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ASUN elections need
Olive may change hands 2 nollina niaces
Pressured by the Soviet Union and Congress, makes similar agreements with Syria and the I I Iwl W py I c$ r"
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger again has
taken to the world's airways, olive branch in
hand, in search of peace for the Middle East.
The prospect this time is that the olive branch
will either be shot from his grasp outright or
given to someone else to carry.
Spoiled by semi-success in Vietnam and
Cyprus, this modem day Metternich is finding
Arab-Israeli problems harder to handle than a
soggy bagel. If his endless trips between Middle
East capitals have not brought peace, they have
at least assured him of a good job with a travel
agency when he retires.
The problem, of course, is that Kissinger has
finally run up against people even more stubborn
than himself. The Arab-Israeli problem is a
long-standing one and not about to be magically
solved by the first curley-haired, charismatic
American who stops in promising peace and
military aid.
Even though he is not the Superdiplomat
some like to think, Kissinger does deserve praise
for his work thus far. That he has not been
successf ul only attests to the endless ifs, ands and
buts of diplomacy.
The United States would consider recognizing
the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) if
the PLO would recognize Israel's right to exist.
Israel is willing to withdraw from the Sinai of
Egypt will make a formal declaration of
non-belligerence toward Israel. Egypt is willing to
sign a new Egyptian-Israeli accord only if Israel
PLO.
To this merry-go-round of proposals and
counter-proposals have been added additional
pressures from the Soviet Union and Congress.
The Soviet Union would like to shift
negotiations back to Geneva where the Middle
East peace conference would be called back in
session. Such a conference would take the edge
off U.S. influence in peace negotiations as well as
take the spotlight off Kissinger. It would also,
U.S. officials fear, be an excellent stage for
Soviet propaganda.
Meanwhile Sen. Charles Percy said this week
that Israel should "pull back essentially to the
1967 lines" or risk a lose of support in the
Senate on the question of further military aid.
Faced with that horrible prospect, the Israelis
may finally get down to some serious
negoitations.
While an Israeli pullback to the 1967 borders
is not desirable and probably not necessary to
achieving an agreement, a conciliatory attitude
on the part of both Arabs and Israelis is needed.
Both groups would fare better by reaching an
agreement on their own than by leaving a
settlement up to the politicking of an
international conference.
The alternative is less promising. If the
Egyptians and Israelis continue their present
stubborness, the planes flying between Cairo and
Tel Aviv may soon be carrying not diplomats,
but bombs.
Wes Albef
Vietnam new nostalgia trip
It's a bad dream, a recurring nightmare.
They're talking about Vietnam again. Can this be
true? Are those gun-happy mental midgets in
Washington serious?
But no, there it is-"FORD ASKS
CONGRESS FOR EXTRA 300 MILLION FOR
VIETNAM." It must be true. I'm not dreaming
and those aren't reruns.
There's that crook Thieu on the television set.
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the aid, then Vietnam and ultimately the whole
world will be lost to the communists. So what?
With the mess the world's in now, whoever does
finally get it is just asking for a big headache.
Besides, Thieu will just use the money to buy
a color television set or a new snowmobile. Or
maybe he needs it so he can lock up more
dissidents who don't approve of his corrupt
regime. Whatever the Communists do to
Vietnam, it couldn't be any worse than what
Thieu's already done. He makes Fu Manchu look
like Charlie Chan's son.
Putting personalities aside, let's get back to
the question of bombs and rockets. If you think
$300 million is a lot, wait till the Communists
overrun Saigon.
Better put your college career, and maybe
your life, aside. Kiss the girls goodbye. Strap on
your flight jacket or grab an M l 6. We're off for
Vietnam. Maybe we can break the 50,000 dead
or missing-in-action record set by our older
brothers.
Of course, there's no victory in this war. We'd
only be flogging a dead horse in a losing
effort-spending our time in a cesspool where the
waste is human life. But, as you know, it's our
page 4
duty to uphold the righteous cause of
democracy-no matter how bad it stinks. Besides,
God is on our side. And that makes a world of
difference.
As far as I'm concerned, the only gooa to
come out of Vietnam has been high-grade
marijuana and a hard-iearned lesson. Apparently,
even these two are not easy to come by
nowadays-especially the latter.
