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March 3, 1987
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 86 No. 114
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Doug CarrollDaily Nebraskan
Onlookers at the State Capitol crowd together Monday evening listening to testimony before
the Legislature on the proposed student recreation center and indoor practice field.
Rec center supported at hearing
but silent majority stays at home
By Michael Hooper
Senior Reporter
The proposed $14.9 million student
recreation center and indoor practice
field was lambasted and praised before
the Legislature's Appropriations Com
mittee Monday night at the State
Capitol.
Supporters said the project would
meet the long time need for better
recreational facilities, is supported by
most students, would help the football
program and would not divert funds
from academics to athletics. Most of
the 350 students who came to support
the project left after the proponents
spoke.
Opponents, carrying nearly 900 sig
natures of students and faculty oppos
ing the project, said ASUN surveys
showing student support for the pro
ject are misleading since only 13 per
cent of students vote in ASUN elec
tions. In addition, opponents said that
construction of the rec center would
show the state the university's priori
ties are athletics and not academics.
"The students of the university are
Council votes suds down the drain
By Jen Deselms
Senior Reporter
A proposal to serve beer at a Lin
coln laundry was washed up Monday
by a vote from City Council
members, denying a beer-only liquor
license to a Duds 'n Suds franchise
940 N. 26th St.
Council members came to their
unanimous decision after continu
ing a public hearing from last week's
council meeting.
The original plan of the Lincoln
duds 'n Suds franchise was to com
bine a self-service laundry and
entertainment center with big-screen
TV, pool tables, video games and
refreshments, incuding beer. But
Lincoln's franchise like 15 others in
the national chain of 57, will be
serving pop as the only beverage.
Five people testified at the hear
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asking you to stop the decline in aca
demics we all are faced with," said
Cynthia Halpin, a senior psychology major.
."Students are tired of taking a back
seat to athletics."
Student organizations supporting the
project only represent 8,000 students,
Halpin said, or about one-third of the
entire student population.
UNL English professor James Mc
Shane, interim Faculty Senate Presi
dent, said that faculty generally opposes
constructions of the rec center.
Although faculty members recognize
the need for new facilities, they believe
part of the non-state money used to
construct the center and practice field
would be diverted to academic pro
grams without construction of the
center.
"I'm afraid, quite frankly, that we're
in for an indoor practice facility, whether
we need it or not," McShane said.
"We're going to go first class in some
thing. I'd like to go third class in aca
demics if we could get there."
Jim Griesen, vice chancellor for stu
dent affairs, said that funding for the
project would not divert money from
ing in favor of granting the liquor
license, but only one was not asso
ciated with the Lincoln franchise or
the national chain.
Lincoln resident Brad Carper said
the laundry should be given a beer
license because the company is "im
proving on an old idea and also
because the council had granted
licenses to health clubs in the past.
Also testifying was Phil Akin Sr.,
a vice-president of Duds n Suds
whose son began the company in
Ames, Iowa, in 1983. Akin said that
serving beer and wine has not caused
problems in any of the cities that
have granted licenses to the laundry.
. Doyle Dillow, owner of the Lin
coln franchise, his sister Joceyln
Baade and his father Samuel E. Dil
low testified that the beer-serving
laundry would bring jobs to Lincoln
and draw more innovative businesses.
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academics to the project. About $5 mil
lion for the rec center is being raised
through donations, he said.
Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said
the money raised from the $3.50 ticket
surcharge could not go toward academ
ics. It would be difficult to say where
the money would go, he said.
Griesen said it's not the job of the
athletic department to fund academics.
"That's the Legislature's job," Grie
sen said.
Osborne said the football team
needs the indoor practice field to com
pete with many other schools that
already have similar practice fields.
Halpin said there is only so many
dollars that can come from private
donations and to deplete this source
would unfairly reduce donations to
academics.
UNL Athletic Director Bob Devaney
said UNL's recreational facilities are
the worst in the Big Eight Conference.
Halpin said that not only is student
support low, but a recent Lincoln
Journal-Star poll showed that only 48
See REC CENTER on 5
Doyle Dillow said people don't loiter.
They do their laundry, play a game
of pool or have a beer while they are
waiting and leave when their clothes
are done.
Testimonies from opponents
showed that people though beer
would be a detriment to the area,
create a poor atmosphere for child
ren, alcohol abuse and lead to
drunk driving.
Helen L. Patzel said the expan
sion of liquor licenses would lead to
more alcohol related deaths.
"Unless our citizens develop the
skills of some other countries to
carry baskets on our heads, people
will be driving to laundromats and
they will need to drive home," Pat
zel said. "Are we promoting safety
when they are encouraged to drink
while the laundry is being done?"
to lose five
By Dorothy Pritchard
Staff Reporter ' 3
If proposed cuts for the Division of
Continuing Studies are sustained,
it will be as if "a major corporation
pulled out of Nebraska," said the dean
of Continuing St udies.
