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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1979)
lincoln, nebraska vol. 103 no. 47 thursday, november 1, 1979 O O ,v " O . v X I If J Cham hers enocu rages black un ity at UNL By Diane Andersen UNL should be a.'liotbed of black revolution' State Sen. Ernie Chambers said Wednesday in a Black Speak program sponsored by Student Y. 'This (UNL) is playtime for all of you, black and white," Chambers said. He said University officials are racist, citing the cases of v Photo by Tom Gessner 4 Sen. Ernest Chambers a black agriculture major who charged he was cheated out of the grade he deserved. Chambers said UNL officials backed down on helping the student and made feeble excuses about what a faculty member called the student's inability to grasp abstract concepts." Chambers said the firing of black custodian Girlean Woods was "outright racial .discrimination" and that her superiors spied on her and gave whites who were violating rules preferential treatment. . This is what you find in totalitarian countries," Chambers said, adding that such countries wouldn't waste time on custodians. Black athletes at UNL are unable to speak out about racism because they are told not to by white athletic personnel, Chambers said. Chambers noted that UNL never has had a black starting quarterback. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if the black athletes were able to say that by degrading our (black) women, they degrade us?" Chambers asked. AN AUDIENCE OF about 50, mostly blacks, broke into frequent applause at Chambers' remarks. "I'm glad there are white people here to hear me," he said , even if some of the whites were not sincere . "We party, we play to impress whites," Chambers said, adding that UNL administrators won't pay attention to people who act foolishly. "Football motivates and moves this campu ," he said. Chambers said black athletes are degraded and treated as objects, only respected when they are wearing a uniform. Athlectics is big money in America, he said, and added that sports hurt people intellectually, physically . and psychologically. "If football . was not so brutal, it would be silly." Chambers said that the standard football uniform for a . black athlete includes a white woman. 'That's a fact. Don't get angry," he said. Chambers said white women "grab" black men who are making a lot of money but have no confidence in them selves, and the black man feels he will earn some status by dating a white woman. Many black women who are snrressful marrv white men. he added. Chambers said he wouldn't mind if white people practiced homosexuality, because in a few generations whites would disappear, along with problems for black people. "I'M DECENT WHEN they're (whites) decent," Chambers said, adding that he'd rather not have to bother with whites at all. Although Chambers admitted he is embittered, he black students at UNL may be able to work with whites to solve some problems, such as the tuition increase. However, Chambers basically called for black unity. Sen. Ernest Chambers protests black custodian's firing. Page 15. "Our (blacks) survival as a people is at stake," he said. Chambers said blacks should form groups, decide on the problems they most need to solve, then enlist support. Their values must be ordered so that those in authority will listen to the students' concerns, he said. Legislators and administrators need to know students are more concerned with tuition than the drinking age, he added, before they will pay any attention. "If we (blacks) don't believe we're anything, we can't expect better treatment," Chambers said. "All black people understand what I'm saying," he said. Chambers said he feels education should be a process . of encouraging people to think, to talk to each other and write their own thought. "Discipline is being maintained, but no learning is taking place," Chambers said. Chambers said he wants to see little children grow into normal adults. He said he wants to challenge and stir up the black students on campus. - "My purpose is to be a black person and be an inspir ation to young black people," Chambers said , He said whites put all blacks into "cages ," that ho blacks really have power in this country. "I may want to be an artist or a poet. I may want to write, but I can't," he said. "I have got to fight him (white)." Federally insured loans becoming scarce for students By Val Swinton . ', . . It's still possible for UNL students to get federally guaranteed student loans, but they are becoming scarce. Higher interest rates and tight money are causing problems in obtaining them, according to Lincoln bankers. Currently NBC is the only Lincoln bank taking- new customers, Marsha Schmid, student loan administrator, said the bank's federally insured program began only a couple of weeks ago. Schmid said six to ten students a day are inquiring about second semester loans, but added , uiuv iiuiuuci may uc CAViauieu ao muwii uy the bank's downtown location as to the scarcity of loans. Dave Patrick of First National Bank, said his bank is not taking new customers with the loans. Union Bank, for a long time the main stay in federally insured student loans, is no longer granting them, although Presi dent Jack Dunlap said they would still take applications. . . "We are not going out of the business," Dunlap said, adding that the bank might begin giving the loans again after the first of the year. Patrick said First National had intended Gay life: Lincoln's Gay Rap line offers referral service to community's gays ...Page 8 Vietnam revisited: Reviewer is "ambiva lent" toward Coppola's Apocalypse Now..... ... Page 10 Tijer Tales: Running back James Wilder ' and head coach Warren Powers talk about the woes down in Missouri. .. . PS 1 to expand its loan program, but those plans have been tabled for awhile. The reason is the Nebraska Higher Education-Loan Program. Known as NEB HELP, it is a non-profit organization that decided to delay the sale of $40 million in tax-exempt bonds. The sale had been set for early December., NEBHELP WAS ESTABLISHED in 1978 to buy federally guaranteed loans from commercial lenders and generate capital for more loans. The corporation sold $24.1 million in bonds in June, but that money has already been spent. Without NEBHELP, Patrick said, "No way are we going to increase." According to Pat Young and Nancy Wiederspan, assistant directors in the UNL Financial Aids Office, the only other bank in Lincoln handing out federally insured loans is Gateway, and bank vice president Betty Todd said only students who already have a federally insured loan at Gateway will get another one. Young said she doesn't think there will be many students who will find themselves in trouble in January because they can't pay tuition. "I think any student having problems should come in and we'll try to work something out.". Wiederspan agreed the problem would be slight. "Generally speaking, if a student relics on the federally insured loan and has no other resources, he may have to drop out anyway." While the money for loans has become scarce, the number of student loans has in creased drastically. According to figures provided by the Financial Aids Office, the number of stu dents being granted loans has tripled since the 1976-77 school year. In 1976-77, 974 UNL students borrowed $1.6 million. So far this year, and the figures don't include spring semes ter loans, 3,500 students have taken out $4.8 million. WIEDERSPAN SAID ONE factor con tributing to the increase is an act passed by Congress removing the ceiling on federal interest benefits. Before then, families earning more than $25,000 a year would have to pay interest on the loan even while the student was in school. Now the loan is interest free for those families as long as the student re mains in college. Students must apply within 90 days of the semester the loan will be spent on, and Wiederspan said most students normally borrow the money in May for the fall and spring semesters together. So far, bankers grant inn the student loans say it's impossible to predict what the money supply and interest rates will be like next spring. "There's been a lot of changes in the past three weeks that we never would have anticipated six weeks ago," said Patrick. "What I tell you today may change by Monday." Schmid said she also did not know how long her bank would be granting the loans. "That's real hard to say," Schmid said. "Now it looks fine. I think for a while we can." i 1 " 1 f ' ) .-. .. 1 (' - " . , - 1 I I ftps;1 r If ( Photo by Marie Dillincy II r 1 I , Some people will wear anything to keep IVWTirCVy UUSlTlCOO warm and dry. Hie gorilla, Mike White, 0 . and Mike Joslin indulge in a little Hazi ness for a seasonably cool Halloween.