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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1993)
ASUN approves budget that excludes COLAGE opponents oeneve voices unheard By Andrea Kaser Staff Reporter Before any opposition could be heard Wednesday night, ASUN mem bers approved the Committee for Fees Allocation’s recommended UPC bud get, which had denied funds for COLAGE. The circumstances surrounding the Association of Students of the Uni versity of Nebraska meeting led some University of Nebraska-Lincoln stu dents, who were there to oppose the __ bill, to believe their ASUN voices went un heard. “I’ve never seen anything steamrolled by so quickly,” said Gary Doyle, presi dent of the Univer sity Programs Council. “You’d think they’d have given the organization a chance to speak.” The order of the meeting, which usually begins with an open forum for discussion, was changed to lead with new business, where senators discuss and vote on bills. This meant that Doyle and others had no opportunity to voice their opinions until after the bill had been passed. The order was changed to allow Ryan Swanson, senator for the Col lege of Architecture and CFA mem ber, to vote, said Speaker of the Sen ate Andrew Loudon. Swanson needed to leave by 8:30 p.m. because of a death in his family, Loudon said. While the funding bill was being discussed, some senators expressed a desire to yield their right to speak to • Doyle, which would have given him the chance to speak without breaking parliamentary procedure. However, a motion to end debate passed before those senators could speak. Trent Steele, first vice president, said parliamentary rules sometimes prevented the free flow of ideas. Steele presides over parliamentary proce dures. ^ Proponents of the bill saia per sonaV^elings had nothing to do with deciding urc appropriations. Shane Tucker, senator for the De partment of General Studies and chair man of CFA, said the reason behind -44 It makes it pretty difficult to allocate to a committee that's pretty much defunct. —Tucker CFA chairman -9t " cutting funds to the Committee Offer ing Lesbian and Gay Events was that it was not functioning as a committee for most of the year, citing instances when COLAGE had no chairperson. “It makes it pretty difficult to allo cate ura committee that’s pretty much defunct,” said Tucker. The bill passed with a vote of 23 6 and one abstention. After he left the meeting, Doyle said COLAGE appeared to be weak the first half of the year because most of its activities were in the spring, referring to the group’s April film festival. Swanson denied Doyle’s accusa tion of steamrolling. UPC had several chances to speak out at CFA meetings, he said. CFA’s job is to get the debating out of the way before the rcpwl comes to ASUN, he said. In other business, ASUN approved the Daily Nebraskan’s five percent increase in student funds, despite a motion for no increase. The student government also ap proved its own .25 percent increase. Spending cuts neglect priority ASUN candidate says NU should take precedence By Michelle Leary Senior Reporter VOICE candidate for ASUN president, Keith Benes, said that a proposed 5 percent university bud get cut was “absolutely unaccept able.” “The university cannot handle a $ 14 million budget cut,” Benes said Wednesday at a press conference. Benes said he met with Sen. Scott Moore of Seward, chairman of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, on Tuesday. The two discussed the committee’s public hearing on March 9, which will concern the proposed cuts. Benes said it was Moore’s belief that the only alter native to reducing the university’s budget was to raise taxes. “I find this suggestion to also be unacceptable,” Benes said. “We must re-prioritize our state’s spending needs, and educa tion must be at the top of the list,” Benes said.““We must continue exploring new options to meet our state’s budget crisis.” An article in Wednesday’s Daily Nebraskan stated that Moore criti cized AS UN President Andrew Sigerson and AS UN for offering no alternatives to the proposed cuts. Benes said it was Moore’s and the committee’s job to find alterna tives. “It’s the student leaders’ jobs to voice students opinions (not sug gest alternatives),” he said. “I pledge my support to working with the current student body presi dent in fighting these cuts and to continuing that battle after March 10,” Benes said. “March 9 is D-day,” he said. “We must mobilize, we must unite and our voices must be heard.” In his speech, Benes also dis cussed his party’s platform. The VOICE party had talked with students to find out what they were concerned about, Benes said. “From those concerns, from thos< ‘ sues, we have put together “It is not an all-encompassing list, and these ideas may not all be achieved during our term,” Benes said. “Rome was not taken in a day,” he said. “It took us a decade to put a man on the moon, and we will not solve every one of the problems facing our campus in a year. “But our platform is a blueprint of where the students believe we should be headed.” “This is going to be a spirited race,” Benes said. “I intend to run a strong campaign, and I intend to win.” Benes’ running mates are Trent Steele, first vice presidential can didate, and Jill Anderson, second vice presidential candidate. Senate addresses budget cuts By Angie Brunkow Staff Reporter The UNL Academic Senate's Ex ecutive Committee requested at its meeting Wednesday that university officials prepare hard-core evidence showing that the university cannot sustain more bud get cuts. Joan Leitzel, vice chancellor for SENATE academic affairs, " Jr said the university should push the Nebraska