page 4
thursday, may 4, 1978
daily nebraskan
Speedy reply only for regents?
Watts going on?
That is our question as well as that of
Residence Hall Association officers in reaction to
a recent regent request.
It seems that Regent Robert Prokop of Wilbur
wants a report on the refrigerator rental program
that services the residence halls, according to Bill
Skoneki, RHA president and Doug Zatecka,
housing director.
His request is so detailed that supposedly he
wants to know how much electricity is used by
the refrigerators that are supplied by Collegiate
Products, Inc. and rented by the residence halls.
The motive for this sudden burst of interest in
the refrigerator rental program is unknown and a
little curious. But considering that RHA's pro
posed budget changes and the refrigerator pro
gram have been in the news recently, it is not an
unusual request.
We don't know what Prokop wants the infor
mation for, but we can be sure that if it's any
thing of significance, students will find out one
way or another.
In many ways, Prokop's request is admirable.
We wish that administrators would have more
concern like this about campus events. The more
they know about student concerns and what is
going on with the student body, the greater sen
sitivity they may have for student needs.
But Prokop's request is making RHA officers
scramble to gather the necessary information.
That's going to take some digging, especially
when electricity figures are required.
This expediency in putting together the
r 4uested information raises an interesting point.
Students, student leaders and newspapers have
been pressing for detailed information on a varie
ty of university projects for some time. Closer
examination of the Nebraska Unions, University
Health Center and parking department budgets,
to name a few, have been asked for, but there has
been a big delay in getting the word out. Students
have run into a lot of red tape trying to get these
figures.
We only hope that Prokop's request will set a
precedent for future requests of the same nature.
It would be nice to see an element of fairness
applied evenly to students and administrators.
From Congress to campus, 78 politics touch students
To review the political scene since Jan
uary in any coherent, chronological order
would be nearly impossible and would take
up three quarters of the paper if it was ever
finished.
But the last column of the semester
seems to call for some sort of review.
Probably the most important event of
1978 to this point has been the ratifica
tion of the Panama Canal treaties, provid
ing a change that modernized U.S. foreign
policy while at the same time giving Jimmy
Carter a much-needed and hard fought
victory.
The farmers went to Washington early
this year and, although they won the initial
battles, they lost the war when the House
defeated emergency farm legislation under
threat of a presidential veto.
Tongsun Park returned to the United
States this spring with a promise to tell
all about his influence -buying scheme in
the U.S. Congress. But the Koreagate in
vestigation has been a disappointment as
far as scandals go.
i i .
di. Kent.
gamott
caused the regents to limit funding despite
5,000 student signatures on petitions sup
porting mandatory fees for speakers.
The YAF attacks on the Nebraska Uni
versity Public Information Research Group
may have backfired on the conservative
group.
An ASUN investigation of the two
groups cleared NUPIRG of any wrongdoing
and caused suit to be brought in the UNL
Student Court against YAF.
An unfortunate pattern also is beginning
to appear on campus, a pattern of meetings
closed to the public.
The closing of meetings by student or
ganizations is very disturbing and probably
unnecessary.
Many of the political events leave ques
tions to be answered in the fall. Most im
portant are the elections for governor and
the First Congressional District represen
tative. These elections could drastically
alter Nebraska politics.
to the editor
On the state level, the public won a
major victory when the Legislature was un
able to override Gov. J. James Exon's veto
of the bill intended to repeal Nebraska's
sunshine act.
The Legislature was uncharacteristically
cautious and handled few of the contro
versial issues placed before it this year.
Omaha was given its sales tax increase
after a long debate involving city officials,
the Legislature and, especially, Sen. John
DeCamp of Neligh and Exon.
A bill which changed the state's
marijuana law also was passed. Both pro
ponents and opponents of decriminaliza
tion and liberalization of the law claimed
victory, which leads one to think the new
law may in fact be worse than the old.
Perhaps this session of the Legislature
will be remembered as the year when Sun
day horse racing was approved for Nebras
ka tracks, a long overdue measure.
Of course, 1978 is an election year and
has been marked by competitive campaigns
for the GOP nominations for governor and
the First Congressional District. There also
is a contested Democratic campaign
for the same House seat.
Campus politics have been marked by
attacks from the right on the isue of man
datory student fees.
