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monday, december 10, 1979
lincoln; nebraska vol. 103 no. 70
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Task force discusses possible police cut
By Val Swinton
The money problems at UNL
apparently have caused some faculty
members to cast a suspecting glance at the
campus police department. ,
A university task force appointed to
look into budget problems discussed the
possibility of eliminating the police depart
ment. But according to some members, the
task force decided it would be more expen
sive to eliminate the department than to
keep it.
Other faculty members say they would
like to see the department scaled down,
even to the extent of replacing
commissioned officers with security
guards.
Burt Maxcy, former chairman of the
UNL campus police committee and
presently on the Faculty Senate's executive
committee, said the department was cost
ing - the university too much money.
'There's far too many of them," he
said. 'They are acting and using the con
cepts of a city police force rather than a
campus police force."
Maxcy. h one of the faculty members
who would like to see a force of security
officers; unarmed and noncommissioned,
similar to the force at UNO.
Kennedy in Omaha:
MAXCY IS not alone in his thinking. In
a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling last
spring involving bargaining rights for
campus officers, the Supreme Court said it,
too, could find no reason for commission
ed officers who carried guns.
"The record does not indicate any great
need for those commissions," the justices
said in their ruling. 'The evidence indicates
security personnel at UNO and at the Medi
cal Center are not commissioned and do
not carry arms, yet provide whatever nec
essary security is required."
Both Ray Coffey, UNL business
manager and Gail Cade, director of UNL
police, disagree.
"It's obvious to me these people are
speaking without knowing all the facts,"
Gade said. While admitting that to his
knowledge, no officer in the department
had every fired his revolver in the course of
duty, he said the protection they provide
is necessary.
'TONIGHT IT may happen. Tomorrow
it may happen," he said, referring to an
incident that would require an officer to
use a gun. "We can't fulfill our responsibili
ties without proper training and equip
. ment." fc , .
Maxcy doesn't accept that argument
though.
"If we cut . the police, force, maybe we
increase the risks a little," he said. 'Those
are the tradeoffs."
The UNL police department is budgeted
$600,000 and currently has , 37
commissioned officers.
Coffey said he did not think it was fair
to compare the campuses at Omaha and
Lincoln.
"UNL has been here as long as the
city " he said. 'This has never been a part
of the campus. And there's considerable
difference in the size of the two
campuses."
However, Maxcy said that UNO would .
seem to have a greater need for
commissioned officers than UNL.
"They're in a larger city and a rougher
city," he said.
MAXCY ALSO accuses the police
department of trying to -justify its
existence with programs that are good, but
'not necessary.
As 'an example, he pointed to a recent
film on rape prevention and the monthly
newsletter, "Starve . a Thief," which is
printed and distributed by the police
department,
Gade said that the programs were a nec-'
essary part of crime prevention. ,
"We're doing it for the purpose of help
ing people make decisions in situations in
which they are victims " he said.
Another faculty member thinks the
police are performing duties that might be
given to someone else. Craig MacPhee,
associate professor of economics and chair
man of the" Faculty Senate's budget
committee, said the police department is,
allocated $50,000 for locking and unlock-'
ing doors, an expense he considers un
necessary. -
"I don't see any reason why. the. chief
administrator in each building couldn't
lock and unlock the doors every morning,"
he said.
Coffey disagreed with both the budget
figure and the assumption. He said about
$5,000 is budgeted for the task. He also
said that if the chief administrator is sick,
or on vacation, people might find .them
selves locked out of a building. As long as
that duty is given to the police department,
he said, someone will be around to open
the buildings. -
Coffey also questioned the effect replac
ing commissioned officers with security
guards would have on insurance rates.
But Roy Louden, Jr., administrator of
personnel and risk management, said
reducing the police department to security,
guards would have little effect on the rates.
Inflation top
U.S.problem
PhbtoI.D.'s
By Mike Sweeney
; Council Bluffs, Iowa-Sen. Edward M. Kennedy Friday
identified inflation as the number one problem facing the
country, but nevertheless said he intends to back a Senate
bill increasing government price supports for grain prices
by 7 percent.
Government price supports for grain will give a degree
of certainty and predictability to agriculture and the mar
ketplace, Kennedy said.
"The places where the consumers of the East spent the
most or paid the most was when we had the wide fluctua- 1
tion in the export markets in the early part of the 1970s,"
he said. "That was more costly to consumers than the
question of a price support program,"
The 7 percent increase designated by the bill is "just,
fair, warranted," Kennedy said, The bill probably will go
to the Senate floor this week.
