1ST TAr C E ^ "I CJ" Cl E" Associated Press
i 11 W JL^f 111 CDl Edited by Victoria Ayotte
Ortega suspends cease-fire
WASHINGTON - The While
House on Wednesday denounced
Nicaraguan President Daniel
Ortega’s decision to end a truce with
the U.S.-backed Contras but brushed
off talk about renewing military aid
for the rebels, saying ‘ ‘we don’t want
to give him any excuse” to cancel
next year’s elections.
The administration said President
George Bush was consulting with
leaders in Central America to bring
diplomatic pressure on Ortega to
reverse course.
“It is obvious that he’s afraid of
the ballot box,” White House press
secretary Marlin Fitzwatcr said, re
ferring to presidential elections set
for Feb. 25 in Nicaragua.
Congressional leaders also re
acted angrily to Ortega’s move, but
House Speaker Thomas S. Foley, D
Wash., said, “I can’t conceive of the
House moving now toward providing
military assistance. That’s not in the
direction of the peace process.”
Costa Rican President Oscar
Arias, who won the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1987 for spearheading efforts
for a regional peace accord, said in an
interview on the Cable News Net
work, “It’s, indeed, very sad to go
back to the military fight.”
Ortega, at a news conference in
Managua, suspended the 19-month
old cease-fire with the Contras, citing
continued rebel attacks, and hinted he
might cancel the elections. He ac
cused Bush of “supporting terrorism
in Nicaragua.”
He added, “Now it will depend on
the Yankee Congress and the Yankee
president that these elections take
place on Feb. 25.” Later, Alejandro
Bendana, secretary general of the
Foreign Ministry, said Nicaragua has
no plans to cancel the elections.
Responding quickly to Ortega,
Fitzwater said his announcement
“underscores the Sandinista re
gime’s lack of commitment to the
peace process and democratization in
Nicaragua. His deplorable action ...
is an affront to the hemisphere and the
democratic traditions we hold so
important.”
State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said the United
States wants the Contras, too, to
honor the cease-fire and will cut off
U.S. humanitarian assistance to rebel
forces that engage in offensive opera
tions.
However, he said Ortega’s
Sandinista army “has violated the
cease-fire from the day it was im
posed. It has conducted regular of
fensive sweeps against the resis
tance, resulting in over 100 killed in
the last five months.”
Boucher added, ‘‘In recent days,
we’ve seen the Sandinista-sponsored
thugs attack peaceful political rallies
by the Democratic opposition.”
A senior administration official
said that while the United States
wants the Contras to continue honor
ing the truce, “Obviously you cannot
tell people not to defend themselves.
We are hoping the Sandinistas will
reconsider.”
The official, insisting on anonym
ity, said Ortega might not resume the
fighting.
House votes for $4.25
minimum wage hike
WASHINGTON - The House
voted overwhelmingly Wednesday
to raise the hourly minimum wage
from $3.35 to $4.25 by April 1991
and create a new, lower wage for
teen-agers with less than six months
work experience.
The 382-37 vote on the compro
mise struck between President
George Bush and congressional
Democrats sends the measure to the
Senate, where leaders have promised
to pass it before Thanksgiving.
• “ Andy Manhart Daily Nebraskan
Performance artist shocks
BOSTON - Practitioners of
shock art have danced barefoot on
glass and bitten the heads off live
animals, but as one of them faces
possible arrest for lighting fire
works on his chest the question of
how much is too much is being
asked more than ever.
The limit, however, is “when
people arc placed without knowl
edge in a position of danger them
selves,” he said. Whether that
can be classified as art or not, it’s
inappropriate.”
Joe Coleman may have pro
vided the acid test in Boston.
Coleman, who appeared before
a small audience at the Boston
Film and Video Foundation, bit off
the head and front legs of a white
mouse and hugged one spectator
after he poured a bucket of blood
over himself.
r:m - a ■
SEPT. 15-NOV. 19
STATE FAIR PARK
I
VISSER from Page 1
letes because they would stop stu
dents from making up for bad grades
by taking summer classes.
Her desire to examine the effects
of the new academic standards led to
her investigation of student athletes’
records, she said.
Visser said she used spare time,
probably about two hours a day, to
access athletes’ academic records on
her computer and made a chart in a red
notebook of their grades.
She never made a student’s record
public to anyone outside the univer
sity, she said.
“It did not appear to me out of my
line of duty at all to do what I was
doing,” she said.
Visser said she always got good
performance evaluations. Her first
criticism by a supervisor was in Janu
ary 1988 when Gregory wrote a
memo saying she was late too often,
had too many personal visits and
phone calls and held loo many closed
door sessions.
Visscr responded the next day that
she was not late or did not have any
more personal business at work than
the other advisers. Visscr said she did
reduce the amount of personal busi
ness conducted at work.
