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Wednesday,, September 2, 1981
lincoln, nebraska vol. 107 no. 9
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Animal science project awaits Legislature's OK
By Laure Perlinger
Completion of the long-awaited animal science project
on UNL's East Campus could" become a reality if the
necessary capital construction money is approved by the
Nebraska Legislature.
The project, in combination with agriculture and nat
ural resources programs, is currently the second priority
on the 1982-83 NU budget, behind maintenance.
Irvin T. Omtvedt, head of the Department of Animal
Science said the animal science project, which was
planned in the 1960s, has been considered since 1967
when it was decided to finish only phase one of the pro
ject - construction of Marvel Baker Hall for laboratory re
search, offices and classrooms.
Phase two, stream central planning, was scratched, he
said.
Priority two consists of $350,000 for design and blue
print development for the animal science project ; planning
money for a headquarters building at Mead; and operating
funds for the four district stations at Concord, North
Platte,. Scottsbluff and Clay Center. Total cost for the
project is $1.9 million, Omtvedt said.
The animal science proposal is for two basic structures:
A livestock center in the old cattle barn. area,, in
cluding divisible livestock arena for multiple classes and
livestock holding facilities for teaching and research..
A laboratory-office-classroom addition to Marvel
Baker Hall, including an expansion of the meats labora
tory and additional research space.
Present buildings old
Omtvedt said present campus livestock holding and
teaching facilities were built in the early 1900s.
Omtvedt said the animal science project's climb to the
second rung of the budget priority ladder may have come
at a bad time, when construction of the regional veterin
ary school is uncertain.
Completion of the animal science project is even more
important if NU doesn't get the veterinary school, he said,
explaining that most pre-veterinary medicine students will
major in animal science. A pre-veterinary undergraduate
degree is not offered, he said.
Earl Dickinson, head of the department of veterinary
science, agreed with Omtvedt about the importance of the
project in relation to the proposed veterinary college.
"They are completely compatable and mutually
supportive and both are long overdue in promoting animal
health and production in Nebraska," Dickinson said.
Dickinson said the U.S. Department of Agriculture is
currently doing a feasibility study on federal assistance in
regional programs. The study group will be at UNL Sept.
10 and by late November a final, report will be submitted
to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture John Block for review.
Legislature approval needed
Dickinson said, the veterinary college and animal
Mockler says demand misjudged
By WardW..Triplett III
UNL student regent Rick Mockler said students can
stop feeling guilty about the lack of football tickets this
year, after a meeting with, administrators revealed, that few
er than 700 students had, obtained duplicate student ID
cards.. The most likely cause for 547 students being left
out of a season ticket at least momentarily was art under
estimation of ticket demand Mockler said..
v'l think they (ticket officials) were overreacting to a
crisis situation "" he said..
'Where you might have a. few isolated cases of abuse
that couldnt be the only reason for this happening"" he
said..
Mockler said he was bothered by headlines in the Daily
Nebraskan and the Lincoln Journal-Star that indicated
students using duplicate student IDs to pruchase two tic
kets had caused the shortage.
Tor, the first time, faculty and staff have been denied
tickets. When students got denied tickets, we got. accused
of cheating each- other.. When, faculty got denied,, it had to
be something else, Mockler, said.
Something else, he said,, could have been illegal ticket
buying methods such, as duplicate student IDs, students
dropping from, full-time status, to part-time after buying a
ticket and married students getting." two tickets each.
However,, an enrollment increase could have been a rea
son as well,. Mockler said.
Continued on Page 7
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science project "go hand in glove" in animal agriculture,
the number one industry in the state.
Omtvedt said the Legislature's bill approving capital
construction money must be passed, the federal funds for
construction must be secured, and at least two other
states must agree to participate in the regional veterinary
school.
Making better use of what UNL has has been the Legis
lature's theme for the past tew years, Omtvedt said.
Omtvedt said the state livestock industry has pressured
the animal science department to increase and improve
facilities. Livestock organizations in particular have
suggested updating UNL's agricultural teaching and re
search. Omtvedt said Nebraska leads the nation in the number
of fed-cattle yet UNL has the least adequate campus live
stock facilities compared to surrounding states' animal
science departments.
Nutrition, animal breeding and physiology are taught
in the animal science department. Within the proposed
veterinary college the animal science department would
still teach nutrition.
Cooling equipment
transfer disputed
By Mary Louise Knapp
Union College continues to need new air conditioning
equipment while problems concerning the transfer of the
equipment are ironed out, officials from the college, UNL
and UNO said Tuesday .
According to a recent report from United Press Inter
national the Seventh-Day Adventist college had been given
a 500-ton York chiller by UNO, a $30,000 grant from the
Union Pacific Railroad Foundation to transport the chiller
and a surplus cooling tower, by UNL.
Officials from Union College and UNO said the report
raised, some questions among readers about the constitu
tionality of giving tax-financed equipment to a religious
institution.
Richard Wood, NU general counsel, said the Nebraska
Constitution prohibits state agencies from giving "credit
in aid" to any individual, state or corporation.
Wood said that although the gifts of the air condition
ing equipment are technically not credit he does not be
lieve that NU has the right to give away surplus property
without first calling for bids to determine if the property
has any value.
Neither, the cooling tower nor the chiller has been ad
vertised for bids, Wood siad.
Harley Schrader, director of UNL's Physical Plant, said
the cooling tower was not purchased by tax funds but was
a part of the Nebraska Center for Continuing Education, a
donation of the Kellogg Foundation.
Jim Gallagher, public relations director for Union Col
lege, said the cooling tower has already been transferred
to the college.
"The chiller is still up for grabs," Gallagher said. "We
hope to get it, but we don't want to create a church-state
conflict."
Gallagher said the chiller may have been paid for by
tax funds, although the cooling tower was not.
No one expressed an interest in obtaining the chiller
before Union College offered to excavate and move it,
Gallagher said. Moving the chiller would cost about
$20,000, he said.
However Union College has not yet expressed a defi
nite 'desire to bid on the chiller,, said Neil Morgensen
plant management director at UNO.
Morgensen said, the plant management office has not
declared the chiller to be surplus property and will take
no further action until it receives word from Union Col
lege.. John Moore assistant vice chancellor of business for
UNO said he is not aware of any written agreements con
cerning the chiller between UNO and Union College and
learned of the matter from, the UPl report..
The chiller is stored in a sub-basement of the engineer
ing building and moving it would require excavation and
removal ot a basement wall Moore said..
Photo by Mark Billingsley
Mr Dillon, the cat awakes after a short catnap on the shoulder of Doug WenkA While Wenk walked along O St his
partner rested on his shoulder, unassisted
By Moonlight State Seru Don Wesely takes odd jobs for
" experience and extra, money .. . .. . Page 6
My (Xd School Author Cameron Crowe goes back to his
old high school to write Fast Times at Ridgewood
High, .....,............ Page &
The Better Half; Hope Seibel Charlene Mathison and. Paro
McWhirter say being a football widow isn't so bad
a Page 10