f.'ondr, February 20, lf
Aspects of adding performing
arts center need closer look
Plans to build a new performing arts
center around the exLtir.g Temple
Building should be dchyed long enough
for the faculty, students and adminis
tration to evaluate its imparl on the
university budget
Officials Saturday announced a gift
of $10 million the largest in NU his
tory to help build the center in a
square block bounded by R, Q, 12th.
and 12th streets. The donation was
made by the Lied Foundation Trust of
Las Vegas, Nev., which was established
by, lormer, Omaha car dealer, Ernst ,
Lied " "
That donation must be matched by
local funds, however, before the pro
ject can proceed. The NU Board of
Regents gave the administration autho
rity to seek $7 million from the Legisla
ture and the NU Foundation plans to
raise the remaining $3 million in pri
vate donations.
Make no mistake about it, the Lied
Performing Arts Center, as it would be
called, would be a big asset to the uni
versity, the city and the state. But the
speed at which officials are trying to
push the project through is appalling.
When the Board of Regents met Sat
urday, only Regent Robert Simmons of
Scottsbiuff questioned the necessity of
the center. The state is allowing itself
to be dictated toiie said, by accepting a
gift that must be matched locally. No
one else seems to care where the state
is going to come up with its $7 million
share or what projects may be put on
hold to meet that amount.
More important, however, is the ques
tion of where funds will come from to
operate the center once it i3 construc
ted. It likely would create some revenue
of its own but certainty not enough to
meet expenses. The rest apparently
will have to come from the university's
general budget, a budget which already
is stretched about as thin as it will go.
Chancellor Martin Massengale called
the Lied Center project a dream that
"has moved one step closer to reality."
But at a university where faculty salar
ies are among the lowest in the nation
and where the administration is con
ducting a reallocation just to keep the
institution operating at a respectable
level, one hardly dares to dream of
such things as a major performing arts
center.
The university may find the funding
to operate the center, but it should not
be so hasty in its decision to begin con
struction. The students of UNL have
dreams, too dreams of decent salar
ies for all employees and of sufficient
sections of each course. These should
be met before UNL makes the com
mitment to operate another building.
Unsigned editorials represent the
official policy of the spring 1984 Daily
Nebraskan. They are written by this
semester's editor irichuf, Larry Sparks.
Other staff members ivill write edi
torials throughout the semester. They
will carry the author's name after the
final sentence.
Goodman
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"Yes, this is Secretary Weinberger. What can I do
for you?"
0h, boy, am I glad to finally get through to you,
Hi. Secretary. My name's Al Hackerman and I'm
calling from this phone booth in Beirut."
"And how are things in Beirut, Mr. Hackerman?"
. Hopps
"Not so hot, Mr. Secretary. See, me and my wife,
Margie we're frcm Secaucus, NX we were on
this 16-day Fun 'n Sun Tour of the Middle East and
Margie says, 'Let's opt for the Beirut stopover.'
What's that, Margie? Well, who cares whose fault it
was?"
"I'm sure you made a wise choice, Mr. Hackerman.
Beirut is lovely this time of year."
"Yeah. It's a little noisy at night, though. You see,
there's this battleship outside our window. It makes
Margie nervous."
"You just tell Mrs. Hackerman there's no cause for
alarm. If there's one thing your government stands
for, it's protecting American citizens in foreign
climes."
"Sure. And we're grateful But when Margie sees
this battleship firing one-ton shells right over our
heads . . ."
"Don't forget, Mr. Hackerman, the president him
self sent 1,600 Marines to Beirut to protect Ameri
cans like you. And he's just as sorry as you are that it
didnt work out."
"That was a shame. Anyway, now that the Marines
are gone, we'd kind of like to come home."
"If you'll go over to our embassy and ask some
one ..."
"They all left yesterday. In fact, Mr. Secretary, the
wife and me are the last two Americans left in
Beirut."
"Well, weVe sent the whole Sixth Fleet out there to
protect you. What more can you wish?"
"We wish you wouldn't go to all that trouble. Mr
Secretary."
"Nonsense. It's our duty to defend at all costs Mr
Hackerman, your inalienable right to be wherever
you want to be."
"Yes, sir. We want to be home. It's not that we don't
appreciate aU you're doing for us, but next Thurs
day's my paddle tennis play-offs. And Margie's
worried the kid next door is forgetting to do the
watering and her coreopsis bed has had it "
"Her only regret, Mr. Hackerman, should be that
she has but one coreopsis ted to give for her
country. Look, I'm going to be frank with you: You
cant leave now."
"We cantr
"Don't you see? When the president pulled the
Marines out, he stepped up the bomting and shelling
of Moslem rebels In order to protect American lives
in Beirut. If you and Mrs. Hackerman pack up and
leave, he's going to look pretty darned foolish with
no American lives to protect, isnt her
"Gosh, I hadn't thought of that. What's that,
Margie? Oh. Margie says thanks very much for all the
trouble, but we're really not worth fighting a war
over."
"You're not instruments of war, Mr. Hackerman;
you're instruments of peace. The president's entire
Mideast peace plan now hinges on bombing and
shelling the Moslem rebels into submission. And he
can't do it without you."
"Well, when you look at it that way . . ."
"Then you and Mrs. Hackerman will hang in there,
doing your patriotic duty to help the 'president
achieve a lasting peace in that strife-torn corner of
the world?"
"Just a minute, Mr. Secretary. What do you think,
Margie? Oh. Margie says okay. But you got to get us a
room not facing the ocean."
e1l3-4, ChronlcSo Publishing Co.
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