monday, October 19, 1981
lincoln, nebraska vol. 107 no. 39
Copyright Daily Nebraskan 1981
V7 n
Economy needs democracy, says labor activist
By Charles Flowerday
The man accused by the Wall Street Journal of
"terrorizing businessmen" with his "corporate campaign"
against the J. P. Stevens Co., told a student conference Sat
urday night that life is an equal sharing of power.
Labor activist Ray Rogers said that groups backing the
labor movement, the civil rights movement and the
women's movement must not be afraid to enter into a
struggle for power with the powerful."
"You must confront power with power - otherwise
you are only pursuing a lesson in futility," Rogers told
students attending the ninth annual National Students
Association Conference at UNL.
"Concentrated economic power transforms itself into
concentrated political power," Rogers said. This leads to
social inequities, he continued.
Breaking up this "equation" will lead to a greater and
more equitable distribution of power in this country,
Rogers said.
Hard to build power
Rogers acknowledged that building the "people
power" to counter these inequities is very difficult, de
manding much time, energy and hard work.
Rogers began a career in social activism as a VISTA
volunteer in the Appalachian Mountains.
From there he started a private political campaign
working with the United Mine Workers. He played a major
role in the Farah strike and boycott after that.
n4g
Ray Rogers
Photo by Ola Gronli
The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America con
cluded their boycott of Farah with a successful contract
settlement and merged with the struggling Textile Workers
Union in 1976. The newly-formed Amalgamated Clothing
and Textile Workers Union then inaugurated a consumer
bocyott against the J. P. Stevens Co., a multi-national
textile firm.
Rogers was called in to launch an unorthodox corpor
ate campaign designed to complement the boycott.
"Why is it something can be in the interests of 99 per
cent of the people and yet 1 percent can get their way?"
Rogers asked in explaining his campaign.
Financial isolation
'They get power because they control and manage the
money supply," Rogers said. He said his strategy in the
Stevens boycott was to isolate Stevens from the financial
community - the banks and insurance companies which
supported the company with massive infusions of capital.
His problem was how to pit one corporate power
against another in the divide and conquer strategy, he
said. Interlocking boards of directors of large national
banks, insurance companies and other corporations were
connected with J.P. Stevens through the company's board
of directors or through multi-million dollar credit
relations.
His campaign focused on bringing those companies into
the Stevens struggle, which none of them wanted, Rogers
said. By disrupting stockholders' meetings, running alter
nate candidates for directors, and by picketing such major
firms as Metropolitan Life, New York Life, Sperry-Rand
Corp., and Avon, Rogers got the firms to use their in
fluence on behalf of Stevens' workers.
Rogers' ultimate goal, he said, was to totally alienate
Stevens from the financial community.
"I knew Stevens could not survive in a vacuum," he
said. Once these corporations realized that their own
images and credibility were being damaged by being
dragged into the Stevens conflict, he said they would
pursue their own interests by trying to exert influence
over Stevens.
Continued on Page 7
Student leader criticizes educational reductions
By William Graf
'The commitment to accessible, affordable and
quality education in our country is rapidly eroding,"
said Janice Fine, national chairperson of the United
States Student Association.
"It is obvious that in the White House and our con
gress, education is clearly a secondary concern," Fine
said at a news conference called by student leaders
from across the country participating in the Ninth
Annual National State Students Association Confer
ence at UNL this weekend.
"Presently, cutbacks in the Pell Grant program will
eliminate 500,000 middle income students and reduce
the maximum grant award for the neediest students to
$1,800, down from $2,200 as proposed by the Carter
Administration," she said.
And if an additional 12 percent - $2 billion - is cut
from social service programs, as Reagan has asked, "it
will virtually eliminate all students above the poverty
level from the program (Pell Grant) and reduce the
maximum award for the neediest students to $1,670,"
she said.
Education i o expensive
Rick Modeler, UNL adent body president and
member of the Board of Directors of the Nebraska
State Student Association, said the NU Central Ad
ministration last spring predicted hundreds of Nebra
skans would be "priced out of an education" by
federal budget cuts already approved by Congress.
In view of further cuts, increasing tuition and the
implementation of laboratory fees next semester,
hundreds more will be priced out of an education, he
said.
Although all other student leaders spoke of the
Reagan budget cuts in education with distaste. Bob
Bingaman, executive director of the Associated Stu
dents of Kansas and chairman of the National Alliance
of State Student Associations, said he and the students
of Kansas wanted to express their appreciation tor
the Reagan cuts.
