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News Digest.2
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"February 19, 1990 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No. -W /&_i
f Improvements for NU governing system suggested
Massengale: Little change needed
By Mindy Mozer
Staff Reporter
niversity of Nebraska interim
President Martin Massengale
said Saturday that the current
NU governing system is “relatively
efficient and little or no adjustment is
necessary.”
The NU Board of Regents requested
at its December meeting that Massen
gale prepare a report identifying ex
isting and potential duplication among
the three campuses and central ad
ministration, which oversees the
campuses.
Although Massengale said no
f sweeping changes were needed, he
offered a few that he said could help
jf improve UNL.
“I see a need for a stronger plan
ning effort in central administration,”
Massengale said in a preliminary report
he issued to regents Saturday. “We
must establish how best to structure
the entire planning effort and how to
implement strategic planning for
optimum efficiency.”
Institutional research could be
strengthened through improved com
munication between campuses and
central administration, he said.
Massengale said the current ac
-4 4-—
I see a need for a
stronger planning
effort in central
administration,
Massengale
NU Interim President
-f f
counting structure has changed little
over the years and could be improved
by using new computer techniques.
The university must improve the
flow of information between the three
campuses and administrators and
between the university and govern
ment, he said.
Massengale said any changes must
strengthen the academic mission of
the university system.
Massengale, who spoke with chan
cellors, vice chancellors and faculty
leaders before issuing the report, said
changes in central administration must
be gradual and contribute to the effi
ciency of the system.
In a separate statement, the re
gents agreed with Massengale’s posi
tion.
“This board is and will be an ac
tive, participative body,” the report
said. “Its overall responsibilities to
see that the state receives the benefits
of a first-class university system and
to perpetuate and protect academic
excellence and freedom.”
The statement also stated that al
though the campus chancellors have
a high degree of autonomy, they are
under the hand of the president, who
is responsible for establishing the
See MASSENGALE on 3
NU Regents pass hall rate increase
By Mindy Mozer
Lp Staff Reporter
L W T niversity of Nebraska-Lincoln
I I students living in the residence
^ halls next fall will pay $195
more for room and board, the NU
Board of Regents decided Saturday.
1 he regents passed the 8.2 percent
. increase, boosting the cost for a double
room with 20 meals a week to $2,625,
after hearing objections from Regents
* Margaret Robinson of Norfolk and
Rosemary Skrupa of Omaha.
“I’m sympathetic to the needs of
the dorm system,” Robinson said.
But it seems to me an 8.2 percent
raise is too much to ask students to
pay because it’s above the inflation
rate of 4 percent.”
Robinson also expressed concerns
about parent and student reactions to
the increase.
Vice Chancellor for Student Af
fairs James Griescn said UNL’s room
and-board prices are sixth in the Big
Eight. That position will hold next
fall even with the increase, he said.
Gricsen said UNL has kept tuition
and dorm rates in line with other
institutions. The average tuition cost
for Big Eighlschools,hesaid,is$710.
UNL ranks third, charging $765 a
semester for 15 credit hours.
When mandatory student fees are
compared, excluding health fees, UNL
ranks second to last, he said. The
average cost in the Big Eight is S101,
while UNL charges S74 for student
fees.
“It’s lower because we have good
management,” Griesen said.
According to Griesen, higher food
costs, telephone costs and the mini
mum wage increase have caused the
housing increase. The hike was not
caused by bad management, he said.
UNL Student Regent Bryan Hill
said he supports the increase.
“If there was an alternative to
raising the rates, I would be suppor
tive of it,” Hill said. ‘‘But besides
raising the rates, I can’t think of a way
to solve the problem.”
The Residence Hall Association
approved the hike Feb. 4.
“Noonelikestosecan increase,”
Griesen said. “But it’s something we
have to do.”
Judiciary Committee
hears testimony to ban
ads for illegal activity
By Cindy Wostrel
Staff Reporter ,
A bill before the Nebraska
Legislature’s Judiciary Com
mittee on Friday would be
‘ ‘a dangerous kind of precedent for
the Legislature to embark on,” said
Bill Donaldson, vice president for
sales at the Omaha World-Herald.
