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March 9, 1987
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 86 No. 118
Soonslsy remembered.
as tamMe and caning
By Merry Hayes
Staff Reporter
Sen. Edward Zorinsky, who died of a
heart attack Friday night, was not just
an employer but a friend, said current
and former UNL students who worked
for him.
Kathy., Johnson, .a senior business
major who- Interned at Zorinsky's
Washington office last "summer, said he
was "unusual" because he took an
interest in everyone.
"I was just a lowly intern, and still he
took time out to make sure everything
was all right with me," she said.
Tom Ryan, a 1971 UNL graduate who
was Zorinsky's Lincoln field represen
tative for three years, said Zorinsky was
personable.
Ryan said Zorinsky, who was elected
to the Senate in 1976 and 1982, was
known to be tightfisted with staff
salaries and "he certainly was, but on
the other hand was easy to develop a
friendship with."
David Fischer, a 1977 UNL graduate
who was special counsel to the Senate
Agriculture Committee when Zorinsky
was the ranking Democrat on the
committee, called Zorinsky a "wonder
ful boss and a great friend."
Fischer said he was most impressed
with Zorinsky's humility and accessi
bility. "Any time of the day I could go into
his office and talk to him," he said. "He
By Kent Endacott
Staff Reporter
Recent budget cuts have had a min
imal impact on the NU College of Den
tistry, and it remains among the best in
the nation, said Dean Henry Cherrick.
c
However, he said, the college has
been hurt by an informal remark made
by Regent Robert Koefoot at the regents'
February meeting. Koefoot suggested
that NU eliminate the College of Den
tistry and the College of Architecture
to meet the Legislature's order to chop
$3.1 million from the NU 1987-88 oper
ating budget. The College of Dentistry
TED eaii: leinfe try com.
FarmAid Ill's location mnceirtain
Nelson still wants concert at UNL; it's now up to university
By Joeth Zucco
Staff Reporter
It's still unknown if FarmAid III will
be at UNL, although Don Nelson, chief
of staff to former Gov. Bob Kerrey, told
the Omaha World-Herald the decision
would be made by 5 p.m. last Friday.
The university hasn't decided be
cause the FarmAid organization hasn't
yet asked permission to use the
facilities or set a date for the concert,
said Tom Krepel, assistant to chancellor
Martin Massengale.
But Jody Fischer, Willie Nelson's
secretary, said a proposal for the
concert, which Kerrey asked for in a
letter mailed Dec. 19, has been sent
and now it is up to the university to
was never overwhelmed by the status of
his office as some other senators were."
Zorinsky told a Daily Nebraskan
reporter who visited his Washington
office last July, "I'm the only senator in
the Senate who doesn't have an elec
tronic signature machine and the only
one with no door on my office. I
personally respond to every letter I
receive."
Karen Barret-Ross, a 1985 UNL
graduate who was Zorinsky's Lincoln
field representative for more than seven
years, also touted his close contact
with his constituents and his accessi
bility to his staff.
"He always remembers where he
came from," she said. "He always knew
he was just put there to represent the
people of Nebraska."
Zorinsky was known and respected
on Capitol Hill for his independent
voting record. He opposed aid to the
Contras and was a critic of the Reagan
administration's 1985 farm bill, instead
advocating production controls.
Zorinsky, 58, suffered a fatal heart
attack Friday night after performing at
the Omaha Press Club "Gridiron Show."
He sang "The Great Pretender," with
lyrics that lampooned his switch from
the Republican to the Democratic party
in 1976. (He considered switc !.' back
last year.)
Zorinsky was mayor oi ha ir.: i
1973 until he was elected to the Senate
Regent's remark hurts; budget cuts mild
received $3.5 million in state funds for
1986-87.
Cherrick said administrators and
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Dean Charles Andrews told him the
proposal will not be taken seriously.
Still, he said, "We take this seriously.
We have to. He's a regent and one of
this university's leaders."
Gerald Tussing, chairman of the
periodontics department at the Col
lege of Dentistry, said that faculty
members have not been seriously affec
ted by recent budget cuts.
"There haven't been any major pro
posed cuts other than the ones included
with the med center, and we can han
dle that," he said. "The damage has
come from the unsolicited comments.
Even if they have no credibility at all,
they are destructive."
Tussing said he does not know of any
faculty members who are considering
leaving for higher-paying jobs even
respond. She said she doesn't know the
date the proposal was sent.
"If the univeristy has said we haven't
done it, then I don't know what to say,"
Fischer said. Willie Nelson still wants
to have the concert at UNL, she said.
In the World-Herald article, Krepel
said Aug. 1 or 8 or Sept. 26 would be
compatible with the football team's
schedule. However, Don Nelson said
the concert could be moved if it couldn't
be in September because more per
formers would be available then. Don
Nelson said he has submitted a copy of
the contract that was drawn up when
the concert was held at the University
of Illinois in 1985.
"It would focus national and inter
national attention on the University of
;.
-
" " aa a ar'aara :. ' ' ' ' "" ' .
Zorinsky
in 1976. He received his bachelor's
degree in chemistry and zoology from
NUin 1949.
ege one M the best
though faculty salaries rank in the
lower third of public dental colleges.
Tussing said he recently rejected an
offer from another university that would
have doubled his salary.
