Mostly sunny today with the
high in the mid- to upper-40s
with the wind becoming
south 5-15 mph. Tonight,
clear with the low in the mid
20s. Friday, sunny breezy
and warmer with the high in
I_the lower 50s.__
IASUNcreates two of four minority panels
I By Adeana Leftin
Staff Reporter
A SUN failed on Wednesday to
/A create four subcommittees to
represent minority groups,
passing instead legislation establish
ing two subcommittees for students
with disabilities and international
students.
Teachers A Cl IBM
College Sen.
Sieve Thomlison
introduced the
Bylaw U amend
ment that would
have created four
subcommittees
subordinate to
the Campus Life Committee.
The four subcommittees would have
been for disabled students, interna
tional students, racial affairs and sexual
orientation.
The members would have been
selected by the Appointments Board
and would have had the power to vote
and propose legislation to the Cam
pus Life Committee.
The bylaws change was amended
to remove the racial affairs and sex
ual orientation subcommittees from
the legislation, leaving only the pan
els for international students and stu
dents with disabilities.
According to the senators who
opposed the creation of the subcom
mittees for racial affairs and sexual
orientation, Thomlison had no sup
port for the subcommittees from the
students to be represented.
Journalism Sen. Frank Forman said
Thomlison didn’t ask students if the
subcommittees were what they wanted.
“(Thomlison) wants to try to write
legislation and doesn’t even have
(minorities’) approval,” he said.
College of Arts and Sciences Sen.
Chris Potter said that despite the
amendment’s good points, the disap
proval of the students it would affect
mifht be a “fatal flaw.”
College of Journalism Sen. Alisa
Miller, who has been working with
disabled students, said those students
were in favor of creating the subcom
mittee to represent their needs.
Phil Gosch, president of the Asso
ciation of Students of the University
of Nebraska, said the international
students also approved.
“For many years, the international
students have been seeking to have
any voice in ASUN,” he said.
College of Business Administra
tion Sen. Tim McAuliff said he thought
the amendment was an attempt to
lump all of the minority groups to
gether.
Several senators said they thought
the two standing committees created
by ASUN last semester, but later ruled
unconstitutional by the Student Court,
could be fixed by amending byhws.
The amendment could exempt the
committees from the constitutional
ban on quotas in appointing mem
bers, the senators proposed.
Gosch said amending the bylaws
would be in violation of NU Board of
Regents bylaws that ASUN must
adhere to, as well as Student Court.
“I will not sign any bill not in
adherence to Student Court,” he said.
In other action, the senate passed a
bylaw amendment to restructure the
Appointments Board.
Gosch said that although he thought
the current Appointments Board has
operated fairly, in other years all
members were from the same elec
tion party.
He said students were frustrated
with “three cronies sitting on the
Appointments Board and . ..
dole out positions to their friends.”
The Appointments Board was
composed of the speaker of the sen
ate, the second vice president and one
student-at-large.
In past years, Gosch said, the speaker
of the senate and the second vice
president often were from the same
See ASIIN on 6
• Parents group discourages
i budget reductions for NU
jjf By Tabitha Hiner
i, Senior Reporter
% f ■ T he Nebraska Legislature should look for
budget alternatives rather than cut the
University of Nebraska’s funds, a member
P of the UNL Parents Association said.
Earl Scudder Jr. of Lincoln suggested that
I the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee
, be creative in its budgeting.
NU “is not like the Department of Roads
where you can simply mandate that they not lay
another 100 yards of concrete,” Scudder said.
The Appropriations Committee suggested
| in a preliminary budget proposal a 4 percent
across-the-board cut in state agencies, a 4 per
cent faculty salary raise and a freeze on the
j Nebraska Research Initiative at S12 million.
Faculty salaries for the University of Ne
braska had been increasing more than 10 per
% cent in past years in an effort to compete with
NU’s peer institutions. The Nebraska Research
f Initiative is a five-year plan, now in its third
year, to increase NU research funds by $4
million a year.
i ■. Scudder suggested that cigarette tax reve
st nue currently used to finance NU capital con
=«struction projects be earmarked for faculty
H salaries.
