thursday, april 23, 1981
lincoln, nebraska vol. 106, no. 69
O
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Several regents appear skeptical about SSA
By D. Eric Kircher
Some members of the NU Board of Regents think a
statewide student lobbying group would be ineffective.
Students approved allocating fees to the proposed
State Student Association, in the March 4 ASUN election.
The ide.i now must be approved by the chancellor.
Regent Robert Simmons of Scottsbluff questioned the
SSA's value.
"I don't think they (SSA) are going to accomplish
much," he said. "I really don't know exactly what their
objective is.
"I don't remember any time when the students asked
for anything different than what the administration asked
for," Simmons said.
If state senators don't see a difference between student
wants and the NU administration's requests, students
won't benefit, he said.
Regent Robert Prokop of Wilber said he wouldn't sup
port the SSA "economically." If students are worried
about student fee increases, he said, they shouldn't vote
for a "waste of money."
"The SSA has no place in the educational system,"
Prokop said. "Obviously, 1 don't think it will be effective.
I think financially it is uncalled for."
Prokop said the election showed that students didn't
want the association. The nearly 20,000 students who
didnt vote in the election obviously opposed the SSA,
he said.
"I figure they're opposed to it," he said. 'Those people
who didn't vote for it, obviously are not in favor of it."
Aboug 58 percent of those voting (1,281 students)
voted for the SSA allocation. About 3,000 students signed
a petition to place the question on the ballot.
Simmons also said that student referendum votes don't
carry much weight.
"I don't think the regents pay much attention to what
the students vote on," he said.
The regents require students to approve Fund A fee
allocations every year for ASUN salaries, UPC Talks and
Topics and the Daily Nebraskan. The SSA allocation of
about 50 cents per student each semester will be voted on
if UNL Interim Chancellor Robert Rutford approves the
allocation.
The regents mandated the yearly fee votes last May.
Regent James Moylan of Omaha said he didn't know
i
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Photo by Mark Billingsley
A Tree Grows in Lincoln . . . Members of the UNL grounds crew lower a young tree into its permanent
site during the Arbor Day observance at Maxwell Arboretum on East Campus.
what the effectiveness of the proposed SSA would be,
"but basically, I'm against mandatory student fees."
"I'm not for any association that goes for student
fees," he said. "I'm not so sure that it isnt watering down
your present student government."
Regent Robert Koefoot of Grand Island said the SSA
will have no bearing on the university's attempts to in
fluence the Legislature's NU budget appropriations.
Regent Edward Schwartzkopf of Lincoln said students
have other ways to lobby without spending student fees.
"I just don't think that the money would be well
spent," he said. "Here, plain and simple, is an additional
cost."
"When you get to lobbying individual senators, stu
dents don't have the knowledge," Schwartzkopf said.
Students are not familiar with the total needs of the
university, he said.
Regent Kermit Hansen of Omaha said the SSA is
entirely a student concern.
"I think if the students want it, fine, but I find no
particular value or interest," he said. "I'm not overwhelm
ed by what I've heard about it."
Regent John Payne of Kearney said he had no com
ment on spending student fees on the SSA, but he didn't
oppose it .
"It might be effective," he said. "If the students would
organize statewide and they handle it properly, it could
very well help the situation."
Regent Kermit Wagner of Schuyler said he hadn't read
about the SSA.
"I didn't want to comment on it. 1 don't know enough
about it ," Wagner said .
Lobbying meeting
prompts actions
By Patti Gallagher
Even if students across campus are sluggish going into
the last week of classes, at least 1 0 members of student
government at UNL said they were recently invigorated
by a trip to Washington, D.C.
The students, half of them ASUN members, returned
from a four-day trip to Washington last Tuesday, with a
"contagious enthusiasm," according to Sen. Nancee
Shannon, and a realization of the need to start communi
cating with students and the state, accrding to ASUN
Sen. Dan Renn.
The enthusiasm prompted the organization of Student
Action Day, highlighted by a rally today at 1 1 a jn. by
the BroyhiU Fountain.
