Thursday, January 29, 1987
Daily Nebraskan
Pane 3
"RnT TfTfi) TT rz
But callers don
By Jen Deselms
Senior Reporter
Although it will take a vote from
students to change the name of ASUN
to UNL Student Government, the
organization has been answering its
phones "student government" since
December.
Marlene Beyke, ASUN director of
development, said callers often couldn't
understand what was being said when
the phones were answered, so changing
to "student government" was less con
fusing. The experiment in phone answering
came about the same time as a bill to
change ASUN's name formally, but
there were different reasons behind
the two actions.
ASUN Sen. Erin Brisben, bill spon
sor, said vagueness is the current name
and the "undesirable acronyms" it can
form were reasons behind the formal
name change proposal.
ASUN, Associated Students of the
University of Nebraska, presents a pic-
ture of the entire university, Brisben
said.
Brisben said the name shows what
t he group represents, but not w hat it is.
Robert Sittig, UNL professor of polit
ical science, said "association" implys
a private lobbying group and is a com
jnon term for groups as they try to
organize politically.
; ASUN President Chris Scudder said
both names are descriptive of the
organization, but the group is probably
more government than anything else;
ASUN decisions must be. approved
,by the university administration, Scud
tier said, so ASUN. has less power than
an actual government. But the organi
zation has elected members and has a
government-like structure. . . ,
Changing the name would remedy
the inconsistency between, the formal
name and how the phones are ans
wered, Brisben said.
However, the proposed name change
will not solve the problem of ..other
acronyms being created by students.
When abbreviated UNLSG, the letters
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"t understand it
can be manipulated to spell "LUNGS"
or "SLUNG."
"I think Pd rather have SLUNG be
our problem than ANUS," Brisben said.
It wasn't acronyms but apathy that
led to the creation of ASUN in 19G5
when the old Student Council system
was abolished.
In March 1965, students voted 1,333
to 335 to create a new three-branched
government to be called ASUN.
John Lydick, an Omaha attorney who
was president of the last UNL Student
Council in 1965, helped restructure the
constitution to create ASUN. Lydick
said students were apathetic about
voting for their Student Council repre
sentatives because the council was
seen as a fraternity-run organization.
To combat student apathy, the new
constitution changed the election rules
requiring representatives from each
college. It also required that the presi
dent be elected by the student body
instead of the council.
"We felt we made progress," Lydick
said, because voter t urnout increased.
Lydick said they chose ASUN after
looking at several other university
governments and finding the words
"association" or "associated" widely
used. He said the name showed that
the students were representing the
student body.
Gerard Keating,' 1985-86 ASUN pres
ident, said he didn't see any reason to
break a 20-year tradition. '
"A group should show consistency,'?
Keating said, "Changing names some
times- shows some instability?' '
Support the
Of) March of Dimes
220 N. 10th
3814
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1
co ngii'c smi-semmc extremis
By Andy Jacobitz
Staff Reporter
Bigotry and intolerance are
present in the Midwest and radical
extremists arc still here, said Danny
LevRas, research director for Prairie
fire, a non-profit rural education
a:; J advocacy organisation, Wed
na?;y r.if.M tt the A Crisis seminar
in the Eaat Union.
Levitas s-rld through his work he
has seen bah a "qualitative z:i
qualitative increase in racist ar.i
anti scr.itic activity," in the farm
communities.
The Midwest is not specifically
inert: intolerant than any other area
of the nation but due to economic
conditions, farmers are vulnerable
to ik rsuxsion by anti -Semitic groups,
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in the
Chartroose Caboose
. 1321 "O"
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we sell it cheap!
35
Longneck Schlitz
Thursday IMites
at the
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BE THERE!
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237 S. 70th
1 j'co.A
.'"armers neea
he said.
The extremist message says the
farmers are not to blame for farm
problems, but a greater internation
al undermining scheme by minorities
causes the crisis, Levitas said. These
minorities are purported to be
threatening the white, Protestant,
.'superior' race, Levitas said.
He said the groups are using
hateful, fascist propaganda which
setae people are accepting.
Levitas identified several groups
as being anti-semitic including the
Posse Comitatus. He also said people
such as the Rev. Everett Siieven
"shares a platform with those who
speak about a race war."
Sileven provides a vehicle for
recruitment for these other groups
by cooperating with their members,
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STORE
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he said.
Levitas said to fight these groups,
we need to identify them and to
speak out against them.
He also said we need to create
viable alternative for the agricul
tural community to offer them an
opportunity for public participation
for change.
We need to show farmers that
black, Jewish and other minority
groups are lobbying and supporting
farm relief legislation, Levitas said.
The Farm Crisis seminar, spon
sored by Farm Action Concerns
Tomorrows Society (FACTS), meets
each Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in the
City Union and 4 p.m. in the East
Union. Students and faculty are
invited to participate in both
sessions.
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