OQIIU
thursday, december 13, 1973
lincoln, nebraska vol. 97 no. 58
Big 8 student governments innovate, stay alivel
By Vince Boucher
The effectiveness of student
governments at Big 8 schools seems to
be a pendulum that swings between
innovation and much supported ideas
at some schools and just trying to
temain alive at other campuses,
according to officials from student
associations other than the ASUN
Senate.
Oklahoma State Student Assoc.
(OKSA) Vice President Gary McCurdy
said the Oklahoma student
government was supported entirely by
student fees. The yearly OKSA budget
is $18,000. Of that, $2,550 is paid in
salaries to student government
officials. For a 12-month year the
president receives $1,250, the vice
president $1,000 and four executive
advisors $300 each.
The Renters Assoc., according to
McCurdy, is a new government project
that offers a listing of Stillwater
landlords. The listing is compiled by
social science students. "When we
make this information available, it
makes the landlords generally more
responsible," he said.
Another chief project of the
student association is the
establishment of a legal aid office. Ten
law students gather le(jal complaints
from students but also receive
academic credit for their work. Cases
then are referred to a professional
attorney in Stillwater, who gives an
opinion at no charge to the student
government. The only cost for the
project is $500 budgeted for office
expenses.
Other chief OKSA projects include
a Forum Committee to provide
sneakers on the campus and a
volunteer student "clearinghouse"
program.
McCurdy said student response to
student government at Oklahoma
State is very apathetic. During the last
election, only 15 per cent of the
student body voted.
Rick Cooper, assistant to the
president at the neighboring Norman,
Okla. campus of the University of
Oklahoma, explained the UOSA yearly
allocation was $180,000. That budget
must cover all student organizations at
Oklahonia and is completely budgeted
by the 50 member student congress.
The student; government then is left
with a budget of about $35,000-all
student fee moncy-for its own
undertakings.
Salaried positions are extensive at
the Oklahoma campus. The president
is paid $100 a month plus the
equivalent of a dormitory room
($1,170 for two semesters). The vice
president is unpaid. The student
attorney general and UOSA treasurer
receive $140 a month.
Other salaries include operations
manager, $140; student information
office director, $100 a month; chief
public defender (a law student), $120
a month; chief justice and court
administrator of the student court,
each $150 a month.
University of Oklahoma also has
started a student legal aid program,
primarily dealing with tenant rights.
Cooper said the legal service was
staffed by two professional lawyers
whom the UOSA holds on retainer, at
a cost of $10,000 yearly. Law students
also are involved in gathering case
information from students.
Another important program,
Cooler said, is a student information
office. Besides acting as a referral
center, the office includes an
ombudsman who works directly on
student complaints.
Cooper said only 2,5000 of the
19,000 students voted in the last
government election. He said
on campus residents voted, "some
living units up to 90 per cent," but
off-campus voter turnout was
practically nil.
"Most students do not feel the
student government touches them," he
said. The primary activity of the
student congress was approving
student appointments, he said.
At the Manhattan campus of
Kansas State University, Student
Senate Chairman Kurt Lindahl said the
student government receives a student
fee allocation of $444,000, of which
about $16,350 is left for Kansas State
Student Government Assoc. (KSSGA)
projects. Only two officials receive
salaries the president is paid $1,800 a
year and Lindahl receives $900 for a
1 2-month year.
He said the biggest project of the
KSSGA this year was the formation of
the Associated Students of Kansas
Student Lobby. With six other Kansas
schools, the group will lobby in future
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sessions of the Kansas State
Legislature, Lindahl said.
Student turnout at the KSSGA
elections was about one-third of the
15,400 student body, he said. That
number had increased over the past
year, a fact which Lindahl attributed
to two referendum questions on the
ballot.
Lindahl said he thought students
realized the limitations of the Kansas
State budget and were not too critical
of the student government
The student government budget at
the University of Colorado at Boulder
is $G0,000 according to ASUC
Tri executive Jess Vijil. Vijil said the
budget is entirely student fee money
and that in the last student
government election, Colorado
students turned down a motion to
make fees voluntary.
