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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
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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-
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in ASUI'I races
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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.