I n daiy n
thursday, march 30, 1978 vol. 101 no. 90 lincoln, nebraska
Rent-free NUPIRG office under conservative ife
By Joe Starita
A campaign to oust the Nebraska Uni
versity Public Interest Research Group
from its rent-free office in the Nebraska
Union is under way, according to the chair
man of the Nebraska Young Americans for
Freedom.
Terrell Cannon said Monday YAF will
write 10,000 conservative Nebraskans, in
forming them that NUPIRG should pay for
that office space.
He said NUPIRG is a political group and
as such should not be supported by the
university and must be forced to foot its
own bill.
"It's just not fair to students who pay
$10.49 each semester in Union fees to sup
port a group desperately looking for a free
ride," Cannon said.
NUPIRG Director Don Macke said
YAF's campaign is rooted in issues beyond
the question of rent-free office space in the
Nebraska Union.
"There is an extensive national YAF
campaign against all public interest re
search groups," Macke said. "They de
clared war on PIRGs because our findings
on issues like nuclear energy and the death
penalty disagree with their conservative
philosophy."
Macke said NUPIRG does not take a
stand along liberal-conservative lines, nor
have they endorsed any candidate. Instead,
he added, the organization seeks to go
along issue by issue and reach conclusions
based on evidence free of any pre-con-ceived
political slant.
"But when those conclusions happen to
coincide with liberal viewpoints," Macke
noted, "YAF cries foul and sees us as the
enemy, an enemy to be attacked and ridi
culed at all costs."
An example of how YAF approaches
the problem can be seen in their campaign
against rent-free office space for NUPIRG
at the Nebraska Union, Macke said.
The Union Board sets aside a limited
amount of free space each semester for
groups that are not self-supporting, Macke
said.
"Anyone, including YAF, can apply for
that space," he said. "It is then up to the
board to decide which groups they feel
can put that space to best use.
Ve were awarded the space because
the board felt we could do a good job with
it, and I think we have. The NUPIRG of
fice is used extensively -up to 70 hours a
week a lot of the time."
"If YAF wants NUPIRG out of the
Union, Macke said, they should go to the
Union Board and present a list of legiti
mate complaints.
"What they have done instead," he said,
"is to try and discredit us with unethical
tactics, with name-slurring, with news
letters branding us as leftists and commun
ists. Cannon is using a back-stabbing smear
campaign to attack our credibility."
Cannon said none of YAF's news
letters has used the word "communist" to
refer to NUPIRG members.
"We have referred to them as liberals or
leftists, which they definitely are," he said,
"but we would never resort to communist
or pinko-type name tags."
Cannon disagreed that NUPIRG is not a
political organization, adding that any
group "that admits to lobbying at the Uni-
UNL pitcher Mark Di
Benedetti started slow
giving up only three hits,
but walked 10 batters in
the Husker's 7-4 victory
over St. Cloud State Col
lege in the first game of
a doubleheader Wednes
day. However, the Corn
husker bats started
pounding out the hits in
the second game as UNL
earned a 9-4 victory over
the Huskies. The Huskers
jumped to a 7-1 lead in
the first inning aided by
a grand slam by center
fielder Dan Dixon.
The Huskers, now 12
10 on the season, will
play a doubleheader to
day at the NU diamond
against Buena Vista at
1:30 p.m.
1
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UPC considers backing major concerts
By Amy Lenzen
The Nebraska Union Program Council
is researching the feasibility of using the
council's entire budget as collateral for the
production of major concerts.
The council Tuesday night decided not
to support the proposal without research
and instructed the concerts committee
chairperson to investigate tlr legal and
financial feasibility.
Concert chairperson Keith Wagner made
the proposal one night after FAB allocated
$41,975 to the council for next year.
Sara Boatman, acting assistant director
of the Nebraska Union, said the proposal
will have to be approved by the Union
Board, Union director. Fees Allocation
Board, the vice chancellor of student
affairs and the vice chancellor of business
and finance.
She said Allen Bennett. Union director,
indicated that approval, if given, would be
at least one year away.
