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News Digest Page 2
Editorial Page 4
Sports Page 6
Entertainment Page 5
Classified Page 7
March 2, 1987
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 86 No. 113
WKATIIKSI!; Monday, mostly
sunny and warmer. High in the lower
to mid 50s. South wind 5 to 10mph.
Monday night, mostly clear. Low in
the upper 20s to lower 30s. Tuesday,
mostly sunny and mild. High 55 to
GO.
- y T Oaiiy n
Mec center reused
will toe tonilt in stages
9
From Staff Reports
UNL officials said Friday they have
developed, in consultation with mem
bers of the NU Board of Regents, a
revised plan that reduces the total pro
ject cost of the proposed student
recreation center indoor practice field
and alters the financing for construc
tion. The revised plan will reduce the
estimated cost of the rec center from
$16.6 million to $14.9 million, said Jim
Griesen, vice chancellor for student
affairs.
The three phases of the project will
be financed through a cash flow pro
gram rather than by issuing new bonds,
Griesen said.
Officials said that when the original
concept was developed there had been
no immediate threat to the athletic
department budget.
The athletic department has been
identified as an area that could receive
budget cuts, Griesen said. Since 1984
Hr), state support to the athletic
department has decreased from more
than $1 million to $390,000, he said.
A re-examination of the plan was
prompted by current uncertainly about
UNL general fund support, past reduc
tion in support for women's intercolle
giate athletics and the Bob Devaney
Sports Center, potential for decline in
athletic department revenues and gen
eral economic conditions, officials said.
Jack Goebel, UNL vice chancellor for
business and finance, said the revision
calls for scheduling construction in
three phases. ...
In the $9 million first phase, UNL
will construct an indoor football prac
tice field, build a recreationfitness
addition on the east side of the UNL
Coliseum, build 10 racquetball courts
at the north end of Coliseum, renovate
the Coliseum swimming pool and
reconstruct outdoor tennis courts dis
placed by the renovation project. A
weightexercise room, previously
planned for the renovated Coliseum,
will be relocated in the east addition to
meet student demand at the earliest
possible time.
Phase two will add a redesigned
football meeting room in a location not
yet determined and four additional
program statement. Its costs are diffi
cult to predict because of the uncer
tainty to construction costs.
By reducing costs throughout the
center, scaling down and relocating
the football meeting room, renovating
rather than expanding the Coliseum
swimming pool and other measures,
UNL officials said, the total project
cost estimates can be reduced by $1.7
million.
Costs for the meeting room have
been decreased by $495,000 for an
estimated cost of $500,000. The esti
mated cost for renovating the Coliseum
pool has been cut in half to $200,000.
The revised plan meets the same
needs described in the original plan,
Goebel said.
Under the revised plan, UNL officials
still propose to finance all construc
tion from private gifts and football
ticket assessments. No state funds will
be involved.
The revised plan requires the UNL
Chancellor's Office to re-evaluate the
project periodically to determine the
most appropriate means to finance
remaining portions of the project, Goe
bel said. He said total funding will be
provided as follows: $5 million in pri
vate gifts, $3.5 million from student
revenue bond surplus and funds gener
ated by the ticket assessment.
The ticket assessment will be re
duced from the originally planned $5
per game to $3.50 per game, Goebel
said. Operating costs will be financed
by an increase in student fees as origi
nally planned. These increases, how
ever, will be phased in gradually as the'
project progresses.
Greisen said student fees would be
assessed according to how much of the
project was completed.
Until the project is finished, the
athletic department will help pay for
the operating and maintenance costs
for the practice field proportional to
the number of hours the field is used by
the department.
The revised plan will be discussed
with Nebraska legislators today at 6
p.m. during a hearing on the rec center.
Even though no state tax dollars are
being requested to finance construc
tion or operating of the rec center,
Goebel said, the plan must be approved
I
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-f-i i ti r iti- i-i n i - n - n --! i- i - i ii i- i f r i i - - i j
Paul VonderlageDaily Nebraskan
A moment to share
Students and citizens gathered Sunday night to bring a greater awareness to the campus
on the issue of AIDS. Sponsored in part by the GayLesbian Student Association, the group
of nine people wanted to shed light on the growing concern for the fatal disease.
Personal concerns were shared in the group. A sermon from a local church was read,
describing the need for a better understanding by the people of the world about AIDS.
TCD
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ffcThinnrll Tfi Till
Scudder expects tremendous student turnout
By Michael Hooper
Senior Reporter
racquetball courts in the Coliseum.
Phase two's estimated cost is $800,000. by legislators because of the need to
The third phase will add the balance borrow funds from the surplus bond
of facilities described in the original account.
