Tuesday, January 27, 1987
Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
Nebrayskan
University o( Nebraska-Lincoln
Changes evaluated
Advice to Scudder on vetos
What's in a name? Enough
to make the Association
of Students of the Univer
sity of Nebraska (ASUN) change
its name to UNL Student Govern
ment. At the Daily Nebraskan we
call them UNLSG now. Unless
ASUN (oops) UNLSG president
Chris Scudder vetoes the bill.
And why change it? Scudder
said for clarity. People not famil
iar with the university didn't
know what ASUN was or stood
for. Senators also were tired of
students rearranging its letters
to form a variety of undesirable ,
acronyms.
There is nothing wrong with
ASUN wanting to change its name.
In fact, it's a nice change of
pace. Only ASUN should not use
the words "student government"
because it isn't a student gov
ernment. Scudder even said that
ASUN is run like a government
but without governing powers.
The DN editorial page editor,
Jim Rogers, racked his memory
and recalled that three former
ASUN presidents, Renee Wessels,
Rick Mockler and Dan Wede
kind, did not consider ASUN a
student government. Each one
said that ASUN was a "service
organization."
And that is precisely what it
is. Scudder said she wasn't sure
if she was going to veto the bill.
Wi urge her to. It appears the
senate made a hasty choice in
choosing a new name.
We also would like to urge
Scudder to reconsider vetoing
the controversial alcohol bill.
ASUN voted to advocate serving
alcohol at ASUN installations.
Scudder said she will veto the
bill for two reasons: She didn't
like the clause dealing with
attendance by invitation only,
and she felt the bill undermines
the research of the alcohol com
Building rec center
would be best solution
The article "Hofmeister proposes to
open pools" (Daily Nebraskan, Jan. 22)
has some serious misconceptions and
facts that must be clarified.
First, the article leaves a great deal
of ambiguity in the nature and spon
sorship of the two proposals menti
oned. There were actually two distinct
proposals offered; one was presented to
Vice Chancellor John Goebel by the
University Pool Committee on possible
Guest Opinion
solutions to the swimming pool availa
bility crisis this campus is currently
experiencing. The second was my indi
vidual proposal, which was also incor
porated in the University Pool commit
tee's proposal above, and was offered to
Chancellor Martin Massengale in early
December before the welcomed news
of a new student recreation center,
concerning the possibility of opening
parts of the Bob Devaney Sports Com
plex to students, faculty and staff to
handle some of the load of this cam
pus's recreational needs.
It further needs to be clarified,
because we are now in a historic time
of actually seeing the light at the end of
the tunnel, and finally escaping from
the very bottom of the Big Eight in
Jeff Korbolik, Editor, 472-1766
James Rogers, Editorial Page Editor
Lise Olson, Associate Nctrs Editor
Mike Heilley, Night News Editor
Joan Rezar, Copy Desk Chief
mittee formed last semester.
True, the installation should
be open to everyone, but the bill
would not undermine the commit
tee. If anything, it would proba
bly help more than hinder. The
bill shows that the students are
serious about taking a look at
the alcohol policy.
Last semester the DN carried
an editorial criticizing the Board
of Regents for allowing alcohol
in the Bob Devaney Sports Cen
ter for Gov. Kay Orr's inaugural
ball. We said that if the regents
can allow alcohol for this func
tion, an event such as ASUN
installation should also be al
lowed alcohol.
Finally, Scudder said she is
not going to veto the bill to add a
gaylesbian survey to ASUN's
electoral ballot. Good and bad
points here. Question two of the
three-question survey appears to
be the only substantial quest ion.
It reads: "Do you favor the fund
ing of a gaylesbian council with
student fees?" A viable question
since it affects all students.
However, question one, "Are you
a homosexual," gives students a
chance to misrepresent them
selves on the ballot. Last year
ASUN ran into trouble when stu
dents marked themselves as
Native Americans. The "harm
less joke" ended up embarrassing
several people.
Question three, "Would you
attend the events of such a
council," would be hard to an
swer because students are not
familiar with the programming
that would be available.
Scudder also said she felt
questions one and three were
not pertinent, but left them on
the ballot at the urging of the
GayLesbian Student Associat ion.
The DN hopes students take
the questions seriously.
recreational facilities, that we praise
ASUN for their continual work on this
issue and the Athletic Department for
t heir accepting a surcharge on football
tickets to make possible this project.
In no way am I advocating that we
(the students) start to pay homage to
the Athletic Department for their
amazing deed, but to simply appreciate
their efforts to afford students the pos
sibility of a new and warranted recrea
ton center without dipping into the
state coffers.
