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Getting screwed
Students have been fond of saying they get screwed
(so to speak) by practically everyone connected with
the University the regents, the legislators, the bursar
and even the computer.
While student gripes have ranged from the far-fetched
to the legitimate, there's little doubt that another
campus group is suffering from the same screws. The
group is the professors, and the gripe is money.
It's odd that professors here haven't registered more
outrage about their token salaries and raises. Sureiy they
can't be satisfied with them, for studies show UNL
ranks near the bottom-once a gain-on faculty saiaries
as compared with similar schools.
The UNL faculty has a good case and should confront
the proper authorities with several points of contention.
Among them:
-Nebraska's per capita income ranked 22nd
nationally in 1972-73. The same year, UNL professorial
salaries were in the bottom 20 of all Ph.D. granting
institutions.
-Consumer prices have increased 40.7 between
1968 and 1974. UNL compensation increased 24.2
during this time, with 39.4 the national average.
During the same period, Nebraska per capita income
increased 51. As one observer put it, faculty incomes
have been going down in buying power, while the
financial position of Nebraska nationally is going up.
Small wonder UNL has such difficulty wooing,
winning or keeping quality professors. And in the end,
of course, it's the UNL student who suffers most.
Generally the only fruit of token salaries is token
effort-and thus token education.
Mary Voboril
j. -
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Nixon's disposal hot if, ' but 'how?'
With new though hardly unexpected indictments House Judiciary Committee.
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s siiosvfoonirrarqe! ticirt ever: now can inerournrv '"y iu -vautiuuiy imu mc nunuuii
dispose of Richard Nixon?
One route might be an indictment to force a
resignation, as in the case of former Vice President
Spiro Agnew. But chief Watergate Prosecutor Leon
Jaworski has shied away from that, preferring to let
the House Judiciary Committee, responsible for
investigating impeachment, handle the sensitive
situation.
Trial of the high executive by the Senate, would
seem to be the Constitutional way out. But
impeachment carries with it misconceptions as well as
political repercussions.
john michoe
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I remember sitting in my third grade class and
hearing my teacher proudly remind me that no
American president had ever been impeached and
convicted. The only experience the country has had
.,:.u .,1 Smruikmiint ae iho nnittirallv
motivated trial of Andrew Johnson. People still recoil
at the near injustice of more than 100 years ego and
have little desire to try it again.
When the Senate Watergate hearings were in full
swing, it was common to hear both politicians and
private citizens commenting. "Gee, it's detestable,
but I don't favor impeachment; it would tear the
country apartl"
But as the investigations continued, astonishing
revelations surfaced almost weekly. First it was the
tapes, then executive privilege to keep the tapes'
hidden, followed by a subpoena, then missing tapes,
then erased tapes.
The presidency became a dirty sink, with the tapes
and other evidence squirming and scurrying like '
cockroaches to avoid the light.
The entire executive branch was under suspicion,
not for a little 3 -penny scandal, but for a full scale
perversion of the federal system.
Since that time, the Senate Watergate committee
has closed down shop, pacing the burden to the
the
impeachment, trying to avoid at all cost the cries of
partisanship that blackened the Johnson trial. But the
American people and their sentiments have moved
less cautiously. It seems as if the American people are
trying to shame Nixon out of office.
On NBC's Dean Martin Comedy Hour, the
following joke was heard: "It seems Redd (Foxx) was
swimming near San Clemente when he saw a fellow
struggling in the water. He swam over and carried him
safely to the beach. As he pulled the fellow ashore, a
Secret Service man ran up and said, 'Do you know
what you've just done? You've saved the life of the
President of the United States!' Redd couldn't believe
it. The President then offered to grant his rescuer any
wish he desired. Redd asked tf he could be buried in
Arlington National Cemetery. "Why certainly said
the President, 'But why would one in your physical
condition be concerned with where he's buried? 'I'll
tell you why,' said Redd, 'When the people find out
what I've dons, they're going to kill me'."
This is no ordinary political joke. Its use and
acceptance on national television seems to indicate a
lot of heart changing from the days of the Smothers
Brothers. Nixon has become less than a man.
Common American decency dictates that you
don't wish another man dead or that you don't hate a
man for his beliefs.
' With sentiments such as these growing stronger
daily and only 26 of the electorate happy with his
performance, it seems impossible to accept the
constant Nixonian argument of 'protection of the
integrity of the presidency.
Dear editor,
fie Ann Henry's and Ernie Chambers'
correspondence Daily Nebraskan, Feb. 15).
Chambers offers some wise advice we could ail
consider. What is worse-having a bad quality
education or having beer on campus? Our main
concern should be our education. Once we are sure
we have a good enough education, we then should
make sure our other rights are not violated.
We have many other problems on this campus,
such as bad teacher-student relationships, oversized
classes, tuition, financial aid and student, fees. I think
I'd rather we get on Chambers' back about the
conditions that now exist. They are more
treacherous.
So as a student I am calling for Chambers and the
other 48 senators to do something about these
conditions. Now.
Tony DiMauro
mmA Mf,4lAM laj
Dear editor,
I think State Sen. Ernie Chambers, "mature"
legislator, should make a second, more thoughtful
reply to ASUN President Ann Henry's letter.
Henry has done an excellent job of objectively
expressing the issue of alcohol in the context of
discrimination. Chambers' reply. Song as it was, was
no more than an emoticnal outlash that only served
to further existing antagonism and put the students
on the defensive with irrelevent, insulting
patronizations.
It was a letter that displayed Chambers' character
I .1,4
the triw threat to the 'integrity of the presidency.'
When the President of the United States must appear
on national television and announce, "I em not a
crook," that Is when we must separate the man from
the office.
The question now becomes ths definition of what
is an impeachable offense. The White House said the
only ground for impeachment If proof of an actual
crime being committed. The counsel for the Judiciary
Committee took a broader view which would include
"offenses against the government . . . especially
abuses of constitutional duties."
Nixon has little to win but nothing to lose in his
tooth and nail struggle to stay President. But by
doing so, he is doing great damage, not only to the
executive branch, but to a basic faith in government
which allows the American form of democracy to
opera?..
It seems the question no longer is "Could the
country endure an impeachment trial?" Rather, can it
endure without one?
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fjvd done better. It was overrun with his gross
generalities, reeked with his condescension and bared
to all "carefree, fun-seeking" students this legislator's
deplorable attitude.
His "I know you better than you know yourself,"
and "I know what's good for you" assumptions were
parental, authoritative and ignored the students as the
adults they are. Who does he think he Is? A stale
senator. So what? I'm a student. And what
qualifications does he have that allows for such God
like judgments as to what legal and moral issues ere
"educationa'ly sound?"
Because of the irrelevancy and ptirposelcssr.ess of
his insolent letter, he is correct when he concluded,
"But I am obviously waiting my time and yours." His
thoughtless letter was just that-a waste. It was
demeaning both to the students and to himself. His
second reply, if he should write one, should contain
an apology to Henry and to ail those students who
read his first letter in the Daily Nebraskan.
Mary Patricia Lee
page 4
daily nebraskan-
monday, march 4, 1974
