PT F'l itnri^l Nelwaskan
^ 8-' ® d I Thursday, November 17,198$
I NelSaskan
University of Nebraska-Uncoin
Cuit Wanner, Editor, 472-1766
Mike Reillcy, Editorial Page Editor
Diana Johnson, Managing Editor
Ixc Rood, Associate News Editor
Bob Nelson, Wire Page Editor
Andy Pollock, Columnist
Micki Haller, Entertainment Editor
ASUN revamping
Students would save money, gain control
A major restructuring of branches of the Association of
Students of the University of Nebraska was announced
by President Jeff Petersen Wednesday night.
The changes, restructuring in the Student Information
Center and the Government Liaison Committee as well as
other alterations, has not been implemented but would be
July 1, 1989, after ASUN Senate approval.
Petersen proposed changes which, as he and GLC chair
man Bryan Hill put it, would bring better student represen
tation to the student government. In essence, students would
have the strongest voices in deciding the direction of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The Daily Nebraskan, after much thought and discussion
with those individuals involved, agrees.
The GLC/SIC change wouldeliminate the positions of the
staff coordinator of GLC and SIC director, held by one
person. The current SIC secretary also would be dismissed.
A new position of a GLC/SIC secretary would be created,
leaving the coordination of those two offices to students.
The offices and student government will become a
stronger force because students are in control. Through
GLC, students will create the policies and programs for other
students and for the university. GLC will lobby at the
Nebraska Legislature as a student lobbying group.
A major problem concerning the DN is the compromising
of GLC’s lobbying effectiveness without a staff coordinator.
But the staff coordinator does not work directly with
legislators. It is more of a managerial position, according to
n . i i i<n
rcici 5>cii (tiiu mu.
‘it’s not a technical job,” Hill said. ”lt’s making sure
things (projects)getoffthe ground.’’Students, he said,could
handle the job.
Hill said he consults UNL’s professional lobbyists, ad
ministrators and professors when dealing with legislators.
He also said his experiences as a legislative intern and page
have helped him.
He said several UNL students have experience in the
Legislature, and many of them would be valuable to GLC.
GLC positions, he said, are very attractive to these students.
Possibly the most attractive part of the change is the money
students would save in their student fees. Petersen estimates
that $ 14,000 could be reduced i n A SU N ’ s budget without the
positions. ASUN draws its revenue from student fee money.
In his opening remarks, Petersen said that it was time
somebody took a stand against the rising costs of education.
He’sright. Its commendable Petersen is taking that stand first
by cutting the ASUN budget.
The changes, as sweeping as they may seem, will only
benefit UNL students and the university itself.
— C url Wagner
for the Daily Nebraskan
A voice from DN’s past
I had to smile to myself when I read
T.E. Graham’s description of Daily
Nebraskan columnist James Scnnett
(Daily Nebraskan, Nov. 4) as “cut
from the same far-right mold” as
William F. Buckley and Pat
Buchanan.
Oh, if it were so.
Even aside from Graham’s Mc
Carthyite verbiage (“far-right?” Why
not just “conservative?’ Not enough
possibility for smear?) the evidence
doesn’t support Graham’s conclu
sion.
During my tenure at the DN, I
always hoped Scnnett would finally
come around and contribute his voice
to the choir of reaction (in which I
sing, a little off-tune sometimes, but
always very heartily). Sad to say, in
spile of all my best efforts Senneti
insisted and still insists on being an
original, independent and eclectic
thinker beholden to no ideological
posture.
1 suppose a freshman can be ex
cused for this, not having the benefit
of reading Sennett’s work during the
four years he has been writing for the
DN (and for that scandalously liberal
evangelical rag, The Wittenburg
Door).
And yet, that Graham should glory
in his shame and throw oui such a
hilariously wild accusation is evi
dence only of this enduring principle:
The most bigoted are the most igno
rant. Tsk, tsk, Mr. Giaham.
Jim Rogers
Brown University
Providence, R J.
I BULL SHORTS I
I wanted to write this week about how
much I hate to see the big market football
teams (Chicago, New York, L.A.) week in and
week out. But how can I do that twhen there
is still such a terrible thing coming over our
air waves?