The Young Americans for Freedom
were successful in their campaign to re
move mandatory student fee funding for
'political" speakers. This was done
through a letter writing campaign which
I would like to respond to the "Fathom"
magazine May 1 . As the student at large of
the Advisory Committee for International
Affairs, I feel obligated to clarify some
things.
I would like everybody to remember
that the opinions expressed are only those
of certain individuals, so it is not right to
stereotype the people from that country
just based on what you read.
Secondly, 1 cannot deny that there is
culture shock and discrimination in Ameri
ca. It will exist anywhere in the world as
long as you do not belong to that country.
What matters is if you want to overcome
the difficulties, like language gap, cultural
gap or even climate. A positive attitude is
the only way to help oneself overcome
everything and be successful.
Thirdly, some of the opinions ex
pressed were that University of Nebraska is
not "fair-treating" the international stu
dents. The tuition and expenses are high,
that's true! But UNL is trying to provide
quality education for all those students
who choose to come here. Besides academ
ic benefits, UNL provides all kinds of
scholarships and assistantships for inter
national students. International Education
al Services is the place to find all kinds of
help. The Housing Office has a special in
terim housing plan for international stu
dents. Who can say that UNL is discrimi
nating international students?
As a student from Hong Kong, I also
would like to comment on my country.
Hong Kong is a British Crown Colony, lo
cated on the southeast coast of China. We
learn both English and Chinese in school.
Most of the students from Hong Kong are
undergraduates. In school in Hong Kong
what we learn is just academic knowledge
and not political opinions. We don't study
Communism or colonialism. The political
opinion of one cannot represent the whole
group. Also, most students from Hong
Kong can speak better English than any
other country. If one cannot speak English
fluently, it is only that he did not get
good practice when he was in high school.
Discrimination is inevitable when you
go to another country. It is our respon
sibility to expose our cultures to the Amer
icans and let them have a better chance to
understand us. The Americans also should
be more open and ready to accept the for
eign cultures. After all, we are all living in
the same place, studying at the same
university.
Betty Cheung
Sophomore, broadcasting
Strangers in the night
Earlier this semester, ! was as mad as
hell about hearing there were maggots and
bugs in my dorm food. Douglas Zatechka,
housing director, wrote me, assuring me it
was "bean sprouts" and not maggots and
bugs.
OK, I Til buy that, but when I entered by
darkened room the other night, I'm pretty
sure it wasn't "bean sprouts" I found scam
pering across the floor when I turned on
the light. I think it was what you'd call
cockroaches (I caught the little buggers,
too, in case your friends at the FDA want
to make a full-scale investigation).
Before you and your cronies over at
Regent's Hall decided to up dorm rates,
Mr. Zatechka, I wish you had spent a week
over here at Cather Hall to see what it's
really like.
sandy and porous that irrigation water
would flow right through to the water
table, carrying with it nitrogen fertilizer in
the form of dissolved nitrates and
pesticides. We must also consider why an
area with a three percent unemployment
rate needs economic improvement when
the national average is a bulging eight per
cent. Above all else, I feel that the absurd
elimination of the wildlife habitat that
cradles the Niobrara River is the most re
pulsive consequence that would result if
the project were completed. Scientific
studies claim that the Niobrara is one of
the least polluted rivers in North America
and that its wide canyons and forest areas
provide optimum habitat for endangered
species. Now is the time to act, before we
deprive ourselves of these natural privi
leges which function on such a delicate
ecosystem.
Patrick Phelan
Freshman, architecture
Continued on page 5
Jeff Barnes
Sophomore, journalism
Dam it all!
After two invigorating treks down the
Niobrara River I have found myself in
creasingly concerned about the fate of this
magnificent waterway. My eyes have been
opened to the heinous plot that threatens
to mutilate Nebraska's most canoeable and
scenic river.
The proposed project, the O'Neill Unit
(Norden Dam), would flood a 19-mile
section of the Niobrara and nearly 6,300
acres of surrounding wilderness and pasture
land. The project's main purpose is to pro
vide water to irrigate an estimated 77,000
acres of farmland which in turn is supposed
to stimulate the economic condition of the
surrounding five-county area.
Of the 77,000 acres of farmland that
could possibly be irrigated from the result
ing reservoir, only 12 percent is suitable
for a profitable irrigation system. The same
soil that makes up this 12 percent is so
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