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daily nebraskan
friday, december 8, 1978
Student regents say their main role is to serve students
By Shelley Smith
Editor's note: This is an in-depth ar
ticle of Nebraska's three student regents,
who attend NU Board of Regents meetings
but are not allowed to vote.
Even though they live in different en
vironments and represent different con
stituents, the three student regents said
their interest in supporting students' rights
has created a bond between them.
Ken Marienau, student body president
at UNL, Paul Hoffman, student body presi
dent at UNO, and Rod Andersen, student
body president at the Medical Center,
agreed that their main role as student body
presidents and student regents is to repre
sent all students in the university and their
best interests.
Marienau, a 22-year-old senior finance
major, said he felt the role as student body
president and student regent is "a very
natural correlation."
"The insight given to me as a student re
gent has helped in formulating policy as a
student government leader," he said.
Both he and Hoffman agreed that at
times the two roles tend to conflict when
the regents go into closed session each
month.
"This is where they discuss sensitive,
personal legal matters. Sometimes the sub
jects begin to wander past these perimeters.
I feel the students have a right to know
what's going on, and I can't tell them,"
Marienau explained.
Easier to discuss
He said that as a regent he found that it
was easier to discuss certain matters when
he knew they would not be publicized.
However, Andersen, a second year medi
cal student, said he felt that topics dis
cussed in executive session are eventually
brought out during the meetings.
"I don't know of any instance that an
issue in executive session hasn't come out
in open session," he said.
As a student body president and student
regent, Hoffman, a 21-year-old banking
and finance major, said it has broadened
his understanding of management and "the
real world."
"People tend to say that students are in
never never land. The board of regents re
flects reality," he said.
However, Marienau said he felt the re
gents are out of contact with the students'
needs. He said he felt they tended to view
students and parents of students as a small
part of their constituency.
Andersen said he felt the regents respon
sibility is not to serve the students. He said
they should keep the students in mind, but
their main purpose should be to serve the
state.
Much confusion
There is a lot of confusion on the board
as to what exactly their role is, according
to Marienau, and he emphasized that they
should define that role.
"Some board members feel they should
act solely on the recommendations from
campus administrators even when they
have limited knowledge on proposals.
Others say that every contract and internal
conflict should be approved by the board,"
he said.
Hoffman said he felt the board of re
gents is only as good as the information re
ceived and the time put in to consider that
information.
'This voting regent board has
performed in the best interests of the state
of Nebraska," he said.
Andersen said he felt the students have
been given "a fair shake" on decisions,
even though some of the decisions have
been unpopular.
All three said they were disappointed
when mandatory student fee funding of
speakers was taken away.
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Marienau said he was disturbed about
the situation and added that "it is actually
forcing us to get on our knees and beg for
pennies."
For three years
The volunteer funding program will
work for about three years at UNL, accord
ing to Marienau because of current empha
sis placed on speakers. However, Hoffman
said it has already failed at UNO.
"We tried it this year and raised $12
two of which was mine," he said.
Marienau said he felt the mandatory
funding would still be in effect if the stu
dent regents had voting power.
Currently, the student regents are
allowed to voice their opinions and provide
input into issues but are not allowed to
vote.
Hoffman and Andersen agreed that it
should stay that way, however, Marienau
emphatically objected.
Hoffman and Andersen said it would be
a duplication of representation if student
regents had voting power.
"The full district in Omaha elected
regent Hansen, the students at the medical
center elected me. But, some of those stu
dents also voted for Hansen. So if both of
us had voting power it would duplicate
representation," Andersen said.
Hoffman said he felt that voting power
wasn't as important as some people are
making it to be. He said the power of per
suasion is much more important in getting
points across.
However, Marienau said the student
regents' effectiveness is limited by not
being able to vote.
"The student regents are only three
non-voting members of the board of
regents. This limits the credibility of pro
posals we bring up and the amount of stu
dent impact," he said.
All three agreed that if they did have
voting power the mandatory speaker fee
would still be in effect.
"And the board would be cautious to
raising costs, and would have to
empathize with the students to avoid jeo
pardizing their own proposals," Marienau
added.
All agreed that relations with other
board members was "very good." They
praised the board for being "sincere,
honest individuals."
However, Marienau said he didn't feel
the board was made of representatives of
the population of Nebraska, but "represen
tatives of the political power of Nebraska,"
and said he sometimes finds it hard to
agree with.
'No changes planned' next year
for overloaded residence halls
By Barb Richardson
Despite housing shortages this year, the
Office of University Housing has not made
any changes in next year's contract policy,
according to Housing Director Douglas
Zatechka.
Zatechka said that having people in
temporary housing as late as December is a
problem but changes have not yet been
considered.
"Currently, we're working with the
University Research Office to find out the
projected UNL population figures for
1979-85," Zatechka said.
"After the data is compiled we will
evaluate our facilities and determine if
we need to modify the halls to increase
the occupancy, or if we need to close parts
of the dorms to decrease the occupancy.
"Normally a 100 percent occupancy is
5,169 students and this means that to
every bed there is a student," Zatechka
said. He added that the office accepted 127
men over the male limit and 127 women
over the female limit.
Lounge alternative
Currently, 24 women are located in
temporary housing according to Zatechka.
He added that most of them are located in
floor lounges.
Zatechka said there is an alternative to
temporary housing in the lounges.
"If students living in the large corner
rooms are willing to take on a person from
the lounge, that person may move into the
corner room and all three people will get a
99 cent a day rebate on their housing
payments," he said.
Zatechka added that there are benefits
to this plan. First, the floor is able to use
its lounge for its original purpose.
Secondly, the privacy of the person in
temporary housing increases.
When rooms do become available,
Zatechka said, housing tries to assign
those in temporary onto the floor they are
currently on.
Turn down applications
"This is difficult and some people don't
get located on the same floor. So, we then
try to locate the people in the same dorm
or complex."
One of the possible alternatives for
decreasing the dorm population is turning
away contracts.
"We can turn away upper classmen but
we can't turn away freshmen," Zatechka
said. Even if the housing office can turn
away contracts, Zatechka said he doesn't
like to.
There is one benefit to full or over
occupancy, according to Zatechka.
"Full occupancy generates additional
income that in turn decreases dorm fees.
Over occupancy decreases dorm fees even
further," he said. "The financial advantage
becomes a detriment for the students who
are forced to live in temporary housing."
If changes are made in the housing con
tracts, it will be decided by late January,
Zatechka said.
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