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I Friday, mostly sunny and not as cold, high in the News Digest.2
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Saturday, mostly sunny, high in the mid- to upper- Arts & Entertainment..... 9
Classifieds.11
Vol. 89 No. aft 77
election of NU financial adviser still pending
} wy jerry uuenther
B Senior Reporter
m
fK A ^er vot‘n8 10 postpone selec
tion of a financial adviser for
■r ^ the University of Nebraska,
» the NU Board of Regents still appears
undecided over the controversial is
| sue of whether FirsTicr Bank should
I be retained.
The regents arc scheduled to meet
| again Saturday, but it is unlikely that
I* a decision will be made then.
Joe Rowson, UNL director of
I public affairs, said he doesn’t think
the regents have a deadline to choose
an adviser.
Rowson said the issue is not in
cluded on Saturday’s agenda and he
doesn’t expect anyone to bring it up
because no materials concerning it
had arrived as of Thursday morning.
An ad hoc committee that re
viewed NU’s financial advisory situ
ation had recommended to retain
FirsTier as financial adviser, but
regents postponed choosing an ad
viser when some members expressed
concern about the review process and
possible conflicts of interest during
the October meeting.
Regent Donald Fricke of Lincoln,
chairman of the regents’ business
affairs committee, said he wants to
see the issue moved along, but real
izes the regents have other important
considerations to address.
Fricke said there has been a lot of
unfair criticism surrounding the se
lection process, and he believes the
criticism is unfounded.
”1 don’t think there was anything
out of line with the selection proc
ess,” Fricke said.
Regardless of whether the regents
take action on the issue Saturday,
Fricke said, he thinks FirsTier even
tually will be selected.
“If wc don’t get it addressed at
this meeting, we’ll address it at our
next meeting,” Fricke said. ‘‘Thirty
days isn’t going to make that much of
a difference.”
Regent Rosemary Skrupa of
Omaha, who voted to postpone Firs
Tier’s approval in October, said she
still has ‘‘some really grave reserva
tions about retaining them.”
Although Skrupa said she doesn’t
7 don’t think there
was anything out
of line with the se
lection process. ’
— Fricke
favor selecting FirsTier, she isn’t
bothered that NU Interim President
and UNL Chancellor Martin Massen
gale serves on the board of directors
of FirsTier Financial Inc.
Skrupa said she would rather have
more than one company serve as fi
nancial consultant and adviser, even
though she owns stock in FirsTier.
“I think we should redo the proc
ess,” Skrupa said. ‘‘When you’re
talking about bonds, you’re talking
big money.”
Alan Seagren, who headed the ad
hoc committee that recommended to
retain FirsTier as financial adviser
for the NU system, said the search for
an adviser began last July.
Seagren said he was aware of criti
cisms of the selection process, but
thought it was conducted fairly.
Other members serving on the
evaluation committee included Clay
Singleton, associate dean of the Col
lege of Business Administration:
Kim Phelps, assistant vice chancellor
for business and finance; Julie Tot
ten, University of Nebraska at Omaha
vice chancellor for business and fi
nance; and Del Lee, University of
Nebraska Medical Center assistant
vice chancellor for business and fi
nance.
Warren Johnson, a Lincoln attor
ney, advised the committee on legal
affairs, but did not vote on the recom
mendations.
Seagren said the requests for pro
posals that were sent out to prospec
tive advisers included information on
NU’s financial needs and services
that the university would request
from the selected firm.
The committee also requested
firms to submit information on their
history, experience in dealing with
complex Ixmd issues, personnel,
expertise, financial stability, creativ
ity, services and possible conflicts of
interest, Seagren said.
Evaluation committee members
shared with the regents the requests
for qualifications, Seagren said.
Besides the evaluation informa
tion, Seagren said, firms also were
See SELECTION on 6
ASUN and Hill agree
senate is progressive
By Jana Pedersen
Senior Reporter
a —
After working together for one
semester, ASUN senators and
executives agreed that this
year’s Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska has been
more progressive than past senates.
ASUN President Bryan Hill said
the diversity of this year’s senate has
helped make it “more proactive than
L reactive.”
“But that in itself doesn’t make it
a good senate,” Hill said. “I think the
general attitude is a little bit more
. progressive. They ’re not as conserva
tive and more willing to take the
lead.”
Teachers College Sen. Marc
| Shkolnick agreed that ASUN has
i begun to take the lead on issues.
