page 4
daily ncbraskan
Wednesday, march 9, 1977
NU supporters sparse,
but Peru paclcs house
The Nebraska Legislature's Appropriations
Committee heard testimony Monday on the need
for a new health and physical education center
at Peru State College before testimony was heard
for a similar building at the University of Nebras
ka at Omaha.
About 200 supporters of Peru State College
packed the legislative chambers to illustrate the
college's concern for such a center.
After Peru administrators, students, athletes
and members of the community gave their case to
the committee, they cleared the room. A handful
of NU supporters remained in the room to tell the
committee of the university's dire need for the
Health, Physical Education and Recreation
(HPER)Bidg.atUNO.
The figures speak for themselves. Nearly 200
persons can turn out to illustrate thp need for a t
physical education complex at Peru, but a hand
ful of persons show up for the HPER Bldg. hear
ing. :. . ., '
Perhaps apathy is not as widespread as we kid
ourselves to think-at least not in Peru."
Granted, the need for a HPER Bldg. is not as
close to the hearts of UNL students as it is to
UNO students. However, it is the top priority
item on the NU capital construction budget. This
means that the university is saying it needs this,
building more than any other construction project-Students
packed the hearing rooms when the
alcohol and marijuana bills came up in commit
tee. Students should be concerned about the
millions of dollars spent on their university with
a similar fervor.
If it cannot be with a similar fervor, it should
at least be treated with the same proportion of
concern Peru supporters feel for their college.
ra
jpSffefl
A young man's fancy turns to...
Ah, Spring.
Depending on your sources, that's when a young man's
heart tums to thoughts of you-know-what; all of nature's
creatures, free from the confines of winter, begin bound
ing gaily through the underbrush; and every soul sings at
the imminent return of summer.
The more immediate reality is that said young man has
been thinking such thoughts all winter anyway; the only
creatures bounding through the underbrush (at least in
these parts) will be lawnmowers, and they're tearing it
down; and most souls around here are just trying to
survive the last few weeks of the semester before they
warp nina
break out into any three-part chorus about the return of
summer.
It's 70 degrees outside and where are you? Dozing in
Sociology class with 200 other sweating bodies because
someone in the Physical Pkmt hasn't turned off the heat
yet.
Mother Nature
' There are some pleasant signs of spring, though.
Witness the recent blossoming of campus sorority roofs.
Any male with 2020 vision can appreciate it. Say all you
want to about Mother Nature, but itll take a lot of
begonias before shell compete with that.
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Siouse .ethics code raises passions
" The speaker, to judge from the effect on his audience,
had done what every orator dreams of, to "touch men1
Jiearts with glory .
Rep. Otis Pike, D-N.Y., leaned back from the podium
as half the chamber leapt to its feet and filled the chamber
with cheers.
Had he called on the country to march on Uganda-or
the IRS? Had he summoned them to rush out and to
welcome the springtime?
No, Pike was talking about the congressional code of
ethics and he was speaking from the heart about the
importance of outside earned income. It is always extra
H.!sary whit consideration of its own interests does to
Congress; Nothing war, peac or impeachment-generates
the same passion and fire as peril to its pocketbook.
Pike rolled into a bravura finish: "Is it not kind of
funny to visualize some unethical wretch like me down in
Washington winds
the well of the House, being censured fey the Speaker for
having gone home and worked during the district work
period instead of going off on a junket the way he was
supposed to?"
The chamber gave him a standing ovation.
Accustocsi to csSisf
Rep. Morgan Murphy, D-Iil., who earns almo.t as much
as his congressional salary from his Chicago law rm, said
he could be accused of having some self-interest in his
wife, children and self- "We have grown accustomed to
eating. . . ,
The Republicans said they craved a code of ethics, but
saw in the way it was being handled, through a "dosed"
rule, a threat to the whole democratic process as we know
it.
Republican Leader John J. Rhodes, who receives an
anjount exceedicg half his congressionsl tzlzry from aa
insurance company, bemoaned, the lack of courage
similar, he thought, to the pay raise, which was accepted
without a vote.
Rep. Richard Boiling, D-Mo., brought a touch of
Cromwell.
The Republicans, he charged, were finding it ,un
be arable" to allow a Democratic Congress to "enact
real and important reform.
When he was roundly booed, he shouted, "I don't
mind their booing, let them reveal themselves."
But the "open" rule went down by a vote of 267-153.
Rolling boil
Hours later, the "earned outside income" brought the
whole argument to a rolling boil again.
A younger member, Norman D 'Amours, D-N.H.,
stripped off the seven veils about moonlighting. A lawyer
in civilian life-"no barnburner," he appended modestly
he had upon his election to the House been flooded with
offers to join other law firms.
