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[! NU administration measures not advanced
I By Dan Dwinell
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska Legislature’s Education
Committee heard testimony Monday on a bill
and a resolution that would alter the administra
tion of the University of Nebraska.
Neither measures were advanced from
committee and are considered non-priority for
this session.
Sen. Ron Withem of Papillion, Education
Committee chairman, introduced a resolution,
LR269, to put the University of Nebraska
Board of Regents under the direction of the
Legislature.
“We would treat the University of Nebraska
the same way we treat agencies of the govern
Iment,” he said.
The resolution proposes that the general
government of the University of Nebraska will
be vested in a board under the direction of the
Legislature.
The board would consist of six to eight
regents elected from newly organized districts.
“The Legislature shall divide the state along
county lines,” the resolution states, “into as
many compact regent districts as there arc
regents provided by the Legislature.”
The districts, of about equal population,
would be numbered consecutively. The Legis
lature would rcdistrict the slate after each cen
sus or upon the concurrence of a majority of the
Legislature.
The resolution also includes three student
members serving on the board. The non-voting
'students would include the student body presi
dents of the University of Nebraska Medical
Center, the University of Nebraska at Omaha,
and the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln.
Withem argued that the NU Board of Re
gents can’t handle the pressures of all the topics
they face.
“I know we as a Legislature deal with pres
sure on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
Kermit Hansen, a regent since 1970, testi
fied against the resolution.
He said the resolution would make the re
gents a “useless appendage.”
“The Legislature already has a vast array of
things to deal with and the bill would increase
the burden,” Hansen said.
Sen. Richard Peterson of Norfolk was con
cerned with the regents’ inability to correct the
problem with foreign teachers.
Sen. Arlene Nelson of Grand Island said she
has heard six to eight different complaints from
students about not being able to understand
their teachers.
“Why increase salaries when we’re not
getting competent teachers?” she asked.
Hansen argued that 80 percent of the stu
dents complaining were using that as an excuse
for bad grades.
Hansen proposed that the Legislature re
quire the regents, the State College Board of
Trustees, and technical college officials to
meet twice a year. A report would be presented
to Gov. Kay Orr, the Education Committee and
the Legislature after each meeting.
Another issue heard by the committee would
alter the administration of the Institute of
Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The main change proposed by LB 1216 is
making the vice chancellor of IANR a chancel
lor.
The promotion would give the new chancel
lor more power, including coordinating agri
cultural, natural resources and other related
matters.
The chancellor of the institute would also
advise and counsel NU President Ronald
Roskens and the NU Board of Regents.
Sens. George Coordsen of Hebron, Roger
Wchrbein of Platlsmouth and Stan Schellpeper
of Stanton sponsored the bill.
Coordsen stressed the importance of agri
culture to Nebraska.
“The impact of agriculture on our economy -
is forefront,” he said. “We must be very careful
not to forget what we’re good at in Nebraska.”
Robert Anderson, president of the Fertilizer
Institute of Nebraska, testified in favor of the
bill.
“Agriculture is the base to every industry in
the state,” he said. “It’s time for agriculture to
take a front seat (at UNL).”
Robert Gingery, a Lincoln resident, testified
neutrally to the committee. Gingery favored a
compromise.
“We should reserve the title of chancellor
for the chief executive officer of the campus,”
he said. Gingery favored having a title above
vice chancellor, but below chancellor.
UNL group goes to Boston
Nebraska Model U.N. delegate
honored at national conference
By Lisa Richardson
L Staff Reporter
Bradley Walker, member of
Nebraska’s Model United Nations
delegation, received top honors at the
Harvard National Model United
El Nations conference in Boston.
Walker received an outstanding
delegate award at the conference,
conducted Thursday through Sun
f day.
About 1,700 delegates went to the
conference where awards were given
tooutstanding delegates from each of
its 15 committees. Nebraska’s 11
I member group represented Colom
bia at the conference.
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
students John Coffey, Cynamon
Fosbinder, Mark Howe, Missy How
ell, Jeff Kluch, LuAnn Krab, David
Littlefield, Joe Lutes, Lori Pope,
Shawn Schuldies and Walker at
tended the conference.
