2S-— NFWS DTGrST Nebraskan
Edited by Jeff Singer ±_ 11 J f f I ^ 1 V II /U 1 Friday, Novambar0,1993
Wildfires continue to blaze
MALIBU, Calif. — Firefighters
strengthened their hold Thursday on
flames in coastal mountains and po
lice searched for an arsonist who ig
nited the inferno that destroyed 200
homes and killed a film director.
Duncan Gibbins, 41, died
Wednesday of bums suffered a day
earlier, becoming the first person
killed in the wildfires that began burn
ing across Southern California nine
days ago.
The British screenwriter and di
rector, whose credits included “Fire
With Fire” about a forbidden love
affair and “Third Degree Burn,” a
detective film, had safely fled his
rented cottage. But he but had head
ed back to rescue a cat, said Peter
Alexander, who owns the house.
A man who had hopped into a
vehicle to look for Gibbins and be
came engulfed in flames was in crit
ical condition Thursday.
Damp sea air Thursday helped
5,000 firefighters battling the blaze
around this community of mansions
and ranches owned by Hollywood’s
rich and famous. Some firefighters
napped amid their trucks; others bat
tled hot spots in the hills.
Malibu was mostly calm, with vir
tually no wind to even stir the ashes
among charred beams and twisted
metal fixtures of obliterated homes.
The forecast called for the rising hu
midity and quiet winds to last through
Friday.
“We’re finally getting a break,”
said Inspector Dan Ertel of the Los
Angeles County Fire Department. But
Ertel warned, “If the winds pick up,
it’s the same old thing.”
The fire was 70 percent contained.
Inspector Steve Knevelbaard said to
day. More than 900 fire engines and
18 aircraft were in use.
The flames had jumped Topanga
Canyon on the eastern side of Malibu
and threatened to move toward the
densely populated Pacific Palisades
section of Los Angeles, about 20 miles
west of downtown. But on Thursday,
helicopters and C-130 air tankers
dumping water and fire retardant kept
them from spreading.
The outbreak of wildfires in South
ern California has destroyed more
than 1,000 homes and burned 200,000
acres since Oct. 26. Several of the
blazes have been blamed on arson
ists.
The Malibu blaze has burned 200
homes and 18,500 acres since it first
roared through this mile-wide, 27
mile-long coastal strip on Tuesday.
“They’re sure that it was arson,”
Gov. Pete Wilson said. He refused to
give details. A $250,000 reward was
posted for information leading to the
capture and conviction of the arson
ist or arsonists.
Californians try to recover trom tragedy
MALIBU, Calif. — Alice
Kavaldgian cried as she trudged
through the ashes of her home. “This
is it,” she said, pointing to the clothes
she was wearing. “I don’t even have
a sweater.”
Kavaldgian was among thousands
of residents chased from this celebri
ty enclave by an arson wildfire that
roared out of the Santa Monica Moun
tains and burned 200 houses. One
person was killed.
Some returned Thursday to see
whether any of their past was still
standing. Others waited at roadblocks
hastily put up to allow fire or aircraft
bombing runs over the remaining hot
spots.
By Thursday, firefighters had con
tained 70 percent of the 18,500-acre
wildfire, one of a series of blazes that
have destroy d 1,000 homes, black
ened 200,000 acres and injured near
ly 200 people in Southern California
since Oct. 26. Several were blamed
on arsonists.
The Malibu fire claimed actor Sean
Penn’s $4 million Spanish-style man
sion along with Ali McGraw’s home,
with its panoramic view of the Pacif
ic Ocean.
“I’m grateful to be alive. I’m grate
ful to my friends who helped save
my animals. And I’m grateful to all
the firefighters for their extraordi
nary efforts in saving so many peo
ple’s lives,” the star of the 1970 hit
movie “Love Story” said in a state
ment released through her publicist.
Many celebrity homes, including
the 100 mansions in the exclusive
Malibu Colony, were spared.
Mike Pierson, 33, returned to his
wood-sided house to find it intact.
His relief was subdued.
“My cousin’s home is gone, my
best friend’s home is gone. Every
person 1 grew up with, their home is
gone,” Pierson said. “I look here and
I can’t even tell where people live.”
Chris Mitchell sat in her fully load
ed car in the middle of a highway,
unable to get home.
“Last night we rode our bikes up
the highway so we know our house is
all ri^ht,” she said. “But we’re tired
of driving around and living out of
our car.”
Nelson Caipentier returned to his
Las Flores Canyon lot to find his
home destroyed and his restored 1970
Mercedes-Benz a burned out shell.
Sitting next to the car were the re
mains of a 20-foot Wellcraft boat.
As family members dug spoons,
metal tools, ceramic cups and pots
out of the ash, Carpentier expressed
anger at the arsonist who authorities
said set the fire.
“It makes me sick,” he said. “I did
nothing to that guy and he destroyed
everything I own.”
$ CALIFORNIA FIRES
Aided bv tamer wind, thousands of firefighters challenged walls of flame with
water and fire retardant, thwarting an onslaught that has destroyed 200 canyon
ranches and seaside mansions.
Curris
Continued from Page 1
Earlier during the two-hour open
session, Curris answered board mem
bers’ questions of his past adminis
trative positions at UNI and Murray
State University in Kentucky.
AAUP censure
While at Murray State in 1974,
Curris was censured by the Ameri
can Association of University Pro
fessors for his part in the firing of
nine tenured faculty members.
