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tuesday, august 28, 1979
daily nebraskan
J191
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Resolution calling for changes in selection of Regents
Legislative hearings are being held this fall on a resolut
ion introduced by Sen. Dave Newell of Omaha, which
could lead to a change in the way the NU Board of
Regents is selected, and a change in the board's duties.
LR76 calls for the study of having an appointed "super
board of regents," responsible for policy-making for NU,
state colleges and technical community colleges.
By appointing the regents, and by consolidating
control of all state-supported colleges and universities In
the state, Newell says he hopes the legislature would have
better control over spending, and the state could have a
better higher education system, avoiding duplication and
poor coordination.
It should be noted that Newell apparently is not a fan
of the regents', and offered several amendments last spring
to reduce the NU budget.
Despite the apparent bias, Newell's resolution should
be considered on merit, because it makes sense.
THE RESOLUTION advocates the study of a new
idea - replacing all existing boards with one new one.
Such a study, in itself, cannot be harmful.
Every citizen of the state has a right to expect tax
dollars funneled into higher education to be spent effici
ently, With one elected board (the regents), and several
appointed boards, it is hard to tell what each is doing, let
alone strive to eliminate duplication and unnecessary
programs.
Only the Legislature has the power to restructure
coordination of higher education, and only a consolidat
ed board would be able to effectively coordinate pro
grams. The other question brought up by the resolution is
whether the regents should be elected or appointed.
Since the regents are elected, they are faced with the
first law of politics: elected officials usually behave in a
manner that enhances the possibility of re-election.
However, the student body, the faculty and the
administration - those who know best the needs of the
university - represent only a small constituency, and have
a very small voice in determining who the policy-makers
will be.
THE REGENTS are elected by the people of the state,
most of whom, unfortunately, know little about NU other
than the fact that it has a good football team once in a
while.
It seems reasonable that if the regents were appointed
by the governor, pending approval by the Legislature, that
political pressure, now applied on the board by those Vho
do not understand the needs of higher education, would
be removed.
Attention could be paid to the business of quality
education, rather than to the business of stadium expans
ion or feretting out the communists and lesbians sup
posedly in the speakers' program.
Newell's resolution should not be taken lightly, nor
should it be taken as an attempt to slap the regents'
collective face. It holds the potential for reform and
better higher education system in the state.
Randy Essex
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Orientation helps new students
I think it is important to set the record
straight on a article which appeared in the
Aug. 22 issue of the Daily Nebraskan.
According to Alice Hrnicek, "No 6ne puts
out a guide to the real problems new stu
dents face.' Actually, the New Student
Orientation Office specializes in helping
new students with the very real problems
they may encounter their first year at the
university.
This summer, the office served 3,449
students, their parents and friends through
22 different one-day orientation programs
including two overnight sessions. In fact,
the day Ms. Hrnicek's article appeared,
another 248 people were participating in
the New Student Orientation program.
The staff, consisting of a program
consultant, graduate assistant, staff assist
ant and IS upperclass student hosts, is
prepared to assist new students with every
thing from what to do on Sunday night for
supper to what to do if a class schedule is
wrong. The New Student Orientation
Office (Room 205 Nebraska Union, 472
2454) offers continued assistance through
out the entire year.
Sandra Rhoten
Program Consultant
New Student Orientation
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes
letters to the editor and guest
opinions. Timeliness, clarity of writ
ing and originality are considered
when selecting material for publi
cation. All submissions are subject to
editing and condensation and cannot
be returned to the writer.
Material should be typed if possi
ble and submitted with the writer's
name, class standing, academic major
or occupation, address and phone
number.
Awards presented for maintaining unfair life in America
BOSTON-It hardly seems possible, but it is more than
three years since Jimmy Carter first proclaimed that Life
Isn't Fair. Of course, at the time, most of us thought he
was describing a condition, not a goal. But, Lord knows,
let us give him credit for maintaining one campaign pro
mise. In the ensuing three years, as a kind of personal kinky
celebration of Aug. 26 Women's Equality Day, the an
niversary of the passage of the Suffrage Amendment, we
paused in order to give thanks to all those who have done
their best to maintain this Great American Motto.
(0
J00 gOGOREIl
But enough of these banal generalities. On to the speci
fics of the third annual life Isn't Fair awards.
The envelopes please.
THE GONE WITH the Wind award, a working calendar
of the year 1843 appropriate for hanging, goes to the Mis
sissippi State Legislature, which this year voted against the
amendment granting women the right to vote. So much
for the New South.
Hie You Can Always Get a Woman for Less prize goes
to the United States Mint, which succeeded, where all
others have failed, in making Susan B. Anthony a light
weight. Now, weighing in at 8.1 grams and wreaking more
havoc at the vending machine than she did at polling
booths, Anthony is employed as a figurehead to save the
government $25 million a year.
The Outstanding Graduate of Army Tact School
plaque goes to those swell guys in the White House who,
in the best tradition of displaced hostility, battered Bella
Instead of E3y. This award, for their elegant dismissal of
Delia from the President's Advisory Committee for
Women, is a leatherbound copy of "How to Make Friends
and Influence People. ,
THE IF IT Weren't for You I Woulda Been a Star
award, stuffed with fading photographs, goes to Michelle
Marvin, who proved this year that the cost of free love
had inflated to $104,000. To her catty B?llou goes our
annual literary "Say It with Flowers-PLEASE!" award
for his courtly letters read publicly during this case. They
include the memorable lyric: "Oh baby, I want so much
for you please."
The Profiles in Courage badge, once again by popular
outcry, is awarded to a Florida state senator. The Man of
the Hour is Guy Spicoia, who ran, with ERA funds, a pro
ERA platform only to vote against it. This profile is a sil
houette of a chicken.
The He was Asking for It graffiti goes to the woman
who contributed the most in defense of her craft. When a
man grabbed her while she was painting a building, she
striped him with Day -Go.
THE BOYS WILL Be Boys award, a ready-to-assemble
pig pen, goes to the New York Yankees who gleefully
autographed the bare derriere of an Illinois expressionist.
The Stand By Her Man prize for ardor in battle goes to
the Santa Ana, Calif., woman who sued her ex-husband
for alimony payments while he was in a coma. A stone
that gives blood will be sent westward shortly.
The Biting the Hand that Feeds the Next Generation
award, a small but rabid dalmation, goes to the fire de
partment in Iowa which tried to prevent Linda Eaton
from breast feeding her baby.
The Ayatollah Khomeini Music Appreciation disc goes
to Japanese songwriter Masashi Sadi, whose hit song, Your
Lord and Master proclaims: 'Keep quiet and follow be
hind me.'
The Power Behind the (Tumbling of the Throne) a
ward, a small knife suitable for back-stabbing, goes to that
aging flower child Margaret Trudeau who is truly beyond
Reason.
THE GOLDEN RULfcR awardgoes to the U.S. Con
gress, which remains exempt from its own laws. This year
they failed to pass the Udall-Schroeder bill that would
prohibit discrimination in the halls and offices of Con
gress. The Golden Ruler is to be used for self-discipline.
The Why Must A Woman Be Like A Man bumper stick
er is sent via satellite by Margaret Thatcher.
Continued on page 5
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