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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1992)
Partly sunny today, clearing by tonight. . Tomorow, a little . *4. warmer. Hunt for athletic director ruffles NU fans Spanier calls fervor, not interest, surprising By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Staff Reporter This summer, Graham Spanier got his first taste of Nebraska football supporters and their zeal. Spanier, who took over in Novem ber as UNL chancellor, came under the fire of some Comhuskcr boosters during UNL’s search for a new ath letic director. r The committee searching for can didates to replace retiring athletic di rector Bob Dcvancy failed to include At Papik, assistant athletic director of compliance at UNL, in its lislof finab ists to Spanier, who made the final decision. Spanier said some football txxist ers were upset by the committee s decision and pressured him to choose Papik despite a pledge he had made to choose from among the committee’s recommendations. Nebraska head football coach Tom Osbomcand 6evancy supported Papik in the initial stages of the search pro cess. When Spanicr selected Bill Byrne; athletic director at the University of Oregon, more criticism was raised. Spanicr was at Oregon Slate Univer sity before he came to UNL. A reporter With the Omaha World Herald requested a copy of his phone records to make sure he had not se cretly been in touch with Byrne, Spanicr said. “They were wanting to check out a theory that I really knew this guy well and somehow, because of pripr con nections, he was my choice,” he said. He said the request later was dropped. N Of the three finalists who were recommended to him by the search committee, Spanier said, Byrne was the highest rated by UNL coaches’ and boosters’ evaluations. Coaches and boosters from almost every sport participated in the evalu ation interviews, he said. Football boosters declined to participate. “We wanted very much for (football boosters) to be involved in the inter views, to help us identify the final choice, but they did not,” he said. Spanier said he received about 100 responses to his selection of Byrne. Most were positive, he said, but some football boosters made it clear they did not approve of his choice. “Some of the mail I got talked of athletics being the only thing they cared about — and that’s a little dis appointing,” he said. “Butagain, that’s just a few people. “A majority of people were supr portive.” Spanicr said that he was not sur prised by the amount of attention the search for a new athletic director gen erated, but he was surprised by the emotion in some of the responses. * “It did not surprise me that there was that much interest in the search, but some of the letters_Some of the mail I got, I was surprised by the intensity of it,” he said. Byrne has been president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, chairman of the Pac-10 Executive Committee and in 1985 was named national Fundraiser of the Year by the Na tional Athletic Fundraisers Associa tion. V » Spanicr slM^he considered Byrne the most qualified candidate for the job in the country willing-to come to UNL. He predicted Byme would do an excellent job. "This guy is going to do great things for us in athletics,” he said. “There arc some challenges, some very significant challenges ahead in intcr-collcgialc athletics, not just in Nebraska, but nationally. “And here’s a guy who is very forward looking and knows how to gel on top of it.” a AS UN directs GLC to lobby against cuts By Angie Brunkow Stafi Reporter A SUN directed its Government Liaison Committee Wednesday to gear up for the threat of budget cuts. Andy Sigerson, president of the Association >1 Students ot the University ol Nebraska, Said the Legislature and governor have asked I NI and other stale agencies to prepare plans to cut their budgets by 10 percent to make up for a S212 million shortfall. Sigerson said GLC will have to work hard to con vince the Legislature not to cut UNL’s funding. Andrew- Loudon, speaker of the senate, also questioned UNL Chancellor Graham Spanicr’s plan to hire a full time recycling coordinator, especially since budget cuts might be on the horizon. The recycling coordinator would be paid S44,(XX) a year. The university iscohsidering paying for the See ASUN on 3 Back-to-school blues . _' ^ Jim Nelson, a third-year sophomore from Aurora, stands in line Wednesday during drop/add. Nelson, who hasn t declared a major, said he spent 1 1/2 hours trying to fill his class schedule. UNL gears up for campuswide recycling plan Funds allocated for first year of enterprise By Kathryn Borman Staff Reporter Alter nearly three years in for mation, the rccyd^Rg-movc incnt has become a priority of UNL’s administration. Mike Mulnix, executive director of University Relations, said the plan still was in the initial stages, and it would be a month before a proposal would be submitted to UNL Chancel lor Graham Spanicr. “We do know that the university generates thousands of pounds of pa per and cans,” he said. “The adminis tration must work harder to make it easier for people to recycle.” When Spanicr presented the recy cling plan Aug. 20 during his State of the University address, he said he would like to make the Univtrsily of Ncbraska-Lincoln a state header in recycling waste. , ' ? J He also said he expected UNL’s program to be self-supporting after the first year. Funds have been allocated to pay lor the program’s first year, including a full-time coordinator position, Mulnix said, but he does not know the amount of funding. Jack'Goebel, vice chancellor for business and finance, has been ap pointed by Spanier to formulate the campuswide recycling plan. Mulnix said a lot of groundwork already had been laid by the UNL Recycling Task Force. The commit tee initially met in 1990 and then reconvened in 1992 to review its rec ommendations at Goebel’s request. Bud Dascnbrock,director of UNL’s Landscape Services, served as leader of the task force. He said the commit tee supported the chancellor’s plan to appoint a coordinator for recycling. “It’s pleasing to the people most involved in the effort,” Dascnbrock said. He predicted that different cam pus entities, such as the Office of University Housing and the City and East Campus unions, would value the direction and support of the recycling coordinator. Dascnbrock said some difficulties might arise in implementing the pro gram in academic departments. Fac ulty and staff, as well as those who do the sorting, must know how to prop 0 crly separate the recyclable materi als. Most universities with recycling programs advertise for interested buy ers of the waste and then take the highest biddbr, as with other govern ment contracts, Dascnbrock said. He expected that UNL would apply a similar policy, although the specifics may vary, such as whether the univer sity or the recycling company would sort, bale and package the materials, he said. Dasenbrock also said.aspects such as the purchase of recycling contain ers and docks and campuswidc train ing and supervision would factor into the program’s cost. “It may cost a good amount,” Dascnbrock said. He estimated the start-up cost could qmgc from $50,(XX) to $I5(),(XX). “If there is a simple search for the best way to recycle,” he added, “it may be relatively inexpensive.” Dasenbrock said Landscape Ser vices recycles its gardening waste fey fertilizer, which requires some cost butcliminalcs the need to buy outside fertilizer. This practice is similar to Spanicr’s proposal to finance campuswide recycling. PffBWI Isoufoa: Kecwfrno Wasta Manaflamfm.QmJSgLjgO . QVgZ.—ttl Jeff Riggert, recycling coordina tor for Ecology Now, served on the Recycling Task Force with Dascnbrock. He described the com mittee as a group of faculty, staff and students working together to accom plish a lot with little funding. Riggert said most of the pilot projects that existed for campus recy cling were good but not well-coordi nated. “ A central pervous system, central ,coordination, would do wonders for recycling on campus,” he said. Ideally, Riggcrt said, he would like lo see comprehensive recycling avail able, with receptacles for cans, bottles and newspaper and office paper w her ever trash cans are located on campus. He also would like to sec fewer trash localionjpcrosscampus,he said, with some oflhc current trash cans converted lo recyclingcontaincrs. This would allow the university to buy fewer receptacles for waste. Ecology Now was formed in April See RECYCLE on 3 - - —- »
