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Higher housing cqsis
blamed on Washington
When UNL residence halls opened for the second semester a
week ago, they looked at first something like the one pictured
above. Empty.
And if the NU Board of Regents is forced to raise housing rates
again, as is expected at their meeting next Saturday, the residence
halls may come to look that way the year round.
The story is an old one. For students, a yearly increase in room
and board has become almost as certain as football in fall. An
increase next year would be the third in a row.
In 1971-72, the rates were $940 a year ($4.12 a day) for double
rooms, $1,140 a year ($4.99 a day) for single rooms. Students this
year were asked to come up wim $1,095 for a double ($4.86 a
day) and $1,395 for a single.
The Office of University Housing is seeking a 13 per cent
increase in room and board rates next year to meet increased
operating costs. Students wanting double rooms should be
prepared to write $1,235 on their checks, a $140 increase. One
can't help but think many will try to find someone else to play this
monetary numbers game with.
For University Housing and the regents, the story is an old one
too-trying to solve a problem that is not of their own doing.
Inflation is the creation of the President and Congress, not the men
of Regents Hall.
Housing Director Richard Armstrong is faced with the problem
of meeting increases in the cost of food, utilities, repairs and wages
at a time when the only figure that doesn't seem to rise is the one
in the budget.
Food prices have gone up 15 per cent this year, Armstrong
pointed out in an article in Monday's Daily Nebraskan. Wages are
up 10. And he expects similar increases next year.
While students are painfully aware of rising housing rates, they
may not have noticed the little changes made as economy
measures. Cafeterias serving margarine instead of butter, a luwcr
grade of orange juice rather than the top-grade.
These and steps such as making food service employes buy their
lunches have reduced costs an average of $115.37 per student
during the past two years, according to Armstrong, and may have
prevented an additional $125 increase next year.
The best solution, of course, lies in Washington. The slopes
President Ford should be concerned about are the ones on graph
of the cost of living. They're much more treacherous than those at
Vail.
Meanwhile, the University of Nebraska has to keep plowing
through the storm, hoping the wind doesn't go out of its sails.
The Office of University Housing should take advantage of any
economy measures left at its disposal, even if it means a slight drop
in services to students.
The Regents should take any such possible economy measures
into account when voting on the size of a room and board increase.
It would be better to take more economy measures now and hold
down the rate increase than to raise room and board the full $140
and take those economy measures next fall anyway.
And with no tax funds financing the operating costs of the
residence halls, students should put hand: on wallets and be
prepared to bear the brunt of rising costs.
The story is an old one.
Wes Albert
Film: true Indian picture?
Falling victim to a whim I came to regret
later, I switched on the TV one evening during
Christmas break. One of the ever present movies
was in progress, this one dealing with Geronimo's
efforts to win better conditions for his Apache
people.
Although I tuned in late, the plot was clearly
recognizable. Obviously the bloodthirsty savages
were making life absoutely miserable for the
white people. Anyone familiar with Hollywood
westerns knows the solutiori to this uprising
nonsense involves the U.S. cavalry (fittingly
attired in white hats) riding onto the scene. Sure
enough, after the required quota of blood is
shed, the nonsense ends.
Although this film was only the latest of
many I've seen over the years, something about it
was different.
Perhaps it was the fact that this movie was so
typical that struck me. Perhaps it was the
oh-so-typical final scene in which Geronimo is
told by a U.S. Senator: "as the representative of
the Great White Father whose house is in the city
of Washington, I offer you the protection of his
law as well as the dignity and honor that your
people deserve."
It might have been Geronimo himself-the
typical role of a brave, strong-willed and
intelligent chief-who in the end meekly accepts
the wliite man's peace terms.
I, like most other people, have watched other
chiefs in other westerns receive similar platitudes
from representatives of the Great White Father
without really listening to what was being said.
We've often seen strong-willed, intelligent Indians
turn to jello when offered the "protection" of
the white man, without giving a thought to what
that protection historically has meant. In other
years that final scene probably would have
passed by me with no special impact.
This time, however, it was almost as if I were
seeing a western for the first time and I was
listening attentively to see how it would end. I
found myself reflecting upon the phrase "dignity
and honor that your people deserve." This phrase
would seem to signify the acceptance of the
Apache people on an equal footing with the
white man. The movie ends, however, with the
Apache people walking dejectedly past the
mounted troops, and in this the symbolization of
conquest is unmistakable.
The kind of "dignity and honor" these people
deserve is obvious. The veneer of sprited
self-reliance and intelligence has been stripped
from the Indian to reveal his need for the white
man's "protection,"
While in essence this movie was little different
from others I've seen, thoughts concerning it
stayed with me for some time after its
conclusion. Even now I'm slightly amazed that a
ho-hum western provoked so much thought.
It seems that what made this movie different
for me was a change in the perspective from
which it was viewed. Whatever the excesses that
could be attributed to the American Indian
Movement - and the increasingly vocal Indian
population in general, it seems to me that they
are serving to raise the consciousness of the
American people concerning the true magnitude
of problems faced by native Americans.
Regardless of how we as individuals feel about
the Wounded Knee affair and other events in
Indian affairs, undoubtedly Americans are
becoming at least feebly conscious because of
them.
It seems that this was the crucial difference as
I watched what appeared to be just another
cavalry vs. Indian flick. In earlier years I no
doubt would have accepted the movie for what it
was meant to be-an account of the white man's
bravery and benevolence in conquering the West.
But 1976 is not 1962 (the year the film was
made) and it now seems impossible for such films
to be viewed casually and uncritically.
rick johnson
rhymes & reasons
As a white, middle-class person I cannot fully
understand the feelings of Indians, their
problems or the injustices they face. But I can do
my best to empathize and in doing so it seems
readily apparent why such films as Geronimo are
felt to be insulting and degrading to Indians. The
movie industry has defamed the Indian and
helped to reinforce prejudicial attitudes through
the stereotypical portrayal of Indians as savages
who are somewhat lower than the white man.
Movies have played a part in perpetuating the
idea that the Indian has been accorded his
rightful human "dignity and honor". Americans
can no longer escape the fact that human dignity
and honor have for too long been just words in a
script.
These might be worthwhile thoughts to keep
in mind as one views the Wounded Knee
proceedings and other events in Indian affairs. It
seems that underlying the issues of treaty rights,
poor educational opportunities, substandard
health care and other questions being raised by
Indians, is something more basic.
At the core of these issues, it may well be that
the real question is whether human "dignity and
honor" are ever going to have real meaning for
native Americans.
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page 4
the daily nebraskan
Wednesday, january 15, 1975
