Thursday, December 2, 1 982 T Tl mm ik. mm m.. m. m "m. am m r a W1W University of Nebraska-Lincoln n (Of '-r sj h Vol. 82, No. 72 It's not a building Sta dent Union governs a tcu. By Chris Welsch Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of articles in which the universities of the Big Eight Conference are compared. The articles will focus on the structure of student government at the other campuses and on its relationship to the governing bodies there. The University of Colorado's Student Union - which is what the student government is called - runs the Eye on the Big Eight health center, the recreation center, owns off-campus housing, offers legal services and operates the student union (the building). According to Richard Ling, co-exqcutive of the Stu dent Union, CU's student government's a union and a consumer protection agency rolled into one student body. "We are consumers," Ling said. "What we consume is an education." Ling said the CU Student Union has three political branches - legislative, executive and judicial - similar to those at UNL. However, instead of one president, there are two co-executive heads at CU. The legislature consists of 20 voting members. There are nine members on the judicial branch, which inter prets the student constitution. Union funded by fees The CU Student Union is funded by student fees. The $110.25 per semester fee is broken down as follows: - 50 percent for the health center. - 16 percent to the student union, which includes" a program council similar to UNL's University Program Council. - 19 percent to the recreation center. - 15 percent for miscellaneous items. Ling said a joint board oversees the functions of the various branches of the Student Union. Each joint board has a degree of independence, but the Student Union is the first authority. The Union, however must answer to the CU Board of Regents. The CU Student Union's major concern is its relations with the administration, he said. "Our relationship with the administration is strained," he said. "We happen to be sitting on a large amount of money right now. The administration eyes the money like a wolf licking his chops." Fiscally conservative The Student Union is too fiscally conservative, Ling said. While the administration and the college itself are almost running a deficit," the Student Union has quite a reserve, he said. "We're a strong union," he said. "In terms of size and money we are one of the larger unions in the nation." According to Finance Director Alan Colowick, the Student Union has reserves of $1 million, of which $900,000 is earmarked for specific projects. The other $ 100,000 is just sitting there. . . Colowick said Ling's statement about having lots of money may be misleading. "There isn't very much just sitting around," he said. Some of the projects the money will be used for are renovation of the university's ice rink ($408,000), for mation of a student-run employment agency, and possibly a solar addition to the student union building. Continued on Page 14 - 1 , : -V" Mil 4 -ft J 1 jM-;v j i. . u 'J n i l' i r run mi ti minium i ii iff r - " r- n irnrrn n - Tin n in an mi i.nn i-tit -T -T-THiiiif -in-r"ni -iiiixr--irnrirrTiiiirr.nl- "rr mm ifi iiti n n r - - - -n ir -rnf 1 1 'im Staff Photo by Workers from the Peter Kiewit and Sons Co. enjoy the mild weather Wednesday while working on th husker Square project at 13 th Street between L and M streets. Davi Bnti the Corn- illiillilliiillM T. in ASUI'I races :j:;:::;pft::::j:- Ly Uric Peterson 1 The ASUH Sonata approved new ASUN electa i . rttks and tabled a nuclear freeze resolution at its ? stiag Wednesday night;, s - i Octoral CommMoaer Iswitfer Fager said the '"tM cfas were made in response to complaints, by UL students Dave Uumpsrd and Bill Hack taatCfssstt rules unfairly fevwt krge'partle? over h smsll ones, 1 " " - x ' v - v Mumped and Jrlack proposed i flat-rate limit -:qX $ amount partfe? could spend, resulting -fe-what flack called "the financL! euality of all partiss." The rules formed by the commission reduce the amount of money each senatorial candidate may spend from $50 to 525, arid increase what president ial candidates can spend from $200 to S250 Fager, said this would "c!e;o the pps somewhat' bctws?n small parties and hr3 ones with many senators il and Com.nittce of Fees Allocation candid-Ls. Muir,pard disagreed. Tliey (the rule cfunjw) don't ic.jlty deaf jhx st-rJficant