Kennedy answered questions Friday in this town of
60,000 people east of Omaha, and later spoke at a public
reception in a Council Bluffs high school. ' . .. i
The Massachusetts senator, who announced his candi
dacy for the 1980 Democratic Presidential nomination a
month ago, made his first campaign visit to Nebraska Fri
day afternoon. '
Kennedy's plane landed at Eppley Airfield in Omaha
shortly after 3 pjn, He met briefly with the members of .
his Nebraska steering committee at the airport before de
parting for Iowa, the site of the nation's first political cau
cus. ' .
STEERING COMMITTEE chairman Don Gregory, a
UNL associate professor of English, said Kennedy wanted
to meet the local workers running his campaign.
'.'It's tough to meet the candidate," Gregory said, refer
ring to the knot of burly, dark-suited security officers
who surrounded the senator.
Gregory said Kennedy spoke to the group for about a
half hour, discussing campaign issues instead of campaign
instructions.
The issues Kennedy stressed at an afternoon press con
ference were President Jimmy Carter's relationship with
the oil companies, Carter's resurgence in. the political
popularity polls and inflation. ,
'
KENNEDY SAID Carter acted naively toward the oil
companies, and was neither fully aware nor cognizant of
their behavior concerning the windfall profits tax.
'The idea that you could move the nation to a program
of decontrol, which Mr. Carter did, and then expect
you're going to get an effective windfall profits tax, I
think was politically naive,"Kennedy said.
"The fact is, we let the horse out of the barn and gave
him the sugar, and then expected the horse to come back
in the barn," Kennedy said.
He said he doesn't believe there has been a narrowing
of the gap between himself and Carter in the polls. -'
Instead, the Iranian crisis has fostered a national sense
O
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Photo by Mika Sweeney
Ted Kennedy
of unity, "which I feel myself, very deeply," Kennedy
said. The recent feelings of unity are reflected in the polls,
he said.
HE SAID HE always has expected Carter to be a
strong challenge for the nomination, particularly because
the president has the resources of hft office to support
him.
Kennedy also talked about inflation, saying the 2.6
percent monthly increase in the wholesale price index
announced Friday morning is particularly troublesome to
farmers, who wonder who is pocketing the increase.
Later, at a public reception in the gymnasium of St.
Albert High School, Kennedy said Americans should ex
pect the president to "call in the food companies and ask
them to roll back, their prices to protect consumers' in
light of the 2.6 percent increase. -
Kennedy drew warm applause from the crowd packed
into the gym, many of whom wore blue Kennedy buttons.
About a dozen anti-abortion protestors stood at the
back of the gymnasium. They carried signs saying
"Kennedy votes death to the unborn," and "Kennedy dis
criminates against the urban poor," but remained silent
during the candidate's speech.
Kennedy did not. respond to their placards.
arebsiible
By Rich Jurgens
If given a choice between UNL photo identifica
tion cards and buying general admission prices for
next year's football games, ASUN would prefer
photo identification. ,
ASUN President Bud Cuca said if it comes down
to a choice between photos and paying general ad
mission prices for football tickets, he would favor
photo identification because only a minority of
students scalp their tickets.
The NU Board of Regents probably will discuss
in January, or Fehruary the possibility of replacing
the old university identification cards with photo
cards, to curb the problem of football ticket scalp
ing, according to Richard Armstrong, vice chancel
lor for student affairs.
Armstrong said scalping general admission foot
ball tickets is not illegal, but selling reduced-priced
student tickets is illegal.
With photos, the illegal abuse of student football
tickets could be curtailed, he said.
Armstrong said thre is no way of knowing just
how serious football ticket scalping is, but said he
has the impression that the problem is a serious one.
David DeCoster, dean of student affairs, said 173
student football tickets were confiscated at this
year's games.
However, he said, stopping ticket 'scalping is not
the only reason for changing to photos. He said
photo cards would be beneficial for security on and
off campus.
, Lincoln bars would be able to check if a student
was old enough to drink if the student didn't have a
photo drivers license, DeCoster said.
He said almost all of the Big Eight schools now
are using photo identification and that the regents
probably would contact other Big Eight schools to
. find out the effectiveness of their systems.
The financing of photo identification, if imple
mented, remains a question.
The current budget for identification cards is
$12,000, with estimated cost of photos $2 each.
UNL has 22,000 students, so cost would exceed
$44,000. ' v
Cuca said if the photo idea is implemented, it
should be gradually phased in, applying to incoming
freshmen each year. He said this way UNL could
stay within its $12,000 budget.
Armstrong, however, said Cuca's idea would only
delay the objective of photos, which is to eliminate
football ticket scalping.
DeCoster said one possible alternative to finance
photos is to charge students the. cost upon entering
the university.