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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1972)
r City cops infiltrate campus rallies by Steve Strasser Some of the longhairs at anti-establishment UNL rallies are there not to protest, but to watch the protesters, according to a Lincoln Police Department (LPD) inspector. "We do have undercover agents on the campus," Inspector Robert Sawdon said at a Big Eight Cities Conference panel discussion Friday.' "And the only way you could pick them out is that they look worse than the rest." Sawdon said prior to the recent march on Lincoln's Selective Service Office informers told LPD the demonstrators were planning to keep to the street instead of using the sidewalks around 0 Street, as they had been ordered to do. "So we had 15 or 20 cops, a paddy wagon and a couple of police dogs ready just in case," Sawdon said. But the marchers stayed on the sidewalks. He said the "cloak-and-dagger people," students and non-students, men and women are necessary because "the only way to get intelligence information is to go in with them." Sawdon told about 30 Big Eight university and civic leaders that some informants work for money and some work because of personal beliefs. For example, he said one person infiltrated the University's Gay Action Group because he didn't agree with its principles. Also on the "Security on Campus" panel were Gail Gade, UNL's Campus Security and Traffic director; Wayne Kuncl, UNL assistant director of housing; Ben Goble, a Lancaster County law enforcement education officer; and UNL student Phil Lamb, an agricultural economics senior. Gade, who took over a force of "23 older, retired, untrained people" at UNL in 1969, said the traditionally benign campus police force had to professionalize. "The campus community has become part of the larger community," Gade said. "It's no ivory tower any more." He said the May 1970 violence on campuses proved the need for "a good, workable security system." So now the campus police force numbers 40 commissioned officers with full powers of arrest. All new campus officers have been trained at the Grand Island Police Academy. They must have a high school education, and must pass a lie detector test and psychological tests. In 1969 the force had three cars and two radios, Gade said. Now there are six cars, all with radios, and foot patrol radios and a radio dispatch system are on the way. He said the University's new dormitory patrol is "a real fine move in the right direction." Housing officer Kuncl outlined that program. Uniformed but weaponless student guards are taking over night security duties from the traditional night watchmen. Two recent rapes, on campus "shocked us into reality," Kuncl said. The college security force, in operation from midnight to 7 a.m., should "prevent thefts, vandalism and provide a feeling of security for people in the building." The student guards report to circulating campus police cars and have earned "a very positive initial impression," Kuncl said. if I ynHhf L .- i it ill IL JJ'v I I S "St ' 11 U ' . I Mm imi . . , aviv ,' 1 ISSEBt L m KM: 11 if ' L," Big Eight Cities Conference. . .panelists discuss confidential treatment of younq people's drug and sex problems. Panel members. taS"- Sme DrU9 Commi$sion member Rex BOTin$. "NL Student Health doctor Gary Financing pane stresses role of student image by Carol Strasser The image of the University and its student plays an important role in seeking taxpayer support, according to several members of a Big Eight Cities Conference panel on university financing Friday. Gov. J. James Exon, State Sen. Richard Marvel, Regent Ed Schwartzkopf, student Meg Hall and Miles Tommeraasen, director of business and finance, spoke to about 40 businessmen, newspapermen and educators from Big Eight states. Higher education is suffering from a backlash, said Schwartzkopf, and the public is no longer willing to finance education as they did a decade ago. One of the causes of this is the image of students. The great majority of students are "doing a fine job" but are letting their image be developed by a minority, he said. "The Legislature then becomes a little anti-education" and thinks it's throwing money awey." Schwartzkopf added. The University often has been a forum for unpopular opinions and it needs to be, he continued. "People don't understand this. The public expects the regents to kick the heck out of students whenever anything happens." There is broad public support for higher education but the University needs to do a better job of communicating with taxpayers. Marvel said. "If you tap the resources properly, they will respond. But you hive to get the message to them." This means developing a measurement of standards for University programs rather than talking in vague terms like "excellence in education," he said. However, Schwartzkopf said Nebraska is to the bottom of the Big Eight in per capita support for educational programs although it has a higher per capita income. Exon agreed there is much public support for education but said people also want to hold the line on taxes. People will support higher education if the goals are properly defined and are reasonable, he said. One of the things Exon mentioned as being unreasonable were the conferences such as World in Revolution and Time-Out which "didn't represent the majority opinion of students." Hall defended the conferences as being educational and "the public and University people need to understand that controversy at the University indicates trends in society." However, she said conferences can't be justified when people don't attend. Schwartzkopf added he doesn't think there will be a World in Revolution conference next year. Also discussed at the conference was the need for more regional cooperation in graduate programs. Although "state pride fits in where it's practical," Exon said, "we can't all have the best graduate program in every field." Tommeraasen said the University already has cooperative programs with other Big Eight schools in areas of veterinary science and architecture where the student goes out of state but pays resident tuition. Exon agreed to discuss with other Big Eight governors the financial problems which will develop if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that charging non-resident tuition is illegal. One of the possible results is that resident tuition will have to be increased to make up for the lost revenue, he said. UNL would lose about $1.5 million in revenue, Schwartzkopf said. Carpenter urges privacy in solving youth problems State Sen. Terry Carpenter said Friday that young people's drug and sex problems won't be solved until youths can be treated for those problems confidentially. "We need a number of places where a young person can feel free and at ease to work out a highly personal problem," the Scottsbluff lawmaker said at the Big Eight Cities Conference panel discussion. Carpenter said a bill he sponsored this year providing for youth centers at Nebraska National Guard armories would have been a step forward, but the bill was vetoed by Gov. J.J. Exon. Carpenter, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, was joined on the panel by Rex Bevins, a member of the State Drug Commission; Gary Martin, a doctor at the UNL Student Health Center; and UNL senior Jonette Beaver, who chairs the center's student advisory committee. Martin said two surveys last year showed UNL student drug usage to be at about the national rate, "except on a lower scale." He said the main exception was use of alcohol, where UNL's 85 per cent usage rate is the same as the national rate. Drug use is at about the same rate among all students, Martin said, independent of class or college. He said since freshmen use drugs as often as seniors, high schools are probably the biggest drug experimentation grounds. Martin cautioned that drug use and venereal disease statistics are easy to get in the closed University community, but there are not many figures from the larger Lincoln community with which to compare the UNL data. Carpenter said confidentiality is a key in treating young poeple with VD just as it is in treating them for drug abuse. Martin said UNL's health center docs not identify VD patients to the University or the students' families. But he said one drawback to treatment by student health in some cases is a diagnosis fee charged such patients. About 25 government, education, business and press officials from Big Eight cities attended the discussion. PAGE 10 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN MONDAY, MAY 1, 1972