frlJr, cprll 22, 1377
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With the cost of getting an education going up,
it is no wonder students can't get excited about
student government. They have enough to worry
about as it is.
The average cost of being a UNL student has
risen nearly 27 per cent since 1973, The costs of
housing, parking tuition and student fees
increases every year. This does not include those
extras such a books and football tickets.
Jack Ritchie, UNL director of scholarships and
financial aids, says that as costs increase, students
may have to take fewer hours a semester and
work more. It seems like more and more college
students are taking longer than the traditional
four years to get their degrees. One reason could
be the extra time they have to take off to work to
make ends meet.
"There is an increasingly wider disparity
between the money students have and what their
education will cost," Ritchie said.
Can anything be done about this cost crunch?
NU President Ronald Roskens says there is a
feeling among the public that students should pay
a higher proportion of their college costs than
they have previously.
One of the first stories I worked on as a re
porter for this newspaper was about some apart
ments close to campus that were being torn
down. The university source I was talking to get
off the subject and started telling me that college
students were not living up to their end of the
deal. He said college students were not paying
enough of their educational costs and the state
taxpayers were paying too much.
Perhaps this is the feeling cf other Nsbissk&ns
and university officials and they are just not
telling us. Perhaps these increasing costs are their
way of telling us we should pull more of the
weight of our education.
The university, its students and staff should be
a source of pride to the state, Too often Nebras
kans point to the university's football team
instead of its academic quality as their pride and
joy. And as the NU Board of Regents ponders
building a new football stadium we see that too
often thtt is sre the money goes also.
Doesn't make sense
1 don't understand. ,
UNL parking coodinator John Duve says he writs
student . input and community reaction to his
recommendation for an increase in parking permit fees.
However, while speaking to the Residence Hall Associa
tion (RHA) cn April 14, he refused three times to disclose
that recommendation.
He doesn't nuke any sense; neither does his proposal.
Duve wi3 recommend an increase in permit fees to
cover next year's parkfat budget of $403,000. Yet he
talks of a $45 fee, and $45 multiplied by the current
10,000 permit buyers is $450,000.
Furthermore, Duve says he receives $20,000 from
meters annually and $50,000 next year from fines. That
means next year's revenue could reach $520,000. HeU
have a surplus of $117,000 or rather, hell have over
charged every permit user at least $10.
If that makes sense, consider what else' could happen.
Duve told RHA that "Nebraska psychology" would never
tolerate a substantial fee increase. He predicts 2,000
fewer people w5'l buy a $45 parking permit.
So why raise the price to $45? Some 8,000 students,
staff and faculty will pay twice as much for the same
service, while another 2,000 won't be able to afford it
It's simple but illogical: double prices for some and
eliminate all service for others.
Duve says this increase to $45 is needed to cover a 15
per cent increase in his budget That's interesting, because
UNL policy is a flat 5.5 per cent increase due to inflation.
Duve justifies his budget hike by saying asphalt and other
construction materials are rising but his budget doesn't
include any construction. -
To top it off, he says he wants student input and
community reaction. Why not ask the 2,000 students
who, according to Duve's statistics, won't buy permits
next year because of the increase?
Why not ask "all 10,000 of our permit-type users'
who, in Duve's own opinion, wHl be upset"
Why not ask every student, teacher and administrator
suffering from increases in football tickets, student fees,
tuition and now a 95 per cent increase in parking fees?
What do they think of proposal that wcrM double
parking costs for some and eliminate all parking services
. for others?
At least thf position of RHA's 4,700 members is clear;
keeping permit fee increasss to a minimum is more
important than increasing parking service.
Something else should be equally clear to anyone
wanting reasonable -parking service at reasonable prices.
still is. The Board cf Regents are stU going to do anything
they please. Whether there is a student government or not
going to affect the quality of education at UNL. Do
lotJlOfS oihs people share my views?
Only 10 per cent cf the entire student population
voted in the latest election. What makes me sick is every
other day ASUN gets front psge coverage in this alleged
student newspaper. Seems to ins the coverage given to the
folly of student government could be better spent
elsewhere.
HoUisW.Hackman
- Michael T. Gibson
Residence HaUs Association President
Ripped off
I propose that we the students abolish the Board of
' Regents. What a bunch of fools. How long wO they allow
the students to be ripped off at this university?
Maybe it should be clarified to the Campus Police that
in regards to the new increase in parking rates for next
year, do they know that the students simply want to park
their cars and not buy the whole lot?
