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CLAPopiexy
When a&eH what he thounh of ASUN
Senate political parties withholding platforms
in favor of joint release, the Celibacy,
Lysterine and Anti-Permissiveness (CLAP)
presidential candidate said he was
"momentarily stymied at the audacity"
involved in such a mova.
But it's not too hard to figure out. The
party that released its platform first also
would be subject to attack first. When the
platform's shortcomings were spelled out, the
other party could take note and incorporate
changes in their own platform.
Thus, did the presidential candidates of
United Student Effort (USE) and Active
Communications Together (ACT), both of
which names are somewhat nebulous but
apparently sounded good to the candidates,
conspire to schedule a so-called press
conference today at 5 p.m.
Their action is naively self-serving. The
sobriquet press conference might add a touch
of glamour to otherwise tedious proceedings,
but the only newspaper likely to show up is
the Daily Nebraskan mostly because it has
to.
Of the four parties, however, one has
gotten the jump on the other three. The
"youths of CLAP," as they call themselves
("Clap for CLAP!' they say) released their
platform Tuesday. The three stuaenis ruunmy
solemnly insist they are serious about the
campaign, although their actual intentions are
annoy ingly unclear-apparently by their own
design. It should be remembered, however,
that last year's Surrealist Light People's Party
candidates also were "serious."
The sketchy platform suggests, among
other things, that free games on pinball be
banned ("too permissive"), and that the
PACE box on tuition statements be changed
to solicit money for Homecoming displays
("Let's show creativity and meaningful effort
at our school").
It also advocates two student government
organizations. One would be ASUN, the other
ASUN' (ASUN prime). ASUN would be
composed of Student Council-type home
rooms, with up to 10,000 homeroom
representatives. 'This will enable all budding
politicians to have a place," the platform says.
The elected senators would receive a gavel
("to hammer with") and a red and white
Husker beanie, topped off with a propeller.
Who can argue with a platform like that?
If both CLAP and United for One (UFO)
candidates genuinely are serious, it's too bad.
But perhaps that's the biggest joke of all.
Mary voDorii
Safety
proposal:
separate
car, bike
Spring is in the air. Another Nebraska
winter is nearly over. For some, warmer
weather means taking bicycles out of
hibernation and using them to meet
transportation needs. The switch to the
bicycle is not only due to warmer
weather, but is also a switch from gas
guzzling to energy saving. And, why not?
A bicycle uses no gas and the only energy
is that of the rider, for whom it is good
exercise. A bicycle is cheap, repairs easily
and, most of all, is enjoyable.
....4fthevJb5ycle is such a-yood method f
&-,i,tl?nsppjrtaipn,; wfoik-many. stowf its.
why does it present a problem? In 1973
there were 79 car-bicycle accidents in
Lincoln, injuring 78 people. The problem
of bicycling is more than mere statistics
and is not confined only to bicyclists. It
affects car drivers as well.
If you drive a car, please think back to
fast summer and recall your encounters
with bicyclists. Many of you can
remember having a few unkind words for
bicyclists who swung into your driving
lane, zipped by you at the stoplight or
stop sign, or failed to take the
precautionary signals or actions normally
expected. The Lincoln Police Dept. is
doing something about this by instituting
a licensing procedure for bicyclists. This
will help, but I wonder if it is enough.
Many bicyclists who may not have
been involved in a accident have also had
unkind words for car drivers who nearly
clipped them while driving by, failing to
recognize the bicyclist's right to a part of
the road. But car drivers are already being
licensed.
No matter whether you drive a car or
ride a bicycle, most would agree that it
would be nice if some improvement could
be worked out for this problem. What is
.the city presently doing about this?
Marked bike routes have been established
in a number of areas in the city, with
plans to mark other routes in the future.
Bicyc!8.veducajLon a)x;ljcen.sing.are other,,
possibilities presented. These are steps in
the right direction, but 'there's' no reason
we can't consider a little more extensive
action. Bike routes may be useful as a
guide to adequate streets for bicycling,
but a large number of bicyclists can still
be found on crowded arterial streets.
Bicycle education might be applicable in
elementary schools, but on a broad scale
it is ineffective. The licensing of bicyclists
might eliminate problem bicyclists, but
what about the problem car drivers who
are extremely dangerous?