"He (Reagan) has done more to get students
organized than any one person in the last decade,"
Bingaman said.
"Students in Kansas are appalled by the Reagan
hood economics, which steals from the poor and gives
to the rich," he said.
Student action weeks
The Kansas student association and several others
across the nation have proclaimed individual student
action weeks on their campuses. During these weeks,
student leaders are urging student to organize letter
writing campaigns to their senators and congressmen as
well as organize activities that display their discontent
with the education cuts.
No such student action week has been scheduled at
UNL, however, Mockler said the Nebraska SSA will
make student needs known to state and national legis
lators. "I think that we're seeing students in the '70s and
'80s organized to work inside the system more,"
Mockler said. "There is going to be more of a concert
ed effort politically, working with legislators. That
doesn't have the same visability as taking over the ad
ministration building.
"We'll see more of the activism. I can see that with
students wanting to organize more rallies. I can also see
more of a thrust just on the political level."
Another tactic of the student association is to get
students registered to vote and to the polls in 1982.
Joe Sweeney, of the National Student Education
Fund, SSA Development project, said Reagan's budget
cuts will have one positive result.
"I think you're going to see a significant turnout in
the 1982 election," Sweeney said. "It's going to be a
real referendum."
'Food fast' aims to nourish handicapped facilities
By Roger Aden
To raise money for the Housing Handicapped Facilities
Fund a "food fust" will be sponsored sometime this
semester, the Residence Hall Association decided Thurs
day. The money will be used u upgrade facilities for the
handicapped in UN L residence h alls.
Students will sign up to miss an evening meal, with
each hall food service then preparing only as much food as
is required. The Office of Housing will then donate money
saved to the project.
Refunds have averaged 60 75 cents a person in the
past, according to Richard McMimon, RHA adviser and
assistant director of housing.
Earlier fasts successful
Harper Hall President Bill Flack said previous food
fasts have been successful. Many floors have an off
campus dinner the evening of the fast, he said.
McKinnon said RHA can designate what improve
ments will be made with the donation. He said he will .
bring a list of handicapped facilities needs to the next
RHA meeting.
RHA President Robin Lynch said she was happy the
money is going into the residence halls.
"It's our duty to help improve and enhance the living
environment of the residence halls,' she said. "I'm glad
we donated it for that purpose."
In other action, RHA recommended that the housing
office make a rental supply of easy chairs available to resi
dence hall students. The chairs would be rented on a
lottery basis at the start of the 1982-83 school year.
Extra chairs put in lounges
Glen Schumann, assistant director of housing for main
tenanceoperations, indicated at the meeting that the
housing office will follow RHA's suggestion.
Last year the chairs were in Sandoz Hall and the
Harper-Schramm-Smith complex. They were removed be
cause housing needed 100 more chairs to put in other
rooms, Schumann said.
Schumann said theft and broken chairs contributed to
this year's short supply. As a resuit, the extra chairs that
would have been put in rooms were distributed through
out the residence hall system and put in lounges,
Schumann said.
RHA suggested that the chairs be rented for S5 dollars
each plus a damage deposit. The rental fee will then be
used to replace old furniture, Schumann said.
Schumann said he planned to allocate the number of
chairs available to each hall on a prorate basis.
In another matter RHA members gave McKinnon feed
back on a proposed hall-damage policy involving damage
done to a public area of a residence hall by an unidenti
fied person(s). Public areas include bathrooms, elevators,
lounges, halls, lobbies, etc.
The proposed policy would charge the floor or hall
where the damage occurred if no one has been identified
as doing the damage and there is sufficient reason to
believe that resident of the floor or building were re
sponsible. Currently, McKiruion said, damage caused by an un
identified person is paid for by everyone living in the resi
dence halls through room and board rates.
Fedde Hall President Kathy Tighe sard the Burr-Fedde
complex followed such a policy last year and it worked
well. She said the omplex had very little damage to
public areas last yea and attributed that to the damage
policy.
a n
"This is a football, girls": UNL defensive end Coach
George Darlington teaches a night class on football for
women ..... ' Page 2
Manhattan Mismatch: The Nebraska Cornhuskers claimed
sole possession of the Big Eight lead with a 49-3 rout
of Kansas State at Manhattan, Kan. Saturday . . Page 8
The Perils of Meryl: Meryl Streep stars in The French
Lieutenant's Woman . ............ Page 10
