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daily nebraskan
thursday, march 30, 1978
Student officer requirements deny election freedom
You'd think the regents were
trying to define guidelines for a can
didate for BMOC or pep club.
But sadly enough, the require
ments set by the NU Board of Re
gents two weeks ago apply to
student government candidates and
are yet another example of the re
gents exerting parental authority on
what they perceive to be a group of
college-aged children.
Effective July 1 , students wishing
to serve in any student government
office must have a minimum 2.0
cumulative GPA and not be on aca
demic or disciplinary probation. For
executive offices, candidates also
must be enrolled in at least six class
credit hours on their respective cam
pus, have completed 24 credit hours
within two years and win by a ma
jority before being allowed to serve.
We might as well select student
government officers through a
beauty pageant if we have to follow
these guidelines.
Supposedly, UNL, University of
Nebraska at Omaha and the Univer
sity of Nebraska Medical Center stu
dent governments are exactly that
student governments. This means by
the student, for the student and of
the student. So isn't it a little curious
that the regents are trying to tell us
who is and who is not eligible to run
for student government? Doesn't
this limit the free choice voters
should have?
The basic gripe is not that the new
requirements are so absurd (that is
obvious enough), but that they even
exist.
Another complaint is that the eli
gibility requirements are totally un
necessary. Campus student govern
ments are capable enough to set re
quirements for potential officers.
As for the argument that regent
requirements will eliminate some of
the "mistakes" made in past student
government administrations, we say
let the voters be the ones to decide
which mistakes should be avoided.
Even a casual examination of
these new requirements shows the
stifling limitations they put on
possible government candidates.
Granted, past history has proven that
most student government officials
would meet these new requirements
anyway, but what about the students
who are not in these categories?
Are the regents trying to tell us
that no freshman can run for execu
tive office? If potential candidates
must have completed 24 credit hours
before running, that quickly and
easily eliminates all freshmen. Again,
it may be argued that few (if any)
freshmen would run for executive
office, but the fact that they haven't
in the past is no reason to create a
rule that will prevent it in the future.
Grade point average, while
admittedly a reflection of a college
student's abilities, does not neces
sarily reflect that student's leader
ship abilities. Equating grades with
ability to represent students is
absurd.
The complaints could go on and
on, and probably will among
concerned students-even if they
have less than a 2.0 or have only
completed 17 credit hours.
Eligibility requirements for the
people who govern our student gov-ernment-the
regents-are short and
sweet. To run for regent, all that is
necessary is to be a registered voter
in that regent district.
It is too bad we cannot have the
same kind of simplicity that applies
to regent requirements apply to stu
dent officers.
But then, life isn't supposed to be
simple, is it?
Sex Pistols cease fire; punkers lose spark
An era has ended. Our cherished Western cultural heri
tage will never again be quite the same. Punk rock is dead.
Despite the pleas of the millions of fans whose hearts
and minds they had captured with their music, the Sex
Pistols have broken up and theie appears no chance the
history -making group will ever be brought together again.
"It ain't like we had no fight or nothing," the aggrega
tion's leader, Johnny Rotten, was quoted as telling inti
mates. "It was just time we went on to other things."
arthur
hoppe
It was Rotten who first captivated the imagination of
the musical world with his uncanny ability to throw up
during the eighth bar of the Sex Pistols' sentimental
favorite, "I'd Puke Out My Guts for You."
As for the beloved Sid Vicious, not a day passes with
out letters and telegrams pouring in to ask, "Where is he
now?" Actually, Vicious, still as lovely as ever, was last
reported selling sickroom supplies in the English coal
mining community of Slag-on -Tyne;
Many might think he would be content to rest on his
laurels. (Who will ever forget the night of February 3 at
the Palladium when, as thousands cheered, he set a record
that will long stand by spitting 18 feet, six and one-
quarter inches?) But, no, even now Vicious is gamely
planning a comeback.
Friends say he practices his music at least 30 minutes a
day by striking the E chord (that was his forte when he
owned an electric guitar) on a bed pan with a tongue de
pressor. He also is seeking to play Beethoven in the Slag-on-Tyne
Little Theater's production of "An Ear for
Music," an original biography of the great composer.
It was Vicious who revealed to the waiting public the
first hint of the major factor that led to the sad demise of
punk rock.
"It was a case of too much too soon," he was quoted
as telling a reporter for The Slag Rock Digest. "Look at
me, I'm just 22 and I'm all dried up. The truth is we
didn't run out of music, mate. We run out of spit."
Colleagues claim Vicious, Rotten and the other Sex
Pistols are on a secret regimen which includes a dozen
Kosher dills and ajar of cocktail onions a day, in hopes of
reactivating their atrophied saliva glands. But doctors hold
out little hope the abused organs will ever function again.
So around the world, music lovers sadly are
removing the safety pins from their ears and the chicken
bones from their noses and placing them in their memory
books.
From London, critic Joel Selvin reports that punk rock
will be replaced with something called "power pop."
Perhaps. But after years of experience in listening to
popular music, I can confidently predict we soon will be
nostalgically looking back at the punk rock era as the
good old days.
Copyright Chronicle Publishing Co. 1978
Exon shuffles political cards to stack deck in his favor
Nebraska's foremost political craftsman
last week demonstrated his expertise in
making personal gain in any situation.
di. Kern. .
gamott
Amid cries of political manipulation.
Gov. J J. Exon vetoed the increase in the
Omaha city sales tax that was passed by
the Nebraska Legislature. In so doing, he
placed this political hot potato directly in
the unwilling hands of its originators.
By demanding Omahans be allowed to
vote on any sales tax increase before he
would sign such a bill, Exon almost guaran
teed the demise of the tax.
The Omaha City Council and the Legis
lat ure refused to make a citywide vote on
the tax mandatory, so Exon, as promised,
vetoed the bill.
The Exon veto places him in the politi
cally enviable position of being against tax
ation without citizen agreement.
The veto also puts full responsibility for
any increase in Omaha's sales tax squarely
on the Legislature, shielding Exon from
possible political damage from increased
taxation in an election year.
Electoral politics in its most disgusting
form also reared its ugly head on the floor
of the Legislature recently.
Sen. Howard Lamb of Anselmo intro
duced legislation to prohibit university pro
fessors from campaigning while on sick
leave from their jobs, a seemingly harmless
effort.
However, it seems to be an effort direc
ted at limiting opposition for one of
Lamb's colleagues who is being opposed by
a university professor.
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The merits of the issue may deserve to
be debated, but the timing of the Lamb
legislation should indicate its intent.
To use an elected political office and its
powers to reduce political opposition or
limit their effectiveness is done every day
in government' at all levels, but seldom
is it as blatant as Lamb's efforts.
A classic example of the use of political
power and position to injure political op
ponents currently is taking place in the
U.S. House of Representatives.
The Democrats have used their numeri
cal superiority to push through committee,
on party line votes, a bill which would
severely limit the amount which a national
political party can contribute to a congres
sional campaign.
This effort obviously is directed at limi
ing the effectiveness of the large coffers
built up by the Republican party.
Although House GOP members are
fighting against this bill, it will fall to
Howard Baker, senate minority leader, to
unify Republican efforts in the Senate and
block the passage of this legislation
Again this is an issue which deserves
to be debated and resolved. Such an effort
should not come in an election year after
party fund raising efforts are completed