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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1992)
.. — I Spanier’s ‘Lone Ranger’ image prevalent Leader reins in year’s problems By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Senior Reporter Chancellor Graham Spanier told the Academic Senate in Janu ary that he could not be the “Lone Ranger” of UNL’s budget reduction process, riding in to single handedly save the day. Spanier then look control of the process and, in one month, cut $4 million from the University of Nc braska-Lincoln’s budget. In one month, ^ i—— he quietly ended the six-month con troversy surrounding the budget cuts that had been bogged down in com mittee hearings and letter-writing campaigns. That is the role Spanicr, 43, has played since he started his job Nov. 1, Whether the issue is stricter ad missions standards, the budget, race relations, administrative reorganiza tion, restructuring UNL’s Affirma tive Aclion/Equal Opportunity/Com pliance office or parking, Spanicr has been involved, and visibly so. He will be installed officially as UNL Chancellor today. Spanicr dislikes the “Lone Ranger’ description, and says he has only “a little more influence and resources” than the average person as chancel lor. But he doesn’t deny that for some one who describes himself as hands off, he can be very hands-on. “It’s an interesting dilemma, be cause the truth is, I’m very hands on,” he said. “I came from a job where I was the hands-on person — that was my job to do everything. “But my philosophy isto be hands off.” However, when Spanicr did have to be hands-on during his first few months at UNL, he said he was confi dent his decisions would be well received at the university because he had done his homework before he arrived. Spanier said books people sent him after he was selected to be chancellor were particularly helpful in learning about UNL. He read all of the books and anything else he could gel his hands on about the university. “I tried to use my experience in higher education to diagnose the situ ation here,” he said. “I worked very hard in the few weeks between I was appointed and the lime I arrived to learn as much as 1 could about the campus.” Spanier said his research convinced See SPANIER on 3 Kerrey touts technology in education Senator expresses doubt about Perot By Cindy Kimbrough Senior Reporter Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Ncb., said Friday that he did not kno w if he could support H. Ross Perot if the Texas billionaire entered the Democratic primaries. “Who is the guy?” he asked during a press conference at the NETV building. Perot said he would hold town-hall meet ings to decide everything, if elected president, Kerrey said. “I don’t know if this guy is Thomas Jeffer son or (Benito) Mussolini,” he said. “Perot, what are you going to do about the deficit?” Kerrey asked. “You don’t need a town-hall meeting to tell me you’re unde cided.” Perot must tell Americans what he wants to do and where he stands, Kerrey said, instead of holding town-hall meetings. Kerrey said he believed a lot of the support for Perot was bom of an enthusiasm for change that was building in America. rcopic arc noi sure anymore u ucorgc ousn or Bill Clinton will initiate change, he said. But Kerrey said he thought Clinton would promote change if he was elected. In Lincoln to promote the use of technology in education, Kerrey also told reporters that he thought the future of education in the United Slates was in telecommunications. Kerrey said at a forum he attended Friday that representatives of various Nebraska tech nology projects told him there were tremen dous educational opportunities in telecommu nications. For example, MIDnct, part of a national computer network, now gives schools the ca pacity to do things they may otherwise not have the resources for, he said. Computers at McMillan Junior High school in Omaha arc hooked up to MIDnct, he said. See KERREY on 3 Ladies and gentleman please rise as we present graduation memories. See supplement Quakes continue to rock California. Page 2 A small crowd witnesses Corn stock '92. Page 9 INDEX Wire 2 Opinion 4 Sports 7 A & E 9 Classifieds 12 Michelle Paulman/DN James Van Etten, professor of plant pathology, looks over a DNA sequencing gel, a representation of a cell’s genetic material, in his lab in the Plant Science Building. Weird science Professor’s newfound virus may affect genetic therapy By Jennifer McClure Staff Reporter Discovering a virus usually creates feelings of worry. But when Jim Van Ellen, a pro fessor of plant pathology at UNL, discov ered a virus, he was ecstatic. In 1981, Van Etten and Russ Mcintz, the former chairman of the biology de partment at the Univer sity of Nebraska-Lin coln, discovered a new family of viruses — one of only 72 families worldwide. The viruses were scientifically recog nized as a family a year and a half ago, Van Ellen said, and its scientific name is phycodnaviridac. Van Etten said he did not set out to discover a virus family. “This all started with drinking beer one night,” he said. Van Etten said a fellow scientist was looking at some photographs of algae, and said he thought he saw a viral particle. The particle was on a single-celled eukaryotic alga, Van Etten said. He explained that between the two types of algae — prokaryotic and eukaryotic — nothing was known previously about viruses on cukaryoiic algae. In addition, Van Etten said, they discovered the viral particle on cukaryoiic algae in fresh water instead of salt water. “We found them in every freshwater sample we’ve looked at,” he said. ‘‘We’ve looked all over the world, including the United Slates, Japan and China. We haven’t looked in Australia yet.” Van Ellen said they did not realize the viral family was common in nature until 1986 when they tested fresh water from North Carolina. “The concentration (of viral particles) was very high,” he said. “It contained 40,000 viral particles per milliliter.” Oceanographers arc starting to look for cukaryoiic algae in the ocean, he said. The virus also has some special qualities. Van Ellen said. For instance, the viruses encode for a certain group of enzymes that can splice genes, he said, and the virus-produced enzymes can be used as diagnostic tools for genetic diseases. “Hopefully, if you can diagnose these diseases, gene therapy may be possible,” he said. Van Etten said several important differences existed between the viral family and others. Phycodnaviridac is one of the largest viruses known, he said, and it has one of the largest known amounts of genetic information. The virus has about 20 limes the amount of genetic information the AIDS virus has, he said. Van Etten said the virus’ DNA struc ture is different from most viruses. “The DNA has cross-linked ends,” he said. “Most viral families don’t.” Although the virus is different from others in some ways, Van Etten said, it has no known danger. “We do have to acknowledge, though, that it could affect another host (other than eukaryotic algae)," he said. Van Etten said four laboratories in Australia, Germany, Russia and Japan were working on his discovery. Russ Mcintz, now a professor at Oregon Stale University, also is looking at the viral family. “This isn’t a one-person operation,” Van Etten said. Eight to 11 people at a lime are working at UNL, he said, including undergraduate and graduate students and visiting scientists. Van Ellen said he hoped the diagnostic enzymes in the virus could be developed commercially. “When you do scientific research, you don’t know where it’s going to go,” he said. “We didn’t predict the practical value.”