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Ilic Iti-d .111*1 liU'k. Ar4nM*>4v April i •'*’/<»
***** «
^Perceptions
Future implications
The problem at the Three Milt
Island nuclear power plant has
renewed protest against the use
of nuclear power across the
country. Even those who have
not actively protested cannot
help but feel some concern over
the near tragedy.
Nuclear power is scary be
cause most people feel, and
rightly so, that we don’t know
enough about this source of
energy to feel completely confi
dent about the use of it.
Proponents of nuclear energy
say the power source is safe but
all their words will be forgotten
in the wake of the Harrisburg
Letters
incident. Even though nuclear
power plants have had excellent
safety records for the past two
decades this one disaster will
erase that record.
The United States has recently
been placing more emphasis on
nuclear power as an alternate
energy source because of the oil
shortage. Nuclear power could
be the answer to our energy
problems as more plants are
built around the couniry.
This building may stop or slow
down, however, because of the
Harrisburg incident. If building
is stopped then another source of
energy will have to be looked
into. Realistically speaking, it
may take decades for another
source to be found.
The use of nuclear power does
involve risks but they are risks
that the majority of Americans
may feel compelled to take. The
incident at Harrisburg was
dangerous in its implications but
it didn’t reach the tragic
proportions that many talked of.
There were no deaths or injuries
as a result of the problems. The
authorities were able to take a
potentially disastrous situation
and fix it. It is now up to
Americans and their representa
tives in government to decide on
the future of nuclear power.
‘Fair return for a fair price’
TO THE EDITOR .
After seven years of registering for
college classes. I have finally (sometimes
it takes awhile) begun to conclude some
very unfortunate realities about modern
day collegiate education
Students today are exposed to more
graduate assistants, more part-time
faculty, more adjunct professors, and
more video-tape machines than any other
time in the history of education
While universities continue to tout and
herald their distinguished faculty mem
bers, the undergraduate quite frequently
never sees, meets, or God forbid u!t« nds
a class instructed by these renowned
professors
Albeit the average state university
undergraduate spends close to $3000
yearly for tuition, books, room, board
and general expenses, he more often than
not feels as if he is paying prime rib
prices for chopped liver The famed
mind-over-matter phenomenon has
emerged They don’t mind, and we don’t
matter, .go! Indeed the prevalent atti
tude among faculties today appears to
declare: "The university would be a
wonderful place to work., were it not for
the students."
Classes cancelled, classes closed,
stifling lines that would defy even the
most obtuse fire inspector. 256 in a
lecture class with all questions forwarded
to graduate assistants who neither read
nor speak the English language Students
today appear to have assumed a new low
among university priorities
Indeed it appears as if students are
being conditioned to respond to the
"minimum shaft expectation "
Are you upset, angry, disillusioned,
disappointed or merely fed up? A friend
who waited three hours to register in
near claustrophobic conditions in the
English Department was abruptly
informed that the present system had
been employed for years, and although a
few students are lost quarterly to
tetanus, beriberi, and other exotic
maladies created by gross overcrowding,
that’s life in the big city.
Such treatment, these conditions, will
not improve by mere wishful thinking
Talk to your professors, talk to
department heads, arrange appointments
to see a dean, visit a regent, and do it
now We the consumer must maintain the
right for a fair return for a fair price.
During the past seven years I have seen
this return dwindle in quality, where can
it go from here?
TIM MKSCON
l*h. D. Candidate
Department of Management
‘Lets work
to improve'
TO THE EDITOR:
Wouldn't it be tun to abolish our
Student Government? Just think, we
would be killing our only organized voice
to the administration, but who needs one
anyway They always look at and act on
our opinions anyway
STOP FOOLING YOURSELVES-We
need some type of student government on
this campus If we vote to abolish SGA.
we would leave a void, a blank spot, in
our student life. I am not saying that
SGA is the answer, but it beats the hell
out of nothing To establish another form
we need a base to start from. If we have
several groups working on another form
the fight would be between these groups,
to see who would win out In other words
forget the studenis, I want to win and
have my government win.
All Task is that you stop and think
what it would do to the University to
have SGA abolished Let’s work to
improve the one we have first.
JOHN BREAUGH
‘SGA already
rotten’
TO THE EDITOR:
I have been wanting to write this for
quite some time, and I am prompted
finally to do so by the upcoming
referendum to abolish SGA.
You will recollect that the recently
unearthed time capsule from the class of
1872 contained a class roll, and a campus
bpmor magazine Of all the scholarly
writings that were issued from this
University that year, the thoughts and
ideas contained in a humor magazine
were considered worth preserving.
