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monday, april 28, 1980
lincoln, nebraska vol. 104, no. 71
Fund A solicited at Cornstock boot
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By Bill Graf
Because the NU Board of Regents failed to approve
Fund A student fees allocations for UNL and UNO at its
April meeting, a booth was set up at UNL's annual out
door Cornstock concert Friday to urge students to sign
form letters calling for the approval of Furid A and mail
them to their regents.
Services financed by Fund A include Cornstock, the
Daily Nebraskan, UNO's student paper The Gateway,
ASUN Credit Union, Sheldon theater's foreign film series,
the Kimball series and student legal services.
UNL student Dan Renn explained while manning the
booth that he couldn't understand why the regents
approved Student Fund B and not Student Fund A when
the 1980-81 expense to students for Fund A is only $3 35
and $69.15 for Fund B.
Proposed aid cut
may hurt students
If President Carter's proposal to cut student financial
support is passed, loan money probably will be less readily
available for UNL students, according to Don Aripoli, di
rector of financial aids.
Carter has recommended that $150 million in Basic
Educational Opportunity Grant money and $108 million
from the National Direct Student Loan program be cut
from the budget.
For Carter's recommendations to go into effect, Con
gress must change the current law which says these federal
programs must be funded at certain levels, Aripoli said.
A Senate subcommittee on the proposal recommended
a $150 million cut, Aripoli said, while the House has not
yet acted.
- IfCongress passes the law, Aripoli said, one of two
things would happen. Congress would either cut the entire
NDSL program from financial aids or allocate. $178
million of the NDSL money. This would represent a $108
million cut from the $286 million which has been appro
priated for NDSL for the 1980-8 1 school year.
Aripoli said he wanted to warn students, not alarm
them. He said work story programs would not be affected
and BEOQ money would be reduced. The cut in NDSL
would be minimized because UNL students tend to pay
back student loans better than the national average, he
said.
"Our responsibility first is to fund those students who
have applied and done everything they are. supposed to
do," Aripoli said.
"Students who filed by the deadline should have no
thing to worry about, but those students who filed after
would be able to get some aid, but not as much as in the
past," Aripoli said.
Fund B allocations finance the Nebraska Union, the
Health Center and the Recreation Department.
ASUN Treasurer Jim May said it is important to inform
students about the fees situation.
Awareness questioned
May said that Regent Robert Simmons of Scottsbluff
said he voted against Fund A because the students aren't
aware of where the money goes.
"It's not only important that the students support this,
but they should get their parents to write their regent in
support of Fund A because parents carry more weight
then students with the regents," May said.
"It's not that large an amount of money," he said.
If Fund A is not approved, the services that receive
support would be discontinued or forced to seek funds on
their own, explained Eric Torrison, ASUN senator and
past chairman of the Committee for Fees Allocation.
"Suppose we had to charge students to go to Corn
stock. Students don't always have money to go out. By
funding all of these services out of Fund A the students
pay for the services all at once," Torrison said.
Legal advice
"Another thing is the free student legal services. I've
used that. If I become involved in a landlord-tenant dis
pute, I can get legal advice for free. Otherwise I would
have to pay a lawyer for advice, and I can't afford to do
that," Torrison added.
The Daily Nebraskan reported last week that Regent
Robert Prokop of Wilber said one reason he voted against
Fund A was that regents cannot sue the Daily Nebraskan
since the regents are the legal publishers.
"That's why I'd love to see it (the Daily Nebraskan)
out of our control," Prokop said.
However, in the same article Regent Ed Schwartzkopf
of Lincoln said the Daily Nebraskan isn't just "a journal
ism lab project." He said the paper is an "excellent publi
cation" that has won national awards.
Schwartzkopf voted to approve Student Fund A.
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Photo by Jerry McBride
For the first time since 1978, good weather greeted the crowd Friday at the annual Cornstock on East Campus.
