tuesday, february 24, 1981
lincoln, nebraska vol. 106, no. 32
u
Wessels calls elimination of salary 'very unfair'
By Mary Louise Knapp
The NU Board of Regents' decision to eliminate pay
for student presidents serving as non-voting regents is
"very unfair," said ASUN president Renee Wessels.
"Students should be outraged at this," she said. "It's
crazy."
The regents voted 6-2 at Saturday's meeting that the
student regent of the three NU campuses should not be
paid because the voting regents do not receive salaries.
' Wessels was not present at the meeting when the
decision was made. She learned of the decision later Satur
day evening.
Wessels said she was not surprised by the decision be
cause she had spoken before the meeting with several
regents who were in favor of the proposed policy.
NU attorney Richard Wood said several months ago
that the three student regents may be paid for their duties
as student presidents if it made clear the salary is not for
serving as student regent. The Nebraska Constitution says
regents may not receive salaries.
"It is disturbing that the regents would accept a lay
interpretation of the constitution rather than the opinion
of their own legal counsel," Wessels said.
Wessels said she has contacted the attorney general's
office for an opinion on the matter, but was told the
office was not authorized to give opinions on matters con
cerning the university.
Wessels said she will consider taking the matter to
court to test the constitutionality of the decision. She said
the regents have the legal right to pass the policy.
Wessels said that in making the decision before the
ASUN elections, the regents were pre-empting the stu
dents' right to vote on presidential salaries.
The question of whether or not student presidents
should be paid will appear on the ballot in the March 4
election.
The decision also could discourage students from
running for ASUN for financial reasons, she said.
"Making $160 a month may not seem like a lot, but it
will pay tuition and housing," she said.
Wessels said she hoped the decision would challenge
the candidates and motivate them to work harder for stu
dents. She said students and administrators have come out in
support of presidential salaries.
ASUN presidents have been paid since 1968, but the
level of pay for the student president remained the same
when the president was given the position of student
regent in 1974.
The new ASUN president and student regent, elected
March 4, will receive a regular salary during the entire
length of his or her term, Wood said. The new president
and student regent, elected in 1982, will be reimbursed
only for travel expenses, meals, telephone calls and other
expenses incurred as a regent.
Wessels said the regents are defining the presidential
salary as "compensation," which is a discriminatory
policy.
Two presidential candidates critical of ASUN
Party sets forth
resistance plan
By Mary Louise Knapp
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of
profiles on the ASUN presidential candi
dates. Two profiles will be published each
day. The profiles will appear in the order
the candidates' names appear on the
ballot.
Resistance to the "illegitimate author
ity" of the NU Board of Regents and the
NU Central Administration is the only way
students will gain rights, said Eric Johnson,
ASUN presidential candidate.
Johnson heads the ticket of the Feminist-Socialist
Party.
If elected, Johnson said the party will
not be diplomatic with the regents or the
administration, nor will it operate within
the confines of the ASUN Constitution.
"We will not ask the regents for con
cessions. We will simply ignore them," he
said. "We'll pretend they don't exist."
Johnson said he and the members of his
party also will ignore ASUN and any other
administrative bodies if it seems in the best
interests of the students.
ASUN has no legitimate purpose as it is
structured now, he said, and only serves
the purpose of "keeping the students off
the streets."
"Basically, the purpose of ASUN is so
the administration can keep students in
their places and deprive them of power by
giving them the illusion that they have it,"
he said.
Illegitimate power
Johnson, a graduate student in mathe-
X- If
y
..
matics, said the term resistance is a revolt
against an illegitimate power. Protest, on
the other hand, implies the power being
fought against is legitimate.
He said previous ASUN administrations
have conceded to or openly confronted the
regents and administrations. Both tactics
assume their power is legitimate, he said.
"The regents have shown they are not a
legitimate power," he said.
"Whenever the regents exercise power,
they do it in an anti-student way," he said.
"Two-thirds of the students don't know
who their regent is. There is no recourse
but to get rid of the bad ones, and all eight
of them are bad."
Johnson called the regents "a collection
of good old boys-aged, white, middle-class
with ties in the business world."
In the hands of a few
The power of UNL is concentrated in
the hands of a few officials in the central
administration, chiefly NU president
Ronald Roskens, not with the regents, he
said.
Johnson said the regent's recent
decision to eliminate salaries for student
presidents serving as non-voting regents
interfered with the students' right to vote
on the issue in the ASUN election.