Today on campus, there is no humor
magazine. Students who wish to display
their talents in that line have only one
outlet they must run for a SGA office.
But if the SGA is to be abolished, where
will the Strausses, Mulherins. and Keys
of future classes let off their creative
steam**
It is lamentable that the 1872 magazine
was rotten by the time the diggers got to
it Presumably it was not so when buried
We needn’t, therefore, bury the SGA of
today: it’s already rotten
GARRY MUTTER
‘Teachers have
little respect’
TO THE EDITOR:
This is my second quarter at the
University, and after having taken six
courses, five of which were core, I have
come to the conclusion that teachers here
have little respect for students who pay
their salaries All but two of the
professors had disparaging remarks to
made regarding the intelligence level of
the students they were “forced" to teach,
and one in particular complained daily
until the course became a barrage of
insults.
This particular teacher failed to pass
out evaluation sheets at the end of the
quarter leaving little recourse to the
frustrated students who paid a premium
for a stream of garbage. I have little
respect for a person who takes a job out
of choice and uses it as a forum to
uprf pnonil ■mrlrntM This type of
attitude only promotes further disregard
by students, and complication of an
already disproportionate problem. Per
haps the recent pay raise voted by the
General Assembly will ease some of the
friction.
NAME WITHHELD
‘I’m afraid
to ride buses’
TO THE EDITOR:
I’m afraid to ride the University buses
anymore You never know what can
happen to a busload of people when the
driver starts taking dope on the job. Yes,
I said dope! This startling information
was revealed to me by one of the drivers
of a "Night Bus".
I got on the bus to go south one night,
and the driver and 1 fell to chatting.
Suddenly a voice came over his C.B.
(citizens' band) radio, to which he
responded, in code 1 asked him if they
used the code in order to elude
and he said. "No. but we like to keep
spaced out" (italics mine).
Now, I really don't care what these
fellows do in their spare time. If they
want to get spaced out, let them, say I I
do it myself sometimes But they should
not keep spaced out while on the job. I'm
sure you will agree with me that this is a
very dangerous practice, and should be
stopped immediately.
GARRY MUTTER
We need
TALENTED
CARTOONISTS
If you have talent and can produce quality work
on a regular basis we want you. The pay isn’t much,
but it's something to put in your portfolio. Contact
Cathy Lewis, Room 309 Journalism Building
ffi Red and *Blacli
Can’t dissolve need
for government
Staci Kramer
Student government is not perfect This
statement may surprise some of you
coming as it does from a student senator,
but despite what you've been told some of
us do realize our shortcomings We
bicker too much over internal procedure,
we argue about any point that comes up
and the final outcome does not always
accomplish what we intend
Staci Kramer is a freshman senator in
the College of Arts and Sciences
No. this particular government is not
perfect. It has little if any delegated
responsibility, and little if any power
These are problems that abolition cannot
solve
Abolition is not going to force the
administration to take the students
seriously If anything, abolition will
encourage the administration in its belief
that students do not really want a role in
policymaking
Abolition is, in fact, a method of
evading the issue Abolition makes about
as much sense as abandoning your car
because it has a flat tire. Most people
would try to fix the tire In Harold
Mulherin s case he would prefer to get
rid of the tire and wait for someone else
to replace it
I’m tired of hearing people complain
about the ineffectiveness of the present
student government To my knowledge,
none of the major advocates of abolition
have tried to provide a constructive
solution to the government's woes. It is
much easier to tear something down than
to build it up and it appears that the
abolishionists have taken the easier way
out
As supposed resume seekers, abolition
would be to our advantage We’ve
already been elected and are entitled to
put the designation student senator ' on
our resumes It would make our lives
much easier if we did not have to attend
bi monthly senate and committee meet
ings It would probably improve our
grade point averages as well The most
active among us spend close to 20 hours
(if not more) a week dealing with student
affairs If I were in the senate just for the
glory and the title I would have resigned
by now
But we do not prefer the easy way out
Instead we have already begun reform
measures Taking note of the weak points
in our by-laws the senate has just
completed a total revision including a
streamlined committee structure, stricter
attendance requirements and specific
senate goals With all the attention
focused on abolition, this and other
reform measures have been all but
ignored by both the abolitionists and the
campus media
I believe in student government.
