Wednesday,, april, 22, 198!
daily nebraskan
page 9
Campus leaders: Regents ignore student voices
By Betsy Miller
There's an. old saying that it's hard to get politicians
to agree on anything. But at UNL, some past and present
student government leaders seem to agree on one very
important issue.
Current ASUN President Rick MockJer and First Vice
president Dan Wedekind, as well as former ASUN Presi
dent Renee Wessels and former First Vice President Mark
Hirschfeld all said that student leaders do not carry a lot
of weight with the NU Board of Regents.
"We usually can gej attention but getting any action
from them is nearly impossible " Wessels said .
n March Wessels completed her term as ASUN presi
dent and as student regent. Her experience as a regent has
left her with a pessimistic outlook about the influence stu
dent regents have on the regents.
"I'm not very optimistic at all for the board's policies
changing until the members changed she said. "I think
after a year of serving on the board that some members
don't want to have one (student regent) who disagrees
publicly with them.
'They want one that either agrees or disagrees silent
ly Wessels said.
During her. term Wessels was vocal in expressing, her
dissatisfaction with the regents and she said that angered
them. She said they weren't used to being criticized pub
licly and responded with some personal strikes against her..
- Student voice ignored
She termed the abolition of the student regent's salary
"appalling"' and said that this was prompted because the
regents disliked her.
Wessels said the regents refuse to take the student re
gents very seriously.
"The board wilt listen although at meetings they've
yelled at me and have been patronizing" she said.. "I
believe the student regent should be treated as an equal.
The students are like consumers they pay to run the uni
versity yet their input is ignored "
It's important that student regents be heard because at
times the district regents have different ideas from the
students on what's important she said.
She said the regents favored some unimportant sub
jects, such as student scalping of football tickets rather
than more pertinent problems.
After just two meetings with the board Mockler said
that he and the regents are "just testing" their relation
ship. He said he is encouraged so far because at Friday's
meeting a motion he introduced calling for continued
government aid to the financially needy passed unanim
ously. Communication is the key
Mockler said the voice of the student regent can make
a difference if it is used effectively.
"1 don't think the position is totally useless," he said.
"That resolution (for continued government student
loans) got front page coverage in the Lincoln Journal.
'The regents aren't always real receptive," hi said,
adding, "But most are willing to consider the sudent
perspective."
Mockler said the way to get regent response is to
appeal to people on an important issue that the students
and regents are at odds on. He recalled the student letter
writing campaign a few years ago to various media out
lets in the state to protest the regents plans to expand
Memorial Stadium. The resulting public backlash against
the idea cased the board to drop the idea.
Mockler said this will be his style of dealing with
matters he thinks are important.
He said he plans to be the type of student regent who
will formulate his resolutions while keeping the student
interests first but also putting the regents feelings in
mind. Students may have more success with the board
if they try to enhance their communication with it he
said-.
"It's up to the personalities involved to establish good
communication Mockler said, "I believe that's being
done right now.. I'm. doing all that can be done to estab
lish good communication."
But according to Wessels that approach may not work
because she tried it also.
"At the beginning I was the conventional student
regent" she said. "I went through all the right channels."
However she said that after a tussle with the board
over UNL's affirmative action policy in which the com
promising style was unsuccessful she decided the board
should be held publicly responsible for their decisions.
She then began commenting on some of the regents'
actions in the press and sometimes her opinions didn't
show the board in a good light.
"I felt that I was elected to represent students," she
said. "I think I was successful in doing that and the direct
result was the regents exposure."
United we stand
Wedekind said student leaders can make headway with
the regents if a large group of students work together on
issues.
"We influence them most when we align ourselves with
groups of other people" he said.
Wedekind characterized the relationship between stu
dents and regents, as, "distant " but said progress can. be
made. The students should work toward influencing major
issues at UNL he said. One way to, do this is to. gather
strong facts to support student logic Wedekind said,
"I hope the board of regents comes to realize that stu
dents can be a valuable source of information for them in
forming policies and making decisions," he said.
Students aren't considered a strong source now, he
said.
Wedekind also praised the methods Mockler is using
to confront the regents. He said there is a good balance
between Mocklcr's ability to present student needs to
regents and to listen to the board as well.
"We are proving ourselves as credible and responsible,"
he said.
Hirschfeld said he agrees with Wedekind that the stu
dent regent is a "necessary source of input," but the de
gree of importance the regents accord student government
is small, he said.
The State Student Association, according to Hirsch
feld, is one program that may bring students in closer con
tact with regents. Hirschfeld said if student leaders of
several campuses in Nebraska join together to present uni
fied views to the board, then the students will become
very helpful to the regents.
Hirschfeld said he has been critical of the regents at
times but that he can see board members really do work
hard at their job.
"When you've been on this side of the fence, you see
how dedicated and hard-working they are," he said.