While the Legislature is looking at using the
tax money to build prisons, Scudder said, the
state could avoid construction costs by allow
ing an outside company to build prisons for the
state to lease.
Another alternative would be to change the
current form of personal property taxation, he
said.
A Nebraska Supreme Court decision Friday
declared that the state’s current form of per
sonal property taxation, which exempts certain
farm and commercial properties, may be un
constitutional.
By reducing exemptions and broadening the
tax base, Scudder suggested, funds for NU
automatically would be increased.
While the change would produce an overall
revenue increase, he said, it wouldn’t escalate
the taxes of those already paying.
In a letter to Seward Sen. Scott Moore, the
Legislature’s Appropriations Committee chair
man, Scudder outlined other suggestions for
the budget.
Scudder said the letter, which represented
the UNL Parents Association, was an effort to
show the Legislature that parents are “deter
mined that we should have a class-one univer
~See PARENTS’ on 5
jjGood learner
jCounselor unravels problems for students
iBy Heather Heinisch
Staff Reporter
■WJT clping students work through their
*“j| problems is like unraveling a ball of
JI. SL twine for John Breckenridge. By
patiently working and tugging the line, he
can help solve any problem.
His slow smile and kind eyes give away
-— his easy manner as a
counselor. When a
student comes in with a
problem, the associate
director of the Counsel
w m ing Center said* hc
- Lj< Bm wants to be a good
bJCLi ii learner.
t Iea"i=3—— “I can’t know
pnough about you that you already know
pbout yourself,” he said.
Then, he said, he shares what he’s learned
from other students in similar situations, and
together he and the student being counseled
come up with a workable solution.
If the strands of gray running through his
hair are an indication, Breckenridge has
plenty of experience as a guide in helping
students solve academic or personal prob
lems. It’s a job he’s had at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln for the past 21 years.
Growing up on a farm in Kansas influ
enced his life more than anything else, he
said. Because he was forced to spend hour
after hour by himself doing chores, he had
plenty of time to think.
“Most people don’t have the opportunity
to get in touch with something inside them,’’
he said. That’s what makes him different, he
said.
Breckenridge’s work shows his caring for
See COUNSELOR on 5
HRHninnraBHHHBMBHHBHnBnBBnHinHHHWMMHir'
Joe Heinzlie/Daily Nebraskan
Solar sculpture
The midmorning sun shines through the windows of the art gallery in
Richards Hall as Cindy Caverzagie studies. Caverzagie, a sophomore art
history major, works as a security guard in the gallery.
Diversions rocks with local bands.
Page 7.
Proponents, opponents clash
living will bill. Page 5.
me = 2
Opinion 4
Diversions <
Sports
Classifieds
UNL employee arrested on charges of embezzling
By Alan Phelps
Staff Reporter
A University of Nebraska-Lin
coln employee has been ar
rested on charges of embez
zling $10,000 from a UNL-based
paleontology research group, officials
said.
Ken Cauble, UNU police chief,
said Judy Bell, business manager for
the Society of Vertebrate Paleontol
ogy at UNL, was arrested Feb. 26 and
arraigned the next day.
Joe Kelly, Lancaster County dep
uty attorney, said Bell was charged
with two counts of felony theft and is
scheduled for a March 18 court ap
pearance, when the court will decide
whether a preliminary hearing is
necessary.
Cauble said officials with the soci
ety found discrepancies in the books
when Bell recently left her job on
maternity leave. After discussing the
matter with university lawyers, they
contacted UNL police, he said.
“We’ve got accountants looking
at it right now to find out the amounts
involved and how it was done,” Cauble
said.
The Society of Vertebrate Paleon
tology is an international society of
paleontologists operating out of UNL.
Kelly said Bell also worked at the
society s lornier headquarters in Cali
fornia, where the embezzlement al
legedly began.
Kelly said the exact amount of
money missing may never be known.
“As with any embezzlement case,
it takes the victim a long time to
figure out how much money was
involved and usually they are never
sure,” he said.
Bell could not be reached Wednes
day for comment.