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INDEX
News Digest. .2
Editorial.4
Art & Entertainment.5
Sports.7
Classifieds.11
i-eoruary 17,1989 University of NebraskaLincoln Vol. 88 No. 10o
Committee hears testimony on construction -
By Eric Pfanner
Staff Reporter
The Appropriations Commit
tee of the Nebraska Legisla
ture heard testimony Thurs
day on a bill that proposes $809,098
for construction in the Walter Scoti
Engineering Center and under the
connecting link to Nebraska Hall.
LB600, introduced by state Sen
Lowell Johnson of North Bend, pro
poses finishing first-floor space in the
link, renovating an existing mechani
cal engineering office for research
use, and installing a computer termi
nal room and an elevator in the cen
ter.
Construction on the engineering
center will never be finished without
stale funding, Johnson said.
He said the engineering center was
originally to be funded entirely
through federal funds and private
donations such as $1 million from
Walter Scott Jr. But, he said, not
enough money could be raised
through private funds and federal
contributions to complete the project.
Therefore, he said, the administra
tions of Govs. Bob Kerrey and Kay
Orr have never requested funds for
the engineering center in their budg
ets.
Stan Liberty, dean of the College
of Engineering and Technology,
spoke neutrally on the bill.
Initially, Liberty said, completing
the engineering center and link was
not a high priority item within the
university. But with the rapid expan
sion of research in the engineering
college, construction would be only
an “interim step.”
“Our research growth has been
quite dramatic over the last several
years,” Liberty said.
ms
Due to this growth, he said, the
college has “run out of elasticity’’ in
its use of space.
Johnson said construction as pro
posed by LB600 would stimulate
research at the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln into the 21 st century.
When asked what would be
housed in the newly-finished part of
the link under LB600, Liberty said
the space could be used for instruc
tional equipment necessary for ac
creditation of the college.
Liberty said there has been a tre
mendous amount of private funding
for research equipment, which is
contributing to the “gobbling up’’ of
space in the center. But accreditation
requires a continuous supply of
money for maintenance of this equip
ment.
* ‘It’s (funding for maintenance) as
fundamental as a library in a univer
sity,” he said.
The accepted amount nationally
for maintenance, he said, is $2,000
per bachelor’s degree per year. In the
college of engineering and technol
ogy at UNL, this means approxi
mately $800,000 per year is required
for maintenance. ^
LB600, he said, does not provide
funding for equipment or mainte
nance.
-?-1-1 .. 1ILILUUILU3
Ken Oeetmann , an Auburn farmer, testifies for citizen input into the low-level radioactive waste site project
at the Legislature Thursday.
Low-level radioactive waste site hearing draws 300 people
By Diana Johnson
Senior Editor
More than 300 people gathered Thursday
at the State Capitol for about six and a half
hours of testimony about low-level radioac
tive waste site legislation.
As Room 1517-C reached capacity,
about lOOpeojplegatheredintheEastcham
ter to view a live video of the hearing of five
bills that would provide further legislation
concerning the sites in Nebraska.
Several townspeople and farmers from
Boyd, Nuckolls and Nemaha counties,
where proposed waste sites are located, and
interest group spokespersons testified on
the bills.
Some audience members wore small
paper signs that read, “The risk would be
ours; the choice should be ours.”
The first bill, LB314, requires commu
nity consent for proposed waste sites that
would be the safest and healthiest for a
nearby copulation.
Speaking on behalf of the bill, Lynn
Moorer of Nebraskans for the Right to vote
called for Gov. Kay Orr to stand by the
promises made to Nebraskans when a low
level radioactive waste site First became an
issue.
Initially, Moorer said, the governor said
communities would have input on the loca
tion of the sites, and all safety and health
conditions would have to be met before a
location would be announced. Proposed
sites were announced by US Ecology, the
site developer, in January.
Mower said the issue has become one of
popularity rather than one of environmental
and community concern.
See ENVIRONMENT on 6
retersen maintains
COLAGE fund denial
By Lee Rood
Senior Editor
Jeff Petersen, president of the Association
of Students of the University of Nebraska,
upheld Thursday ASUN’s decision to deny all
student fee funding for the Committee Offer
ing Lesbian and Gay Events.