Dissolving student government does not
dissolve the need for it. Our present
student government is not the answer but
it provides a viable working base for
reform. It is necessary in that it can
provide a forum for student representa
tion in administrative policy making It
can provide concrete services to the
students such as the student book
exchange and a student credit union. Do
not place more harriers in the path of
student representation by voting to
abolish the present student government
Instead, to help the organization we have
to grow and mature As the French
philosopher Montaigne once said. “Every
nation has the government it deserves ’’
Existence is major
goal of SGA
Harold Mulherin
It is time for abolition at the University
of Georgia
A noted educational futurist. Robert F.
Bundy, “roposes that most modern
American institutions pass through two
stages. Since most institutions are
formed for noble purposes, the first stage
involves an application of new knowledge
and skills to produce desirable tfflCtfl
The institution provides a great deal of
services ana programs, using a relatively
small amount of resources
Harold Mulhrrin is student government
president
In the second stage, the survival of the
organization itself becomes the major
purpose as an increasing amount of time
and resources are spent maintaining the
bureaucracy, leadership, and other
internal aspects of the organization
Continued existence is the major goal
Relatively fewer amounts of the
increasing demand for resources are
devoted to the organization's programs
and services.
Student Government has long been in
this second stage It fails to attempt to
adequately represent and further the
interests of students Instead, it is in a
bitter clash to sustain its own structure
Almost all money spent on Student
Government is for internal sustenance
Salaries, elections, letterheads, and self-
promotion are the expenditures of
Student Government Only a numscule
part of the budget goes towards any
semblance of student services Thus
Student Government is not actually
benefitting the entire student body,
rather it benefits only itself
What's wrong with Student Govern
ment** Due to its lack of monetary ties to
the administration, it suffers from a lack
of independent existence It has no
power The only way to have power is
from student support, something Student
Government will never attain Student
Government presently has only one
function—it provides an arena for a few
budding political clowns while wasting
funds intended for use for the entire
student body The constitution of Student
Government deserves to be struck from
record; it is a joke It is out of date and
frequently incorrect With an unsound
foundation. Student Government itself is
totally unsound
Lack of philosophy and planning adds
to the incredulous image of Student
Government If you ever witnessed a
Student Senate meeting you know what I
mean The lack of continuity adds to this
bad image. The transient nature of
students intensified by the rapid turnover
in Student Government negates any
long-term vision, thereby limiting goals
Many have tried to change the
structure and image of Student Govern
ment But with no central basis to work
with, revision of Student Government is
impossible Even the most dedicated
people cannot save SGA. By continuing to
pretend they can. however, these
die-hards travel on an endless highway of
regression. On the other hand the
proposal of abolition is progressive
Getting rid of something that is a proven
flop is the first step towards producing a
success.
To travel down the road to success,
students need to unionize A union is a
collective agent to advocate and further
the common interests, needs and welfare
of a group of people, which is built upon
the community of interestof the members
of that group Thus a voluntary associa
tion of free students in a union form will
provide an avenue to actively fight for
students' rights instead of passively
accepting what is handed down by the
administration
The present farcical lie must be
destroyed The continued presence of an
Ineffective Student Government will only
serve to provide a front for the
administration and actually restrict
concerned students. By doing so Student
Government hinders instead of promoting
student representation As it stands now
’i lie its name to
Administration's Student Society. A true
voice of the students has to be free from
administrative control We cannot attack
the present system of so-called student
representation piecemeal; it must be
altered completely I say "Do away with
SGA'" To achieve this demise, students
should vote "YES" on Thursday, April
5th to abolish Student Government
Association at the University of Georgia
fllRed and ‘Black,
Staff
TMhtr Hope Wupoume
Executive r Catty M Lew*
General Ed Stamper
Advertising manager (Turin Kuaaell
Capy e4Marv Scan Jacob* Cary Fouls
Campos editor Justin GUI*
CRy editor Bnan O’Shea
Festor** r*»ar. Tanuny Savage
Katertaiameol editor Ber. Fugitl
Sport* editor Norm He.ll>
PMi editor Hal Brm*»
IGA Today cwocdmaia. Helen King
Graphic designer Wayne E Nail _ ^
ItthUM i imp*, editor* Bobby Byrd. Cindy Jackson
Assistant cM> editor Sett Cohen
Assistant lrstore* editor Kris Young
Assistant *purtt editor* Frank Malloy Andy Coop
\*%i*iaai photo editor Wingate Downs
editorial s**i*tani Joel Andrews
Advertising unit* Greg Gntfitt. Donna Peavey Donna RatcMord. Bob Ryait. Linda Spike*
Ux Wilson
Classified advertising manager Susan Turner
r-odortlon manager Neal Kuniansky
Graphic coordinator Frank Lee
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