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The amnesty issue, as it relates to men vvho left the
country rather than serve in the armed fon , d .ring the
Vietnam war, provokes a great deal c, emotion,
especially in those against it ' " V,'
It's particularly difficult for friends and rcU'os of
those who died in Southeast Asia or returned crippled
and maimed to accept the idea of amnesty, and it's hard
to fault them for their views. But amnesty is nonetheless
in order. . 1V' v -V
One of the groups whose opposition is both
predictable and opprobrious is the military.
In recent years, some Pentagon reports have been
notable for their gross inaccuracies. A likely candidate
for this category is a recent study that indicates that the
great majority of individuals refused to serve "for
reasons that soldiers have deserted throughout history."
These include personal, family or financial reasons, but
not, according to the report, opposition to the war.
Another Pentagon investigation of deserters in
foreign countries between 1966 and 1973 showed that
46 had no established motivation. Of the others, only
3,6 had established objections to the Vietnam war, the
report said. ..
The Pentagon pushers contend that amnesty would
set a dangerous precedent and would be detrimental to
morale and discipline. But in an all-volunteer army?
In a recent. poll, 45 to 43 plurality of Americans
said they favor amnesty if, those affected would be
required to work two years in some form of national
service other than the military. Such an attitude, while
not the most desirable, is somewhat heartening.
Perhaps some of the "My country, right or wrong"
factions have come to realize that the United States'
meddling in Southeast Asian affairs was a mistake and
that no one should now be made to suffer for it. Some
of the bravest men involved in the conflict are likely
many of those who left family, friends and
country-and went to Canada. Mary Vcboril
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"Bless you, Patricia Hearst, and these thy gifts.
19
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Latter spriear in the Daily Nebraikan at tha adito''
dicretion. A letter's appearance it based on it timenait,
originality, cche.ence and interest. All lattan must be
accompanied by the writat'c true name, but may, bo
submitted for publication undar a pan name or Initials. Use
of such letters will be determined by the editor. Brevity is
encouragod. All letters era rubject to condensation and
editing.
Dorm dilemma
Dear editor,
I've sent the following letter to the UNL housing
director:
Dear Sirs,
This is to let you know that I will not be renewing
my housing contract for next year.
You may ask, why take the trouble to write a
letter? I just thought I might save you a precious 10
cents for sending out a questionnaire to find out why
I left.
At present, I live in Selleck Quadrangle, which has
neither carpeted halls, elevators or good food (I'v
lost weight this semester by eating here and I've hsSd
the loss down only by snacking In between meal.
' 1 - I - . ..-., . - "
two years now, solely because I've felt Selleck was
the only residence hall that had a friendly, more
personal atmosphere.
Now I hear the regents don't want to spend much
money to improve Selleck. It is said that if occupancy
continues to drop, Selleck will be the first hall closed
and turned into an office building. Too bad.
Of course, this is not my only reason for leaving. I
have others. Among them:
-The price. I just can no longer afford to live in a
residence hail. We now pay about $125-pius a month
for eight months of residence, and now you are
asking for a rate increase! This price, by the way, is
for a double room. Where do y-u spend It? On water,
heat, electricity considering all the measures we had
to take to conserve energy, it couldn't be there),
clean linen, recreation, food (impossible, considering
the fact that Selleck started using TVP, dubbed
"Tender Vittles By-products" by residents, to save
money and also cut the size and content of most of
the main dishes in half), unnecessary paperwork or an
overpopulated staff? This last summer I lived in a
4-man apartment that cost us each about $0 a .
month. With gt joeries and washing, we lived there for.
$100 a month at the most. Then friends thought we
were spending too much for a furnished 5-room
apartment. 1
Rights. Both the state and national constitutions
say I have certain rights as an adult citizen of this
country ' and state (I 'ami Si years old). I do not recall
sning away these rights when I signed my housing
contract. The Residence Hall Assoc. guest hours
sign-up was enough when I signed my housing
'contract. Now Selleck has suddenly, without
consultation, decided to implement a new plan where
the person signing up has to take control of the floor
and hand in detailed reports as to who was naughty
d who was good. I am going to a state university,
, not a state penitentiary or a military school. I do not
like being awakened in the middle of the night so the
person on duty can do his job by checking on reports
from unknown sources that there are women in my
room after hours. Neither do I like being asked if my
roommate has violated the rules. If he has, it's his
business, not mine.
