Professor claims discrimination ii
By Shane Tucker
Staff Reporter
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln
professor is suing the school for
$25,000 for discrimination on the basis
of his disabilities, according to a case
filed at the U.S. District Court in
Lincoln.
Paul Gessaman, professor of agri
cultural economics, says in the law
suit that UNL deprived him of in
creases in compensation and caused
him emotional and physical harm.
The university’s actions, Gessaman
alleges in the suit, are in conflict with
the Rehabilitation Act of 1970, the
Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 and the public policy of the State
of Nebraska.
Gessaman, a 13-year employee of
the Institute of Agricultural and Nat
ural Resources, suffered a series of
light strokes in 1980-81, in 1987, and
again in 1993. The strokes caused
memory loss, partial loss of motor
functions, some temporary paralysis,
loss of coherent speech, loss of bal
ance and emotional instability.
Although he can adequately per
form his duties, the strokes have re
duced his ability to deal with confron
tational situations, t,be lawsuit says. In
certain situations Gessaman is unable
to maintain his composure and to
avoid weeping.
Sam Cordes, head of the depart
ment of agricultural economics, told
Gessaman in 1991 that he had the
strongest annual evaluation among
all of Cordes’ employees, the lawsuit
says.
According to the lawsuit, Gessaman
received no increase in compensation
in 1991, as is common within the
department for positive evaluations,
and at least two other employees did.
In meeting with Cordes and other
supervisors to alleviate the problem,
Gessaman says he was placed in con
frontational situations that he was in
capable ofdealing with because of his
disability.
Gessaman said he offered alterna
tive methods of resolving the dispute.
The lawsuit says these methods were
rejected by Irvin Omtvedt, vice chan
cellor of the Institute of Agriculture
and Natural Resources, and Kenneth
Bolen, director of Cooperative Ex
tension.
This rejection and the conflict
caused by it allegedly led Gessaman
to be “castigated and negatively eval
uated” in 1992, the lawsuit says.
Besides monetary compensation
for lost wages, Gessaman wants to be
transferred to a different job with a
similar salary where he will no longer
be under the supervision of Cordes.
He also is seeking a jury trial and
additional compensation for attorney’s
fees and medical expenses due to
emotional distress.
Cordes and Gessaman could not be
reached for information regarding the
case.
I
hsenes says improvements await Ab u JN
By Angie Brunkow
Senior Editor
For ASUN President Keith Benes,
summer was a time to recuperate from
the spring semester and make plans'
for the fall.
“Summer was a
a
said that
after a hectic
spring of student
government elec
tion campaigning
and the senate reorganizing that fol
lowed, he needed the time to plan and
re-evaluate his goals for the senate.
As a result, Benes said he would
approach the Association of Students
of the University of Nebraska with
three main resolutions during the next
month of senate meetings.
Benes said he would bring a revi
sion of the senate’s bylaws before the
whole hody at its fust mcciiog
Wednesday night.
The old bylaws were organized in
the order they were passed and new
amendments weren’t arranged logi
cally.
“We tried to revise it into a more
manageable form,” he said.
The bylaws now are divided into
chapters and sections, where duties of
committees and officers are outlined
clearly.
“Hopefully this will make it easier
for senators to understand,” he said.
Benes said he also added sections
to the bylaws to clear up procedural
questions in senate operation.
“We know how (the procedures)
were done, but we didn’t have it writ
ten in the bylaws,” he said.
Most changes were technical and
uncontroversial, Benes said, but he
would not elaborate on them before
the senate convened for the fall.
Benes said he also planned to bring
another bylaw change before the sen
ate. In an effort to bring the student
body and senate closer together, Benes
said he wanted to strike senators’
the bylaws. ».*
Senators are required to meet with
constituents once a month, he said.
They usually choose a time and place
and advertise the meeting in the Daily
Nebraskan. Benes said few students
attended the meetings, making it a
waste of time for the senators.
Instead, Benes said he would re
quire senators to visit meetings of
campus organizations.
Senators would be required to visit
with students only for the first 15
minutes of the meeting, he said, so it
would not be a bigger time commit
ment.
“Even if it does take more time,
there would be a greater number of
students and more variety,” he said.
Benes also spent his summer work
ing on plans for a Big Eight student
government conference, which would
e hosted at UNL.
With many Big Eight universities
facing similar problems, such as bud
get cuts and multicultural issues, Benes
said the conference would allow stu
dent leaders to kick around a few
be an organizational one to plan for
the future of the event.
At Pearle we really care about your eyes.
That’s why we highly recommend that you have
them checked at least once every year by a pro
fessional Doctor of Optometry. So please take
care of your eyes. You’ll see the difference.
Pm.il/simCENm
Two convenient locations:
1132 'O' St.
476-7583
(Closest to campus)
Gateway Mall
464-7416
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