Tuesday, October 26, 1982
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University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 82, No. 48
Faculty protests
budget proposals
By Linda Howard
The faculty of the UNL School of Life Sciences has
sent Gerhard Meisels, interim dean of the College of
Arts and Sciences, a resolution stating that it opposes
the reduction of faculty salaries to offset university
budget cuts.
The resolution was presented to Meisels after a meeting
of the life sciences faculty with him last Friday. '
The faculty's resolution requested that the dean and
other administrative officials support the faculty's opposi
tion to any salary reductions.
In addition, John Lynch, professor of life sciences and
a senator in the UNL Faculty Senate, said he plans to
present a resolution at the. next senate meeting that pro
poses "adoption of a $1 surcharge on all football tickets
for the academic year 1983-84 in order to raise monies
necessary for basic support functions . . . essential to
the premier academic institution in Nebraska."
Basic support functions are considered to be univer
sity libraries and academic computing services, according
to the resolution.
Lynch said the life sciences faculty listened at the
meeting to several proposals for coping with the bud
get cuts. The ideas included eliminating the faculty's
2.5 percent raise, requiring faculty members to take two
weeks off each year without pay and charging students
a 20 percent surcharge on tuition.
Lynch said life sciences faculty member decided those
proposals were unacceptable because they believe paying
for budget cuts isn't the sole responsibility of the stu
dents or the faculty of the university. That responsibility
should be shared by all the citizens of the state, he said.
The possibility of raising taxes wasn't presented a! arT
" alternative. That's probably because Gov. Charles Thone
prides himself on not increasing tax rates, Lynch said.
Meisels told life sciences faculty not to discuss the
meeting and budget-meeting alternatives, Lynch said,
adding that that upsets him.
To keep this under wraps raises an ugly specter to
me. We were being asked to help pull the wool over the
eyes of Ahe state. If the public doesn't hear differently,
they will think that the university is having no problems,"
Lynch said.
Loss of master key
results in new locks
More than two-thirds of the locks in the Abel
and Sandoz residence halls were replaced last
weekend because a master key that opens all the
doors in the complex was lost. The key was turned
in Monday, Doug Zatechka, director of the UNL
Housing Office, said.
The key was lost by a security guard Thursday
night when the key chain that the guards wear
broke. Zatechka said a key has not been lost by a
guard in more than 1 1 years. Hie loss was not con
sidered to be negligence on the part of the guard,
he said.
Keys carried by guards are marked with a code
so that someone picking them up would not know
if it was a master key, Zatechka said.
Once the loss was discovered, the Housing Office
started making plans to replace the locks in the
residence hall, he said. On Friday, the office
received approval "to start changing the locks, and
by Sunday, two-thirds had been replaced.
The key was found by a student, who did not
turn it in right away, Zatechka said.
More than $1,000 already has been spent in
overtime pay to personnel replacing. the locks. In
addition, Housing officials and student assistants
have spent "a lot of late nights" figuring out how to
begin the replacement and informing students that
theii locks would be replaced, Zatechka said.
Extra locks from the Housing Office were used
for the replacement and were not purchased, he
said. 4 x
The residents, he said, were cooperative during
the lock-changing proces but were curious why
locks were being replaced, Zatechka said he decided
not to tell residents why because he wan't sure who
had possession of the key.
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Staff Photo by Craig Andreson
Two employees of the A.A Leopold Co. work on the exterior of the Stuart Building at 13th and P streets.
M
edia's irresponsibility attacked
By Dale Nielsen
The problem with fairness m televisioji coverage lies
With the media's refusal to admit mistakes and an
eagerness to report rumors, Ron Rhody, corporate" vice
president of Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical, said
Monday.
Rhody spoke to communicators from business,
industry, government and education fields as part of
the International Association of Business Communicators'
District Four conference at the Lincoln Hilton. His
presentation concerned a controversial segment of the
ABC news magazine program "2020," which aired in
April 1980.
