page 4
daily nebraskan
Wednesday, march 11, 1981
)DfD-
Students' voice calls for approval of SSA funds
The next round of the proposed State Student
Association fight moves to the floor of the ASUN
Senate Wednesday night. There the senate will
vote on the final 1981-1982 student fee recom
mendations from the Committee for Fees Alloca
tion. Among the items to be voted on will be the
$20,750 that CFA has tentatively allocated for
the SSA.
In last Wednesday's balloting, the SSA question
received approval by a 1,281 to 935 vote. While
not an overwhelming majority, the vote, along
with some 3,139 signatures on petitions collected
by the Government Liaison Committee, signals
student support.
The SSA question on the ballot was in the
form of a survey, not a referendum, and thus is
not binding on the senate.
It is doubtful that the senate-acting as repre
sentatives of the students-could find a way not
to vote approval of the SSA. Indeed, failure to
foward the senate's approval of SSA could signal
the end of ASUN's credibility.
Gaining a stronger voice in the Legislature and
in Congress has been a goal of past ASUN admini
strations and that goal gets closer with every ad
vancement of the SSA.
Arguments against the SSA have been muted.
Some senators doubt that the SSA is the best
way to let students' opinions be heard. Students
want the SSA, and think it is the proper mega
phone to get their messages heard.
Some senators don't want to commit so much
of student fee money to an organization still in
its forming stages. But CFA guidelines stipulate
that money may not be allocated unless one other
state campus votes its funding and support also.
Raising student fees by 50 cents per semester
bothered some, but that fee would be refundable,
similar to Fund A allocations for such functions
as the Daily Nebraskan, University Program
Council speakers program and student govern
ment officers' salaries.
So the principle of majority rules and minority
rights would prevail. Students who didn t want
their money spent on the SSA could get it back.
The GLC Core Committee opposes a bill that
would restrict the SSA from affiliating with the
United States Student Association unless
approved by a student referendum. To preclude
the SSA's option of joining the USSA or any
other national organization would be a restricting
harness.
Also, the proposed bylaws call for a three
fourths vote of the General Assembly before
membership with the USSA can be approved.
The NU Board of Regents has left the SSA
decision to Interim Chancellor Robert Rutford.
Rutford said this election would probably affect
his decision.
We strongly reiterate our support of the SSA
and urge the senate to vote approval. The students-
those who cared to vote have spoken.
Once again, we must wait and see if they are
heard.
Tom Prentiss
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Bewildered liberals regroup
again for another long haul
For a moment, the woman across the
table looked drained of energy. If she were
the sighing sort, she would have breathed
out the closing line of our short conversa
tion. Instead she spoke in a careful voice.
"All I know is that I'm in the same move
ment for the second time in my life and
I'm not even 40."
goodman
1! Il I
The sentiment was a stark and simple
one. The woman who had claimed some
victories for the causes of her twenties
and early thirties was now watching the
territory erode. She felt no momentum,
for her "side" had lost any illusions about
a swift "win." The second pause of this
struggle would be, she suspected, to hold
the old ground, trench by trench.
Her words over lunch resonated in my
mind. Though she spoke them in Denver,
the same feelings were repeated all along
the way from Colorado to California last
week. I met people realizing that they
would have to fight again for the turf they
thought they'd already won. And wonder
ing if they could.
The woman in Denver was talking about
women's rights, but she might just as easily
have been talking about the environment,
peace, civil rights, human rights.
In Phoenix, a woman active in the anti
Vietnam War movement talked with dis
belief about our increasing involvement
in El Salvador. "Didn't we learn anything."
Moving backwards
In Los Angeles, an environmentalist
who drives home through smog as dense
as the fog of Cape Cod, talked about the
undermining of the clean air deadlines.
"It's going backwards."
In San Francisco, a civil-rights activitist
shook his head at the critical words in Rea
gan's budget speech. "The taxing power of
the government must be used to provide
revenues for legitimate government pur
poses. It must not be used ... to bring
about social change."
What is a legitimate government s pur
pose if it isn't social change for justice?
he asked ardently and then reflected on his
own heat. "I've said it all before. I've heard
it all before. It makes me so damn tired."
