J fglp e I 0 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1969 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA VOL. 92, NO. 59 Con stitii ASUN Senate Wednesday decided not to hold a constitutional convention this spring. , Although the majority of the senators present voted for the con vention 17-14, a vote of three-fourths or 26 was necessary to call the con vention. Sen. Dave Rassmussen introduced a motion calling for a constitutional convention to convene on Sept. 21, 1969. The resolution was tabled and will be voted on next week. FOLLOWING THE DEFEAT of the constitutional convention resolu tion, Harper Hall President Cliff Sather, told Senate that a petition will be circulated to call a convention this Automatic suspension for possession of marijuana by Susie Jenkins Nebraskan Staff Writer Automatic 30-day suspension of a college student convicted of possession of marijuana has been given first round approval by the Nebraska Legislature. LB 8, presented by Sen. Terry Carpenter, was passed 40-0 with no real opposition during floor debate. The bill would have originally barred a Nebraska resident from attending ptate colleges and universities for life if convicted of the felony. It was amended to 30-day suspension in committee with Carpenter's assent. A Lincoln lawyer who has dealt previously with University legal nuestions told the Daily Nebraskan Wednesday that there was some auestion as to the constitutionality of Carpenter's bill. The question is whether it is legal for a specific group, in this case col lege students, to be singled out for further penalties for possession of marijuana. itiiMiiitvtiiiitnuiiifiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiitii(itiai(iiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiciiiitiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiitiifiiiiiittiittiiiiiiiiiiiii Afternoon classes held on Friday, February 14 1 1 The story regarding classes being cancelled for the University Cen- I tennial Convocation in Wednesday's Nebraskan was incorrect. I I Classes will not be held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. on city campus f I and from 9 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on East Campus, according to the Office 1 of Student Affairs. Afternoon classes will be held. s !?iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiniiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniii Future of KUON-TV by John Dvorak Nebraska Staff Writer Severely overcrowded and work ing from nine different buildings on campus, KUON-TV desperately wants and needs a new home. But they have no money yet. Working conditions at KUON, the University educational station, are terrible to say the least, according to Ron Hull, assistant to the station's general manager. . Studios are In the basement of the Temple Building are "a bad place to keep people," Hull continued. The basement has few windows ana is 1 1 ! i 5 Fair warning to those who seek 1 lionst spring without the approval of Senate. "It is up to the constituencies of senators to call the convention, not the senators," he said. "You have a week to decide to be more pro gressive about this because we, think that we can get the 35 per cent neces sary to call the convention." According to the ASUN Constitu tion, a constitutional convention can be called by sc three-fourths vote of the Senate or by 35 per cent of the stu dent body through petition. The senators voting for the con stitutional convention were: Dave Bingham, Kent Boyer, gill Chaloupka, Curt Donaldson, Georgia Glass, Dave Landis, Mary McClymont, Bill Mobley, Glen Nees, Ron Pfeffer, Some opposition was voiced by Valentine Sen. Elvin Adamson who objected to the penalty. Adamson noted that a 30-day suspension would mean in effect that a student would lose an entire semester of school. "If a student loses 30 days it is almost impossible to catch up," he said. Adamson is the sponsor for LB's 167 and 168, which would lower the legal and voting ages to 19. Omaha Sen. Clifton Batchelder advocated passage of the bill. "Concern for the student is an example of the permissiveness that is sweeping this country," Batchelder said. "Since the student knows he shouldn't have the stuff in the first place, we shouldn't be too concerned about his education." LB 8 also provides that if an of ficer of a university refuses to comply with the law, he is subject to a $500 fine and removal fror Ms position. overflowing with equipment and employees. KUON's main offices are housed in three old white houses at 16th and R Streets. The structures were con demned ten years ago by the University, Hull said. The offices are totally inadequate, he continued. Each room has two or three desks. Plaster is loose and fall ing down. Electrical systems are out dated. Recently some water pipes in one of the houses froze, cracked and spewed water throughout the offices. When KUON was moving into the A i4 i ? a, 'I 1 1 warmth in the KUON offices. convention proposal defeated Diane Theisen, Gary Toebben, Tom Wiese, John Wirth, Bob Zucker, Nan cy Ryan, and Gerald Olson. THOSE VOTING AGAINST the resolution were: Larry Anderson, Fred Boesiger, Bruce Cochrane, Den nis Collins, Larry Donat, Tenna 1 Kudlacek, Tom Lonnquist, Carol Madson, Rassmussen, Chris Seeman, Jim Sherman, Paula Tiegler, Sue Thompson, and Bill Gilpin. The original resolution proposed by Zucker called for a convention to meet ' on Feb. 14. The actual resolution was also preceded by two clauses which outlined the