In a letter to the Daily Nebraskan, Petersen
said his decision to support ASUN’s Wednes
day denial of $746 worth of student fee funding
comes after “extensive discussion, consulta
tion and deliberation."
Petersen said in the letter that he also will
j recommend that COLAGE not be funded to
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs James
Griesen based on five “logical, not emotional,
conclusions’ ’ he made on the issue:
•That denial of funding does not constitute
discrimination.
•That a person’s sex ual preference does not
constitute belonging to a cultural minority.
• That other groups make a similar case for
' funding, and that funding such groups on the
same grounds as COLAGE would set a danger
ous precedent.
• Questions as to whether funding for
COLAGE would be allowable under NU Board
of Regent’s policy.
• That a “vast majority” of students at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln do not support
student fee funding for the organization
Petersen said he spent most of Thursday in
the ASUN office deliberating his decision.
‘ ‘This decision has been an extremely diffi
cult one, nonetheless, I feel I have done a good
job and served the student body well,” he said
in the letter.
Nanci Hamilton, co-chairperson of CO
LAGE, said Petersen’s first point to uphold the
decision is wrong because COLAGE was
| evaluated by ASUN “on criteria that differed
from all other UPC committees.”
Hamilton also said Petersen “was woefully
uninformed” about gay/lcsbian culture, and
because COLAGE is a University Program
Council committee, it should be funded.
“I hope Dr. Griesen would ... do the
ethically correct thing and not compromise the
integrity of his office by catering to bigoted,
prejudicial university student government
politics,” she said.
Griesen and UNL Chancellor Martin Mas
sengalc are the last channels through which the
Fund A student fee request need be approved.
Griesen said he will make his student fee rec
ommendations to Massengale following
See PETERSEN on 3
CFA cuts center’s budget nearly $4,000
By Jerry Guenther
Sulf Reporter
The Committee for Fees Allo
cation voted 6-3-1 to reduce
the budget request of the
Women’s Resource Center by $3,810
during deliberations on the Fund B
budget Wednesday nighL
Fund B fees arc the non-refund
ablc portion of student fees, which
are used for the University Health
Center, Nebraska unions. Debt Serv
ice and Campus Recreation.
The Women’s Resource Center,
which is funded through the Ne
braska unions’ fees, had requested
$32,814. According to the CFA sub
committee report on the Nebraska
unions, the $3,810 decrease would
reduce the center’s hours from 8 a m.
to 5 p.m to 10 a.rn. to 5 p.m. Evening
hours would remain the same.
Before voting to approve funding
for the Womens Resource Center,
CFA members discussed the center’s
merits.
CFA member Keith Malo said the
center has an image problem.
“I don’t necessarily believe
throwing money at it is $oing to solve
the problem,” Malo said.
CFA chairman Kevin Lytle said
the committee can either give the
center the requested money so they
can solve their problems '‘inter
nally,” or take drastic steps and
"eliminate the problems.”
Marcee Metzger, coordinating
consultant for the center, addressed
the question of the center’s image.
"Whenever you’re going against
cultural norms such as sexism, you’re
going to be targeted, ” Metzger said.
In other Union Board requests,
CFA voted to give food services
$14,637 of the $19,516 requested.
CFA recommended eliminating the
Colonial Room food service.
The vote passed 7-3 after some
CFA members said the reduction was
necessary to encourage union food
service outlets to become profitable.
In other business, the committee
approved the University Health Cen
ter and Campus Recreation requests
as submitted.
The breakdown of Fund B student
lees pa semester during 1989-90
includes $23.55 for Campus Rcc,
S55.03 for the health center, $26.46
for the Nebraska Unions and $18.00
for debt The total of Fund B fees per
student pa semester for 1989-90 is
$123.04, an increase of $6.85 trom
last year’s Fund B fees of $116.19.
The CFA recommendations arc
subject to approval by the Associa- *
lion of Students of the University of
Nebraska and the NU Board of Re
gents. James Griesen, vice chan
cellor for student affairs, said student
fees probably will be increased after a
faculty and staff salary increase.
Those increases will be decided by
Gov. Kay On and the Legislature,
Griesen said.
In a worst case scenario, Griesen
said. Fund B fees would be increased
to $130.59.