ohilu
monday, january 21, 1974
lincoln, nebraska vol. 97, no. 4
Marrieds'
no relief
By Wes Alters
High interest rates and renovation costs have dimmed
prospects for relieving UNL's married student housing
shortage, according to housing director Richard Armstrong.
Armstrong said plans to construct more married student
housing have been considered, "but our lending agency
went out of business and rates on the commercial market
would be prohibitive."
According to Armstrong, there definitely is a need for
more married student housing. He said about two per cent
of UNL married students now live on campus.
UNL has 57 married student apartments, 17 on City
Campus and 40 on East Campus.
The apartments are furnished and all utilities are paid.
They rent for $80 to $90 a month, depending on the
number of bedrooms.
"Our units are 100 per cent occupied now and always
are, except for brief periods when someone moves out,"
said Wayne Blue, UNL married student housing director.
"There's a 15-month waiting list for apartments now and
200 people are on that list."
Armstrong added that prospects are poor for renovating
existing single student dormitories so married students
could live in them.
"Chancellor (James) Zumberge had a study made last
year of costs for renovating those dormitories, assuming
occupancy in them dropped low enough to make it
profitable to use the space another way," he said.
The idea was abandoned, he explained, when occupancy
was better than expected-an estimated 89.2 per cent this
semester and renovation costs were found to be too high.
Armstrong said he didn't have renovation estimates, but
added that the cost was so high that constructing new
buildings was as likely.
Blue called UNL's married student housing services
"practically nil" and said UNL ranks lastln the Big 8 in the
number of married student units.
Iowa State University, with 2,000 married student units,
probably has the best married student housing in the Big 8,
Blue said.
He said additional married student housing would
enhance graduate programs, since many graduate students
are married.
GOYA's (first) year in the ASUN Senate
This is the first of two stories examining the
achievements of the 1973-74 ASUN Senate, in light
of campaign promises made last spring.
Promise her anything, but give her . . . GOYA.
"Get Off Your Apathy" was the slogan of the
GOYA party in the 1973 ASUN elections, and its
candidates were Ann Henry, Mark Hoeger and Todd
McDaniel.
UP, the Unity and Progress Party, was headed by
Bill Freudenberg, with Karen Richardson and Sue
Overing as the vice-presidential candiates.
Both parties had platforms. Both parties made
campaign promises. Both placed a candidate in an
executive slot, but were both parties able to hold to
their promises?
The Daily Nebraskan spoke with some of the 1972
election candidates and asked them to evaluate
ASUN's past year, in light of last spring's campaign
promises.
Ann Henry, ASUN president, said she "doesn't
think the GOYA party really lasted" because of
"some animosity" which existed during the first days
after the Senate convened last spring.
"It's hard to say whether it was personalities or
the party system" that hindered some people in the
group in working together, Henry said.
But personalities did play a part in having some
senators who had been interested in working on
special platform promises resign. Because of their
resignations, the work has not been accomplished, or
it has been difficult to find people to accept their
responsibilities, Henry said.
Differences existed in the newly elected group,
Henry said, even though the "platforms and goals
were so much the same.
"We did get the PACE charge placed on the tuition
statement, and have set up the Legal Services Center,
as we said we would do," she said. PACE is a
scholarship fund for low-income students.
"Our Liaison Program is working fairly well and
I've been really happy with the book exchange," she
said.
According to Daily Nebraskan files, GOYA
candidates said they "see ASUN as a leader and
coordinator of student action." Party members said
they planned to "deal with educational reform by
working for change in the advisory system . . . and by
urging that faculty members be evaluated in terms of
their performance as advisors as well as teaching
performance."
The platform supported strengthening the Center
for Educational Change, supporting the student
regent proposal, the Koop, and the liberalization of
visitation and alcohol policies in student housing.
"We got started a little late on the education
reform proposals because we've been concentrating
on other things," Henry said.
She said ASUN executives have been working with
the College of Business Administration to set up a
"pilot project" to restructure the advisory program.
Senators in business administration, along with the
college advisory board, probably will have a proposal
ready by next year, she said.
The platform said the party would attempt to find
persons in the community who are practicing careers
students are considering, in order to advise them.
"We've (CEC) collected catalogues from many
universities, and all the graduate and undergraduate
bulletins, but students don't seem to want to use it as
an advising center," Henry said.
"We are getting together a complete course
description of all the classes on campus, a project
headed by Sen. Vicki Bergman. '
In spite of GOYA interest, "We are getting
nowhere on having the faculty being evaluated. One
professor told me that there is no public evaluation of
students, so why should there be one of professors?"
Henry said.
The Koop? "It has come a long way and it has a
lot further to go," Henry said. "It is not where it
should be, but this is no time to give it up, because it
is a business proposition and should be seen
through."
The student regent proposal is coming before the
Legislature Thursday, Henry noted. Support of the
alcohol and visitation proposals has been shown by
filing a joint suit with the Residence Hall Association
against the Board of Regents, she said.
GOYA candidates also proposed seeking "outside
funds from such groups as businesses and
governmental agencies to supplement ASUN support
of ethnic minority programs."
"We haven't even gotten into that yet, because the
chairmanship of the Human Rights Committee
changed.
"I'm not thrilled about the results," Henry said.
Karen Richardson, UP candidate for second vice
president, resigned her post as chairman of the
committee at the beginning of the semester.
Such resignations crippled the effectiveness of the
party, Henry said.
Have GOYA Senators lived up to their campaign
promises?
"When you put in a full-time job, say 40 to 50
hours a week, if you're not too careful, you begin to
expect too much.
"Senate is a personal commitment and it's not
easy to get out of senators more than they are willing
to do," Hom y said.
PROMISE
Seminar
to focus
on courts
Not every student is a student of the law, so Jed
Buechler, chairman of the ASUN Legal Rights Committee,
has organized a seminar to help students with their legal
problems.
The ASUN sponsored seminar, scheduled for Thursday,
is designed to give students an understanding of the Small
Claims Court.
"If this seminar is successful, students will be able to
take their grievances to court and do something about
them," Buechler said.
"With the help of ASUN's new student lawyers, Bruce
Hamilton and Doug German, students now have at their
disposal attorneys who could give advice about how to use
the Small Claims Court."
Created by a Nebraska legislative bill passed last January,
the court provides a method for settling legal disputes on
claims of $500 or less.
Hamilton and John Stevens Berry, a local private
attorney, will lead the seminar.
According to Buechler, Small Claims Court is where
students most likely would take legal complaints because it
is designed for people who cannot or will not retain a
lawyer. Landlord-tenant disputes and consumer credit
disputes are two examples of Small Claim Court cases.
Seminar leaders will advise students on evidence they
can or cannot bring to the court, Buechler said. He said the
average college student does not know the rulos of evidence
the court follows, how to Tile fees or how to abide by other
court regulations.
The seminar originally was intended for 11 students who
filed a class action suit last spring against a local
corporation. Buechler, Berry, and UNL Ombudsman Jim
Suter later agreed to open the meeting to all UNL students.
Buechler said he is tentatively planning more seminars
and a pamphlet outlining students' basic rights in court.