The committee has sponsored concerts
in the past (Fleetwood Mac and Crosby,
Stills and Nash last semester), but Wagner
said the concerts committee had an
arrangement with" the Sports Complex in
which the committee rented the hall for
the promoter and received 5 percent of
gross ticket sales.
Wagner said his proposal is an attempt
to "eliminate the promoter" so the com
mittee can get the profits. He said with
popular performers such as Linda Ron
stadt or the Eagles the committee, and
council "could stand to make $12,000
to $20,000" per concert.
But in order to bring name performers,
Wagner said, the concert committee would
have to guarantee the talent about $25,000
which would be deposited before the con
cert. An additional $5,000 would be
needed for promotion costs, $7,000 for
sound costs and $3,000 for miscellaneous
expenses.
One concert, therefore, would cost
about $40,000 of the $41,975 budget. If
the concert were successful the $25,000
deposit would be credited to the percent
age of ticket sales that the performers
would take.
Wagner said he believes most concerts
would average $15,000 to $16,000 in net
profits.
In addition to profits, a successful series
of concerts would lend to a self-sufficient
programming committee which in turn
could decrease or eliminate student fees for
programming.
Students might be given a cost or time
advantage when buying tickets, Wagner
said.
However, one council member said the
proposal makes the rest of the council
"incredibly dependent on the concert com
mittee" and a decrease in concert popular
ity would hurt the entire council.
If the council did become financially
independent a decrease might maxe it
difficult to regain university funding.
Another concern, Wagner said, is the
possibility that the committee would be
competing with local promoters.
cameral has to be considered political."
"They describe themselves as an advo
cacy group, but if you are actively involved
in lobbying, that's definitely political," he
said.
'Students should not have to support
a group whose views they disagree with and
the university should definitely blow the
whistle on giving political groups free
Union space."
Cannon said NUPIRG should call them
selves the "Young Naderites" because
Ralph Nader defines public interest "then
all these yahoos go along with it."
A basic philosophical difference over
what constitutes public interest is at the
heard of the dispute between NUPIRG and
YAF, said Cannon.
"NUPIRG claims to speak for public
interest," he said, "but that's the same as
claiming to speak for God. What is the
public interest? No one knows. It's very
dangerous and egotistic to think that you
do."
Cannon said an example of claiming to
speak for public interest can be seen in
NUPIRG's activity at UNL.
"Student government has no business
getting involved in issues like nuclear en
ergy and the death penalty at UNL because
it does not represent the students' interest.
"Students here don't care about these
issues and it's morally wrong for people
left or right to raid the public till to
finance their own beliefs."
Cannon said what is happening on lo
cal campuses can also be applied nationally.
Every country in the world knowsu
clear energy is the wave of the future and
have gone ahead with plans, he said, while
the United States has lagged behind "be
cause of the Naderites."
"The Naderites go in and investigate and
come up with facts and figures that mislead
the public," Cannon said.
"The statistics they've come up with for
the dangers of converting to nuclear energy
are warped and contrived and it is best not
to pay any attention to them."
Cannon said he believes the university
will pay close attention to NUPIRG be
cause "alumni and businessmen in
Nebraska will not support the university if
NUPIRG flourishes.
"No businessman in this state will sup
port a university that supports a group op
posed to nuclear energy," said Cannon.
Cannon said the YAF newsletter cam
paign urges conservative Nebraskans to
write members of the NU Board of Regents
asking them not to support a political uni
versity system.
Macke said the current YAF newsletter
is the fifth in which NUPIRG has been at
tacked, adding that such a campaign could
threaten NUPIRG's future.
"Currently, we are applying for
$158,000 in grants," Macke said. "The
grants are very competitive and if we are
denied an award because of political pres
sure from YAF we will sue for damages.
"We can't function like ASUN or the
Daily Nebraskan. If we talk to the grants
people and they say part of the reason we
were refused is because of YAF letters to
them we would sue for defamation."
inside
thursday
Buck you ol' buddy: Two best
friends compete in bareback bronc
riding page 10
Dreaming about an exciting future
after graduation: Columnist Jim
Williams brings you back to earth
page 8
Now that's on-the-job training: Two
interim administrators are
appointed to permanent positions
page 2
