daily
friday, September 5, 1975 volume 99 number 8 lincoln, nebraska
el hears discrimination charaesaaainst UNO
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A former UNO English instructor
testified ' Thursday at the Legislature
Judiciary Committee's public hearing on
sex discrimination in Nebraska.
JoArm Pycha testified on discriminatory
UNO grievance procedures.
According to Sen. John DeCamp,
moderator, the group hopes to gain a more
permanent direction in presenting
substantial changes in statutes and to form
subcommittees to review the statutes.
"Hopefully by January there will be a
package of statutes acceptable to the
Legislature," he said. -''(
Statute changes include rewording
, articles in which either sex is discriminated
against.
Tired, finished'
Pycha testified that she "was fired and
finished before my grievance procedure
was even completed.".
Complaints usually are reviewed by the
NU Board of Regents, according to Pycha,
but "in my case they gave promotion and
tenure to two men less qualified than I.
"Not only am I here for women's fight
against sex discrimination, but also because
I deserve to have my job back," Pycha said.
In other testimony, two women said .
that when a single woman with good credit
rating marries, she "loses the benefits and
credit ratings she has established and must
jo by her husband's credit rating."
Legislation possible
- According to DeCamp, the Judiciary
Committee wilj investigate the problem
and may introduce legislation after hearing
testimony from some Omaha businessmen.
; Another woman testified, that the
"no-fault divorce law does not address
itself to the economic side of divorce, so it
is not complete and therefore, is
discriminatory."
Sen. Ernest Chambers objected to the
testimony, saying "if a marriage is a
; partnership concerned with economics, it
can only be viewed like an investment
without love and human bonds."
' According to DeCamp, the testimony
"touched upon one of the most
discriminatory articles of legislation against
women there is."
Hurt children
DeCamp said the no-fault divorce law
was passed to prevent public courtroom
battles which hurt children involved and
create hard feelings.
"The tragedy is that the no-fault law
only dealt with half of the problem," he
said. "It didn't consider the woman's input
to the marriage or what happens after the
divorce."
Another public hearing is scheduled for
Sept. 12. ,
"So far there have been no testimonies
on sex discrimination . against males but
some will probably come up in the future,"
said Roland Luedtke, Judiciary Committee
Chairman. "There's always the other side
of the coin."
mm
J' I
s -
NU Board of Regents members, clockwise from bottom: Ed Schwartzkopf, Lincoln;
Robert Simmons, Scottsbluff; Robert Koefoot, Grand Island; Kermit Hansen, Omaha;
Robert Raun, Minden; James Moylan, Omaha; Robert Prokop, Omaha; Kermit Wagner,
Schuyler. See story on p.2
NU Alumnus gmnts hearing
. The Lbs Angeles judge who has ordered
a reexamination of evidence in the Robert
F. Kennedy assassination case said the
reexamination "may present some real
difficult problems.
i.
. "Perhaps nobody -.ever formally
petitioned the court before," he said.
Wenke said he accepted the petition
calling for the reexamination because
"most of those involved thought it was the
best thing to do."
Distinguished classmates
Wenke graduated "very high
scholastically" from his class despite stiff
competition from a distinguished group of
classmates, according to Law School Dean
Harry Grether.
Grether said Wenke's. classmates
included Ted Sorensen, a top aide in Pres.
John Kennedy's administration; Lee
White, who has served as chairman of the
Federal Power Commission; Don Farber,
"one of the leading" lawyers in the
country in the field of entertainment laws;
George Abbott, a former Undersecretary of
the Interior who is now in private practice,
By Randy EJteuve-lt ' "
Progress reports on i UNL tenure study
and a drive to establish collective
bargaining for faculty members will be
presented Tuesday at the UNL Faculty
Senate's first meeting of the 1975-76
academic year.
Robert Wenke, a 1950 graduate of the
NU College of Law who will hear the case
as chief presiding judge in the California
State Superior Court, District of Los
Angeles, declined to comment on details in
the pending hearing.
