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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1975)
thursday, march 20, 1975 lincoln, nebraska vol. 98 no. 101 doi u fjbirsl!sQ USE executives, senators claim ASUN win Editor's Note: All election results are based on unofficial tabulations, according to ASUN Election Commissioner Gary Hall. Outgoing ASUN President Ron Clingenpeel may have told the story in one short comment early Thursday morning: "I hate to be premature, but let's make it three in a row." The champagne was flowing and those gathered were cheering as party worker Dennis Martin told the United Student Effort Party (USE) election celebration revelers that they had accomplished a near sweep of ASUN elective offices. But presidential candidate Jim Say contended that he "had never realized it would happen. We've got a lot of things to do." First on Say's list of things to do is to find out where ASUN stands in the unviersity government, he said. According to Say, the new administration will see what the. past USE party has said about "what has been going on." But he added that they are not committed to following the course that the past administration has set. Say credited the victory to the student's attitude that they want "orderly change." "I think the people who voted for us knew we had experience," he said. "They want a gradual, not radical, change." Say said that he had been worried about not having a platform but there was "no need to make promises I didn't know if we could keep." I . 4 .'"Vr rtt 9 &5L IWI.IIIIIMII . New ASUN President Jim Say. V He blamed the low turnout (about 10 per cent) on the students' assumption that ASUN doesn't have any real power. "It'll be better for next year's election," Say said. "This year ASUN will do something." Other parties that were not successful will figure in ASUN plans this year even though "they didn t have enough experience in working with campaigning," Say said. He believes that ASUN will become more of a governing body rather than a lobbying body, in the future. Second place finisher Del Gustafson's first reaction to the news of his loss was unprintable. Reading from a prepared statement, Gustafson, of the Sons of Liberty (SOL) party, said that he was not surprised. "I am rather happy that there are something like 300 free thinking individuals on this campus," Gustafson said. "The Sons of Liberty remained true to time honored principles during the campaign. We'll continue to work for the reinstatement of these principles on the UNL campus." "We wish the USE party the best of luck in their search for transcedent principles," he added. "In case they ever require any advice in regards to the topic of individuality, we'll be willing to give it. If we ever need advice in the game of power pontics, we'll know who to go to." Gustafson also offered his thanks to party members and campaign workers. Sarcastically he . thanked the Daily Nebraskan for its Wednesday editorial stand. "Thanks to the Daily Nebraskan for being a beacon in the day and a cloud of smog at night," Gustafson said. Rick Morton, independent candidate running for second vice president with the unofficial Pro-Apathy Party (PAP), was not available for comment Thursday morning. The PAP party presidential candidate, IBM 360, placed third in voting, with 278 votes. Dave Ware, presidential candidate for the Cut the Crap (CTC) party, said early Thursday morning that he was "not really that upset" that he didn't make it. Ware said he thought it "a shame that students, the ones that bothered to vote, fell for the huge sell job of the incumbent party." Ware, who tallied 135 votes in the election, putting him in fourth place, said that he can't see ASUN changing much under the administration of Jim Say. He said the CTC party platform would have made ASUN a more workable organization. "I have the horrible feeling that they (ASUN) are going to stay in the same morass that they've been in," he said. "The election is most illustrative of the students who bothered to vote, in that a hell of a lot of them voted for a party with no platform. They voted for a nonparty." Ware wished Say "all the luck in the world" in taking over the job of ASUN president. "The problem is that Jim is not abrasive enough," Ware said. "He will not be able to overcome his surroundings and become a real effective leader because of the (linking around ASUN does to decide what they should do next. "I guess the best way to summarize my position is to revise Tiny Tim's line in Charles Dickens to 'God help us everyone, especially Jim Say'," he said. Independent candidate Dennis Snyder, who finished fifth in the election with an unofficial count of 132 votes, called the returns "very bleak." "There is nothing wrong in the future of ASUN," Snyder said, "but there is something wrong in the future of the student." Snyder blamed his low vote total on a lack of publicity and too little time in the campaign. "We probably expected to have a little better showing," he said, "but then again, considering the lack of coverage, maybe we were lucky to get 132 votes." Snyder said members of his campaign committee "were appalled at some of the things that happened to us," but added, "The party will be back next year." Independent sixth place finisher Vince Powers claimed that the election results were a vote for sameness and no change. "It's a giant chain letter and you won; you now have a new social club," Powers said. He charged that ASUN is a microcosm of all houses and cliques in the university. "By not presenting a platform, I didn't give the students any