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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 1991)
m T 1 DflllV -g 45/30 g^^L I B ^ _ B _ Today, cloudy with possible I ■ ^F" drizzle. Decreasing clouds CJI ■ V ^ ^ V V the afternoon. Tonight, I ^B| B. I B B ^^B B^L ^^^k B B mostly JL ^ IL^ JL %JLvJJB.m.%*B.JL B. I is,ly sunny'hiqh in the Large travel costs motivate senator to question policies I rips by faculty justified as work beneficial to state By Wendy Navratil Senior Reporter An anonymous letter citing one UNL professor’s allegedly exorbitant travel expenses has roused Sen. Dan Lynch of Omaha to question University of Nebraska Lincoln travel reimbursement poli cies. Lynch added that what he views as the professor’s excessive travel ex penditures are merely symptomatic of a much deeper problem with ac counting for the activities of univer sity professors. But Herbert Howe, associate to the UNL chancellor, said concerns such as Lynch’s are rooted firmly in a fundamental misunderstanding of the role and mission of UNL. Lynch said the anonymous letter, which he received about six months ago, staled that Sang Lee, chairman of the UNL management department, received more than $40,000 in travel reimbursements during a 30-month period. “It’s an interesting enough issue to look into the policy,” Lynch said, “when you consider that the travel expenses of a total of 49 people in the Legislature is only twice as much as one professor’s.” Lynch said that soon after receiv ing the letter, he forwarded it to State Auditor John Breslow with a request that he review Lee’s traveling reim bursements. Howe said the university provided Breslow with a breakdown of Lee’s traveling reimbursements. Of the $40,000 Lee received from July 1, 1988, through Feb. 18, 1991, only half was state money, Howe said. The remainder of Lee’s funding was derived from University of Ne braska Foundation sources and reve nues generated from conferences in which Lee participated, Howe said. Lee, in his positions as the chair man of the management department and as the head of the Nebraska Pro ductivity and Entrepreneurship Cen ter and Center for Technology Man agement and Decision Scicnces, trav cls to present papers, solicit funding See TRAVEL on 3 Andy Frederick/D N Kurt Vonnegut speaks at the Lied Center for Performing Arts on Saturday. The author addressed topics including Dan Quayle, word processors and William Shakespeare. Slaughterhouse-live Vonnegut touts truth, passion in literature. ! By Jeremy Fitzpatrick * Senior Reporter A uthor Kurt Vonncgul promised to tell the truth to an audience of about 500 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts Saturday. He told them that if they had .. wanted a sunny speaker, they had invited the wrong person. “Gen. (Norman) Schwarzkopf is a very sunny speaker these days,” he said, “If you wanted to be cheered up, you should have invited him instead of me.” That theme of blunt honesty ran throughout his talk. The author of 13 novels, including the best seller “Slaughterhouse Five,” Vonnegut was brought to Lincoln by the Great Red Shark, a comedy and entertainment publication. The title of his lecture, he said, is the same as any lecture he has ever given — “how to get a job like mine.” But Vonnegut spoke on more than just writing books. He also talked about reading them, which he described as the meditation of Western civilization. “(Reading) is probably the core of our civilization,” he said. “We meditate with minds other than our own.” And if America wants to suc ceed again, he said, it must read more. “Minds cultivated by the printed word have made this a great nation,” he said. “We must become famous around the world for education like Japan and Northern Europe. We can do it; we are just too damn cheap and lazy to.” American education has de clined because the United States spends too much money on weapons such as the Stealth bomber, Vonnegul said. “Is there anybody here who thinks that dumb black boomer ang is really invisible? They’ve just had a test and they arc kind of surprised — ‘Jesus, you can See VONNEGUT on 3 exon introduces bill to ease education costs Law would exempt interest on some bonds from taxation By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Senior Reporter A bill introduced by Sen. Jim Exon, D-Neb., in Congress on Wednesday would make it easier to finance higher education costs through the use of government bonds. The legislation would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make interest earned on savings bonds tax-exempt for anyone buying the bonds for higher education purposes. Currently, the code only grants exemptions on inter est earned to the parents or spouse of a person in college. Exon’s bill would grant the ex emption to anyone buying bonds to finance “tuition and fees required for enrollment or attendance at an eli gible educational institution.” A statement released by Exon on Wednesday said he had introduced the bill to aid middle-income stu dents in paying for their education. “The cost of education has nearly doubled in the last 10 years, and it is becoming more and more difficult for middle-income students to find ways to finance their education,” Exon said. Figures provided by John Beacon, University of Ncbraska-Lincoln di rector of admissions and director of scholarships and financial aid, show that the cost of attending a four-year public institution has risen 77 percent between 1980-81 and 1988-89. Me dian family income has risen 53 per cent in that time. Beacon’s figures also show that federal grant dollars have fallen 8 percent and loans have risen 9 per cent between 1980 and 1989. Beacon said he thought U.S. sav ings bonds — the ones Exon’s bill See BONDS on 3 Officials form preliminary wish list Conservative approach to capital construction to dominate, official says By Wendy Mott Staff Reporter In its earliest phase of development, the preliminary list of capital-construction proj ects was called a “wish list” by some Uni versity of Ncbraska-Lincoln officials. Capital-construction projects arc requests made by UNL and the NU Board of Regents to the Nebraska Legislature for funding of prior ity proposals. The projects cover a two-year span, and arc up for renewal for the 1993 through 1995 biennium. Michael Mulnix, UNL director of public relations, said it was too early to state specific examples of items on the preliminary list. “At this point, we aren’t at anything beyond the discussion point,” Mulnix said. He said that releasing the all-encompassing, preliminary ideas would only create problems as the list narrows. But, Mulnix said, projects that didn’t re ceive funding from the 1991-93 biennium probably would cany forward as proposals for the next biennium. Removal of asbestos from Burnett Hall, the No. 1 priority on both the UNL administrators’ and regents’ proposal lists last year, did not receive state funding, Mulnix said. The project requires about $1.5 million, he said. Asbestos removal “will most likely be car ried forward because it is so important, Mulnix said. “It’s not a jazzy project, but it is critical.” Rich McDermott, director of facilities management, agreed that removing the asbes tos should be a top priority. Facilities management staff monitors the asbestos to ensure that students arc not at risk, McDermott said. But, he said, the asbestos in Burnell is old enough to begin falling within the next two years. Asbestos becomes danger ous when airborne, he said. Although no regulations state that the asbes tos must be removed, he said that delaying removal only will lead to classroom reschedul ing chaos. “Students aren’t in any danger now,” McDermott said, “but we want to be ahead of the curve before (asbestos) becomes a safety hazard.” See CAPITAL on 3 Duke denies ties to Nazi party. Page 2 Jones, Huskers run over Jayhawks. Page 6-7 Volleyball players clinch share of Big Eight title. Page 8 First Christmas movie comes up short. Page 9