tiling" .h$ rld, u'. tie pit, fcs parties that -spend the niost money vQ uin" id Flack insisted only a flat nts hi t pjrtis cou! J nuke elections fotr; A -rub prddbitin the fostial of ASUM ctcctica -rost?rs beifors a crtn d4t ?;?3Il;;:bat?d. Li?t spring a dispute occurred between Fagcr mi UNL Student Court abot whether Pager tcld sorr. candidates they could post their rasters before th ; datejn the election rule? The court asked for' Pager's resignation as electoral cominMoner k$i, spring with a charge of perjury after she dumped her testimony on the incident Faer said th& eonwUssion decided to eliminate the poster rule "for-obvious reasons, I guess. ; The nuclear freeze resolution, authored by Ssn, Frank Podany, called for "a mutual and verifiable system of freezing the teftmg, proiuction mi fur' ther deployment of nuclear warheads, rmssites.arsd ; othet delivery systems." J also called for reductions , In present levels of nuclear weapons on a mutual and verifiable basis. , - , - "There's enough overkill on nuclear weapons to' s make any more, redundant," Podany stfl Szn, Steve Gras2 questioned whether the tc tutiori directly concerns students, and Sen. TcJi Lebsack responded that th resolution la a student J concern bec2U& interested student vgrcups brou jit the Issue forward to the sencta, Sen. Merrill Warkentm $aJd the nuclear frets' , fciue-byltt very nature affects c.ryon?. . "Some issues are private iues and some are public issues," Warkentln said. - ' ; ASUN President Pan Vsd:k:r.d M or.sstt!.!. t, v had come to him to surest a different approach t j tn nuclear amsrace iwue, tnJ su;rsteJ fh? sr...;' wait until next semester in crJ;r to hoar both si. on the nuclear freeze question, v,,'A the z voted to do. I Zatechka pledges to keep a lid on housing costs By Jeff Goodwin Doug Zatechka, UNL director of housing, pledged Tuesday afternoon to hold housing costs as low as possible. lie spoke to a group of students in Selleck dining room. The event was one of the Food for Thought forums sponsored by the Residence Hall Association. "One of our goals has always been to hold room and board (costs) as low a? we can," Zatechka said. The Housing Office has attempted to keep costs low by cutting services and by finding new ways of generating revenue, he said. One method of generating revenue the Housing Office has turned to is the student refrigerator program. The Housing Office now owns the refrigerators that used to be provided by a rental company. The company continues to provide the ser vices needed. The Housing Office received $38,000 in commissions from the program, Zatechka said. Other sources of revenue for the Hous ing Office include the residence hall washers and driers, the snack bars and the vending machines found in the resi dence halls. Zatechka said the snack bars, after losing money in the 1979-80 school year, have shown a profit of more than $20,000 in each of the last two years. He said the commission from the vend ing machines has risen from 513,000 in 1978-79 to a projected total of about $40,000 for this year. The projected income from the washers and driers this year will be roughly $60,000, Zatechka said. He said housing has held down costs by saving money in non-essential areas. It has cut back on office equipment, cut water and steam usage and laid off some employees. Zatechka said .housing also has kept costs down by not resorting to a continu ation budget, a type of budget that keeps pace with the inflation rate. "We've tried to trail inflation," he said. "We've only allowed the budget to rise at the rate of about 3 or 4 percent." Zatechka said further budget cuts would be more noticeable to students. . "The next round of cuts will be cuts students don't want," he said. "We've run out of easy cuts. If we reduce certain food items, they'll see it. If we cut back the number of hours the reception desks are open, they'll notice that." The latest university budget cuts will not have as direct an impact on housing as they will on state-funded agencies, he said. "Everything in housing is self-generated." In spite of that, Zatechka said, housing will attempt to hold the line on budget increases. "Housing has an obligation, whether mandated by the Legislature or not, to hold down costs, he said. The forum was the second' sponsored by RHA at various residence halls. The last forum in the series is today at 4:30 in the Harper-Schramm-Smith back dining room.