thursday, march 19, 1981
lincoln, nebraska vol. 106, no. 49
n
Radial spokespeople agree dispute 'too lengthy'
By Melanie Gray
Whether Lincoln voters decide April 7 to build the
northeast Radial or not, two adversaries agreed Wednes
day the dispute has gone on too long.
Richard Sutton, co-chairman of Citizens Against
Radial Expenditures, and Duane Funk, a member of the
Lincoln Citizens Association, said the issue has kept the
Clinton and Malonc neighborhoods from starting revitali
zation projects.
Funk, a radial supporter, said block grants and self
help groups have revitalized many neighborhoods except
for those the radial would pass through.
"The neighborhoods have been held in limbo too
long," said Sutton, an opponent of the radial and five
year resident of the Clinton neighborhood.
Sutton said the city's estimated $17 million price tag
should prevent citizens from voting for the project. With
President Reagan's proposed budget cuts, he said, Lincoln
probably won't receive any federal funds for the radial.
Withouth federal funds, he said, the only way to fin
ance the diagonal would be through a bond issue. Interest
payments on the bond, he said, would have to come out
of the city's general fund, requiring higher property taxes.
Funk said the proposed radial is a "necessary city
utility" because of steady car use and decreased car
occupancy.
Other points discussed included what voters should
base their decisions on.
Sutton said, "Citizens should vote using their common
sense. There is no such thing as building a road without
tax money."
Funk said, "People should be aware of the background
and history of the radial."
"You can't vote without being familiar with an issue,"
le said.
Concerning justified additional costs, Funk said, "I
don't believe cost is an issue, although Mr. Sutton is try
ing to make it an issue. The radial is designed now as
economically as possible."
"There are too many ex-penditures already," Sutton
said. "Not just money, but in people's houses. None (of
the expenditures) is justified."
Alternatives if the proposal doesn't pass also were
addressed. Funk said the only alternative is to improve
existing facilities.
"I think the alternatives are really exciting," Sutton
said. "It would force us to confront our problems-not
just locally but nationally. There's carpooling, buses,
alternative routes such as P and Q streets and flexible
time -bosses can decide which personnel can come
earlier and which later."
The debate was sponsored by the Lincoln Chamber of
Commerce City-County Affairs Committee.
State senator expects 12.5 percent budget hike
By Mary Louise Knapp
Chances are slim the Nebraska legisla
ture will accept NT's request for an IX
percent budget increase. State Sen. Chris
Beutler said Wednesday.
Rentier, an Education Committee mem
ber. s:tid tiie Legislature probably will
accept li.w. Charles Thone's recommen
dation of a 12.5 budget increase.
Beutler said he believed Thone had been
'generous" in his budget recommendation.
"Twelve percent is high for the gover
nor," he said, adding Thone previously had
considered only a 7 percent increase for
NU.
"There are lots of areas where we (the
legislature) have been unfair." Beutler
said, citing examples of slate employees
who have been held to an X percent 01 9
peicent salary increase.
"If we have high allocations to Nl! also,
thai will make even more of a tight
squeeze." he said.
Beutler said he is against appropriating
funds for a new veterinary college at UNI..
lie said the number of students that
would be educated at the proposed region
al college would be about the same as those
now educated at vetennai colleges in the
Midwest .
II additional slots were made available
lo Nebraska students, the college could
cost as much as $5.5 million a year, he
said.
"I don't think the proponents of the
college have been totally honest with us
about it." Beutler said.
He said he doubted federal funds or
money from private sources would be pro
vided for the project, as originally planned.
"If private industry and federal funds
pay what they're supposed to, it might
work," he said.
Under the proposed funding plan, state
funds, federal funds and private donations
would each pay for one-third of the pro
ject. Beutler said NU may spend up to
$1.3 million for planning alone before
it is certain federal funds will be available.
If that happens, he said, the veterinary
college will he the most expensive pro
ject ever undertaken by NU.
