pegs 4
thurscby, scptcrr.ber 2, 197G
daily nebrssken
opinion
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Jubwiu ILL U ! WV'J
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Editor s cote:
Dennis Martin wrote this letter to ASUN President B13
MacStr and First Vice President Tony Willims as an
explanation for his unexpected rcsnatioa late Isst month
as ASUN's second vice preiect. Rrtia zdLci that a copy
cf the letter be given to the Daily Nebraskan,
I am writing this letter to give you more background
Into my actions of the past two weeks. I ask that you read
this letter the (ASUN) Senate, but will understand if you
choose not to.
The story and the quotes in last Wednesday? Daily
Nebraskan were true and were my words. However, I feel
I should explain some of the things that did cot appear in
that article. The reporter chose to take the sensational
items and make a story out of my interview that would
definitely be front-page news. That is the perogative of
the reporter and I hold no SI will toward the Daily
-Nebraskan. . ' . .
First, I realized that 1 should have notified you of my
decision before I went to the press. When I had learned
that the press had contacted you, Bill (Mueller, ASUN
president) I decided to collect my thoughts before writing
this letter. I almost wrote you of my decision before, but
BIQ, you were in Kansas City and I thought the letter
probably would sit on your desk until last week anyway.
My use of the word lackeys' (in the V ednesday story)
relates to a statement that was not printed. I have been a
lackey of the Administration for five and one-half years.
I realized that I'd been getting false information from
administrators since I have been involved with student
activities at UNL. Time and time again I have received
piece-meal or incorrect information for my efforts to find
out what is really going on. I have gone to bat for the
(UNL) administration by testifying before the regents and
' the Legislative committees. I'm tired of being used to
state the student view to the final decisionmakers and
realizing later that I wasn't told everything.
But my situation is not unique. Administrators have
been telling faculty and student half-stories for as long as
I can remember.
The only time I have been involved with a project
where a committee, etc, consisting mainly of students and
faculty made the recommendations directly to the regents
was the East Union Planning Committee. However, the
committee was dissolved after the project was approved.
Who knows what the end product will look like now? I
guess well know in January.
The problem with the administrators silence on the
(UNL) Campus Assistance Center questions didn't relate
lease thy palate',, caveat emptor
$$est ' moirfTis for ; cl
By Don Wesley
The timely and helpful subject to which I would now
like to turn, is the booklet published by Nebraska Uni
versity Public Interest Research Group (NUFIRG) titled .
"Getting Your Money's Worth in Lincoln." This booklet
was included in the Freshman Packet distributed this -week
to freshmen (though, inadvertently, the booklet was
not placed in some packets). The booklet includes price
surveys, bus schedules and helpful phone numbers which I
now shall review and elaborate upon.
" The price surveys conducted approximately two
months ago by NUPIRG of hamburger stands, sit down
restaurants, pizza restaurants, ana sanawicn snaps are
interesting but inconclusive. It was never NUPIRG's in
tent. I believe, to, say, compare the price of Runzas to
the price of submarine sandwiches (that would be a bit
like comparing a larch to a lilac, wouldn't it?). Besides,
most people abide by a personal first commandment of
restaurant selection Rease thy Palate. Nevertheless, it
is illuminating to be able to see for oneself how the prices
of some Lincoln eating establishments compare. For those
oosing eatery
NUPIRG's survey of product prices helps to point the
way, incomplete and subjective though it may be.
- The Lincoln Transportation System's schedules in
cluded by NUPIRG in the booklet are fine though slightly
dated. The only change in these schedules, as well as other
bus schedules, is the new Downtown Loop service, in
stituted recently as a result of the construction on wO
Information about Lincoln's, bus schedules can be
obtained at the South Desk of the Nebraska Union or by
calling the Lincoln Transportation System at 474-1561.
The last section of the booklet is a list of telephone
numbers you can call for information or help. Like a good
T.V. serial, I'm going to wait until next time to list and
explain how and who you can contact to answer your
questions and solve your problems, from keeping healthy
to keeping out of court.
to the assistance center. The administration was bothered
by the Coalition for University Reform petition but not
because of the position itself. What is really worrying the
administration of UNL? I think a few students and faculty
members were getting too close to what was really worry
ing them. I only wish I knew the true story about their
fear of what someone could possibly discover. I ran with a
man whom I felt could be effective in discovering what
was really bugging the administration. But, he was not
elected. I felt that maybe I could operate in the ASUN
with you who were elected. But the problems I immed
iately encountered proved I couldn't remain in office. At
this point, let me expound on another portion of the
article I think needs explaining. 1 said ASUN cannot and
will not do anything to alleviate the problem. ASUN can
not do anything because the Administration does not give
you the whole story.
ASUN will not be able to do anything because of the
deviousness that was created last spring. The Greek slate
caused a split in the student population that will take
years to mend. "
The only thing those people outside of the Greek
system can do now is to either resign from student
involvement or to organize the independents in hope of
contributing to the university as a whole. So, what is my
advice to you who remain involved? There are only two
things that I see now:
1) Examine what you are told by the administration
totally and thoroughly. Never take the first reply as the
answer because in most cases you will never get the
complete story. Dig as deep as you can. I no longer have
the time required to search deep enough to be of use to
myself or to the university. Even if I returned to law
school this semester, 1 couldn't devote the time, necessary.