If ASUN President Chris Scudder
has her way, it will be standing room
only for UNL students at a legislative
hearing on the proposed student recrea
tion centerindoor practice field in the
East Chamber of the State Capitol
tonight at 6 p.m.
Scudder is expecting more than 500
students to show their support of the
$14.9 million project at the Appropria
tions Committee hearing.
Testifying in favor of the project will
be UNL Vice Chancellor for Student
Affairs Jim Griesen, Scudder, NU foot
ball Coach Tom Osborne and possibly
UNL Athletic Director, Bob Devaney,
Scudder said Sunday.
But some students will be there to
testify against the recreation center,
including Kathleen Neary, a UNL senior
political science major.
Rec-center opponents who also plan
to testify include Cyndi Halpin, a senior
psychology major, and possibly Neary
and Erin Brisben, a senior criminal
justice major, Neary said Sunday.
Appropriations Committee Chairman
Jerome Warner of Waverly said that
after the hearing, the committee will
send the proposal as a resolution to the
floor of the Legislature for a vote,
Entrepreneur brings beach to UNL
'
sVim&' :
By Kim Beavers
Staff Reporter
Buck
Who is Buck and what is he doing
with those boards by the beach? Is
Buck bored with boards by the
beach? For the answers to these and
other questions, ask Mike Merritt, a
senior architecture major, creator of
"Buck's boards by the beach" T
shirts and founder of "Bubba Enter
prises." Merritt has sold more than 500 of
the nonsensical T-shirts, which fea
ture a fictional stick-man "Buck"
and surf shop in Redondo Beach,
Calif.
Merritt, who works in a T-shirt
and Greek paraphernalia shop and
shares Buck's shock of black hair,
came up with the idea last summer,
because he was bored, he said. He
drew up the design and started
printing T-shirts.
Later, he expanded his collection
Co include sweatshirts and boxer
shorts. Friends of Merritt's also
have sold the shirt at Kansas, Ariz
ona and Tulane universities.
The design is simple: "Buck" in
Ray Bans, holding his board, stands
beside a dog above a "Buck's by the
beach" slogan handwritten in the
sand.
"I was looking for something dif
fcrent, and no one had ever done
anything with stick figures before,"
Merritt said. "So I expounded on
the idea"
Cindy Wilson, a freshman adver
tising major who bought a "Buck," .
said, "It's one of those kind of T
shirts that you'll wear 10 years down
the road."
Todd Oltmans, a freshman archi
tecture major, calls the shirts "crea
tive." "Buck is a character that is sim
ple and fun at the same time," he
said. ''Speaking of time, I feel that
Buck has tremendous potential in
the future to catch on at a national
level."
The whole thing started with 10
shirts that Merritt made for fun. He
sold all 10 on the way up to his room
in Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. The
next day he sold 15 more and then
sold another 25.
After the strong test market re
sponse at his fraternity, Merritt
took his business campuswide.
To promote sales, Merritt plas
tered the dorms, the Nebraska Union,
trees, trashcans and many other
places with flyers. He also put sev
eral personals in the Daily Nebraskan.
"Blonde girl walking out of Love
Library
Don't want to meet you. Just want
to know where you got your Buck's
boards by the beach sweatshirt."
Since his T-shirt success, Mer
ritt's interests have begun to stray
from architecture.
"I definitely want to get a degree,
although I don't know how much I'll
use it. I'd like to go into business for
myself . . . retail maybe."
according to an article in the Omaha
World-Herald Sunday.
Last week UNL officials and the NU
Board of Regents revised the original
construction and financing plans of the
rec center to reduce costs from $16.6
million to $14.9 million, and the center
will be built in three phases.
In the past week, at least six student
organizations have approved of the
proposal: ASUN, the Residence Hall
Association, the Interfraternity Coun
cil, the Panhellenic Council, the Arts &
Sciences Advisory Board and the Cam
pus Recreation Advisory Council.
Although it appears that students
support the prqject, Brisben said, many
students who live off campus do not.
Surveys in ASUN elections have shown
students support the rec center, she
said, but only about 2,800 students vote
in the election, and most live on cam
pus. Halpin said this is only about 13
percent of eligible voters.
"It's only the vocal minority who
support the rec center," Halpin said.
Halpin said she, Brisben and Neary
collected more than 200 signatures of
faculty members and students who are
against the rec center. The signatures,
which were most ly collected on Friday,
will be presented to the Appropriations
Committee tonight, she said.
Halpin said she is opposed to the
student-fee increase because many stu
dents wouldn't use the center.
She said the athletic department
should help pay for the maintenance of
the center since the football team will
use it. Plans call for the students to pay
for maintenance through student fees.
Scudder countered saying that the
student-fee increase are taxes that will
go toward a center that most of the UNL
population will use.
"Everybody pays taxes, but it's up to
them to decide if they want to take
advantage of the facility," Scudder
said.