The hearing has been granted in
response to a petition filed by a bystander
wounded in the shooting of Sen. Kennedy
and by the Columbia Broadcasting System
in the public's interest. Interest in the case
has grown amidst theories that a second
gun was used and a conspiracy may have
been involved. '
Wenke said in a telephone interview that
official papers for the hearing will be filed
Sept. 8 and a hearing will be held Sept. 1 1 .
Following the hearing he can order the
case reopened and a new trial held for the
convicted assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, or
determine that there is not enough
evidence and dismiss the case.
He wouldn't discuss other possibilities
until a decision had been made.
While he avoided discussion, Wenke did
say the public "shouldn't be fearful of a
reexamination of the evidence in the case.
"I don't think we should intentionally
or unitentionally hide any information,"
Wenke said.
Although there's "always been a
lingering doubt," Wenke said the case had
to wait to be reexamined until someone
filed a petition.
and Stan Hathaway, a former governor of
Wyoming who recently resigned as
secretary of the interior because of his
health. .
"Splendid guy"
"It's been a long time (since he was
graduated) and I have seen him since, so I
remember him better from his more recent
visits, but he was a splendid guy," Grether
said.
Wenke's father was a Nebraska Supreme
Court justice when the younger Wenke was
in law school.
He said he is proud of his Nebraska
heritage and interested in Big Red football
' and the state and tries to visit at least once
a year.
Before being appointed to the bench,
Wenke practiced law in Long Beach, Calif.,
and wrote two law texts, Grether said.
First Senate meeting Tuesday
inside
Steven Sample, executive vice president
for academic affairs, will report on a tenure
study started by order of the NU Board of
Regents last spring.
Ironically, the senate also will hear John
Robinson, the local president of the
American Association of University
Profnsors, report on his group's drive to
establish collective bargaining at UNL. The
drive was stalled because of the regents'
temporary delay of granting tenure
ippointmcnts last May.
.The senate nay act on the issues after
the reports, according to Franklin Eldridge,
senate . president. Then, m official
statement of opinion would be made, he
said.1 Presently, the senate hasn't
commented on either Issue.
' Outgoing UNL Chancellor James
Zumberge also is scheduled to speak at the
meeting, but could not be reached for
comment, Eldridge said Zumberge
probably would speak about his expected
appointment as Southern Methodist
University president and about the UNL
budget.
Reports also will be presented by the
senate's commencement, conciliation,
grievance, and calendar and exams
: committees. . ' - .'
Traditionally, Eldridge said, attendance
at faculty senate meetings "hasn't been
very good." For this reason, he added, the
senate soon will become an elected
representative system.
"The year 1975-76 will be a year of
transition as we change from the town hall
type of senate meeting to the elected
repi tentative type," Eldridge said. .
Currently, the senate membership
consists of more than 1 ,000 UNL faculty. -members.
"Unless there was a special issue,"
Eldridge said, "the faculty attendance was
very poor. Sometimes, we had to adjourn
because there weren't enough members to
do business."
To take action on business, the senate
requires a quorum of 50 members.
. According to Eldridge, the new
representative system will begin in January.
The entire faculty will be divided into
voting districts, according to colleges, and
will elect a representative for every 25
members. Each college, Eldridge said, will
have at least one vote.
"If the elected senate representatives
don't attend," Eldridge said, "we will ask
the college to elect a new one."
The new system will reduce the number
of senate members to about 65-70 persons,
he said. .,
"I think the new r.ystcm will work much
better," Ddridge said. "With the size of
our faculty, we have to have a
representative system."
Nominated: A new Lincoln
Police chief p.8
Formed: A new Lincoln Police
Union p.2
Reviewed: New television
shows by Aunt Hannah p.7
Also Find: .
Editorials p.4
Entertainment p.6
Sports P-IO
Crossword Puzzle p. 11
Weather
Friday: Slowly decreasing cloudiness
with temperatures in the mid-70s. Winds
northerly from 10-15 mph.
Friday night: Clear with lows in the 50s.
Saturday: Sunny and mild, highs in the
upper 70's. 1
