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Bill may help students’
checks and balances
By Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Staff Reporter__
College students currently pay
ing taxes on scholarships used
for non-academic expenses,
such as room and board, may no longer
have to do so if a bill introduced by
Rep. Tom Lewis (R-FI.) passes
through Congress.
Under the 1986 Tax Reform Act,
students who use scholarship money
to pay for expenses other than tuition,
fees, books and supplies must pay
taxes on them.
Lewis’ bill would repeal the lax. It
would also enable any student who
- has paid the tax since 1986 to receive
a refund.
John Beacon, director of scholar
ships and financial aid at the Univer
sity of Ncbraska-Lincoln, said all
scholarship recipcnts at UNL arc sent
a notice informing them of the tax
requirement.
But it is not clear to what degree
the lax, which Lewis’ bill (HR 4418)
is designed to repeal, is being col
lected.
A statement released by Lewis’
office said that the tax “has not been
a focus of IRS collection efforts to
date.’’ The statement said, however,
that the Internal Revenue Service has
requested scholarship records from
Harvard University to determine if
collection efforts would be worth
while.
Beacon said the IRS has not made
a similar request for UNL’s scholar
ship records.
James Manuszak, public affairs
officer at the IRS district office in
Wiichila, Kan., said enforcing the lax
was not currently a high priority for
the IRS.
“It’s on the books and it’s the law,
and I believe our efforts at this lime
arc concentrated at educating students
on the provisions of the law rather
than enforcement," Manuszak said.
Manuszak said he could not com
ment further on the IRS’ enforcement
efforts.
Student-athletes at UNL would
aparcntly be most helped by HR 4418
if it passes. Estimates provided by
Beacon show that about $5,117,000
i n Un i versi ly of N ebraska Foundation
and university scholarships arc
awarded to about 1,852 students at
UNL each year.
About $3,630,000 of that money
goes to about 796 student-athletes, for
an average of $4,560 per student.
About $ 1,487,000 is awarded in aca
demic achievement awards to about
1,056 students, for an average of
$ 1,400 per student.
Lauren Drees, a research associate
in the office of institutional research
and planning, said that tuition and
fees for a student taking 15 hours
during the 1992-1993 academic year
at UNL would be about $2,358. Any
scholarship money used to pay for
other expenses, except for books or
equipment, is taxable under the 1986
law.
Andrew Cherry, a legislative as
sistant to Lewis, said he was optimis
tic that the bill, which now has 23 co
sponsors, would be passed by Con
gress. He said it was not likely the bill
would be acted on until January, how
ever.
“I would be very confident of pas
sage if we could get it on to the floor,”
Cherry said.
The main challcncgc to the bill, he
said, is finding a source of revenue to
offset its cost. He said the Congres
sional Joint Tax Committee had
estimated that the bill would cost
$800 million over five years.
Staci McKee/D N
Jason T. Davis, guitarist for the Lincoln band Souled
Out, steps off stage to play a song among the crowd.
Souled Out performed Friday afternoon at the July
Jamm in downtown Lincoln
Lack ot tunas delay necessary maintenance
By DeDra Janssen
Staff Reporter
Consensusopinionatthe Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln is that
Richards Hall is an eyesore.
Like several other buildings and
facilities on campus, Richards Hall
falls into the category of deferred
maintenance. In fact. Rich Mc
Dermott, director of Facilities Man
agement, said it was at the lop of the
list.
He said deferred maintenance is
maintenance on University of Ne
braska properties that should be done
today, but isn’t because of lack of
funds.
“It’s deferred until tomorrow,”
McDermott said. “Like the budget of
Richards Hall among numerous projects
needing money to fix urgent UNL repairs
the Federal Government.”
And like the national deficit,
Goebel said, deferred maintenance is
a very serious problem for UNL. In
fact, he said, costs have reached in
excess of approximately $100 mil
lion.
John Goebel, vice chancellor for
business and finance at UNL ,said that
the problem has been hard to see on
campus.
“Facilities management and land
scape people have done a magnificent
job in getting a great deal done with
very little money, but you have to
look beyond what they ’ ve done to sec
i.
the nature of the problem,” Goebel
said.
‘‘The problem’s not what we see,
it’s what we don’t see,” Goebel said.
‘‘Deteriorating steam tunnels aren’t
very exciting to talk about, but they
arc absolutely critical in the life of the
campus.”
Items high on the agenda for UNL
are maintenance of Richards Hall,
removal of asbestos from Burnett Hall,
improvement of a number of class
rooms, greenhouses and steam tun
nels, and replacement of old boilers
and chillers.
“The average life of a boiler is
around 20 years,” Goebel said. “And
we have far exceeded that.”
One boiler, pan of the reliable
utility base on UNL city campus, is
vintage 1920.
“If we lose that in mid-January,
we’ll be in big trouble,” McDermott
said.
Goebel said that ongoing efforts to
keep facilities in good repair are es
sential for the future of UNL.
The power outage on campus that
occurred earlier this summer was an
example, he said.
“If we had the kind of preventative
maintenance program necessary to
avoid substantial difficulties, that
outage would not have occurred,”
See MAINTENANCE on 3
Program lets
seniors RUN
with students
By Sam S. Kepfield
Staff Reporter
£ discovered that when you
I have a lot of extra time on
your hands, it can cither be
very fun or very dangerous,” said Bob
VanNcslc, a volunteer with the Retir
ees of the University of Nebraska, or
run
RUN, housed in the Wick Alumni
Center, is the creation of Clarice Orr,
herself a retired UNL employee. Af
ter working for UNL for 25 years in
clerical and secretarial positions, Orr
received her B.A. in Home Econom
ics and an M.A. in gerontology.
The program grew out of a term
paper Orr wrote for a gerontology
class, designing a “dream project” for
senior citizens. Her professor sug
gested she discuss the proposal with
thcn-Chanccllor Martin Masscngalc.
However, other projects such as
the Lied Center took priority at the
time, and the RUN proposal received
no funding. Orr persisted, and was
finally given funding by Chancellor
Graham Spanicr. RUN began its offi
cial operations in mid-January.
Orr said that RUN’s mission was
singular — to act as a clearinghouse
for retired UNL employees, whether
they be administrators, faculty emeri
tus or support staff. It fulfilled that
mission by placing its volunteers in a
wide variety of roles.
One current project involves vol
untccrs with the agronomy depart
ment collecting seeds and samples
from endangered species in Nebraska.
The samples are then transplanted in
the arboretum on the East Campus.
VanNcslc said he was coordinat
ing an oral history program through
Love Library. Volunteers fan across
the stale to interview Nebraskans who
survived the attack on Pearl Harbor in
1941, and he currently has five en
rolled in the project.
Another potentially valuable role
Orr said she saw for RUN would be to
have its volunteers acting as counsel
ors through the Career Placement
Office as well as in the Employment
and Internship Office.
The retirees, with their years or
decades of experience in various ca
reers and industries, would “act as a
bridge between the students and the
companies.”
Students would receive advice in
resume writing, cover letters and in
terviewing skills from RUN volun
teers.
Beyond basic skills, the volunteers
would help students develop networks
through the volunteers’ business con
See RUN on 2