Many of Lincoln's arteritis simply
cannot adequately handle bicycle traff it
A number of streets already have been
listed as highly dangerous for cyclists by
the Mayor's Committee on Bicycle
Safety. Why keep struggling to
accommodate both bicyclists and car
drivers? Widening the roads is not
feasible, but some type of car-bicycle
separation is not. The problem of the
ind
differences in speed between cars an
bicycles should be enough to indicate a
need for separation.
Designated streets, similar to the
current bike routes but more significant
than just a marked street, are needed. Car
drivers would be urged to avoid these
streets. Provisions would be made to not
only identify the street as bicycle
oriented, but to make the intersections
safe by means of stopsigns on intersecting
side streets. Bicyclists could then use the
designated streets without having to stop
at every intersection, thus facilitating
speedy travel, a primary reason for using
arterials.
There are currently 73,625 motor
vehicles registered in Lancaster County.
This compares to at least 25,000
registered bicycles in Lincoln and that
number is increasing. If all bicycles were
properly registered at the fee of 50 cents,
the total received, approximately
$12,500, could easily finance this
proposal.
If you remember some hostile
car-bicycle encounters from last summer,
you must understand that. Because of the
energy crisis, even more bicycles will be
on the streets this summer. If you believe
that some action must bs taken to
provide for this large and increasing use
of bicycles, please let your feelings be
known. Write to anyone who will listen
and even to those that won't.
Don Wesely
Housing proposal endangers dorms7 identities
I've heard it said that the ASUN senate's fata!
mistake was to agree to the formation of the Council
on Student Life (CSL). To say the very least, ASUN
senate's potential is severely limited by the way every
issue of importance seems to get channeled through
CSL. '
When it gave away the control it had over student
fife, it approved its own demotion to advisory status.
Residence ha!! government is in danger of doing the
same thing if the recommendations of the CSL
Differentiated Housing Report are carried out.
The report looks f ine on paper. In order to allow
students to choose their own environment, it
proposes that residents be assigned to floors and
residence halls on the basis of their expressed
preferences about alcohol and violation.
That way, no one will be stuck on a "wet" floor
when he wants a "dry" one, and so on. Perhaps these
issues have been troubling for so long that its
collective mind has been warped, but the Council on
Student Life seeffS to have forgotten that there is
much more to student life than wild living.
It's hard to explain, but nonetheless true, that
different halls have different characteristics that
induce people to live tho. Ea: ha a certain
amount of unity and an atmosphere of its own
compounded from tradition, location, prominent
personalities and even architecture.
At the same time, each is alive, and it changes as it
needs to. Alcohol and visitation policies, then, would
be important aspects of a hall's character, but
certainly not the only ones.
mory cannon
J iii Lsuii U LK,,iU J
To rearrange individuals on the basis of the 33 two
factort vruld be silly. Far better to vest the
rerfontbi!ity for the choice of these policies in half
governments themselves.
One of the important contributors to the character
of a hall is its government. Its effectiveness and
orientation shapes the tone of a hall, even though its
actual power is quite limited. Because governments
already have sue an influence on the halls, it surely
would be reasonable to ask them to recommend
alcohol and visitation policy, too.
For one thing, the CSL proposal has the risk that
when the Housing Office makes its assignments of
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identities. To sacrifice them in favor of sucti
irrclevancies as alcohol policy would be ridiculous.
Why must everything about the residence halls be
imposed from above? Wouldn't it be simpler and
fairer to let the halls choose for themselves? It is
alleged that a bousing official, expressing his
opposition to self-determination, listed all the
personnelincluding himself-who would no longer
be needed if the halls assumed responsibility for
policy. An interesting thought, isn't it?
Residence halls change; sometimes a lot. Any
policy dealing with them must take that into account,
as the CSL program does not. To let hail governments
set policy in important areas would not only
strengthen the governments and make residents
happier with policies, but ft would build in the
flexibility needed for making adjustments and avoid
the nightmare possibility of some fool regulation
becoming as much of a sacred cow as is the open door
policy today.
page 4
daily nebraskan
thursday, february 28, 1974
