j
. October 13,1988______ University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 88 No. 33
Kames says education worth its price
By Victoria A yottc
Senior Reporter
U.S. Sen. Dave Kames said
Wednesday there are some
“re^l choices” to make in
this year’s campaign and he is the
choice for education, the economy,
foreign policy and agriculture.
Kames spoke to about 90 students
sporting “Senator Dave Kames”
stickers in the Nebraska Union Wed
nesday night.
“We have a great deal of familiar
ity with the University of Nebraska,”
Kames said of he and wife Liz, who
both graduated from the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
“One of the things I consider to be
of the greatest importance in this
country is to make sure you can use
your education,” Kames said.
Although Kames said he realizes
that the cost of higher education has
doubled in the past 10 years, the value
of higher education has tripled.
The Reagan administration has
created 17 million jobs, most of
which require a college education, he
said.
“I’ve been troubled with the in
crease in the cost of higher educa
tion,” Kames said.
Kames cited his support for a bill
passed two days ago under which
parents aren ’t required to pay taxes on
savings bond interest if that interest is
used for tuition.
Kames said he supported in
creased Guaranteed Student Loan
and Peil Grant money for next year
and said he is among other senators
who want to reform the formula used
to decide ^location of this money.
“A lot of people are concerned that
these formulas are just too tough,"
Karnes said. “I (and other senators)
took a look ai it. We concluded that it
was too tough."
This led to a change passed by the
Seriate, but not yet signed by Presi
dent Reagan, he said. Under this
change, the value of the parents’
home or farm will not be included in
their adjusted gross income to deter
mine the amount of aid a student
mi
also said he will be the
choice for continued improvement of
the economy.
"Congress does not have fiscal
responsibility," Karnes said. “The
president should have a line-item veto
— my opponent (referring to Bob
Kerrey) says that’s crazy."
Karnes said he supports a balanced
budget amendment; something he
said Kerrey also thinks is “nonsense.”
Karnes said he and Kerrey also
have “important differences” on for
eign policy.
“we have an INF treaty today
because we didn’t freeze," Karnes
said.
The “worst thing" the United
Slates can do, he said, is not to de
velop systems like ihe MX missile.
“we need (hose cards in our
hands," Karnes said. “That’s just
common sense."
.■.. ... ...H'MMyms!
Senator Dave Karnes speaks to students at a public appearance in the Nebraska Union
Wednesday night.
Agriculture is another important,
area of difference between himself
and Democrats like Kerrey and presi
dential candidate Michael Duicakis,
Karnes said.
The Democratic Party didn’t put
their position on embargos and ex
ports in their platform, he said, and
the Republic&ns did.
Karnes said Kerrey had predicted
that the 1985 Farm Bill would be an
“abject failure," but it worked well.
Karnes also said he and Kerrey
have a difference in commitment to
political service.
Karnes said that when Kerrey was
governor, he announced two years
into his term that he would not run
again because “it doesn’t feel right”
“You can’t just say it doesn’t feel
good, stop the world — I’m getting
off,” Karnes said. “I’m saying I want
to be in the U.S. Senate.”
AS UN votes to address minority issues
By Jerry Guenther
Staff Reporter
The Association of Students
of the University of Ne
braska passed two bills
Wednesday night designed to de
crease racist attitudes on campus and
recruit greater numbers of minority
faculty members.
Terry Goods, president of the Afri
kan People's Union, said a task force,
including about two or three repre
sentatives from each minority cam
pus group, contributed to the legisla
tion.
Goods said ASUN originally at
tempted to pass a bill which was too
“vague and general” about the num
ber of minority faculty members to be
A
hired. The legislation passed Wed
nesday was more concrete and spe
cific, he said.
The bills passed Wednesday rec
ommend to UNL Chancellor Martin
Masscngale that the administration
adopt policies that call for active
recruiting and hiring of minorities.
One bill requires that at least 20
percent of all new instructional cm
ployees hired be minorities who are
willing to work at UNI. for at least
five years. This bill also calls for the
administration to make "special re
cruitment" efforts to achieve the 20
percent goal.
The other bill, which addressed
UNL students, encourages minorities
who feel discriminated against on
campus to file a complaint with the
student court.
Minorities should represent at
least 25 percent of all future ASUN
positions and the senate is expected to
increase recruitment through campus
minority groups, according to the bill.
Although ASUN President Jeff
Petersen was pleased with the passage
of the two new bills, he said, it was
only a start.
“If we think we can sit here and
pass acoupleof bills and say ‘Oh, well
we took care of that issue/” Petersen
said, “that will be the kind of attitude
to cause us problems as it has in the
past.”
