T." Vs. n "TJ
Friday, May 3, 1985
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 84 No. 154
Weather: Sunny, windy and warm today with a
high of 84 (29C). Warm tonight with a low of 55
(3C). Mostly sunny and hot this weekend with
highs in the upper 80s (31C).
Bob BrubacherDally Nebraskan
Ceresco's baseball
celebrity...Page 12
Nebraska profiles
indepth...The Sower
Nebraska investment policies protest apartheid
By Chris Burbach
Editorial Page Editor
While hundreds of universities across the Uni
ted States noisily debate proposals of divest
ment of their holdings in white-ruled South
Africa, NU quietly continues pursuing a similar
policy which the Nebraska unicameral made law
almost a year ago.
That law and the current demonstrations
are aimed at protesting the South African
minority government's official policy of racial
segregation, apartheid.
The law gives the Nebraska State Investment
Officer until Jan. 1, 1987, to divest all state
holdings in financial institutions and corpora
tions which are not making progress toward a
number of reforms specified by law. It also
forbids new investments of state funds in such
interests.
While there is some question whether the law
is binding on NU, since its holdings aren't tech
nically state funds, NU administrators have
formed a similar policy "subsequently, and as a
result of the state law," said Bill Hemann, NU
assistant vice president for administration.
"I think we're taking a positive kind of stance
on this issue," Hemann said.
That means researching corporations in which
NU has holdings to determine their compliance
with the specified reforms, then divesting inter
ests when the corporations do not satisfy the law
and when it is economically advantageous for
the university to do so, said Alan Seagren, vice
. president for administration at NU. University
policy also forbids acquiring new interests in
corporations which have South African ties.
The holdings in question total between
$800,000 and $1 million in endowments about
10 percent of NU's total endowment fund,
Seagren said. The university's money manager
Omaha National Bank has divested between 1
percent and 2 percent of those holdings, he said.
Seagren declined to reveal the names of the
Tony SchappaughDaily Nebraskan
companies with South African connections which
NU has invested in, because the research by
Omaha National and the state investment coun
cil into the companies' progress toward reform is
not yet completed, he said.
"It wouldn't be fair to point at a company and
say 'You're bad' when they still have almost two
years to come into compliance with the law,"
Seagren said.
Nor is NU about to divest an interest in a
corporation when it is financially beneficial to
keep it, he said at least while the deadline is
so far away.
In contrast, the state of Nebraska is divesting
at a pace far ahead of the schedule dictated by
the 1987 deadline. The State Investment Council
has divested about 75 percent of the $40 million
it held in corporations which have South African
ties, said state investment officer Don Mathes.
Those corporations are varied, Mathes said.
Many of them are in the health care business
Medtronics and Bristol Meyers, among others.
Sen. Ernest Chambers of Omaha, who spon
sored the divestment bill, declined comment on
Mathes' compliance with the law. Chambers said
he would judge that after the deadline.
While the issue of South African apartheid is
just now heating up nationally, it has been on
Chamber's agenda for a long time, he said. His
interest in the plight of non-white South Afri
cans first resulted in legislative action when the
Legislature passed a resolution in 1980 he co
sponsored condemning apartheid and declaring
that banks and institutions with South African
holdings should be removed from the approved
list for investment by the state of Nebraska.
Continued on Page 2
Co-sponsor opposes funding University Bookstore
Vet program bill advances to open in August
By J onathan Taylor
Staff Reporter
Plans to authorize the NU Board of
Regents to establish a cooperative
veterinary school program moved a
step closer to reality Thursday as the
state Legislature advanced LB204, 28 to
3. But one of the bill's co-sponsors, Sen.
Tom Vickers said he may not support
his own bill if the Legislature votes to
approve funding before the NU Board of
Regents completes planning and agree
ments for the program. LB204 would
allow the regents to form a cooperative
regional veterinary school program with
a college of veterinary medicine in
another state.
If passed, the appropriations bill
would provide about $18 million over a
six year period ending June 30, 1991.
Vickers said he is opposed to the initial
$200,000 that would be appropriated by
the state to complete "planning and
discussion" for the program.
"I will not spend another thin dime
until the spending is done on some
thing constructive," Vickers said.
Vickers' attempted amendment to kill
the appropriations bill was rejected 23
to 19.
Vickers said LB204 only authorizes
the NU Board of Regents to "enter into
agreements" with other local veteri
nary schools to form a regional program.
"You don't need to spend money to
enter into agreements," he said.
The Legislature shouldn't appropriate
the $200,000 until it is known exactly
what the money is being spent for,
Vickers said.
Once plans are finished, Vickers
said, then the Legislature can approp
riate the money.
