Wednesday, September 23, 1931
page 4
daily nebraskan
Wmsu
Regent's vote twists logic;
student leaders earn pay
The NU Board of Regents, that
governing body of great wisdom,
had a golden opportunity to'
right a past regental wrong last
Friday but chose to continue
on their misguided course regard
ing salaries for student regents.
The regents, who withdrew
the salaries from the student
regents at the UNL, UNO and NU
Medical Center campuses begin
ning next year, voted 6-2 against
restoring the salaries.
UNL and UNO student regents
Rick Mockler and Florene Lang
ford were supported by regents
Robert Koefoot of Grand Island
and John Payne of Kearney
in seeking restoration of the sal
aries. At the heart of the dispute
is the dual role the student presi
dent must serve and the stipu
lations contained in Article 7 of
the Nebraska Constitution.
Article 7 says regents shall
receive no compensation but that
only clouds the issue of the
differences in the job of each
student president.
At each of NU's three campus
es, the student president is elected
by a vote of the students. That
student then serves as the campus
non-voting student member on the
board.
So, because the student presi
dent is also the student regent,
a majority of the regents do not
think the student representatives
are entitled to a salary.
Once again the regents have
sided against NU students with
their trademark -twisted logic.
The position of student presi
dents was created in 1967. With
the job came a salary for the work
they do.
Then, in 1974, when the
position of student regent was
created, no increase in salary
was given to the new position.
So, the student regents are only
getting what they deserve - being
paid for their job as student
presidents.
The regents vote Friday is
just another step in trying to
stifle their opposition.
By denying salaries to student
presidents, the regents will ef
fectively diminish the number of
students interested in the posit
ion. Most students work to sup
port themselves through school
and student presidents are no
different.
As a matter of fact, the wording
of the resolution passed in Febru
ary states regents "shall receive
no funds under the control of
the Board of Regents. . ."
This denies the student repre
sentatives the chance to find an
on-campus job to help pay college
costs.
While the regents continually
complain about lack of student
support for elective student of
fices, they don't realize they
are to blame for the poor support.
Students attending NU campus
es have a regent who cannot vote
and who is no longer paid for
the work they do.
No wonder voter turnout is so
paltry.
How are students to think that
they have a say in their university
when their legal representatives
from campus cannot vote and
work out of the kindness of their
hearts?
Campaign plans to fight shrunken alligator rage
The scene: A zoo in a major metropolitan city. Two
alligators have crawled out of the water, and are sunning
themselves as gawking crowds pass by.
"This is the life, isn't it?" says one alligator, rhetorical-
iy.
"Why do you say that?" the other says glumly.
dark
"We sit around all day, they throw food at us. We've
got no predators . . ."
"So you think," says the other one. "We got predators
aplenty."
"Can't be," says the first. "You can't go poaching for
alligators in the middle of a big city. That's the only
reason I came here in the first place."
The other alligator, an elderly sort named Biff, points
out at the crowd. "See those people?" he says.
"Of course," says the first one, a young alligator
named Harrison.
"See their shirts?" says Biff.
"Sure," says Harrison.
"See those little patches on the shirts?"
"Look, I can see fine," says Harrison. "There are peo
ple out there wearing shirts, the shirts have patches on
them shaped like, alligators . . ."
"Precisely!" says Biff.
Harrison slaps the water with his tail. "C'mon, you
think those patches mean anything?"
"Sure I do. I think they are killing alligators, shrinking
them down, and pinning them to their shirts."
"Preposterous," says Harrison.
"So you think. But I'm telling you, people put a lot
of stock in those little alligators. It's a very prestigious
thing to have one, and everybody who is anybody is
getting in on the shrunken alligator trade."
Harrison, a patient sort, tries another form of argu
ment. "Okay, let's suppose that you are right," he says.
"Don't suppose," says Biff. "1 know I'm right. I've
been around awhile, and I've seen it all before. Twenty
five years ago, alligator skin was all the rage; it was on
shoes, handbags, golf bags, you name it."
"But that's the past. It's dead and gone."
'The past lives again," says Biff. "Don't you read the
papers? Ever since the 1980 election, everything is going
back to the way it was. The Cold War is back, civil rights
is a dead issue, the government kowtows to the needs of
big business, and . . ."
"And alligators are fair game," says Harrison, finishing
the thought.
"That's right. Not just fair game, but the preferred
game. I've seen them on hats, belts, socks, coats, every
thing. And if you ask me, it could get us any day."
"What can we do?" says Harrison.
"We've got to organize," says Biff. "We've got to alarm
the alligators in other zoos. Send envoys to the Everglades
to explain the situation and coordinate a national effort.
We'll start small, with passive resistance. Sit-down strikes
in the swamps. Boycott of any stores that sell Izod shirts.
When we gather enough support, we'll march on the lead
ing private colleges on the Eastern seaboard, where their
power base is located.
"We'll have a propaganda campaign, with bumper stick
ers, posters, T-shirts, radio and television spots. We'll,
we'll . . . we'll get interviewed by Ted Koppel!"
"Wow!" says Harrison, excited. "Do you think it will
help?"
"Nah."
Work is nine-to-five, not suit and tie
o
v7 nebraskan
You may have seen him on the CBS evening news the
day the government released figures showing that more
than half of America's job-seeking black teen-agers can't
find work. He was standing there in the unemployment
line, good-looking, well-dressed, explaining to reporter
Ray Brady what he was looking for:
"You know, I want a job where - how I am now
dressed with a tie and a suit, you know. I want a job
where I can go to work every day, you know, and have a
nice set of clothes on, have a nice house, have a nice
family, you know, and come home, you know. And I
want to live like I want to live like I should live."
I don't want to judge the young man too harshly.
Maybe he is qualified, or at least eminently trainable, to
work as an assistant buyer, an administrative aide, an
architect, or some other job that would allow him to wear
a tie and a suit, you know.
All I know is that he had several seconds of precious
network time to sell himself as a potential employee, and
all he could think about was how he wanted to live, and
particularly how he wanted to dress. Not a word about
specific aptitudes or experience, no hint of any willingness
to learn a skill, or to work hard, or anything else that an
employer would be interested in.
He was, to hear him, looking not so much for work as
for a position and the benefits that he was sure would
follow. And the clear impression was that he thought he
had it coming.
Some who watched the news that evening may have
thought the young man insufferably arrogant, or con
cluded that he didn't really want a job.
I saw him as merely an exaggeration of the kind of
attitude I see so often in inner-city youngsters like him.
Their problem isn't arrogance or laziness or lack of
ambition. Their problem is they have no sense of what
work is really about.
Continued on Page 5
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