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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1972)
cfai thursday, february 24, 1972 lincoln, nebraska vol. 95, no. 74 r, Zumberge. . .alone in the middle. Photo by Bill Ganiel Mass visitation could close dorms by Randy Beam The possibility that dormitories could be closed if current coed visitation rules are violated in mass was tossed to students at a meeting with UN L Chancellor James H. Zumberge, Wednesday night. Beginning Monday, the Residence Hall Association (RHA) has urged dormitories to ignore the old visitation policy and implement the so-called Magrath proposal. The Magrath proposal is a liberalized visitation plan almost identical to the one parents rejected accroding to result f a survey recently conducted by the Board of Regents. Zumberge said Wednesday that if the number of studer ts violating present visitation regulations becomes so great that they can not be handled, he may have to close dormitories. -: "I wouldn't like to do that," he added. The new chancellor said earlier in the meeting that both he and the housing office staff are bound to uphold the existing regulations. If they are unable to do so, he continued, additional staff might have to be brought in. Zumberge said disciplinary action taken against infractors should a mass visit-in occur would be no different than is currently taken in rules violating situations. He urged, students not to mass protest, but suggested instead that they work through him to persuade the board to consider student response 85 per cent favorable -to the Magrath policy. Zumberge contended that the closed door question was a "vital element" in swaying parent opinion against the Magrath plan. The liberalized policy made no reference to doors being open or closed. Official UNL policy requires doors to be open. Upon questioning, Zumberge told students that he could not support the Magrath policy as now written because it is not specific enough. He said it states "entertainment" as a reason for visitation but does not define what entertainment is. Zumberge earlier said he was in favor of student input in determining dormitory visitation regulations. RHA Senate President Roger Story told the chancellor that the Magrath policy was the least students would accept. 'There is going to be a visitation policy on this campus whether the Regents put it into action or we do," Story stated. Zumberge asked Story to search for a common ground on the apparent coed visitation policy conflict between students and regents. "We can't compromise anymore because then we'd have the (current) RHA hours," Story shot back. Zumberge cautioned that he would consider a mass violation irrational and irresponsible. RHA representative Bill Freudenburg said, however, that to him, "the present policy is not acceptable. I think the most responsible thing we could do is to behave according to the laws we set up." Zumberge told Fruedenburg that once "you start down the road in defiance of the existing system you lose control one irrational action leads to another irrational action." , Freudenberg said he realized what the consequences could be, but said it was the "only acceptable course of action because I can no longer live under the present rules." RHA gives go-ahead The Residence Hall Association (RHA) Senate Wednesday night decided to go ahead with plans for a mass violation of current coed visitation rules. A motion, passed unanimously, urged dormitories to set up, beginning Monday, open hours within limits of the Magrath proposal. Earlier there had been concern on the part of RHA representatives that their dormitories would not be able to organize by then. The resolution was passed with the understanding that dormitories would proceed in setting up the Magrath hours as quickly as possible. Students adhering to the Magrath policy, which is not in line with rules currently approved by the University, will be in violation of UNL housing regulations. RHA urged residence directors and student assistants to continue to enforce current regulations with hopes that violations will be too numerous for the University to handle. At another Wednesday night meeting, the Interfraternity Council (IFC) urged the Board of Regents to recognize the "over-whelm ingly strong student support of the Magrath plan, and to accept the plan." Senators advance fieldhouse measure Nebraska state senators voted Wednesday morning to advance a bili which would slightly alter the financing procedure for the new UNL fieldhouse. Lincoln Sen. Roland Luedtke's LB 1433 was advanced on a 38-7 vote following more than an hour of debate. In speaking for the bill, Scottsbluff Sen. Terry Carpenter asked that UNL Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Bob Devaney reconsider his decision to retire as head football coach. "He's not in a position to quit as far as I'm concerned," Carpenter told senators. "I don't think Mr. Devaney has the rs.t to qu.t. Noting he may regret making the statement later. Carpenter said Devaney "owes this state" and Legislature an "obligation to stay not as athletic director" but also as coach until "this fieldhouse is complete" and his name is above the door. Luedtke's bill would change a law enacted last year dividing the five cent cigarette tax increase. Existing law divides the five cents equally between funds for the construction of a new fieldhouse and state off ice building. . Luedtke's bill, advanced Wednesday from general file, sets aside $2.4 million per year for the construction of the new fieldhouse. A maximum of $12 million could be spent on the project under the bill's provisions. For a two year period, $2.4 million would be spent for improvements at the state fairgrounds in Lincoln. The remaining $7 million, estimated to accumulate annually from the tax increase, would be diverted into capital construction projects such as the stateoffice building, an addition to the UNL Love Library' and other construction projects as the Legislature desires. Luedtke urged passage of the bill saying it answered critics' complaints and made priorities more flexible. "The love affair between the Legislature and Bob Devaney should end," Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers said. 'This man has known the sweetness of victory but not the . bitterness of defeat" Chambers said the UNL football team's national championship days were over, and he urged senators to "find other things than football and Bob Devaney to talk about." Neiigh Sen. John DeCamp noted privately, "We aren't talking about the fieldhouse anymore. We're talking about Devaney's retirement." "I admit we need the fieldhouse," Omaha Sen. Duke Snyder said, "but where are our priorities?" He said the state office building and addition to the Nebraska State Home for the Mentally Retarded in Beatrice were of more importance to the state. In closing, Luedtke agreed that the question of Devaney's retirement and the future of UNL football had no bearing on his bill. Rather, Luedtke said he believed passage of the bill would start a "feeling of pride" for other 'sports. Those opposing passage of LB 1433 from general file were: Chambers, Snyder, Senators Thomas Kennedy of Newman Grove, Leroy Pfister of South Sioux City, Richard Proud and William Skarda of Omaha and Gerald Stromer of Kearney. .
