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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 1980)
) n n tuesday, february 26, 1980 lincoln, nebraska vol. 104, no. 32 State Dept. officials Middle East defies solmitidDinis n ? Til By Julie Bird Problems in the Middle East seem to defy solution, an expert on the area from the U.S. Department of State told an audience of about 50 people Monday night in the Nebraska Union. Ihe program was sponsored by the University Program Council's Talks and Topics committee. David Long discussed a host of complex problems facing the Middle East, including the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the hostages in Tehran, the Shah's policies, the Palestinian situation, Egyptian -Israeli peace talks, and several other issues in response to questions from the audience. The United States has traditionally had three interests in the Middle East, Long said. Those are strategic, economic and political interests, he said. The region has conflicting political and religious interests, to complicate things, he added. Economic interests of the United States are oil and money, he said, adding that be cause Middle East oil interests hold so many American dollars they need the dollar to remain stable for their own good. Strategic interests include protection of those economic interests, he said. Previous ly, the United States had not thought of the Persian Gulf as a strategic area, Long said, but the Afghanistan invasion provok ed the United States into a reaction. Long said he guessed the Soviets had assumed the United States would not react as they did because of earlier failure to react to Soviet intervention in Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique and other areas. He said he doubted, however, that the United States preoccupation with the hostage situation in Iran influenced the decision to invade. 'The Soviets will pay a high price in terms of lives and politics if they ever sub due the (Afghan) tribesmen" he said. "The cost has been and will continue to be high. They wanted detente and a SALT agree ment, and they blew both. Long rejected charges that the U.S. intervened in Iran's internal affairs during the Shah's regime, although he conceded the U.S. did have an influence in installing that regime. "The Shah was completely in control of his country, in fact, that was part of his problem, Long said. "He would be the last person to let someone else run his country.' . The Shah became the symbol for all that was bad in Iran, he said, while the Ayatollah Khomeini symbolized the way out. Now, Khomeini is the judge, while in effect newly-elected president Bani-Sadr works for him, even though Bani-Sadr represents the executive branch of government. The solutions are not absolute, Long series of wrongs, he said. 4No matter said, because the choices are not between what we do, someone will be hurt. Most right and wrong. problems in the Middle East are not amen- "Instead, we have to choose between a able to solutions. 6 '? :.. fete? v i v r - 71 Photo by Jtrry McBrid David Long, speaker at the Middle East Symposium Monday night. Committee tentatively Oils funds for NU construction A decision by the, Legislature's Appropriations Committee concerning an NU request of $4.2 million for energy conservation, including building remodeling and the use of computers for energy control at Ny, is still "up in the air," according to the committee chairman, Sen. Jerome Warner of Waverly. Warner stressed that the commit tee's present decisions are only tentative and that before a final determination is made the senators will go through the budget request at least three times. The NU Board of Regents has re quested that the Legislature appropriate $18.8 million for capital construction during fiscal year 1980-81. The commit tee has set a total state capital construc tion limit of $28.4 million. The committee has tentatively agreed that $1.9 million should be appropria ed for renovation of the Agricultural Engineering building. Other capital construction items tentatively approved are: $120,000 for renovation of the hospital for dentist ry at UNMC; $20,000 for the planning of a lab science building at UNO; 4472,000 to purchase the llattie B. Munroe Pavillion at UNMC; $375,000 for a pedestrian corridor at UNMC and a $400,000 discretionary fund for land acquisition and miscellaneous renovations. The committee also has tentatively approved $800,000 for the renovation of Bessey Hall located on the UNL city campus. The three-year project is expected to cost about $3 million. Suit sparks policy reviews . ByMaryJoPitzI Reviews have begun for two university policies with ambiguities that have become apparent because of a suit in the ASUN Student Court. Violations of the university's policies on religion and campus mailing procedures . are at the center of a complaint brought by two UNL sophomores against four student Christian groups, Campus Crusade for Christ, Baptist Student Union, Inter-varsity Christian Fellowship and Navigators-UNL. The Student Court heard the three and one-half hours of testimony last week in the Persson vs. Campus Crusade case. A .decision is due Thursday at the earliest, according to Chief Justice Scott Cook. In, the meantime, the Council of Student Affairs Officers, including the vice chancellors for student affairs from each of the three NU campuses and the NU Legal Counsel, has been considering religion policy revisions since last spring. Council members said they cannot predict when their revisions will be completed. Third draft Campus mail policy changes are in their third draft now, according to Viann Schroeder, director of publication services and control. Schroeder said she does not know when a final draft will be drawn up. The ambiguity of religion policy bolster ed the confidence of both plaintiff and defendant in their court presentations. The plaintiffs charged that the four groups violated the religion policy ban on religious testimony when they sponsored Christian lecturer Josh McDowell's on -cam pus speech Jan. 30. Continued on Page 2 NtTs money request creates suspicion senator By Gordon Johnson State Sen. Jerome Warner of Waverly the Appro priations Committee chairman, Friday said that the Dental College's request of $1 57,000 to cover an expected loss of capitation funds in 1980-81 appears questionable. Last week the Daily Nebraskan reported that the NU Board of Regents asked the Legislature to replace capitation funas which previously had been replaced in the 1974-75 budget. Capitation funds are federal grants given to medical related programs and are based on the school's enrollment. Warner said that while the university's request for the money seems questionable, it is just one of many decisions the committee will have to make. UNMC Chancellor, Neal Vanselow said that he informed the senators during testimony before the committee that the capitation funds had been previously replaced by the state. that is the way the system works" he said'. Appropriations committed unaware A check with appropriations committee members found that many of them did not know of the discrepancy. Columbus Sen. Donald Dworak conceded that it may have been mentioned in passing, but that he was unaware ot tne specmcs. After asking members of the committee if they were t dt A-n, familiar with the discrepancy, he said that NU R?SVo'J7 administrators could not have been too specific if many of dXIVJv uuow-jy the other senators did not know about h. Sen. Ralph Kelly of Grand Island also said he was un aware of the discrepancy and that it was unfortunate that the budget was handled this way. "It is disturbing because it sets up a suspicion that is really detrimental to the agency (NU) and the , Legislature," Kelly said. Kelly said that he is not surprised that the discrepancy exists and that such occurrences are not unusual. "I don't condone it, but I don't condemn it because Reality's mirror: Policemen learn to cope with life on the streets at a special school in Grand Island ..... Page 7. I am he as you are he: Humorist comes face to face with her former adolescent self .Page 8. One more time: Nebraska's basketball team has a chance for sweet revenge against Oklahoma in the opening round of the conference piayous ronigni . .PaselO. Reasons unknown . A look into how such a discrepancy can occur would probably produce little results, he said. The reason why this happened will not be forthcoming because there just will be a lot of excuses, Kelly said. It seems logical that someone would have remembered what happened in 1974, but "yu also have to allow people room for human error," he said . Dworak said that the discrepancy appears questionable and that it could have an effect on the UNMC budget, "I would be a little more tenacious on the medical school budget ," he said. In essence, he said such questions could, "affect the budget to the tune of $157,000." Omaha Sen. Peter Hoagland said hexwas not shocked by the NU request of replacement funds. Things such as this go on constantly, he said. The discrepancy would not affect Hoagland's decision on the Dental College since it is in desperate need of fund jng.hesaid, Lincoln Sen. Shirley Marsh said she had not known of the funding questions. She said she did not know how she could miss such questions in the budget. "Perhaps it was my fault, perhaps it was inadvertent, and perhaps we should take another look (at the budget),"Marshsald. ,