September 13, 1989 University of Nebraska-Lincoln_Vol. 89 No. 12
WEATHER:
Wednesday, cloudy and cool with a 70 percent
chance of showers. High in the low 50s and
winds from the northeast from 5 to 15 miles per
hour. Wednesday night, a 40 percent chance
of showers and a low in the 40s Thursday,
mostly cloudy and warmer with a high from 65
to 70.
INDEX
News Digest.2
Editorial.4
Sports.7
Arts & Entertainment.10
Classifieds .11
Official says UNL not vulnerable
Universities warned of liability for viruses
8y Kendra Gill
Staff Reporter
Ithough universities have been warned
they are liable for computer viruses
started on their system, a UNL official
said he does not think the University of Ne
braska- Lincoln is susceptible to such lawsuits.
A report conducted by United Educators
Risk Retention Group and the American Coun
cil on Education last March showed that uni
versities can be liable for viruses on their
systems.
Gerald Kulish, associate director of aca
demic computing at the UNL Computing Re
source Center, said he does not believe that
UNL is vulnerable to lawsuits at this time
because of the university’s policies and be
cause no legal precedent exists.
If a student was accused of creating the
virus, the plaintiff would probably have to
prove the student acted on behalf of the univer
sity and not of hisown free will, Kutish said.
Even if an employee created a virus, Kutish
thinks UNL has taken enough precautions to
protect itself from a suit.
A plaintiff who brings suit against the uni
versity would have to prove that the university
was negligent in taking precautions against
viruses, be said.
A virus is a program that duplicates itself
and travels from computer to computer de
stroying or altering data in its path. When it
expands, the virus can erase other programs.
The study, “Computer Viruses: Legal and
Policy Issues Facing Colleges and Universi
ties,” was commissioned to inform colleges of
the risks they faced if a virus was found to have
originated on their computer system.
Someone damaged by a computer virus
would try to recover losses from the defendant
with the “deepest pockets,” the report noted.
The institution, not the individual who wrote
the rogue program, would be targeted.
The schools’ interest in their potential re
sponsibility for computer-virus cases was
piqued by iast November’s incident at Cornell
University when graduate student Robert T.
Morris allegedly caused the shutdown of about
6,(XX) computers across the country with a
maverick program.
This summer, Morris was indicted under the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The report
predicts that colleges also may have to shoul
der the blame for viruses.
Few laws deal with computer viruses and no
court decisions to date have set precedents to
give colleges definite protection from lawsuits.
The report suggested that colleges minimize
their risks by:
• Setting policies to discourage students and
employees from creating viruses.
• Spreading information on the damage a
virus causes and strategies to deal with an
outbreak.
• Creating plans for a coordinated response to
a virus outbreak, including provisions to work
with law enforcement agencies when neces
sary_
• Contracting warranties that limit access of
campus computers to people outside the col
lege.
• Reviewing insurance coverage to ensure
policies pay for the costs of fighting a virus.
UNL has Computer Abuse Policies de
signed to protect the university against liability
and discourage computer abuse, Kutish said.
Also, civil or criminal charges based on NU
Board of Regents and Nebraska bylaws could
be filed against anyone tampering with pro
grams or destroying equipment, he said.
Policies, newsletter articles and identifica
tion requirements for lab access help discour
age computer abuse, he said. But fully one-half
of UNL computer labs arc unstaffed. With this
freedom of access comes the temptation to
abuse computer privileges, Kutish said.
One attempt to inject a virus into UNL’s
computer system happened last fall in the
microcomputer lab in Schramm Hall. Kutish
See VIRUS on 5
UNL biology professor snubs warnings;
will journey to Colombia to hunt frogs
By Natalie Weinstein
Staff Reporter _
In less than three weeks, John
D. Lynch will travel to Co
lombia despite warnings
from the U.S. government of the
danger from drug lords.
But Lynch isn’t scared.
“I don’t pay attention to the
U.S. government. What Jo they
know?” said Lynch, a University
of Nebraska-Lincoln biology pro
fessor.
In fact, Lynch said, he is look
ing forward to the trip.
Lynch will speak at the 11th
Latin American Congress of Zool
ogy in Cartagena, Colombia. He
said a close friend has assured him
this Caribbean coast city is safe.
Lynch has spent 13 of the last 15
summers catching and studying
frogs in rural parts of Colombia
and Ecuador. He spends half his
summer in the wild and the other .
half at the Institute of Natural Sci
ences in Bogota. Lynch uses the
frogs to study their evolution.
Of the 3,500 known species of
frogs, Lynch has named about 150
of them. He has another 50 to 60
unnamed species sitting in his of
fice and even more at the museum
in Colombia. Lynch also spent fall
1985 teaching as a Fulbright pro
fessor at the National University of
Colombia in Bogota and other
Colombian universities.