The program, with Geraldo Rivera as host, attacked
the Aluminum Residential Wiring Systems, manufactured
by Kaiser, as being unsafe. The wiring was alleged to over
heat and present a substantial fire hazard.
Kaiser fought the allegations, maintaining the wiring
was safe if used properly. But the main dispute with
ABC was Kaiser's charge that "2020" was serving as the
company's "accuser, judge and jury," according to
Rhody.
Rhody noted that journalism is not always an incor
ruptable institution, citing the Janet Cook Pulitzer Prize
incident and CBS' "60 Minutes" attack of Gen. William
Westmoreland.
Despite some company officials feeling otherwise,
Kaiser decided to take action against ABC, Rhody said.
The company filed a $40 million lawsuit claiming libel
on the part of "2020."
Rhody said the goal of the lawsuit was, to strike a Wow
for airriessin'televisioft icrarnalism Accompanied by - a
media blitz designed to draw attention to the incident,
Kaiser pressed for unedited airtime on ABC to present
its case.
Eventually ABC granted rebuttal time on its program
"Viewpoint." The lawsuit was withdrawn. Rhody claims
that a major victory has been won against this type of
television "journalism."
Rhody noted that the "2020" host Rivera was on the
payroll of the entertainment division of ABC, not the
news department.
Kaiser said that sometimes entertainment and news
are not clearly defined and television seems to be the main
culprit.
Rhody's address to the approximately 30 members of
the audience called for changes in the thinking of
business. He claimed that much of today's conventional
wisdom is outdated. The "don't get involved," and
"none of the public's business" ideas are out.
"We have a right and a responsibility to be involved
in matters of society, education and minority unemploy
ment. Business must stop relying on the media to spread
the messages of business, and take it upon themselves to
do so," he said.
"Above all," Rhody said, "we must be willing to set
the record straight by whatever means necessary. Explan
ations may be necessary more often, and some criticism
will have to be absorbed, but we must be willing to stand
up and say 'that is wrong' and let it go no further."
The IABC conference continues through Wednesday.
Mediators needed by justice center
By Marlene Burbach
The landlord won't fix your leaky,roof. The neighbors'
trash spilled over into your yard and they refuse to do
anything about it. A barking dog across the street keeps
you awake at night. What can you do?
The Willard Crime Prevention Justice Center, 1245 S.
Folsom St., will be the answer to those problems for
residents in southwest Lincoln.
The center will be an experimental program, offering
an alternative for people instead of going to a small claims
court or calling the police, said Rebecca Winston, program
coordinator.
"The main goal of this program is to help people talk,
to one another and to find a solution on their own,"
Winston said. "We want to avoid the all-out feud."
When a dispute arises, the two opposing parties may
come to the center. Thty will sit down with two media
tors and try to work out theprob!em, Winston said. Both
parties will give their version of the incident, she said.
Then they will try to reach an agreeable solution. If
this is not possible, they may be referred to another
agency.
If an agreement is reached, the mediators will do a
follow-up check two weeks later, Winston said.
The center is now looking for volunteers who will
act as mediators.
"We want to have about 20 mediators. Then they
would hear only one case per month, hopefully," Win
ston said.
Interested applicants' names wUl be placed under a
police check. If they have no criminal record, they will
be interviewed by the Justice Center Board.
If they are formally approved of by the board, they
will go through a 12-hour training program with the
Lincoln Police Department and Winston.
"Hopefully, within three weeks the mediators will
be selected and we will be totally operational," she said.
The Willard Crime prevention-Justice Center is funded
by the Lincoln Foundation.
It was developed in this area because there was a
"strong neighborhood feeling,' Winston said. Residents
of the area contacted attorneys and expressed the desire
for such a center.
If the program works well, more centers may be set
up in Lincoln, she said.
There are 180 justice centers across the United
States - the first ones funded in the 1970s.
Other centers in the United States have heard between
300 to 1,000 cases per year, Winston said. They seem
to be quite successful," she added.
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