Greeks, RHA combine efforts for week
ByIevaAugstums
Assignment Reporter
UNL’s greek system and
Residence Hall Association will join
forces for the first time Tuesday, pro
moting philanthropic activities cam
puswide.
This year’s “Greek Week ’98 -
Leadership, Excellence, Academics,
Dedication” and “Res. Hall Party
Week” occur simultaneously.
Members of both organizations said
they are collectively raising money
for the Make-A-Wish Foundation
and the Lincoln City Mission.
Director of Greek Affairs Linda
Schwartzkopf said this week isn’t an
all-greek or all-residence hall effort.
“It’s an all-campus effort,” she
said.
RHA President Ben Wallace said
combining the activities is a “great
cornerstone for building relations
among residence hall students and
the greeks.”
“Greeks, are not freaks,” he said.
“Residence hall students aren’t
freaks either.”
Jed Christensen, Greek Week co
chairman, said having joint activities
“is a way to break down the stereotypes
between RHA and the greek system.
“We both are fighting the same
battle,” Christensen said. “It’s now a
joint combat for the same cause -
improving relations and helping out
the community.”
Christensen and Wallace said the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
Panhellenic Association,
Interfratemity Council and RHA had
identical ideas and goals with their
respective weeks.
“Co-sponsoring the philanthropy
projects seemed natural,”
Christensen said.
On Tuesday, an ice cream social
to benefit Make-A-Wish will take
place on the greenspace east of
Memorial Stadium. From 3:30 p.m.
to 5:30 p.m., participants can enjoy
ice cream, root beer floats and soda,
and can listen to live music from The
Mediums, Magic Bus Ride and Izzy
Wiz.
Christensen said there will be a
contest between greek houses and
residence halls to see who can raise
the most money through ticket sales.
“The philanthropic activities are
meant to be a friendly competition,”
he said.
Christensen said tickets are $2, or
$3 at the door, and can be purchased
at booths set up in the Nebraska
T T •____! J__ 11
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All money raised from the ice
cream social and other Greek Week
activities will go to the Make-A-Wish
foundation to sponsor a terminally ill
child’s last wish. Sarah Kelling, RHA
social committee member and fresh
man international business major,
said both organizations also will par
ticipate in a food and clothing drive
for the Lincoln City Mission.
“Instead of go-greek or go-resi
dence hall, it is go-UNL,” she said.
Panhellenic President Sherri Neal
agreed.
“Amazing things can be done if
you combine every resource on this
campus - greeks and residence halls,
included,” Neal said.
“The results are bound to be
tremendous.”
Education bill vetoed
VETO from page 1
tion funding.
Bohlke said the veto could wreak
havoc on school districts as they
attempt to formulate their budgets
and allocate special education fund
ing.
“I had anticipated the governor
vetoing the bill,” she said. “I had not
anticipated him not calling a special
session. I think that’s irresponsible.”
The bill also included funding
for schools facing emergency bud
getary situations.
Nelson said he supported the
bill’s original intent, but with the late
inclusion of the amendment, spon
sored by Sen. Bob Wickersham of
Harrison, the bad parts outweighed
the good, Nelson said.
“I am always concerned with
‘Christmas tree’ bills, and in this
case, unfortunately, the last orna
ment collapsed the whole tree,”
Nelson wrote in his veto letter to the
Legislature. •
Bohlke said the governor could
still be lobbied to call a special ses
sion. Otherwise, she said, the gover
nor’s veto could be allowed to stand,
causing Nelson to take the heat from
affected school districts.
Because the state’s special edu
cation funding does not end until
Aug. 31, 1999, the Legislature has
time to pass a new formula, and law
makers say a special session this
spring may not be needed.
But Bohlke said schools need to
know in advance how much funding
they will receive so they can plan
their budgets. With Nelson’s veto, it
may take until next April to pass a
new special education funding for
mula, she said.
Nelson said the state shouldn’t
automatically replace lost revenue
from property tax cuts with addition
al state aid. Tax relief can’t be
achieved that wray, he said.
