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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1972)
doilu mhm rnonday, march 13, 1972 lincoln. nebraska vol. 95, no. 84 Regents adjourn after disruption by Randy Beam OMAHA A subdued, predominantly black group of 1 3 crowded around a small wooden table at the Council for Black Community Justice headquarters near downtown Omaha Saturday afternoon. They talked quietly now. They took turns. The atmosphere there was markedly different from that which had surrounded this same group an hour before. The renegade People's Board of Regents was holding its first meeting. Formed hurriedly at Saturday's Board of Regents meeting at the Medical Center here, the People's Board was a response to the "inequality and insensitivity" NU regents had shown for the concerns of blacks and the larger student body at UNO, according to people's board member David Taylor. The NU board Saturday postponed the reappointment of Milton White, interim chairman of the Black Studies Program at UNO, pending an investigation of both White's program and the Office of the Dean of Academic Affairs at UNO. At the same time, the NU regents approved the appointment of White's rumored successor, Hurbert Locke of Wayne State University in Michigan, as an assistant to UNO Chancellor John Blackwell. White pressed the NU board to hold up Locke's appointment until the investigation was complete. White alleged there were "all kinds" of administrative irregularities at UNO. For example, the Law Enforcement and Corrections staff fixes parking tickets for "their own people," he said. The NU board. White said after the meeting, wants him out of the black studies post because he said he ; "points out things that are wrong, that can't stand public exposure." Other blacks complained that their community had not been drawn into the anticipated selection of a new head for the Black Studies Program. 'This is why this institution," White told the NU board, "by virtue of its inclination to hire house - niggers emeritus, is in a position that puts it No. 50 in its commitment to black students." When the NU board plunged ahead with Locke's appointment. White said 'This necessitates another regent's board. 1 move the People's Regents be established. Will the People's Regents convene in the first two rows." An estimated 100 of White's supporters, clutching signs that read "Equalling the death chambers of Nazi Germany are the Regents" and "Let's fight for Milton White", pulled their chairs into a circle at the Medical Center cafeteria, even as the NU board tried to complete its agenda. But noise from the crowd forced the NU regents into adjournment. White read a short statement: "We hereby object to the authority of the Board of Regents to take any action as the Governing body of the University of Nebraska for the regents' district boundaries are not drawn as required by . . . the constitution of the State of Nebraska, and accordingly the sections by which the Regents are elected, are null and void as acted by these people." White called for nominations to the People's Regents board. Thirteen names were tossed up from the audience, and all were elected unanimously. A UNO student. Ken Secret, was picked to head the new organization. The group dispersed, but the newly elected board beaded to justice headquarters for their meeting. Secret said in an interview at the Medical Center that White was being railroaded. "I think that Milton White's record in the community has proven to us that he is definitely qualified for the position he carries," Secret said. Any attempt to bring someone in who doesn't have the community's interest at heart would be rejected by the blacks, he added. White, also contacted at the Medical Center, said holding up his appointment pending the outcome of the investigation was the right thing for the regents to do. During the meeting, White told the NU board that Blackwell had indicated to him that Locke was under consideration for the black studies post. President D.B. Varner confirmed this at Saturday's meeting. At justice headquarters, Secret and other board members said the people's regents would attempt to break down the conflict that now exists among members of the community, students and the administration in - general, but more specifically, between the administration and UNO black students. I " 1 " o If" s- n ""-- -W HL.l YtZ. 1 f Regents. . . forced to adjourn Saturday meeting because of disruptions. Taxpayer blasts regents7 visitation decision OMAHA- Despite a verbal lashing by a taxpayer-parent at its meeting Saturday, the Board of Regents adopted a change loosening coed visitation rules for UNL dormitories. Residence hall officers, on a 6-2 vote, were made eligible to sponsor visitation hours. Previously either faculty, staff or parents had to be present during visitation hours. Regents James Moylan of Omaha and Robert Prokop of Papillion voted against the change. Approval followed comments by Donald H. Lienemann of Papillion. Lienemann, who said he had both a son and daughter at the University, accused the board of abdicating its responsibility to the citizens of the state on the coed visitation issue. Lienemann said he could not understand the board's logic in opening up dormitories for "sexual activity." "Your maladministration has compromised the souls and consciences of the citizens of this state. By your failure to act decisively you are siding and abetting the destruction of all those priceless virtues that we hold dear," he said. If allowing students to go to rooms of members of the opposite sex is good, he said he apparently didn't understand human nature. Regent Kermit Hansen of Omaha said Lienemann's interpretation of the rule change was not quite accurate. It is unfortunate, Hansen said, that other parents also think the regents reversed themselves and acted contrary to the opinions parents expressed in a coed visitation survey conducted in January. At that time, parents voiced strong objections to liberalizing the visitation policy. Students ire currently allowed to visit rooms of members of the opposite sex for not more than six hours in one day. Doors must be open, and visitation hours must be set up in advance. Lienemann said he was horrified at what he saw going on in dormitory lounges. When asked later what he meant, Lienemann said he observed sexual intercourse taking place. The Papillion life insurance salesman also blasted the board for allowing the World in Revolution Conference on Jusice in America to bring Jerry Rubin, co-founder of the Yippie Party to campus. . . . "It makes me sick at heart to think that such a thing could ever take place in this state," he told the board. He said he objected, as a taxpayer, to having to pay for the heat, lights and podium that Rubin used during his speech at .the East Campus Union. Lienemann said the board should have banned Rubin. In an interview after the meeting, he said he couldn't say if the conference, on the whole, was balanced. Board Chairman Ed Schwartzkopf of Lincoln told Lienemann th8t if one carried his reasoning to a logical conclusion, then Rubin should not be allowed to travel on public highways or use any tax-supported facilties. Moylan said it was disheartening that conference planners were using fees from 100 per cent of the student body for the less than one per cent who were attending. "It appears to me that the planners are not in tune with the feelings of the majority of students on campus," he said. In another presentation to the board, UNL student Thomas Headly presented Prokop with a red "F" which he said was symbolic of the grade he would receive for plagiarizing a term paper. Headley's action was in reference to a recent editorial on homosexuality which Prokop authored. It was originally intended for publication in the Daily Nebraskan, but ended up being printed in the Douglas County Gazette. The article contained statements similar to those appearing in a book by Dr. Edmund Bergler, Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life Prokop said after Headley's presentation that if anyone had bothered to check closely with the Douglas County Gazette he would have discovered that a list of references were submitted with his article. Publisher Anne Batchelder contacted Sunday said Prokop had submitted a list of references, but that they were not printed with the article. She said she eould not recall whether the list was turned in before or after the column was printed. The list of books was extensive, she said.