Walker, who served on the Politi
cal and Security Committee, said he
noticed a lack, of cohesivcncss at the
conference.
“I seized the opportunity to get in
and moderate,” he said.
Walker said he persuaded the U.S.
and Soviet delegations to sign a
treaty at the conference.
“I sat down with the U.S. and the
U.S.S.R. (delegations) and negoti
ated a comprehensive chemical
weapons ban which was passed al
most unanimously by the General
Assembly,” he said.
Walker said the delegation did a
good job representing Colombia’s
interests. However, he said he didn’t
think Colombia could force the
United Stales and the Soviet Union to
sign a treaty in real life.
The Nebraska students researched
Colombia’s position on issues by
writing to its embassy.
The Harvard conference is the
largest in the United States, Walker
said, and is very different from
Nebraska’s.
More than 1,700 people from U.S.
and foreign universities attend the
conference, and UNL’s conference
attracts roughly 300 people from
high schools and colleges.
Because more delegates attend
the Harvard conference, U.N. com
mittees and special agencies can be
copied by delegates. At the Nebraska
delegation, only a few important
standing committees are selected,
Walker said.
Procedures at both conferences
are also different, Walker said.
The Harvard conference focuses
on international problems, while the
Nebraska conference educates dele
gates on how the United Nations
works.
Kluch said he prefers Nebraska’s
smaller conference.
“It may be a prejudiced view,” he
said, “but ours is a notch above
theirs.” He said a shortage of tables
hurt communication at the Harvard
conference.
“People were sitting on the floor
and standing on chairs to work,”
Walker said.
However, Walker said, the Har- jj
vard conference was more effective
than Nebraska’s.
“The UNL conference pales in
comparison,” he said. “There are
practical limitations, too few people
on staff.”
Walker said he was impressed
with the intelligence of the delegates
at the Harvard conference. j
“They were the most brilliant
students in the world from every
major university I could think of, as
well as international schools,” he
said.
Students from Dartmouth, Har
vard, Yale and the University of
Sorbonne in Paris attended, he said.
He said Saudi Arabian King
Fahd’s son was a delegate. Students
from nations such as Luxembourg,
Kuwait and Cuba also attended the
conference.
Walker said winning the outstand
ing delegate award surprised him.
“I think it says a lot for UNL to
display a similar intellectual capac
ity as the finest universities in the
world,” he said.
Walker said the chemical weap
ons ban treaty that the conference
passed was the highlight of the trip.
Eric Gregory/Daily Nebraskan
Walker
| Legislature kills school consolidation bill Monday
I By Amy Edwards
Senior Reporter
A bill that would require manda
tory consolidation for Class I school
iMi I
districts was killed 23-14 in the
Nebraska Legislature Monday.
Sen. Yard Johnson of Omaha, who
introduced LB726 in 1987, said
Other education issues to be ‘left on the table’ for more debate
many other education issues will be
“left on the table” until legislators
discuss the structure of school dis
tricts.
The bill would have required all
Class I school districts to merge with
an existing Class II, III, IV, V or VI
school district. Class I school dis
tricts include kindergarten through
eighth grade.
Under the bill, if a plan from a
county committee for mergers was
not presented to the state by July 1,
1990, the state committee would
merge those districts before Sept. 1,
1990.
Johnson said the bill would have
eased property taxes in Nebraska by
giving every school the same financ
ing.
Sen. Howard Lamb of Anselmo,
who made the motion to indefinitely
postpone the bill, said the bill had
“nothing to do” with property taxes.
Lamb later said the bill is similar
to LB662, the school consolidation
law that Nebraska voters repealed in
1986.
LB662, unlike current measures,
included a 1 -cent sales tax increase to
provide property tax relief.
Lamb said he would support
rapmion sen. Kon w unem s iaeai 10
affiliate schools by having high
school students from Class 1 schools
pay a tax levy instead of non-resident
tuition.
Withem, chairman of the
Legislature’s Education Committee,
is working with an ad hoc committee
to try to reach a compromise on the
consolidation issue.
LB940, introduced by the ad hoc
committee and amended by the
Education Committee, would not
mandate school consolidation.