Curris said shortly after he was
named president of the university,
about 45 faculty members had come
up for tenure review. Because of a
pre-existing university board policy,
all were reviewed, and about 20 were
denied tenure, Curris said.
The nine members had been at the
university more than six years, which
is the AAUP’s tenure policy, he said.
Some faculty members eventually
took the issue to a federal court, but
the board’s decision was upheld,
Curris said.
An administration is censured for
not upholding the academic freedom
of faculty members, an AAUP
spokesman said from Washington
D.C.
The censure issue raised concern
among some UNL faculty members
Thursday.
Jane Conoley, president of the lo
cal AAUP chapter, said the censure
issue was serious.
“The AAUP is gravely concerned
about the censure that still exists,”
she said. “We’d like to hear him di
rectly address this.”
Similar to 1990
Robert Bergstrom, associate pro
fessor of English and former AAUP
chapter president, said this situation
raiski the same questions as in the
1990 search when a finalist was cen
sured. The search committee then said
they had no knowledge of the allega
tions. ■
-44
The AAUP is gravely concerned about the
censure that still exists. We’d like to hear him
directly address this.
— Conoley
president of UNL chapter of AAUP
- II —
Robert Dickeson, president of the
University of Northern Colorado, was
censured by AAUP in 1983. At the
time, faculty members were con
cerned about the possibility of nam
ing a university president that had
been censured.
Dickeson and three other finalists
ultimately dropped out of the race
after internal candidate Martin
Massengale was declared a finalist.
Bergstrom said if the regents
named Curris to the president posi
tion it would send a negative mes
sage to faculty members.
Search committee
Regent Nancy O’Brien of Water
loo, who co-chaired the search com
mittee, said she couldn’t remember
when die committee found out about
the censure issue.
“I can’t say we knew it through
out the search,” she said.
Sally Wise, president of the UNL
Academic Senate and a member of
the search committee, would not say
if the search committee knew about
the censure.
Curris said the board told him they
knew about the censure, but it was
not brought up in his initial interview
with search committee members.
‘‘There apparendy was a consid
erable amount of discussion prior to
interview by the board about the cen
sure,” he said.
Nine years after the censure issue,
Curris’ contract was not renewed by
w w
the Murray State Board. The split
vote over the contract renewal was
because of new members on the board
and a new board chairman, Curris
said.
Candidate focus
Curris said the focus of his candi
dacy for the NU position should not
be centered around the censure issue
or his Murray State contract.
“My interest is to focus on what
I’ve done,” he said.
During Curris’ proposal to the
board, he said there were five initia
tives he would like to implement if
offered the presidency.
“I know it’s somewhat premature
to make these statements to you, but
I think it might be helpful if you
know what I would do," Curris told
the board.
Curris’ five initiatives arc:
• Get to know the university, its
people, heritage and strengths.
• To establish a strategic plan
ning process for the university as a
whole.
• Team building with chancellors
and vice presidents of the university.
• Work with each chancellor to
develop and sustain a higher level of
excellence on each of four campus
es.
• Get to know the state of Nebras
ka in all areas, including political
leadership.
O’Brien
Continued from Page 1
National Merit Scholars and has at
tracted more than 300 honor students
to UNO.
O’Brien said his daughters went
through the same application process
as other applicants without preferen
tial treatment.
He also answered Questions about
a conflict involving tne foreign lan
guage department at UNO. The de
partment gave O’Brien a vote of no
confidence two years ago.
Victor Santi, chair of the depart
ment, said in a phone interview that
many foreign language professors had
given one of their colleagues poor
evaluations. The negative evaluations
would have led to the professor’s ter
mination, he said.
O’Brien said the professor’s re
sponse to the negative evaluations
included accusations of sexual ha
rassment. The faculty senate studied
the evaluation procedures and con
cluded the department hadn’t fol
lowed them correctly, he said.
The professor was allowed to re
main on the faculty and be re-evalu
ated. O’Brien said his support of the
senate’s decision led to the no confi
dence vote.
While O’Brien said hard feelings
probably still existed, Santi said the
the incident was resolved to the sat
isfaction of most department mem
bers.
Another controversy O’Brien was
involved with at UNO involved
former men’s basketball coach Art
Tolis, who has filed a lawsuit against
the university. Tolis was dismissed
after his first season as head coach in
1987-1988 for hitting an athlete.
O’Brien said.
Ed Cassiere, UNO’s sports infor
mation director, said an agreement
was reached between UNO and Tolis
that accepted his resignation along
with continuation of Tolis’ salary
until the end of his contract.
When UNO lagged on the pay
ments, Tolis reported several National
Collegiate Athletic Association vio
lations that he allegedly observed
while he was head coach, Cassiere
said.
UNO hired an independent attor
ney to investigate the violations, who
found that most had passed the stat
ute of limitations, O’Brien said.
Only one violation was found to
have occurred under O’Brien’s chan
cellorship, he said. That involved an
athlete who accepted money for car
repairs from professional recruiters,
O’Brien said.
The university reported the viola
tion, O’Brien said,even though there
was no conclusive proof. O’Brien said
the NCAA would regard the incident
as a secondary violation.
O’ Brien has been a member of the
NCAA President’s Commission since
April of 1988, one month after Tolis
initial termination. The commission
advises colleges on NCAA regula
tions. O’Brien later became the com
mission’s chairman in January ol
1992. _
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