Friday, January 16, 1987
Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
diton'a
Nebraikan
Unlvertlty of Nebraska-Lincoln
New jrec
Priority belongs
The Daily Nebraska's lead
story in Monday's paper noted
that $800,000 had been col
lected for the new indoor-practice
field and student-recreation cen
ter as a result of a letter sent to
Nebraska football season-ticket
holders. The letter was even nice
enough to include the student
aspect of the facility. How gen
erous. The letter, signed by Athletic
Director Bob Devaney and foot
ball coach Tom Osborne, read:
"Such a facility should be de
signed and located so that it
could be used by faculty and
students as part of a newly deve
loped campus recreation athletic
complex when not in use by
the football team. "
"Again, the purpose of this
effort is simple we all want to
keep our football team competi
tive with the best in the country.
We must have this facility to
permit us to do this; and we need
the help of Cornhusker fans
everywhere to get this job done."
The letter, unfortunately, prior
itizes the football team over the
students. The facility is to include
basketball, volleyball, handball
and racquetball courts, a martial-
loyle recall
What can other politicians learn?
Avoiding the appearance of
impropriety. This phrase,
as much as any, seems to
sum up what ousted Omaha
Mayor Boyle failed to do he
failed to look enough like a com
petent leader to Omaha voters.
From 50 miles west on 1-80, we
confess that we're still not sure
what the big hoopla was about in
Boyle's case. Certainly, strange
disputes, mainly centered on
conflicts between Boyle, Boyle's
family and the Omaha police
department, seemed to be en
demic to Boyle's administration.
Yet there was no compelling evi
dence that the whole mess was
Boyle's fault, and the recall effort
ostensibly was focused on broad
er issues.
Leadership, or lack thereof,
was really the public emphasis
of the recall campaign. Yet
"leadership" is an intangible.
Again, it's not so obvious from 50
miles to the west that Boyle
exercised less "leadership" or
less competence as a leader
than, say, Lincoln's Mayor Lued
tke (who definitely should not
be recalled).
The entire event is all the
more perplexing given Boyle's
Unsigned editorials represent
official policy of the spring 1987 Daily
Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its mem
bers are JeffKorbelik , editor; James
Rogers, editorial page editor; Lise
Olsen, associate news editor; Mike
Reilley, night news editor and Joan
Rezac, copy desk chief.
The Daily Nebraskan's publishers
Editorial Policy
Jeff Korbelik, Editor, 472-1766
James Rogers, Editorial Page Editor
Lise Olsen, Associate News Editor
Mike Reilley, Night News Editor
Joan Rezac, Copy Desk Chief
center
to the students
arts training area, weight room,
track, swimming pool and an
area for activities like table ten
nis and fencing. Clearly, the cen
ter is to be built for students
first, football team second.
What many students would
rather hear is that the facility
can be used by the football team
when campus recreation doesn't
need it. Of course, that thought
is nothing more than a pipe
dream. The football program is
the sole reason for the facility
being proposed in the first place.
Edward J. Hirsch, president of
the NU Foundation, said that it's
easier to find donors for the new
practice field than many other
projects because the football team
has "defined constituents." About
70,000 of them.
The popularity of Husker
football has drawn the funds. We
wQuld like to remind the donors
that it is a student-recreation
center.
. Several years ago, the Bob
Devaney Sports Center was built
from funds from a cigarette tax.
That facility was supposed to be
for the students, too. Let's not
let the needs of the few out
weigh the needs of the many.
pondered
fairly easy re-election in 1985.
Tuesday, with a much greater
turnout than in the '85 election,
Boyle lost by over 27,000 votes
and twelve percentage points.
It would be so much easier if
we could exult with recall sup
porters and point out clear moral
lessons for other politicians in
volved with abusing power;
"Watch out," we could say, "if
you do thus and such your head
will be on the chopping block."
But what is the lesson other poli
ticians should learn from the
Boyle affair? What is the "thus
and such" that other politicians
should not do to avoid the wrath
of the citizenry?
The motto on the state capitol
is "The salvation of the state is
watchfulness in the citizen." A
very true motto. The only prob
lem we have respects what it was
that the keen-eyed Omaha citi
zen picked out about Boyle that
really merited all the trouble
and expense of the recall.
We're not at all questioning
the right of Omaha citizens to
take the action that they did;
we're just sort of musing out
loud, "How was that again?"
are the regents, who established the
UNL Publications Board to super
vise the daily production of the
paper.
According to policy set by the
regents, responsibility for the edi
torial content of the newspaper lies
solely in the hands of its student
editors.
I IPX
episode mum
WM6QTMIR
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I I J
Ex-IFC members paid bill; council funds were not misused
Sometimes journalists see and hear
things they wish they hadn't. And
sometimes people say or do things
in front of journalists that they wish
they hadn't.
That's what happened when the
Daily Nebraskan editor and the former
Intrafraternity Council president saw
each other one December night at a
downtown bar. Rumors, insults and bad
feelings resulted, and it's time the
whole story was told.
It all started Dec. 3 at a downtown
bar where the two student leaders were
introduced by a mutual friend. Former
IFC president Tom Bowen didn't
recognize DN editor Jeff Korbelik.
Korbelik says Bowen invited him to
have a drink "on IFC." Then Korbelik
said Bowen told him "We (IFC) have a
tab at the bar."
