The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, November 27, 1989, Image 1
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