Show Wednesday May 8 1974 Page 2 editorial comment We will remain free Our most Important struggle this year has been to free this newspaper from the demands of special interest groups particularly student government To our dismay we recently heard a officer say he thinks the newspaper owes special consideration to student government since "we pay for it" Where has he been all year? That's exactly the type of thinking we tried to change during the long months of fall and winter quarters Just a few weeks ago the former Executive Council unanimously passed a resolution guaranteeing $130 per student per quarter to the Publications Board (our true employer) This does not increase the activity fees students pay it just reserves a portion of the present fees for the Publications Board Until now the Publications Board presented a budget request each year to the Financial Vice President It was this practice that gave rise to the feeling that student government "owned" Student Life The resolution guaranteeing a direct allocation was passed in order to show that the money comes from students (our subscribers) rather than student governnewly-electe- d Conserve resources Editor Student Life: Society Student Life has become increasingly since 1968 when we received $24000 from students and $17000 from advertising This past year we raised over $40000 through advertising and received $28000 from students We've been able to provide a larger paper with more and better news coverage than in 1968 for almost the same cost to students We don't feel at all obliged to student government and now that we receive a direct allocation from students through the Publications Board we feel more free to act in our natural role that of a watchdog Our loyalty is to our readers not to any special interest group To give in to special interests is to betray the interests of Editor Student Life: conserve resources to maintain the high standard of living as we know it today The land and its many complicated systems of resour ces support the societies of the world Man’s technology has enabled him to recover and exploit these resources as never before As a result the human population has made terrific gains in numbers and has experienced luxuries never before realized possible Only recently have people of the western cultures come to realize their demand for luxuries can no longer go unrestrained Shortages in fertilizer fossil fuels usable water and many other resources threaten the existence of our society as we know it In the future I can see man concerned only for his survival as our ancient ancesters were at the beginning of time Part of the problem lies with ment self-sufficie- must nt people making unending demands for luxuries at the expense of the earth’s resources Attitudes of the masses must change to allow time for society to find answers I commend certain people for initiating such attitude changes and hope they possess the perseverance it takes to keep up the good work Please people keep aware of what is happening to the land because of the demands placed our readers Brent Harker editor upon it Be conscious of your own demands upon the earth’s resources There is nothing shameful in wearing a pair of shoes until worn completely out whether they are in style or not I am not asking for complete shearing away from the luxuries our society has worked so hard to have but rather moderation in our demands of such things Wake up America for we have no right to depreive future generations of a high standard of h kmritil Staff Bren) Harker Editor-in-chi- Ross McElvaln 529-68-67- 90 Ken Passarella Sports Editor Sandy Rose Editorial Assistant Senior writers: Pauline Summers Dennis Frantzen Br°dy Lois Walters Linda Perry Becky Gillette Lynn Lanier Features writer: Linda Backstrom Entertainment writer Susan Arrington Photographers: Tony Collis Richard Albright Business office: Steve Leggett ' Jim Quigley Debbie Drage fiutm 3S9 round As stated in the May 6 editorial the newspaper always gets in the last word In the case of Student Life I would like to add that the last word always makes any problems look like the other guy’s fault If a little distortion misquoting and gross misrep resentation has occurred on your part even yellow journalism can be" 'excused' under the guise of Freedom of the Press because you are the peoples’ watchdog As for “fidelity to public interest” how is that possible when you failed to run even one' consumer survey in an entire year to determine that public interest? You set yourself up as the “only true peoples’ watchdog” I wonder how many people share the same confidence you have in your own perfect vision viewpoint I don’t have anything against watchdogs They are well trained and don’t lash out irresponsibly The only problem is that too often a mongrel without pedigree Gerparades as a man Shepard Often watchdogs are nothing but “Hot Dogs” and I agree with Ralph Nader “Hot Dogs can make you ill” I hope in the future Student Life’s Editor can bury personal bias and objectively present disputes to the public To hope he wouldn’t generalize and blame everything on the other side or maybe even apologize publicly when he receives information that proves him very incorrect would be asking a little too much well-traine- A d watchdog is a real I’m sure next year’s Editor will do a more mature job of filling --this important role' well-traine- d asset Grant Protzman 529-70-91- 75 living Randy Hendricks: Assistant Sports Editor Jodeane Albright Kristy Larsen Editorial Assistant " Congratulations you win this ef Patricia Woodbury Managing Editor Carol Harmer News editor Steve Snow Business Manager Steve Snow Watchdog or hotdog? itb mS One last word: Would you like to train us? |