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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 1978)
page 4 daily nebraskan Wednesday, january 18, 1978 Hoi matfe Mies 3d Srd hmd The cost of living continues to skyrocket. A place to live seems to be no exception. UNL residence halls are on that rocket to the cost increases. The cost per year, in a proposal presented at the January NU Board of Regents meeting, would rise from $1,265 to $l,335-a $70 increase. This is in line with increases made in housing the past five years-the last being a $40 increase approved by the regents in 1977. This latest increase, coupled with a proposed tuition increase from $2 1 per hour credit to $22.50, is just another tug at the student's pocket book. And that pocketbook keeps get ting thinner and thinner. Doug Zatechka, director of hous ing, and his staff are making gallant efforts to cut their spending and re duce the cost of residence hall oper ations. Zatechka said housing has cut some funds for residence hall educa tion, such as speakers and films. In addition, they have cut 9 per-cent-about $l,000-from office travel expenses for the housing staff and have found, cheaper copy machines for halls and a cheaper telephone system for the housing office. Minimum wage increases, which housing has no control over, are causing the biggest increase. With 648 students employed by the resi dence halls, it is oing to be a big. one. Increases in the cost of utilities also take a big chunk of the increase, also out of the housing office's hands. But, Zatechka has a fine attitude toward the housing operation. The students, in his view, are consumers, and the housing office must produce a marketable product-one that offers education, con venience, social life and attractive ness. On the other hand, it is surpris ing to see students so complacent with the $70 increase. Although, in agreeing with Zatech ka, the costs are well outlined and warranted. Zatechka can be admired for seek ing student, opinions on ways to make residence hall living better. He is planning to go to the Resi dence Hall Association meeting Thursday night to explain the areas of increase and also visit the com plexes for more explanation. "They are customers," he said. "They are the people to ask." That is not only good business, that is fine administration. The increase will put a financial burden on many students, but we can be confident in the fact that the Office of University Housing is concerned about the students, After all, students are their business. Hassle Warn a W 2 S ri a a KHNI affla a u " HnJ a 2 a a a HHH L Ma isi a a a D u gUIMU i Mo a a a in. a PI SaLKs rfTfis Z PMniMI n ssssss Breathe easy, another Great American Crisis is in the air l wasn't surprised to hear on the radio that if the trend continues, America will run out of air by the year 2003. At the time, I was tooling along the freeway at a cau tious 65, hoping not to be run down by more courageous drivers and nostaligically wondering what happened to The Great Energy Crisis. Remember when we kept our speedometers at 55, our thermostats at 65 and unscrewed the light bulbs in our refrigerators? arthuf way, Brazil, Argentina and the other, members of the Oxygen Producing & Exporting Countries (OPEC), who are sitting on vast reserves of natural air. While I couldn't quite understand it, I'm sure his Air hmuiut Ah, how nobly sacrificing we all were in those exci ting times. Who much more important were our leaders, how much more united was our Nation. No, there's nothing like a crisis to uplift our spirits and bring us together. Oh, we've had a few little ones since-a shortage of heat in the East and water in the West-but none that genuinely held our interest. So 1 was delighted to hear the announcer say that due to the increase in population, the denuding of our forests, the destruction of the ozone layer, the growing industrial consumption of oxygen and the ever-expanding produc tion of smog, the last American would undoubtedly breathe his last on Jan. 1 , 2003. Here, I thought, was a crisis we could all sink our teeth into. The President didn't disappoint me. By the time reached home he was making his historic Emergency Address on all three television networks, urging Americans to keep calm as "panic induces rapid breathing." I thought he looked particularly statesmanlike when he said America would never knuckle under to Sweden, Nor- Package Legislation makes sense. As you know, it includes a huge new U.S. Department of Air, building an Alaska pipeline, and tax incentives to industry for converting to carbon dioxide, exploring alternative gases such as nitrous oxide, and planting trees. But what caused my heart to beat faster was his peroration. "Remember, my fellow Americans, we're all in this together," he said, "so breathe shallowly, avoid air-consuming activities, and don't hoard." Once a crisis strikes, it's amazing at how rapidly it catches on. The next morning, a would-be jogger was severely stoned on my block, and Crannich, who lives next door, was going through the neighborhood letting the air out of every tire he could find. "Damn hoarders," he muttered as he popped a little tyke's balloon. My sister, Estelle, has renounced watching situation comedies and horror movies on television. "Laughing in delight or gasping in fear are no way to lick the air shortage," she said. I was proud of her. There's been some talk of banning football games and other athletic events on the grounds that jumping, screaming crowds represent wasteful air consumption. But most Americans believe that's going too far and favor out lawing pneumatic drills instead. This seeming lack of determination worried me and I called up my cousin, Alan,' who works in the White House as a crisis consultant, to ask how long The Great Air Crisis would last. "About six months to a year " he said. "Never over estimate the attention span of the American people." "But surely," I said, "the day will come when we will no longer react to every crisis first with panic and then indifference." "Don't hold your breath," he said. Copyright 1978, Chronica Publishing Co. When Fide! Castro gained power in Cuba, the American people believed that Cuba would become socialistic, not Com munistic. However, Marxist dictatorship is Marxist dictatorship, no matter what euphesism it is given. Now, almost two decades later, the Carter administration is extending the hand of friendship to the Castro regime. We can excuse President Carter' ideal-, ism in the early part of Ids term in office, but we must not excuse his attempt to be friendly with Castro. Carter should realize the truth in the statement.' "A democracy and a despotic Communiitic country cannot be fricnd3,M As the Soviet Union retreats from Cuba, Castro turns to the United States for food, medical and hospital supplies, cars, as well as grain. What all this means is that Cuba would like to replace the USSR with the U.S.A. as its main benefactor and provider in ad vancing the cause of the Marxist revolt tion. Joan Marie Janis Conservative Camp H is curious that a Daily Nebraskan editorial (Dec. 14) . uses U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Douglas for a quote for the backing of its stand for compulsory student fees. When one looks closely at this quota tion, it appears that he falls into the camp with those ultraconservativen YAFers. Douglas says: "When ideas compete in the marketplace for acceptance, full and free discussion exposes the false and they gain few adherents." At NU ideas do not compete in the marketplace because these ideas, in the form of political speakers, are subsidized by the university through student fees. These speakers are therefore the result of a selected few, who ultimately decide who speaks and who does not, rather than letters I to the editor J a Cross section of the markefnhri! nf ideas. Secondly, full and free discussion does not occur at a lecture. It may be possible to debate the pros and cons of President Carter's tax plans over a glass of beer, for example, but this is impossible when one of the speakers is on a podium and has 400 watts of ampli fication behind him or her. As Thomas Jefferson, another "ultra conservative" stated: "To compel a man to turnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical.0 Don Orton Sophomore engineering major