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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1989)
WEATHER Friday, sunny with highs 35-40, S winds 10-20 mph. Friday night, low of 20. Satur day, sunny and mild with highs 45-50. Sunday through Tuesday, no precipita tion, highs mid 30s to low 40s, lows mid 20s.___ INDEX News.2 Editona ..4 Sports.7 Arts A Entertainment.11 Classified.14 February 24,1S89 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 88 No. 108 Professors unhappy with ASUN decision By Lee Rood Senior Editor □wo University of Nebraska Lincoln instructors are “dissai islkd ’ with events that, led to ssociation of Students of the University of Nebraska's decision Wednesday to support a burial site bill in the Nebraska Legislature. Peter Bleed, associate professor of anthropology, and Doug Bam forth, assistant professor of anthropology, said ASUN senators took action on the bill before thoroughly consider ing the issue. Senate Bill 65, sponsored by Arts and Sciences Sen. Brian Svoboda, supports LB340, a bill being consid ered by state senators to regulate unmarked burial sites in Nebraska and provide for reburial of identifi able remains previously discovered. Bam forth and Bleed said they feel AS UN senators were not given enough information about the bill and that only one side of the issue was presented. ‘‘I was concerned that the only presentation was made by Native Americans,” Bamforth said. Bleed said it appeared that the way in which the bill was presented ‘‘stifled free investigation.” ‘‘I am not at all disappointed that someone would disagree with my opinion on this,” Bleed said, ‘‘I am disappointed that so much misinfor mation appears to have been pre sented.” Bleed and Bamforth were not present at ASUN’s meeting. Svoboda said he did not contact people opposed to the bill before the meeting, and said seeking opposition was not his job. “I agree that the other side could have been belter represented,” Svoboda said, “but that was the re sponsibility of the Special Topics Committee and people in opposition to the bill. “I. f;nd it puzzling to think why anyone would want me to bring in someone to shoot down my bill,” he said. Svoboda said senators made an informed decision on the “basis of their own best judgment.” Bleed and Bamforth said rhey favor LB691, an alternate burial site bill under consideration by the Legis lature. They said it is more favorable to archeological study. LB340, they said, “limits arche ologists’ ability to investigate any kind of archeological site.” See PROFS on 3 ■ Politicians urge black students to get involved By Brandon Loomis Senior Reporter State Sen. Ernie Chambers and Omaha Board of Education member Brenda Council urged black students Thursday to run for university offices and gel involved in political campaigns on all levels. Chambers, of Omaha, and Council spoke to 23 people at the Commonplace, 333 N. 14th Sl, on the invitation of the Afrikan People’s Union. They addressed the topic; “Blacks in Politics” as part of African Heritage Month. Chambers said a small number of senators in the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska, particularly Brian Svoboda, are standing up for what they believe in and speak ing out for minorities. But the minorities should be in ASUN working with them, he said. Decause oiacics are a minoruy ai me univer sity of Ncbraska-Lincoln, Chambers said, they are up against the odds. But it lakes action to overcome the odds, he said. “You’re a small island in a sea of while people, but you’re here,’’ Chambers said. * ‘The people who take the biggest risks arc the ones who make the biggest gains.” Chambers said blacks need to get involved at the university level so they arc prepared for leadership after college. At present, whites arc taking advantage of what the university offers to prepare for the future, he said. Chambers said many of the advantaged white students arc more concerned with break ing windows in annual snowball fights than standing up for their beliefs. “These are the future leaders of the state,” he said. If blacks had an annual snowball fight they would be arrested for rioting, Chambers said. White oppression may not be mandated by law, he said, but it is still prevalent. He stressed the importance of blacks getting educated and involved to avoid staying in the condition whiles want them in. Chambers said many whites think, “ If I can just keep his concentration between the goal lines, then I’ve got him.” Council said blacks must support their po litical candidates, even if they don’t think they can win. She said Jesse Jackson proposed that Japan and West Germany pay for their own defenses, and now President George Bush’s administra tion is calling for the same. In that manner, she said, Jackson supporters have shown their power. - —.—-—. ■■..nm ,. --■■ — —-————— WlMm LjUffPiBy Wtniitwn Sy-Hwatig Uou, assistant professor ci physics and astronomy, tinkers with his uttra-high vacuum sputtering system. The vacuum is used to make superconducting films and costs about $10,000, Uou said. ~ * Superconducters researched By Michelle Chewy Staff Reporter Trains rushing at very high speeds may be a reality if University of Nebraska-Lincoln newcomer Sy Hwang Lion can develop a material that superconducts at room temperature. Uou, an assulantprofessor of astronomy and physics and a Taiwan wtiv*, came to UNL last August no study superconductor materials. Superconductors can conduct electrical energy with no resistanc*. Other materials cause resistance and waste energy in the form of heat Because superconductors have no resistance, there is no ky,t power and no generated heat from a direct current, according to Scientific American, a science magazine. Superconductors \tctt discovered in 1911 by Heike KamerUngh Chutes when he found that mercury, cooled by liquid helium at 4 degrees Kelvin, had no electrical resis tance, the magazine said Zero degrees Kelvin, which is absolve zero, equals minus 273 degrees Celsius. Lion said applications for superconduc tors will be easier to determine when more research is done. He said that finding a material able to supcrconduct at a high temperature is diffi cult, but when such materials art found, inventions such as high-speed trains and boats are made more economical. In 1987, several groups around the world discovered a material that superconducts at 90 degrees Kelvin, die magazine said. See LIOU on6 Financial aid director baffled by bank’s loan decision By Brandon Loomis Senior Reporter OTicc of Scholarships and Fi nancial Aid Director John Beacon said he doesn’t under stand Commercial Federal Savings and Loan’s decision last week to dis continue its student loan program be cause the bank has “very little to lose’’ by giving the loans. Bob Cochrane, Commercial Fed eral vice president, said rising default rates on Guaranteed Student Loans have cost the institution money. The default rates were part of the reason they discontinued the loans, he said. Cochrane said he did not know the exact default rate for students taking the loans, but said it has been higher than normal in recent years. Beacon said lending agencies get their money back when students de fault on loans. “Because the money is insured, any banker or lender really has little at risk,” Beacon said. Cochrane said although the loans are insured, when students default on their loans, the institution’s paper work piles up. “As the default rate rises, so do the administrative costs to the lender,” he said. The default rate at UNL is 9.4 percent. “That’s really very good,” Bea con said. According to the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s student news paper, UNO’s default rale is 23 per cent. Beacon said Commercial Federal currently ranks third among institu tions lending to UNL students, mak ing $590,000 in loans to 312 students this year. The biggest lender, Union Bank & TrustCo.Tlent about $3.4 million to 17,088 UNL students this year, he said. Cochrane said he expects that the decision to discontinue student loans will have little effect on students. “We’re probably one of the smaller lenders statewide” in the GSL program, he said, making only about S percent of the state’s loans. Cochrane said the decision to dis continue the loans, ettecuve at the beginning of the fall semester, will not necessarily be permanent. If the program again becomes feasible, he said, Commercial Federal will rein state the loans. Beacon said the 312 UNL students borrowing from Commercial Federal will have to find new banks, and may end up repaying both institutions at the same time. "What it means to students is inconvenience," he said.