'Their perspectives are different."
Be vocal
The monthly meetings of the board also can be a prob
lem, for good communication between students and the
board because some times it's hard to keep in touch be
tween meetings.
The SSA project will be in the hands of Nette Nelson,
Government Liaison Committee director.
She said she expects no major problems working with
the board and that she has had no inquiries by regents
about the SSA.
"I would assume if they had any questions they would
seek us (GLC) out" she said.
Nelson said she has found regents to be very open and
candid but that they do have a different perspective of
the campus.
The coming year will show whether the policies of the
new student leaders will be effective in dealing with the
NU Board of Regents. Mockler said he hopes the board
will have a final opinion of him as " a reasonable student
advocate" who can be open-minded in his work.
Wessels said that after two or three meetings with the
board Mockler will be able to tell how he is being re
ceived. She still defends her style of handling the regents.
"Be vocal be as vocal as possible" Wessels said. "If
you feel you know what the students want speak up-or
you're not doing your job."
Poll shows regents ' image not good to students
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Amy Peck
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Margaret Atwater
By Kim Hachiya
It would appear that the NU Board of Regents doesnt
have the best image among UNL students according to
an informal poll taken Tuesday afternoon on campus.
A majority of the 10 students questioned seemed to
think that the relationship between the regents and the
students isnt very good,
Jon Walker, a sophomore finance major from Columb
us said "The relationship is minimal, It would take a
great deal of student participation to change their minds
on most issues."
Walker said he thought student government was in-
effective,
Roger Nimps a junior philosophy major from Omaha
said the relationship between the board and the students
is "one of total dominance with the regents over the
students-mixed in with a little indifference on the reg
ents part," t mt
Nimps said the regents arent concerned with student
issues, but with such things as "getting the budget in
under estimate or things like the Vadium expansion,
They waste time on ridiculous ideas like that
Gordon Weihner, a junior general agriculture major
from Stanton, also said the relationship was not good
"They (regents) dont seem to care about the student
that much. For example, they gave head football coach
Tom Osborne a raise the same day they cut things from
the budget," , , ,. ' .
Renee Sayler, a junior natural resources education maj
or from Lincoln, said some of the problems between the
board and the students stem from the students, too,
"I don't think the regents da (listen to the students)
but it as much the students problem in not being as
well organized as they could be in getting feelings across
Sayler said the problem was two-fold-that students
arent interested In student government and that regents
weren't responsive to begin with,
"Things like putting down our president (termer
ASUN president Renee Wessels) was real bad. It seemed
like they were slapping students in the face, saying your
opinion doesn't mean anything because we're only going
to listen to the taxpayers, As if students arent taxpayers
tQSaylet said students must take the responsibility
of getting their views across, , .
Margaret Atwater, a junior art major from Lincoln,
said the bad relationship tolwea the board and the
students stems from lack of communication,
"The board would rather do everything themselves
and not listen to the students as a whole,. Perhaps they'll
listen to an individual complaint they cant just back
hand an individual who complains but organized com
plaints seem to be ignored,"
Amy Peck, a freshman pre-med major from Tekamah
said the regents need to look at the students level rather
than staying above them,
"They need to listen more," Peck said, "It seems like
they listen but they don't react, They listen to say they
listened but dont respond to us,"
Peck suggested that students become more involved
'The regents think they can get away with things
because no one's involved,"
Mark Jackson a sophomore geography major from
Ralston, said, "It seems to me they (regents) really don't
understand our problems and they haven't really tried
to understand them, At least that's the impression I got
in the two years I've been here
Jackson said the regents should attempt to get in touch
with the student more,
"I hardly know who any of them are Right now
they're just names in the paper to me,"
. John Emerson, a graduate student in counseling psy
chology from Lincoln, said that "the only real friction
I've seen was last year in the grad school when they
(students) circulated a petition and letter campaign to
snuff the grad tuition increase, which didn't do any good
anyway, They (regents) weren't responsive to that
Emerson said he didn't feel knowledgeable enough
about other issues to answer questions,
Two students said they felt the regents were responsive
to most student issues ,
Sandy Horky, a senior elementary education major
from Burwell, said, "The role of the student plays arbig
part in their (the regents') decisions. They base a lot of
things on student feelings-they build from there, Their
rapport is good, I think they listen the best they can,
If they think it's reasonable, they try but they cant
listen to everybody,"
Sue Huston, a junior speech communications major
from Grand Island, said, "I do think the regents listen to
students, They are a wise group of men who care,
otherwise they wouldnt be in that position " ,
She said the regents response to student concerns
depends on the issue at hand,
"I'm not sure how theyve operated in the past, but
they have to listen to us " Huston laid,
Htm- ' " J
Roger Nimps
a . j I ?
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Sue Huston
