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23, 1989 University of Nehraska-Lincoln_ Vol. 88 No. 127
Student control
of fees rejected
By David G. Young
Staff Reporter
SUN Sen. Brian Svoboda said he thinks
students will gain more control over
student fees in the future despite action
taken by the Committee for Fees Allocation
Tuesday night.
CFA voted 6-1 to reject a bill submitted by
Svoboda that would urge changes in bylaws of
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to allow
for direct student allocation of University Pro
grams and Facilities Fees.
V s v A SS ‘ > s , %
7 get a sense that the
natives are getting rest
less.’
~Svoboda
Under the current structure, UPFF alloca
tions go through the Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska, Vice Chancellor
for Student Affairs James Griesen, Chancellor
Martin Massengale and the NU Board of Re
gents.
avoooua saiu ne ininits uns sysicui pruuauiy
will change.
“I think that there will be questioning of the
student fee process in the future,” he said.
‘‘For ASUN’s sake, it should be ASUN who
takes a lead in this move.
“I get a sense that the natives are getting
restless,” he said, “that people want change in
student government. I hope that student gov
ernment realizes this before it’s too late.”
If the bill had been passed, Svoboda said, it
completely would have changed “the attitude
of the student body that ASUN has no power. ’ *
“I want to give (ASUN) something to do
that has a real binding effect,’ ’ he said. “I think
that can only be done through a structural
change.”
Svoboda said he was surprised CFA mem
bers questioned the bill.
‘ *Tt cave c/Mn^thinntn mr» ahrtnt th/a ahi litv rtf
" J ---O —--/ - '
our student leaders to engage in thoughtful
debate,” Svoboda said.
CFA member Jill Durbin said giving stu
dents total control over student tees would
cause more problems than it would solve.
‘‘I don’t think people at UNL would want
CFA to have total control,” she said. “If I had
total control, I’d have to quit school to look at
these budgets.”
Svoboda disagreed.
“I think that argument is a kind of red
herring,” he said. “It implies that CFA is not
doing an adequate job now with the student fee
process. If CFA is doing its job now, it should
be able to do its job regardless of who is making
See CFA on 3
■S inn , , ... . -—--——.”.... i
wmwn uuw/uwy inanMwi
1 UNL Chancellor Martin Massengale talks wHh journalist end former U.S. State Department spokesman Bernard Kalb
before Kalb’s speech Wednesday.
I Kalb: Reporters are surrogates
By Brandon Loomis
Former journalist and U.S. State De
partment spokesman Bernard Kalb
said that despite the public's view
that journalists are pushy, reporters should
press harder to disclose government actions
and policies.
Kalb, who gave the year’s final Coopcr
UNL series lecture Wednesday, said jour
nalists are the "surrogates” of the Ameri
can public and need to pry into government
affairs so Americans know what their gov
ernment’s policies are.
Kalb worked for CBS and NBC news
from 1962 until 1984. He was a State De
partment spokesman in 1985 and 1986.
Having had first-hand experience, Kalb
said the government unnecessarily covers
up issues when it should discuss its policies
and get feedback from citizens
"An administration should disclose
more and classify less,” he said, so the
public will understand policies.
“You cannot create a policy that is in full
collision with what America stands for and
what Americans perceive of the world,”
Kalb said, referring to the Vietnam War,
when the U.S. government ignored public
sentiment.
He said the State Department gives its
spokesmen carefully-previewed answers
for reporters’ questions, with obscure back
up categories of answers labeled “If
pressed,” and “If pressed further,” in case
reporters are persistent
However, information is sometimes
withheld for legitimate national security
reasons, Kalb said.
But the government does hide facts for
ridiculous reasons, he said, or for no other
reason than to avoid embarrassment.
Spokesmen often respond to questions by
telling journalist old news.
“There’s a heavy percentage of re
sponses ... that are suffering from acute
anemia.”
When the government will not disclose
information, he said, reporters should dig
for it, pressing spokesmen until they talk. If
the spokesmen won’t talk, reporters should
find die information themselves, he said.
“The fact that the doors are locked
doesn’t mean that you (reporters) stop being
aggressive,” he said.
The nosey image of the press is a product
of planning by the White House, he said.