Frog hunting in Colombia al
ways has been risky, fie said. When
he first went in 1967, guerrilla
groups were threatening the coun
try. He waited 12 years before he
returned.
It wasn’t until the mid-1980s,
however, that the drug dealers
became a “big pain, ’ he said.
Lynch has never been threat
ened, but he always takes precau
I lions. Before he leaves each sum
mer, he reads the newspapers,
watches the news, listens to the
radio and talks with friends to find
the relatively safe places.
His fluent Spanish tricks a lot of
Colombians into thinking he’s
European. He usually doesn’t let
them know they’re wrong, he said.
Lynch said he knows he is going
there just to find frogs, but “who is
going to believe that?’’ He said
many Colombians would piu him
as an emerald smuggler, a drug
dealer or a member of the CIA.
Yet it would take “something
fairly dramatio.” such as a civil
war, to stop him from returning;.
Drug lords aren’t the only dan
gerous aspect of his work. His
greatest fear is getting lost by
himself, which has happened sev
eral times. But the best frog hunt
ing takes place at night in rain for
ests, swamps and high-altitude
grasslands.
Along with frogs, these places
are populated with electric eels,
poisonous snakes, crocodiles,
scorpions, centipedes, spiders, pi
ranhas ami jaguars. He has been
bitten before, he said, but it’s part
of the job.
* ‘I won’t hi> Id myself hostage to
fears,” he said.
< Dav* HanaaVCaity Nabraakan
UNL biology professor John D. Lynch with Colombian frogs
he uses to study their evolution.
Officials to film stands
to catch cup-throwers
By Emily Rosenbaum
Staff Reporter
Officials concerned about the
dangers of cup wars during
Nebraska football games will
film students to prevent the problems
that plagued the stands two years ago.
Three* cup fights were started in
the student section during the Ne
braska-Northern Illinois football
game Saturday, said Lt. Ken Cauble
of the UNL Police Department.
Lincoln police and the Nebraska
State Patrol stopped the fights.
At the first game two years ago,
plastic cups were stacked together to
form a “snake” and then were
thrown in the stands. Several specta
tors were injured by flying cups and
other items.
Cauble said officials taped stu
dents last year and the year before and
reviewed the tapes after the games.
Students who could be identified
were charged with various violations,
depending on what they did, Cauble
said.
Cauble said cup throwing eventu
ally slopped because students real
ized it could cause injuries. He said it
started again because students forgot
about its dangers.
UNL police officers will vide
otape the stands at the stadium and
concentrate on sections that create
problems, Cauble said.
UNL police Sgl. Mylo Bushing
said the plastic cups may seem harm
less but have caused injuries in the
past, especially when they are
stacked together.
Capt. John Becker of the Lincoln
Police Department said, “It’s no
longer a fun event when people get
hurt.”
It’s no longer a fun
event when
people get hurt
— Becker
Police officers can remove specta
tors from the stadium and arrest them
when they throw cups or other items,
Becker said. Serious offenders also
can permanently be banned from
UNL football games, he said.
“We’d like to get a handle on it
(the cup throwing) now, before it gets
bad . . . Bushing said. “We’re
going to keep a close eye on it.’’
“We’re asking for common sense
from the spectators,” Becker said.
“We’d like to rely on their maturity
to stop this activity.”
He said cup throwing often leads
to the throwing of other items, such as
bottles.
One spectator was injured Satur
day by a whiskey bottle tossed in the
crowd, Becker said.
See CUPS on 6
Inflation hinders library
By Barb Tillman
Staff Reporter
Even with a 3 percent increase
to its base budget, Love Li
brary actually is losing
ground this year because of a 9 per
cent inflation rate on books and jour
nals, said Kent Hendrickson, dean of
libraries.
“We’ll be able to buy fewer new
items than last year,” Hendrickson
said, “but some of this will be offset
by one-time funds from the chancel
lor.”
These funds have been around
$ 125,000 a year for the last two years.
Love Library also will receive
additional funding to support re
search initiatives.
Hendrickson said he does not an
ticipate cutting any library programs.
But because the cost of journals and
books is rising, the library cannot buy
additional subscriptions or build on
book collections, he said.
/
‘‘Wc won’t be able to add new
journal subscriptions unless we cut
something, but wc don’t anticipate
it,” Hendrickson said.
This year’s budget for books and
journals is short $600,000 or
$700,000, Hendrickson said.
UNL generally ranks in the lower
half of the Big Eight in terms of
library funds and collections.
‘‘We’re always ahead of Okla
homa State and Kansas State,” Hen
drickson said, ‘‘but wc generally fall
behind most of the others.”
This year, Love Library expects to
receive new library automation
equipment. This equipment eventu
ally will replace the card catalog
system with a computer system.
The Legislature allocated
$1,500,000 to be shared by UNL and
the University of Nebraska at Omaha
for library automation.
‘‘We hope to have it all up and
running by April of 1990,” Hen
drickson said.
