Editorial
Amy Edwards, Editor, 472-1766
_ ISaLLy ^ Lee Rood, Editorial Page Editor
\T n.-%. -m ^ ^ I ^ ^ Jane Hirt, Managing Editor
I P [I FhS Iv Tl Brandon Loomis, Associate News Editor
X ^ ^ L/A WO XV UXI Brj an Svobod> columnist
Editorial Board Bob Nelson, Columnist
Univaralty of Nebraska-Unooln Jerry Guenther, Senior Reporter
Put up or shut up
Speak on real issues ASUN, or not at all
For years, ASUN senators have pleaded with Univer
sity of NebTaska-Lincoln students to become more
active in their student government They’ve formed
committees, they’ve gone door to door, they’ve tried just
I about anything to get students to take an interest in the
“prestigious” Association of Students of the University
of Nebraska.
Similarly, those same ASUN senators often go home at
the end of the school year puzzled and disappointed. Why
do only a handful of students show up at their Wednesday
night meetings? And why, when they finally manage to
turn campaign promises into reality, do students fail to
support their great ideas? Why can’t they shake this
burdensome reputation of being a greek-dominated
organization?
Maybe ASUN senators would better understand their
failures if they took a seat in the audience at a meeting
one evening (there’s plenty of room) and witness the
ASUN experience through the eyes of an average student.
Those who venture into student government meetings
year after year know that, while the faces may change,
ASUN remains jhe^ame « a virtually powerless, ill-fo
cused, cumber**#® underrepresentative voice of the stu
dent population.
Unfortunately, it continues.
Wednesday night, 24 ASUN senators gathered to
discuss such important issues as supporting alcohol in the
Reunion and the ever-controversial student regent vote.
I (There are supposed to be 35 senators, but, par for the
course, some senators have either quit or did not attend
the meeting.)
Senators found time to quit talking amongst themselves
long enough to pass a resolution in support of a beer
license for the Reunion after an appeal from David
Hunter, president of the Hardy Building Corp. In the
aftermath of their hasty decision, however, senators
decided to send the resolution back to committee.
Later, before unanimously passing a bill asking the
Government Liaison Committee to lobby in support of a
student regent vote on the NU Board of Regents, Sen. Jeff
Hubka offered an interesting amendment.
Hubka said that if ASUN “is not truly able to represent
the students through a student vote, ASUN will consider
dissolution until students are given direct influence in
their government.**
i ne amendment iauea, ot course, out with a little worn,
Hubka’s idea may not have been such a bad one.
Maybe a better amendment would have been: “until
| students are given direct influence in their government,
* ASUN should dissolve.”
Since August, ASUN has considered 12 senate bills.
Five of those bills were rubber-stamp endorsements of
student organizations. Very few of the remaining bills
demand serious action to address student concerns.
In addition, senators have failed to find time to repre
sent their constituents at important events such as Project
i Excel’s Oct. 14 March Against Drugs. Initially, an ASUN
bill asked for five senators to attend the march. One
ASUN executive attended.
However, at last night’s meeting several ASUN sena
tors volunteered their time to sit in a booth and monitor
I Homecoming royalty votes.
ASUN senators should quit wasting their time and
students’ money mulling over moot legislation. If they
truly want to be a voice for the students then they should
speak strongly on issues that matter. If not, why speak at
a,1? *« Lee Rood
llu * for the Daily Nebraskan
■MMnMnBnHnnMHnHHMr
isttefan
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BUSH’S NEWEST CIA TEAMING PLAN
Homecoming reeks of greeks
Independents should
Homecoming.
A week of culture filled with
plays, music and talent
shows. A weekend of festivities
chock-full of pep rallies, parades and
floats. A Saturday football game at
tended, it seems, by a larger-than
usuai number of little old men in red
polyester blazers and Big Red alpine
caps.
Like most people, I’m no Scrooge.
I enjoy the atmosphere of Homecom
ing — the talent shows, the floats and
the music. I can even tolerate the little
old men. But there is one thing even I
cannot handle.
The royalty.
As even the smallest child knows,
in the fall almost every college and
university in America crowns a
Homecoming king and queen.
It has become a college tradition
to elect and crown a well-scrubbed,
attractive man and woman for no
apparent reason, except that they are
supposed to best represent the values
Anri Hivprcilv nf th^ir crK/v\l
Bui at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Homecoming is tradition
run amok. The king and queen are
inevitably well-scrubbed and attrac
tive, but they fail to represent the
values and diversity of their univer
sity.
