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Wednesday, October 1 7, 1 979
lincoln nebraska vol. 103 no. 36
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Wood: Ombudsman cant investigate custodian's charges
) By Cordon Johnson
Negotiations are being held between
state ombudsman Murrell McNeil and NU
attorney Richard Wood in an attempt to
settle a dispute about whether the
ombudsman has authority to investigate
charges of racial discrimination filed by a
former UNL custodian.
Girlean Woods, a black custodial team
leader, said. Tuesday, she believes she was
fired from her job because she is black,
McNeil said Monday he had gotten no
cooperation from the university in ;
investigating the charges, adding that he
might subpeona UNL employees to help
solve the matter.
Attorney Wood contends that the
ombudsman s office does not have
authority to investigate the charges.
"It is not a matter of whether or not I ,
want the matter investigated; at issue ft the
procedure for investigating those charges,"
Wood said.
Wood said that Woods has channels at
the university from which an investigation
can be handled, but that she did not follow
those procedures so the university could
resolve the matter.
Even though Wood has been
negotiating with McNeil on the issue, he
said he has not changed his opinion.
WOODS BROUGHT the case to State
Sen. Ernest Chambers because she was
afraid that she would not get a fair hearing
at the university, Chambers said.
Chambers referred the case to the state
ombudsman for investigation.
Since, the university., has not, been :
cooperative with the ombudsman,
Chambers said his only choice was to make
the case known through the press.'
According to Woods letter of
dismissal, the reason she was fired was
because of "willful disobedience." The ,
letter stated that Woods over-extended her
coffee break by 45 minutes and that she
allowed unauthorized personnel to stay in
Oldfather Hall past the 11 p.m. deadline.
Since then , Woods said she has applied ,
for several jobs through a job service, but
that once they contact the university, they
became disinterested.
SHE HAD fVOT received prior warning
and had not been counseled about breaking
rules, she said. -
Woods claims that her supervisors,
Heinz Matt hie sen, the custodial division
supervisor, and John Marker, the assistant
custodial manager, spied on her. She said
. that as a result of the spying they fired her
for doing many of the things her white co-co-workers
did.
A supervisor's Daily Activities report
dated Sept. 6, 1979 details the surveillance
on Woods and her co-workers during a two
hour period.
According to the report, while Woods
was working in Oldfather Hall, both
Matthiesen and Marker watched her from
the second floor of Bessey Hall, an
adjacent building. When Woods went to
Bessey Hall to clean, both men moved to
Oldfather Hall to watch.
Marker would not comment when
asked if surveillance of employees is
normal procedure.
According to the report, . both
Mattheisen and Marker knew that the
unauthorized men (a co-worker?s husband
and, a minister) were in the building and
that they finally called the campus police
to have them ejected,
WOODS SAID that many of her
co-workers knew about the unauthorized .
people being in Oldfather, and that it is the
responsibility of each worker to report
infractions, but only she was fired,
Woods claimed that before Sept, 6, a
coworker often took a young girl to work
with her, and Mattheisen knew, According
,to Woods no action" waslakeri agairisf the"
white co-worker, , .
In a statement taken by the deputy
ombudsman for corrections, Hasan
Muhammed.and obtained from Chambers,
Woods said that she was fired for being on
a break too long and that other white
workers were on break with her.
"And I can't understand why I am
getting fired; terminated, All of us take
breaks the same time," Woods said.
She said that when the breaks were ,
ended, many of the workers would not go
back to work, but they were not fired.
WOODS ALSO claimed that she was
discriminated against when her supervisors
changed her duties and seemed to expect
more work out of her than others.
Her work schedule was changed and a
job that normally required four hours for
two workers was changed to three hours
and 45 minutes, and Woods was expected
to do if alone, she said.
In the statement to the ombudsman,
Woods said she felt she was being
discriminated against because she was fired
for doing many of the same things as her
whte co-workers.
Some of her former co-workers were
contacted, but refused to comment.
Woods contends that she was a good
worker who did her job and that she had
been commended many times for her good
work.
In January of 1979, James C. Van
Horn, assistant dean of the college of Arts
and Sciences, wrote a letter of
commendation to her supervisor,
commending her for outstanding work.
Before coming to UNL, she said she
had been a supervisor of a group of 27
custodians in Kansas City, Missouri.
Matthiesen and Marker said they were
instructed by Wood not to comment.
'No
9
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Charges filed in abortion case
The Douglas County attorney's office
has filed two charges against a doctor who
performed an abortion at University Hospi
tal in Omaha in which a fetus was expelled
alive and subsequently died.
Criminal charges of unlawful abortion
and of failure to treat a child born alive as
a result of an abortion were filed Tuesday
in Omaha Municipal Court against Dr. C.J,
La Benz, who performed a saline-induced
abortion resulting in a fetus being born
alive on Sept. 6,
A preliminary hearing was set for
9 a.m., Oct. 29 in Omaha.
The NU Board of Regents prohibited
non-therapeutic abortions at the NU
Medical Center's Hospital at their monthly
meeting Friday on a 7-0 vote.
111 v. ' .H, l,? . I
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4
Photo by M. Billingsley
With a full day's work behind hirn and the sun setting, this area farmer still
has more milo to harvest.
Students for Reagan gathering endorsement signatures
7 ''v. . " ..v;- N
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I
Daily Ntbrwkan Photo
Ronald Reagon
By Mike Sweeney
A campus organization has reached half its goal of
recruiting 1 ,000 UNL students to endorse or work for the
1980 presidential campaign of former California governor
Ronald Reagan, .
Students for Reagan chairman Brad Ross said
Wednesday that volunteers have collected 500 signatures
of endorsement from students in fraternities, sororities
and dormitories since the organization formed last month.
' Ross, a sophomore, said he plans to present trie
signatures to the media when Reagan announces his candi
dacy. The signatures will help show the nation how
popular Reagan is with youth, he said.
A Reagan campaign worker in 1976, Ross said he has
learned the Republican publicly will announce his
candidacy Nov. 13,
To coincide with Reagan's announcement, Ross said
he hopes to organize a rally at the Nebraska Union.
Ross said student support has been more than he anti-cipated.
, "We expected support, but not as much as we're
getting," Ross said. "I know we'll have 1,000 signatures,
and we'll probably get close to 1 ,500 or 2,000.
About 125 people called his home phone number last
week to offer their support, he said.
Ross said he thinks Reagan has more support among
UNL students than Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), but
he intends to conduct a presidential preference survey on
campus in the next few weeks to get a clearer picture.
A good yardstick of Reagan support was the Students
for Reagan meeting last Thursday, attended by more than
100 Jeople, Ross said.
At the meeting, members discussed the signature
drive and formed financial and advertising committees to
promote their candidate, Ross said. The committees pro
bably will not become active until next semester, Ross
said.
Other Students for Reagan plans include getting re
cognition as an official UNL organization, he said. Stu
dents for Reagan cannot raise funds until it gets a faculty
sponsor and has a constitution ratified by ASUN, Rosa
said.