jdaily
monday, march 6, 1978 vol.101 no. 81 lincoln, nebraska
Carter renews support for increased aid
By Ron Ruggless
Editor in Chief
Washington -President Carter renewed
his support of increasing student aid in
higher education here Friday, and took a
swing at the tax credit proposal now in
Congress.
"The tax credit plan is very expensive
and not focused well," Carter said during a
briefing with about 200 college editors. "It
is a boon to the very affluent families."
Carter's student aid plan, introduced by
Health, Education and Welfare Secretary
Joseph Califano, would increase student
aid programs from $3.8 billion this year to
$5.2 billion in fiscal 1979.
Carter said his plan would be distributed
through the Basic Educational Opportunity
Grant program, the college work study pro
gram and the Guaranteed Student Loan
program.
Rep. Virginia Smith (R-Neb.) said she
opposes Garter's plan.
"The tax credit plan was not in his pro
posal," she said.
"He had to come out quickly with an al
ternative idea."
Smith, along with Rep. Charles Thone
(R-Neb.), helped co-sponsor the tax credit
plan.
It would allow parents to check off
$2i0 in a tuition tax credit on their in
come tax for each student in higher educa
o ij
Photo by Steve Boerner
President Jimmy Carter
Carter said the tax credit does not help
the middle-income families. Middle-income
families fall into the $16,000 to $25,000
annual salary range.
The point of dispute lies in the adminis
trative costs of Carter's program.
Smith argues that the tax credit is much
simpler than what Carter is proposing. Car
ter, on the other hand, says the tax credit
would unnecessarily fragment education
policy among congressional committees.
In other subjects ,at the Friday press
conference, Carter commented on the following:
-ERA. "1 strongly favor ratification of
ERA (the Equal Rights Amendment)."
-Abortion. "The government should
find every possible alternative to abor
tion." -Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. The
SALT talks are making good steady pro
gress," the president said. If it is required
to speed the talks, Carter said he is willing
to meet with Soviet President Leonid
Brezhnev.
-Fed Head. Carter emphasized his sup
port for G. William Miller, who was ap
proved by the Senate to head the Federal
Reserve Board. "He has an excellent under
standing of economics in every respect."
-Dollar power. In the face of a recent
decline in American dollar value against the
Japanese yen and the German mark, Carter
said "the basic elements of economic
theory have been forgotten in the past few
weeks."
-Running in 1980. "I will not project
I will or will not run," Carter said. "There
are some things over which I have no con
trol. He added that there have been no
two-full-term presidents since Dwight Eis
enhower. -Merit appointments. Carter said he is
"deeply committed" to making govern
mental appointments on the basis of merit,
not personal or party servitude. He said he
finds the use of five-member "blue-ribbon"
selection panels an equitable way to select
individuals for positions.
UNL canceling three
optometry contracts
Contacts with three out-of-state private'
colleges enabling Nebraskans to study
optometry at resident tuition rates are un
constitutional and have been canceled, said
Rick Lolkus, UNL's pre-optometry adviser.
Contract cancellation came after a
March 1 Daily Nebraskan story about
optometry contracts, Lolkus said.
Nebraska has no optometry school. Be
fore the cancellations, UNL had contracts
with five schools and openings for from 20
to 25 Nebraskans to study optometry at
resident rates outside the slate.
The cancelled contracts involved Pacific
University in Oregon, Illinois College of
Optometry in Chicago, and Southern Cali
fornia College of Optometry in Fullerton.
The Nebraska constitution does not
allow state money to reimburse private
operations, such as those three colleges,
Mark Killenbeck UNL "administration
assistant of developmental disabilities said.
"There are different kinds of agree
ments," said Lolkus, but the contracts with
these three schools did involve state funds.
"Evidently, this discovery that contracts
were illegal happened last fall and we
weren't informed until now," Lolkus said.
Killenbeck said that investigation into
the contracts' unconstitutionality began
last summer.
The attorney general was consulted in
the fall, and action was taken last week.
"Why they decided todo something
about it now, I don't know," he said.
UNL still has contracts with Ohio State
University and the University of Houston,
both public colleges. Each contract allows
for five Nebraska students, he said.
Marathon dancers twist and hustle to wild finale
By Kris Hansen
"Midnight We've done it!"
And with a resounding yell and a cas
cade of balloons couples in the KLMS-Chi
Phi Dance Marathon for Muscular Distro
phy leaped, whirled collapsed and scream
ed to a halt.
