Editorial
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I Daily
Nebraskan
University of Nebraska-Lincoin
Amy Edwards, Editor, 472 1766
Lee Rood, Editorial Page Editor
Jane Hirt, Managing Editor
Biandon Loomis, Associate News Editor
Victoria Ayottc., Wire Page Editor
Dcannc Nelson, Copy Desk Chief
AS UN should try to make real changes
Apathy remains
a nd so begins another year at college.
Zlt This year, as in years past, there are sure to be
L ^several controversial campus issues.
Oftentimes the issues are complicated and confusing,
and the line between good and bad is a fine one. Other
times, however, the decisions are easy and the answers
clear.
There will be those who, in spite of ignorance, will
fight for change to make this university a better place.
And even in a pla<;e of enlightenment, there will be those
who will choose to stay in the dark - chasing moot
points, short-term solutions and wrong answers.
An example? *
Each year members of the Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska try to find ways to get more
students active in student government.
Truth is, most students these days just don’t care.
Nonetheless, ASUN’s current administration has made
fighting student apathy its No. 1 goal.
Second vice president Jon Burning said he would like
to see ASUN pursue more controversial issues to keep
students interested and involved.
That’s a backward approach. Burning should be trying
to address issues that matter to students, whether they are
controversial or not.
Besides, ASUN has tackled several controversial issues
in the past, and only a small, active minority has seemed
to care.
Perhaps if ASUN executives and senators spent more
time thinking up truly new and creative ideas to solve the
problems students face, more people would become
involved.
It’s not the lirst time ASUN members have beaten a
dead horse.
Remember the ASUN book exchange? Senators de
cided last year to organize a file system in the ASUN
office so that students could list books they wanted to buy
or sell. They went ahead with the system even though a
similar exchange failed five years ago.
Tyler CorrelT, the senator who wrote the exchange
legislation, said when the system began last fall,
“Whether nine people or 90 people use it, it’s here to
stay.”
ASUN scrapped the exchange this1 year because of lack
of interest.
' History should have told senators that a.) if students are
apathetic and b.) a previous exchange failed, it is highly
unlikely that students will venture into the ASUN office,
fill out a card listing the books they have to sell and wait
for a call, when they can wander into the bookstore and
exchange them in a matter of five minutes.
So they finally nixed the exchange, but then they
replaced it with another equally empty campaign promise
- the student hotline.
Wise up, guys. Students aren’t likely to use the AJUN
Student Complaint Hotline senators are implementing this
semester.
The hotline is supposed to give students a chance to
talk about campus issues and work with ASUN members
to solve problems, according to Bruning.
Students had the same opportunity to voice concerns at
the constituent meetings senators advertised last year. Few
showed up.
And what makes a hotline any different than ASUN’s
regular phone number? If students wanted to contact *
ASUN about something, they would.
This year, maybe ASUN senators will start making
some real changes instead of opting few empty legislation
just because it’s easy to implement
•> ter Rood
for the Daily Nebraskan
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Schooltime resolutions fall prey to procrastination in first week
Good intentions doomed at start
s everyone knows this is the
first week of school.
It’s like New Years, be
cause most people make resolutions
for the rest of the year during the first
week of the fall semester. The resolu
tions usually are doomed from the
beginning, but, optimistically, we
continue to make them every year.
Our usual promises include school
work, exercise, money, parking tick
ets, etc. Be responsible, we tell our
selves. Don’t put them off.
But when we try to own up to these
responsibilities, we stumble over
procrastination.
Procrastination describes proba
bly 90 percent of all college students.
Obviously, it’s not a foreign word to
most of us - we find it in every aspect
of our life.
We need to recognize how danger
ous procrastination can be to college
students. It’s like some slick virus
that spreads across the campus -- a
communicable disease.
Remember the library book you
haven’t relumed, the parking permit
you haven ’ tpicked up, the tickets you
haven’t paid. Watch out. They’ll tow
you and you’ll have to pay for that,
too.
Do you have to subject yourself to
good times at general registration
because you blew off registering last
spring?
Yeah, me too.
So cut it out. Get it done on time.
Somebody stop the procrastination.
Sounds like your mom when you
were 10 years old and didn’t want to
clean your room.
But if you really arc sick of the
problems procrastination causes, the
first week of school is the time to do
something about it.
To combat the epidemic, I was
thinking of starting a support group
called, “Procrastinators are People
Too." But most people would rather
deny their problems than admit they
need help.
So 1 decided instead to identify the
stages of procrastination, making the
problem easy to recognize early so
we can change our ways immcdi
ately.
Stage 1.- The “I’ll get it done but
I still have a week” stage. This stage
is probably the most common stage
and possibly the most deadly. If this
one is caught in time, there’s still
hope. Unfortunately, this stage is al
together too obvious for the normal
person to catch, and the cure for it
hasn't been found.
Stage 2. - The "I’m not in the
mood now but I’m sure I will be
later” stage. Let’s not fool ourselves
into believing that there is a time and
a place that we will want to study bio
nuclear chemistry. Realistically,
there is going to be a fight anytime we
try to read numbers written like a
novel.
I---U
The key is realizing that there is no
time like the present. You must con
tinue to think that it will be over soon.
Open the book, get in the right frame
of mind and glue your eyelids open.
Stage 3. — The “I’d do it now but
there’s a great party tonight and if I
get all the fun out of my system now.
I’ll doa belter job, but if I don’t go, all
I’ll think about is the fun I could be
having” stage.
There is definitely a realistic solu
tion to this stage. Study during the
day. Pay your parking ticket after
class. Get things done during the lime
when you usually take your party
nap. Chances arc when you finish
your paper you will receive such a
natural high from getting something
done for once, that the party nap
won’t be so essential. You’ll be able
to go out with enough energy to stay
up all night and sleep through your
bio-nuclear chemistry class tomor
row.
Stage 4. — The “I work well under
pressure stage. This stage is possi
bly the scariest stage because it pres
ents a somewhat believable excuse. I
realize that there are a great deal of
students out there who can do well
under pressure, but there is a differ
ence between that extra push and
simply running out of time. Don’t do
this to yourself. Get it done now.
Stage 5. — The “Everyone else is
blowing it off so why shouldn’t I”
stage. This is, by all means, the most
deceiving of the six stages. Why?
Because blowing off something to
one person can mean they only have
three-fourths of it done, and blowing
something off to you and I can mean
starting our work two hours before
class.
Realize this early, before u s loo
late. Usually the people who told you
they were so far behind are the ones
who come up to you the next day and
tell you how much fun they had the
night before while you sit and sulk.
Stage 6. - The “I hale myself
because I have run out of time so I
will take it out on my friends then
suddenly I have all the time in the
world because 1 have no friends”
stage.
This stage involves side effects
including depression, nausea, severe
weight gain, insomnia and a large
decline in the number of your friends.
When you have hit stage six, you
have finally hit rock bottom. So you
ask yourself, “Where can I go from
here? Is there any way out?”
My solution is start now. On the
first day of school if your teacher
assigns five pages, read them. It’s
going to add up and suddenly be 105
pages. If you have a parking ticket,
pay it now. There’s no worse feeling
than walking out to your car and see
ing it jacked up on a tow truck.
Trust me. If you gel it done now,
you can live up to the incredible so
cial life you always dreamed of hav
ing as a college student at the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln, and you II
be a much happier, healthier person
in the end.
Kim Beavers is a senior advertising major
and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
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