Faculty morale, Tussing said, is at an
all-time high. He said faculty members
"have a feeling of rallying around the
college."
"In a professional school, you get
esoteric and caught up in your own
projects," he said. "But in the last two
years with the budget deficiencies, we
were at first frightened and then it
rallied people to say, 'Hey, this is a
state asset.' Not a lot of people know
the quality of the product, and that's
our problem."
The College of Dentistry, which
opened in 1899 as l private institution,
is one of the oldest colleges at NU. It
offers a four-year program and special
ist programs. Ninety percent of the
students are Nebraska residents, Cher
Nebraska," he said. "It would show
that it is a place where problems are
dealt with that affect the broadest
issues of society, like agriculture
instead of a small academic circle."
Jay Milligan of Students for FarmAid
III said the group has been looking at
what their role can be if the concert is
held here. He said they want to get as
many students involved as possible.
"If students want to do something to
get the concert to Lincoln, I think they
need to try not to get overanxious
about it," Mulligan said. "They need to
be patient but not let Nebraska forget
about having FarmAid and at the same
time bringing $1 million dollars into
Nebraska's economy; to pass it up
would be tragic."
Funeral services were Sunday at the
Beth El Synagogue.
(See related story, page five.)
rick said.
According to a 1986 report put out by
the American Association of Dental
Schools, NU ranks fifth in the country
in quality of entering freshmen. The
College of Dentistry also pays for 20.4
percent of its operating budget through
clinical services provided to the com
munity the highest percentage in
the country. Only two of the 35 other
public dental colleges in the United
States receive a smaller state appro
priation than the NU college.
"I want to emphatically tell you this
is one of the best dental colleges in the
country," Cherrick said. "Least amount
of state funds, best entering freshman
class if that's not a bargain, I don't
know what is."
Cherrick said that a financial-impact
study conducted by the College of Den
tistry shows that eliminating the col
lege would cost the state money.
"The dentistry college is like a major
business," he said.
See DENTISTRY on 3
Parents group
to advise UNL
By Kevin Cowan
Staff Reporter
Parents' of university students
met Saturday in the Nebraska Union
to organize a parents-support group.
Associate Vice Chancellor for Aca
demic Affairs Jim Griesca said the
parents da)cu.v:cd pneral objectives,
including a newsletter, an advisory
body of parents and better repres
entation of the u.iivorsityia Nebraska
communities, The committee accep
ted volunteers for a cere group cf
; : t t s t k at v '. a : t as a: o x c ( a: ( i . o
1 i!y. "J f r; it! J; cf th. j ro
I 1" ' ,I ' j - : aU.-;
i t! i r ':. 1 f,.."-.i M
i r.a r " l ' ' r' ( v '.;
Rec-center
bids include
donations
By Jen Deselms
Senior Reporter
A request by UNL officials that
contractors submitting bids for the
construction of the proposed indoor
practice field include cash or in-kind
donations, as part of their contract
proposals, is being studied by the
attorney general's office.
No opinion had been released as of
Sunday, said Assistant Attorney General
Yvonne Gates. But Omaha Sen. Chris
Abboud said Sunday he expects one by
next week.
The examination of UNL's request
began after Sen. Ernie Chambers of
Omaha asked for Attorney General
Robert Spire's opinion. In his written
request to Spire, Chambers said UNL
"has made it clear that whichever
contractor offers to sweeten the pot . . .
stands the best chance of landing the
contract." This approach "seems to
smack of something of which I shall not
apply a name," according to the Lincoln
Journal.
While Chambers and local contrac
tors question the legality of the
request, Jack Goebel, UNL vice chan
cellor for business and finance, said
the suggestion for donations is an
attempt to get the best quality at the
lowest cost.
UNL General Counsel Richard Wood
said that by building donations into
the bid process the university hoped to
avoid any appearance of impropriety
with gifts, according to the Lincoln
Star.
Goebel said an addition has been
made to the request to clarify that
pledges from contractors will be re
turned if the contractors do not receive
the contracts.
Goebel said the request was created
after some contractors indicated an
interest in donating to the building
project. University officials then incor
porated donations into the bid process.
Although incorporating bids into
construction projects has never been
done at UNL before, Goebel said, the
procedure has been used in other
contracts.
Several years ago donations were
included in bids for computer equip
ment. Goebel said the attempt to
include donations in the first phase of
the rec-center construction is a straight
forward attempt to get it out in the
public view.
During a meeting of the Appropri
ations Committee on Friday, Abboud
questioned the legality and ethics of
the request.
In an interview Sunday, Abboud said
the combination of incorporating gifts
into bids and the "design-build"
approach to construction creates
problems in estimating construction
cost. In a design-build approach the
type and quality of construction
materials are not specified. Abboud
called this approach rare.
Abboud said he understands that
donations are necessary for the project
since no state money will be used, but
gifts should not be included in bidding.
The contractor for the project should
be chosen on the basis of who makes
the lowest bid, he said.
Although the inclusion of donations
into bids applies only to the first phase
of construction, it will slow the approval
of the entire project, Abboud said.
But Abboud said the problems with
the design-build approach and the bids
can be worked out. The Appropriations
Committee will wait to make recom
mendations on the entire project until
Spire releases an opinion on. the bid
process.