Robert Simerly said the division is
targeted for $740,000 in cuts, which
would mean closing five of the seven
programs in Continuing Studies.
Simerly said that includes closing
the Nebraska Center for Continuing
Education on East Campus.
The division has a $6.5 million
budget and receives about $1.6 million
of that budget from state funds, Simerly
said. Tuition generated by Continuing
Studies equals about $1.2 million, leav
ing a net state investment of $434,658.
For the state's investment of $434,658,
it receives about $19 million in return
for the purchase of goods, products and
services, Simerly said.
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"I don't know of any other depart
ment that cost-effective," he said.
UNL's Division of Continuing Stu
dies reaches 74,000 people a year
through 2,000 different programs in
what the dean calls "a major public
relations program for the university."
The division currently includes seven
major areas: evening programs and
adult learning, statewide programs,
the Western Nebraska Learning Center
at Scottsbulff, academic telecommun
ications, conferences and institutes,
independent study, and the Nebraska
Center for Continuing Education.
Only independent study and evening
programs would survive if the budget is
cut, Simerly said.
The division has had $300,000 cut
from its budget in the last seven years.
Bob Smallfoot, director of the West
ern Nebraska Learning Center at
Scottsbluff, said he's disturbed about
the prospect of eliminating the entire
learning center. The learning center
serves about 2,700 people a year in
credit and noncredit courses. They
access the university's resources
through closed-circuit television, in
dependent study and field courses.
"I think we provide a service for the
adults in the western part of Nebraska,
and continuing studies in general pro
Senior gift goes to museum
Morrill Hall can look forward to
1992, when it will receive a North
American Indian display financed
through a gift from the senior class of
'87.
Earlier this semester, ballots were
mailed to seniors to choose from dona
tions to a Sheldon Art Gallery display,
the student recreation center building
fund or the Morrill Hall fund. The prop
osals received 150, 292 and 336 votes.
"I'm just thrilled that the seniors are
doing this for us," said Dr. Hugh Geno
ways, museum director. "Ten years
from now when they come back to visit
the museum they can tell their child
ren, 'This is what our class did for the
university and for the people of Ne
braska." The areas of the gallery labeled "The
1987 Senior Class Gift" will include
programs
vides a service for the nontraditional
student," Smallfoot said.
Marvin Van Kekerix, director of aca
demic telecommunications, said he is
unhappy that his seven-month old pro
gram already faces the threat of elimi
nation. "It's been discouraging because
we've got such an exciting program and
it's just started," he said.
The telecommunication program
delivers university courses via televi
sion to eight towns across Nebraska
and 11 companies, mostly in Omaha.
Bill Fleming, a training specialist for
AT&T in Omaha, one of the companies
that uses the telecommunications pro
gram, said cutting the program wouldn't
be "devastating" to AT&T but the loss
would be felt. AT&T has nine employees
involved in an engineering graduate
program offered through telecommun
ications. The employees spend six hours
a week in the classroom and receive a
complete tuition refund from AT&T.
Fleming said the program is important
to AT&T's ability to "attract and hold
top-quality engineers."
Judy McDowell, director of Lincoln's
Convention and Visitors Bureau, said
she is particularly concerned with the
elimination of the conferences and
institutes program. The program draws
about 20,000 people a year to Lincoln,
and, McDowell said, they spend about
$91.23 a day. That is "new money" in
Lincoln and it turns over in the econ
omy at least three times, McDowell
said. So the economic impact of cut
ting this program will have a big effect
on Lincoln's economy, she said.
One program not facing elimination
that Simerly is particularly proud of is
the high-school study program, which
has students in every Nebraska county.
It is the only one in the United States
accredited by the North Central Asso
ciation to offer a high-school degree
through independent study. The pro
gram offers advanced math and science
classes and languages like Spanish and
French. The program helps small rural
communities that cannot afford to hire
full-time faculty for courses, like
advanced sciences and languages,
Simerly said.
In an average lifetime, a person
changes careers three to five times but
changes jobs about 15 times.
"Getting the college degree isn't the
end anymore," Simerly said. "It's the
beginning."
Simerly, who received his doctorate
in 1973, said he spends about 30 days a
year in the classroom learning the
latest in personal computers, financial
management and other related courses.
And he doesn't think he's atypical.
"You just have to race to keep up
with the technology."
exhibits representing Eskimos and
Indians from the Northwest, the South
west and the Great Lakes. The display
will show how the people adapted to
their environments and how cultures
and art forms evolved.
Now that the decision has been
made, money must be collected. Seniors
will be asked on March 10 through 12
and 17 through 19 to pledge money
through a four-year payment program
or to make a donation now.
"We have set a pledge goal of $55,000.
It really is a small price to give back to
the 'U' for all they have given to us,"
said Darin Armstrong, 1987 Senior Class
Gift committee member.
Genoways said he's confident he can
receive a matching grant from the
National Endowment for the Humani
ties to double the gift.