LB 1023 would make illegal any
advertisii j that might promote
unlawful activity. The committee
heard testimony but look no action
on the bill.
Donaldson said in an interview
Saturday that the bill would be
difficult to interpret and would be
an intrusion on the freedom of
speech.
Alan Pederson, of Media of
Nebraska, which represents the
Joumal/Star Priming Co., the Opiaha
World-Herald, the Nebraska Press
Board Association and the Daily
Publications Association, testified
in opposition to the bill because he
said it would infringe on choices
that should be made by editors and
publishers.
‘‘I think the editorial policy of a
newspaper ought to be free and
unencumbered by advertising inter
ests or issues and l think that they
have to remain separate,”
Donaldson said.
State Sen. Ron Withem of PapiI
lion testified that the World-Her
ald advertises phone lines that
provide betting odds and statistics
on sports games.
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha
told the committee that the Omaha
World-Herald writes editorials
opposing gambling but accepts ads
for phone lines that encourage it
“I think the state can regulate
advertisements that encourage
people to commit illegal acts,”
Chambers said. ”1 think it’s troub
ling when the largest newspaper of
our state takes money (for an ad
that promotes an illegal activity). ”
Pederson said, ‘‘I would hate to
see a newspaper that would only
run ads for things they agree with. ’ ’
Nebraskans could use betting
statistics from phone services ad
vertised in the World-Herald to
place legal bets, Pederson said.
• He said information from the
betting services could be used to
place bets in Nevada, where bet
ting is legal.
Tom Osborne. Nebraska foot
ball coach, said he supports the
bill. Many of the problems associ
ated with college athletics arc tied
to gambling, Osborne said.
Fan reactions are intensified
by gambling, he said.
“Particularly when you lose a
game and you lose money, you
get really irate," Osborne said.
If the ads were directly con
nected to bookies, officials at the
Omaha World-Herald and the
Dmlv N iin^iran I titav would
refuse to carry them.
Donaldson said those adver
tisements are a misrepresentation.
“Wc have called those num
bers and have on occasion refused
See BETTING on 3
Panel protests proposed nuclear waste dump
By Emily Rosenbaum
Senior Reporter
nctor Ed Begley Jr., co-star of the movie
“She-Devil” and the former television se
ries “St. Elsewhere,” spoke out against the
Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Compact in Lincoln on Saturday night.
Begley appeared with a panel of environmental
ists and officials, including state Sen. Jim McFar
land of Lincoln and Hugh Kaufman of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
Concerned Citizens of Nebraska, a group pro
testing the compact and the proposed nuclear waste
clear waste dump for Nebraska, sponsored the rally
at First United Methodist Church, 2723 N. 50th St.
About 200 people attended.
US Ecology has selected a site in Boyd County
for the dump.
“It’s not safe,” Begley said. “Nuclear power, in
my opinion, is just loo powerful.”
Nebraskans should sort out the information given
to them by officials handling and supporting the
dump, look at the facts, ask “tough” questions and
analyze their feelings, he said.
“We have a right to challenge these people,’ ’ he
said.
Officials are saying “trust me” when they as
sure citizens the dump would be safe, Begley said.
Those are the same words officials used before
accidents occurred at Three Mile Island in Pennsyl
vania, Love Canal in New York, Chernobyl in the
Soviet Union and Bhopal, India.
“We have these accidents, and they occur again
and again,” he said.
11 an accident happens in Nebraska, he said, it
will be a problem for the citizens.
“It will be a Nebraska liability,” he said.
McFarland, who proposed a bill that would with
draw Nebraska from the five-state nuclear waste
compact, said he doesn’t expect the bill to be
advanced by the Natural Resources Committee of
the Nebraska Legislature.
See WASTE on 5
Ed Begley Jr. makes a point about the dangers of low-level radioactive waste Saturday night.