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Daily Nebraskan
Wednesday, February 24, 1982
Editorial
Wedekind deserves presidency
One week from today, UNL students will to to the
polls and cast their votes for ASUN Senate President and
first vice president. They will be choosing the people
who in Ihc coming year will fight the battles and lead
the charges for student causes.
Although many students complain that the senate and
its efforts are ineffective, they must not take lightly their
responsibility to vote. The election is not a popularity
contest or an exam in name recognition. Rather, it is our
chance to elect a student body president we think will
best represent student views to the administration, the NU
Board of Regents, the Nebraska Legislature, the entire
state.
The person best suited for that role seems to be Real
Party presidential candidate Dan Wedekind.
Without sidestepping questions or handing voters a lot
of political rhetoric, Wedekind has addressed important
issues during the campaign and offered some concrete,
practical answers. He has not merely answered questions
in general terms, as is so often the case in ASUN cam
paigns. He has offered specifics.
For instance, Wedekind has cited the lack of communi
cation between students and their representatives as the
senate's biggest problem. Not a new concept. In fact, it is
one that other candidates in this election have raised. But
instead of merely citing the problem, as has been done
time and time again, Wedekind has suggested workable, if
not sweeping, answers to the problem. He suggests the
senate produce a newsletter to keep students better in
formed of the body's actions and work. He has also sug
gested using "town hall" meetings as a way of giving stu
dents more face-to-face contact with representatives.
Wedekind also sees the need for making incoming
freshmen more aware of the senate and its purpose. That
stirring up of awareness and enthusiasm among students is
sorely needed. Wedekind is prepared to hit students early
and teach them that the senate and the student president
can make a difference with student support.
In addition, Wedekind has suggested internal changes
for the senate. He would have the senate document its
work so that future senators can learn from the successes
and failures of their predecessors. He has emphasized the
need for better representation of minority and non-traditional
students.
Yes, other platforms have attacked these and similar
issues, but often their proposals arc too far-reaching,
not exacting enough. Wedekind may be criticized for
taking a more traditional, more low-key approach to the
issues. But he is interested in gradual change that will not
endanger already existing, useful government bodies and
bylaws.
Wedekind also has committed himself to taking an
active role in dealing with administrators and others who
control students' lives to such a large extent. He says he is
ready to lobby the Legislature and use contacts with
groups outside the university to gain support for student
views. All this activity sounds good.
But Wedekind recognizes the varying personalities he
will deal with when he approaches the regents and admin
istrators. Only by understanding how they view issues can
he attack their prejudices. Antagonism fueled by the stu
dent president won't win over the regents.
Students need responsible leadership. Wedekind and
Coreg Krieser, his first vice presidential running mate,
seem ready to fulfill that need.
Woman eludes potions of crusading hairdresser
As inevitable as death and taxes, the
time for my semi-annual haircut arrived a
few days ago. 1 had put off the fatal mo
ment for weeks by pleading shortages of
money and time, but at last, helped by sev
eral pointed remarks about mops, I had to
break down.
Mary L.
p Knapp
With $20 in my pocket, and an entire
afternoon before me, I sauntered into a
downtown beauty parlor.
"What's your name? Do you have an ap
pointment?" bawled the receptionist, a
massive peroxide blonde who stank of
wave set and hairspray.
Confused, I shook my head. "I thought
Nebraskan
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you could just walk in here."
"Walk-ins are taken first come, first
served," she said in a lofty tone. You'll
have to wait."
I sat down and began leafing through
back issues of Glamour and Cosmopoli
tan, an act which sent my wavering self
esteem to a new low.
The clients of this establishment, most
ly high school girls who looked like Miss
Clairol ads, did nothing to lift my spirits.
"Next!" bellowed the receptionist,
pointing at me.
Leading me into an obscure corner of
the shop, she introduced me to my hair
dresser, a woman so plastered and painted
with the shop's own cosmetics that she
seemed about to crack.
"Hi," she said in modulated tones. "I'm
Marie, and I'll be working with you today.
Now, what did you say you wanted done?
Conditioning treatment, style and cut?"
"I just need a haircut. Just trim it up a
little bit."
Marie dropped her curling iron, and her
mouth fell open.
"Just a haircut? We can't do that," she
said. "We are not allowed to give 'just a
haircut," she launched into a mechanical
spiel.
