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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1987)
: P..;:: cloudy and windy with a chanca of ii'-ht snow or flurries by aucmoon. Hi :;hs upper 2Cs. Variable cloudiness and much colder Thursday night with some flurries. Lows around 5 below to 5 abovo. Partly sunny and colder Fri day, Highs teens. j Naws Diast, j Editorial j Diversions. . . ! Calendar Sports :: Classified , . . . P33 2 . Page 4 . Page 5 , P233 9 Paga 10 Page 11 January 22, 1987 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 86 No. 86 c: o i is i u m n r r T I! I -1' v- , ij. '- i" ' r ; Hofmeister proposes to open pools By Eric Paulak Staff Reporter Andrea HoyDaily Nebraskan The UNL coliseum ISeeFeataoii Center indues toward reality By Jen Deselms Senior Reporter NU Foundation still seeks donations It's a ghost that just keeps haunting the students and administration of UNL. And now, more than 15 years after it was first talked about and five years after it was formally proposed, the phantom student-recreation center finally seems to be materializing. Although the NU Board of Regents has yet to formally approve the project, the NU Foundation, boosted by an endorsement from Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne, has collected about $800,000 from football season-ticket holders. That's nearly 10 times the amount that was collected between 1980 and 1985. But that was before the student recreation center was combined with an indoor-practice field for the football team, which is now proposed. The need for a student-recreation center was identified in 1979. A study of Big Eight universities showed that UNL offered the fewest open-recreation hours per student per week. An overall ranking of recreation opportunities placed Nebraska seventh, ahead of Oklahoma. Oklahoma has since im proved their recreation buildings, said Stan Campbell, UNL director of cam pus recreation. Although the need had been identi fied, it would be years before major donations for the project would be made. Before 1986, only two fund-raising efforts had been launched for the recreation center: a Sigma Alpha Epsilon flag-football tournament and a Schramm 4 residence-hall floor card-a-thon, which collectively raised $712.14 in 1981, Foundation investments brought that amount up to $947.81 by 1986 far short of the original esti mated cost of $7 to $9 million. (Today's projected cost for the combined center is $16 to $17 million.) Popular support, unlike financial support, for the center has been strong since the outset. Two ASUN surveys in 1981 and 1985 showed students were overwhelmingly in favor of a center, and only a slightly smaller number supported increasing student fees to help support a recreation center. Seventy-six percent of the 2,585 students surveyed in the 1981 ASUN election voted for a student-recreation center, and 61 percent supported, financing through student fees. Most students surveyed suggested an increase of up to $10. Student support for the center, dropped to 66 percent in ASUN's 1985 survey. Marlene Beyke, director of de velopment for ASUN, said the drop could be caused by fluctuating voter turnout and less publicity and informa tion distributed before the survey. Despite strong support from stu dents, groups actively involved in rais ing money for the center in 1981 antic ipated a slow process. . Dan Berlin, student assistant and organizer of Schramm 4's card-a-thon in 1981, said the card players realized they would probably never get to see the rec center built but were thinking of younger brothers and sisters who could use it in the future. Kent Dunovan was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon in 1981 when the fraternity raised money for the student-recreation center. Dunovan, a 1982 UNL graduate now studying for his MBA at UNL, said he didn't really remember any large stu dent concern about recreation space when he was an undergraduate. He said he still hasn't seen a large push from students for the recreation center but sees the football team as the force behind the project. The student end of the practice field I is just tagging along with the football program, Dunovan said. A recreation , See REC on 3 Proposals to open up part of the Bob Devaney Sports Complex to all stu dents and faculty and to renovate two swimming pools on campus have been presented to the UNL administration, said ASUN First Vice President Dan Hofmeister. The proposals are designed to help compensate for the shortage of pool time created when the Coliseum pool was closed last fall. The first proposal is to open part, if not all, of the Devaney Sports Complex to students and faculty. It is currently reserved for athletic-department use only. Hofmeister made the proposal to Chancellor Marti n Massengale, but Mas sengale has not responded yet. The second proposal is to renovate swimming pools in Mabel Lee and Abel halls. More locker space would be added to each, along with repairs to the pools. The renovation would cost bet ween $30,000 and $40,000, Hofmeister said. Stan Campbell, director of campus recreation, said since the Coliseum pool was closed, many groups have been unable to swim on campus. Some instructional classes and intramurals have been canceled, swimming clubs have had to go off-campus to swim, and open swimming times have been re duced. Campbell said that either proposal would help campus recreation bring back some of the things that were cut. If the Board of Regents approves the proposed recreation center, Hofmeis ter said he will still try to get the sports center open to students and faculty. Hofmeister tried gaining entrance to the swimming pool at the sports cen ter, but he said an assistant swimming coach told him he could not swim there. Hofmeister said he looked through past minutes from regents meetings but could not find anything that said students could not use the complex. Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance John Goebel is looking into the feasibility of renovating the two swimming pools, Hofmeister said, but any final decisions will be made by Massengale. Neither he nor Massen gale could be reached for comment. Government interns value experience Time Fesfeictte to 1L By Michael Hooper Senior Reporter With an active social life, classes to attend and study for, and commitments to a club or friends, it's difficult for a student to get involved in state government. And since many students often don't care about the issues affecting Nebraska, there's little peer encouragement to get involved. But some students who have chosen to participate in state government say it's rewarding. Bryan Robertson, a senior accounting major, got an internship in the State Capitol through UNL's Internship and Cooperative Education Office. Robertson said his internship in former Gov. Bob Kerrey's office helped him learn about researching state issues, writing and communi cating. From January to June last year, Robertson gathered information on various state issues and surveyed state officials who were to speak at legislative-committee hearings. He also con densed the governor's speeches. Compiling such information was probably more significant than, say, doing a research paper for a class, said Robertson, who now is1 ASUN's lobbyist. His internship encouraged him to apply to law school. Cynthia Brill, a senior political science major who interned in Lincoln Sen. Don Wesely's office last fall, agreed with Robertson. During her internship, Brill helped bring in speakers to Health and Human Services Committee hearings and wrote a report on adolescent problems including high-risk preg nancy. "I felt it was significant not only because people were interested, but because I learned a lot about the human and financial costs of unplanned pregnancies," Brill said. Brill said the experience in Wesely's office confirmed her interest in politics. Millie Katz, director of the Internship and Cooperative Education Office, said 25 to 40 stu dents intern in Nebraska's Legislature. "It gives them direct insight into government that you can't get from a textbook," she said. Another way to get involved is by being a page in the Legislature. To do this, students must ask their senator to sponsor them. If they are spon sored by their senator, they are then reviewed by a panel of senators who then vote on them. If chosen, the pages are assigned duties by the clerk of the Legislature. Pages do everything from serving coffee to getting copies of bills. , . Other students get involved in state govern ment through their personal interests, which may spur them' to call, write or speak to their senators. ASUN's Government Liaison Committee is working on a plan to inform senators on the danger of slashing the university budget again, said Andy Pollock, the committee's chairman. See INTERNS on 3 O lOKt i t jam. (3 Andrea HoyDaily Nebraskan Patrick O'Donneli, clerk of the Legis lature, hands bills being introduced to page Scott McKelvey while page Jean Vurtz looks over the legisla tive floor. 'i