Beutler said at present the Legislature
has no plans to ileal with possible cuts in
federal funds for student loans and grants.
"Since we do not know the size of the
cuts, and because cuts are coming in all
areas of the budget, it is difficult to anti
cipate what will happen." he said.
If necessary, a special session of the Leg
islature might be called to consider the
proposed cuts, he said.
"It might be possible for the state to
pick up some of the federal funds thai
would be cut," he said.
A bill providing for state aid to gifted
children in the public schools was recently
advanced to the floor of the Legislature,
Beutler said.
The bill also designates some state funds
for vocational education, he said.
v-v Mm
Photo by Jon Natvig
State Sen. Chris Beutler of Lincoln spoke at the Nebraska Union Tuesday.
Regents to consider enrollment limits, class cuts
By 1). Kric Kirther
The NU Board of Regents will hear at its Saturday
meeting reports from university officials on how they
are carrying out the Five-Year Plan.
The administration was asked to develop a plan to find
and eliminate duplicate or unnecessary classes.
UNI. administrators have identified 507 possible classes
to cut, but none have been cut yet.
The board will receive a plan from the universities to
limit the number of students in a class. The recommenda
tions range from 20 students a class for 1 00-and 200-levcl
courses to 10 students in 400 or 800 level classes and
other graduate classes.
The plan will also recommend how often a class should
be offered. Some classes may be offered each semester
and others only once in two or three years.
Another policy being investigated would allow the
administration to drop a class after "two or three days" if
too many students drop it. Currently classes are dropped
if not enough students register.
ASUN President Rick Mockler said he would investi
gate the UNL recommendations to see how they would
affect students.
"My goal is to find out what the courses are." he said.
Student involvement
"This has been drawn up prom much bv the adminis
tration on the campus." Mockler said. "I think it's been
drawn up fairly so far "
Some academic changes studied without student
involvement haven't been fair, Mockler said, mentioning
the recent laboratory fee addition. The Academic Affairs
Committee studied the fees -which were approved last
month and refused student involvement.
The adminstrators did involve faculty members in the
Five-Year Plan study, Mockler said.
The plans are "reaching the stage where student input
is going to start making a difference," Mockler said.
"This meeting for me, as a student regent, is going to
be ideal." Mockler said. "I can get a feeling for things
without any major battles. I think the major business is
going to be the other campuses."
Mockler is looking to future board meetings.
"Personally, I would like to work on some long-term
planning on the budget," he said. "We wait until the meet
ing to react to it."
Students need to be involved in planning the budget
before the regents approve it, Mockler said.
He said he wants to organize a faculty-student coalition
to advocate higher faculty salaries.
Legal service expansion
Another goal for Mockler is convincing the regents to
allow the ASUN student legal services lawyers to argue
student cases in court.
"I think it's time we expand those services," Mockler
said.
The regents originally approved the service on a trial
basis. Mockler said, but now that they know that it works.
he said, they should expand the lawyer's power to help
students.
Any student legal service expansion would require the
regents' approval.
The Government Liaison Committee also will ex
pand its role in lobbying for more federal financial aid.
"We're going to have to take a stand," Mockler said.
UNL students hadn't organized before a U.S. Senate
vote last year, Mockler said, and the nation's students
lost $1 billion in federal aid.
UNO President Florene Langford was to introduce
a bill to require a non-binding vote for the student regent,
but the regents she questioned weren't very favorable
to her plan, Langford said. She will introduce the plan in
the future if its chances of passing improve, she said.
tfiiursda
Time Warp: The Society of Creative Anachronism is creat
ing the Middle Ages for UNL's Mensa Organization
Page 3
Metaphysics for Money: Novelist Michael Zangari discuss
es Bugs Bunny, Rhythm and Blues, and other influ
ences as he prepares to read excerpts from his novel in a
UPC event Page 6
Life in the Fast Lane: Julie Scat on, women's track team
middle distance runner, has made a conversion from
sprints to her current forte Page 7