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Freshman end Thomas -
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Sports, page 10
Nebraska artist Tovafe
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Arts and Entertainment, page 12
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October 30, 1985
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 85 No. 47
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TAG takes a deadly twist
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Paul VonderlageDaily Nebraskan
Jeff Kontos, assassin game coordinator, poses with his gun,
an A-Team dart gun.
ByJenDeselms
Staff Reporter
He looks around the corner and
notices his victim waiting for the eleva
tor. He stalks slowly and places the gun
inches from the victim's back. A dart
explodes from the gun. It's a kill.
This has been a common scene
around Cather Hall and other UNL res
idence halls since Friday, when stu
dent Jeff Kontos organized "The Assas
sination Game," or TAG.
, TAG involves students and dart guns.
Each player is assigned to "assassi
nate" another player. If a player kills
before being killed, he is assigned
another player to kill. This continues
until two players remain. The remain
ing two players are pitted against each
other in a battle to the death.
Kontos became interested in TAG
during high school. He and some of his
friends on Cather Hall's 11th floor
began playing TAG this year and opened
the game up to others.
Kontos said he had to design game
rules that residence hall directors
would approve. He said he tried to find
safe, enjoyable rules.
TAG rules include:
O No shooting above the first floor
of residence halls or in classrooms;
Playing hours are from noon to 2
a.m.;
O Kills must be reported to Kontos
in 24 hours;
Game boundaries are City
Campus;
Only dart guns are allowed
because water pistols promote rowdi
ness, Kontos said;
O All weapons must be inspected;
A witness must be present for
each kill;
Players only can kill the person
assigned to them or the person trying
to kill them; '
A player only can kill their
assassin in self-defense.
The game started at noon Friday
:with 260 players and the first assassi
nation occurred four minutes later.
Knox uses a computer program to
match assassins and victims. Although
it gives him a slight advantage, the
computer allows him to play, too.
Osborne says reductions
could hinder recruiting
By Mike Reilley
Senior Reporter
University budget cuts proposed by
Gov. Bob Kerrey and the Legislature
could cause problems throughout the
state as well as in UNL's academic and
athletic departments, Nebraska foot
ball coach Tom Osborne said Tuesday.
Speaking at his weekly press confer
ence in the South Stadium lounge,
Osborne said that reducing faculty and
cutting programs would hinder athletic
recruiting.
"Fifty to 60 percent of the players
you talk to anymore in recruiting, the
academic part of it is either a very
important part or the primary factor in
making their decision," he said.
For example, Osborne paid Nebraska
lost running back Spencer Tillman to
the University of Oklahoma three years
ago because Tillman wanted to major
in petroleum engineering. Oklahoma
offers a degree in that field. UNL
doesn't.
"I'm not expecting us to add petro
leum engineering," Osborne said, "but
on the other hand, if we cut majors it's
going to restrict the number of people
we can recruit."
Osborne also said cutting existing
programs, particularly agriculture re
search, endangers the future of the
state.
"I think agriculture is in a state of
flux and anything that takes away from
agricultural research and the ability to
change patterns of agriculture is going
to hurt our state," he said. "A lot of that
has to do with the university."
Osborne said Nebraska needs more
diversification within the state and
diversification from technology and
educated people. Both would be scarce
if the university fails to adequately
fund its programs, he said.
"I think to cut academics at the
university would be counter
productive," Osborne said. "I may have
vested interests and 1 may be a poor
spokesman, but it's kind of like a
farmer saying he'll make money by not
planting seeds this year.
"If we begin to ignore agricultural
research, technology and the educa
tion of our people and keep cutting
these areas, we may find we're digging
ourselves into a deeper hole."
Osborne said he wanted to discuss
the budget cuts because he thinks
many people in the state aren't aware
how critical the situation is.
Cutting salaries and reducing the
faculty's size makes the university less
competitive with other schools, Os
borne said. Faculty morale and the
situation at UNL is the toughest it has
been since he came here 23 years ago,
he said.
"Having a faculty that's competitive
is like having good football teams," he
said. "Most of the faculty is here
because they want to be. They could
demand, and get better salaries in
other places.
Hoch opposes cut
of NU faculty pay
By Suzanne Teten
Senior Editor
NU Regent Nancy Hoch said Tuesday
that she opposes faculty salary cuts.
Hoch said the resolution the NU
Board of Regents passed Friday asking
the Legislature for emergency budget
cutting powers had nothing to do with
cutting faculty salaries.
"One of my primary efforts has been
to improve faculty salaries, which are
at an unacceptable low," Hoch said.
She said she voted for the resolution
on the condition that faculty salaries
not be included in budget reductions.
Hoch said the regents did not intend
the resolution "to indicate that we
would cut faculty salaries."
"We've been working to bring ou -selves
to the mean (among peer inst;
tutions), and we're not there yet," she
said.
Faculty quality directly affects the
quality of education available at the
university, Hoch said. Most of regents
do not support cutting faculty salaries,
she said.
Please see HOCH on 7
Cuts could cause library to close early at night
NU President Ronald Roskens said
last Tuesday that NU might have to cut
$150,000 from the UNL library system's
budget if the legislature approves a
The Cutting Edge
proposed 3 percent cut in state support
for the NU system. The library's current
budget is about $4.7 million.
To counter proposed budget cuts, Hendrickson said it is too early to
the UNL library might reduce its hours say specifically how the different areas
and freeze hiring of personnel, said of the library would be affected by cuts.
Kent Hendrickson, dean of libraries. He said hiring freezes and shorter
By Linda Hartmann
Staff Reporter
This is the first article of a
five-part series that tries to
examine how proposed budget
cuts would affect some of UNL's
programs. The Legislature has
proposed a 3 percent, or $5 mil
lion, cut in state support for the
university.
hours are speculations at this point,
and nothing can be decided until exact
figures are set.
Should cuts be made, the library
would close, earlier, Hendrickson said.
He also said some jobs now open prob
ably won't be filled. In addition, some
equipment purchases might be post
poned, he said.
Laying off staff members would be
the last resort, Hendrickson said. It
would be difficult to cut from the
library's operations budget, and he
said he wants to leave the material
budget intact.
"The staff works hard. It's the facili
ties and materials they have to work
with that aren't all that good," he said.
Hendrickson said plans to move
periodicals in Love Library probably
won't be affected because funds for the
move would come from another source
and costs would be minimal.
A study by the Association of
Research Libraries for the 1983-84 aca
demic year ranked UNL libraries last
among 11 peer institutions. Budget
cuts would exacberate the problem,
said James Ford, associate profes
sor of English and chairman of the UNL
Faculty Senate's University Libraries
Committee.
Ford and Hendrickson said UNL
administrators consider bringing the
quality of UNL's libraries up to the
mid-point of peer institutions a priority.
The fact that money must be taken
from the library shows how desperate
the university is, Ford said.
Hendrickson said it is important
that students, faculty members and
decision-makers at state and university
levels become aware of possible rami
fications of cuts in the library's budget.
ASUN plans to send a student repre
sentative to the UNL Faculty Senate's
University Libraries Committee to show
student support, he said.
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