Did it occur to the Union Advisory Board that maybe
they could find a cheaper way to go broke than to spend
$10,000 of money that I don't have. -
I was also wondering how many students voted for '
student government this past week. That is important. I
mean after all it is important to have a good sense of
humor. It kind of reminds me of the circus. I mean all the
clowns and all.
Finally a last comment directed to the R.H.A. Could
you please raise the prices to have another profit next
year? I swear that I'm richer than heS.
v T. Houlihan
Track team magnificent
- I should like to register a complaiC about you sports
coverage. For several weeks the men's track team has been
travelling around the country to different meets. Yet,
I have not seen anything in your paper about several of
these meets. This team won the Cowboy Relays, March
26, but Mrch 28th paper had one short paragraph about
the team.
This same type of thing occurred during the indoor
season. After the Husker Invitational, there was a picture
of Keith Whitaker and Harold Stgzer, but no article.
This track tern has done a 'magnificent job of repre
senting the university. Why cant this paper do a better
job of reporting their accomplishments?
Cathy Cole
Percentages unequal
Good Clinking John Duve! Obviously if the parking
budget has to go up 15 per cent, the student permit
prices bave to be increased between B0 and 140 per
cent I think it's time we all say, Tm rnad as hell and I'm
not gcirg to tele it anymore."
Tom Jaudzemis
wn allmpppMICTW" ' sa
FDA hard-fo-fpf plan
foils 'sgc boo'tfcfjrjors'
Let me begin by saying right off that it is not true that
the Food and Drug Administration wishes to causa cancer
fct people who go to drug stores.
Yes, it is true Ihe FDA has decided not to issue a total
ban on saccharin, which causes cancer in rats. And, yes, it
is true that the FDA, instead, will simply require people
to go out to drug stores in the future to buy saccharin,
which causes cancer in rats.
The likelihood this will Increase the mortality rate of
that segment of our population with the gumption and
energy to get up and go out to a drug store cannot be
denied. Dut it certainly wasn't the FDA's Intention.
The FDA was only enjoying the brilliant, new Jkxd
to Get concept of how best to safeguard the health and
welfare of us citizens. , ,
The government long ago discovered that a total pro
hibition on any popubr product led inevitably to in
creased consumption.
In the case of saccharin, the FDA wisely foresaw that
such a step would immediately produce fleets of "sac
runners cruising off our shores, tommy-gunning boot-
innocent bystander
kggers in low-slung black sedans, and crooked speakeasies
serving ersatz Scotch diet colas supposedly right off the
boat.' '
Thus the ingenious solution was devised of merely
making saccharin hard to get instead. And what better
way to make saccharin hard to get, I ask, then to have it
sold in drug stores?
- Buying any over-the-counter product in a drug store
isn't easy. First, you must find it Saccharin, a recent
survey shows, is usually located in drug stores between the
Robert Redford Foto Albums and the Souvenir of
Atlantic City Beach Balls.
If it's not there, you're in trouble. For then you have
to ask the clerk, who is invariably of the opposite sex.
Asking anyone of the opposite sex for anything in a drug
store is a trauma. It's iike walking through the lingerie
department Where do you look?
Six-pack of cck
But let's say you somehow manage to lay your hands
cn a box of saccharin pills. Then what do you do? You go
to the grocery store, which is somewhere else, and buy a
six-pack of unsweetened diet cola. You take it home,
open a can, pop in a pill, put your thumb over the open
ing, shake it up and redecorate the living room.
So you can see how effective the Hard-to-Get concept
is. In no time, we citizens will say the hell with diet colas,
switch to gin and die of cirrhosis of the liver instead.
Indeed, the FDA is so confident of the success of its
Hard-to-Get program for limiting saccharin consumption
that it is already exploring other fields.
Now being drawn up , for example, is a bill restricting
the sale of cigarettes. Under this legislation, they would be
. sold only from kiosks atop 20-foot-high greased poles.
There may be difficulties getting this b21 ?mt fV,e tobacco
lobby, but it's always comforting to know the Govern
ment is concerned about our health.
Isn't it?
fCcpyrit Chronic! Ptthliihina Co. 1377)
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Piano b'ues : ' .
I wiii to just say my opinion on the lunch hours spent
at the Union. Being an off-campus freshman I know of no
other place where I csa go to eat lunch, relax and do some
quick homework in a very comfortable setting. Cut I
find it vcry irritating to have to listen to someone
phying the piano. "
I knew our budding pianists love to have an audience,
but I wish they would remember that not all of us want to
listen to th-rra.
Nancy Ftedhrr
S'Jl Q a!o
So we fr.sHy hid 3 election, big desL ASUN was a
joke to 1971 when I first attended this university arj it
iCf fit)
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