main reason for calling a constitutional convention as the reapportionment issue. Zucker, however, accepted a friendly amendment from Chaloupka dropping the initial clauses and mov ing the convention date to Mar. 1. "Senate should only con sider whether or not we should hold a con vention," Zucker said, "Represen tation and the agenda are of secon dary importance." GILPIN ASKED WHY Senate should call a convention now when summer vacation would interrupt.it. "There are many problems a constitutional convention would have to deal with," he said. "Although reapportionment could be handled this spring, there are other problems." LB205 held; state educators promote school, college coordinating council by Susie Jenkins Nebraskan Staff Writer The bill to create a State Council of Higher Education was held for consideration by the Legislature's Education Committee after a hearing Wednesday in chambers crowded with backers of the bill. Representatives from nearly every . major educational . governing group in the state spoke in favor of Lincoln Sen. John Knight's LB205, which would create the first state coordinating body for all o f N ebraska's universities, colleges, graduate and professional schools and vocational-technical schools. Also under the Council's jurisdic tion would faE progranfs for in-service training and retraining of workers. "THE GROWING problems in rests houses, several filing cabinets were placed on the second floor of one building. The floor below them buckl ed and the cabinets had to be im mediately removed. ' In addition to these problems, KUON offices are spread all around the University, Hull said. Scenery is stored in Nebraska Hall. Offices are also maintained in the West Memorial Stadium, the basement of Teachers College and the Annex, a former grocery store on 12th Street. KUON IS saddled with a deplorable working environment, yet it has the potential to affect every Nebraskan, Hull said. It can reach out into nearly every home. "KUON is the originating station for the eight-station Nebraska Educational Television Network. Programs are fed to the outstate sta tions by microwave link," he explain ed. In addition, many specialized services originate with the station. The Nebraska Council for Educa tional Television provides instruc tional broadcasts to 115,000 elemen tary and secondary school students in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming. Complete courses and sup plementary programs are offered to 25 Nebraska colleges and universities through the Nebraska Educational Television Council for Higher Educa tion. NURSING students in Nebraska and Iowa benefit from specialized TV programs that are sent to nursing schools. Closer to home, KUON originates closed circuit telecasts for certain NU classes. In the evenings, public television takes over the screen. Cultural, sports, political and current events programs are telecast. "KUON is also the home of the Great Plains National Instructional Library, which duplicates video tape programs and sends them throughout the United States. We are the largest such distribution center in the world. We handle two tons of video tape weekly," Hull said. According to Gilpin, the conven tion would also have to consider the independence of ASUN with regards to the Regents (the Regents must ap prove the ASUN constitution) and the power structure of ASUN concerning other campus organizations. " COCHRANE ATTEMPTED TO amend the resolution to call the con vention on Sept. 14, 1969, but the mo tion was defeated 15 to 12. "There has been sufficient evidence that students want Senate to take action to solve its problems this spring, not next fall," Ryan said. "Let's begin now." "The convention could deal with reapportionment this spring and con sider other issues in an extended session next fall," Ryan continued. "The agenda would still be open to any proposal, but we could start now." FOLLOWING THE DEFEAT of the resolution, several senators walk ed out of the meeting. In final business, Senate voted by acclamation to support the Unicameral bill submitted by Terry Carpenter which would legalize the sale of 3.2 beer to 18-20 year olds. Senate also voted to oppose another Carpenter bill which would force any college in Nebraska to expel any student convicted of possessing marijuana. higher education need careful atten tion," Knight said in his presentation of the bill before committee. "Planning must be done if we can hope to tie the (educational) ends together and spend our money with the greatest effectiveness, " h e said. Knight said that the council would, in his bill, be composed of nine members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the State Legislature. Three members would be selected from each Congressional district. COUNCIL MEMBERS would receive no salaries, but would be pro vided with a professional staff of ap proximately four to provide the in formation to perform duties. The council's job would include: on bill passage DESPITE THE many faceted operation, KUON is stymied, Hull said. Demands are increasing, but the operation is now at the plateau of its development. The only solution is a new Telecommunications Building which would quarter every part of the im mense operation under one roof, Hull said. Such a structure has already been designed and bids have been let. The new $3 million plus structure would be constructed just north of the Nebraska Center on East Campus. ARCHITECTS PLANNED the five-story structure last year using $3,250,000 appropriated