Tired. It was the word I heard most
often -even more than "angry" -when I
talked with people called liberals, who had
done time in a movement to help the poor
or end the war or clean the air. People who
thought they had built something solid
now feel the ground crumbling, as if it had
been staked on sand and not hard rock.
As Sen. Paul Tsongas says again and
again, "The last election changed things.
Not only did we lose Democrats and
liberals, but those who are left are so
weary."
Weariness is not just an occupational
hazard of politicians. It also infects the
legions of those who care and cared . . .
and now often call their own belief in swift
victory "naive."
Continued on Page 5
Reagan's 'get-tough' policy
may cause risky Cold War
McCarthyism lives. History has repeat
ed itself and the United States once again is
involved in what seems to be a communist
scare. The word "communism" means
only one thing to many people: Soviet
Communism.
If Joe McCarthy were alive today,
he probably would thank President Ronald
Reagan and the good general for putting
the nation on the right track again.
richardson
Reagan and Secretary of State Alex
ander Haig have set out to teach Americans
new lessons about the Soviets. Memorize
them. They may be helpful to you if you're
called on to appear before a grand jury
out of the McCarthy days.
1. The Soviets are afraid of guns.
2. The U.S. should give "truly needy"
countries guns.
3. A buildup of arms throughout the
world will not cause a cold war.
4. The United States and the Soviet
Union will review the SALT agreement.
Note: The United States definitely will
have the upper hand in any new SALT
agreement.
With this kind of logic, the United
States and the Soviet Union will be in a
Cold War in no time. The Soviets will not
sit tight while the United States builds
up its arms as well as the arms of other
countries. It's archaic to think that the
Soviets will be stopped by more guns.
After all. they have guns. too.
It's ludicrous to think all communism
and rightist movements are supported by
the Soviets. liven more ludicrous is the
idea that Soviet Communism is practiced
in all the countries that practice some kind
of communism.
And yet Reagan's foreign policy toward
the Soviet Union as promised in his campaign-is
one of "get tough." Cet tough
means increasing arms.
It's through this policy that Saudi
Arabia has been promised L-15s. Israel
will receive S600 million in credit toward
the purchase of U.S. weapons. Morocco
will get U.S. tanks costing S 182 million.
Mexico has bought fighter planes costing
SI 5 million. And the United States has
lias no business in LI Salvador.
If support continues to LI Salvador
and other countries, and Reagan continues
to point his finger at the Soviets lor all
evils, there will not be any U S -Soviet
talks. Instead, the Soviets will only in
tensify their arms buildup. We will imd
ourselves in another Cold War. And a
cold war today is much more frightening
in light of the new nuck-ar technology
Reagan and Haig should re-evaluate
men- actions in terms of the future, not
terms of world power.
been granted rights to improve African
ports.
The most controversial move is the sup
port of LI Salvador. Reagan has increased
the amount of arms support from $5 mil
lion to 30 million. And the number of U.S.
military advisers in LI Salvador has doubled
to 54.
LI Salvador could very well escalate to
another Vietnam. Reagan answers the
Vietnam idea by saying that he's only
carrying out the promise of a previous
administration. But that excuse didn't
work for Lyndon Johnson and it's not
going to work today.
Reagan and Haig claim they are fighting
the spread of Soviet Communism by help
ing the LI Salvador government. Making
communism the ultimate bad word,
the administration has decided to support
the good guys. Incidentally, the Shall used
to be one of the good guys.
The administration must give a better
justification for intervening in LI Salvador.
It's not enough to say without concrete
proof that the U.S. is fighting Soviet
domination. World domination by the
Soviets was used as a reason for Vietnam.
And there is no reason to believe that I I
Salvador will not turn into another Viet
nam. Croups across the nation. Mexico and
Canada are warning the administration
against getting involved in LI Salvador.
Indeed, a civil war, similar to that in
Vietnam, may be the root of I I Salvador's
problems. In that case, the United States
nebraskan
UPSP 144-080
Editor: Kathy Chenault, Managing Editoi
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Pike.
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473-0212 Professional adviser Don Walton,
473 7301
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