T H Daily T
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Wednesday, April 7, 1982
Vol. 109 No. 57
Lincoln, Nebraska
Copyright 1982 Daily Nebraskan
Zorinsky says continued financial aid essential
By Eric Peterson
Continued financial aid to students is essential, said
U.S. Sen. Edward Zorinsky Tuesday in the Nebraska
Union. I lis apperance was sponsored by the ASUN Sen
ate's Government Liaison Committee.
"This is one United States senator who feels some way,
somehow, people other than wealthy people should be
able to have a college education," Zorinsky said. But Zor
insky said student financial aid programs will probably
be reduced, though not by as much as the current admini
stration has proposed. He said nearly all federal pro
grams face some reductions from school lunches to the
defense budget. It's uncertain how extensive the reduc
tions will be, he said.
"I think the support (for or against the Reagan finan
cial aid reductions) is pretty well split. Now is the time to
get the letters coming in, and they do pay attention to
the letters."
Zorinsky said financial aid programs must not bear an
unfair burden of the budget cuts, especially when educa
tion is necessary to re-establish the United States as a lea
dership entity.
"There's a danger that while we save an economy,
we'll lose a nation."
Education will have to share priority status with agri
culture, Zorinsky said.
"I think this last farm bill was a blueprint for failure,"
he said. Without higher commodity price supports and an
ethyl alcohol promotion program, he said, the family farm
system will be replaced by conglomerates.
Senior senator
Zorinsky saic' he has learned how the Congressional
system works in spite of the frustrating seniority system.
The Omaha senator is now the third-ranking Democrat
on the Senate Agricultural Committee and the fifth
ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Com
mittee. He said the Falkland Islands crisis shows how overhea
ted rhetoric can make countries commit themselves past
the point of no return in a military conflict.
"The politicians in both countries probably welcome
tills diversion to draw attention away from domestic pro
blems." Zorinsky attacked the Reagan administration for back
ing away from campaign promises.
"Reagan's promise of a balanced budget by 1984
shortly became a 'goal,' and then he said it wasn't very im
portant after all."
Zorinsky said the administration has also tried to fake
evidence of Soviet intervention in Nicaragua, and has sent
$11 million to the private sector in Nicaragua after the re
volution against right-wing dictator Anastasio Somoza.
Arms race
Zorinsky said he disagrees with Reagan's assertion that
the United States is behind the Soviet Union in the arms
race, saying this country is behind in certain aspects and
ahead in others.
"It's a complicated formula."
He said that the Reagan administration has violated a
commitment to an accelerated SALT III talks process.
"I think they must just cheer over there (in the Sov
iet Union) at the way we run our foreign policy."
When asked for his position about placing the MX mis
sile system in western Nebraska, Zorinsky said "I suppo
rted the MX missile in its mobile basing mode, not its sta
tionary basing mode." Zorinsky said the switch from the
Human rights group defends actions
Lincoln's Commission on Human Rights answered
charges that it improperly campaigned for passage of
the gay rights amendment at its meeting Tuesday.
Commissioner Beatty Brasch said the commission's
ordinance allows it to inform and lobby the public on
its findings on issues.
She said the commission was within this ordinance
when it sent letters to civic groups notifying them of
the commission's stand on the gay rights issue and stat
ing its willingness to provide speakers on the topic.
The commission's Tuesday response was triggered
by a charge against the commission by amendment
opponent Bill Thierstein at the Lincoln City Council
meeting Monday.
Thierstein charged that the commission was not act
ing in its role as a government entity to stay out of the
"political arena."
Commissioner Tim Sindelar said the commission
had agreed unanimously to forward the letters and
work for the amendment.
He said no tax dollars are being used when the com
missioners speak about the topic.
After the meeting, Brasch said speakers will be
either commissioners or others in favor of the amend
ment, depending on what any particular civic organi
zation wants. The speakers, she said, will inform the
public of the commission's findings and recommendat
ions. They will, in effect, speak in favor of the gay rights
amendment.
Chairman Jerry Loos said the commission is definit
ely working within its role. He said the commission's
unanimous finding was that discrimination does exist,
and it is following its ordinance with its actions.
Loos said Thierstein's charge and subsequent
charges will not affect the outcome of the amendment.
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Photo by Jodie Fields
George "Jed" Smock, an evangelist who has made previous visits to UNL, preached to a crowd at Broyhill Foun
tain Tuesday afternoon.
Photo by Dave Bentz
Sen. Edward Zorinsky
mobile plan to a permanent placing such as in western
Nebraska was an example of the frequent stupidity that
takes place in political decision-making.
Zorinsky said he will not endorse the Norden Dam pro
ject in Nebraska until legal tangles in the state courts are
resolved.
Zorinsky said his most controversial vote, in favor of
selling AW ACS planes to Saudi Arabia, may have cost him
$250,000 in re-election campaign contributions. Zorinsky
said Congress's blocking of the sale would have eroded the
president's ability to make foreign policy.
Deteriorating displays
moved from museum,
placed in storage area
By Melinda Norris
Virtually all of the carved ivory pieces and much of the
leather and bead work has been removed from public dis
play at the State Museum, Director James Gunnerson said.
These displays were removed and placed in storage in
Nebraska Hall in an attempt to reduce their deterioration
rate, he said.
The museum, built 50 years ago with the most modern
forms of climate control available then, has become inef
fective for controlling the temperature and humidity in
the museum, Gunnerson said.
The displays have been placed in storage where they
are accessible for museum research, but the conditions
in Nebraska Hall are not much of an improvement.
"The conditions are not ideal by a long shot," Gunner
son said. "But they are better than in Morrill Hall."
An attempt to improve the conditions in Morrill Hall
was defeated by the Nebraska Legislature last week.
LB632, introduced by Don Wesely of Lincoln, would have
earmarked $20,000 to study climate control options for
the museum .
The $20,000 would have been the initial step in the
renovation project, Gunnerson said. The museum would
need an additional $100,000 to $200,000 for planning
and $500,000 to $2 million for construction.
"If it is this hard to get a bill for $20,000 passed, I
expect it would be much more difficult to get a larger bill
through," he said.
The renovation of Morrill Hall also is included in the
capital construction budget submitted to the Legislature
by the NU Board of Regents, but there are "many, many,
items on the list with higher priority," Gunnerson said.
The priorities for capital construction change each
year, said Robert Rutford, vice chancellor for research
and graduate studies.
"We are aware of the problem. We haven't ignored it,"
Rutford said. "But it is only one of a bunch of problems
on campus."
Morrill Hall is more than just a museum, he said.
It is a public facility which houses classrooms and the De
partment of Geology. If Bessey Hall is renovated, the Geo
logy Department could be moved into it, and the museum
could be isolated. Then, renovation could begin.
Gunnerson predicted proper climate controls could
slow the deterioration process to between 1 percent and
5 percent of the current deterioration rate.
"Some items are very, very static under the present
conditions," he said, "there will be very little change in
10,000 years."
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