It should be further noticed that it is
not my contention or the intent of
ASUN to push with vigor for the open
ing of the Devaney Center w hen a new
recreational center for UNL is just
around the corner. This is not to say
that I or ASUN will drop the issue of
open Devaney use, but at this time and
under these most favorable conditions
for students it would be best to
accomplish completely one major leap
for students before the extensive nego
tiations of another.
A recreational center for students,
faculty and staff is certainly in the best
interest of our university community,
and now is the time to make this long
awaited necessity tangible.
Dan. J. Hofmeister
junior
journalismpolitical science
Wliat's wlnatciiamacalliiL nap to?
Student-council decisions combine the good, bad and ugly
Last week the UNL student council
(whatever they may be calling
themselves this week) was subject
to an inexplicable and probably acute
spasm of decisiveness that took
every one, especially the senators them
selves, by surprise.
They changed their name. It's no
longer ASUN: It's UNL Student Govern
ment now. Apparently the senators
were tired of hearing their organization
referred to as ANUS, (of course, you can
still call them that if you feel it fits it
just won't be quite as funny now).
Overall, the name change was a good
idea Student Government is unambig
uous and dignified, and nobody will
answer "gesundheit" when you say it
out loud.
Their next idea wasn't so good. A bill
was passed calling for three questions
to appear on this spring's Student
Government (can I call it UNLSG yet?
Thank you.) ballet designed to gauge
support for the proposed gaylesbian
committee. The questions are:
Are you a homosexual?
ODo you favor the funding of a
gaylesbian committee with student
fees?
OWould you attend the events of
such a council?
I have the least problem with
question two, since I'm always in favor
of giving students a voice in how their
money is to be spent. In the case of
such a controversial proposal as this,
though, I think there are issues of
freedom and justice that should take
precedence over even the most vocifer
ous mass disapproval. (Assumning i uch
disapproval even exists.)
Question three is rather amazingly
dumb, since nobody has any idea yet
w hen the events of this highly tentative
committee would be. All this question
really asks is: "Are you already pre
prejudiced about the events of such a
Letters
Projects and programs defended
Nursing program
shouldn't be axed
In response to the editorial "Cutting
Necessary, Amputation Beats Bloodlet
ting," (DN, Jan. 20), I would like to
point out the irony in the example used
by the Daily Nebraskan. The DN stated
that "it's not as though Roskens is say
ing these are the most expendable pro
grams at NU." If these are not the most
expendable, then why are they being
cut? The Lincoln campus of the College
of Nursing is one of the programs that
is "not the most expendable" but has
been targeted by Roskens for elimination.
Some people in Nebraska may not
realize that the Lincoln campus of the
College of Nursing is not a separate
school but an extension of the UNMC
College of Nursing. We have one dean,
one administration and one curricu
lum. To eliminate the nursing program
on the Lincoln campus would be to cut
one-third of the students and faculty of
the College of Nursing at a time w hen a
severe shortage of highly skilled nurses
is developing. There is an actual shor
tage of skilled nurses in southeastern
Nebraska at the present time. Accord
ing to the American Nurses Associa
tion, baccalaureate-prepared nurses will
be in demand by 1990.
The Lincoln campus of the College of
Nursing provides an opportunity to RN
students who wish to further their edu
cation with a baccalaureate (four-year)
degree and to undergraduates for edu
cation in a traditional university setting.
The Lincoln campus serves Lincoln
by providing student nurses in com
munity agencies, hospitals, doctor's
offices, public schools, retirement cen
ters, short-term care facilities and the
American Red Cross.
The DN also stated, "But his (Ros
kens) main duty is to preserve the
vitality of NU as an entire entity. And if
a toe or a finger must be cut off to
council?" If lots of students answer
"no" to question three, I think that s a
pretty good indication that this campus
is in desperate need of a positive,
organized and sanctioned gaylesbian
organization.
And question one is simply incredibly
offensive. The only possible answer to
this question, even on an unsigned
ballot, is "none of your damn business."
Ex-ASUN speaker Jerry Roemer said
that the questionnaire will only either
be manipulated or ignored. He's right.
Chris
McCubbin
Hopefully this bigoted abortion of a bill
will never see the light of day, but if it
does pop up on the ballot it should
definitely be manipulated. I call upon
every open-minded individual on this
campus, regardless of sexual preference,
to answer "yes" to question one.
