University of Missouri - Savitar Yearbook (Columbia, MO)

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Heeter continued First of all, to use these channels properly, a great deal of time, energy and dedica- tion is required. I have seen the administrator turn to his file cabinet, pull a file dated four years previously, and say: Yes, Mr. Student, I and my staff agree with you regarding this problem. We did considerable research on the problem four years ago and for the following reasons we concluded that it was impractical for us to solve the problem as you have outlined. The moral of the story is that students have to do their home work. They have to be willing to spend almost as much time as the professional administrator with whom they are dealing Cup to 50-60 hours a weekj to accomplish change through those channels. Most students are not willing to spend that much time. Second qualification-the Board of Curators, This year has seen an intrusion into the affairs of the campus by the Board of Curators. They have taken it upon themselves to make the kinds of operational-administrative types of decisions that properly belong on the campus level. We found that in the case of the Curators- because of their remoteness to the actual campus conditions andsituations,because of their relatively small amount of time spend pursuing University business, because of these, the Cura- tors lacked the expertise and understanding to deal with these problems adequately. Have 'tthe channelsn worked on some occasions? V A year ago Thomas said he had established channels with the administration which Leet had destroyed. We strengthened them this year. l think we were more frank and OPCH than previous administrations. l feel that the administration and faculty exhibited great restraint in the sit-ins in the Union. We worked through channels. On the selection of the Union director, we did a real selling job especially in philosophy. All three of the men interviewed by the student-faculty Union and Commons committee CBrock, Durett, Edwardsl were quite different fellows than A. C, Stotler. The Union is the living room of the campus instead of a Fifth Avenue display. The type of people who couldn't fit into this type of philosophy were immediately out. The fi- nancial aspects ofthe Union were subordinated completely. They wanted a man trained in student programming. What has come through lobbying in Jeff City. Two things, l feel personally I was able to accomplish a good deal last spring . . . with the legislature. The legislature had all these bills for passage-the most prominent dealing with obedience oaths by students. We talked to the main sponsors of the bills, the House majority and minority leaders and explained to them the situation as it existed on campus. I gave them my opinion of the effect of these bills . . . Consequently, the bills were tabled where they are at this time. What do you consider your failures as president? One of the things I was not able to do was spend more time with students. It's difficult to do. The busy work of this job is staggering. We tried to go back to the students but often the people on the dormitory end would mess up. It wasn't apathy on the part of the students but rather poor publicity. l had more difficulty working with a split administra- tion tofficers elected other than those people with whom he ranj rather than working with my own ticket. It makes it tough when your allegiance is elsewhere. There is no question in my mind that the way I handled intervisitation in the first several months was the right way. Had we been allowed to follow through it would have been passed in some form, l feel in February. It would have been analagous ous to the womenis key program. However, MSA decided to follow Vice President Goodman instead of me. lntervisitation is now dead according to the Chancellor for at least six months. After a year in office, looking back, how do you view the role of MSA president? How has your view changed? The president's role is equitable to that of MSA. He is the individual who must act as chief lobbyist and representative within the decision-making structure of the University. The job of MSA president is to find out where decisions are made, where the points of influence are situated and then proceed to use the understanding to pursue objectives of student welfare, student rights, etc. That is his sole job, that is all he is to do. You have to be the chief spokesman and representative of students, organize and administer all the activities of all those students working within MSA and other areas of the University. Basically, though, the role of the president is that of Hachieverf' Through his knowledge, understanding, and tactics he must attempt to accomplish those objectives which are his own and those objectives which are presented to him by other students.

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Goodman continued I would say a majorityof the campus is still conservative but the leaders are liberal. This is because the liberals are the ones who get involved. Conservatives react instead of act. This campus is more and more as a whole leaning towards the left. Each year it's more activist oriented than the year before. You favored a more demonstrative action in the intervisitation issue as opposed to Heeter, who believed some form of intervisitation would have been passed by the Board, if proper channels would have been used. Two questions-1. Why did you support intervisitation in the manner you did? 2. Looking back, would you have chosen Heeter's alternative if you had known the consequences? I think that Heeter is wrong in believing the Board of Curators would have passed intervisitation. I was willing to go along with him for a while. So was the Cabinet and, in part, CCS. We waited until the January Board meeting to see if they would reconsider. V I place the blame on the fraternities. They shouldn't have acted when they did. Their action cut off any chance to have intervisitation passed. We made one tactical error. We misjudged the base of our support About 60 percent of the dorms had voted to participate but there was nowhere near that amount participating Pear and propaganda put out by the administration was effective in scaring a lot of students off We misjudged how far people were willing to go If I had known what support was going to turn out to be I would have recons1dered my actions But despite the low turnout it disrupted the campus enough so that the Curators will not want that to happen again What is your view of the admimstration's tactics and powerq The fear that they can kick you out of the University is the only thing the administration has and it s very effective They realize the immense power of 20 OOO students They know what could happen if we ever got 5 000 or 10 OOO people together on this campus They use threats of police violence expulsion etc to keep students down It works well here It may not work as well elsewhere where students are more committed What do you think of student apathy This IS more a matter of social upbringing I think most kids who go to school here are from lower and middle income families They re here to get a degree to go out They have goals not consistent with the more radical leaders on campus Their goals are to remain and enhance the present system They want to get ahead and they know they re not going to get ahead if they get thrown out of school The University pushes this line to make everyone a productive member of this particular system What are your views on Heeter s policy of going through proper channels When we CSchott Goodman Weinberg I-l1ll Coalitionj campaigned last year it was a matter of using channels but only when they remained useful We found most of the channels were open this year Student faculty committees gave the opportunity to spend capital improvement fees and helped in the selection of the new Union director. The s only place this broke down was on the intervisitation issue. Jim and I agreed on that until the final point of that one Senate meeting. I had wanted to go into the streets before the Board meeting but Jim asked me not to and I didn't. I think Jim did a fairly good job this year. The only conflict we've had was over intervisitation. He still feels he's right and I still feel I'm right. What do you feel about the present argument for removing 3 Student Activities from MSA control? l'm not in favor of separation. SA can too easily be taken over by some special interest group. It's too easy when they get into SA to perpetuate that power. Such a - closely-knit group needs a larger group like MSA to supervise it. This is not a slam at SA. They do a pretty goodjob . every year. As long as they continue to do a good job they 2 don t have to worry about MSA interference There is no reason why MSA should turn over student activity funds to SA MSA is responsible to the students for the use of that money We approve a general budget but don t tell SA specifically what to do with It After a year in office, looking back, how do you view the role The office itself doesn t entail many duties run the Senate appolnt a few committees which will probably never meet I view the office as a stepping stone to being a student leader I never wrote a bill though I co signed some I didn t view my role as directing legislation through the Senate There were people in the Senate with my views who were more experienced at writing bills But in such issues as intervisitation the office gave legitimacy to the views I had The fact that I ran and won on those views also gave them legitimacy I could also act 1n my position as liason between the Senate and the more radical elements on campus I could talk to CCS when perhaps Jim I-Ieeter could not , . 7 ' 5 , , ' . i . . . ,E 9 1 ' lil . g ' ' ' . ' Iii ' ' . ' ' al? I . . I in the world and make it like their parents have or haven't. of MSA legislative vice president? I. . . . . . . E . , 'E - . - - . ll ' 9 - - l . . . . gk . ., 7 , , 1 ' ri 7 A '

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