Knee. About 50 UNL minority students have signed a petition supporting the American Indian Movement (AIM) takeover at Wounded Knee, S.D. The petition was read by Leroy Ramsey, director of minority affairs at a news conference Wednesday. He said the petition was initiated by students in various minority groups at UNL. The petition reads: "We, members of the Mexican-American Student Association (MAS A), of the Afro-American Collegiate Society (AACS), and of the Graduate Minority Students, lend cur moral support to our Indian Brothers in their fight for their dignity, their freedom and their basic rights as fellow human beings." According to Ramsey, the petition has the signatures of blacks, Indians and Mexican-American students. Stressing that his office is basically a responsive one, he said he supports the students in the circulation of the petition. Rick Williams, president of the UNL Council of American Indian Students, also commented on the petition. In addition to giving his support to the petition, he said, "We (Indians) want to be sovereign, we want to be our own country." Williams wore a red armband signifying his support for the) events at Wounded Knee. He said he will remove the armband "when the government responds to the needs of the Indians, which they haven't done for about 100 years." He said he might die wearing the armband. He also said he hopes for a campus-wide drive for signatures. "The minority people are going to stick together like we always have," he said. Legislators examine UNL building priorities by Steve Arvanette Several members of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee agreed Wednesday with the University's $26 million capita! construction funds request for the 1973-74 fiscal year. The main question raised after University administrators defended their construction requests against Gov. J. James Exon's recommendations, was whether the University's requests could be placed on a priority list. UNL Chancellor James Zumberge was asked several questions about the University's $3.15 million request for a new Law College building. Genoa State Sen. Herb Nore questioned whether a new UNL life sciences building shouldn't have higher priority than the new law building. Both Zumberge and NU President D.B. Varner said both buildings were needed badly. Zumberge noted, however, that interest in the legal profession has grown rapidly during the past decade. "There appears to be much more need for legal opinion," he added. Varner told the committee that more than 500 "qualified applications" to the Law College were rejected last year because of lack of space. The new life sciences building, Zumberge said, would house the botany, zoology and microbiology departments. Those departments currently are scattered among seven buildings. The governor has recommended, however, that the request of $5.9 million be trimmed to $2.2 million. That figure would cut the new building's space nearly in half, according to University administrators. Should the governor's plan be approved by the committee, a considerable portion of the life sciences program would be housed in Lyman Hall. Zumberge also asked committee members to resore full financing for a classroom-laboratory complex at the Curtis Experimental Station. The University requested $400,000 for construction but Exon has recommended half that amount. "I'm impressed with what they are doing," Zumberge said of the Curtis operation. "But I'm also impressed with its decadence."