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."
