Tyn Daily n
Friday
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
January 14, 1983
Vol. 82 No, 82
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By Lauri Hopple
Students planning on living in residence
hall rooms next year will have the smallest
increase in housing costs since 1971 - pro
jected at $35.
The S35 represents a 1.9 percent
increase. The total projected room and
board cost for the 1983-84 school year will
be SI, 835. Room and board costs
increased SI 30, or 7.7 percent, for the
current school year.
"It's incredibly low." said Douglas
Zatechka, director of the Office of Univers
ity Housing. "I'm really pleased with that
(the $35 increase) because I believe
students need some kind of relief."
Ten of the 14 students attending the
rates discussion Wednesday, open to all
students, were RHA members. RHA
President Melba Petrie said the small
turnout probably was because of the low
housing rate increase.
One of the students at the meeting,
sophomore Melanie Lewandowski, said she
was surprised that the proposed increase
was so low.
"I'm not happy that there is an
increase," Lewandowski said, "but I am
happy that it's low."
Petrie said all RHA member were re
quested to attend because RHA was to
vote on the increase at its Thursday
meeting.
Representing RHA at the panel were
Steven Bray and Robert Wolz, student rate
study co-chairmen. Zatechka and Gary
Partridge, assistant director of housing for
business services, represented the Office of
University Housing.
If approved by RHA and the NU Board
of Regents, the increase will be effective
July 1983 through June 1984.
Both Zatechka and Partridge said there
will be no cuts in services now available
through housing.
"This basically is a continuation budget,
which is a continuation of the same
services at the same level," Partridge said.
The projected budget for 1983-84
is about SI 1.06 million; this year's budget
was SI 0.6 million.
Za'techka said the ability to maintain
all services stems from increases of housing
revenues other than room and board fees.
"If you get more out of one thing, you
have to take less from another," he said.
T he major revenue increases came from
summer activities residents, such as
summer students and non-student groups
using the halls, which added $137,000 to
the revenue base. Better utility efficiency
netted $50,000 more, while refrigerator
rentals added 538,000.
Wolz asked what is planned if the halls
are not filled as full as projected. Zatechka
presented two solutions, the first of which
is to completely close a floor in one resi
dence hall.
When asked by RHA member Kathleen
Mach how the housing office could count
on money from summer groups, Zatechka
said he tries to be conservative in his
summer estimates and only includes "for
surcs" - the number of students who come
every year - in the estimates.
Other housing revenue comes from
vending machine commissions and snack
bars in the residence halls, which increased
by $61,000, and from the decrease in cost
of raw food from 9 percent to 6 percent
of the housing budget.
"1 don't want to mislead people,
because this really is an unusual year,
with a lot of money-makers coming to
gether in one year," Zatechka said. "Next
DfMMEl
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benefits?
By Patti Gallagher
In the last half of 1982, Lincolnites
pledged more than $100,000 to four
organizations using professional solicitors
to conduct telephone fund drives. Of that
$100,000, less than half went to charity.
For example, here's what a donor to a
Lincoln Jaycees fund drive got for his
$14.95 donation:
- 30 trash bags with a wholesale value
of about $3.
- $2.25 donation to the Jaycees.
- $9.75 payment to the promoter.
In other words, about 65 percent of
the donor's money was absorbed by the
promoter for expenses and profit.
The permits for the four charity drives
were among 71 issued in Lincoln between
Sept. 1, 1981, and Aug. 31, 1982, the
city's fiscal year. They were the only four
that used solicitors, according to Joan
Ross, an attorney in the city clerk's office.
They were examined by a reporter to
determine who gets the money when a
charitable group hires a professional
solicitor to run its fund drive.
The groups sponsoring fund drives and
the solicitors they hire are within the law.
Aside from requiring a permit, Lincoln city
ordinances and officials assert little control
over such drives. In the words of Assistant
City Attorney Rick Peo, "If their overhead
is 99 percent, there's really nothing we
can do."
The Cornhusker Better Business Bureau
likewise is unable to impose stiffer
controls. According to President Lois
Tefft, the BBB can only file reports,
available at the public's request, stating
whether a charitable organization or a
solicitor meets national BBB standards
for charitable giving. But a bad mark from
the BBB, Tefft and Ross say, won't cause
the city to refuse a group's permit or with
hold a permit in the future.
The Nebraska Sheriffs's and Peace ?
