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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1989)
1 ^l1l7 WEATHER: INDEX Tuesday, mostly sunny, breezy and warm with high 40, SE winds 10-20 mph. Tuos- News Digest ? day afternoon, high clouds with low upper Editorial*.. ... 4 20s to 30 Wednesday, mostly sunny, high Sports.5 mid-50s. Thursday through Saturday, Arts & Entertainment.6 warm and dry with highs 60-70. Classifieds.7 March 7, 1989 _University of Nebraska-Lincoln__Vol. 88 No. 115 Chambers, Griesen back scholarship bill By Natalie Weinstein Staff Reporter State senators heard testimony Monday from eight support ers of a bill that would estab lish a $1 million endowment for undergraduate minority student scholarships at the University of Nebraska. State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha told the Nebraska Legisla ture’s Education Committee that LB453 would create a “desperately needed’* scholarship program. James Griesen, UNL vice chan cellor for student affairs, testified in support of the bill. A minority schol arship program such as this one “is one of the greatest needs we have at UNL,’’ Griesen said. The bill would appropriate $800,000 in state funds. Private do nations would cover the other $200,000. Chambers, who introduced the bill, said he originally wrote the bill to include only black students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After listening to public testi mony, Chambers said he would sup port amendments to include black, Hispanic and American Indian stu dents at both UNL and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He said he would limit LB453 to UNO and UNL so the impact of the bill would not be diluted. Asian-American students are not included in the bill, Griesen said, because they are not under-repre sented at the university level. Griesen said universities have been “moving in the wrong direc tion” in terms of minority enroll ment. For example, he said, black students made up 5.5 percent of the college population nationwide in 1976-1977. This had dropped to 4.9 percent in 1986-1987. Richard Gilliland, president of Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, testified in support of the bill. Although the bill would not af fect community colleges, Gilliland said he supported the bill because financial restrictions are the main reason minority students do not enter universities and the main reason minority students drop out. Don Lienemann of Papilhon was the only person to testify against the bill. Lienemann called the bill a hand out. “We’ve got too much of this giv ing, giving, giving,’’ he said. Chambers said the bill would give hope to minority students. The mi nority students who would receive the help could return to support the community once they graduate. He said state money is needed because private donations arc loo small to do any good. About $90,000 in private funds have already been pledged, said Dick Davis, director of administration and government relations at Northern Plains Natural Gas Company in Omaha. Davis’ brother, Rick Davis, died in September and left $50,000 in his will for a minority scholarship pro-1 gram. The Davis family has pledged another $10,000 toward it. Both Davis brothers attended col lege on football scholarships -- Dick at UNL and Rick at UNO. Davis said L they both “had a dream to someday ' set up a scholarship fund’’ to allow young people to attend college with out having to rely on athletic ability. According to Davis, Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne and * ft 3 G “*> Fall 1986 UNL O Enrollments t> i ■o Fall 1988 UNO = Enrollments ^_^57 i ___r £ 988-89 Douglas 5J_J---^ Count* *** WminiinTrrrrmrmi m ///77i>-51—< F=^---: /- -. 7 / ;/—T ■ Y 0% 4% 8% 12% 16% 20% 'ources: Nebraska Department of Education; UNL/UNO Institutional Research Office. John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan Nebraska Athletic Director Bob also pledged $5,(XX) a year for five Devaney have each pledged S1,000 years from athletic shoe contract toward the endowment. Osborne has money, Davis said. " Nebraska Legislature fails to take action on LB224 By Jerry Guenther Staff Reporter . ^ _ ter more than two hours of debate Monday, the Nebraska Legislature ailed to take action on a bill that would require sports agents to register with the Secre tary of State before contacting student athletes at colleges and universities. LB224, which would create the Athlete Agents Registration Act, states that agents must provide background information on their education, training, experience and character before being allowed to represent student ath letes. The act also would require agent applicants to post a $25,000 bond that would be used to pay damages if the agent misrepresents or deceives an athlete. Sen. Jim McFarland of Lincoln, co-sponsor of the bill, said the act is