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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1993)
I — | ~| r-i—s-! 11—I h—i y ^ Dsily Nebraskan ^ First lady’s speech moved to Lied; tickets available By Jeff Zeleny Senior Reporter Tickets still remain for First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech at the Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln Friday. The speech, the highlight of the Nebraska health care conference, was originally thought to be sold out, but it moved to a bigger venue Wednesday. Clinton’s appearance was originally sched uled for the 850-scat Kimball Recital Hall, but the speech was moved to the Lied Center for Performing Arts, which holds 2,200 people. Tickets for the 12:45 p.m. speech are avail able through Sen. Bob Kerrey’s Lincoln office Health care package announcement possible on a first-come, firsuscrve basis. The two-day conference, sponsored by the Columbia Institute in Washington D.C., will focus on national health care issues now being discussed by Congress, said Jonathan Ortman, executive director of the institute. Clinton, head of the president’s national health care task force, accepted the invitation Tuesday, Ortman said, and she will possibly make a policy announcemcntduring her speech. • “She will clearly be giving an indication on how far they have gone (in) developing a package to Congress,’’Ortman said from Wash ington . - - Clinion has not had a public schedule re cently because of her father’s death last week. The speech will be her first public health care announcement in weeks, Ortman said, and it comes ata critical time for the nation’s health care situation. "The Congress is very likely to consider a bill sent to them by the president suggesting how we perform health care in the United States,” he said. Nebraska was chosen as the conference site because of Kerrey’s strong commitment to health care reform, Ortman said, and to give a variety of people an opportunity to participate in the conference. “We’rcagreat believer that many in thcU.S. have a great opportunity to contribute,” he said. “We felt that it would be a suitable location.”, Kerrey, sponsor of Health USA,apian intro duced in 1991 that would reform America’s health care system, is actively engaged in health care issues, Orlman said. “It seems sensible that he be speaking about it,” he said. Kerrey, co-chair of the conference, will introduce Clinton and participate in the confer ence Friday and Saturday. “I am very pleased that Mrs. Clinton will be See HILLARY on 3 University developing golf grass Energy-efficient turf project awaiting regents’ approval By Mark Harms Staff Reporter Golf courses may be planting energy-efficient grass soon if the NU Board of Regents al lows the U.S. Golf Association to give UNL a $331,538 research grant, offi cials said. The grant will provide funding during the next five years for the UNL Turfgrass Science Program to develop grasses that require about 50 percent less water, fertilizer and mowing than bluegrass, which normally is used on golf courses. Terrance Riordan, associate pro fessor of horticulture and director of the turf-grass program, said the U SG A wasconccmcd about the environmen tal impact of maintaining golf courses. Riordan said the game of golf could suffer if better ways to sustain courses weren’t found. Maintaining courses requires large amounts of water and fertilizer. The growing popularity of the sport addi lional ly drams resources. < In 1984, he said, the USGA gave the University of Nebraska-Lincoln a small grant of about $4,000 to see if buffalo grass, a grass native to Ne braska, had the potential to be used as a turf-grass. By 1990, he said, UNL had bred a buffalo grass called 609 that used about half the water and fertilizer of bluegrass. However, the grass did not look as good or slay green as long as bluegrass docs in northern climates. He said golf courses in the South had shown interest and purchased UNL’s buffalo grass through a Texas based sod company. The company, called Crcnshaw Dogutc, holds a licensing agreement with UNL in which the university receives royalties that arc split with the USGA. “It’s our reward for having devel oped the grass,” Riordan said. With the new grant, he said, the turf-grass program would try to breed buffalo grasses that stayed green longer and looked better. “We’re gelling very close to get ting buffalo grass to look as good as bluegrass,” he said. If the new grasses arc successful, the USG A could receive more money in royalties than they donated through the grant, said Henry Baumgarten, interim vice chancellor for research. Baumgarten said the grass UNL was working on could be used on lawns as well as golf courses. “We’re confident we have an envi ronmentally friendly grass,” he said. Robin Trimarchi/DN University of Nebraska-Uncoln students march from campus to the Capitol to speak out against violence against women as part of the annual Take Back tne Night’ march Wednesday. Women demand respect Marchers protest violence against females, children By Michelle Leary Senior Reporter About 70 men and women “took back the night” Wednesday, marching to protest violence against women and . children. The “Take Back the N ight” rally, sponsored by the Women’s Center at the University of Ncbraska-Lin coln, was part of a national move ment that has been active across the country for a number of years, said Judith Kriss, director of the UNL Women’s Center. “The accumulated effect of vio lence against women is a large problem,”Kriss said. “I would like all of us to come together, men and women, to collaborate and work together to slop this problem.” Eric Risch, a junior electrical engineer who marched with the rest of the group from Broyhill Plaza to the State Capitol, said he supported the event because it al lowed people to talk about the prob lem of violence and bring the sub ject into the open. “It’s great for women to be able to talk about domestic violence, or violence of any kind," Risch said. “But these things appeal more to women since they arc affected the most, so most men don’t feel they need to come." However, Risch said more men should be involved. ‘‘Men need to understand that women are not objects," he said. Other marchers seemed to agree with Risch. As they walked, sev eral members of the crowd began chanting “yes means yes and no means no." Cindy Douglas of the Women ’ s Studies Association said she was angry that some men do not seem to understand the meaning of “no.” “Boys, we are more than whores and Madonnas," Douglas said. “We don’t ask for respect; we de mand it. “We need to fight back so we will no longer have to continue to come to these things,” she said. “We need to fight back so we can live free.” Another speaker, Melissa Draper of the cornerstone Minis tries, said during the rally that she had heard many statistics and sto ries that horrified her. “We have some choices to make,” Draper said. “On this night we must say no more. This night we claim as our own.” Kriss said it was sad that women must take responsibility for orga nizing these types of rallies. “The problem doesn’t seem to be getting any better,” she said. “When violence occurs in the life of one woman, it concerns us all.” Differences arise about NU’s status Regents, administrators argue whether campuses are 'system' or 'university' By Michelle Leary Senior Reporter ' Determining whether the Uni versity of Nebraska is a sys tem of four universities or a university made up of four campuses is all in the eye of the beholder, said a member of the NU Board of Re gent* The status of whether the Uni versity of Ne braska was a uni versity or a system surfaced in a de bate Monday evening between some NU administrators and members of the Board of Regents. Administrators contended that NU was a system because each of the four campuses — the University of Nc braska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Nebraska at Kearney and the Univer sity of Nebraska Medical Center — are individual entities with their own policy-making processes.' Administrators, including UNL Chancellor Graham Spanicrand UNO Chancellor Del Weber, said they wor ried that classifying NU as a univer sity could cause problems if the new NU president tried to meddle in the affairs of individual campuses. Spanier was unavailable for com ment. Michael Mulnix, executive direc tor of UNL relations, said Spanicr believed clarifying this issue would help in defining the next NU president’s functions. Spanier’s concern was whether the next president would be a planner, coordinator and advocate of a system, or a hands-on administrator over one mullicampus university, Mulnix said. “Spanicr believes that he is the chief executive officer of UNL,” Mulnix said. “He looks to central administration for specific functions, not day-to-day activities,” he said. Joe Rowson, NU director of public affairs, said the Nebraska Constitu tion referred to N U as one university. “There arc other states that have the same problem that we do,’ ’ Rowson said, referring, for example, to Mis souri, Colorado and Tennessee. “They are uncertain about whether or not they have systems or single universi ties.” Regent Don B lank of McCook said a lot of people were reading things into the issue that were not there. He said the difference between a system and larger university was solely a matter of terminology. See REGENTS on 3