Wednesday, may 2, 1979
daily nebraskan
pag0 7
First round bill allows UNL veterinary medicine school
By Randy Essex
The Legislature Monday took an initial
step toward establishing a regional veterin
ary school on East Campus with a 25-12
first-round advancement of LB357.
Hie bill does not authorize spending to
build the school, but allows the NU Board
of Regents to enter agreements with other
universities to establish the school. The bill
requires that before the regents can enter
an agreement, federal financing of at least
50 percent of the construction cost must
be guaranteed.
The building would cost $26 million,
Anselmo Sen. Howard Lamb said.
Nebraska would have to pay about $6
million of that amount, if the project is
realized, he said.
So far, Wyoming, South Dakota and
Wisconsin have expressed favorable interest
in the school, supporters of the bill said.
Opposition
But the bill was not without its oppo
sition. South Sioux City Sen. J.R. Murphy
Chiller unit . .
Continued from Page 1
Warner, who wanted his committee to
include the chiller in the capital construc
tion bill, will introduce an amendment to
the bill to eliminate renovation of the
Temple Theatre Building, the Agriculture
Engineering Building and the Eppley li
brary at UNO from the bill.
But following debate Tuesday, Warner
said he does not know if he will try to in
clude the chiller in the bill.
According to William Swanson, vice
president of governmental relations, there
there may be several senators who will sup
port an amendment to include the chiller
in the capital construction budget
We were $ad that the chiller wasn't
included in the operations budget and are
hopeful that it will be included in construc
tion," Swanson said.
No trades
As of Tuesday night, Swanson said he
didn't know of any trade-offs for the
chiller in the construction budget and
added that he hoped the bill wont lose any
of its present appropriations.
If the chiller is denied in this year's bud
get, the university will lose $35,000 in
contract penalties. That amount was
scheduled to increase rapidly after April 30
if the contract was not cancelled by this
time.
But according to Robert Lovitt, assist
ant vice chancellor for business and
finance, NU received a week extension
said he is afraid that if one more building is
put up on the UNL campuses "the soil
footings will give and the whole thing will
drop out of sight."
"Let's empty a building and put veterin
ary medicine in there1 Murphy said.
Sen. Gerald Koch of Ralston said con
struction of the school would be "folly" in
light of declining high school enrollments.
Koch said if quality faculty is to be attrac
ted to the proposed vet school, faculty
quality in other schools at the university
will suffer.
. "There is greater demand for business
education than for the vet college," he
said. Koch argued that some young veterin
arians have been forced to leave the state
because there is not a great enough demand
for their services. He said service is avail
able to farmers in times of crisis and, there
fore, no more vets are needed.
Large animal
But one of the bill's principle support
ers, Sen. Loran Schmit of Bellwood, said
there are not enough vets to take care of
large animals in the state, and that most
schools of veterinary medicine emphasize
without penalty on the contract, and has
until Friday to cancel without suffering
further penalties.
Company worried
"The company contracted for the
chiller have a lot invested and probably
have a lot of work already done on the
system," Lovitt said. "They don't want to
see the contract cancelled."
Lovitt added that he was hopeful that
the chiller would be included in the con
struction budget today.
Jwo of three other amendments that
would have cut the NU budget failed.
Newell's amendment to eliminate finan
cing of the SUN program was the only
amendment passed. Newell argued that the
program was brought to the Legislature as
being self-supportive after the first year,
but is not.
He cited a decline in enrollment in the
program from 1,134 students the first year
to only 242 this year.
Another amendment
An amendment offered by South Sioux
City Sen. J.R. Murphy that would have cut
$4 million from the UNL budget failed fey
just three votes, 22-19.
Defeated 19-21 was another amendment
offered by Newell that would have
trimmed $136,602 from the budget that is
earmarked for the areas of excellence pro
gram. The bill advanced on a 35-0 vote,
following twoand-a-half hours of debate.
Appearing this week
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treatment of small animals.
Schmit added that half of the positions
In vet 'schools outside of Nebraska are re
served for women, who Schmit said could
not handle taking care of large animals.
Schmit and other supporters said vet
schools that now take NU pre-veterinary
medicine graduates are tightening admis
sions standards, meaning Nebraska gradu
ates may have trouble getting accepted.
But Farnam Sen. Tom Vickers said Iowa
State is interested in accepting more stu
dents from outstate, and the Legislature
should look into that possibility before
going ahead with the regional proposal.
But Kearney Sen. Martin Kahle argued'
that the bill should be passed so the
pieces of the jigsaw puzzle" could be put
together, to find out where interest for the
vet school is strong.
Agreement conditions
The bill proposes that NU enter into
agreements with schools in Montana, Wyo
ming, North, Dakota and South Dakota.
The bill could be amended to include other
states that express interest, such as Wis
consin. At least two states besides
Nebraska would have to prove the idea be
fore the regents could make a firm agree
ment. If such an agreement were reached, the
matter would have to come back before
the Legislature for money.
But Lincoln Sen. Chris Beutler said he
cannot see.why the school is needed. He
said for testimony before the Education
Committeehe determined that there is no
actual shortage of vets in the state.
"You can't keep your hands on the
purse strings and porkbarrel at the same
time," Beutler warned supporters.
Schmit said that Sen. J. James Exon, D
Nebr., has been a longtime supporter of
the vet school and would be in a prime
position to guarantee federal funds for the
project.
Diana
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