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Show Page 4 Signpost May 1, 1979 Dear Aunt Dorothy Cooperatives Dear Aunt Dorothy: My professor says that the government is going ahead with production of the neutron bomb. I thought the whole idea was scrapped. What's going on?! Confused at Colgate Dear Confused: Your professor is right. Public outrage forced official postponement of N-bomb deployment, but it was merely put on a back burner. Components are quietly being manufactured at the Rocky Flats Weapons Plant near Denver. They will be ready when Dear Aunt Dot: What does "SALT" stand for? Dictionary Freak Dear Dictionary: Nobody is sure. Some cynics say that SALT is merely seasoning to make the arms race more palatable. Advocates of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks agree that a treaty between the U.S. and the Soviet Union won't stop the arms race but will slow it down. Back to the dictionary! Dear Aunt Dorothy: If you aren't an outright communist you certainly are playing into their hands. I'm glad we have all the missiles and loyal people who are willing to die to protect our loved ones. Livid Legionnaire Dear Livid: Are these the same loyal folks who destroyed villages in Vietnam in order to save them? Some communists may still be this loyal, but you'd think the rest of us would have learned our lesson, especially since the major survivors of a nuclear war will be a few generals (in deep bunkers) and a lot of cockroaches. Dear Aunt Dorothy: Our newspaper reports that radioactive waste is trucked regularly through town from a nearby reactor. Are these shipments dangerous? Radiating from Roanoke Dear Radiating: What makes you think that trucking radioactive waste is immune from Murphy's Law "If anything can go wrong, it will?" The most the nuclear establishment can do is to insure a relative degree of safety, but there are still problems with minor accidents and low-level radiation and always the chance of a major release of radiation. Remember: Radiation in any amount is a genetic threat as well as a personal hazard. Confidential to Gun Lobby: You'll be delighted to know that the Pentagon buys 48,000 leather holsters for .45 pistols every year at a cost of $314,000 even though they haven't purchased a single .45 handgun since World War II. Letters to the Editor : Rights clash with 'policy' Signpost Editor: I recently called the Weber State College security Office to inquire about disseminating information on campus. After three days of telephoning the Security Office, Robert Ladd gave me an answer. I asked Mr. Ladd if there were any rules and regulations for passing out literature and carrying signs on campus. "We don't allow it!", Mr. Ladd replied. "What?", I said, "You don't allow people to express an opinion at a public institution?" The telphone conversation ended. Somehow, the line was disconnected. I called the President's office to verify the policy. Indeed, the spokesperson in the office corroborated with the Security Office. Furthermore, I was told that leaflets cause litter which ends up in the pond. Additionally, if one person is allowed to pass out material, then everyone will want to follow. If, in fact, this is the policy, the First Amendment rights of free speech and the right to petition are being violated on this campus. Furthermore, the policy disputes the purpose of an institution of higher learning to promote inquiry, present alternative ideas, and support dialogue. WSC constantly publicizes its pride in quality teaching by qualified professors. . I wonder about the educational value of dogmatism without a forum for debate. Sincerely, Judith Leon Few groups of North Americans are feeling the pressure of inflation more than college students. In addition to the continued rise in the costof-necessities-food, housing, health care, etc. -they are burdened by ballooning tuition and book expenses. But some students have not been idle in resisting runaway living costs. As part of a general movement toward a selective consumption lifestyle, they have been taking charge of the process by which the goods and services they need are delivered by forming consumer-owned businesses or cooperatives. Student initiative in organizing cooperatives has been concentrated in the areas of food, housing and books, over the past decade, hundreds of food co-ops have sprung up in student; neighborhoods, most of them oriented toward foods that are grown rather than manufactured,; making them ecologically as well as economically advantageous. In the notoriously overpriced and substandard student hoursing market, a long tradition of cooperative housing in American and Canadian college communities is countering the heat of rent inflation. There re now about 400 cooperatively owned and operated student houses across North America, serving about 10,000 people. Coop student book stores and also not a new idea on college campuses. Moreover, the number of non-profit co-op style book stores is rapidly growing. For the past 11 years, American and Canadian college students have had an organization concerned with their cooperative interests. The North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO), located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is an information, education and technical assistance organization for cooperatives. It- is a membership organization comprised of cooperatives