In addition, Petersen challenged
fellow senators to “get down inside”
themselves and think about what ra
cism is all about.
“Everytime when you’re on cam
pus and you hear somebody make a
racial slur,” Petersen said, “and you
don’t take a stand against it, you
condone it.”
Petersen saida lotof students don’t
understand the institutional racism
that minorities have faced for genera
tions.
As a result of UNL’s renewed
commitment to fighting racism, Pe
tersen said, a new group has been
formed to support majority students
and help them to understand racial
issues better. The group meets on
Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
In addition, Petersen encouraged
students to join Developing Realistic
Educational Activities for Minorities
(DREAM).
Stan Mommaerts, an ASUN sena
tor and graduate student, also encour
aged minority students to join campus
activities such as ASUN.
If minorities don’t have the repre
sentation they are looking for at UNL,
they need to “go out and work for it,”
Mommaerts said.
“Get involved is the key word,” he
said.
in other business, Petersen an
nounced a campaign aimed at getting
more students involved in this year’s
national and state elections.
To keep students abreast on cur
rent ASUN legislation, senators also
decided to post its weekly agenda on
each residence hall floor and greek
house by 6 p.m. the day before each
meeting.
Arguments for, against
alive on Initiative 402
By David Holloway
Senior Reporter
As election day draws near,
opponents and proponents
of Nebraska’s participation
in the Central Interstate Low-level
Radioactive Waste Cumpact haven’t
eased their arguments about Initiative
402.
The Nov. 8 ballot will include
Initiative 402, which if passed by
Nebraskans would withdraw the state
from the compact and require ap
proval by electors statewide and lo
cally prior to construction of any low
level radioactive waste disposal facil
ity
If Nebraskans vote against Initia
tive 40(2, Nebraska would remain in
the compact, and no requirement
would be made for prior approval of a
waste site.
John Janovy, professor of biology
at the University of Ncbraska-Lm
coin, said that when the Nebraska
State Legislature passed LB 200 in
1983, Nebraska became a member of
the five-state compact.
Nebraska was forced to join the
compact after Congress passed a low
level radioactive waste policy in
December 1980, he said. Tnis policy
said all states must find a wav to deal
with their own low-level radiation.
Commissioners of the five-state
compact then chose Nebraska as the
stale which would host the low-level
nuclear waste site for the next 30
years. The other states in the compact
are Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana and
Oklahoma.
Janovy said that if Nebraska were
U> [Hill out ol the compact, the state
would face “harsh financial penal
ties” by having to build a nuclear
waste site without the financial help
of the other stales
Janovy said the compact could
take Nebraska to court if the slate
pulled outof the contract. In the worse
possible scenario, he said, Nebraska
would pay for the site and be penal
ized in other ways.
Sam Welsch, executive chairman
of Nebraskans For The Right To
Vote, said the penalties would not
exist. Two other compact members,
Louisiana and Kansas, also are in the
process of trying to pull out of the
compac t, he said.
“The other states don’t want the
honor of having the dump in their
state,” Welsch said. “If the other
states withdraw, then no entity will be
there to penalize us.”
Ron Bogus, public affairs officer
for Nebraska Public Power District,
said NPPD is in favor of keeping the
waste site in Nebraska.
Bogus said an NPPD low-level
radioactive waste study showed that a
site built without the financial help of
the other four states would cost Ne
braska three times more than one built
For □
■w*l withdraw Nebraska from thel
Central Interstate Low-level Radio
active Waste Compact
will require the approval of electors
statewide and locality prior to the
construction of any low-level waste,
disposal facility In Nebraska with'
certain exceptions
Against [_J
'Will not withdraw Nebraska from
the Central interstate Low-level
Radioactive Waste Compact
•wM not impose a requirement for
the approval of electors statewide
or locsUy prior to the construction of
any iownevel radioactive waste
disposal facility in Nebraska.
with the compact.
Bogus said the study showed that if
Nebraska were to pull out of the
compact and build its own waste site,
the disposal cost for each cubic foot of
waste would be $617. He said if
Nebraska would build the site with
the compact the cost of disposal per
cubic foot would be $191.
Bogus said the plant is required to
stay open for 30 years. The total cost
to keep it operating would be $129
million. He said if Nebraska was
operating its own site over a 30-year
period the cost would be $416 mil
John BrucWDatty Nubrukan
lion.
Bogus said the money to keep the
plant operating would come from the
electric rate payers of the state
Welsch said by being responsible
for its own waste, Nebraska would
have a voice in how and where the
waste would be disposed.
Welsch said that if Nebraska stays
in the compact, the Waste Compact
Commission will make all the deci
sions far the site for the 30-year pe
See 402 on 3