I will return, of course, when you acknowledge
that as an adult citizen I do have guaranteed rights
under both constitutions, whether I live in the
residence hall or my home. Therefore I don't expect
to return. I do expect you to write a rebuttle or make
a statement saying I am wrong. ! do expect you to
tear down my arguments and my menta! capacity.
I've come to expect this from you, directors, regents,
some senators, end almost all of the officuMnm of
this University, They all seem to eager to leap on the
ccmplainer saying he Is wrong or something Is wrong
with him.
sjiihju:!iiij
Just ones I'd like to see them stop and notice that
iKHjiit isa iKiiTuiy weyity wli.ii iiicir
thinking or their policies and actually listen to the
complaints, thereby taking action to correct them.
Duane Schleusener
More money?
Dear editor.
There has been a lot of criticism directed at ASUN
this year for its ineffectiveness, incorrectly organized
representatives, and assorted other problems. There' is
another student representative organization on
campus that has not received as much criticism but
that is probably becau-;? it is not $0 well known
organization. I am referring to the Residence Hall
Assoc (RHA).
Ask yourself what you know about RHA. What
have they done? Having trouble? Let me tell you
about the two main things that RHA has done this
year. They have rented refrigerators to students,
which In my opinion is a very useful service. The
other major accomplishment is jointly filing a law suit
against the Univsrsity contesting the constitutionality
of alcohol and visitation restrictions. Mainly this is
what RHA has accomplished this past year. Before I
tell you what I think RHA can do, 3 few more facts
should be presented.
Presently $7 of the $1,020 (or 1,320) that you
pay tor room and board returns to each residence hall
government, to use as they see fit. Upcoming is a rate
increase of an undetermined amount. There is
nothing we can do about that increase, it will happen
no matter what. As usual, that rate increase is only to
cover the cost of inflation in our economy. There will
be no new services, etc. started with this extra
money.
I feel that there is a way to get something for us
out of that rate increase. That is to add another $3 to
whatever amount the Housing Office dictates. Now
don't get alarmed over another $3; let's look at what
another $3 can do. First, that $3 will be split up two
ways, One is an additional 50 cents going to hall
government. The other is for the other $2.50 to go
directly to RHA. You may be asking yourseif what
RHA would do with a $10,000 to $15,000 budget. I
will now explain.
With this amount of money RHA can create an
effective lobbying group that would work jointly
with a similar ASUN lobbying group. The student
lobbying group in California spends $50,000. We
can't come close to this, but it is necessary to have a
substantial budget for effective lobbying. Another
part of RHA's budget could be spent on physical
impiovements that the Housing Office usually balks
at u. takes too long to approve it. Physical
improvements along the line of microwave ovens,
weight macnires, etc., whatever the students
recognize a need for. Communication could also be
improved, but it would take some money for paper,
print, etc. There are many other things that a
$10,000 to $15,000 budget could be used for.
Lawyers and accountants are possibilities. RHA
would be responsible for accounting for the use of
this money and taking the initiative to report that to
the students. But communication from the residents
would be necessary so that the money was spent to
everybody's satisfaction.
The above are all possibilities if RHA 'had tht
large of a budget, if the additional $3 was approved.
But that $3 must be approved by you. It would take
a referendum, possibiy a petition, with two-thirds of
the present residence hall residents approving of this
additional $3.
Now that you have been presented with the facts
and justification behind this proposal, what is your
opinion? Places to express your opinion is your hall
government, RHA or even to myself (203 Schramm.)
This is a chance to improve RHA to a level that will
make it a more effective organization representing the
residence hails and making them a better place to live.
Tim Evensen j
15, 1074
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