“This senate was not intimidated
to speak up to the (NU) Board of
Regents and the administration,”
Shkolnick said. “We can’t be intimi
dated because the administration and
regents arc here for us and arc an
swerable to us.”
Hill said one of the areas in which
ASUN has taken the lead is in com
batting homophobia.
ASUN recently approved an
amendment to add discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation to the
anti-discrimination clause in its by
laws, Hill said.
“I think that’s one of the things
that’s going to be very helpful in
combatting homophobia on campus,
and I’m very proud,” he said.
“That’s not the most popular issue,
but it’s important and it’s right.”
He said ASUN has encouraged the
student governments and faculty sen
ates of all branches of the NU system
to adopt anti discrimination clauses
that include sexual orientation.
ASUN also helped get the regents
to adopt the “individual characteris
tics’’ change to its anti-discrimina
tion clause, he said.
But the clause “isn’t as specific as
we would have liked,” Hill said.
“What good docs it do if nobody
knows it’s been changed?”
To publicize the fact that sexual
orientation is included under that
bylaw amendment, Hill said he has
worked with the UNL Affirmative
Action Office on developing posters
that explain all that “individual char
acteristics” includes.
The “individual characteristics”
posters will be displayed alongside
other anti-discrimination posters in
new glass cases that will be pur
chased by the affirmative action of
fice, Hill said.
He said ASUN also has sponsored
the display of posters on AIDS educa
tion, another issue that he said ASUN
See ASUN on 6
Mfi.issa McReynolds/Daily Nebraskan
‘ ‘There is no way Apartheid can be justified
Gene Crump, Nebraska deputy attorney general, speaks at a rally at Nebraska Wesleyan
University Thursday. “Apartheid is oppression. It is racism in its basest form,” said
Crump, a graduate of Wesleyan. The rally was part of Anti-Apartheid Week, sponsored
by the Wesleyan chapter of Nebraskans for Peace and Wesleyan Young Democrats.
1
Yost withdraws
candidacy forUF
provost position
V ohn Yost Thursday said he with
5: drew his name from a list of can
tLr didates for provost at the Univer
sity of Florida.
Yost, vice chancellor for research and
dean of graduate studies at UNL, was
among 20 finalists considered for the UF
position.
Yost said he withdrew his name after
recently learning that UF’s new presi
dent, John Lombardi, is a historian.
Yost, also a historian, said: "In a
university as comprehensive as the Uni
versity of Florida, it would be in the best
interest of the university to have a presi
dent and provost who would comple
ment each other."
_______
__
Support group to form for gay UNL men
By Jerry Guenther
Senior Reporter
The founder of a new support group for
gay men said he hopes the group will
help the men develop positive attitudes
about themselves.
Rodney Bell III, chairperson of the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln Gay/Lesbian Alumni
Association, said the support group will form
in January and will be open to gay male UNL
students.
Bell said the program, which will operate
through the UNLCounscling Center, is the first
support group that UNL has offered to gay
men.
Vernon Williams, director of the Counsel
ing Center, said the center already has the
resources necessary to run the program.
Williams said he will be working with Bell
between now and January to develop the pro
gram.
Having a support group run by professional
counselors in a confidential environment is
important to gay men, Bell said.
‘‘It’s already something that should be
coming out of the Counseling Center,” Bell
said.
Because of the health risks and other dan
‘It’s already something
that should be coming
out of the Counseling
Center
- Bell
••
gers associated with being gay, Bell said, he
thinks UNL needs such a program.
Many gay men feel unaccepted because of
their sexual preference, Bell said. He said he
hopes the group can help them alleviate the
depression they often feel.
Some gay men become so depressed and
feel so isolated that they commit suicide, he
said.
Bell said he hopes the support group will
help gay men to “come out” and develop a
positive gay identity.
Gay men often do not have role models to
identify with, Bell said, and he hopes that the
support group will include some men who have
“been out of the closet for years” to serve as
those role models.
Bell said he has spoken to about 50 people,
including some who aren’t gay, and they all
agreed that there is a need for the program.
Once the program gets established, Bell
said, it will be open to referrals from other
agencies that are counseling gay UNL men.
The support group will not include lesbians
because the Women’s Resource Center already
offers a similar program. Bell said.
Both Bell and Williams said the support
group will not cost the Counseling Center any
additional money.