daily nebraskan
uiliiauay, OCUkwf 3U, 105
page 6
umbers show Strike Day success
By Lisa Brown
The number of Lincoln women who
participated in Women's Strike Day activ
ities indicates its success, according to
organizers of several activities.
The National Organization for Women
(NOW) urged women not to work or spend
money Wednesday, to show their impor
tance to the nation's economic system.
Lincoln's activities, centering on the
theme "Aware But at Work," included a
League of Women Voters breakfast, a
brown bag luncheon at the UNL Women's
Resource Center, an information booth in
the Nebraska Union and five workshops
sponsored by Planned Parenthood. A rally
at KFMQ radio headquarters also was held
in support of Ann Perkinton, a disc jockey
who said she was fired Monday morning
for announcing special women's program
ming without authorization from Station
Manager Steve Agnew.
Judy Papik, a representative of the
Women's Resource Center, said activities
on campus were a success judging by the
number of "interested people."
L j
j
J
Ann Perkinton
Photo by 1ml Kirk
Th center sponsored a booth in the
union where information and badges
saying "Aware But at Work" were dis
tributed. The booth ran out of badges early
in the morning and duplicates were made,
she said.
Annette Marquez, president of the
League of Women Voters, said she was
pleased that about 60 women came to the
breakfast, where Perkinton and Mayor
Helen Boosalis spoke.
She said she .thought most of the
women present were working women, but
noted the presence of many students. The
league office already had given out more
than 2,000 badges, and was still receiving
requests at noon, Marquez said.
At the breakfast, Boosalis announced
her intentions to appoint a Mayor's Com
mission on the Status of Women.
"I hope you will continue as you
have. . . that is the only way we will make
this kind of city, state and country it has
the potential of being," Boosalis said.
"If 1974 was the year of the woman,
you ain't seen nothing yet," she said.
Other speakers included City Council
woman Sue Bailey, County Commissioner
Jan Gauger and Marquez. All supported
Women's Strike Day.
According to Marquez, "This is a day
for sisters to think about each other."
About 20 people registered for four
daytime Planned Parenthood workshops
"Body Awareness," "Women and Mastur
bation," "Self Help for Women" and
"Menopause," said representative Kathy
Allen. About 30 persons registered for the
evening workshop, "Woman's Sexuality,"
she said.
f
i).:v
Photo by Stave Bcanctr
Lincoln women protested
KFMQ's firing of Ann Perkin
ton on Women's Strike Day
Wednesday.
KFMQ official: woman 's firing 'not feminist issue '
The firing of KFMQ disc jockey Ann
Perkinton "isn't a feminist issue," accord
ing to Larry Morphew, the station's pro
gram director.
Morphew said he told Perkinton "three
or four" hours prior to her dismissal early
Tuesday morning not to announce her de
cision to strike or play women's music on
her midnight to 6 ajn. program in recog
nition of Wednesday's Women's Strike
Day.
The station, in its periodically aired ex
planation of Perkin ton's dismissal, says,
"The announcer (Perkinton) was dismissed
not because of support for women's causes,
but because of repeated failure to follow
station programming policy and for not
getting approval to promote a piece of
special programming. It was not the special
program there was an objection to, but the
fact that the idea had not been approved
and researched."
Good idea
"Ann's idea of special programming
for' women was an excellent one," Mor
phew said. 'The problem is that the pro
gram was not approved before she an
nounced it."
Perkinton said she asked Morphew to
allow her to play only women s music
during her shift Wednesday morning.
Instead, the station management approved
and aired 20-minute music sweeps of
women artists each hour during the strike.
Morphew said the station had been trying
to include more women's programming in
the last six weeks and would continue to
do so.
Morphew said he does not intend to re
hire Perkinton and said he is looking for a
woman to replace her, "if I can find a fe
male who is competent and has the ability
to work and communicate with me."
Perkinton, who is a junior theater major
at UNL, said she had no radio experience
before she started at KFMQ last June.
"I have worked so hard to blend music
... a real highly concentrated effort," she
said. "They (KFMQ management) know it
and I think they resent it."
Paranoid
She said Morphew "kept me in a state
of paranoia and in fear of the
Establishment."
Perkinton said station manager Steve
Agnew would not talk with her or allow
her to defend herself after she was accused
of breaking the station's format.
But Morphew said Agnew's "office door
is always open to any personnel who wish
to speak to him."
Perkinton said she intends to fight for
her job. She solicited the support of those
attending a breakfast sponsored by the
League of Women Voters Wednesday,
many of whom attended a rally in her
support at KFMQ.
Following the breakfast, about 30
women walked to the KFMQ offices to
protest Perkinton's dismissal. Judy Papik,
Women's Resource Center representative,
said some of them spoke with Agnew and
Morphew.
Showed file
One of the men offered to let the
women read Perkinton's personnel file,
so she did, Papik said.
