Weather: Friday partly cloudy
with highs of mid-30s to 40. NE
winds 5 to 15 mph. Friday night
low of 15 to 20. Saturday mostly
sunny with highs around 40.
Husker swim teams
plash into action tonight
Sports, Page 7
Hot-lipped band
to kiss Lincoln
Arts & Entertainment, Page 9
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December 12, 1986
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol.86 No. 81
-I3
BIU regents to discniss
proposed! irec
From Staff Reports and News Wires
The NU Board of Regents on Saturday will
informally discuss a proposal to build a $16
million to $17 million recreation center and an
indoor practice field and consider the proposed
$6.1 million renovation and construction project
for the UNL College of Business Administration.
Although the recreation center is not on the
regents' Saturday agenda, Regent Donald Ricke
of Lincoln has said it may be discussed.
If the proposal were to come up Saturday,
Fricke said, it would be for preliminary planning
or possibly to choose an architect to develop
preliminary plans.
Regent Robert Koefoot of Grand Island, how
ever, has said the state's economic condition
makes him concerned about the timing of a
combined recreation center and indoor field
proposed this week.
James Griesen, vice chancellor for student
affairs, presented the proposal for the new
recreation center Wednesday night. He said $10
million would be raised for the project from
surcharges on sales of athletic tickets to non
students, $3 million from private donations and
$3 million from a surplus on student fees.
Griesen said that currently there is some
extra money from student fees in the bond
reserve fund. Money would be borrowed from
those reserves and then paid back by the ticket
surcharge, he said.
CBA's proposal has not yet been financed by
the Legislature. It would cost about $6.1 million
to renovate or build new offices and classrooms,
provide a link with Love Library and make the
structure accessible to Love Library.
The present building was built in 1920 and
field
renovated in 1967. Since then, business-college
enrollment has increased by 70 percent and it is
now the second-largest college at UNL, said
Dean Gary Schwendiman.
Classroom use is the greatest of any building
on campus, Schwendiman said. The college has
had to restrict enrollment because of a lack of
space and faculty members, he said.
The project is seventh on NU's construction
priority list and discussion of the university's
$84 million six-year capital construction pro
gram proposal for all campuses also will be dis
cussed by the regents on Saturday.
The contract could lead to new jobs in Lin
coln, said UNL Engineering Dean Stan Liberty.
The company will work with faculty in the
mechanical engineering department to develop
a computer simulation for testing a new diesel
engine for General Motors Corp.
UNL will receive less than $40,000 for the first
phase of the study, which will last three or four
months, Liberty said.
The company is involved only in research and
design, not manufacturing, "but it could develop
into a manufacturing entity and would want to
explore the possibility of locating aplant here," -Liberty
said.
Among other items on the agenda for regents'
meeting Saturday:
The renovation of a portion of University
Hospital.
UNO's five-year plan.
Cooperative agribusiness programs between
the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resour
ces and the College of Business Administration
at UNL.
Program reviews for all campuses, as required
by the Legislature and the Nebraska Postsecon
dary Coordinating Commission.
800 sign to stop cuts
By Jen Deselms
Senior Reporter
A student-organized petition to prevent cuts
in higher education won't prevent a $1.6 million
cut proposed to the university in the special
session but will be a lobbying tool in the spring,
a petition organizer said.
Two members of the UNL Young Democrats,
Scot Caldwell, state vice president, and Jeff
Kirkpatrick, national committeeman, organized
group members and began the petition drive.
Caldwell said that after three days of collect
ing signatures, 800 people had signed the
petition.
"We are concerned about the growing attitude
that Nebraska can no longer afford quality edu
cation," the petition states. "The question is not
how much education we can afford, but whether
we can afford not to provide good education. An
educational system of underpaid teachers, over-
See PETITION on 6
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Linda StoryDaily Nebraskan
'Heeling 1 advice
Construction worker Bill Jochem of Lincoln heeds advice as he scraped the
melting snow and mud off his boots at the construction site of the new Animal
Science Building on East Campus. The building is expected to be finished
early next fall.
Fewer
ag stadteiats pauft of national d
By Kirk Zebolsky
Staff Reporter
The enrollment drop in UNL's College
of Agriculture is part of a national
trend that reflects a lack of knowledge
about the many opportunities in the
field, said Dean Ted Hartung.
"With all the negative headlines
. . .," Hartung said, "students are ask
ing, 'Is there really any place for me in
this field?"
"And they really aren't seeing the
broader perspective of job opportun
ities." Agriculture enrollment has decreased
30 percent from its peak of 1,889 in the
1980-81 school year, Hartung said. While
job opportunities in agriculture pro
duction have decreased in Nebraska,
they have increased in other areas in
the field, lie said. The bulk of those
opportunities is in marketing, mer
chandising, sales and management .
Many students don't know that the
College of Agriculture offers 45 pro
grams that train students for positions
ranging from production to end pro
duct, he added.
"I think students are beginning to
get the message," Hartung said, "but
we hope they become more aware of the
variety."
The college offers 13 majors, with
possible options in production, science
and business. The number of students
with production options, especially in
the agronomy and animal science
departments has declined, accounting
in part for the overall drop in enrol
lment, Hartung said. There have been
increases in two departments, food
science and technology and agricultu
ral economics, he said, and numbers in
the other departments have remained
"fairly steady."
However, the UNL decline is "not as
great as the national decline," Hartung
said, "we've been able to come through
with perhaps a little stronger situation
and we hope . . .that the decline will
slacken."
There is a strong demand for Ne
braska, which ranks fifth or sixth in
total agricultural farm income, "to stay
in a competitive position with that
leadership role," he said.
"We have a responsibility and an
opportunity to keep our program strong
in relation to our national prominence."
In addition to the drop in the number
of production jobs in Nebraska, Har
tung said, growth of business and
agribusiness activity has slowed, and
firms are more conservative in hiring.
Cliff McClain, assistant instructor in
the department of agricultural educa
tion and adviser of the Future Farmers
of American Alumni at UNL, agreed
with Hartung that Nebraska' agribusi
ness growth is slow.
"We need more agriculture industry
in Nebraska," McClain said. ". . .in ag
ed we're trying to shift a lot of our
teaching and teachers into agribusi
ness so that high-school students learn
more than production. We could do a
service for the industry itself." McClain
said high-school students don't know
enough about working in agribusiness.
To have a good future in agriculture, he
said, students must pick a specialty
and learn it well.
"They're going to have to be more
selective," he said. "You can't just get a
general ag degree and say, 'I'm ready. "
McClain said most of the FFA alumni
he advises know what they want and
where they want to go.
"They know what's waiting for them
when they get done (with college)," he
said.
ecline
There are fewer high-school members
of FFA in Nebraska, McClain said.
Numbering about 6,000, the figure has
decreased by about 300 last year, he
said. McClain and the FFA alumni are
trying to inform high-school students of
the opportunities for those who spe
cialize in areas other than production.
"I'm not going to sell them a bill of
goods and tell them agriculture is
going to turn around and everything is
going to be great," he said. "But the
good agriculturalists will make money
and will do good."
He said there are many opportuni
ties in support organizations and "so
many opportunities that circle the
production end of it."
"I think the next five to 10 years in
agriculture," McClain said, "are going
to be exciting for the person who is a
good agriculturalist, knows his busi
ness, knows his job."