tuesday, march 3, 1981 lincoln, nebraska vol. 106, no. 37 UdJU 4? Candidates' speak of responsibility, disobedience By Patty Pry or Residence Hall Association candidates and their parties met in an open forum Monday night at Abel Hall. Candidates for each position were al lowed to speak for one minute, with presi dential candidates speaking for three min- Russ Snygg, presidential candidate with the CARE (Concerned Adult Residents for Excellence) Party, said his party intends to prove to the regents that stu dents are adults, and are capable of hand ling responsibility. RHA needs to operate responsibly through the proper channels, he said, to accomplish what residents want done. Snygg also wants to reduce "turmoil" among RHA members, which, he said, is caused by futile attempts to follow complicated parliamentary procedure. If elected, he plans to introduce a simp lified version of Roberts' Rules to RHA, which will provide a more relaxed atmos phere during meetings. Ane Jensen, presidential candidate with the CLASS (Campus Leaders and Student Support) Party, said her previous RHA ex perience will help her serve as an effective president. During her one and a half years in RHA, Jensen served as FINK chairman; a member of ASUN's ad hoc committee on the pro posed radial highway; and chairman of both the RHA Programming Committee and the RHA Judicial Board Committee. Student leaders need to reach out and listen to student concerns in order to be effective, she said. Robin Lynch, independent presidential candidate, said a lack of communication between students and RHA needs to be remedied. RHA representatives should attend floor meetings to directly hear students' con cerns, she said. Ji n s( A'-, W t " l (PHLJ (V f If Vy ; L M IT fm I HIT 1 p I raw Photo by Jon Natvig Wrestler Johnnie Selmon, the first Husker to win a Big Eight wrestling champ ionship in 19 years, attempts to take down Northern Iowa's Rick Morkel Feb. 16. For more on Selmon's performance at the Big Eight Wrestling Tournament last weekend at Stillwater, Okla., see Page 5. Residents should also be more involved in RHA committees, she said, and these committees should deal with more special ized areas of concern. Lynch would also like to close the com munication gap between hall residents and Greek house members by working more closely with the Panhellenic and the Inter Fraternity Council offices. Bill Flack, presidential candidate with the X Party, said his is the only party with a real philosophy, and called the other candidates "interchangeable parts." The X Party, he said, is prepared to use other methods to gain improvements in residence halls, after conventional attempts at change have failed. Previous ways of dealing with adminis trators have proven ineffective, Flack said, and his party is willing to try a new ap proach, which includes possible lawsuits and massive disobedience. The X Party is running tour representatives on its ticket, Flack said. Representatives are usually appointed by individual hall governments. Alcoholism awamess essential for treatment By Patty Pryor Alcoholism costs the United States $43 billion annually, ranking it with heart dis ease and cancer as a major health problem, according to John Doyle, National Council on Alcoholism board chairman. Doyle spoke in the Nebraska Union Sunday night as a part of "Alcohol Aware ness Week," sponsored by the Student Y. Awareness of an alcohol problem is the first step in any treatment, Doyle said. "Until you know you have something wrong with you, you're not going to do anything about it," he said. Calling alcoholism a "disease of denial," Doyle said alcoholics are "prone to blame anything else they can think of for their problems. "They need someone to call the prob lem to their attention, to tell them they're not using alcohol socially, like most people do," he said. However, alcoholics and those around them are reluctant to admit they have a problem because of the "terrible stereo types" associated with the disease, Doyle said. An alcoholic often will be literally "protected to death" by friends and family members too afraid to acknowledge the disease. Increased social acceptance of alcohol ism as a treatable disease is necessary, Doyle said, and this is being achieved through local councils, which number more t ian 200 across the country. NCA's role, he said, is to create pub lic awareness of the problem so the stigma can be erased and so alcoholics can be helped. According to Doyle, 3.3 million Ameri can teenagers are alcoholics. Introducing alcohol education at an early age would be a good preventive step, he said. Because so much is spent on liquor ad vertising, he said, young people are expos ed to alcohol in a glamorous and appealing manner. "When you have alcohol weaved through the social fabric, as it is in college, alcoholism awareness is especially difficult to teach, he said. "It just seems a shame," he said, "that you can't get the message of alcoholism education across." Violations alleged in campaign By Mary Louise Knapp Two complaints were filed Monday with the ASUN Electoral Commission charging that a member of the VOTIi (Viable Opportunity for Total Efficiency) Party violated Electoral Commission rules. Mike Kratville, the VOTE party s candidate for second vice-president, against whom the complaints were filed, denied any wrongdoing. Kratville added he has filed counter complaints against the SURE (Students United for Responsible Education) Party, charging that the SURE party violat ed election rules. Dan Renn, press secretary for the SURE party, said he filed a complaint against Mike Kratville, the VOTE party's candidate for second vice president, "concerning a violation 1 witnessed." Renn did not com ment on the nature of the violation. Sue Jepsen, a deskworker at Neihardt Residential Center and a campaign worker for the SURE party, said that she also filed a complaint against Kratville. Jepsen said she witnessed Kratville removing post ers on a Neihardt bulletin board that were covering VOTE party posters, and placing them over SURE party posters. "I'm not admitting anything," Krat ville said in response to the complaints. Kratville said he removed SURE posters which were illegally placed and had taken them to the ASUN office. Kim Weiland, director of the Electoral Commission, said the commission will hold a hearing on the complaints today. The Electoral Commission has the power to request in Student Court that persons ac cused of certain complaints can be prohib ited from holding office for the remainder of that calendar year. independent announces bid for RHA presidency Independent candidate Robin Lynch announced her bid Monday for Residence Hall Association president. More active and involved participation by RHA mem bers would help make the organization more effective, she said. "RHA has the potential to do a lot more than Uiey have been," she said. If elected, Lynch said she would have executives at tend floor meetings because that is where the residents' ideas are usually heard. RHA representatives also should be more active, she said, because too much apathy currently exists with in the council. Representatives from each of the halls should be in vited to executive meetings, she said, to help strengthen each member's involvement in RHA. By heightening representative participation, residents will be more easily encouraged to join in RHA's efforts, Lynch said. "In dormies' minds. RHA doesn't do a lot," she said. "But it's just that they (residents) are not informed (about what is done)." Lynch said she would like to restructure the committee system within RHA to include more residents. The com mittees now are just one-man operations, she said, and more resident involvement would change this. Closer communication also needs to be established with ASUN and the NU Board of Regents, Lynch said. Regents should eat with residents in the hall cafeter ias more often. In addition, writing letters to the regents is a "terriffic way to get something done," she said. Lynch said she is running to provide a choice between the X and CLASS parties, the first two parties to an nounce candidates for RHA. Apathy is difficult to overcome, she said, but any attempt must be made through accepted methods. Lynch, a sophomore secondary math education major, has served as Schramm RHA representative and Schramm Hall treasurer for the last two semesters.