Vijil said the three tri-executives
each receive $1,200 a year. Of the
three, one must be a women and one a
minority student, he said. Six
administrative assistants also are
salaried at $75 per month.
The executives deal with separate
areas such as academic research,
minority affairs, coordinating activities
of the student senate and budget
research, he explained.
Vijil said the triexecutive plan was
initiated a year ago. He said Colorado
government" suffered when only one
person was the student body leader.
"It's something about the power of
the office and people's egos," he
commented. "Often their vetos
weren't very rational."
One major concern of the student
government this year has been the
establishment of the anti-rape Assoc.
He said the move has been successful
and the incidence of rape has
decreased. As part of the project, the
university is providing cars to drive
women home at night.
Course evaluation also is a major
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concern of the ASUC. Another
tri-executive, Paul Boetcher, holds a
copyright on a system he developed
while a student at Boston University.
Colorado now is instituting the same
computer system of evaluation. Vijil
said $13,000 had been appropriated to
the project this year despite extensive
faculty opposition.
Vijil said about 7,000 of Colorado's
20,000 students voted in the last
student government election and by a
two to one margin defeated a
candidate who wanted to abolish
student fees. Nevertheless, Vijil said
most students do not support the
ASUC because "the administration can
override any decision we make.
Rollin Hunsicker, student publicity
director at Iowa State University, said
that University's student government
budget is about $19,000 yearly, all
from student fee money. The salaries
of the student body president is
$1,470 a year, and the vice president is
paid 75 per cent of that amount. The
executive assistant receives a $100
salary for each quarter. The chairman
of the executive budget commission
also is paid a salary of $150 quarterly.
The Iowa State government also has
instituted a legal aid program that
utilizes 10 law students from Drake
University working under the
supervision of a Drake Law School
faculty member.
Hunsicker said the student
government is in the process of
development a model for a campus
community form of government
including students, faculty,
administration and staff. He said the
increased publicity resulting from the
effort has helped the present student
government. He said about 3,000
students voted in the last election, "an
above-average turnout."
The student government budget at
the Lawrence campus of the
University of Kansas is about $42,000,
according to present Mert Buckley.
The president vice president and
treasurer of the student government all
receive a salary of $1,020 a year. A
chairman who handles business of the
student senate receives S540 a year,
while three students who serve on the
executive committee of the university
senate receive $765 a year, Buckley
said.
Student evaluation of teaching
effectiveness is a major project of the
KU student government. "The
chancellor now has declared that
evaluation will be a major
consideration of promotion and tenure
of faculty," Buckley said. Over the last
three years, the student government
has poured more than $55,000 into
the project, Buckley said.
Buckley said participation of the
KU student body in the last student
government election was about 14 per
cent of the 18,000 student body. He
said the usual turnout was about 25
per cent. Buckley said one reason for
the low turnout was that he ran
unopposed; however, he said the
senate positions were well contested.
At the University of Missouri at
Columbia, president of the Missouri
Student Assoc. (MSA) Paul Woemer
said the annual budget is about
$55,000 a year. All of the student fee
money is allocated by the senate to
both student and professional Missouri
staff positions.
Salaries at Missouri comprise a
substantial amount of the budget, he
cniH Tho nrociHpnt rof-fiivf $1 FiOO n
year, the vice president $1,000 a year!
and the chairman of the student
information office $300 a year. In
addition, five presidential assistants
each are paid $1 50 a year.
Strengthening communication withe
tne student body is one ot the primary
MSA projects this year, Woerner said.
Lotteries for students to win tickets to
campus events and a trip to the
Carribean over the spring recess are
part of the plan. Students who enter
the contests must show their students
senator's signature on the ticket and so
come into contact with government
representatives, Woerner said.
Student officials at MU are also
trying to increase imput into the
Columbia city government. More than
half of the city's population is
students, he said, and MSA executives
have established a student advisory
board to the city council.
In elections last spring, alxn.it a
third of the students voted, lAo'.rnti
said. This was the highest turnout in
recent years because tho election was
"extremely controversial," he said
Students rejected one platform to
abolish MSA. Woerner said he now
believes "most students thinks w are
doing an all right job."