editorials
Serious candidates wanted
WANTED: Student (other than graduating
senior) familiar with university, particularly with
problems of students. Must have working
knowledge of faculty and administrative
problems. Knowledge of UNI power structure
helpful. Need Friday evenings and Saturday
mornings free once a month for NU Board of
Regents meetings. No experience necessary. Start
work April 2. Low pay, long hours. Those with
an aversion to regents and red tape, or apathetic
students need not apply.
Presumably now that the ASUN Senate has
achieved a quorum (practically at gunpoint) and
has set a date for this year's ASUN elections,
there are groups of students meeting in the
proverbial smoke-filled-rooms forming partk
preparing platforms and trying to come up win.
clever acronyms that don't commit them to
anything.
And just s in past years, this year's election
will, no doubt have its share of spoof parties that
put down "the system," make interesting news
stories and just generally keep everyone's mind
off a serious look at the issues.
After six months of trudging to and from
class, filling out forms and making the required
payments (all with a straight face), it does
students good to have a laugh at the university's
expense, to satirize its faults in hopes of bringing
change. The spoof parties serve that purpose.
May we always have them.
But may we always remember that the real
advancements in students rights weren't made by
jokesters, unless they were jokesters who at some
time seriously revealed the purpose of their
humor.
Laughter for laughter's sake is fine. But spoof
ASUN president candidates should have purpose
behind their jokes and should be kind enough to
let us know what that purpose is before the
'fion.
ASUN is a joke, it is only because we
su.v. its have made it that. Any student who
doesn't fit the qualifications listed above doesn't
have any business running, even as a joke.
This year we will elect not only an ASUN
president but a member of the, NU Board of
Regents. After all the trouble students went to to
get membership on that board, it would be a
mistake to treat it as a joke.
Wes Albers
Nuclear moratorium urged
(Editor's note: Rob Aiken is chairman of the
Environmental Task Force.)
As far as energy goes, I'm not surprised .4 the
condition the world finds itseii i; . While
conservationists point out people are running out
of fossil fuels, this is only one point of view.
From the energy industry viewpoint, we have
a surplus of oil, coal and natural gas. According
to James Ridgeway, in The Last Play, America
has 3.2 trillion tons of coal, 2.1 trillion cubic feet
of natural gas and 29 billion barrels of oil in
proved reserves. These figures on oil and gas are
from the energy industry so one can't be sure
how much more will be "discovered" with
proper "incentives."
If all these reserves flood the market at once,
the vast ow. -supply of fuel would reduce the
price of energy to nearly zilch. Obviously this
won't happen, but lots of small coal companies
scrapping to sell coal to buyers would likely
result in more fuel mined and sold at a lower
price.
Ridgeway, in his analysis of the energy
industry, traces the expansion of Consolidation
Coal. By buying out marginal companies,
reaching an understanding with the United Mine
Workers and reducing the supply of coal,
Consolidation was able to dictate coal prices and
reap profits. In 1968, Fortune reported a 15 per
cent profit margin for the industry as a whole.
The pattern is established. Only by forming a
few huge corporations can the energy industry
clamp down the supply of fuel and extract
profits. Ridgeway says the seven international oil
companies have controlled two-thirds of the
world's oil for a generation. Now the "seven
sisters"' are buying coal in the Rocky Mountain
states-expanding to control over a quarter of
coal and uranium production in the VS.
Corporations rarely have been afraid to use
their concentrated power. Back in the
mid-thirties l.G. Farben, the big German
chemical company, discovered a way to convert
coal into gasoline. Because coal reserves dwarf
oil, coal gasification carries a lethal threat to big
oil. To prevent the .unhappy consequence of
competition, Jersey Standard entered an
agreement with the German firm in the 30's to
keep coal gasification under wraps. Hence we
depend on Mid-east oil rather than our own coal.
Industry and the utilities developing nuclear
facilities tend to work hand in hand. Oil
companies tend to become involved in mining
and processing uranium (nuclear fuJ), then
design and manufacture the huge nuclear power
plants and retain maintenance responsibility.
Nuclear power becomes a lucrative long-term
business for corporations.
Understandably, information is often
withheld-not only on safety and efficiency of
plants but also on cost of building the plants.
Friends of the Earth discovered General Electric
abandoned a completed S80 million nuclear fuel
reprocessing plant because it doesn't work.
One can only expect industry to continue
flexing its muscle and making plans for our
future. People can fight back only through
government. If we want to, we can say "No more
nuclear power plants in Nebraska" and that will
be that.
March 6 is a chance to be heard at the State
Capital. The Public Works Committee is holding
a public hearing to consider a moratorium on
further nuclear power plants in Nebraska.
Dear editor:
The drawing by Ron Wheeler which appeared in the Feb. 17
article concerning discrimination against women by the Recreation
Dept. was an example of the frequent unfortunate reaction to such
justifiable protests by women. -
First it is a cartoon insinuating that the whole issue of women
not being able to use the courts is a joke. It is not a joke to be
treated as a second-class person.
Second, the woman pictured looks like a cross between a
football tackle and an Amazon. Another myth from the Dark Ages
about the image of women who participate in sports.
LinJa Cotter
Criminal Justice High School
Dear editor:
After attending the ASUN meeting and reading the opinion of
two criminal justice majors, we think there is a great deal of
misunderstanding about what we are attempting to accomplish.
We are not arguing the point concerning the quality of
education of either campus or the 55-mile drive to UNO, but that
the majority of students come to UNL to graduate from this
campus. The statistics bear out the fact that 96 per cent of the
criminal justice students surveyed wanted a UNL or NU diploma.
While we want to be sensitive to the viewpoint of others, there
doesn't appear to be adequate support for the views expressed by
Rowoldt and Schorr.
To reiterate our position, we came to UNL because we wanted
to graduate from UNL, not "West Dodge High."
Martin Crowley
Kathy Andersen
Who are Friends?
Dear editor:
This article ("Student calls for end to racism, Daily Nebraskan,
Feb. 17) would be an even better topic to indulge in if A'Jamal
Byndon had dropped a few names. This would make some
students, primarily the minority sect of the student body, aware of
who they are sitting next to in class, who they're breaking bread
with at the dinner table and so on.
Being a black I know for a fact that A'Jamal's topic is 1 00 per
cent valid. Some readers may not feel the article was fair to the
people from Tablerock, Loop City, Burwcll or McGrue. I realize
that people from these towns only see blacks on television, and I
understand this situation.
So I'm making an appeal to the marginal blacks or the ones who
don't realize they're black. Read A'Jamal's article again and again
until you're aware of what he's saying. Then ask yourself who
exactly are your friends.
Kenneth Gilreath
Big brass rising
Dear editor:
It never ceases to amaze rne how those who "have religion"
never miss a chance to push their vajues on those who don't "have
religion," but on what a pious outcry there is when the don'ts fight
back.
Now that the turmoil in the wake of Josh has passed, the
religious big brass is rising up in anger because someone dared to
question the religious preference card in the registration packets.
The most outrageous statement so far has been that this will
hamper campus ministries and cause confusion among students and
parents as to the religious opportunities on campus. What a bunch
of crap and what a gross insult to the intelligence of those very
students and parents.
Eric Seberg
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page 4 daily nebraskan friday, february 21, 1975