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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
*
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“*>
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