Former President Ronald Reagan staged
confrontations with the press near helicop
ters and noisy areas to make reporters seem
rude to television viewers, Kalb said,
“That’s precisely what the White House
wanted them to think.”
In response to a question about how ag
gressive the Soviet press has become under
glasnost, Kalb said Soviet reporters write
about the evils of Stalin and the stagnant
Soviet economy, but are still restrained by
the government
“There is still the quick, brutal hand of
censorship,” Kalb said. “The idea of criti
cizing Gorbachev is a no-no.”
Regents meet nationally to discuss issues
I By Eric Pfanner
Staff Reporter
ix members of the NU Board
of Regents were among 1,500
LI regents and trustees from
around the United States who gath
ered in Boston last weekend to dis
cuss issues affecting higher educa
tion.
Rosemary Skrupa of Omaha said
that at one meeting she attended dur
ing tne Association ot uoveming
Boards for Higher Education Confer
ence, the consensus of governing
board members was that student re
gent votes should be unofficial.
Donald Fricke of Lincoln, Robert
Allen of Hastings, Kermit Hansen of
Elkhom, Don Blank of McCook, and
Nancy Hoch of Nebraska City also
attended the conference, which
lasted from Saturday to Tuesday.
Skrupa said those who said they
supported the unofficial student vote
m the meeting opposed omciai votes
because they were a “conflict of
interest” for the student regent,
Skrupa said.
At some universities, she said,
student regents are not chosen by
student vote. At the University of
Maryland, student regents are chosen
by a “selective process” of the re
gents, she said. If candidates are re
viewed favorably, she said, they can
be “eligible to become part of the
club.”
oKrupa saia sne is giaa rs u siuucni
regents are elected by the student
body because in the past, the elected
student regents have done an “out
standing” job.
Hansen said the conference was
divided into two parts. Sessions Sat
urday and Sunday were for new re
gents, while sessions Monday and
Tuesday dealt with specific problems
faced by governing boards, he said.
Skrupa said one interesting ses
sion concerned the effects of student
loans on society, dome speakers saiu
women and minorities have diffi
culty paying back student loans on
time.
Therefore, she said, these speak
ers proposed starting payback pro
grams for these loans two years or
more after graduation, instead of af
ter six months, as is commonly done
now.
Some of the sessions also con
See REGENTS on 3
lASUN rejects bonuses for three legal services employees
I By Ryan Steeves
Stiff Reporter
r ■ i he Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska
Wednesday night struck down
a proposal to give $150 in bonuses to
three employees of Student Legal
Services.
Senators voted 17-3 against the
resolution proposed by Committee
for Fees Allocation member Keith
Malo. Some senators and ASUN
President Jeff Petersen said it is an
inappropriate way to allocate money.
The proposal would have given a
$50 bonus to Shelley Stall, director of
legal services, Susan Tast, part-time
attorney, and secretary Mary Henres.
Sen. Missy Peters, a member of
CFA, said the services’ employees
“performed their duties beyond the
job description by far’’ and deserve
the bonus.
Peters, who represents the College
of Arts & Sciences, said the attorneys
get paid much less than Lincoln attor
neys. A bonus would have shown that
senators appreciate the employees’
performance, she said.
The $50 bonus is half the amount
of an earlier bonus approved this year
for two other ASUN employees, Pe
ters said.
ASUN voted on March 8 to appro
priate $100 to Marlene Beyke, ASUN
director of development, and Paula
Allen, ASUN executive/senate secre
tary.
Sen. Chip Drcescn of the College
of Arts & Sciences said the appropria
tion to Beyke and Allen was approved
for performing extra duties after
Jackie McCullough, an administra
tive assistant for the Government
Liaison Committee, resigned Jan. 16.
Dree sen said employees in legal serv
ices have simply performed their job.
Sen. Jill Durbin of the College of
Arts & Sciences said ASUN should
allocate more money to employees
through budgets, not bonuses.
“But now we need to be realistic
about how we spend our money,”
Durbin said.
Sen. T.K. Olson of the College of
Law voted for the bill, saying the
employees deserve the bonus for
handling an increased workload.
Olson said it takes an enormous
amount of time to prepare that many
cases.
“There’s a tremendous amount of
work,” he said, “and I think son)e
reward is in order.”