by the 1967 Unicameral Hull explained. Most of that sum was spent for the plans. This year the Educational Television Network requested money for the new building in the regular University budget, but Governor Norbert T. Tiemann dumped the re quest. He emphasized that the Governor is very much in favor of the Telecommunications Building, but there just isn't enough money to go around and something had to be reduced. The Network then introduced a separate bill into the Unicameral, LB65, under the sponsorship of Sen. Terry Carpenter. The bill, which would provide $3,400,000 for construc tion of the new building, is currently resting in the Unicameral's Budget . Committee. PASSAGE OF the bill is im perative, Hull said. Television is like manufacturing. TV's product is the program." Everything w r 1 1 e r s , scenery, producers, directors, actors and engineers must come together to compose the program. They must work under one roof, he explained. "We now have a $6 million, state wide television network," Hull said. "It is one of the most sophisticated networks in the country, but we are barely able to feed it with programs. With a new facility we could do much more." For Instance, he said, KUON 6 Who knows what answer to reapportionment lies in the dark ness of the cupped hands of ASUN President Mike Naeve? To make studies of slate policy in the field of higher education and formulate a statewide plan for coordination of higher education for the state. The group would consider the needs of the people, the needs of the state, the revenue of the state and the role of public and private institutions in fulfilling these needs; TO REPORT annually to the Governor and the Legislature on the findings from its studies; To review all proposals for the establishment of new branches or campuses of state institutions of higher education; and advise the Legislature, the Governor and the appropriate campus governing body; , To review all proposals for the establishment or elimination of vocational-technical schools and junior could serve as a training center for foreign broadcasters wanting to study educational television. MORE IMPORTANTLY, the state could maintain its leadership position in educational television, he said. As the result of its progressive and spirited development of ETV, Ne braska has become a national leader. This position cannot be continued without the new building, Hull em phasized. Hull, as well as other KUON personnel, are optimistic that LB65 will be approved in this session of the Unicameral. IF THE bill were passed in this legislative session, a new building, could be completed by spring of 1971. If the Unicameral turns down the request, a new building could not be occupied until spring of 1973 at the earliest, Hull said. The network system cannot possibly hold together for that long, he added. in IK ; ; ' f 'ii'i This hallway greets em ployees and visitors to the KUON-TV main office. ; " ' IK, ' fx .''' - colleges or any other publicly sup , ported institution of higher education; -TO RECOMMEND the nature of programs, research and public services which should be offered by the institutions in order to best utilize facilities and personnel; To make recommendations concerning the development of capital ' expansion plans of all institutions, establishment of new institutions and establishment of new programs at existing institutions; To review appropriation re quests of the institutions and submit them to the Governor and the Legislature. IN ADDITION, Knight said, the Council would have the power to delegate and accept federal grants and funds, and subcontract for research and planning services. The Council's decisions would be binding on all institutions except the University of Nebraska and the four state colleges, according to the bill. But Knight noted that "failure to comply with the decision by any in stitution means it (the institution) must notify the Legislature, the coun cil and the Governor within 60 days why it has not complied." Several Senators indicated they thought this would mean that the larger state schools would also be re quired to comply with Council rul ings. KNIGHT SAID the new Council would take over some duties now prescribed for the State Board of Education and State Department of Education in order to hold enough power necessary to be effective. "If we do not strive for this con trol, we will be working for educa tional mediocrity Instead of superiority," he said. Omaha Sen. Henry Pedersen, a co-sponsor of the bill, and member of the Education committee, also spoke in behalf of the bill. . "THIS BILL is only fair to our state education institutions i-tl. Pedersen said. "We will not be the first to institute such a council. Forty other states have similar bodies for long-range planning." Pedersen noted that if the Legislature does not take the op portunity to control the problem now, the solution would be "evanescent." "In the past 10 years, enrollment (in Nebraska higher educational in stitutions) has doubled," he said. "It will double again by 1975, and we will be faced with more and more demands. "I DON'T SAY the demands aren't proper, but we need the coordination," he said. Legislature Budget Committee chairman Richard Marvel appeared in behalf of the bill. He emphasized the need to adequately fund the bill should the committee send it to the floor of the Legislature. "Those Council members will serve on a voluntary basis," Marvel said. 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