More than $500,000 has been spent
planning the veterinary program already,
Vickers said, and that money "would
have been useful to the university right
now." "We should have just burned the
money, at least then we might have
seen smoke," he said.
Home ec majors find success
By Tammy Kaup
Staff Reporter
Contrary to popular belief, home
economics is not just cooking and sew
ing and potential employers know
that, according to the dean of UNL's
College of Home Economics.
"I think our students are getting
excellent jobs," Hazel Anthony said.
And not just in cooking and sewing.
Home Economics graduates are active
in business, public relations and mer
chandising, to name a few, she said.
Graduating senior Denise Garey said
her consumer affairs degree has given
her training in management, sales and
public relations promotion. This train
ing landed her a job with Pizza Hut
restaurants. Although her classes pro
vided a general background, they did
not force her to specialize so much that
she could not work at a variety of jobs,
she said.
Cathy Westervelt, a junior interior
design major, said she wants to own a
business doing design for homes.
Westervelt said she enjoys studying
home economics because there is less
"textbook learning" and more practi
cal application.
Kim Dowd, also a junior in interior
design, said she plans to work with the
renovation of old buildings and down
trodden areas of towns. Always pos
sessing an "inkling for the arts," study
in home economics allows her to "use
creativity in a way that will make me
happy and others too," she said.
Consumer affairs junior Susan
Wampler wants to work in consumer
management relations or for a consumer
oriented agency, such as the Better
Business Bureau. She said home eco
nomics is a profession with lifelong
relevance that affects everyone since
home economics is based on the family.
"No matter how much society changes,
it helps us meet those changes," she
said.
Some students majoring in home
economics have opted for a more tradi
tional use of their major teaching.
Marybeth Prusa, a junior in home
economics education, said she would
like to teach, but "because I have a
home economics degree, that's not all I
can do," she said.
She said she thinks she has a strong
base in nutrition, human development
and design, as well as education.
Sharon Bredemeier also wants to
teach. She is a junior in human devel
opment, elementary education and
special education.
She said she wants to teach primary
students in a public school, but after
about 10 years teaching, would like to
own her own day-care center.
Continued on Page 6
By Ward W. Triplett III
and
Kema Soderberg
Staff Reporters
If all goes as planned, the much
debated, much-needed and presently
sawdust-filled University Bookstore will
open for business in the Nebraska
Union by August.
The state Legislature last week
approved $5 million for university ren
ovation projects. That includes struc
tures at UNO.
Frank Kuhn, director of operations
for the Nebraska unions, said the book
store should open as scheduled in mid
August. Construction is scheduled to
finish in mid-July to give bookstore
officials a month to move supplies.
"The target date is August 15," Kuhn
said. "But I think it's all right to
assume anytime you have a construc
tion project with a deadline it will
come down to the wire. I know that
from past experience."
The $1.3 million bookstore renova
tion has displaced a part of the Harvest
Room in the Nebraska Union as well.
While no permanent changes are due
there, a part of the union's largest food
service is closed as workers work under
neath it on the bookstore. Kuhn said
about 40 percent of the Harvest Room
is out of commission now, and may
remain that way to mid-July. But, the
Harvest Room may end up a nicer place
because of it, Kuhn said.
"It may give us an opportunity to
carpet the area and soften it up some,"
Kuhn said. .
Other union renovation projects
scheduled to be ready by fall include a
new freight elevator and a computer
room in the main lounge.
Kuhn said the union would have had
to replace its current freight elevator
regardless of the bookstore renovation.
The bookstore will have its own eleva
tor, and that will take the pressure off
the union's elevator.
The new elevator will be hydraulic
with a larger car to allow risers and
large stage additions to be moved in it.
The computer room also is a likeli
hood, Kuhn said. There has been a
hold-up as to where and how computer
lines would run, but plans are to have
the facility working by fall, he said.
The Nebraska Union Board approved
$12,000 for the project last year. The
facility originally was intended for the
first floor women's lounge, but was
moved to the southwest corner of the
main lounge.
When the bookstore is finished, the
small television now in the southwest
corner of the main lounge will move
back to the room currently holding
video and pinball games. The games
will be moved to the room vacated by
the Upper-Level University Bookstore
in the union basement. The current
freshman bookstore area will remain a
part of the University Bookstore opera
tion. Other renovation projects are sche
duled for this summer as well.
Jerry Delhay, university maintenance
manager, said the wall between the
second floor of the Administration
Building and the first floor of the
Teachers College will be knocked out
to give handicapped people access
between the buildings. Eventually,
the wall between the Teachers College
basement and Administration Building
first floor will be removed for the same
purpose, he said.
Two rooms in Richards Hall also will
be remodeled, he said. Display walls,
lighting and minimal decoration will
be added to the showroom. A classroom
will also receive a facelift.
Continued on Page 7