“If we don’t let the process work
we are not being good stewards of
the taxpayers’ money and we are fail
ing in our duty.”
The Associated Press con
tributed to this report.
__ _ . . Questions? comments? Ask for me
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1998
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GREEK WEEK
Continuing the scholarship, leadership and service
in UNL’s greek system, all chapters are invited to par
ticipate in “Greek Week ’98 - Leadership, Excellence,
Academics, Dedication,” today through Friday.
■ Greek members are invited to attend the Spring
Program in the Lied Center for Performing Arts at 7
p.m. Speaker and comedian T. Marti Voss will give a
presentation, “Celebration of Laughter.” Each person
is encouraged to bring a $ 1 donation for the Make-A
Wish Foundation.
■ In collaboration with UNL’s RHA, an ice cream
social Tuesday from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. will benefit
the Make-A-Wish foundation. Ice cream, root beer
floats, soda and live bands will be under a tent on the
greenspace east of Memorial Stadium. Tickets are $2,
or $3 at the door.
■ Thp Grw»lf Olvmnirs will takft nlape WftHnpsriav
^ A A *
on the greenspace north of the Nebraska Union. From
6 p.m. to 8 p.m. greeks are invited to participate in
Field-day events and relay activities.
From 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., triads participating in
the Greek Week skit contest will perform in the UNL
Culture Center, 333 N. 14th Street.
■ Beginning at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Greek
Week banquet will be at Top of the Rock, 14th and P
streets. Omaha Sen. Jon Bruning will speak, and an
awards presentation will acknowledge individual
chapters and greek system members.
■ A greekwide Friday afternoon club will be at
P.O. Pears, 322 S. Ninth Street, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Triad skit finals and a sand volleyball contest will take
place.
RHAWEEK
Creating a larger UNL residence hall community
within existing halls is the goal of this years “Res. Hall
Party Week.”
UNL residence hall students are invited to partici
pate in activities today through Friday.
■ After Tuesday’s ice cream social in collaboration
with the greek system, the movie “Son-in-Law” will
be shown in Burr Residence Hall’s TV Lounge at 8
p.m. Participants will receive Dorito giveaways.
■ “South Park,” potpies and cheesy puffs will take
center stage weanesaay in me iNeinarai resilience
Hall’s Blue TV Lounge. Beginning at 9 p.m., partici
pants will watch “South Park” and eat cheese puffs.
After the show, a potpie-eating and Cartman-imper
sonation contest will be held.
■ Ice skating at the Ice Box, 1800 State Fair Park
Drive, Thursday from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. The first 50
students skate for free; otherwise, $ 1 is needed for
skate rental.
■ Students are encouraged to attend University
Programming Council’s “Live before Dead Week”
Friday. UPC activities begin at 11 a.m. on the green
space east of Memorial Stadium. Activities include
sand volleyball, Twister and live music.
Senators talk Social Security
By Brian Carlson
Senior Reporter
Although U.S. Sens. Bob Kerrey
and Chuck Hagel sit on different
sides of the aisle in the Senate, they
agreed Friday that Social Security
reform should include partial privati
zation of retirement accounts.
Speaking in Kimball Recital Hall
at an E.J. Faulkner Lecture on entitle
ment reform, the senators said Social
Security was intended to provide a
retirement supplement to lifetime
savings, not serve as the sole source
of retirees’ incomes.
But according to Kerrey’s statis
tics, Social Security now provides
100 percent of income for 16 percent
of beneficiaries and 90 to 99 percent
of income for another 14 percent.
With an explosion in the number of
retirees in the first third of the next
century, the current program is pro
jected to be insolvent by 2029.
Hagel, the Republican junior sen
ator, said Social Security reform
should recognize that individuals and
the private sector are better able to
create personal wealth than the gov
cnimcm.
“It was, and still is, the personal
responsibility of Americans to save
for their own retirement,” he said.
“However we choose to restructure
Social Security, we need to get back
to the idea of personal responsibility.
