Editor tells of first college experience
So, yer a college student now. Congratula
tions. You’re in. You made it. A whole
new world of experiences awaits you.
I’m going to tell you a little bit about my
first experiences with college and the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln.
I came down from Omaha to New Student
Enrollment with my mom. It was a rainy, cold
day. I wasn’t happy. I signed up for classes. I
wasn’t happy. We ate residence hall food. My
stomach wasn’t happy.
But I thought my experiences with NSE
were good ones overall because I got a feel of
what it was like to be in college. It was cool.
When August rolled around, I was ready. I
wanted to get out of Omaha and dive right into
college life. Two guys and I moved into our
triple room in Abel Hall the first day the halls
opened. We were so happy to be starting col
lege.
That night we went to our first college party.
A friend of ours from Omaha was having a
shindig and he invited us over. We walked in
the door to find a guy named Zig with two
gushing taps from Old Milwaukee kegs pour
ing into his mouth. Wow, college.
Thiscolumn is supposed to be about my first
college experiences, but to tell you the truth, I
don’t remember this one too well, I would like
to tell you how great that party was, but I can’t
because I honestly don’t remember that much
of it.
I guess we had fun because the next morning
I awoke to find one of my roommates puking
and the other running down the hall holding his
drawers.
“So, this is college,” I thought to myself as
I began to miss Omaha, my parents, my bed,
my dog. Yep, I wanted to go home. I was
genuinely homesick the first few days I was in
college. What a disappointment.
I eventually got over my homesickness, and
I was ready for school to start. My roommates
and I went to buy our books.
After we did that there was nothing to do so
we waited around and drank beer until school
started. „ . .
When the first day of classes finally arrived
I was so excited and nervous that I sat on the
edge of my bed and watched Nothing m
Common” twice.
It was finallv time to go to my first college
class, French 101.1 left my dorm room about a
half hour early to be sure I could find the
building and was on time for class. Well, to
make a long story short, I couldn’t find the
building, and I was about twenty minutes late.
God, I felt dumb.
I finally sat down and looked around the
room. This didn’t seem like that big of a deal.
The class had about twenty people in it, and
they all looked like nice people, I he teacher
was a really nice woman from France w ith one
of those sexy accents.
I left that class feeling only mildly stupid.
My next class was right down the hall in the
same building. Once again, no big deal.
The next day 1 had a class in the Love
Library auditorium. Wow. I had never seen so
many people in one classroom before. It was
kind of intimidating. But things did get belter
when I happened to see Mike, a friend of mine
from high school, across the swarm of people.
We sat down together and listened to the teacher
explain a little about the class. And then, after
five minutes he let the class out. Awesome.
My classes were your basic college courses.
A lot of reading was assigned, and I didn’t do
much of it. I don’t know if teachers really
expect you to read all of the stuff they assign,
but it’s up to you if you read it or not.
I think one thing college freshmen find out
about classes is that you get out of them what
you pul into them.
In high school you HAD to do the work. You
had to turn in your math assignment every day.
In college, you won’t have teachers picking up
assignments every day. They just assume you
do the work they assign.
A lot of times, written homework isn't as
signed, it is recommended.
" I recommend that you do the work. My first
semester I didn’t do anything. By the tune
finals rolled around, I had forgotten where a
few of my classes were.
That semester I got lucky. I got a 3.0 GPA.
See HEREK on 9
ASUN president encourages new students to get involved
By Cindy VVostrel
Staff Reporter
The office of the Association of
Students of the University of Nebraska
isn’t just for student leaders, accord
ing to ASUN President Phil Gosch.
“I encourage them (new students)
to come in here because this is their
office,” he said.
Gosch said students can come to
the ASUN office, located in room
115 of the Nebraska Union, anytime
with problems or concerns about
campus, city, state and national is
sues.
ASUN, UNL’s student government,
is the vehicle for student fees alloca
tion, he said. It also represents stu
dents to the administration, commit
tees, the NU Board of Regents and the
Nebraska Legislature. And through
Student Legal Services, it helps to
provide free legal advice to students,
he said.
ASUN First Vice President Stacy
Mohling said ASUN also considers
complaints about violations of the
university’s dead week policy. Dead
week is the week before finals when
no tests may be administered and no
new homework may be assigned.
Gosch said that next year, ASUN
will continue lobbying the Legisla
ture and will work to achieve a state
wide coalition of college students.
And, he said, “I think you’ll see a
lot of ASUN involvement in minority
issues.”
I -
Gosch
Mohling
Scott
ASl'N also will strive to increase
appreciation of cultural diversity at
the university next year, he said.
Gosch said UNL is ‘‘a whole dif
ferent culture” for many students who
must adjust to students of different
skin color, accent and sexual prefer
ence.
Gosch said he wants the current
AS UN government to be both more
visible and more successful than past
administrations.
Mohling said this summer’s proj
ects include promoting a campuswidc
system of outdoor telephones to in
crease safety on campus. That system
should be in place by this fall, she
said.
Another plan to promote safety is
the expansion of a campuswide pro
gram in which fraternities, sororities,
residence halls and possibly ASUN
itself would provide escorts for stu
dents crossing campus at night, she
said.
Molding said that students who
want to get involved in student gov
ernment should contact ASUN Sec
ond Vice President Yolanda Scott,
who is in charge of appointments.
“They can go to me for informa
tion if they want to get something
(projects) started," she said.
Gosch said there are positions open
on student government throughout the
year. Any student who is interested in
student government should come into
the AS UN office, Gosch said, and he
will find an opening for the student.
One option for students is working
on the Government Liaison Commit
tee. Mohling said GLC lobbies the
Nebraska Legislature for student needs.
Any student can be a member of the
GLC, she said.
Students active in the committee
attend weekly meetings and may be
involved in activities like speaking to
organizations to encourage them to
pass resolutions and distributing peti
tions to students, Mohling said.
Shelf-expression .. .
o,1n *"****Ihe University Book
The Nebraska Bookstore offers shoppers three levels to choose from.
Photos by Michelle Psulman for the Daily Nebraskan.
Executives fill
different roles
The Association of Students
of the University Nebraska is
composed of three executives
the president and first and sec
ond vice presidems-and a stu
dent senate.
The ASUN president, Ph,l
Gosch, sits on the NU Board of
Regents and serves as the voice
of the University of Nebraska
Uncoln student body,
The fust vice president, Stacy
Molding, acts as a liaison with
the faculty senate and presides
over the ASUN senate.
The second vice president,
Yolanda Scott, serves on the
appointments board and performs
genera! public relations duties.
The ASUN senate, comprised
of representatives from each
UNL college, meels weekly to
debate and pass legislation on
campus issues.
Senators introduce legislation
to the executive committee,
which assigns the legislation to
committees. If the legislation
receives committee approval, it
moves on to the senate and then
to the president to be signed or
vetoed. A two-thirds vote by the
senate is required to override a
presidential veto.
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