around North America, ranging from student co-ops to agricultural co-ops. NASCO provides publications, consulting services, training and conference for co-op members and leaders, and it publishes COOP, the only subscription magazine dedicated to the North American cooperative movement. A program is now coming into existence which holds extraordinary promise for the: development of cooperatives in the United States. The National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act, Join the Signpost staff and try to communicate signed into law last year by President Carter, creates a major new source of financing for cooperatives, especially user-owned co-ops. The Bank has $300 million in federal seed money and can aquire up to $3 billion for! loans to co-ops. The Co-op Bank will furnish a bypass to the longstanding ireluctance on the part of lending; institutions to serve co-ops. With this support, the co-op portion of the U.S. economy should enjoy increased growth and stability. The existing base is significant: more than 50 million Americans belong to cooperatives. By far, the most common type of co-op is the credit union, numbering1 close to 25,000, with 35 million individual consumers as members. In terms of dollar volume, the argricultural producer co-ops are pre-eminent, with 8,000 organizations doing over 50 billion dollars worth of business. Millions of people are also served by insurance, telephone, and rural electric co-ops. Non-farm consumer goods and services are supplied to hundreds of thousands of people by co-ops, some of which have been in existence since the Depression. The most current wave of co-op organizing, which began during the Viet Nam War, has been largely involved with food products. To students, the value of a coop extends far beyond the reduced costs and improved quality of the goods and services involved. Participating in the organization and operation of a co-op is an opportunity to acquire conventional business experience in an unconventional service-oriented environment. The cause of cooperative development depends upon the continuous infusion of people who possess the unique combination of commercial skill and cooperative motivation. On-campus positions Make application through the Student Employment Center. Custodians Morning hours 5-7 a.m. $2.90 per hour, also approximately 7-10 persons are needed to work from approximately 3-7 p.m. Work could possible carry through the Summer. $2.90 per hour. Position: Head teacher (2 positions) for half-day morning Pro-family issues voiced Editor: This year a coalition or pro-family organizations will hold a women's conference on May 3 which presents the non-working women's concerns. While we cooperate in seeking equal rights for all women, join us in presenting a view for women whose present focus is on families in the United States. The all-day conference is free and may be attended for individual activities with no registration. Phyllis Schlafly will be .the Convocation speaker at noon in The student cooperative movement holds great potential for meeting the short-term needs of students as well as the long-range needs of the rest of the world. Co-ops can be organized . which are' dedicated to unifying the student population in terms of economic, social and political interest. These would include inter-campus communication co-ops, combined buying services, "free school" co-op education programs, and others. Another broad cooperative goal for U.S. students can be the establishment of a cooperative college in which cooperation-a social ethic as well as a form of business organization-becomes the form as well as the content of education. , An intermediate goal can be the establishment of a cooperative business school which would provide management training specifically for use in co-ops. The need for co-ops as an institution for creating economic democracy has never been greater. Not since the Depression have people had so little control over their economic destiny. The concentration of corporate power and its domination not only of our economy but of our culture has led people into a vise of monopolistic practices and runaway inflation. Co-ops can provide a forum for experimentation. New models of management and direct ownership can be tested. Marketing approached based on consumer deception can be replaced by marketing approached based on consumer education. And, narrowly vested corporate power can be diffused by increasing the amount of democratically-held consumer cooperative power. For more information on how co-ops can help you, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to:' NASCO, PO Box 7293, Ann Arbor, MI 48107 preschool class & supervision of student teachers in the child development lab. Qualification: B. degree in Early Childhood Ed. or Child Dev. or CDA Credential & experience with children in supervised preschool setting. Strongly consider non-degree applicants depending on completed courses. $2.90 per hour, 20 hours per week a.m. the Val Browning Center and Kitty Werthmann from South Dakota will speak at 2:45 of her experiences under ERA in Austria during the Nazi occupation.Pay-as-you-go luncheon served in the Skyroom will feature recognition to 3 legislators who , have been helpful with pro-family legislation. For information, refer to schedule in student office. Dorthea E. Masur Pro-Family ConferenceCoordinator |