Tl Daily
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University of Nebraska-Lincoln
'v 7
Thursday, April 29, 1982
Vol. 109 No. 73
Lincoln, Nebraska
Copyright 1982 Daily Nebraskan
Resolution requests
Chief Justice Nigro
resign from position
By Betsy Miller
A resolution requesting that UNL Student Court Chief
Justice Joe Nigro resign his position immediately was
passed by the ASUN Senate Wednesday night.
The senators went into closed session for about an
hour and debated the issue. The resolution states that
court actions earlier this year were questionable.
Last week the senate created a committee to investi
gate the court's actions in a case involving the ASUN
Electoral Commission and its director, Jennifer Fager.
The senate said actions of Nigro and the court had
been inconsistent with the Judicial Code. The investigative
committee submitted a report to the senate Wednesday
stating that several procedural errors occured in court
deliberations this year.
By a vote of 19-9-1, the senate passed the resolution
introduced by Sens. Jim Willett, Kathy Roth and Mike
Barnhill.
Nigro said his plan to serve as chief justice hasn't chan
ged for next year.
He said he was speaking for himself, not the court.
"I think that what's gone on is just a joke. It makes
ASUN look just as silly as it ever has," he said.
He described the senate committee's actions as a
witch hunt and said the fact the senate went into closed
session both last week and this week shows it has "no
guts."
Nigro said his comments were not meant for ASUN
President Dan Wedekind or Marlene Bcyke, ASUN's
director of development.
The senate does not have the authority to force Nigro
to resign, ASUN Second Vice President Bob Fitzgerald
said. It can merely request that he do so.
Roth told the senators that the request should be
made now because if the senate waited until the summer
was over senators might not remember enough of the
case to want to take action.
But Sen. Merrill Warkentin said the resolution "sounds
like an indictment," and he urged the senate to delay ac
tion until Nigro lias a chance to explain his views.
The investigative committee reported that Nigro and
other court members did not talk to the committee be
cause they were still deliberating the Fager case.
Earlier Wednesday the court ruled that Fager was
guilty of giving false statements during court hearings and
requested that she resign her appointed post as a court
justice for next year.
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Photo by Dave Bentz
Bob Kerrey and Stan DeBoer spoke at a gubernatorial candidates forum Wednesday afternoon in the Nebraska
Union.
Gubernatorial hopefuls talk of ideas
By Pat Higgins
Bob Kerrey, candidate for the Democratic gubernator
ial nomination, said he plans to vote for the Lincoln gay
rights amendment in the May 11 primary election. He
spoke at a candidates' forum in the Nebraska Union Wed
nesday afternoon, which was sponsored by the Students
for Political Awareness.
All four gubernatorial candidates were invited to the
forum, but State Sen. Bill Burrows of Adams, a Demo
cratic candidate, and Gov. Charles Thone, a Republican,
were not present.
As a member of the Lincoln Human Rights Committee,
Kerrey said housing or employment rights are not special
treatment for gays. Kerrey said he doesn't believe that gay
teachers would necessarily be a problem.
"I sometimes wonder about a lot of heterosexuals that
we have teaching," Kerrey said.
The Norden Dam should not be built , but it is up to Con
gress to stop the project, he said.
Kerrey said he favors some form of a nuclear freeze.
Nuclear weapons are the biggest threat of our time, he
said.
Kerrey, a Lincoln businessman, said government should
not just be reduced but should be run more efficiently.
"I don't like to hear people say that 5 percent un
employment is full employment," Kerrey said. "We need
a real form of full employment."
Kerrey said that as governor he would consider making
state funds available for student loans.
Stan DeBoer, a farmer from Bertrand running for the
Republican nomination for governor, said students should
be politically concerned because their loans are being cut.
He said the university needs more funds, but the money
available for education depends on the state's economy.
DeBoer blamed the state of the economy on poor leader
ship. He said Nebraska's economy depends on agriculture,
but agriculture is in trouble because of the 1981 Farm Bill
passed by Congress.
DeBoer said the entire economy has declined in the last
year though.
"I want people to ask themselves whether they are
better off today than they were a year ago," DeBoer said.
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Director Fager found guilty;
court asks that she resign
Photo by D. Eric Kircher
A late-season snowman guards the ticket dispenser of the parking lot at 12th and Q
streets.
By Betsy Miller
The UNL Student Court has requested
that Jennifer Fager, ASUN Electoral Com
mission director, resign her position on the
court for next year.
The court ruled that Fager was guilty of
giving false statements during hearings in
February and March and that she should
not accept her appointment as an associate
justice. She was appointed by the ASUN
Senate Feb. 17, before allegations of mis
leading testimony appeared.
However, Fager said she has no intent
ion of resigning her court position.
The court does not have the power to
force Fager to resign her position; all it can
do is request it, Fager said.
"It's kind of frivolous to ask me to
resign it's sort of like asking me to
impose a sanction on myself," she said.
Fager said the court has violated several
provisions of the judicial code while pro
cessing her case.
She claims the court did not give her an
expedient trial, that it could not initiate a
separate hearing on her alleged testimony
offenses and rule on the case because of
conflict of interest, and that the court did
not even swear in all of its witnesses during
the hearings.
The original case against Fager began
when two UNL students filed a complaint
with the commission charging it had allow
ed some candidates in the ASUN election
to post campaign signs before others.
March 1, the court ruled that the com
mission failed to rule clearly on the poster
issue and that Fager had given misleading
testimony during two appearances before
the court.
Fager had asked for a dismissal of the
case against her, but the court turned down
that appeal and released its statement re
questing her to resign.
Fager said she thinks Chief Justice Joe
Nigro hasn't done a good job.
"I personally think that Nigro should re
sign, because I feel he's unfit to serve," she
said.
She said she could appeal the court's
ruling to the Administrative Appeals
Board, but she is not sure whether she will.
Nigro said it's important that Fager re
alize the ruling came not just from him,
but from the court as a whole.
"I think it's important that people sit
and look at the hard, cold facts, and the
facts are that false testimony was given,"
Nigro said.
He said the court made its request
hoping that Fager would realize she should
not be a court justice. He said he hoped
she would appeal the ruling if she is not
satisfied and that she won't simply disobey
the request and be a justice next year.