Bowen said he doesn't remember
telling Korbelik to have a drink "on
IFC." But Bowen said he may have
accidentally given Korbelik the wrong
idea about who was paying for the tab
when he invited Korbelik to join in the
IFC's celebration. Fifteen to 20 members
of IFC had gathered at the bar that
night after their last meeting of the
semester, at which Bowen stepped
down as president.
But Bowen said the tab was in his
name not that of the council. And he
said he paid the approximately $65 bill
himself. Later, the three other former
members of the executive council
agreed to split the tab evenly. Bowen
said there was some talk of having the
bar tab come out of the executive dis
cretionary fund but that it was never
agreed upon. Only two 1986 executive
council members (there are four) were
at the bar that night, Bowen and former
vice president Chuck Vitton.
Back in December, Korbelik consi
dered writing an editorial about possi
ble misuse of IFC funds. He considered
having a reporter check out a related
Letter
Cars towed at
The subject of parking violations
during the last Sugar Bowl seems to be
making the rounds in the press, and
the consensus seems to be that the
people who were towed off got what
they deserved. I'm writing this letter to
set the record straight and to warn
travelers who are considering a trip to
New Orleans.
I'll admit up front that my car was
towed during the Sugar Bowl game, so I
have first-hand experience about what
really happened. When I arrived, all
Dome parking was full. There were
open areas suitable for parking cars
under the 1-10 causeway through New
Orleans. The open area that I parked in
11
1
story about IFC and Panhellenic funds
possibly being used for an officers'
farewell dinner, which was later
canceled.
He did neither. Partly, he said,
because he himself is a member of the
Greek system and worried about the
possible results.
Instead, he and Managing Editor
Gene Gentrup wrote an unsigned per
sonal, which appeared in the Dec. 5
Daily Nebraskan. It semed conspicu
ous between a personal written to "Boy
Who Lost His Gloves" and another
wishing "Lisa R." a Happy Birthday. It
read, in part, "TOM B. AND IFC: Never
tell people from the Daily Nebraskan to
have a drink on IFC in a bar."
Lise
Olsen
X
Tom Bowen read it. He and John
Dederman, last semester's IFC treas
urer, came down to the Daily Nebras
kan office to find out who wrote it. But
the receptionist doesn't give out that
kind of information and Korbelik wasn't
in the office at the time.
That Monday, Korbelik tried to call
Dederman, who is a member of Korbel
ik's fraternity. Dederman wasn't in the
office and later Bowen returned the
call.
Korbelik told Bowen that he was
upset that funds of the IFC, which
supported a non-alcoholic social calen
dar and dry rush, would be used to buy
drinks. Bowen said he was disappointed
in Korbelik for writing a personal that
reflected so poorly on the Greek system.
Chuck Allen, president of Delta Tau
Delta fraternity and a member of the
3
1 R I -M T ,i 1
the Sugar Bowl for money
had no signs saying that parking was
prohibited, let alone signs saying that
violators would be towed. Indeed, I
talked to several LSU fans while I
waited for three hours to get my car,
and most said that the police directed
them to park under M0 and then towed
their cars off as soon as the game
started.
Several things about this whole affair
are particularly distasteful. First, there
was the absolute fact that no signs
were posted. Second, when I came
back for my car some cars still were
parked in the lot. These cars belonged
to locals (you can tell from the plate
where the car is from and everyone I
WW
V
9.
IFC's Presidents' Council, was also
upset. Allen said he worried that funds
might be used improperly because of
what he had observed at the bar that
Wednesday. He called presidents of
several other fraternities. Allen said
together they decided to contact
members of the executive council to
ask if authorizing payment for a bar tab
would be ethical.
Allen and others were assured by
executive-council members that the
funds would come out of the execu
tives' own pockets not from the IFC
executive fund.
In a recent interview, Dederman
said that expenses authorized by IFC
members would have to be signed by
both the treasurer and Greek Affairs
Director Jayne Wade Anderson.
"I did not sign any papers to anyone"
or to a bar, Dederman said.
Said Allen, "I feel it's probably the
council's fault for not challenging the
budget. We needed to pay more atten
tion to what was going on.
In last year's IFC budget, executives
were allowed $275 for whatever they
decided to use it for, theoretically
including bar tabs.
Allen says this year's IFC members
should take a hard look at budget
items like "IFC Officer Tuition" and
"IFC Council Execs."
However, Allen also said he is now
satisfied that the bar tab was properly
settled, and he said he still has faith in
the leadership abilities of the former
council. Too often, leaders are critic
ized too much for small mistakes, he
said.
"We elect somebody and then throw
stones at them and pull the rug out
from under them. We do that to our
elected officials a lot.
Olsen is a senior news editorial major
and Daily Nebraskan Associate news
editor.
talked to later was from out of town).
Evidently only cars from out of state
or from Baton Rouge were towed away.
Why? Simple! Locals will contest the
tickets and win the $65 back. People
who live somewhere else cannot afford
to show up in court at some later date
to fight the ticket. By hauling off the
out-of-towners the city is almost assured
of keeping the money.
The city of New Orleans is in finan
cial trouble right now and will stoop to
any level to rake in money.
Capt. Steven J. Myatt, USAF
Biloxi, Miss.
UNL engineering graduate