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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1989)
-QPPFkeaM?~ Students react toASUN, RHA actions Students deserve to have a voice Now that the ASUN election sea son is well under way, we students are once again hearing the same old talk about the same old issues. One perennial topic -- student apathy -- kept popping up at the AS UN-sponsored debate last Thurs day. As the candidates offered their solutions to the problem of apathy, I was reminded of a conversation I had once with a friend of mine, an off campus student who was then about to graduate. “Don’t you understand?” he asked. “We like it this way. We don’t care if the greeks run ASUN. ASUN doesn’t do anything, so the greeks can’t screw anything up for the rest of us.” After some time, it occurred to me that he had a point. And the problem with all the current ASUN student election groups is that none of them nave quite gia^pou uus pumi. The power of AS UN as an institu tion is severely limited. It has no direct control over the allocation of student fees, save to make recom mendations to the university admini stration and the NU Board of Re gents. It has no actual vote on the board, only as an ex-officio vote, which is not counted when the board’s decisions are made. It can only offer advice when dealing with policies affecting the Nebraska Union, residence hall visi tation and a host of other issues. The net result of all this is that students become apathetic, seeing student government as irrelevant to their lives and their educations. Indeed, why should they vote, if those whom they elect wield little actual power? This is the fundamental question which next year’s ASUN president must deal with. The problem with student apathy lies not in a lack of communications between ASUN and the student body, as some candidates have suggested. The students of this campus know quite well what ASUN does. The real problem is that we have a castrated student government, rendered impotent by a lack of real decision-making power. 1 challenge the presidential candi dates to deal with this problem and to offer twin agendas of empowerment and inclusion. The student body of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln must be allowed to hold real power in the university decision-making proc ess. They should be able to control the allocation of their own student fees. They should have a vote — a real vote - on the NU Board of Regents. They should be able to make binding decisions affecting Nebraska Union administration and other areas of student concern. ASUN has made some progress this year in terms of both empower ment and inclusion. It got the ex officio regent vote, which is better than nothing. It has made a clear nffr\rt i ai/a! % - A nAn oroob onH mi. nority students in the campus politi cal process. But much more needs to be done. Next year’s student regent should work toward a real vote, and real power. Next year’s executives and senators should begin to place non-greek and minority students not only on the senate and (he various advisory boards, but in real positions of importance -- committee chair manships, the Speaker’s position, and the Government Liaison Com mittee chairmanship, just to name a few. / We as students have become so resigned to our present lot that we have lost our vision and desire for change. While campaigning for president in 1968, Robert Kennedy used to end his speeches with a remark para phrased form the playwright George Bernard Shaw. “Some men sec things as they arc, and ask why,” he said. ‘‘I dream things that never were, and ask why not.” It is time for student leaders to transcend the boundaries of the cur rent debate. It is time for them to dream. Brian Svoboda AS UN senator College of Arts and Sciences Students question editorial comments In response to Amy ‘‘The De nouncer” Edwards’ editorial con cerning RH A, we would like to make a few remarks (DN, March 6). First, and most obvious, this edito rial is the type of unfocused and one sided journalism we have all come to expect from the Daily Nebraskan’s editorial page. It seems that Edwards arrived at the conclusion that she has tKa n/MiiAf /lAnAiinAA «■ ■ V*,-v 1 W»V |/vv*vt w UVUUUIIVV TTIIV/IV V'^UUl zations on the basis of a single inci dent, an incident which needs no defending. How does one get li censed to denounce? For those who don’t know, RHA discussed the expenditure of $13.05 at Burger King by one of its commit tees. The discussion lasted approxi mately 45 minutes, not the4 ‘majority of the meeting,’ ’ as Edwards wrote in her editorial. The editorial you wrote, which excommunicated RHA from ail of UNL, is the longest work de voted to RHA in the DN this year. Edwards humorously called RHA a “comedy club with nothing better to do on Thursday nights ...” The true humor is that Edwards was not in attendance at this meeting and, to our knowledge, has never been to an RHA meeting. Hence, it appears hei entire vindictive editorial tyas written on second-hand knowledge. More humor . . . President Koubsky was only half quoted in Edwards’ edito rial. While he did know about the committee’s meeting place, he didn’t realize they’d be spending RHA funds. So, what we have is an editor denouncing RHA on the basis of a 45 min te discussion that was legiti mate; hardly reproachful. With one of us being a former editorial editor, it seems appropriate to teach Edwards a lesson: Use a wide angle lens when composing editorials, not a narrow minded approach. Explore both sides of the issue and place it in proper context. RHA ran a successful All Resi dence Hall Open Forum (ARHOF) last fall, has become an active mem ber in the National Association of College and University Residence Halls, staffed and maintained a suc cessful office, published the “Sen ate” and “Hallways” newsletters, and was active in Alcohol Awareness Week. Moreover, RHA continued to represent its constituents by deliver ing the housing rate studv. under the guidance of chairman Doug Breuer, and by creating an Alcohol Aware ness Task Force. Unlike Edwards, I do realize that there are two sides to this issue. The senate has indeed become more de bate-oriented. Yes, it does seem that $13.05 is nothing to become “furi ous” about, but the amount, the committee, and the act, in and of itself, are not the true issues here, as you strive to make it seem to be. We call upon you to acknowledge us for our fiscal accountability. Don’t state that we merely follow the lead of the Association of Students of the Uni versity of Nebraska for it seems they followed our lead on the polling site issue. Don’t say that we rehash old issues year after year when, indeed, we offered ARHOF to our constitu ents, a great innovation for this uni versity. In fact, now we’re convinced that a topic at the next ARHOF should be the Daily Nebraskan and editors who take it upon themselves to denounce entire societies who are working for the good of their constituents. To use your own words: “If Miss Edwards would start acting like a responsible journalist, students would start respecting her like,one.” We’ve earned respect, and we’ll be damned if your failing as a respon sible journalist is going to jeopardize that. Marc Shkolnick RHA vice president Larry Koubsky RHA president Editor’s Note: The Residence Hal! Association,, like any other public body, is open to criticism when it does something worthy of criticism. In its news sections, any newspaper’s responsibility is to print unbiased and balanced ar ticles, as the Daily Nebraskan does. But on the editorial page — an opin ion page » a newspaper expresses its views, and does not need to pres ent the other side. The DN does this, and will continue to do so. Edwards has lived in the resi dence halls, and covered RHA as a beat reporter for a semester. The DN reports on RHA every week. editfl^l_Z Signed staff editorials represent the official policy of the fall 1988 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its members are Curt Wagner, editor; Amy Edwards, editorial page editor; Jane Hirt, managing editor; Lee Rood, associate news editor; Lisa Donovan, columnist; Diana Johnson, wire page editor; and Chuck Green, copy desk chief. According to policy set by the re gents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student editors. ft Now through March 31st, when you buy 3 i an Apple* computer system, you not only get a powerful, versatile, and easy-to-use computer, you get something extra. You get cash rebates of up to $800 per system during the Apple Pays Half promotion Because when you buy a qualifying Macintosh* computer system', Apple will send you a rebate for up to half the suggested retail price of select Apple-branded peripherals you purchase * It's simple Buy a qualifying Apple system, add on a peripheral, and Apple sends you a check. What better way to get everything you need—all in one trip. So hurry in for further details about Apple Pays Half, going on right now through March 31st. Because extra help from us can help you get a lot of extras. 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