November 27,1989University of Nebraska-Lincoln _ Vol. 89 No. <L
Private citizen files suit against regents
By Amic DeFrain
Staff Reporter
A former aide to former state Sen. John
DeCamp has filed suit against the NU
Board of Regents for allegedly going
into an illegal closed session July 31 when it
fired NU President Ronald Roskens.
Daniel Meyer is suing the board and student
regents Bryan Hill and Paula Effie individually
and in their official capacities. He filed suit in
Lancaster County District Court Nov. 17.
Meyer, who threatened to sue the board in
August, said he waited because Attorney Gen
eral Robert Spire and other officials also were
considering legal actions.
I waited until it looked like no one else was
going to do anything,” he said.
Spire ruled Oct. 12 that the board did not
violate the Open Meetings Law when it fired
Roskens.
In the suit written by DeCamp, who is
representing Meyer in the case, the regents are
accused of violating the Nebraska Open Meet
ings Law because they did not have “any
discussion, deliberation, explanation or justifi
cation ... to deny the public their right of
access to the proceedings.”
According to Section 84-1410 of the Ne
braska Revised Statues, a closed session can be
held if it is “clearly necessary for the protec
tion of the public interest or for the prevention
of needless injury to the reputation of an indi
vidual, and if such individual has not requested
public meeting.”
Meyer’s suit says that before voting to close
the meeting, the regents did not give the public
any “facts” or justification to show that it was
“clearly necessary” for a closed session. The
suit stales that no facts were before the board
that could have injured Roskens’ reputation or
that such injury was “needless.”
The suit also says that, after reconvening,
the regents immediately voted on and passed
,
an agreement made between them and Roskens
during the closed session. This vote was made
with no explanation or justification of the
agreement, and the public was not allowed to
participate or debate before the vote, the suit
says.
Section 84-1411 says that “when it is neces
sary to hold an emergency meeting without
reasonable advance public notice, the nature of
the emergency shall be slated in the minutes
and any formal action taken in such a meeting
shall pertain only to the emergency.”
Based on the agreement, the suit says, the
board took the following actions:
• Roskens was immediately removed from
office.
• Martin Massengale was appointed in
terim president.
• Roskens was appointed to the new posi
tion of president emeritus beginning Aug. 1.
• Roskens was appointed to the new posi
tion of professor of higher education-Univer
sity of Nebraska with tenure until June 30,
1991.
• The board agreed not to “pursue legal
recourse” against Roskcns.
• The board agreed to pay Roskens his
previous salary of $250,000 until June 30,
1991, and promised that he would not have any
responsibilities while holding these new posi
tions if he did not sue the board and remained
silent about what went on during the closed
meeting.
The decisions made in the closed meeting
“clearly violated” Nebraska law “by going
far beyond the scope or form which the public
has been notified was to be the purpose of the
closed session according to the advance notice
that was given,” the suit says.
An advanced-meeting notice written by
William Swanson, corporation secretary of the
board, stated that the purpose of meeting was to
See MEYER on 3
Parking officials
gain insight from
national survey
By Roger Price
Staff Reporter
A comprehensive survey of parking at
other universities has given UNL park
ing officials many ideas for improve
ments at the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln,
said John Burke, UNL parking administrator.
The survey of 11 state institutions and one
private school was conducted by the UNL
Parking Advisory Committee to sec how other
schools handle parking on campus.
“We always pick up ideas from other insti
tutions,” Burke said.
Burke said one conclusion he has drawn
from the results of the survey is that parking
budgets increase considerably when universi
ties build parking garages. As a result, Burke
said, he sees no reason for building a parking
garage at UNL.
“I just can’t sec us spending that much
money on a garage when there are so many
spaces available in outlying lots,” Burke said.
The survey also found that students at the
University of Colorado in Boulder pay for
parking based on the proximity of their lot to
campus.
Burke said the UNL Parking Advisory
Committee will look at a similar system of
/.one parking “before the year is out.”
The reserved stalls in UNL lots also arc
similar to /one parking, Burke said, because
students pay for the convenience of spots close
to campus.
In the survey of 12 universities. Harvard
University in Cambridge, Mass., charges the
most for a residence hall parking permit - $400
a year.
Burke said Harvard was included in the
survey to provide committee members with an
idea of fees charged at a private university.
The University of Texas at Austin charges
$13 a year for a residence hall parking permit
making it the cheapest of the 12 schools.
The survey also found that eight of the 12
schools surveyed offer some form of shuttle
service, although not all are run by the parking
offices.
In addition to providing a lot of information,
Burke said, the survey raised a lot of questions.
As a result, the UNL parking office is planning
to send a supplementary questionnaire to the
same institutions, he said.
The follow-up questionnaire will include
questions asking for the number of shuttle
riders and for a breakdown of parking budgets,
Burke said.
The schools surveyed include the Univer
sity of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Iowa
Stale University, the University of Colorado at
Boulder, the University of Kansas, the Univer
sity of Missouri at Columbia, the University of
Oklahoma-Norman, Kansas State University,
the University of Texas at Austin, Oklahoma
State University, Purdue University, Califor
nia State University at Long Beach and Har
vard.
The schools were chosen based on a compa
rable number of stalls, parking budgets and
student populations, Burke said.
Night doctors harder to find for UHC
By Roger Price
Staff Reporter
Local factors and a national trend to limit
the number of hours physicians can work
during their residency arc making it
harder for the University Health Center to keep
a doctor on duly during the nights and week
ends, an official said.
Dr. Gerald Flcischli, director of medical
services at the health center, said the center is
"very fortunate to be able to maintain cover
»l
age.
The health center hires residents, who arc
fully licensed physicians in postgraduate train
ing, to work nights and weekends to provide
24-hour coverage, Flcischli said.
Fleischli said there is a national trend to
limit residents’ work hours to less than 100 a
week.
Locally, Flcischli said, the Lincoln Family
Practice Program, a residency program of the
University of Nebraska Medical Center, told
the health center that it would not allow physi
cians to “moonlight” at the center.
Until last spring, residents from Lincoln
Family Practice had made up half of the health
center’s residents, he said.
See RESIDENT on 6
N U president to receive package of perks
By Jana Pedersen
Senior Reporter
For candidates seeking the University of
Nebraska presidency, there’s more at
stake than a six-digit salary.
The next NU chief executive also will be
awarded a package of presidential perquisites
-- better known as perks.
Joe Rowson, NU director of public affairs,
said one of the larger presidential perks, in
addition to a possible $112,000 salary, is a
“residence" that was donated to the NU Foun
dation.
Theresa Klein, director of public relations
and publications for the foundation, said
houses have been donated to the foundation for
the president and also for the chancellors of the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln and Univer
sity of Nebraska at Omaha. A house has not yet
been provided for the Chancellor of the Uni
versity of Nebraska Medical Center, she said.
“Something that usually happens with any
type of major CEO of an institution or organi
zation is that housing is provided," Klein said.
Because the house is leased to NU through
the foundation, the university also is respon
sible for any maintenance and upkeep on it, she
said.
Rowson said the president’s house on Nor
man Road includes a large kitchen and dining
See PERKS on 6