Tuesday, June 25, 1985
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 84 No. 161.
Weather: Partly cloudy and continued hot and humid
today with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms.
Expect a high of 93 (34C). Tonight will remain humid
with a low of 67 (19C). Partly cloudy and cooler on
Wednesday and Thursday with highs in the 80s (30C).
Barb BrandaThe Nebraokan
Responsibility and fun
mii: at the pool. ..Page 6
3
Columnist sides with
female athletes. ..Page 7
' '-'V..
Supporters still
hope for vet school
Mark DavisThe Nebraskan
As traffic passes on Highway 2, a large funnel cloud threatens to touch down near 40th Street.
No tornadoes touched down in Lincoln, hut high winds, hail reportedly grapefruit size and
flash flooding caused damage in and around the city.
By Michael Hooper
StaflT Reporter
When LB204 was passed by the state
legislature and signed by Gov. Bob Ker
rey earlier this month the NU Board of
Regents were authorized to negotiate
with other states to establish a cooper
ative veterinary school at UNL.
A UNL veterinary college task force
visited five states to inspect their vete
rinary colleges. Ronald Roskens, NU
president, and four NU regents made
follow-up visits to Mississippi State
University and Kansas State University.
A cooperative veterinary school with
one school, instead of the present con
tractual five, will make it easier for the
vet student when applying, according
to UNL veterinary school coordinator,
Gene White.
"We have a contract basis with five
different university schools, but they
have five different pre-vet require
ments," Gene White said. This makes it
difficult for a student to prepare for
veterinary college because he or she
must apply to more than one institu
tion, he said.
"Nebraska has no say in four of those
schools' (application requirements),"
White said.
There is a little more than $2 million
in Nebraska funds spent each year to
keep 157 veterinary students enrolled
at the other universities, White said.
"We're proposing to have the stu
dents do their clinical training within
the state," White said. "The students
would get their basics at another col
lege," he said.
"The proposed arrangement would
keep the $2 million in the state," he
said, supporting the new veterinary
clinic. Keeping the money in the state
would benefit Nebraska economically,
he said.
"It's really like bringing a new
industry into the state with a 2 million
dollar pay-off," White said.
The regents are considering four vet
clinic options, but White said he wasn't
sure that the regents would be discuss
ing them at their next meeting.
Continued on Page 3
Construction continues at Health Center
By Colleen Kenney
Staff Reporter
The University Health Center's new addition
is about three-fourths completed and should be
finished by the beginning of the fall semester, a
UHC official said Friday.
But this summer, despite extensive construc
tion work and some inconveniences, the center
is operating close to normal, said Gary Wilkin
son, director of business services at UHC.
"We've operated at almost our full service for
a long time," Wilkinson said. The quality of
patient care is not affected by the construction
work, he said.
"But we're all misplaced," Wilkinson said.
While the $30.5 million addition will be
adding no new features to the UHC services, the
extra 20,387 square feet will give UHC physicians
and employees more room to work, Wilkinson
said.
The new east wing will hold five new exam
rooms, bringing the total to 25 exam rooms.
However, the number of beds will decrease
from 14 to six because of advances in medical
technology and "philosophical changes," Wil
kinson said.
"If you can send them home, send them
home," he said.
In many cases, a patient's condition can be
treated at home or in the dormitories as well as
at the center, and that costs less money, he said.
Last year an average of three to five beds were
used at the same time, he said. If more beds are
needed, the patients will be taken to Lincoln
General Hospital, he said.
The six physicians and the physician's assist
ant will have two and one-half times more office
space, he said.
The Health Center was designed to serve a
maximum of 15,000 students when it was, con
structed in 1958, Wilkinson said. The University
of Nebraska-Lincoln now has more than 24,000
students.
' The new addition is designed to hold a third
story if more space is needed in the future.
This summer, over-night patients are served
heated frozen fDod because the former dietary
kitchen is a pathway for cables and other con
struction equipment, Wilkinson said.
"The dietary services are really limited," he
said.
Patients will have to endure the construction
noises, he said. Sometimes physicians "couldn't
hear heartbeats" while examining patients near
the drilling, Wilkinson said.
Dust and lack of air-conditioning in the old
part of the building are other inconveniences, he
said.
"We have no air movement whatsoever," Wil
kinson said.
But center's personnel and patients have
"maintained a good sense of humor," he said.
Students visiting the center must ring a
buzzer at the south side of the new addition to
enter.
The Health Center is open Monday through
Friday this summer, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A
physician is on call from 4:30 p.m. until 1 1 p.m.
weekdays and all weekend.
There is a $10 after-hours charge.
Treatment sought
Nitrates pollutin
g water
By Kip Fry
Staff Reporter
Biological de-nitrification and chemical pre
cipitation may "sound Greek" to most people,
but according to the chairman of the UNL Civil
Engineering Department, these processes may
save Nebraska drinking water from high levels of
dangerous nitrates.
"Nitrates have long been recognized as the
state's primary water problem," said Dr. Bill
Kelly.
The problem arises when fertilizers contain
ing the chemical are washed into streams and
rivers, Kelly said. This skyrockets the level far
above the recommended ten parts per million.
Health risks are the major concern of re
searchers. Blue baby syndrome is known to be
caused by nitrates. Infants are also extremely
susceptible to the effects.
State regulatory people will make communi
ties with high nitrate levels get a new water
supply," Kelly said, "such as drilling a new
well."
But treatment so far has not been successful,
he said.
A new process designed to eliminate the
nitrates could save money for Nebraska and its
towns," Kelly said. "Some communities just
don't have that kind of money."
Biological de-nitrification is just one of the
numerous projects in the experimental stage at
UNL. The process, said Dr. Mohamed Dahab,
assistant professor of civil engineering, removes
the chemical with a biological culture.
"The nitrates are then transformed to nitro
gen gas, and the nitrogen bubbles to the top,"
Dahab said. "Nitrogen makes up 80 percent of
the air we breathe so it is not harmful."
If this proves successful, it will be used for
medium to small-sized communities. But Dahab
adds that it will not be suitable for home use. It
will then be used as a pre-treatment before it
goes through a water treatment facility.
Dahab's project has been funded through the
UNL Water Resource Center. The Center, a
federally-funded project, in turn finances
researchers whose endeavors concern water
problems dealing specifically with Nebraska,
according to Karen Stork, administrative
assistant.
While some researchers have been greatly
aided by such funds, not everyone is able to get
the needed money to get their research off the
ground.
Continued on Page 3
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Mark DavisThe Nebraskan
Dan Halstead trys to come up with a good idea after a Bobcat bulldog er
became stuck in the mud during construction at the University Health Center.