reason not to vote for me," he added. "You've got to open your minds or nothing will happen." Powers was contacted by the Daily Nebraskan at the USE party election celebration. "The new student regent will just bow to the board (of Regents)," according to Powers. Charles Rosvold, registered as an independent, placed seventh with 54 votes, and said he discovered after the first debate among presidential candidates that he was "grossly unprepared and unqualified" to run for ASUN president. "If I got any votes, I didn't deserve them because I was unprepared," Rosvold said. "I jumped in too quickly, I wasn't a politician." He said he advised his friends to vote for the candidate of their choice at that time, but that he hoped more candidates of the would-be Pro-Apathy Party (PAP) would win. "I think they (PAP) expressed most of my viewpoints, only in a better way, especially their first vice presidential candidate (Ray Walden)," he said. But Rosvold said he expected the USE party to take the majority of the executive positions and senate seats because he said they were the most politically organized party. "We need someone with a little more punch," he said. "USE's slow snail-paced attitude toward student government is not conducive to giving student government more meaning. They are more or less rubber stamps." t Rosvold said effective student government leadership is a matter of attitude and that many times that a person with a bad or aggressive attitude has a better chance of getting things done, by going outside Continued on p. 2 Spring break interferes with RHA campaigns By Martha Bohlinj Candidates for Residence Hall Association (RHA) executive offices may have trouble campaigning this year-there aren't going to be any students around to listen to their speeches. Because of a constitutional provision requiring the election to be held in March, elections for president and vice president will be held Monday, March 31, the first day students are back from spring break. Filing deadline for the election was midnight Monday. One candidate filed on Sunday night, the other at 11:30 p.m. Monday, so there hasn't been much time to organize an extensive campaign. Ray Walden, presidential candidate, said he didn't know that Sue Ihne, also a presidential candidate, had filed just before the deadline, so he hasn't been campaigning. Tried to set up debate When he found out, he said, he tried to set up a debate, but nothing definite has been scheduled. "There's a problem with debates anyway," he said. "Nobody every shows up to listen." Walden also expressed concern that without time to get the issues before the students, the election will turn into a popularity contest between residence halls. Ihne said she regretted not having time to speak to residence hall governments, but said she'd get campaign signs up right away, and indicated that at least her opponent had the same problem. Increased communication Ihne said she and her running mate, Karen Lundquist, will be campaigning on the issue of increased communication. "RILA is communication between dorm governments, and it's lacking," she said. Ihne also indicated that there are some structural problems with the organization, but declined comment on specific issues because she doesn't want "to get anyone in the organization upset." Walden said he'd like to devote some time to putting RHA together as a student lobbying organization. Stop playing government "The organization should stop playing at government," he said, "and act as a lobbying force with the administration, the regents and ASUN." Walden suggested several programs he would like to see implemented, including hiring a full-time, paid executive secretary and expanding housing options halls, the each RHA the into such areas as completely coed residence live-in faculty members and a library in residence hall. Walden's running mate is Kathy Whittaker. According to Walden, the duty of the president should be to guide and push organization. Ihne said the president needs to know the problems and be familiar with what's happening in RHA to deal with it efficiently. Enforcement and representation According to Tim Evensen, current RHA president, the duty of the president is to enforce the constitution and to represent RHA to administration, the regents and the students. Ihne said she thinks RHA needs a president who has had some experience, and added that she was an RHA representative this year. She is also the current secretary of Abel-Sandoz Residence Association (ASRA) and Lundquist, her running mate, is current ASRA president. Walden, who was an RHA representative two years ago, said he doesn't see that the job needs experience. What it requires, he said, is a willingness to work with and for students. Elections will be held in the food lines at all residence hall . Constitutional amendnents Voters in the election will also be voting on two constitutional amendments; one aimed at eliminating this year's campaigning time p-oblem, the other at defining the duties of the vice president. The first amendment, according to Evensen, would give the electoral commission more flexibility in setting the election date so they could avoid the problem of spring break cutting into campaign time. ' The second amendment would define the responsibility of the vice president to assist the president in .he execution of his duties. Evensen said the vice president now has few constitutionally defined duties, but does whatever jobs the president assigns him. The amendment, Evensen said, would simply put into writing what is already a common practice. if ! li f. t ;