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BRRC warned
some groups
too thin to cut
By Wendy Mott
Staff Reporter
Cuts to the managerial/profcssional and
office/service areas of the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln could have unantici
pated effects, representatives told the Budget
Reduction Review Committee on Thursday.
Roshan Pajnigar, president of the Univer
sity Association for Administrative Develop
ment, which represents UNL’s managerial/
_ __ professional staff, said past
BUDGET budget cuts had targeted this
. area and as a result, they
r already are operating at
“skeletal levels.”
^ Pajnigar said further cuts
in these areas could result
in a “backsliding in the quality, as well as
quantity, of services UNL has worked so hard
to provide.”
“The Academic Senate and faculty mem
See BUDGET on 6
ASUN input
ends round
of hearings
By Chris Hopfensperger
Senior Editor
Proposed cuts in faculty and programs at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will
hurt students most, ASUN members
told the BRRC Thursday.
Thursday marked the final day of the first
round of the Budget Reduction Review Com
mittee hearings on the UNL budget-cutting
process. The process began last spring when
the Nebraska Legislature
BUDGET mandated that UNL cut its
—^ budget 2 percent this year
and 1 percent next year.
Andy Massey, president
of the Association of Stu
dents of the University of
Nebraska, questioned the recent 4-perccnt across
the-board faculty salary increases.
See ASUN on 6
VA, ,NDEX P
Wire 2
Opinion 4
Sports 7
A&E 9
Classifieds 11
i_I.— wm_
Robin Trimarchi/DN
Gary Wilson, a graduate student from New Zealand, is at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study the ice record
of Antarctica.
New theory for old rocks 1
Graduate student challenging conventional Antarctic geology
By Kathleen McLaughlin
Staff Reporter ___
From the island of New Zealand to
the land-locked plains of Nebraska,
scientist Gary Wilson has traveled
the world studying Antarctica’s glaciers.
Wilson, 24 and a New Zealand native,
is a sedimentologist and stratigraphcr,
which means he studies sediment and
layers of rock. Wilson said he is particu
larly interested in Antarctica’s ice sheets.
Winning a Fulbright grant enabled
Wilson to teach and research at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He
teaches Geology 321 and 107.
“If I would have stayed in New
Zealand, I could have gotten a bigger
grant, but I wanted to travel and come to
UNL,” Wilson said. “I came to UNL to
research my theory and lake a break from
working on my doctorate. But now I am
working harder than ever on my doctorate,
because I’m around people who are
interested in what I am.”
Wilson’s theory is that during the Plio
cene Epoch, between 2 and 5 million
years ago, the ice sheet collapsed and
melted in Antarctica. This contradicts the
popular theory that Antarctica was frozen
solid during that period of time.
“I have already proven my theory with
scientific logic,” Wilson said. “The theory
that Antarctica was frozen solid between 2
to 5 million years has no evidence to back
it up.”
Wilson said he gets a mixed vote from
the scientific community. A theory is hard
to establish, but many scientists admire
what he is doing, he said.
“When you’re only 24, scientists auto
matically doubt your ability,” Wilson
said. “My reputation has not been estab
lished yet. When I get my doctorate,
scientists will take my theory more
seriously.”
Wilson became interested in geology
early in college at Victoria University in
New Zealand. He originally was a math
and science major but found his physics
professors boring.
“Geology is exciting because you have
to think threc-dimensionally, and I gel to
reconstruct parts of earth’s history. It’s
very rewarding when you make a discov
ery,” he said.
Wilson said the ongoing research of
assistant geology professor David Har
wood is what drew him to UNL. Wilson
and Harwood arc trying to define the ice
record of Antarctica and the associated
sea level.
“I’m interested in the ice sheets,”
Wilson said, “because it will show us how
the present climate is affecting the ice
sheets and what the climate was like
millions of years ago.”
To prove his theory, Wilson currently
is working on projects around the world.**
“I am beryl i urn-dating rocks for a gov
ernment lab in Paris,” Wilson said. “From
New Zealand, I am studying the sea level
variations due to Antarctica melting and
freezing.”
Besides the lure of researching his
theory concerning Antarctica’s glacial
sheet with other professors at UNL,
Wilson said he wanted to see the leaves
change in the fall.
“In New Zealand the temperature
ranges from 32 to 80 degrees. We’re a
subtropical island,” Wilson said. “We
don’t get the seasonal variations like
See WILSON on 6
Official: Loan proposal could help
By Chris Tipton
Staff Reporter
Congressional proposal that
would provide student loans
directly through the govern
ment appears to be a good one, the
director of the UNL Office of Schol
arships and Financial Aid said.
John Beacon said the proposed
program, under deliberation in the
House of Representatives, would
increase the amount of loan money
available to students and lower actual
costs of those loans.
Advocates of the proposal say that
it would save the federal government
about $1.4 billion a year. However,
Beacon said this amount does not
include the administrative costs of
the program.
Under the proposal, Beacon said,
the interest rates for direct loans would
stay at 8 percent. Under the existing
loan program, the Stafford Loan has
an interest rate of 8 percent for the
first five years and then increases to
10 percent.
Another benefit to students would
be the elimination of the 5-percent
loan origination fee now paid to banks,
as well as the 1- to 3-percent insur
ance fee, Beacon said.
In theory, the proposal also in
creases the amount of money a stu
dent can borrow. With the current
program, a freshman or sophomore
can borrow $2,625 per year, a junior
or senior can borrow $4,000 and a
graduate student can borrow $7,500.
With the direct-loan program, those
amounts would increase to 2>o,3UU lor
freshman and sophomores, $8,000 for
juniors and seniors and $13,000 for
graduate students.
The disadvantage of the proposal,
Beacon said, is that it has been drafted
as an appropriations bill rather than
an entitlement bill.
This could mean that if the gov
ernment decides there is not enough
money for the program, the amount
lent could be reduced. In an entitle
ment bill, the government would have
to come up with the money.
Other benefits of the proposal arc
the increased ability of middle-in
come students to receive student loans.
Because the money will be trans
ferred electronically, the amount of
See LOANS on 6
I
Eligibility
Interest rate
Fees
Cycle time
Borrowing limits
STAFFORD
• Matriculation and good
standing
• 8 percent first five years
10 percent thereafter
• 5 percent origination tee;
1to 3 percent insurance
• Three days to six weeks
• $2,625 freshman/sophomore,
$4,000 junior/senior, $7,500
graduate students
DIRECT LOAN
• Matriculation and good
standing
• 8 percent for loan life
• none
• two days
• $6,500 freshman/sophomore,
$8,000 junior/senior, $13,000
graduate students
Source: John Beacon, director of the UNL Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid |
Amie Def rain/DN