The students attended the National Student Lobbying
Conference while in Washington. They participated in
workshops on lobbying and other student issues, and
met with staff members of the Nenraska Congressional
delegates. .
Continued on Page 2
Advanced farming methods save pig farm energy
By Alice Hrnicek
It will take more than just the average farmer to run
the pig farm for the UNL field lab near Mead.
The 160-acre experimental farm will integrate such
well-tested, energy-saving methods as solar heating and
grain-drying with less-tned alcohol production tor running
irrigation pumps and microcomputer monitoring of
operations.
Financed by a grant of more than $800,000 from the
U.S. Department of Energy to be matched by private
donations through the university, the project is expect
ed to be in full-swing early next year, according to the
coordinators from UNL's agricultural engineering de
partment, Much of the equipment will be built this sum
mer, and pigs tor the tarrow-to-nnisning operation will
be bought by January.
The farm will be "almost a living laboratory for en
ergy use," Project Coordinator Dennis Schulte said.
The major product will be about 750 pigs a year,
project engineer Brad Rein said, which will be housed
in buildings heated by active and passive solar energy.
The pigs will provide manure to make methane gas for
electricity to run the buildings.
Excess heat from the hog barns will be funnelled
to a family-sized greenhouse, Rein said. This will receive
carbon dioxide from an alcohol still to enhance plant
growth.
Conservation methods
The, 6,QQQ-gal!on -s-year alcohol still will generate
electricity to run irrigation pumps for about 130 acres
of crops. About 20 acres of sweet sorghum will provide
the alcohol base.
Seventy acres of corn will be fed to the pigs and
45 acres of soybeans will be developed into a fuel which
can replace diesel. The grains will be air-dried in solar
heating bins.
Conservation tillage, which minimizes the number of
trips made across a field, will conserve fuel, soil and
water, Schulte said.
Soil fertility testing will give an accurate idea of how
much fertilizer is needed, he said. For crops planted next
year, he said, hog manure will provide about one-half
the fertilizer.
The soil at Mead was found to be quite fertile, he
said. Most farmers use more fertilizer than required
because they do not check the soil.
Photoelectric cells, which produce electricty from
sunlight, are used on the farm this year to fuel irrigation
pumps, dry grain and produce nitrogen, Neil Sullivan,
manager of the farmsite, said.
The cells produce an average 100 kilowatt hours of
electricity a- day, he said, or enough to power
five energy-efficient homes. In tests of the cells, he said,
he has found they can provide almost 30 percent more
energy than originally predicted.
Quick-thinking microcomputers
Monitoring the entire project will be microcomputers,
which Sullivan says are becoming more common on farms.
The microcomputers will collect data and increase
fuel efficiency by shutting off certain motors when there
is danger of over use, he said,
"They (microcomputers) think so much quicker than
a person can think," Sullivan said, adding that the system
"takes care of itself better" than if a person were monit
oring the processes for failures.
Because many parts of the project are independent,
their efficiency is higher than if each idea were attempted
by itself, Rein said.
"Many of these ideas themselves wouldn't stand up
too easily," he said. "When they are integrated in a
total system, their feasibility improves."
Economic feasibility of the farm will be closely studied
in the next few years, he said. The alcohol still and the
photoelectric cells are somewhat costly, but could become
competitive within five years.
Schulte said the project required the university to
cultivate relations with private industry to create tech
nology to be tested on the farm. Once the farm is in
operation, it will be accessible to the public for viewing,
he said.
The farm is one of eight similar energy projects in the
United States financed by the Department of Energy,
It is the largest of eight, Schulte said, and the only one
with irrigation,
OODSi
iEtursday
Power to the People: Speaker says women are powerless
in a world dominated by male viewpoints. . . , , . Page 8
Watts Up, Doc,: New FCC ruling requires UNL radio stat
ion KRNU to increase its power output ..... . Page 10
Feeling Good: Former Husker cornerback Randee
Johnson calls his recovery from a broken neck last
serins a miracle Page 12
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