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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1977)
daily im httm TO Wednesday, november 2, 1966 vol.101 no. 34 lincoln, nebraska NU fees task force closes session, claims meetings law not applicable By Anne Carothers The university-wide task force to study student fees re fused a request to follow legal procedure Tuesday in closing its meeting for the third time this year. Task force members argued that, according , to their legal counsel, the task force was not bound by the Nebraska Open Meetings law (LB325-1975) due to a possible loophole in the law. Dennis Martin, UNL student representative on the 10 member task force, said it is not bound by the law since the task force was appointed and makes its recommenda tions to NU President Ronald Roskens rather than the university's governing body, the NU Board of Regents. According to law, advisory committees to governing bodies created by Constitution or a statute can close their meetings to the public only for specific reasons outlined in Nebraska law, and must take a roll 'call vote on a motion to close each meeting. The committee refused to take a vote to close the meeting as requested by a Daily Nebraskan reporter. The task force was established and is a recommending body to Roskens, who reports to the regents, rather than the task force reporting directly to the regents, Martin said. A transcript of the regents' June meeting shows the re gents voted "that there be a study of student fees with the intent of getting rid of all student fees except for those on contractional obligation." The question of to whom the task force is responsible apparently is the source of controversy regarding whether the task force is bound by the open meetings law. The fact that the regents requested a study rather than the actual task force is the task force's rationale for ex empting themselves from the public meeting law, Martin said. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Richard Armstrong, also a member of the task force, said he thought the regents were the only NU governing body and that administrators such as the president and chancellor are not part of the governing body. Hans Brisch, who heads the task force, said after the meeting, the task force worked on establishing a format for their information, including statements on the phil osophy, and history of the fees system. Brisch said he hoped the meetings would be opened after next week's meeting at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. A 1 1 t L " - V , H' -v.. ' Itt'UV : '.: it : . s.y; k-ii It in rsi unit ' Jtft a cat. Daily Nebraskan Photo NU President Ronald Roskens Some Iranians convinced Sevak's agents present By Tarn Lee Some UNL Iranian students are saying they fear that agents of the Shah of Iran are monitoring their political activities. Others say they believe there are no Sevak agents (Iran ian secret police) at UNL because the Iranian students are hot politically active here. Linda Becker, foreign student adviser, said it is rumored that, because of the size of the Iranian student population, (138) it is conceivable that one or two Sevak agents are at UNL. On Nov. 14, 1975, the Daily Nebraskan quoted Rowena Boykin, then the UNL foreign student adviser, as saying there probably were no Sevak agents at UNL be cause it was too small. There were 58 Iranian students at UNL then, the Daily Nebraskan reported. One of the techniques Sevak uses, Becker said, is to hire students as informants. It is impossible to determine if there are any Sevak agents at UNL because they go through the same channels as other students, and are accepted as students, she said. " M Iranian Student Association One Iranian student disagreed with this. The student, who asked not to be identified, said Sevak cannot afford to have agents wliere there is no political activity. A newly formed UNL organization, the Iranian Student Association, has the same name as an international political organization aimed at forcing the Shah, Mohammed Ruza Pahlavi, out of Iran, according to one student. But he said the UNL organization is not a member of this group, and is not anti-Shah. The Iranian Student Association should not be confused with the Organization or Iranian Students, a cultural and social organization. The student said the Iranian Student Association is a political organization but its members don't like to say it is because then students would not join. Sevak agents surveillance He said the feeling that the Iranian Student Associa tion is an anti-Shah political organization is keeping some students from joining because they fear surveillance by Sevak agents. He said students attending the meetings discuss any issues they want to bring up. The topics are suggested by the students, he said. . UNL officials proposing budget cuts, balanced spending, income are goals UNL deans got a proposal to cut the budget of each college by a flat Hi percent at a closed-door meeting with acting Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Ned Hedges and Chancellor Roy Young Tuesday morning. . 1 ledges presented his plan to reduce the difference be tween planned academic spending and planned income in the 1978-79 school year, a figure that has become trouble' some during the past five years. . rianned academic spending is about $1.4 million larger than planned income this year, and has averaged about 3.5 percent larger than planned income for the past five years. This has forced what Hcdges.has called "extra ordinary action during the school year to balance the budget Hedges plan, which would take the 1H percent bite out of planned spending in one year, would reduce the difference between planned spending and income to about Hi percent of the budget The difference is about 3.2 percent of the budget this year. The deans were asked to prepare reports on how the cuts would be made within their colleges and schools and on the impact of the cuts on their programs. Hedges said he set no deadlines for the deans reports, which he and Young will review to determine the impact of the cuts on the entire university. Hedges proposal runs counter to a Faculty Senate re solution passed on the problem last week. The resolution recommended that the cuts be made over several years and the senate suggested the cuts be made on the needs and effectiveness of each college. Hedges said he "considered the resolution carefully in drafting the proposaL "I'm not comfortable that we have appropriate infor mation to make judgments which discriminate the needs of the administrative units' Hedges said. Administrative units include UNL colleges and schools. Faculty Senate president Michael Turner said Hedges proposals came as no surprise. They were consistent with remarks Hedges had made previously, according to Turner. He said he did not know whether there were Sevak agents at UNL or not, but said it did not matter "because we have a duty to do," Their duty is to inform people about the situation in Iran, he said. We won't avoid doing anything because a Sevak agent is there. We are not afraid,' he said. Two Iranian students said that through , extensive propaganda by the Iranian government, Sevak appears to be more widespread .than it really is. Couldn't have them everywhere "The propaganda would have you believe that theres are Sevak agents everywhere. But they couldn't have them everywhere," he said. One student said if Iranian students believe that Sevak agents are on campus, "it is because of insecurity nurtured by propaganda by the Iranian government" which says there are agents everywhere. However, he said, it is possible that some students who have relatives in high government positions in Iran give them information about students to strengthen their own positions at home. One anonymous source said some students suspect that Sevak agents have infiltrated the Iranian Student Associa tion, and are trying to stir up anti-Shah sentiment at UNL. The reason some of the members are able to speak so courageously against the Shah may be that they are Sevak agents, the source siad. One student, active in the association, said he doesn't believe this is true because "Sevak is not looking for trouble. They don't start political movements to see who will get involved." He suggested the Daily Nebraskan write about the problems in Iran rather than Sevak agents at UNL. . One Iranian student not affiliated with the association said he was certain there are Sevak agents at UNL. The association doesn't like to tell new students about Sevak agents here because they will be afraid to join," he said, inside vednosdaij Chess team bares (bears?) legs: Polar Bear chess toumey draws briefly clad competitors. . . .p. 6 SA's are not special people: UNL Parking Advi sory Board tentatively decides not to allot special parking spaces to student assistants .p, 7 This job is no accident: Two UNL students work " as ambulance jockeys for local emergency service .p. 9