"We give our special conditioning treat
ment, style and cut, for a special price of
S15.Q9. That's for students, of course. Reg
ular customers pay $19.99. You are a stu
dent, I presume?"
My callow looks and gaping mouth must
have convinced her, for she went on brisk
ly, "We'll be having a special on our spec
ial offer next week. Our special condition
ing treatment, style and cut will be priced
at $14.99 instead of our regular price of
$15.99. You might consider that."
"No, no, just give me a haircut," I said pa
tiently. "Or perhaps you might consider our
special super conditioning treatment and
perm for just $25.99," she said. "That's
our special this week, down from our reg
ular price of $45.99."
"Can't you just cut my hair, with no
wash, no conditioning and no style? I'm
in a hurry."
"I guess I'll give you our special condi
tioning treatment, style and cut," she went
on without heeding my words.
"I don't want any style, and I don't
want any conditioning!" I said, my pa
tience at an end. "All I want is the cut!"
"First we condition, then we style and
then we shape your hair," she said, forcing
my head under the faucet.
"I just want you to trim my hair!" I
spluttered, trying to escape.
"Conditioning's not all that bad," she
said, plastering my head with a perfumed
liquid. "And from the looks of your hair,
you could sure use it! 1 haven't seen hair
this bad since I shampooed those foreigners
from the refugee camp back in 1962!"
"There's nothing wrone with mv hair!"
I yelled through mouthfuls of water.
"Your hair's so dry," she said disdain
fully, plucking at strands of it as she ap
plied the rinse. "You really ought to come
in for 'a conditioning treatment at least
once a month. Our special conditioning
treatments for our regular customers only
costs $5.99, and next month they'll be on
special for $4.99."
She sat me up and wound a towel
around my head. My eyes were red and I
was sputtering with fury and humiliation.
"First the wash, now the conditioning,"
she sang, patting me on the shoulder. I half
expected her to give me a lollipop.
"I'm not going to pay for this!" I
screamed. "I asked for a haircut, and I'm
going to get a haircut, and that's all!"
I tried to leave the chair, but Marie's
firm hand restrained me.
"Now, if you can't settle down, I'm go
ing to have to call the supervisor," she said.
"You don't want to make a fuss, now, do
you?"
She began plastering a white, cold liquid
on my head .
"This is our special conditioning treat
ment," she intoned, rubbing it into my
scalp. "We let it stay on for two hours un
der the dryer, and then we style it . . .
Ma'am . . . Ma'am!"
I fled the scene like a maniac, dashing
past the alarmed clients and the horrified
employees, my hair a white washed mop.
My hair will grow unmolested from now
on.
El Salvador-Vietnam link hides real issue
The problem of what to do about El
Salvador is obviously going to be with us
for a while, and the Reagan administra
tion will be well-advised to pick its way
carefully through the jungle of available
options.
From the Soviet standpoint, fishing in
the troubled waters of Central America is
1
William
Rusher
virtually a no-lose situation. The region is
desperately poor, so there will always be
plenty of village bravos, in any of its na
tions, ready to be recruited under a Marxist
banner. They need only to be armed and
given adequate leadership and a modicum
of training and they can be counted on to
keep their particular countrv Hestahli7pH
With a little more help it is often possible
for them to topple the government alto
gether - a process already successfully
completed in Nicaragua, now under way in
El Salvador, and apparently scheduled next
in Guatemala.
For American leftists, the job is to keep
the United States, if possible, from extend
ing any effective aid - especially military
aid - to the government while it is under
attack. For this purpose, the still-tender
toe of popular recollection of the Vietnam
War is the one to tread on: No More Viet
nams! - though the proximity of El Sal
vador to the United States, and the total
absence of VS. combat forces there, make
the analogy unsatisfactory to say the least.
The specific objective of the anti
government forces, in and out of EI Sal
vador, will of course vary, depending on
the tactical situation. It is safe to say the
Salvadoran rebels would participate in the
forthcoming elections if they thought
they could win them. But they have refus
ed to participate, and instead demand
"negotiations" - meaning inclusion in the
government - before an election is held.
President Duarte's government has rejected
this demand, however, so the guerrillas
are engaged in a full-court press, doing
their best to render normal life - and a
bove all a normal election - impossible
this spring in El Salvador.
For the Reagan administration, the ob
jective must clearly be to block Soviet
associated forces from gradually extending
the area under their control northward
from Nicaragua until it includes Mexico,
by far the largest and most important
nation in the region.
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