On March 30, Gregory sent Visser
another memo about her absences,
personal conferences and phone calls
and closed-door sessions.
“I was totally surprised,” Visscr
said. ‘‘I felt 1 had corrected that.”
Visser said she asked Gregory for a
specific instance of his allegations,
and he cited the time she left for 30
minutes to pick up her daughter. Vis
ser said she left on her coffee break to
pick up her sick daughter, who had a
high fever and no transportation
home.
Visser responded to Gregory’s
memo by sending a memo to all gen
eral studies employees recounting
Gregory’s personal activities at work.
‘‘lam very offended by your lan
guage and sick jokes . . . and sexist
language,” the memo said. Visser
said this was not intended to question
Gregory’s authority.
Visser said she asked Gregory in
May 1988 if her work problems had
been corrected, and he said they had.
She said she found the atmosphere
in the general studies office differeni
after this memo. As a result, she said
she experienced stress overload and
took sick leave.
University attorney David Buntair
asked Visser in cross-examination ii
she told a co-worker she was ‘‘goinj
to get” Gregory following his criti
cism. Visser responded lhal she had
made such a comment, but in a whis
per.
In April, Visser wrote a letter to
Brad Munn, affirmative action officer
at UNL, about sexist comments made
in the office. Munn wrote a response
in which he said, “You are a very
brave person to battle what appear to
be ongoing problems.”
Visser testified that she filed a sex
ual discrimination suit, which was
investigated and then dismissed. She
also filed a grievance with Gregory,
which also was dismissed.
In front of the grievance commit
tee, Visser said, she raised the issue of
athletic concerns as a reason for her
treatment. The attorney investigating
her sexual discrimination suit also
received a letter from Gregory in
which he objected to interviewing
people about the athletic irregulari
ties.
Visser testified that she got a letter
in April 1988 from Gregory asking
her to meet with him when she re
lumed from sick leave. On May 13,
she learned that she would be placed
on probation starting May 17.
On May 16 she met with Griescn,
she said, and he asked her to stop her
report comparing old and new aca
demic standards and to slop accessing
athletes’ records unless they were her
advisees.
She said that after that meeting,
she didn’t access any records except
those that came to her under normal
working conditions.
At the May 17 meeting, Visser
said, she asked Griesen to outline the
reasons for her probation in writing,
which is university policy. He did not
do this, she said.
On June 17, after a lunch meeting
between Gregory, NU football coach
Tom Osborne, Griesen and other NU
sports officials, Gregory reprimanded
Visser because of the advice she gave
Douglas Steven Zatcchka, Jr., a pre
med student.
Visser had advised Zatechka to
take science and math classes, she
said. This was contrary to advice
given him by Gregory, who told Zat
echka to take science and English
courses, she said.
Visser said she didn’t understand
Gregory’s advice because most pre
med students arc advised to take sci
ence and math.
Gregory was “very angry” when
he reprimanded her, Visser said. She
filed a complaint with Griesen, but
did not get a response until a pre-ter
mination letter she received July 27
while she was at home on sick leave.
The pre-termination letter criti
cized her work performance and said
she had been unethical when she
advised another student, Bridget
Heimes.
Heimes, Visser said, was a student
who once had high grades but had
since been expelled after three semes
ters of academic probation.
After her expulsion, Heimes told
Visser that she w-as attending
classes, Visser said. Heimes was
getting A’s in the classes and Visser
advised her to continue attending
class while she appealed her dis
missal, Visser said.
Heimes’ appeal was granted,
Visser said. This is the advice she
would give all students in a similar
situation, she said.
In the pre-termination letter, Vis
scr said, she was told her salary
would be cut and her office space
used unless she came .back to work
before her termination. Visser came
back to work and wrote Gregory a
memo saying she wanted to work to
create a positive atmosphere in the
general studies office.
Gregory never responded, v issu
said, and she was called lo Gricscn s
office two days later, Aug. 26,1988.
She said she was accused of creating
office disharmony and sharing other
job opportunities with co-workers.
She then got a letter from Gricscn
notifying her she would be fired ef
fective Sept. 2. Visser filed another
grievance with Gregory and a dis
crimination charge with the Ne
braska Equal EmploymcntCommis
sion.
“I felt my termination was un
just.” Her grievance was denied.
She received a right-to-suc letter
from the Department of Justice Nov.
11, which led lo her lawsuit against
the regents, Gregory and Gricscn.
Wagner and Griescn arc sched
uled to take the stand today. Visser’s
attorney, Thom Cope, said the stu
dents Visser advised will take the
stand in her defense.
Nebraskan
Editor Amy Edwards
Professional Adviser Don Watton
473-7301
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_1989 DAILY NEBRASKA_