Movie to feature UNL students Rush. Dahmke
By Pam George
UNL student Bi'I Rush, who has over
come seemingly insurmountable odds to
earn his education, will join that elite
group of people who have had movies
made about their lives.
Rush, who lives in Selleck Quadrangle,
is quadriplegic, unable to speak, and afflict
ed with cerebral palsy. Until last July, he
could communicate only through use of a
headstick and a language board mounted
on his wheelchair.
But Mark Dahmke, a former Selleck
resident, offered a scientific alternative-a
sort of "bionic voice" for Rush.
The computerized system, whi has type-
UiJ.-Soviet dichotomy discussed: Colum
bia professor says superpowers are at
crisis stage . . Page 2
Crowd not fooled again: The Who gives
great performance, as expected. . . Page 8
Three's a crowd:- Three UNL gymnasts
make U.S. Olympic Team Page 10
writer-like keys and small viewing screen,
allows Rush to type messages with his
headstick that will appear on the screen.
Then with another push of a key, the mess
age repeats audibly . . . intonation and
pauses put where he pleases.
Complicated system
The computerized system, which has
typewriter-like keys and a small viewing
screen, allows Rush to type messages with
his headstick that will appear on the screen.
Both were featured in the Life article,
the instigator of more than $3,100 in
donations from readers.
The donations have allowed Dahmke to
"do things I couldn't have before with the
voice synthesizer, he said.
Improvements in the system are expand
ed dictionary storage capabilities and ad
vancements in the word processor."
Pahmke also ' plans to make the system
more compact and portable so it can be
fastened to Rush's, wheelchair.
The Life article also generated three
television movie offers. Together, Rush and
Dahmke decided on an offer from Franklin
Konigsberg of Konigsberg Company of Los
Angeles, because they "trust the quality
of his work.
Konigsberg is associated with 20th
Century Fox and has produced other TV
movies including - '"Hie Dummy and
"Pearl."
Konigsberg is buying the options on the
rights to the "life and life story of Bill
Rush and Mark Dahmke,' according to, a
contract which their lawyers are currently
studying.
Big options
Dahmke said the options are being pur
chased for about $5,000, which the pair
automatically receives whether a movie is
actually filmed or not.
The rights will be bought at the time of
production, Dahmke said. How much
money they will receive is a matter both
choose not to disclose.
"Let's say, five figures," Rush jibed
through his bionic voice .
Both have agreed to split any profits
evenly.
Rush said he is excited about the movie
offer, but it is a big responsibility.
He and Dahmke are "concerned about
the quality of the work," and want accur
ate representation.
'When any movie is made the public
sees it as the way it really is," Rush said..
"I am worried, because I want to paint
an accurate picture of cerebral palsy for
people.'
Rush said he doesn't want the picture to
be too glamorous, and yet not too gloomy
causing other cerebral palsy victims to be
discouraged.
Who would Rush want to play his part?
The answer is in one of his favorite typed
in messages, "Aaaay" which is a fairly good
imitation of TV's Happy Days character,
the Fonz," done by actor Henry Winkler.
Patricia O'Neal
When asked how his parents feel about
the movie offer, Rush's only response was
"Mom wants Patricia O'Neal to play her."
Dahmke and Rush also plan to release
an autobiography to coincide with the
movie's release.
"Bill already has his autobiography in
the works, and we will just see where it
leads," Dahmke said.
The movie will not be based on the
book, he added.
"A scriptwriter will be sent out here for
several weeks to spend time talking with
us,' Dahmke said. They will work back
and forth' so that important elements in
the movie and the book will coincide, he
said. -
There is also the possibility that the
movie will be filmed on location at UNL,
"which we are hoping for," Dahmke said.
What the major point of the movie
should be is clear to Rush, who is a journal
ism major, already a published author, and
like so many of his neighbors in Selleck, a
busy college student.
The major point of the movie? "That I
am just like anybody else, he said.