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thursday, march 13, 1975
lincoln, nebraska vol. 98 no. 97
OQIIU
P
By Rex Seline
Being "fed up with
ineffectiveness and a lack of
constructive output from
ASUN," led to the formation
of the Cut the Crap Party
(CTC), said CTC first vice
presidential candidate Stephen
Dager Tuesday.
CTC is the smallest of the
three parties which' acquired
the necessary 500 signatures to
run as a party in the March 19
ASUN elections. Presidential
candidate Dave Ware, Dager
and second vice presidential
candidate Drey Samuelson are
joined by 14 senatorial
candidates and one advisory
board candidate on the party
ticket.
ed up wi
th
output f
rom
ASUN
The candidates said the size
of their party was affected by
their decision to run only a
week before the filing deadline.
"In a week we couldn't get
a full slate of people who we
felt were qualified and agreed
with us," Samuelson said.
"Although we accomplished in
a week, what some other
would-be parties couldn't do in
a month (by getting
signatures)."
Want to be message
Dager said that the party
wants to send a message to
ASUN and "we want to be that
message."
"We're not afraid of being
rude or abrasive as long as we
get things done," Ware said. .
"We feel the present student'
government is of no use to the
students, and I emphasize use."
An informal platform of
five basic planks has been
drawn up by the candidates
including:
-a revision of the fees
structure so that students pay
only for activities they use'.
use the remaining student
fee money as "seed" money to
establish student co-operatives.
-the establishment of a
commission to study and
implement a full refund of
tuition for the first week of
classes for dissatisfied students.
-strengthening and
restructuring of the University
Bookstore with return of
profits through dividends.
-revision of the parking
ticket system to bring it in line
with normal city procedures.
Nuisance fee
The revision of the student
fees structure would include a
proposal to charge University
Health Center users a $2
"nuisance fee," Ware said, lie
said the proposal would lessen
the dependence of the Health
Center on student fee money
and would discourage "a
number of hypochondriacs
who go in."
CTC also called for the
athletic department to cover
more sport costs,
"The athletic department
should be able to take over the
funding of sports clubs like the
soccer and rowing clubs,"
Samuelson said.
The party joined the Sons
of Liberty (SOL) in blasting
the composition of the Fees
Allocation Board (FAB)
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Photos by Ted Kirk
Cut the Crap party candidates for ASUN executive positions: Dave Ware, president; Stephen Dager, first vice president; and Drey
Samuelson, second vice president.
Cambell: university more open now
Ann Campbell, Commissioner of
Education for the State of Nebraska,
spoke to a small group of UNL students
Wednesday evening on her experiences as
a state government lobbyist.
Last year, as director of Public Affairs
at UNL, she worked closely with state
senators to promote legislation favored
by the NU Board of Regents.
While dealing mostly with budget bills
and policy issues, she also kept an eye out
for other types of legislation that affected
the University.
"I kept track of bills in which the state
colleges might infringe on University
interests," Campbell said.
Campbell was a lobbyist for the
Lincoln Public Schools and the Nebraska
State Education Association before
taking the job with the Board of Regents.
"Lobbying is a people
business-getting to know people," she
said. "My role is chiefly information."
She said that most legislation is a
compromise between good ideas with
differing points of view.
As a public lobbyist she had to build a
reputation of integrity and honesty to
achieve her legislative goals, she said. She
said she spent most of her time getting
the proper information to the senators
and explaining the Board of Regents
position on bills.
"University business is more open now
than ever before," Campbell said.
"There's fewer secret meetings-less
reluctance to give out information.
They've come along way."
She said her general impression is that
"education is not the top priority" in the
Legislature.
"There's a general empathy, but no
enthusiasm," she said. "Agriculture is
first; even roads get ahead of education
sometimes."
Working against her in the legislature
were taxpayers groups and agriculture
groups, and she often met complaints
about the fact that she was paid by the
taxpayers, she said.
Campbell said that argument made it
tough for her and put pressure on her,
but she said she saw things personally by
thinking of her job as a job that needed
to be done.
Campbell said that former senator
Terry Carpenter did seem to have control
of the legislative floor "but he supported
education down the line."
"They say that politics is dirty," she
said. "Well, if it is, it's because we
allowed it to get that way."
membership. Five FAB
members are from the major
organizations which receive
fees money.
Ware .admitted that ASUN
may not have the power to
have fees lowered but
contended that it could work
for their reduction and for the
implementation of ' other
proposals.
"ASUN should be able to
use its power to shame and
pressure them into lowering
the fees," Ware said.
They proposed that fees be
used to provide initial money
for the establishment of
co-operatives. The money
could later be paid back.
Continued on pg. 13
ASUN
candidates
to debate
Three debates between
ASUN executive position
candidates will be held today.
At 2:30 p.m.,
representatives will debate in
the main lounge of the
Nebraska Union; at 7 p.m.
candidates have been invited to
speak at the RHA meeting in
Schramm Hall. At 9 p.m., the
candidates will debate in the
cafeteria of Selleck
Quadrangle.
Court to
decide
on ASUN
party rule
The ASUN Student Court will
announce today its decision on allowing
candidate affiliations with the Amurica
(AMP) or Pro-Apathy (PAP) parties to be
printed on the March 19 ASUN election
ballots.
Both groups filed petitions for party
status to the electoral commission, but
were disqualified because neither
obtained the required 500 signatures,
according to Electoral Commissioner
Gary Hall.
Claiming that the requirement of 500
student signaturr- is "unconstitutional"
und "unreasonable," the parties filed suit
with the Student Court to obtain party
status on the ballot.
The court heard the case Wednesday
night in a forty-five minute session. Law
students John Vihstadt and Dennis
Martin represented the PAP and AMP
parties and John Rccknor represented the
electoral commission.
Vihstadt said the 500 signature rule
was unconstitutional, citing Nebraska
laws which require only one per cent of
the voters in the previous gubernatorial
election to sign petitions forming a state
party.
Applied to UNL, 21' signatures would
be required since 2,1 15 students voted in
the last student election, Vihstadt said.
Martin said the election commission
ruling was also "unreasonable" since "it is
rational to assume that students will only
sign petitions to support a party if they
are planning to vote."
If the same number of students, about
2,000, vote in this election as in previous
elections, only four parties could be
formed, he said.
"The case is not a question of legality
but rather a political question, not to be
decided by a court," Recknor said. "No
constitutional rights were violated
because students are not being denied the
right to vote and candidates' names are
not being removed from the ballot."
Electoral commission member Paul
Byeily said "there are no restrictions on
the candidates if they want to affiliate
with a party, form a philosophy and go
out and speak."
Technically, as far as the electoral
commission is concerned, he said, the 500
signatures are required to put the party
on the ballot and "are not needed for
posters or other campaigning."
According to Vihstadt, party
recognition on the ballot is a significant
benefit to a candidate.
Martin said "these two parties did
make a sincere attempt to get the
required 500 signatures" and by doing so
"showed that they had a legitimate party
effort and purpose."
AMP had about 300 and PAP about
270 valid signatures on their petitions,
Vahstedt said.