It's the individuals who dig that make the difference, not
the ASUN Senate. AH senate can do is pass resolutions
to recommend to the adnimMration.
Work for and vote, if possible, for Merle Hansen for
regent. It's about time there was a regent who wouldn't
take everything told him by the administration as the
complete story.
In conclusion, I resign for the above reasons. I could
have remained active as a student and still worked in the
ASUN and Zorinsky campaigns. But, I chose not to take
such an alternative. Finally, this resignation is also my
swan song to my involvement with a group of people I
consider close friends-the Coalition for University
Reform.
Thank you for listening to my explanation.
Fed
eral father wou
Id be failure
u mean
of you who have not and will not receive a copy of the
booklet, prices very little, actually, and no recommenda
tions can be made except caveat emptor.
I found NUPRIG's price survey of products to be more
revealing and instructive. This survey compared the prices
of ten household products (mostly toiletries) at eight
Lincoln stores. Although one store was consistently most
expensive and another store less consistently least expen
sive, most stores felt somewhere in between with high
prices for some products and low prices for others.
The difference in prices between stores was certainly
nothing to sneeze at. For instance, you would save the
following amounts by shopping at one store rather than
another more expensive one: 70 cents for Ban Roll-on
deodorant, 69 cents for Bayer aspirin, 62 cents for
Colgate toothpaste and 65 cents for Foamy shaving
cream.
The difference in price between various brands of the
same product also was notable. For instance, you would
save the following amounts by buying a different brand
than the name brand given: $1 JO for deodorant (Ban),
$135 for aspirin (Bayer), 81 cents for toothpaste (Col
gate), and SI for shaving cream (Foamy).
These savings axs significant, yet, considerations other
than prices jo influence consumer choices. The quality
of products, the amenities a store offers its patrons, such
as check cashcg or home delivery sendees, and a store's
By Nicholas Von Hoffman
Washington (UFS) Reverend Carter came out of soft
ball and seclusion the other day to promise, if elected,
that "we're going to reverse the trend that we've exper
ienced in the past that has destroyed the American
Family.'
This is the kind of remark that candidates of both the
ordained and unordained variety make from time to time,
so that wisdom counsels that they not be held against the
speaker. Unfortunately the Reverend has got himself and
the public in a kind of cul-de-sac that prohibits him from
saying anything without making it appear he's trying to
deliver on it. Ergo in the next breath he announced that
one Joseph A. Calif ano, Jr. has been appointed "a special
adviser to me on how Federal programs can aid and
support the American Family." Presumably, if the Rever
end is elevated to that secular episcopacy we call the
presidency, Mr. Calif ano will assume some title like
Director of the Federal Family Administration or, maybe
more simply, Federal Father.
Mr. Calif ano, who is doubtless a splended husband and
paternal parent, functioned in an earlier incarnation as an
important assistant to President Lyndon Johnson. He is
now, among other things, a lawyer for the Washington
Post, and while he has acquitted himself adequately, even
adrnirably in these positions, there is nothing in his record
that indicates he will be able to restore the American
Famih. Nor is there in anybody else's, and that's the
point.
It's one thing for the Reverend Mr. Peanut to recognize
that the White House is, in Teddy Roosevelt's phrase, a
bully pulpit; it is another to pretend to people that you
seriously mean it when you say things Eke, "I believe we
can restore human values, respect for one another,
intimacy, love, respect for law, patriotism, good educa
tion, strong churches . . . I pledge to you that every state
ment I make, every decision I make, w21 give your
families a decent chance to be strong again."
It is no good reinforcing the idea that the Federal
government can be made responsible for everything.
Carter is not the first national politician to federalize a
problem. By federalizing a problem, you first define a
local one in national terms and then you assert a national
solution. This was done by Carter's predecessors with
crime, and it is being done with education and medicine
to no very good purpose.
sicawise
We can suppose utterances like this arise from what the
political writers call Carter's 4 thematic" campaign
approach, the taking up of vague but important symbols,
playing with- them, using them, turning them into
mechanisms which bind voters to his candidacy. Defined
this way, it's not easy to distinguish thematic campaigning
from demagoguery, except that Carter goes about it in a
low-key way that is less frightening and less likely to un
cage the bad animals within our spirits. Even so, such
speechifying may agitate anxieties and contribute to the
sense of unhappiness which many of us have in spite of 70
percent of the population being so prosperous that
doctors warn us it is hazardous to our health.
Copyright. 1S7S, by Kini Fcsttares SyreJsssSi
open hours and proximity also influence what we buy at
which store. It is terribly; difUcuIt for any crice survey, in
a fair and ccmpkte manner, to include these additional
considerations, likewise, price surveys are limited in that
not all products cor every store is able to be included in
the survey.
Despite the seemingly necessary narrowness of price
surveys they are important for a cumber of reasons, one
of which is the reaffirmation cf familiar consumer truths.
One such truth stated in the bockht is that . . you can
cv3 some money if you carefully choose your store and
fzzi-zzi Anrn, as my mother used to tell rne, if it's
czzzy yea vnt to sa?e you'd better shop around.
If-.-. II. -
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