designed to give athletes some protection against “unscrupu lous” agents. McFarland said unqualified agents often represent athletes. As a result, he said, these agents make poor investment and financial decisions that cause the athletes to lose money. Other times, McFarland said, agents post date contracts, telling athletes they won’t lose their college eligibility if they sign early. “Many of them are naive enough to think that’s true,” he said. McFarland also said the act would prevent agents from charging excessive amounts of money for representation. As an example, McFarland said, an unscru pulous agent charged former Nebraska running back Mike Rozier a fee of 13 percent of the contract he signed out of college. The average cost for an agent usually is between 3 and 5 percent of the contract, he said. Under the act, agents would not be allowed tocharge more than 10 percent of the payments the athlete will receive during a given year of the contract. J McFarland said nine other slates have legis lation similar to LB224. Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha opposed the bill, saying some of the language wasn’t de fined or was unconstitutional. Chambers said the act violates the rights of privacy of agents by asking them to provide too much personal information. Even bankers and lawyers who have a greater impact on society are not required to disclose that much information, he said. Moreover, Chambers said, no other profes sion sets a maximum amount that professionals can charge for their services. Chambers said the bill unintentionally fa vors the wealthy by forcing applicants to post a bond before being allowed to become an agent in the state. Sen. Loran Schmit of Bellwood also spoke out against the bill, saying that often times a “well-intentioned piece of legislation” fails to • solve the problems it seeks to address. Chambers then moved to indefinitely post none the bill and the motion failed H-2Q He then moved to amend the bill by striking out a part that would require contracts to state that the student athlete could be jeopardizing his or her eligibility by entering into the contract. Chambers said part of the bill wasn’t neces sary and that striking it would “tidy up this bill.” The motion failed 11-15. Chambers then moved to amend the bill by striking the amount the agents could charge in accordance with the 10-perccnl fee schedule. Chambers said making a law to set a fee schedule for agents is “irrational” and “un reasonable.” That amendment failed 15-15. During debate on the amendments, McFar land charged Chambers with wasting time. McFarland said he would be willing to work' with Chambers on any technical amendments, but said many of Chambers’ accusations were “overstated and misstated.” The Legislature adjourned without voting on passage of the bill. Blanket of Ice Piet*, a sculpture south of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, wore a blanket of ice Monday afternoon. The sculpture is by Bruno Inches. The temperature dipped to 10 degrees Monday night but is expected to More controversy surfaces on Pawnee-remains issue By Brandon Loomis Senior Reporter Panel members at a public dis cussion Monday debated whether archaeologists should have asked permission to study Pawnee Indian remains before digging them up. Orlan Svengen, a history professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University, called the remains that the Nebraska State Historical Society holds “sto len property ’' because archaeologists never asked the Pawnee for permis sion to exhume them. “1 have yet to find a single trace that the Pawnee said ‘dig up our an cestors, please,”’ he said. Svengen said a state law that ex isted before most of the remains were obtained requires anyone dealing with dead bodies to get a permit or a court order. “That was not done,” he said. About 30 people listened to the discussion of the pros and cons of LB340, a bill facing the Nebraska Legislature that would require the Nebraska State Historical Society to return remains and burial goods to the Pawnee for reburial. The discussion was in the Ne braska Union. John Ludwickson, a highway ar chaeologist for the historical society who was in the audience, said the archaeologists doing the excavations 50 years ago never asked permission, but did inform the Pawnee of their actions. Svengen said even if laws do not mandate getting consent from the Pawnee, ethics should. Peter Bleed, UNL associate pro fessor of anthropology, said scien tific study for academic purposes is invaluable. ‘ ‘Science is the freedom to inves tigate,” Bleed said. Satellites pass overhead every day, collecting information without asking permission of the subjects, he said. Cathie Masters vice president of the Nebraska Association of Profes sional Archaeologists, said the bones are important for scientific and his See BURIAL on 3