pegs 6
daily nebraskan
friday, february 8, 1980
UNL debate team
accomplishes goals
By Mary Louise Knapp
Cornhusker Forensics, the UNL speech and de
bate team, is alive and prospering.
During the first four months of tournament
competition the UNL debate teams and speakers
won 38 awards at both the regional and national
levels.
Jack Kay, director of forensics, said the team has
done 44phenomenally weir this year.
uOne of our major accomplishments this semes
ter was winning first place in the Pittsburgh State
University Tournament Jan. 1 Kay said.
"We have had limited experience at the' national
level because of limited funding, but we do well at
national tournaments."
The speech and debate team is not a selective
organization, explained Debbie Redford, assistant'
debate coach.
, "Anyone, regardless of the amount of experience
he has, can sign up," Redford said.
Students can compete in national tournaments if
they choose, but it is not required for team mem
bership. Speech is divided into several divisions, such as
extemporaneous speaking, impromptu speaking,
oratory, interpretation of literature, prose and
drama, informative address and rhetorical criticism.
The debate teams are divided into intercollegiate,
junior varsity and senior varsity divisions.
Keith Freadhoff, a senior varsity debater, said
debate entails "lots of work and commitment," es
pecially at that level. The debate team has been
traveling to tournaments almost every weekend
since the seas m started, , .
Freadhoff also said a senior varsity debater must
spend an hour or two every day researching and
practicing.
"If you allocate your time right, you can do it,"
he said.. "Fortunately, I have always been able to
fit debate into my schedule without much trouble."
Freadhoff said that the debate team received a
slight increase in their budget this year, which en
ables them to travel more.
UNL will host a National Oratory tournament on
Feb. 21 to 24, Redford said. An approximate 40-45
schools will be involved in the tournament, which
will begin with individual speech competition and
finish with debate.
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Survey reports mental distress
Single parents, unemployed persons, and those with
lowered financial prospects or low educational attainment
are the groups most likely to experience mental health
problems in Nebraska, according to the 1979 Nebraska
Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS).
In a report written by Peter Beeson of the State
Department of Health and UNL Sociology professor Alan
Booth for the NASIS survey conducted by UNL Bureau
of Sociological Research, 16 percent of Nebraskans
reported in 1979 that they felt they were going to have a
nervous breakdown, remarkably close to the national 15
percent cited by the President's Commission on Mental
Health in 1979. The percentage is consistent with findings
in NASIS surveys since 1977, in which about 15 percent
of the respondents reported feelings of mental distress
annually.
According to the 1979 survey, women reported more
mental distress than men, and married couples with
children who had other relatives living with them reported
more mental health problems than couples alone or
couples with children.
About one-fourth of. single parents with children
reported possible nervous breakdowns, although recent
loss of a spouse through death or divorce could account
for some of the distress, in addition to the problem of
raising children singlehanded,'
People living alone were not found to have greater
mental problems than married individuals with children,
but those showing the fewest mental problems were
married people without children.
The NASIS researchers found mental distress more
common in the middle age range (35-59) than among
those younger and older. Those employed full-time
seemed to be especially free of mental health problems,
while those who were unemployed were nearly three
times as likely to report such problems. Retired persons
Women s Center enters tenth year
seemed to be relatively free of mental health problems,
while those keeping house and those working part-time
made up the middle range.
The researchers found that personal finances played a
role in mental anguish, with those who felt they were
worse off financially than they were two years earlier
more likely to report experiencing the possibility of a
nervous breakdown. Those with less than a high school
education were more likely to report mental problems
than high school graduates, and those with training
beyond high school were the least likely to have such
problems.
Beeson and Booth said that contrary to common
asumptions, there was no apparent difference between
rural and urban residents in the tendency to report mental
health problems, although those living on farms were least
likely to report mental health problems and rural non
farm residents reported more problems than all urban
residents except those from Lincoln, the urban area which
stood out from the rest in likelihood of having persons re
port mental health problems.
The researchers also found a correlation between those
experiencing physical health problems with those
experiencing mental health problems, and a direct
relationship between mental health and happiness and
satisfaction. Those expressing low happiness and dissatis
faction are more likely to report mental distress than
those indicating a general level of personal happiness.
The researchers said the NASIS survey revealed that
seven percent of the respondents reported their
experience of mental health problems had caused them to
reduce their usual activities,
. "While seven percent may seem small," they said, "pro
jections based on recent population estimates indicate
. that the actual number of Nebraskans affected in this
manner last year was in excess of 76,000."
By Diane Andersen
1980 marks the tenth anniversary of the Women's Re
source Center and 10 yaers of what center coordinator
Ellanora Ward calls "active feminism and contributions to
the university community." '
The WRC office, on the first floor of the Nebraska
Union, is the scene for informal discussions and organized
rap groups on sexuality, politics and other women's
topics, Ward said, More than 1,000 books and magazines
discussing rape and abuse, minority women, psychology,
abortion, women's health, aging and careers can be found
in the office library, she said. These are books "you
wouldn't find elsewhere in Lincoln," according to Ward,
"We're a collective," Ward said, explaining that she
makes administrative decisions, but policy and program
ming decisions are made by all staff members.
"I do make decisions in times of crisis," Ward said.
The Women's Resource Center has 10 active volunteers
to help visitors get in touch with agencies or material to
help them handle their problems, Barbara Kerr, the
center's paid psychologist, runs the counseling program,
Ward said. In addition, Ward's own salary is paid by the
center, she said.
The center also employs three women through a work
study program,
'Not typical' -
"We're not a typical student organization," Ward said,
"These women represent so many different lifestyles,'!
Ward said older women returning to school, lesbiansj
bisexuals and all other women are accepted by the center
with "positive feelings."
"We welcome all women to come' and volunteer" she
said. The center advocates a pro-choice philosophy not
just on the issue of abortion, she said, but in the sense
that all women should be able to make their own choices
about their lives.
"We all feel a certain way," she said, adding that volun-
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teers who do not have a pro-choice philosophy may fee
uncomfortable at the center.
The center's feminist counseling service, where women
receive free help, is a major function of the center, Ward
said. Many women come to the center during difficult
periods in their lives, when they are upset about relation
ships, according to Ward,
Women can be counseled at the center on pregnancy
problems, school goals, homosexuality, rape and abuse,
Ward said.
"About 30 percent, of the women who come in are
either raped or battered or have had incest problems,"
Ward said.
Safety main concern
"Our main concern is her (the victim of violence's)
safety "she said.
If children are involved, the case must be reported to
authorities, Ward said, But in most cases, the counselors
encourage the women to do what they really want, and
encourage the involved men to get counseling,
"We're not interested in destroying the man," she said,
"He has a problem,"
Ward said the center's counselors, all trained by Kerr,
try to get the abused woman to realize she is a valuable
person. They stress that she has done nothing to deserve
being raped or beaten,
The center also sponsors a lesbian rap group on alter
nate Wednesday and Thursday nights and a women's sup
port group on Thursday nights.
Ward said the big project for this semester is Women's
Week, April 21 to 25, On April 23, feminist musician
Holly Near is scheduled to give a concert. The chief
Women's Week speaker will be Ginetta Sagin, president of
Amnesty International, The resource center will sponsor
an open house on April 21, as well as other workshops
and lectures during the week.
Both men and women visit the center, Ward said,
"Some men enjoy it because we are so free and open," she
said.
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