(SJQOU DC
Wednesday, february 20, 1980
lincoln, nebraska vol. 104, no. 28
Unicam debates Coe requests coin use change
marijuana usage
. By Val Swinton
and Julie Bird
A man suffering from glaucoma told the Nebraska
Legislature's Public Health Committee that his right eye
might have been shrunk to the size of a raisin had it not
been for marijuana.
Roger Wright, a 32-year-old Omahan, said he had
undergone surgery to release the pressure behind his eye
six times in as many weeks and twice more in the next
two months.
At one point during treatment, Wright said his doctor
told him he had three choices: additional surgery, another
treatment which would shrink his right eye which was
afflicted with glaucoma, or smoke marijuana.
Wright said he opted for marijuana, and has not under
gone surgery since.
Wright was one of three persons who testified before
the committee Tuesday advocating the legalization of
marijuana for medicinal use.
Therapeutic Research Act
A, bill known as the Therapeutic Research Act, the
ing glaucoma or undergoing chemotherapy as part of the
treatment for cancer, to use marijuana if more
conventional treatments had failed.
Two other persons, who, like Wright, had purchased
marijuana illegally , also advocated its legalization.
Norris Emry, whose wife Alva died of cancer last
August, said he purchased marijuana off the street last
summer in an attempt to help his wife recover from
chemotherapy treatments. Emry, a 53 -year old farmer
from Allen, said when he opened the packet on the
kitchen table, two worms crawled out.
Robert Randall, of Washington D.C., who was smoking
marijuana' with a doctor's prescriptionT said only by using
'marijuana which was grown under government super
vision would problems such as controlling what went into
the drug be solved.
Recreational use
Randall went to court to be allowed to smoke mari
juana after he accidently discovered its effect on his
glaucoma while smoking it for recreational use.
But it was the government control which worried
opponents ot the bill. Rex Higley, director of the bureau
of examining boards in the department of health, warned
the state may have to form a "mini FDA" if the Legisla
ture legalized a drug not proven safe by either the Food
and Drug Administration or the Drug Enforcement
administration.
"It might be opening a Pandora's Box, if you
individually determine at the state level which drugs can
be on the pharmaceutical commercial market specifically
for Nebraska," Higley told committee members. -
Continued on Page 2
By Michelle Carr
The donor of almost $1 million in gold Kruggerands to
the UNL College of Engineering and Technology has
requested that two changes be made in the allocation of
funds from the coins' sale.
In a letter to the Daily Nebraskan, James Coe of
Phoenix said that equal money should be alloted to under
graduate instruction and research, in addition to money
allotted to graduate instruction and equipment.
As a result of the undergraduate allocation, Coe said,
the money from the coins' sale will be spent in five years,
rather than 10. Originally, Coe stipulated that the univer
sity sell 130 of the 1300 coins every year for 10 years.
Now, 260 coins will be sold every year.
According to Coe, the two funds are to be kept
separate. If any item is used regularly for undergraduate
instruction and for research, the item should be purchased
from funds allocated for undergraduate instruction, he
said .
"I do not believe that these funds will come anywhere
near meeting present and future needs, and the dean
probably will have some difficult decisions to make, but
after all, that's what a dean is for as I see it," Coe said.
According to Ed Hirsch, vice president of the NU
Foundation, when a donor requests a change in a
donation, the change usually is allowed. -
A new agreement will be drawn up to accommodate
Coe's request, Hirsch said. The dean of the college
receiving funds usually is notified before a change in the
agreement occurs. Hirsch said Dean Lyle Young was con
tacted about the change.
Young said he will go along with the change.
"I think we have such a great need in this area, we can
utilize the funds either way," he said.
Coe also said equipment purchase with the funds is not
limited to instruction and research, but may also be used
for studies .and testing on matters of interest to
Nebraskans.
Hirsch said that most research done by the Engineering
Dept. does benefit the state.
SSL-
9D
41
I. anasnM
' Photo by Jon Natvig
At 4 a.m. this streelight substitutes for the sun, casting shadows of telephone poles and leafless trees on
empty, snow-tracked streets and darkened houses.
Feb. 29 earliest date for Student Court decision
By Mary Jo Pitzl
A decision in the Persson vs. CampusOrusade case will
not be delivered until Feb. 29 at the earliest, the ASUN
Student Court said Tuesday night.
Their announcement followed three and a half hours of
testimony in a case which alleges violations of the univer
sity's religion and campus mail policies. '
The case centers on a charge brought by two UNL stu
dents against the four student organizations that sponsor-
ed Christian lecturer Josh McDowell's speech in the Ne
braska Union in January.
Sophomores Scott Persson and Randall Lambrecht
filed the suit against Campus Crusade for Christ, the Bap
tist Student Union, the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship
Oh, no!: UNL student filing for a seat on the NU Board of
Regents says he expects complications. ....... Page 7
Better than expected: Going in Style more than lives up
to its preview notices, says movie reviewer Page 8
No dice roll: UNL baseball coach John Sanders is taking
his team's season-opening trip to Las Vegas
seriously.... -. Pa8e 10
and Navigators-UN L. The four organizations are Christian
based.
Most of the questioning Tuesday night centered on a
definition of "testimony." The NU Board of Regents'
policy on religion, adopted in 1973, states "university
facilities will not be available for any event or activity if
one of its essential elements is religious worship or testi
mony in any of its various forms."
Student Court definition
In its closing argument, Tim Binder, co-counsel for the
defense, said that only the Student Court can define what
testimony is.
"The court has a duty now to define what testimony
is," Binder said.
John McDermott, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, said in
his closing presentation that testimony given by witnesses
has proven that McDowell did indeed give religious testi
mony during his Jan. 30 speech in the Nebraska Union.
The other major point examined Tuesday night was the
plaintiffs' allegation that the four organizations illegally
used the university's campus mail policy. About 2,000
letters prepared by the four groups were sent via campus
mail to faculty members, administrators and leaders of
campus student organizations inviting them to attend
McDowell'? speech.
McDermott said that the defendants showed no effort
to assure they were complying with university regulations
when they were preparing the letters.
Dismiss charges
Binder contended that the plaintiffs failed to prove
that a mail policy even exists, and therefore, the charge
should be dismissed.
Four of the eight witnesses called were questioned at
length on their definition of "testimony."
Kirk Conger, a former member of Campus Crusade for
Christ, recounted his meeting prior to McDowell's campus
speech with two Union officials and McDowell.
Conger, who coordinated McDowell's Lincoln visit,
said that Nebraska Union Director Daryl Swanson met
with McDowell to "make Josh McDowell aware of the
(religion) policy."
He said Swanson did not ask McDowell or any of his
sponsors for a definition of testimony. According to
Conger, Swanson also said that he had received some
pressure from university officials to make sure McDowell
knew the limits of the university's religion policy.
Vi Schroeder, director of publication and mail services,
testified that the four organizations did send letters
through the campus mail system.
However, Schroeder said, 4We really don't have a
definite policy on student organization mailings."
She added that the policy is currently under review.