WEATHER Thursday, doudy and breezy, 60 percent chance of thundershowers, high 55-60, south wind 15-25 miles per hour Thursday night, cloudy, 40 per cent chance of thundershowers, low around 50 Friday, mostly cloudy, 20 percent chance of showers, high in the mid-60s INDEX News.2 Editorial.4 Diversions.7 Sports.15 Classifieds.17 April 19, 1990 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No. 137 GLC chairman to be elected by full senate Jennifer O’Cilka Staff Reporter_ The chairman of the Government Liai son Committee will be elected rather than appointed this year because of action by student leaders Wednesday night. Members of the Association of Students ot the University of Nebraska amended their by laws to take the power of appointing the GLC chairman from the president and give it to the full senate. The amendment also states that the GLC chairman is responsible to the ASUN president and can be dismissed by the senate. ASUN President Phi I Gosch said thischangc was included on his party’s platform, the VI SION party, when he decided to run for the position in March. “Ever since I’ve been on campus, there have been complaints that the ASUN president can pick their successor,’ ’ Gosch said. “I think the (senate) body would be more objective.” Gosch said this action will answer students’ questions about the fairness of the system. Each of the last three years, the GLC chair has gone on to be ASUN president, he said. The GLC chairman serves in one of the most important student government positions, be cause that person is in charge of all lobbying efforts by ASUN, Gosch said. Although the original legislation stated that the ASUN executive committee would have dismissal power over the GLC chairman. General Studies Sen. Andrew Sigerson amended it to give the full senate that pow'er. “If we have the power to pul them on there, we should have the power to take them off,’ ’ he said. College of Business Administration Sen. Dave Gale said he feels that if the ASUN president did not like the senate’s choice for chairman, he would have an easier time dis missing that choice if the executive committee was left with that power. In other business, the senate passed senate resolution 1, calling for “full support of Earth Day and Earth Week and co-sponsors the Earth Day march and rally April 21.” According to Sigerson, the legislation is important since the last administration’s Earth Day resolution is void. “This signifies that Earth Day is important to the senators because last year’s senate reso lutions become obsolete when that senate leaves office,” he said. I-——:---' ■ ||g—— III % i TdkC ^ ^ 9 Bulch Ireland/Daily Nebraskan Candidate Al Eurek gets a boost in his campaign tor state attorney general Wednesday afternoon. Eurek was filming a commercial across from the State Capitol. Official: Space shortage causes problems By Jennifer O’Cilka Staff Reporter _ Several colleges ai the University of Ne braska-Lincoln have severe space short ages for classes and research projects, a UNL official said. John Benson, director of institutional re search planning and fiscal analysis, said the space shortage is shared by the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Ne braska Medical Center and many other cam puses nationwide. Benson said UNL’s problem has caused discomfort for students and faculty members because the “least desirable” areas of campus have to be used when space is full. These areas include classrooms that arc in inconvcnicni locations, that are not in “great shape, and basically don't have gd environ ments,” Benson said. Benson said the space shortage is worst for research. There’s no open space for new grants, he said, and computers needed for current research projects take up more space, Benson said. “A lot of these buildings were built in the '50s and earlier, and now aren't holding the programs they were designed for,” he said. Benson said university officials are looking al plans lo renovate cxisling buildings, making them better able to accommodate technical research. UNL. also is renovating buildings to keep up their quality, he said. UNL has a lot of older buildings, and maintenance has been deferred al times because of tight budgets, Benson said. “We have to be sure lo have money in the budgets lo apply to maintenance, so those buildings we do have don’t deteriorate,” he said. Another solution officials are working on, Benson said, is a proposal lo build a Nebraska See SPACE on 6 Al Schaben/Daily Nebraskan Peace pipe Early Warning! member Amy Frederick blows bubbles as a peace symbol during Early Warningl’s peace fair at Broyhill Fountain on Wednesday afternoon. Chemist says fertilizer results in contamination By Steve Smith Staff Reporter Increased fertilizer use by Ne braska farmers in the last 10 years has caused groundwater contamination, said Mary Spalding, associate profes sor and research chemist for the University of Nc braska-Lincoln’s Conservation and Survey Division. Along with her address Wednesday in the Nebraska Union, Spalding showed slides of contami nated areas in the state as part of a week-long series of lectures on the environment in con junction with Earth Day. Nebraska farmers used about 755,000 tons of fertilizer - the third highest total in the nation -- in 1987, she said. And .V*,(XX),(XX) ions of pesticide were applied to Nebraska grounds the same year, second only to California, she said. Atra/ine, ibe pesticide most used in Nebraska, is applied in the spring, Spalding said. It then leaches into ground water causing contamination. Another contaminant, Spalding said, arc nitrates. Nitrates also can reach drinking water. In the human bloodstream, nitrates alfcct oxygen production, which can cause methe moglobinemia, or Blue Baby Syn drome, she said. That condition can lead to mental retardation and death in infants, she said. There arc natural reasons, such as leaching and runoff, and artificial reasons for groundwater contamina tion “Peoplejustnccdtobc more judi cious in their use of fertilizer and pesticide,” Spalding said. “People know where to use the products, they just don’t sometimes.”