"They're just using it as an excuse to
put students in their place," he said.
He said one way students could resist
the power of the regents and central ad
ministration would be to pay student fees
and tuition to a special account for stu
dents, rather than to the Bursar's office.
This way, students would be able to use
the money as they see it, he said.
Johnson said there is "lots of frustra
tion" on the UNL campus against the
central administration and regents.
"I hope that when students express
their frustration, it will be in a constructive
way," he said. "I think that to resist illegi
timate authority is constructive."
ASUN abolition
goal of PURGE
By Lori McGinn is
For a person who says he has little polit
ical ambition, Tim Higgins has a big goal.
Higgins, ASUN presidential candidate
for the PURGE Party, (Party for Urgent
Redefinition of Government Expectations)
is aiming to abolish ASUN. His running
mates are Jeff Matthes for first vice presi
dent and Joe Beam for second vice pres
ident. Higgins, a junior from Lincoln, said he is
running because "there needed to be some
body to express an anti-ASUN opinion."
"I really don't have any great sense of
political ambition," Higgins said. "I guess
I felt like somebody had to do it."
However, Higgins said he is capable of
being a student leader. Referendums will
allow the entire student body to make
decisions rather than ASUN senators mak
ing them, he said.
If elected, Higgins said he will introduce
a bill in the senate to abolish ASUN. If it
isn't passed, Higgins said he will order
the electoral commission to have a refer
endum so students can vote on the issue.
Not really radical
Other schools have abolished student
governments, Higgins said.
"So this is not really a gigantically rad
ical idea."
The NU Board of Regents will pay more
attention to a student referendum than a
decision by ASUN, he said.
"It's apparent that they (regents) don't
have any more respect for ASUN than
most of the people on campus."
"It (ASUN) has lost its power, it's lost
its credibility, it's lost its freshness," he
said. "There seems to be kind of a boring
sameness year after year of the people
who run ASUN."
Dissatisfaction indicated
Low voter turnout in past years indicat
es a dissatisfaction with ASUN, Higgins
said.
Higgins said ASUN is ineffectual and
useless. Senators have no initiative and
don't feel responsible to the students
after they are elected, he said.
"It's just like a big club. The students
on campus don't really have the feeling
that they're participating."
Referendums will give students the
feeling of participation, Higgins said.
One of the first issues to be decided would
be whether to allow alcohol on campus.
"If you turn questions like that over
to the entire student body, they will have
that sense of participation. They will be
dictating policy, instead of allowing
ASUN to do it," he said.
Higgins said he supports allowing al
cohol on campus. Allowing parties in
places like the Nebraska Union would
save time, energy and lives, he said.
"That's not to say it can be turned into
a big free-for-all," he said. However, "the
good potential of having alcohol on camp
us far outweighs what bad things might
happen."
Higgins said abolishing ASUN will not
damage UNL's accreditation. All that is
required for accreditation is some form of
student participation. Retaining the Com
mittee for Fees Allocation, the student
president and having student referendums
will guarantee participation, he said.
"That's basically what's going to turn
it (UNL) back into a democracy, which
it isn't now.
Daily Nebraskan Photo
Eric Johnson, ASUN candidate for
the Feminist-Socialist Party.
Campus thefts reported
Students reported two burglaries and
two thefts this weekend to campus
police.
A burglar took S44 Sunday from
a room on Abel Hall's 13th floor,
police reported. The room's door
wasn't locked, police said. More than
$140 has been stolen from the 13th
floor residents in the past six weeks.
Another burglary occurred Sunday
on Abel's 11th floor, police said. A
gold watch and a class ring valued at
$155 were taken.
The room's door had been locked.
Police reported that pieces of wood
were missing from the door jamb and
the bolt was scratched.
Sometime last week, four silver
spoked hubcaps were stolen from a car
parked in the Area 3 lot at 19th and
Vine Streets, police said. The hubcaps
were valued at $80.
Also taken were two steel-belted
radial tires, two hubcaps and chrome
rings from a car parked in Area 3 east
of Sandoz Hall. The items were valued
at $224. The 1974 Chevrolet was low
ered onto two concrete building blocks
after the tires were removed.
A total of five hubcaps were stolen
last week from cars parked in Area 3
lots, police said.
"" W'K" LP HI MM J.' Mil I .11 111.
' - i ; -,
. . r r .
It1-"-
i r 1
" i f
Oaily Nabraskan Photo
Tim Higgins, ASUN presidential can
didate for the PURGE Party.