lincoln, nebraska vol. 103 no. 47
thursday, november 1, 1979
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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
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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."
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Photo by Marie Dillincy
II r 1 I , Some people will wear anything to keep
IVWTirCVy UUSlTlCOO warm and dry. Hie gorilla, Mike White,
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and Mike Joslin indulge in a little Hazi
ness for a seasonably cool Halloween.
