WcathCn Mostlysunny and warm
today with a high of 45. Winds should
be out of the southwest from 5 to 10
mph, Tonight, increasing clouds with
a low of 22. A chance of showers
Thursday.
Nebraska agriculture
promoted by steak-out
Arts and Entertainment, page 11
Ivy-less Husker women
lose 84-64 to Kansas
Sports, page 8
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January 15, 1986
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 85 No. 80
3
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Mark DavisDaily Nebraskan
Miles Sullivan, manager of the Holiday Express service
station at 2745 O St., takes time out for a smile as busi
ness comes and goes quickly with lowered gas prices.
Surplus, competition
spur gasoline war,
local retailers say
By Kelly Harre
Staff Reporter
The war is on.
Lincoln service stations are
battling over pennies to attract
more customers.
Gasoline prices began to drop
late last week with station owners
setting prices below $1 a gallon
for regular fuel in Lincoln for the
first time in more than a year.
Station owners said the cause
of the initial price decrease has
them baffled. But a few specu
lated that prices fell because of a
crude oil surplus on the suppli
er's end.
Mark Whitehead, a local gas
See GAS WAR on 6
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By Todd von Kampen
Senior Reporter
ASUN President Gerard Keating said
Sunday he has had "nothing but posi
tive response so far" from senators to a
constitutional amendment that would
give NU's three student regents one
combined vote on the university's
governing board.
But several senators said a crowded
agenda and the short 60-day session
probably would prevent the amend
ment, LR306CA, from reaching the floor
of the Legislature. If the amendment
clears committee, 30 senators would
have to approve it on final reading to
place it on the general-election ballot
in November.
The amendment has a chance if it
clears committee within two or three
weeks, said Scottsbluff Sen. William
Nichol, speaker of the Legislature.
"If they wait until the middle of
March, it wouldn't have any chance
unless someone takes it as a priority
bill," he said.
Student regents now may speak at
NU Board of Regent's meetings and
vote on parliamentary matters, but
can't vote on policy questions. The
amendment, sponsored by Neligh Sen.
John DeCamp, would count the vote of
a majority of the student regents as one
vote on policy questions.
Keating said the Legislature has not
considered giving student regents a
vote since 1974, when former Hastings
Sen. Richard Marvel introduced a con
stitutional amendment with the same
goal as DeCamp's plan. Senators killed
Marvel's amendment in favor of one
that made NU's student body presi
dents non-voting regents. Voters nar
rowly approved the amendment that
November.
Keating said that giving student
regents a vote has been one of the more
important goals of his administration.
More than half of NU's peer institutions
have voting student regents, he said.
"We have the same rights and privi
leges as any regent we research
issues, we work with faculty and ad
ministration to develop policies, we
attend meetings," he said. "But we
don't have the ultimate privilege to
vote."
'We have the same
rights and privileges
as any regent.. .but
we don't have the
ultimate privilege to
vote
Keating
At least three senators besides
DeCamp have indicated they may co
sponsor the amendment, Keating said.
Two of them, Lincoln Sen. Don Wesely
and Omaha Sen. Tim Hall, are members
of the Legislature's Constitutional
Revision and Recreation Committee,
which will hear the bill. Ord Sen. Car
son Rogers is the third supporter.
Imperial Sen. Rex Haberman said it
will be a struggle to keep the amend
ment alive because of the enormous
backlog of bills. As of Monday, senators
had introduced 251 new bills and eight
constitutional amendments besides
the 332 bills and one amendment left
over from the 1985 regular session.
Two of the leftover bills were killed
Monday.
Haberman said he would oppose the
amendment because it gives voting
power to a minority constituency. The
student vote "would have to be a
special-interest or biased vote," he
said.
"It's the students that make up the
university system," Keating said. "We
are the system; we should have the
right to vote on something that affects
our future."
Lincoln Sen. David Landis voiced
another problem with the amendment:
It would violate the federal principle of
"one man, one vote." Although each of
the eight voting regents represents
about 200,000 people, the student
regent vote would represent about
40,000 students, he said. NU students
also can vote for regents in their home
districts, he said.
"All citizens should have an equal
share in the governance of political
subdivisions," Landis said. "The voting
student regent would violate that
principle."
Keating said DeCamp has asked
Attorney General Robert Spire for an
opinion on whether the amendment
can be considered under the "one man,
one vote" principle. The Legislature
often uses the attorney general's opin
ions, which do not have the force of law,
in deciding which bills it may consider.
Keating said Monroe Sen. Lee Rupp,
chairman of the Constitutional Revi
sion and Recreation Committee, has
tentatively scheduled a public hearing
on the amendment for late next week.
Praties
fi ovec Bass miflScfi receives irespoim
23 appeal to Vice Chancellor
By Kelly Harre
Staff Reporter
Business students used the power of
numbers when they protested a class
conflict Tuesday at the office of the
vice chancellor for academic affairs.
The third floor of the Administration
Building was filled with 23 students
who decided to appeal their problem to
authorities in mass. It worked.
The conflict over an Economics 212
class started when a computer listing
at dropadd failed to list the course as
only for students in the Teachers
College.
Tuesday, the course professor told
many of the students that they didn't
belong in the class. When 23 of the 30
enrolled students got up to leave, the
students realized that maybe the prob
lem wasn't all their fault.
One student called the business
economics office and talked to Roger F.
Riefler, economics department chair
man. Riefler referred the students to
the office of the vice chancellor for
academic affairs.
Vice Chancellor Robert Furgason
said he would do everything he could to
create a new class section. He made
this promise after many students com
plained about schedule conflicts and
difficulties in meeting prerequisites
for other classes.
Furgason told the group that "the
biggest thing will be whether or not we
can get a qualified instructor."
After consulting Riefler, James
Griesen, an associate to Furgason,
walked into the stufly, crowded hall to
meet with students, who waited for
more than a half-hour for a response.
Griesen told students that he be
lieved the problem w;:s resolved.
"I promised I'd find the money if
he'd (Riefler) find the instructor,"
Griesen said.
Griesen said he and Riefler tena
tively have secured an instructor to
teach the new class. The class should
meet at the same time as originally
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Andrea HoyDally Nebraskan
James Griesen, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, speaks with students Greta
Ritchie, left, and Gina Udell about reopening the Economics 212 class.