Legislature for no budget cuts at all, rather than focusing on the magnitude of the pro posed 5 percent cut The Executive Committee asked Leitzel td document evidence that proved the university did not experi ence the same increases in funding that other universities had experienced in the 1980s. Leitzel said because the university had not enjoyed increases, it couldn't handle more cuts. “We have to tell the whole story,” Leitzel said. “We didn’t experience the glorious ’80s.” In other business, Academic Sen ate President Sally Wise said the Ex ecutive Committee recommended that the Parking Advisory Committee levy a flat surcharge on parking permits. The revenue would be used to inr crease campus safety measures. The Parking Advisory Committee had asked the Executive Committee to discuss the surcharge and a possible 10 percent increase in the cost of parking permits. The Executive Committee also decided the role it wanted its Curricu lum Committee to play in addressing inclusiveness. At the Senate’s last meeting, sena tors criticized the committee for fail ing to determine the role of multicultural and gender diversity in UNL’s curriculum. But Deanna Eversoll, physics and astronomy senator, said miscommu nication between the senate and the committee about what the senate ex pected caused the Curriculum Committee’s failure. The committee reported that in clusiveness was an undefined term, and the decision of whether a class would be considered “inclusive” would be made during the review of course titles and descriptions. .But Wise said the senate expected the committee to make general sug gestions about curriculum, beyond reviewing specific course descriptions. Iransportation committee dismisses bill setting lower blood-alcohol limit From Staff Reports The proposal to lower Nebraska’s legal blood alcohol limit from .10 percent to .08 percent, LB80, failed to advance to the full Legislature Tuesday by a 3-5 vote, one week after the bill — was debated. Sen. Doug Kristensen of Minden, chairman of the transportation committee, _ said the bill was not ad CBBfflS vanced because the commit tee feltadifferentdrunk driv ing law already passed should be given time to work. The law, enacted in January, revokes drivers licenses immediately after being stopped for drunk driving. “We want to give that a chance,” Kristensen said. “It’s only six weeks old.” Exploit Continued from Page 1 Sexual exploitation, as defined in the bill, involves actual or requested sexual contact or penetration by a psychotherapist during treat ment or for two years after treatment. The patient also must be emotionally dependent on the therapist. Debate on the bill was heard after five hours of discussion on other Judiciary Committee legislation. Lanelle Kant, a UNL graduate student, and advocate for victims of therapist sexual abuse, testified on her personal experiences with thera pist abuse. “Our society has recognized rape, incest and child abuse as crimes, and has affixed criminal penalties to the perpetrators of those crimes," she said. “Today, we are addressing a similar issue. One that has been hiding behind closed doors.” 4 Tom Perkins of Scottsbluff testified in favor of the bill. He said he represented firsthand all possible angles of the problem* Perkins is a mental health center director, social worker and United Methodist Church Minister. All three jobs fall under the bill’s wording. Throughout his years as a social worker, he has discharged employees on sexual exploita Taking drivers licenses away from chronic drunk drivers is a good tool, he said. Lowering the blood-alcohol content would not target the “problem drunk driver,” he said. The .08 level would not affect third-time offenders, he said. Another alcohol-related bill, LB564, did pass out of committee with an 8-0 vote. Under LB564, if a minor was caught driving with a blood-alcohol content higher than .02, his or her drivers license would be suspended for 30 days. Kristensen said the bill, sponsored by Sen. Connie Day of Norfolk, was a matter of consis tency. “If it’s illegal to possess alcohol, it should be illegal to drive,” he said. The bill was placed in the Legislature’s general file for future discussion. tion charges. “I will do it again and again to protect people,” he said. “Psychotherapy abuse does as much damage as that of an improper surgery. “You can see the results or improper sur gery, but not psychotherapy, (but) the bleeding goes on.” - Helen Meeks, director of the examining board, testified in a neutral position. She em phasized her department wasn’t against the sexual exploitation bill. “We already have the authority to take away licenses,” she said. Since 1986,24 cases have been reported to the health department, she said. Of those re ported, most had their licenses revoked. Judy Janssen of Lincoln said all exploita tions aren’t done by medical therapists. She was exploited by a clergy member in Minne sota, which made the abuse more devastating. For eight years Minnesota has had a law similar to the one proposed in Nebraska. Being able to prosecute the man made her recovery easier. * “I thank the Lord that the abuse happened in Minnesota after August of 1985,” she said. McClatchey said no matter who the ex ploiter was, the pain still lingers. Her therapist was like a family member, which made the abuse harder to handle. “He was a mentor, a father figure lo me,” she said. “It was very much like incest.” V HARM DE BLIJ SPEAKS ON THE SPLINTERING OF NATIONS LIED CENTER Thursday, February 18,1993 3:30 p.m. NO ADMISSION CHARGE HARM DE BLI| Georgetown Political Geographer "Good Morning America" Guest K.N. 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