It's rather surprising that Doug
Weems, the same senatorwho sponsored
the above-mentioned atrocity, came up
with one of the very, very few undis
putably excellent ideas to come out of
the whatchamacallit senate in a recent
memory. Weems proposed a bill stating
that alcohol should be served at the
UNLSG installation an annual UNLSG
event that takes place on campus.
The UNL alcohol policy provides for
alcohol to be served at certain organized
functions. According to the letter of
the policy, the UNLSG installation
should be such a function. Traditionally,
however, permission has only been
given to serve alcohol at events which
prevent disease in the entire body,
much as we're attached to the toe, it's
better that it goes." But anyone in the
health field knows you just don't go
around chopping off toes and fingers.
The Lincoln campus of the College of
Nursing is a good, viable toe. Cut the
ones that have gangrene. Better yet,
why not get to the heart of the problem
and perform a triple bypass on the cen
tral administration?
Jennifer Acker
junior, BSN
nursing
No tuition perks
for UNL coaches
I was pleased to read the editorial
dealing with the proposed new benefit
package that would allow tuition-free
attendance for children of certain
employees. My first thought when I
read the original proposal, which tar
geted faculty, administrators and
coaches, was: "Why coaches?" I think
A line personnel, who already receive a
slightly different benefit package than
other employees, would be the logical
dividing line. A call to the Athletic
Department's business office confirmed
that not all coaches have A line
appointments. But LB157 does not dif
ferentiate; it simply lumps all coaches
together.
Coaches are already well-compensated
for their contributions to this
university. Many excellent professors
have served Nebraskans for decades in
their respective disciplines, only to
retire at half the pay of a new basket
ball coach!
Priority should be placed upon
retaining current and recruiting new
good professors and administrators.
Sen. Jim McFarland's original proposal
minus the coaches (or at the very
least, those who are not A line)
should be supported by all who care
either exclude students entirely or
appeal to a much lower percentage of
students than non-students.
Weem's proposal is designed to
conclusively test whether students
actually have the same rights as non
students on this campus. It's an
example of Student Government taking
a firm stand and going out on a limb for
the interests of the student body two
things that our fearless leaders have
not been remarkable for.
Of course, in the wake of this
courageous action there's massive
willies in the ranks of UNLSG and a
strong desire to wimp out. UNLSG
president Chris Scudder has promised
to veto this excellent bill, justifying her
gutlessness with the unbelievably weak
and pathetic excuse that if Weems
wanted to make a statement he should
have done just that.
For far too long ASUN has been
issuing empty statements that the real
powers of this university can all too
easily ignore. The issue at hand is
minor but vitally important to the
whole issue of students' rights. Scudder
and many of the UNLSG senators seem
to assume that this perfectly reasonable
and legal request will be contemptu
ously rejected out of hand by the
regents. If the regents are indeed
capable of such a blatantly discrimin
atory action, I want to know about it.
Of course it may not happen that way
at all. Somewhat to my surprise, I seem
to have a considerably higher opinion
of the Board of Regents than most of
the UNL Student Government. I think
it more likely that, when presented
with this request, the regents will
respond, "Sure, kids. Have fun. Make
sure you card everyone, OK?"
This bill is a chance for UNLSG, and
maybe the Board of Regents as well, to
regain some much-needed confidence
of the students of UNL.
about quality education, research and
service from our university. I say t his as
one who would potentially benefit if
the package were broadened to include
B-line personnel, since I agree with the
editorial's comment: "But how many
institutions are going to bid away the
director of Publications and Campus
Postal Services?"
Pamela J. Murray
administraive assistant
AGNET
Athletic Department
help commended
As a concerned student of the uni
versity, I would like to vocalize my sup
port for the proposed campus recrea
tion center indoor practice facility.
This project will greatly enhance the
recreational facilities available to all
students, and it is one that will posi
tively impact the quality of student life
at UNL.
The current state of university
recreational facilities makes this pro
ject both timely and necessary. Cer
tainly, it comes as welcome news to
those of us that frequently utilize pres
ent university facilities.
The application of Athletic Depart
ment revenue to a non-Athletic De
partment project, the campus rec cen
ter in this case, is a unique opportunity
that will significantly benefit the uni
versity student body. The Athletic
Department's willingness to lend its
support to this project is not only
commendable, but indeed it makes
such a significant undertaking a pos
sibility. The campus rec centerindoor prac
tice facility represents the caliber of
recreational facility that UNL deserves.
It's an addition that I heartily support.
Bryan Robertson
senior
business