The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, September 07, 1990, Image 1

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September 7,1990_ University of Nebraska-Lincoln _Vol. 90 No. 9
Agriculture research jeopardized
Budget under fire
By James P. Webb
Staff Reporter
Agricultural research at the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln
would be impacted significantly
by a one-two punch of state and fed
eral budget restrictions, an official
said.
Darrell Nelson, dean and director
of the Agriculture Research Division,
said the blow would come from a
proposed 2 percent state and local
budget lid and from cuts within the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Iniuative 405, the budget lid, would
“significantly affect” research if
Nebraskans approve it in November,
Nelson said.
“I believe it’s going to have a
significant impact on all programs,
but certainly our program on agricul -
ture research,” he said.
The lid would be retroactive and
would cut about $1.7 million from the
1990-91 research budget in January,
Nelson said.
Because the research division would
be midway through the fiscal year,
the cuts would have to come from the
remaining half of the budget, Nelson
said.
“People would lose their jobs,”
he said.
In subsequent years, the budget
would not keep pace with the cost of
living and other benefits, and “people
and programs would have to be re
moved,” Nelson said.
“That would make it difficult tc
attract and maintain high quality fac
ulty members,” he said.
The second blow to the research
division would come from the USDA.
Last week, a USDA study fore
casted a 31.9 percent or $7.3 billion
cut from the agriculture department’s
budget as a result of the Gramm
Rudman deficit-reduction law.
The cut would reduce the amount
of appropriated money and the avail
able pool of competitive research grants
reserved for land-grant universities,
Nelson said.
However, Nelson said he thought
the final version of the bill would
amount to less than the anticipated
32-percent cut.
“We’re going to speculate that
after (Congress passes) the final ver
sion, it will be less than 5 percent,”
Nelson said.
A 5-percent cut in federal appro
priations would slash $155,000 and
would stiffen competition for grants,
Nelson said.
But state budget cuts would have a
greater impact, he said, because
Nebraska matches federal funds 5 to
1, which is bigger than the required 1 -
to-1 match. Nelson said.
About fifty-five percent, or $20
million, of the budget comes from
state funds; about 34 percent, or $11
million, from grants, gifts and con
tracts: and about 11 percent, or $3.1
million, from federal formula funds,
Nelson said.
Federal formula funds are those
exclusively given to land-grant uni
versities, such as UNL, Nelson said.
This year’s budget for the Agricul
ture Research Div ision was about $34
million, Nelson said. The budget was
increased 11 percent over the previ
ous year to cover an \ 1 percent in
crease in faculty and stafl salaries and
a 2.5 percent increase in operating
expenses, he said.
So far, no budget decisions have
been made because of uncertainty
about the severity of cuts, Nelson
said.
’ . ""'' sBm - * IOMHmHHhK._1_1
Al Schaben/Daiiy Nebraskan
Sen. James Exon (left) answers a reporter’s question as Republican challenger Hal Daub
listens during a debate at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Thursday.
‘No new taxes’
Senate candidates debate
By Michael Ho
Staff Reporter
Candidates for the U.S. Sen
ate Thursday accused each
other of pandering to spe
cial interests and paraded more “no
new taxes” pledges past an audi
ence of more than 200.
At an afternoon debate at the
Nebraska State Fair, Republican
challenger Hal Daub called special
interests harmful and charged that
incumbent Sen. James Exon relied
too heavily on money from out-of
state sources.
Daub said Exon gets 80 percent
of his money from political action
committees and individuals out
side Nebraska. Daub has said that
he would not accept money from
PACs.
Exon countered that when Daub
was in office as a 2nd District con
gressman, he was a “champion
collector of PAC contributions.”
When Daub left office to pursue
a Senate scat in 1988, Exon added,
he “hurt Nebraska” by leaving
behind a seat on the influential
House Ways and Means Commit
tee.
One debate panelist suggested
that Daub might have obtained that
committee position through con
nections with outside lobbyists - a
charge that Daub denied.
“To suggest that outside inter
ests could have in any way influ
enced that decision is preposter
ous,” he said.
Honesty also dominated the tax
issue debate, with Daub calling for
closureof what he cal led the “S100
billion tax gap,” the uncollected
part of this year’s income tax bills.
* ‘We ought to collect that reve
nue before we raise the rates on the
haid-working people of Nebraska,”
he said.