“We need to create a system that
encourages and incentivizes people
to save and to build their own person
al wealth for their retirement”
Hagel stopped short of endorsing
any of the reform plans currently on
the table. He encouraged Americans
to provide input and help drive the
debate in Washington.
One of the reform plans put forth
in Washington was sponsored by
Kerrey, Nebraska’s Democratic
senior senator. Friday morning, he
touted his plan to enhance
Americans’ wealth-building capacity
as a visionary idea for transforming
the way Americans think about aging
and investing.
Kerrey’s plan would cut by 2 per
centage points the 12.4 percent pay
roll tax, which is shared by employee
and employer and funds Social
Security.
This tax break, totaling $800 bil
lion over 10 years, could be invested
in private retirement accounts, allow
ing Americans to build personal
wealth, Kerrey said.
“The bull’s eye is wealth across all
incomes,” he said. “We want to take
Karl Marx and turn him on his head.”
Kerrey said the payroll tax is
regressive, falling disproportionately
on working families. It poses a barri
er to savings and investing, he said.
Under Kerrey’s plan, a $1,000
retirement account would be estab
lished by the government at the time
of one’s birth, with $500 added each
of the first five years.
Critics have said subjecting indi
viduals’ retirements to the whims of
the market is too risky. A stock mar
ket crash, a la 1929, or even a smaller
market correction could threaten
retirement security, it has been
argued.
But Kerrey said individuals
would be free to choose less risky
investments. For example, CD invest
ments are insured.
And, he said, “If the stock market
crashes and we have 25 percent
unemployment, Social Security is
going to be in trouble anyway.”
Hagel agreed.
“When most people talk about
miritm +V»a AnnArhmihr Ia
invest their own money, they’re not
talking about wild-eyed schemes or
risky fly-by-night investments,” he
said. “They’re talking about conserv
ative, solid investments.”
Critics of Kerrey’s plan also have
said many citizens either will invest
unwisely or spend the money rather
than investing.
“Why shouldn’t we let them be
wealthy?” Kerrey countered. “Why
should we presume they don’t have
the skills to invest?”
In an interview after the lecture,
Kerrey said he would prefer manda
tory investment plans to ensure tax
savings are invested.
The senators agreed that Social
Security, despite its future financial
uncertainty, is unlikely to be elimi
nated.
“Social Security is a program that
has a moral foundation,” Kerrey said.
“We want to live in a country where
people over 65 don’t have to worry
about their next meal.”
The rising costs of Social
Security highlight a larger problem,
«
The bull’s eye is
wealth across all
f T 'I * ^ ^
incomes. We want to
take Karl Marx and
put him on his head ”
Bob Kerrey
Democratic senior senator
Kerrey said: the movement in govern
ment spending from mostly discre
tionary to mostly mandatory.
Discretionary spending, for
things like government agencies and
the military, can be negotiated annu
ally by Congress. Mandatory spend
ing for programs like Social Security,
Medicare and Medicaid is less flexi
ble because it must be paid to all eli
gible beneficiaries.
In 1963, government spending
was 30 percent mandatory and 70
percent discretionary, Kerrey said. In
1998, mandatory spending accounts
for 68 percent of government expen
ditures and discretionary spending
tor 32 percent.
The tendency toward greater enti
tlement and transfer costs can’t be
sustained, Kerrey said.
“We will have converted, quite lit
erally, the government into an ATM
machine,” he said.
Kerrey said the political mood
surrounding Social Security has
changed.
No longer is the issue considered
too politically risky for discussion, he
said. Privatization proposals, consid
ered radical not long ago, have come
to the forefront.
If today’s policy makers pursue
bold reform, Kerrey said, they can be
“remembered 50 years from now for
doing the difficult, the heroic.” "
Kerrey commended President
Clinton for encouraging a national
dialogue on Social Security. He
encouraged Clinton to continue his
policy of gathering citizen input
before endorsing a reform proposal,
“unless he endorses my plan,” he said
with a laugh.