(Editor's note-Doug Voegler is an ASUN senator.)
The ASUN spring elections will soon be here. At the ASUN
Senate meeting on Jan. 29, members of the ASUN Electoral
Commission stated their desire to see increased voter turnout in the
ASUN elections.
There is, in my opinion, absolutely no valid reason for not
placing ASUN election polling places in the major residential
complexes. There should be a polling place in the
Harper-Schramm-Smith complex, the Abel-Sandoz complex and
the Cather-Pound-Neihardt complex, in addition to those in the
Nebraska Union and on East Campus.
If you look at a "real" election, you will find polling places in
dvery precinct. They are scattered among the residential areas.
They are placed where people live. People have a right to vote and
the election officials have a duty to facilitate the exercise of this
right by the voters.
At one time, the ASUN election was a battle not just between
rival candidates and parties but between the "Greeks" and the
"dormies." The prize was "control" of student government for a
year. Usually the Greeks were trying to continue a monopoly while
the dormies were seeking to establish one. This is where the "great
fear" of having polling places in residence hall complexes arose. If
it was easy for the "dormie" to vote, heaven forbid, he might
actually do it.
Some argue that polling places in the residential complexes
would "discriminate" in favor of those who live there. Doesn't
having a polling place in the M & N Building favor ROTC students?
Doesn't having one on .Hamilton Hall favor chemistry majors or
one in Andrews Hall favor English majors? Aren't those in the Fiji
or ATO house "favored" by a polling place in the Union when
compared to the student on 10th floor Harper?
Another "great fear" was the specter of "dormies" being herded
up like cattle by some candidate and stampeding the polling place
to vote without really "thinking" about the candidates and issues.
Supposedly during the long cold evening walk to the Union their
own free will would surface, and by the time they got there they
could vote sensibly.
What is the difference if someone runs up and down a residence
hall and yells "let's all go down and vote for Joe Doe, our dorm
president, who is running" or if a guy runs around his fraternity
yelling"let's go to the Union and vote for our brother who is
we
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let Vietnam fall into the hands of the
Communists. Ford says it's our moral duty to
protect our allies. I say, what do you do with a
festering wart. Cut it off-before it's too late.
There arc alternatives to sending aid to that
speck of a country across the sea. For one, it's
rumored that Richard Nixon would like a part in
our foreign affairs. We could resurrect him and
send him to Saigon. IDs sneaky, conniving rriind
would be worth a 100 divisions of Marines to
Thieu.
joe dreesen
smi
If all else fails, there is a final possibility. For
once, we might let sense and sanity determine
our actions and keep out of Vietnam. But this
time, I'm afraid I am dreaming. Things don't
seem to work that way.
daily nebraskan
running with the XYZ party." Does the fact that one group must
encounter the external environment on its pilgrimage to the polls
make a diflerence? Anyway, what business is it of the Electoral
Commission what motivates a student to vote?
What it boils down to is this: people vote in the ASUN election
not dormies or Greeks, or ROTC majors - but people. The Electoral
Commission must ignore these labels which are placed on groups of
students. However, the Electoral Commission cannot ignore where
students live when determining where to place the polls.
There is no logical reason why there should not be a polling
place in residential complexes where thousands of students live.
Not only will these polling places benefit the students that actually
live in the complexes, but also those who live nearby (such as the
Phi Mus, Chi Phis, etc. next to HSS, or the KKGs, Kappa Sigs, etc.
near Neihardt).
I have seen the ploy of not placing polling booths in the major
residential complexes go on for long enough. It would be
intolerable for it to continue for one more election. Ihe massive
increase in voter turnout and the ensuing legitimacy that ASUN
would gain is easily worth any extra expense or effort which might
be involved.
Any decision contrary to such a logical, reasonable, sensible and
fair concept clearly, in my opinion, must rest upon arbitrary,
capricious, unfair, discriminatory and unconscionable grounds.
However, should the ASUN Electoral Commission not be able
to reach such a decision by itself, should they try the same old
ploy and p ay the same old games with the ASUN election as in the
past, I shall take recourse to the ASUN Student Court and have
them ordered to so proceed.
thursday, february 13, 1975