Forty-four couples entered the 30-hour
event last weekend in the Union Ballroom.
Forty-one couples completed the grueling
course.
The dance started at 6 p.m. to the music
of Cottonwood Electric Rhythm and
Blues. The dancers promptly forgot all in
tentions of saving themselves and stomped
with happy abandon. Balloons and frisbees
soared through the air. and the ice bowls
placed around the room were ignored.
Most of the dancers were UNL college
students but they were joined by several
junior high students. Two seventh-graders,
Tina Laboski and Debbie Meyers, taught
the contestants the "Alligator" and soon
had them rolling on the floor and kicking
their feet to the beat.
Three hours later Bandit replaced Cot
tonwood and the music grew louder. The
contestants and spectators broke out cot
ton for earplugs and the sweating dancers
paid more attention to the ice bowls. After
a dance lesson from the Arthur Murray
School of Dance, pizza arrived and the
feast began .
Essence took over at midnight and the
slower beat offered relief for aching feet.
Ice fights began and balloons were twisted
into absurd figures, the rowdy crowd fol
lowing with a rousing chorus of "Redneck
Use for discretionary fund undetermined
A $650,000 regent's discretionary fund
recommended by the Nebraska Legislature
Appropriations Committee Friday probably
will be used for instruction, rather than
construction. said Regent Edward
Schwartzkopf of Lincoln .
Although Schwartzkopf said he wanted
to see the find budget before he decides
how to spend the money, "our first priori
ty is still a 9 percent increase in faculty
salaries and a 7 percent increase for other
university employees," he said.
The committee's recommendation in
cludes a 65 percent increase in salaries.
The committee has not yet completed
its recommendation for NU capital con
struction, but chairman Jerome Warner
said there is no money for new construc
tion. The committee probably will finish
its budget recommendations today or
Tuesday.
Schwartzkopf said one possibility for
getting more money for construction
would be to substantiate the university's
cash reserves for the state money earmark
ed for construction. The cash reserves
would then be used for construction and
the state funds would be transferred to
university operations.
"Capital construction is a one -shot deal.
You don't want to base your next year's
budget on it," he sid. The governor and
the Appropriations Committee base each
year's budget recommendations on the pre
vious year's budget, he said.
In addition to the $650,000 discretion
ary fund for the regents, the committee re
commended $58.7 million for UNL, which
includes $17.7 million for the Institute for
Agriculture and Natural Resources; $29.3
million for the NU Medical Center: $14.9
million for UNO and $4.3 million for the
NU central administration.
The Committee's budget is almost iden
tical to the one Gov. J. James Ex on pro
posed, but $6.4 million short of NU's
request of $1 14.2 million.
Mother."
At 4 a.m. everyone tried to catch a little
sleep. Bodies in sleeping bags were strewn
over lounge furniture all over the second
floor of the union. All too soon it was time
to rise. Groans could be heard as the dan
cers struggled to their feet, ready to dance
by 8 a.m. After a quick breakfast of dough
nuts, The Statesmen began playing and the
dancers were off to an energetic start.
Hustles, circle dances and trains were
the order of the day. An adventurous
group led half of the dancers on a chain
tour of the union, startling unsuspecting
cartoon watchers in the lobby.
The Mysterious Mustache (belonging to
Rob Hager, KLMS disc jokey and mara
thon announcer) kept the dancers moving,
along with alternately supplying and des
troying balloons.
Heartmurmer took over at noon, and
the slower beat had the couples swaying
listlessly in their tracks. Backaches set in
and the occasional 15-minute breaks were
used for backrubs.
The balloons returned to raise sagging
spirits - dueling, popping, snapping, dan
cing and hair decorations kept the section
lively.
The traditional goldfish swallow - one
for every $1000 earned up to that point -followed
at 4 p.m. and 1 1 hardy volunteers
helped the fish 'Viggle all the way down."
After a long rest while faulty equipment
was repaired, the marathoners stepped out
to Lyon Hill. The bea was fast and revived
the group. The banjo strumming prompted
wild swinging and frantic jigs.
Continued on page 2
inside
Junk mail: Mailing houses may be
taking student addresses from the
Buzz Book page 3
Equus is a winner: Reviewer Charlie
Krig applauds the psycho-sexual
drama page 10
Bad news, good news: Despite a semi
final Big tight loss Huskers gain
National Invitational Tournament
big page 10