Sarah Thompson is still there. I was hoping
I could get them to stop the commercial, but
it seems they now are playing it more.
I make a personal challenge to all greeks,
residence halls and any individual to get
letter-writing campaigns going. Picket the
radio stations and Hinky Dinky. Apathy is
dead. Now we all have a common cause.
(i rad nation fears and fantasies
Pollock contemplates and concentrates on future, not present
1 apologize. An editorial colum
nist is supposed to read the
news and maintain a good
knowledge of current happenings. I
have not.
No, it’s not because I don’t have
the lime; 1 am not that bogged down in
schoolwork, at least not yet anyway.
It’s because 1 simply can’t concen
trate on things like current events.
Sure, I can keep up in my classes
(most of the lime), but lately, l just
haven’t been able to sit and read a
newspaper or watch Cable News
Network. 1 try. I sit down, stare at the
paper, and my mind wanders away. It
strays off worrying about what I want
to do with my life — something my
younger self (two weeks younger)
never did much of.
“No, not me. I’m usually stable
and content. I’m practical, I live day
to-day. OK, maybe 1 start thinking
about a test next week or a class next
semester.”
But this fall is different. I ’ m realiz
ing that practical is not just next week
or next semester or next year. Practi
cal is next... urn... the next 40 years.
Wow, that’s a long lime! And it really
frightens me, too. It’s discouraging to
envision myself as a 60-some-year
old, gray-haired idealist who isn’t
satisfied with life.
I’m not saying I’m unhappy now,
I’m just saying there are things that I
wanted to do but haven’t. But now, I
still have time to do them. In 40 years,
I probably won’t
What I am weighing are, on one
scale, my personal and societal goals,
and on the other scale, my profes
sional goals. About both I wish to
learn and enjoy, but. only about the
latter is my commitment necessary.
About the former, my commit
ment is necessary if I think and feel
that fulfilling these goals is an impor
tant part of happiness. Now, they arc
important and my desire to fulfill
them is real. I hope this attitude won’t
change tomorrow.
What arc my goals? Too many and
too weird to describe right here, pub
licly. But if you w ant to sit down for
a mug of beer or a cup of coffee
sometime I’ll tell you about some of
them.
Regardless of what they are, they
unfortunately will be placed on the
back burner, heating up occasionally.
But most of the time, they’ll be wait
ing and probably becoming less im
pelling and less effective in summon
ing my desire and ambition.
During my 4 1/2 years at the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoin, these
goals have sat on the back burner, idly
waiting lor Christmas breaks and
other free time when I can work on
them some more.
But now, I’m asking myself
whether I don’t have the time or
whether I don’t have the ambition to
fulfill these goals.
I think it’s lack of lime. I don’t
have the time to do a lot of things. 1
don' t have the time to read everything
I want about Thomas Jefferson or
Karl Marx, or by William l aulkner
and R.W. Emerson. I don’t have the
lime to write what I want to write. 1
don’t have the lime to worry about
what I want to worry about, or what I
have to worry about — like deciding
what I want to do with my life.
The problem is that I might never
have lime. And that scares me.
Finding a balance between per
sonal goals and professional necessi
ties appears to be very difficult. I’d
like to make enough money to be able
to live comfortably and then create
spare lime during which 1 could work
toward my own goals, which are tasks
for which I won’t gel paid much, if
anything.
I guess I’m loo much of a materi
alist to give up living comfortably.
Thai’s something that really bothers
me about myself. Why can’t I just live
with the bare i.ecessilies and do what
I want to do? Why does dr iving a car,
owning ahouse, having a book collec
tion and traveling seem to be essential
parts of my happiness?
I don’t think it’s inherent, but
rather I think it's a product of the
environment in which I live.
I hope that I don’t get so en
trenched in the fantasy of this envi
ronment that I forget my goals and
how bad it sometimes feels to know
that I’ve not fulfilled them yet.
I think my recent worries have
something to do with the fact that m
a little more than a month I ’ II graduate
from this university and step closer to
that big and mysterious foreign land
called “the real world ” I’m kind ol
scared by it all, if you can’t tell.
Pollock is a senior news-editorial major
and taaDnMy Nebraskan editorial columnist
