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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1979)
thursday, October 11, 1979 page 4 tidily nebraskan (2 u Student actions warrant policy Legitimate administrative concern has prompt ed, the this week's announcement of a new UNL policy on mass disturbances, i.e. bonfires. A previous policy calling for police to contain a disturbance to a small area and end it as quickly as possible has been discarded. It has been replac ed with a new policy allowing police to take a more active role in identifying and arresting those involved. Increased use of plainclothed officers and police photographers will aid in identifying participants. It is important to note that the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Richard Armstrong, and "the Dean of Students, David DeCoster, are not "out to get the students," in setting the new policy with Lincoln and UNL police. They are more concerned about the danger in which students involved have placed themselves and others. Some students' conduct in recent semesters has justified such administrative action. Since the old policy was started in March of 1978 the bonfires have become destructive and dangerous. Sofas, chairs, trees and a piano were burned before the Oklahoma game last fall and live turkeys were thrown in a fire last spring. During the latest bonfire before the Penn State game, stu dents resisted police and firefighters' attempts to put out the blaze. Empty and full beer cans and bottles were thrown at the officers. If someone should be injured in such an inci dent, the city government could be liable for damages. In light of student actions which make injury seem more and more likely, the administra tive action is not unreasonable. Student actions also determine how the policy is enforced. 'There is no planned confrontation or mass arrest," says Armstrong. Hopefully, the studen.ts will not make confron tation necessary. The Fund Allocation Committee, commonly referred to as FAC, once again has money for campus organiza tions to aid in the planning and staging of new events or activities. " FAC is a sub-committee of the University Program Council and receives student fee money solely for the purpose bf promoting initial programs by campus organi zations and clubs. To apply for funds, campus organizations should pick up application forms from the Campus Activities and Pro grams office at either of the Student Unions. Organiza tions requesting money from FAC will be required to pro vide budget information. FAC will then review the appli cation and allocate the request money if the initial pro gram meets the guidelines and is deemed worthwhile. For further information, organizations can contact Gary Gilger at the Campus Activities and Programs office at the city campus union at 472-2454, Rm. 200. Scott Spilker FAC member KZUM misrepresented . I found myself misrepresented in the article Tuesday about KZUM's benefit. I have a couple of fears about that article. First, is that as "station manager' I might be taken to be the official voice of an organiztion far too diverse to have an official voice. Continued on Page 5 'j 1 N,V 0tf7lPKHym& fj Investors sought by South African WASHINGTON-Think of a tough-minded black American-one who is convinced that large-scale busing for desegregation is a misguided policy-testifying in sup port of anti-busing legislation introduced by a conserva tive senator. Lucy Mvubelo would have no trouble understanding his mixed feeling of deep conviction and embarrassment. She knows the feeling well. Mvubelo is a black South African here to argue against disinvestment in her country. She detests what her government is doing to her people, but she is convinced that disinvestment would leave them disastrously worse off. "I know that the intellectuals and the elite blacks don't agree with me." she says, acknowledging that a number of her activisit friends are in that category. "But my concern is not ideology but the welfare of my people." Her people are the 24,000 members of the National Union of Clothing Workers, which she heads. "ALREADY SOUTH Africa has 2 million blacks who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Disinvest ment would only make it worse. These are people without skills and education. All they can do is use their hands. What they need is more opportunity to work, and that means more investments in South Africa by multinational companies, not less." It is, as Lucy Mvubelo knows, the argument pressed by government spokesmen and by such South African indus trialists as Harry Oppenheimer, and that fact embarrasses her a little. But she is persuaded that foreign investments offer the best hope of economic progress for South African blacks, both because it increases the demand for workers and be cause of the influence of foreign-based companies. She hopes to sell that point of view to "responsible or ganizations and black leaders during this, her fourth, visit to the United States. "THE MULTINATIONAL companies have been an asset to us, she said in a recent interview arranged by the South Africa Foundation, an independent organization that is sponsoring her American tour. "Our children can work side by side with their white counterparts, something we were never able to do. The very acceptance (of integrated work forces and facilties in the foreign-based companies) had made such a lot of dif ference in South Africa." rail. TMUMP -THUMP-TMUMP.. IT'S MY new DISCO ALBUM. MM'. WW AT DO YOU THIr vw - - 5 Although many internationally respected black South Africans differ with her on the question of disinvestment, Lucy Mvubelo is no government stooge. Indeed, she has spent a good many of her 59 years fighting her govern ment on one front or another. As early as 1944, shortly after she became a worker in the garmet industry, she was a leader in a successful bus boycott in Johannesburg. WHEN THE GOVERNMENT, in 1957, promulgated its Job Reservations Act. denying certain categories of em ployment to black workers, she called a strike of her gar ment workers. "We had called it for three weeks," she recalled, "thinking that in that time they would recognize that they couldn't go on without us. In fact it took only half a day to be effective, and that same day 1 had to go and call the workers back. That's how we killed job reservations in the clothing industry." The law was scrapped altogether in 1977. Her latest fight with the government is over the recog nition of black unions. Recent actions by the government suggest that she may be close to another victory. But she agrees with her government, albeit for her own reasons, on the question of disinvestment. "I know well the arguments in favor of disinvestment," she said. "They say withdrawal of multinationals will pressure the government into making changes, or it will bring revolution. But that is not my belief. It is the econ omy of the country that will make South Africa change. A growing economy will increase the necessity for black workers at all levels, and that is the best hope for my people. MANY OF THE people who take the opposing view, she said, are the well-educated elite, or businessmen who can survive quite nicely, even in a shrinking economy. Hundreds of others have fled the country, for Canada, Australia and, increasingly, the United States. "That's all very well for them,' she said, "but what will my people do? They only have their labor to sell. IVe come to plead for more American companies to invest in South Africa-but that they establish (desegregated) prac tices there as in the United States. "Your industries must not take advantage of us the way the South African companies have done. Many foreign countries) have been hiding behind uur govern ment's policies as a shield for not doing the right thing." Pressure by Americans on American-based companies could help a great deal to improve opportunities for black workers, she said, but only if the America companies arc there. (c) 137 J. Tht fftsh ingraft Pt Company