Unlike the vast majority of their
fellow students, the king and queen
almost always are members of frater
nities and sororities.
This year is no exception. Hell, the
greek system even has a lock on the
contests. Out of 18 nominees for
Homecoming royalty this year, all of
them belong to a fraternity or soror
ity.
And the story gets even better. Of
the six members of this year’s Home
coming royally committee (the one
that selected the 18 greek candi
dates), five of them were members of
fraternities and sororities.
And four greek houses field mul
tiple candidates for the Homecoming
prize. Chi Omega Sorority leads the
pack with three.
Now I’m not one to buy into con
spiracy theories. Unlike others, I
always believed Lee Harvey Oswald
__• _ 1_
‘ vote with a vengeanc
acted alone. When I was a little kid
during Watergate, I thought Nixon
was innocent for almost a year. And I
thought the Trilateral Commission
was something in a geometry book.
But as one who actually would
like to see his “king” and “queen”
represent the values and diversity of
his campus, the Homecoming elec
tions redly push it for me.
Despite all the bands, pep rallies
and Big Red alpine caps, each year I
ask myself the same, nagging ques
tion when I see the fraternity king and
sorority queen crowned during
halftime at the Homecoming game:
Why am I paying for all this?
II
Yes, we do pay for it. Last year,
the Committee for Fees Allocation
gave Homecoming $3,214 in Fund A
student fees, more than $1,000 more
than the committee had given Home
coming the year before, and almost
$900 more than what the University
Program Council (who sponsors
Homecoming) asked for.
All this happened while CFA,
always mindful of students’ cultural
needs, would not meet the budget
requests made by UPC for Foreign
Films, Talks and Topics and other
programming committees.
So why should I pay to crown a
king and queen who bear little resem
blance to me, my friends and most of
my classmates?
Many have complained that stu
dent fee money should not be used to
finance UPC’s Committee Offering
Lesbian and Gay Events, on the
grounds that COL AGE serves practi
cally no one except gays and lesbians.
If this argument holds water, then
why should my student fees be used
to pay for Homecoming, which
seems to serve practically no one
except fraternity and sorority mem
e tor representation
bers?
I can think of many things I’d
rather do with the dime or so I cough
up each year to pay homage to the
greek elite. I could plug my parking
meter, for instance.
So what can we do? Faced with
elections that would make Panama
proud, and being forced to pay for
them, how is the average non-greek
supposed to respond?
Two things would warm the cock
les of my heart this Homecoming
season.
First, call your representatives of
the Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska and tell them
to cut Homecoming’s funding next
year. It’s obvious that the people who
benefit most from the Homecoming
coronation are the Interfratemity
Council and Panhellenic. They have
their own budgets. So let them pay for
it.
second, vote wun a vcugcoiiv*,.
The Homecoming royalty elections
will be next Wednesday from 8 a.m.
to 8 p.m. in the Nebraska Union and
East Campus union. Anyone can vote
— all you need is a student ID.
Of course, the ballot doesn’t give
you a hell of a lot of choice. So create
yourown. I personally plan to write in
Elvis for homecoming king. Imagine
the looks on the faces of all the frater
nity boy candidates for Homecoming
king as the real King leaves them
behind in the dust on election day.
Now, I like the bands, pep rallies
and talent shows. The people who pul
them on obviously work hard. How
would you like to have to sit through
auditions and listen to 10() would-lx
Bette Midlers warbling “The Wine
Beneath My Wings?”
But the royalty elections arc do
gus. , ,A
So independents of the world
unite! You have nothing to lose bu
your chains! Keep those phone call
coming -- ASUN will appreciate it
I’m sure. And remember, oi
Wednesday, vote with a vengeance
Svoboda Ls a senior political science an
Russian major, and is a Daily Nebraskan id
torial columnist
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 Amy Edwards, editor;
Lee Rood, editorial page editor; Jane
Hin, managing editor; Brandon
Loomis, associate news editor; Bob
Nelson, columnist; Jerry Guenther,
senior reporter; Brian Svoboda, col
umnist
Editorials do not necessarily re
flect the views of the university, its
employees, the students or the NU
Board of Regents.
I he Daily Nebraskan s pubhshc
are the regents, who established u
UNL. Publications Board to supervi
the daily production of the paper
According to policy set by the r
gents, responsibility for the editor*
content of the newspaper lies solely
the hands of its student editors.