"I think the mere fact I was getting those offers tends
to indicate that there is a marketable, salable something
that goes with being a member of this body," he said
bluntly.
Rep. Claude Pepper, D-Fla., 77, made a powerful
appeal to the sufferers by telling how, after being driven
from the Senate by a smear campaign, he had -pulled
himself out of debt by a diligent practice of the law,
which he wished to continue.
But of aU the speeches, only one, in the end, mattered.
At 9: 15, the Speaker of the Hcuse, Thomas P. 0Nei3
Jr., lumbered to the well. He has been, he has told
members at every opportunity, taking the "whaling of
rny life" ever the pay raise.
' His speech was is i inarkable, but the message wax
irresistible: You have had your pay raise. Now you pay
for it with a code of e thics.
A godfather stxsia had emerged from his genial bulk
daring the struggle. He had lobbied fiercely, called for lists
cf Dcnocntic defectors.
CVtZl was elected Spcskst of the I lour- two ino&Uis
a-o. Kc&zxZzy rJ-t, ts became its leader. The cod
of ethics won 432-22.
(Cc&yrt TZT7, VZt&jn&om Star Syndicate)
Unfortunately, time nor mid-term wait for no man. Or
person, for that matter.
It's the seventh week" of school and you've finally
realized that yes, education is a real thing, and, well, may
be you've been slacking off just a little too much. So
where are you?
You've got three book reports due, two term papers,
four mid-term exams and you're 400 pages behind in your
reading assignments.
Some turkey let loose all of your white mice in Biology
lab so you can't complete the required semester experi
ment. Your bonsai tree, carefully nurtured from a mere
seedling, died from Dutch Elm disease. You dropped your
basket weaving project in the dishwater yesterday and it
fell to pieces.
Coffee machines gone
And (gag!) worst of all, the coffee machines were re
moved from your customary study area in Nebraska Hall.
Thousands of Frisbees patiently are hibernating across
the length and breadth of campus, as Spring Fever is
rapidly replaced by library pallor.
Let me throw in a consoling 'There, there," right
about here. It can't be all that bad. Can it? Take a
moment here to count your blessings.
First of all, there's Spring Break. Aptly named and
timed. Whoever invented that particular week off deserves
a medal.
Secondly, you don't have to scrape the frost off your
car windows every morning before you drive to class.
Thirdly (this is getting tough), well , thirdly ...
At this point I think the list will stop. Mainly because
I've got an appointment in 10 minutes on the other side
of campus. It's far enough to catch at least a couple of
breaths of fresh air and maybe even get a quick look at
the sun. Whatever that is.
fetters
Union dues
I like the way that everyone implores statistics to back
issues that will ultimately result in an increase in the
already high rates that students are forced to pay while
attending NU. I hear all of the time about how our school
is inferior to the other schools and must therefore be
"brought up to standards." Our parking fees are not as
high as Mudshark University, so obviously we can raise
the rates here. For $60 a year one should get a parking
stall with a gold nametag. Our student fees are not nearly
as high as those at other schools in the Big 8, so naturally
ours should be raised.
Our faculty has an average salary that is less than
teachers in Iran are making, so let's double their salary
even though the life styles and "normal" daily living
expenses are at best only vaguely similar.
I suppose the final blow came when the article about
the Union needing more money from the students
appeared in the Daily Ncbraskan . Personally, if the Union
were to no longer exist, it could only be looked upon as
a blessing. The total number of times I was in the Union
last year numbered five; once to actually eat!!!, twice to
register, and twice to attempt to get into the record lend
ing library that I swear doesn't exist.
The library of records has hours that appear to be
completely randomly chosen. Once I appeared when it
was closed and took careful note of the hours. When I
reappeared later, it was closed because of a meeting..
Granted, there may have actually been a meeting, but that
was enough. It's really amazing how the Union is
supported by student fees, partly, and that it is operated
in behalf of the students. However, if only students use
the Union, then there sure are a lot of well-dressed stu
dents who eat in the Harvest Room. Perhaps my one
visit there last year occured on a day when foreign
digmtarics were eating there, but some looked like faculty
and staff to me. The question is why they can eat there,
ctc and not pay student fees?
Therefore, if we impose a $9 per semester fee on all
faculty and staff who are not now paying those fees, then
maybe the Union would have more money to play with.
One could say that it (the honor of not paying fees)
comes with the job, but if there were fewer privileges of
this sort extended to the faculty and staff, then maybe
UNL would not be operating so much in the red. I don't
like paying fees for something that the faculty uses as
much as the student do, while a great portion of the
support comes from the students.
Let me say at least one good thing. The money I spend
for the Health Center support is the only money that I
led is wc3 spent, as money goes, and I ciske sure that I
utiLtize it frequently.
Joe St. Lucas
