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thursctey, march 13, 198G
lincoln, nebraska vol. 104, no. 44
ASUN election turnout highest in nine years
Compiled from staff reports
Written by Kent Warneke
Wednesday was ASUN election night,
but the important part of elections-the
results-weren't available.
At midnight, the electoral commission
had not counted all the ballots, but had
determined that this year's election turn
out was the highest since 1 97 1 .
Rocky Yapp, chairman of the electoral
commission, said 3,880 students voted in
this year's election, compared to 250 last
year and the record of 4,370 in 1971.
The official results were not expected
until approximately 2 a.m. Thursday.
ASUN president Bud Cuca said a delay
in correcting the program run on com
puters in Nebraska Hall used to tabulate
the ballots was responsible in part for the
delay in announcing the winners.
"We didn't know exactly what kind of
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ballot we would be using until a few days
ago and we had to see if there wouU be
any write-in candidates for the executive
positions," Cuca said.
The five presidential candidates were
awaiting election results at various
locations.
John Parsons, STAR party candidate,
said he "loved" the large voter turnout.
"I'd say (LSD candidate Tim) Munson 's
party had a lot to do with the turnout be
cause he stirred up a lot of interest,"
Parsons said.
Corkie Kumpost and the Concerned
About Residential Environment party
swept the RHA elections gaining all four
executive positions.
Kumpost received 802 votes for the
presidency, far out-distancing write-in
candidate Steve Rowe, who got 41
votes.
When reached about her victory,
Kumpost said, "I'm excited because
there's a lot of things I want to do."
She said she wants to work to in
crease stident input into what RHA can
do.
Lisa Burianek was elected vice presi
dent, Susan MacDonald secretary and
Russell Oatman was elected treasurer of
RHA.
Photo by Tom Gessner
Senior Patty Ebel prepares to vote in Wednesday's ASUN elections.
Parsons added that he thought the US
party added to the turnout because of
sheer numbers, but Parsons' party stirred
up interest because it had "quality
people."
US presidential candidate Renee Wessels
said, "I feel tremendously positive, I feel
like we did it' she told friends over the
telephone.
The high voter turnout was attributed
to individual canvassing on the US party's
behalf, Wessels said, adding that she felt
the endorsements of Parsons by Cuca and
Daily Nebraskan editor Rocky Strunk
"were very insignificant."
"I think everyone has a very good
chance," she said.
Fowler calls
At her party headquarters, Wessels
received a call from State Sen. Steve
Fowler to wish her good luck. Wessels is a
legislative aid for Fowler.
Fowler was elected ASUN president in
1971 , when the record 4,300 voters turned
out. Also, Fowler ran with the University
Coalition Party (UC), compared to his
aide's US (University Students) party.
Tim Munson, LSD candidate, predicted
that the vote would be split evenly three
ways, but didn't indicate which three can
didates would be involved in the split.
"Any time you give the voters some
thing to vote for, they'll turn out," Mun
son said.
Munson said he would take the credit
for the large turnout in the elections, say
ing, "In order to get people to the circus,
you've got to have a sideshow."
Write-in candidate Lynn Rogers said he
was surprised by the turnout and attri
buted it to the issues raised in the last days
of the campaign.
Rogers said he felt his campaign went
very well considering that he worked on it
for only five "days. He said his campaign
was not a one-issue campaign.
Religious issue a concern
Rogers, a member of one of the four
religious organizations put on probation in
connection with Josh McDowell's visit, said
if 300 people wrote his name in, it shows
that people are concerned about the reli
gious issue.
"If there is more than that, it shows this
issue can't be put to rest," Rogers said.
The fifth candidate, Jay Willhoft, was
unavailable for comment.
Voter turnout throughout the day
varied with location.
According to pollworkers, East Union
had a steady and heavy turnout and the
City Union attracted more voters than last
year.
Two fraternity houses doubling as poll
ing sites reported light turnouts overall,
primarily from Greek members. Poll work
ers at the Theta Xi fraternity estimated
about 30 voters per hour during the even
ing hours.
Kay Harrison, a volunteer from the
League of Women Voters said most of the
students she talked with at the Phi Kappa
Psi house had questions about the Hare
ballot system.
