T Y Tl Daily f
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Wednesday, February 17, 1982
Vol. 109 No. 27
Lincoln, Nebraska
Copyright 1982 Daily Nebraskan
Candidates for ASUN debate, answer questions
By Betsy Miller
Four sets of ASUN presidential and vice presidential
candidates got a chance to express their views on univer
sity issues at a debate Tuesday afternoon in the Nebraska
Union.
The debate, sponsored by the University Program
Council's Talks and Topics Committee, featured candi
dates from the Working Coalition, True, Real and STUPID
II parties.
The candidates answered questions Iron, the audience,
which numbered about 150, and from a panel composed
of Kent Warncke, president of Innocents Society, Martha
Murdock, editor of the Daily Nebraskan and Kick Mock
ler, ASUN president.
Several questions were asked about the Working Coali
tion's proposed constitutional amendment that would
elect senators from living units rather than from colleges,
as they currently are.
A woman, identifying herself as a criminal justice
major, said her college's representation would suffer if
senators were elected from living units. She said this was
the first year there was a criminal justice senator and won
dered if the loss of the criminal justice senator could be
compensated for by a senator from a living unit.
Dave Mumgaard, Working Coalition presidential candi
date, said the present system has not been effective in sol
ving college problems and that college concerns could still
bo addressed with senators elected from living units.
'The students, no matter where they are. will still have
representation," Mumgaard said.
Fran Grabowski, Working Coalition first vice presiden
tial candidate, said if the amendment is defeated on the
March 3 ballot, and the Working Coalition party is elect
ed, the party will still try to get the amendments approved.
The small number of students running for senate posi
tions this year was prompted by students "not willing to
be involved," said Dan Wedekind, Real Party presidential
candidate.
The senate must strengthen communication between
students and itself to increase student participation in
government, he said.
Mike Ford, True Party presidential candidate, said
senate party differences do not hamper the way the senate
works.
Grabowski said parties are not that important.
"We're a coalition, not a party," he said.
Mike Frost, STUPID II Party presidential candidate,
said the election of senators by zodiac sign would increase
the number of students who run for the senate.
The four parties also stated the ideas they will follow
in working with the NU Board of Regents.
"We need to get our student regents to have all 24,000
students behind them," Mumgaard said.
He said student regents can be most effective if they
deal with the board on a few specific issues targeted for
discussion.
Ford said his party wants to start campaigning for re
gents candidates who would benefit the students if elect
ed. The Real Party believes that the board tends to disre
gard student opinions and that the senate should align
with people outside of the university to have more of an
impact on the regents' decisions, Wedekind said.
Frost said the student regent should try "kicking and
screaming," in dealing with the board.
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Photo by Dave Bentz
ASUN presidential and first vice presidential candidates met in a debate Tuesday afternoon in the Nebraska Union.
The debate was sponsored by the University Program Council's Talks and Topics Committee.
Senator proposes student loan bill
By Alice Hrnicck
Surprising the Education Committee at a Tuesday hear
ing, Sen. Sam Cullan of Hemingford presented a redraft of
his LB946 that would establish a state loan authority in
stead of the originally proposed scholarship commission.
He calls it the Nebraska College Loan Financing Auth
ority Act.
Cullan charged the bill, he said, because he didn't want
to hurt existing agencies that help with federal Guaran
teed Student Loans and other federal aid programs.
The bill would create a loan authority to sell revenue
bonds to finance state-given loans. Loans would be avail
able for all institutions of higher education in Nebraska,
Cullan said.
The act is needed because federal student aid is threat
ened, Cullan said. Federal programs may soon exclude
graduate and professional students from eligibility and
may extend restricted income guidelines, making it more
difficult for students to go to school, he said.
Borrowers may be required to pay higher interest rates
instead of the present 9 percent on federal loans, Cullan
said. The origination fee on federal loans, the fee for bor
rowing money, may be raised from 5 percent to 10 per
cent of the loan's value.
"Tlus bill is to insure that students attending programs
have reasonable access to educational institutions in Ne
braska," Cullan said.
The loan authority would not necessarily replace pre
sent federal programs, said Guy Saunders of the Nebraska
Higher Education Loan Program. The authority would be
used only if federal programs are drastically cut.
Saunders predicted that the loan authority would not
be used soon, but he said it would exist if there was a need.
NEBHELP and the Higher Education Assistance Foun
dation now administer federal loan programs. With the
original provisions of LB946, these programs' powers
would have been curtailed.
The first LB946, patterned after an Illinois law, would
have created a scholarship commission to give state schol
arships. The administering authority of some federal loans
and grants would have been transferred to the commis
sion. Although schools would be required to pledge some as
sets to guarantee that the loans be repaid, Cullan said this
would pose little problem because Nebraskans have a low
default rate.
Cullan said tuition rates for graduate students should
be higher. The bill would allow those students to attend
schools at greater cost and give them the chance to fi
nance more of their education.
Cullan said it might be wise to amend the bill to allow
graduate students to receive loans for out-of-state pro
grams that are unavailable in Nebraska. But he warned
that the amendment should not allow students to be given
loans to attend out-of-state programs that also exist in the
state.
Loans would be limited to cover the cost of education,
Cullan said, so that students wouldn't be "digging them
selves into a grave" trying to repay them.
Legislature may approve NU budget increase
By Melinda Norris
A tentative 1982-83 budget for the Uni
versity of Nebraska, expected to be approv
ed by the Nebraska Legislature's Appropri
ations Committee, gives the university a
6.1 percent increase in appropriations from
last year.
The tentative budget gives the university
an additional .2 percent more than Gov.
Charles Thone's recommended budget, but
is $193 million short of the request made
by the university administration.
Sources close to the Appropriations
Committee said the increase is all the com
mittee can give the university without rais
ing the tax rate.
This 6 percent increase comes after the
3 percent cut by the special session of the
Legislature last November.
The 6 percent increase was "not unex
pected," said Jim Raglin, director of pub
lic affairs for the central administration.
"It's funny they're going to approve the
budget before we make our proposal," he
said.
The public hearing for the university
budget is Friday in the Capitol at 1:30
pjn.
Raglin said that by concluding the bud
get appropriation, the committee is not
leaving open options for the administra
tion to expand on the governor's and uni
versity's proposed budgets.
"We (the university) still have one more
chance, and we hope to see if we can per
suade them," Raglin said.
The breakdown of the proposed percen
tage appropriation increase from fiscal year
1981-82 is: UNL City Campus, 5.5 per
cent; Institute of Agriculture and Natural
Resources, 62 percent; UNO, 4.3 percent;
and UNMC, 6.9 percent.
The proposal also recommends a 19.3
percent increase for aid to veterinary stu
dents and a 13.7 percent increase for op
tometry students studying out-of-state.
The NU Central Administration would
receive a 14 J percent increase, of which
$300,000 is deposited in a discretionary
salary fund, leaving the administration with
a 2.1 percent increase.