Officers' Association got one of the BBB s
bad marks for its most recent fund-raiser,
a children's Christmas party. In a report
dated Jan. 6, the BBB said the sheriffs
lobbying group did not meet national
BBB standards because only 15 percent of
the profits from party ticket sales went to
the sheriffs' group while 85 percent went
to the promoter, Balentine Enterprizes.
But Ron Kontos, executive director of the
sheriffs' group, said his organization will
retain 20 percent of the profits or about
$3,000, with about $12,000 going to Bal
entine. How much Balentine spent for the
children's party - and how much it
receives as profit - only can be estimated.
The party was Dec. 1 1 in the Gateway
Auditorium. It included a two-man musical
act, an emcee who served as the magician, a
ventriloquist, Santa Claus, refreshments
and gifts.
At $5 a ticket, ticket buyers could
bring their own children or sponsor
children from places like the Cedar's Home
for Children and Lancaster Office of Men
tal Retardation. According to one
reporter's count, about 300 children
attended the party. According to Jack
Balentine, who operates the solicitation
group, about 500 children were there.
Balentine based his estimate on the
number of gifts given. He said his workers
initially brought 400 gifts to the
auditorium, distributed those and then had
to bring in an additional 100 or so gifts.
Among the costs of the party were:
- the gifts. Items such as Betty Crocker
juice blenders, Dukes of Hazzard models, .
Willy Wonka Chocolate Factories and
Fisher Price Rock-a-Stacks were among
the gifts given to each child. They cost
between $10 and $12 at retail prices
and between $4 and $5 wholesale,
according to a Balentine solicitor
questioned by a reporter.
But a check with several toy stores
indicated that the solicitor's toy prices
were inflated. Store managers estimated
the wholesale prices of the toys at $1
less and the retail prices at between $4
and $6 less than what the solicitor said.
year the increase might be 5 or 6 percent."
"I hope this year's low rate of increase
will attract more students (to live in a
residence hall) than a higher increase
would," he added.
The second solution would be to close
a floor to long-term residents, creating a
"mini-hotel" during holidays for visiting
professors and foreign students, athletes,
students finishing incompletes and student
teachers.
"If low occupancy continues, we'll
open up a floor as a mini-hotel next fall.
It's not confirmed, but it's one idea that
we're looking at." Zatechka said.
To predict the rate increase, Zatechka
and Partridge considered expected income
(from vending machines, refrigerators, etc.),
the expected number of students living
in the halls, and expected expenses for the
upcoming year. Putting the study together
takes up to three months, and Zatechka
said there is a "pretty good level of student
involvement (in the process)."
Such involvement includes RHA's rate
study committee meeting with housing
officials to information and opinions RHA
has gathered from students living in the
residence halls, Petrie said.
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Staff photo by Dave Bentz
Saud Zafar, left, a mechanical engineering student, matches the day's headlines go by on
the electronic news board, which was installed near the Nebraska Unions TV lounge
Wednesday.
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By Ward VV. Triplett III
News of the world, the nation and the
Nebraska Union now flickers in the union
main lounge, thanks to a new electronic
newsmessage board.
The machine is provided by the Elec
tronic News Network of Dallas, Texas,
with 600 characters per day of union
announcements added to the day's news.
The machine, installed in late December,
began displaying the news in bright red
letters Wednesday.
Steve Hardy, a Union Board member,
said the sign has not been purchased, yet
is here on a trial basis.
"We have it for a 90-day trial period,"
Hardy said. "If we decide we don't like
it, we can have it removed within that
period. After that, we'll have it on a 20
month contract."
Hardy began pushing the board idea
at Union Board meetings last semester.
The board approved the sign's installa
tion on a trial basis despite concern that
the ever-moving messages would be dis
tracting. Hardy said the ENN sign runs its news
in seven-to-eight-minute cycles. ENN
makes its profits from advertising and the
only cost to the Nebraska Union is a $6
to $10 electric bill.
"I think this is a real good way to serve
the student," he said. "It will give people
a very general, basic idea of what's going
on in the world, and a better idea of what's
going on around campus that they might
be able to take advantage of."
Union Director Daryl Swanson said he
has heard both positive and negative com
ments about the sign.
"Generally, I'm pleased with it," he
said.
Of the 600 characters per day that the
union provides, (via letter or phone to
Dallas, which programs the day's news at
4 a.m. Nebraska time), Laura Lynn of the
Campus Activities and Programs office
has been placed in charge of what runs,
Swanson said. A policy of who can con
tribute messages has not been determined.
'T would prefer that we offer it to
student organizations," Swanson said.
"We may want to give priority to events
taking place within the union. But since
that criteria has not been established, 1
assume it is open for suggestions."