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monday, november 13, 1972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 96, no. 41
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Regents may ask students
to pay $1.4 million deficit
In the red . . . Regent Kermit Hansen ponders the
administrative mixups that may cost the University $1.4
million.
by Michael (O.J.) Nelson
The University must come up with an
estimated $1.4 million by the end of the school
year to keep from going into debt, NU
administrators told the Board of Regents
Friday at its monthly meeting.
And it appears student pocketbooks are one
of the places they are going to look for the
money.
A special one-semester student assessment
was suggested as one of five ways to pay UNL's
portion of the projected University-wide
deficit. The biggest share of the red ink,
$927,000, is expected to come from the
Lincoln campus.
The four other suggestions include: asking
the Legislature for additional money,
immediate use of excess grant funds, reduction
in spending and cutting scholarship monies.
If only the student charge is used, the
amount each student might pay could be as
high as $45, according to rough calculations.
If a student assessment is used to help
prevent the loss, a decision must be made by
the first of the year, according to University
President D.B. Varner. If it is not, he said, the
University will lose that option.
The projected deficit results from two
factors, Howard Neville, University vice
president for administration, told the regents.
He said this semester's enrollment is less than
expected and those registered are taking fewer
hours than in past years.
He also blamed recent changes in Nebraska's
residency requirements for part of the loss. He
. said that because of the change, the University
has not gotten as much money as expected
from nonresident tuition.
As a first step in cutting expenditures, both
UNO and UNL have placed a freeze on new
faculty and staff, appointments. Chancellors
James Zumberge of UNL and Robert Roskins
of UNO, announced they have already stopped
new appointments on the campuses. Varner
'said he has ordered that no staff members over
age 65 be reappointed without his personal
approval.
In other business, the regents approved the
1972-73 ASUN budget. After giving the okay
to the $40,134 request, the board, at the
suggestion of Regent Robert Prokop, asked
Roskins to bring the UNO student senate
budget in for review.
Although the ASUN budget requires board
approval, the UNO request does not. Prokop
called the difference between the approval
systems "a gross inequity," and said the
processes should be standardized.
The regents named architecture firms to
design two new buildings on UNL's East
Campus.
An Omaha firm, McGaughy, Marshall,
McMillan & Backlund, will design the new East
Campus Union. The Union is expected to cost
$2.5 million.
Steve Cook & Associates of Lincoln will
design the William Barkley Center, also on the
East Campus. The $750,000 structure will
house a speech and hearing clinic, the
educational psychology clinic and the Midwest
Media Center for the Deaf. The building will be
built near the College of Dentistry.
The regents also voted to create a new
college from the UNL School of Environmental
Design. The school is currently part of the
College of Engineering and Architecture. II the
change Is approved by the Legislature, the
Turn to page 2
Gay movement evolving sense of community
by Chris Harper
Two people sat on the orange carpet and talked
about political strategies while another read the latest
issue of Esquire. One young man discussed the
possibility of transferring to school in Minnesota.
Eight men and one woman, each uniquely different
yet sharing one thing in common-they all are gay.
Community among gays rather than civil rights
appears to be the new direction for both Lincoln's
and the nation's gay persons, according to Larry Fine,
a member of the Lincoln Gay Action Group
(LINGAG).
This evolving sense of community permeates the
open house held each Thursday evening at the United
Ministries of Higher Education (UMHE), 333 N. 14th
St., Fine said. Someone brings cookies or soft drinks,
another person brings some films while others bring
cards, games and themselves, he added.
Perhaps their meeting place, a chapel, a traditional
gathering place for a community, emphasizes this new .
focus for gay liberation.
Gayness is the potential of having relationships
with the same sex, according to Fine, who is studying
gay liberation through the State University of New
York's Empire State College.
Being gay need not, however, exclude other sexual
experiences or limit a person solely to homosexual
relationships, Fine added.
The modern gay movement began in America in
1948, he said. The original groups were social,
undercover organizations with primarily conservative
philosophies, he added.
The formation of the Mattachine Society for men
and the Daughters of Bilitis for women during the
1950s marked the increasing interest in gay
liberation, Fine said.
"The original gay movement didn't question
society's viewpoints very much," Fine said. "It was
primarily gays keeping their place and not rocking the
boat." j .
Five hundred gay groups have formed since the
late 1940s, he said.
A police raid of gay bars on Christopher Street in
New York City in June 1969 united many gay
persons, he said.
"Gay bars have been continually raided, but this is
the first time that gay people fought back," Fine said.
Since 1969, he said, an annual gay parade that
usually attracts approximately 10,000 persons is held
on the fourth Sunday in June to commemorate the
Christopher incident.
Fine said he believes a principal reason for the
growth of the gay liberation movement is because of
the women's movement in America.
"The main reason that gay liberation bloomed
when it did was because of the pioneering work done
by women's liberation in questioning traditional sex
roles," he said. "Gay liberation has patterned much
of its action after the women's liberation movement."
"The original trend was toward civil rights because
changing sex roles is more difficult, more
frustrating," Fine said. The ultimate goal of gay
liberation, however, is to aid people to relate to other
people regardless of gender,
Three gay liberation groups exist in Nebraska;
LINGAG, the UNL Gay Action Group and the
Omaha Gay Freedom League.
Who was the principal organizer of the Lincoln gay
groups? Sen. Terry Carpenter of Scottsbluff, he said.
"Terry Carpenter was instrumental in bringing gay
people together through his attacks on the homophile
studies course in the fall of 1970," he said. "He
staged a circus in Omaha on the sexual psychopath
and made some irresponsible statements about gay
people without any evidence. A lot of misinformation
was thrown out and that got a lot of publicity."
The Lincoln groups, although autonomous,
formed in May 1970 while the Omaha group began in
1972.
"For the first year or so, 90 per cent of the
activity was screaming, 'We're here, acknowledge us.'
Now we're trying to discover some honest way to
deal with one another," one gay said. "Now we're
moving toward providing services for gay
people-discussion groups, meeting places and
support. Inner activity is the most
important-realistically you can't educate everyone
about gay people."
Fine said a bimonthly coffee house, the Gay Rap
Line and the weekly open house are some
instruments to create a gay community.
The gay coffeehouse, held every other Sunday at
UMHE, is "an alternative to a gay bar where people
can meet as complete people," he said.
The Gay Rap Line has had some difficulties but
has been completely reorganized, Fine said.
"There is a feeling that we're trying to recruit gay
people but that's not right at all," he said. "We're
highly selective in who talks to people on the Gay
Rap Line. The approach we're taking this year is that
we have eight trained people who will listen and the
line will act as a referral service. We're not going to
try to solve people's problems but answer questions
about gays through our experience."
Another social experience for gays spearheaded by
LINGAG, Fine said, is the weekly open house on
Thursday evenings at UMHE.
"Heteroiexuality is not only sex but love and
marriage, yet when people think about
homosexuality they only think about its sexual
nature," Fine said. "I wish that people wouldn't have
to think about gay people in purely sexual ways.'
The group, however, has had some internal
problems, Fine said.
"Many gays across the nation have been sexist and
predominantly male," he said. "I would like to see
more women in the group because generally women
. til l
have their heads together more tnan men. women oo
have separate problems but they do have a lot of
common ground with gay men.