Perkinton said allowing others to read
her file may be an infringment of her rights
and said she is seeking legal advice.
Perkinton also spoke with about 30
persons at a brown bag luncheon sponsored
by the Women's Resource Center. Speakers
included several women employed at the
station and Kate Morphew, wife of the
KFMQ Program Director.
The University Women's Action Group
decided to coordinate efforts in Perkinton's
behalf.
Women volunteered for a committee to
study both sides of the dispute and take
udget cut lobby planned bv ASUN
By George Miller
ASUN's Governmental liaison
Committee plans a major lobbying effort
against cuts in the UNL budget during the
current special session of the Legislature,
according to Jeff Searcy, committee
chairman.
Searcy said the committee will
encourage students to write their state
senators and request opposition to budget
cuts.
j Writing letters to senators is the most
effective way to contact them because the
lawmakers usually are very busy and hard
to contact in person, he said.
Searcy said students should write a
letter to their respective senators explain
ing what university budget cuts would
mean to UNL students.
Gov. J. James Exon has proposed a
three per cent cut in all state agencies,
including NU, as a solution to ease the
state's cashflow problems.
Searcy said budget cuts could lead to
a reduction of winter custodial care and
maintenance in UNL buildings, delay in
opening of the new field house, a freeze
in employee hfxings, a freeze on out-of-state
travel by university administrators
or complete shut-down of the campus
for one week this winter to conserve
energy.
University employes probably would
not be fired to save money because the
university then would have to pay
unemployment compensation, Searcy said.
Searcy said if the legislature approves a.
three per cent UNL budget cut, his
committee will lobby to allow the NU
administration to decide where cuts should
be made.
The administration should select where
cuts should be made "not because of the
Legislature's ignorance, but because the
administration knows the problem better,"
Searcy Said.
Me also said committee members will
meet with members of the Unicameral's
Appropriation Committee this week, and
will speak at the committee's hearings
today and tomorrow.
However, he said his committee does
not expect to meet with most of the
senators until Monday, Nov. 3, when they
return to Lincoln for floor debate on
proposed budget measures.
The committee contains from 15 to 20
members and is "growing more and more,"
Searcy said, adding that about one-third
of the ASUN senators also are helping with
the lobbying effort.
He said the university budget is so
complex that committee members have
been meeting with UNL administrators for
several weeks to learn about it.
Miles Tommaraasen, vice chancellor for
business and finance, said committee
members become very fascinated by the
workings of the university budget once
they study it closely.
"It's complicat3d, but it's interesting,"
Tommaraasen said. "They get taken up in
U after a while." r
He said he expected the ASUN lobbying
effort to be valuable because legislators
usually know what university officials
wtil say when they present the legislature
with requests.
However, students who contact their
own state senators usually attract more of
their attention because the students or
their parents are usually personally
acquainted with the senators
Tommaraasen said. '
However, Tommaraasen said it will be
the latter part of next week before the
university can tell what action the
Legislature will take concerning possible
budget cuts.
necessary steps to reinstate Perkinton at
KFMQ.
A boycott of KFMQ sponsors also was
suggested and Perkinton said she would
make a list of sponsors available to the
center.
Denied claim
Jeff Taylor, also a KFMQ disc jockey,
denied he told Perkinton he was quitting
his job in support of her, as Perkinton has
claimed.
"The reason I'm quitting is that I'm
going to Colorado," Taylor said Wednesday.
"The (KFMQ) management knew I was
leaving before the termination of Ann's
employment. I feel that I have been treated
fairly."
Taylor, who has worked at KFMQ for
one year, is leaving the station Sunday and
will work at a ski lodge in Colorado.
According to Taylor, he is sympathetic
with Perkinton's cause, "in a way."
"I supported her to an extent," he
said. "She does good work. However, she
swam upstream and did make a few waves."
Taylor, who said he has been a program
director before, said he understood the
position (KFMQ program director Larry)
Morphew took.
"The situation doesn't deserve the
notoriety it is receiving," he said.
Gommittee drafts
ietter to Exon
Continued from p. 1
The committee adopted Utica Sen.
Douglas Bereuter's motion to send a letter
to Exon asking him to tell the committee
whether budget cuts during the special ses
sion will result in deficit requests in
January.
Some agencies offered solutions to the
cash flow problem without taking a budget
cut.
' State colleges spokesmen said they
would be willing to use non-state funds un
til December.
Even some agencies who agreed to
accept the three per cent cut without
option to decida where cuts will be taken
drew criticism from the committee.
Sen. Clark suggested that perhaps there
was padding in the Library Commission
budget after spokesman Rod Wagner said
the commission could accept the cut even
if it did not choose which programs would
be affected.
The state's district courts have no other
alternative titan to ask for a deficit appro
priation if their budget is cut, said Ed Gar
rison, a courts spokesman.
He said the courts have no control over
their spending since it is directly related to
case loads.