"I just don't think they've taken time to
read (the instructions)," she said.
Cuca said in briefly looking through the
ballots, it didn't appear that incorrect
usage of the Hare ballots was large. Usage
of the ballots is not complicated, but just
takes a little extra time, he said.
Diplomat: Morality complicates Krugerrand issue
By Mary Jo Pitzl
The Krugerrand controversy at UNL
could be easily solved if it was strictly an
economic issue, according to a former U.S.
diplomat to South Africa.
However, since the acceptance of the
gold coins involves moral considerations,
solutions are not easily obtained, said Jean
Tartter, UNL diplomat in residence. He de
clined comment on whether the $1 million
in South African Krugerrands given to the
NU Foundation in January should be re
turned to the NU alumnus who donated
them. '
"Anyone who gives $1 million to a uni
versity has to be respected," Tartter said
of 1923 graduate James Coe and his wife,
Jessie, of Phoenix.
Emphasizing that he was not condemn
ing Coe in any way, Tartter said Coe's
guest opinion printed in Tuesday's Daily
Nebraskan conveyed some false impres
sions. Tartter served as economic counselor of
the U.S. embassy in Pretoria, South Africa,
from 1976 until August, 1979, when he
started his UNL residency. Tartter was also
the officer in charge of the Pretoria
embassy for six months eatn year when the
U.S. ambassador moved to Capetown to
follow the move of the South African par
liament. Tartter commented on several of Coe's
statements, including wages for black mine
workers, working conditions in the mines,
the dependence of African countries on
South African resources, loss of ethnic
identity among the original South African
settlers, and the freedom of outsiders to
buy in black South Africans' stores.
Few prospects
"The lure of wages in the mines of
South .Africa brings in people from other
countries," Tartter said, but the majority
of mine workers are South African blacks.
Because of the passport laws and other
government regulations, the blacks have
few alternative employment prospects.
Until the early 1970s, black mine work
ers' wages were "extremely low," averaging
about $15 to $20 per month, Tartter said,
but international pressures on the white
government coupled with soaring gold
prices brought the wages up quickly. Tartter
quoted $80 per month as an average wage
last summer.
"I read-I don't always believe them-in
the paper the mine companies claim that
the average wage (for black workers) is
about $180 per month recently," Tar ter
said.
Although this figure is on par with
national black wages, Tartter claims this is
still not enough money to raise a family.
"White workers earn, on the average,
about seven times as much as the black,"
he said.
Tartter conceded that the white
government has been making progress to
reduce the gap between the two racial
groups, but pressure from the powerful
white labor unions (the blacks are not
allowed to unionize) puts a ceiling on
blacks' progression in the South African
work structure.
Charges false
Tartter said charges that the blacks are
forced into "slave labor" in the mines are
not technically true.
'They're not forced except in that there
is no other alternative to earning money."
He said 42 percent of the black South
Africans work on a contract basis, which
typically obligates them to nine to 12
months of work in a mine away from their
homeland. The male workers are hot
allowed to bring their families with them
and live in their barracks, Tartter said.
"This is very, very disruptive of family
life and creates severe social problems,"
Tartter said. It also precludes blacks from
job advancement, he said.
Tartter compared the perils of working
in the South African gold mines with those
of American coal mines. "But the wages
are different," he added.
Although many African countries need
South African resources, a majority of
them are indignant about South Africa's
treatment of the blacks, Tartter said. Their
opposition may be expressed through em
bargoes on South African goods and by
severing diplomatic relations with the
government. Tartter said.
The claim that white settlers were in
South Africa before the blacks moved
there from the northern parts of the coun
try is a myth, Tartter said. Historians have
proven that the blacks were present long
before the whites, he said.
Continued on Page 14
Shaping tire physical world: Physics De
partment employee Menno Fast sets up
experiments for tun and
education Page 8.
It just don't sound the same: New music
from Jefferson Starship doesn't measure
up to the band's original
sound Page 10.
Running on empty: Scott Poehling enters
the NCAA Indoor Track Meet this
weekend with a new philosophy: don't
peak too soon Page 12.