He called for Congress to live
up to the targets of the Gramm
Rudman-Hollings deficit reduction
act.
Exon also disavowed tax in
creases.
“At this time,” he said, “I would
not be in favor of any tax increase. ’ ’
However, he called the Gramm -
Rudman bill ‘‘a total failure” and
said new ways of deficit-cutting
needed to be found.
Both candidates expressed sup
port for the use of U.S. troops in
President Bush’s4‘Waron Drugs.”
4‘I supported that from the very
beginning,” Exon said, calling the
drug war “the No. 1 social issue
for the United States.”
He stopped short of supporting
arrest powers for the military, but
said the military should play a key
role in eliminating drugs.
Daub said the military was an
important instrument for global
interdiction. However, he said,
troops should not be used within
U.S. borders.
‘‘We should and we must use
all of our resources in this fight
against the scourge of drugs,” he
said, but using U.S. troops against
U.S. citizens raises civil liberties
questions and could cause confu
sion.
UNL students lend a hand
harvesting Japanese crop
By Pat Dinslage
Staff Reporter
The summer sun glares down on
the long rows of crops as the
morning coolness wanes.
The farmhands and field owners
peel off layers of clothing as the
temperature rises, and continue to
talk and joke as they pick the crops.
They look forward to the showers
they soon will take during their noon
break.
The scene could be a farm in
Nebraska, or anywhere in the Mid
west. Instead, the farm is half a world
away, on an island off the southern
coast of Japan.
The farm is located on a mountain
side, rather than on a plain. The crop
is tea leaves, and among the farmhands
are two University of Nebraska-Lin
coln students.
Nikette Allen, a senior interna
tional affairs student from Lincoln,
and her fiance, Hiroshi Nakama, a
senior advertising student, spent the
summer on his parents’ farm in Nishi
noomole on lire island of Tancgashima.
The farm is average-sized for Ja
pan, and Nakama’s parents grow rice
and oranges in addition to tea. But the
amount of cultivated land is hard to
measure because the fields are on the
See JAPAN on 5
Regents chairman says request is not gag order
By Jennifer O’Cilka
Senior Reporter
Regents Chairman Don Blank said a let
ter he sent to University of Nebraska
faculty members should not be consid
ered a gag order.
An Academic Senate leader and an admin
istrator agreed.
Blank said a letter he sent last week about
speaking during NU Board of Regents meet
ings to NU vice chancellors, university vice
presidents, the Academic Senate president and
faculty was not a result of any one situation but
of many limes others have commented while
the regents were engaged in policy discussions.
The letter was “trying to put a little more
sense and control into our discussion," Blank
said. “It’s not a gag rule at all."
The Academic Senate president and other
administrators have the opportunity to give
their reports and comments at certain times
during the meeting, Blank said.
“They all have input when there’s an item
that affects their campus,” Blank said. “It’s
not a matter of sitting there and not saying a
word.”
Also, members of the public can get onto the
regents’ agenda by contacting J.B. Milliken,
the corporation secretary, at least 24 hours
before the meeting.
When the 11 regents have listened to all
outside input, they must sit down and discuss
the issues, Blank said.
If everyone was allowed to participate dur
ing those discussions, Blank said the regents
would end up with 1 ‘a Saturday morning round
table” with 25 to 30 people offering opinions.
Blank said the position of the three student
regents would be “watered down” if everyone
participated in the discussions. Student regents
do not have voting power, but are allowed to
participate in policy discussions and to give
their opinions.
James Gricsen, vice chancellor for student
affairs, said Blank’s action was appropriate.
“The chairman has a responsibility to see
that the deliberations of the board are done in a
very orderly manner,’ ’ Gricsen said. The meet
ings can’t be an “open forum’’ for anyone to
voice concerns, he said.
Gricsen said unscheduled interruptions have
tended to occur in recent months.
“As a vice chancellor, I’m always there,
and I wouldn’t think of gelling up’’ and com
menting without permission, he said.
James McShanc, president of the Academic
Senate, agreed that the letter was trying to
bring some order to the meetings. And, al
though any citizen has the right to address ihe
board, they must follow rules to get on the
agenda, he said.
“It’s just to keep the meeting from getting
ragged,” McShane said.
“4 4
The chairman has a responsibility to see that the deliberations of
the board are done In a very orderly manner.
Griesen
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
-9 9~