editorio
Bronx cheer
The news that the Board of Regents
extended visitation hours for UN L dormitory
residents ought to be met with cheers-Bronx
cheers. For while the board acted correctly in
extending the hours, it once again has refused
io decide the basic issue: whether students
ought to determine their own living
onvirofVii'-Mt. For several years the board has
t! n'li'?d like a man who knows the answers to a
ci Oi-M vord puzzle but refuses to fill them in.
Sui'dy the board must be aware that by not
granting dormitory residents the full rights
due them, it is not serving the best interests of
the University.
This year, the dormitories are operating at
93 per cent capacity. It takes 90 per cent
average yearly occupancy for them to break
even. Some UNL officials fear that because of
tho traditional second semester drop in
duiinitory occupancy, this year's average may
not meet the break-even point. This will mean
higher dorm rates and poorer services for
students living in residence halls.
If a rate hike becomes necessary, it will
become more evident that the regents are to
blame for the dormitories' economic ills.
They certainly are aware of the situation at
the University of Iowa: for the first time in
several years, that school has more than
enough applicants to live in the dormitories.
This overflow follows the Iowa Board of
Regents decision to allow liquor and full
visitation in the dorms. It seems there would
be a lesson here for our business minded
Board of Regents.
But what is even more perplexing is why
the board refuses to grant full rights to
dormitory residents when it has accepted the
philosophy behind the pleas. By approving
earlier visitation plans, the board has endorsed
the philosophy behind 24-hour visitation.
This philosophy includes:
7 hat students have the right to determine
their own living environment. The board
approved this by allowing individual
dormitory floors to set their own visitation
hours.
-That students have the right to have
guests of the opposite sex in their rooms.
-That visitation is not evil or wrong.
But while the philosophies are the same,
tho board still refuses to recognize its own
piocedent.
The reason for this must be political
expediency. The regents must believe that to
(jrant students full visitation rights would be
political suicide. But they also must be aware
that students will not be content with scraps
fiom the master's table. It is time the regents
acted courageously, putting political affairs
aside, and endorsed 24-hour visitation. To do
anything else is to contradict the best
interest'; of the University.
Michael (O.J.) Nelson
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Dear editor:
The regents' decision this summer on visitation hours is
disappointing.
The hoard still is trying to play watchdog, assuming it has
been given a mandate from paients to keep an eye on students
while they ore away from home, At most schools this "in loco
parentis" concept went out a long time ago.
It almost is a cliche at UNL that an 18 year old man or
woman, having been judged matuie enough to participate in
decisions governing a whole nation, is judged not responsible
enough to govt; in his or her own conduct after 12:30 a.m.
Whom a student wishes to enteitain in his or her room,
when he 01 she wishes to entertain that person, should not be
a privilege extended by the Board of Regents, 1 1 is a student's
right.
Lewis James Lewis
Political doldrums fade; optimism new watchword
Jnhn Vih'.t.iilt ' L;w Colh-gt)
fir ;hin.iii,
Ai'iei ir,,i thi",e past summei months
' ' ' 1 1 d to languish in a mire of
O'-pair, despciatiou and defeatism
..'! Hie Watergate affair and related
i i 1; op"r political activities. Peoples'
f ili'lfin e in their elected leaders has
l' mi h idly sh ikeu.
The Pie sideut's incomprehensible
f'iil'ne to me p; giips frublicly with
the 1ny1i.nl of questions left
un.dis.vf'ied has been at least partially
responsible fm the protraction of
I7.it' i iaii' rii.(..j m,-ide a serious error
v i 1 1 1 '!,iiii.ifini consequences in loftily
att.MTiptiii'j ! stay above the battle.
H ,' h-v !! 'i . n.air.riiil suspicion with
U !'., , 1 u . , . i silence and evasive
rh aoie; ; pi-yoked rumor and
it II ! Ii (ii ,
Heceni events, however, indicate
tfiat fotih tt' President and the
country arc r.dlyma 10 make a strong
aqo A
emerged from his "splendid isolation"
to hold a refreshingly forthright press
ohn vihscod
WW
irrefGn
fUffifriGf
1
comeback from the thioes of
Watergate. The national psyche was
boosted when the President at tasl
conference Aug. 71, lie weathered
some of the most acrimonious
interrogation of his public life by
responding in a direct and unequivocal
manner,
The lepulablc .'iindlmgei Poll issued
late last week icveals that the
President's job approval latmg is up to
its highesl level since befoie the
televised inquisition interrupted the
airways last May. T t ir- most recent
fiallup leading indicates solid gains in
pojiulai ity for ttie chief executive.
"(he nation's economic pioblems
- put into perspective by a report of
tor Organization of fconomic
Co etation and Development. The
annual U.'j. inflation rate fot fiscal
year 1973 was ( f'A the second
lowest in the free Wot Id. Canada,
f ileal. Britain, Cjeimany, J.ipan and
f ranee each had a significantly greater
inflationary index than the Uo. did,
Social Security benefits have gone
up 120 since 10, whereas the
consumer price index has advanced
only 7fj. Food prices have begun to
drop Unemployment stands at 1.
lowest point in three and a half years.
The classified ads of virtually every
newspaper in the country are crammed
with job openings of all kind. The
stock market is on the rise as
America's exports overseas skyrocket
and our balance of payments move
from a deficit to a healthy surplus.
Closer to home, average net income
w farm will leap from $08Wj jn
to SH.800 Ibis year. Meat
Hacking plants in Nebraska are
reopening (WfJ locations being
'Chuyler and Grand Island) after
temporal y shutdowns brought about
by the ill advised beef pi ice freee.
bt short, things ate getting betlet.
Optimism is the new watchword.
wi'cliiPvJdy, spptomber D, 1973
rl.iil ni'brHskiin
