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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1994)
^A&E Anarchy is poetry Poet Phillip Levine hits Lincoln with hard hitting yet true style. Page 9 Friday 10/-20 Cloudy with a chance of light snow. January 14, 1994 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 93 No. 82 Big money hangs on word from regents EPA, video screens on board’s agenda By Jeffrey Robb Senior Editor The fate of nearly $ 10 million will rest on two decisions by the NU Board of Re gents on Saturday. Regents will decide to either enter the Uni versity of Nebraska into a more than $600,000 settlement or risk more than $5 million in Environmental Protection NU REGENTS Asencyf,nes The agents also will decide whether to approve a $4.5 million plan to install video screens in Memorial Stadium. After routine inspections, the Environmental Protec tion Agency hit NU with several violations of feder al environmental regula tions. The alleged wrongdoings include im proper waste storage and labeling, faulty train ing and emergency planning, and operating a waste incinerator without a permit. None of the allegations resulted in damage to the environment or the health and safety of any individuals, NU President Martin Massengale said. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln would pay $76,350 in fines and $152,700 for a com puter chemical tracking system. The Universi ty of Nebraska Medical Center would pay the rest of the settlement. NU General Counsel Richard Wood and Special Counsel Judy Roots said the university was disputing all charges but advising the university to accept the settlement. If the board decides not to pay the settle ment, the EPA has said it could seek fines of more than $5 million. The regents also will consider a plan to add two new video boards in Memorial Stadium. The multimillion-dollar proposal would be fi nanced entirely through private donations. In other business, a new regents chairman will be elected. So far, only Regent Charles Wilson of Lincoln has expressed a desire to seek the position. The annual report on NU enrollment trends also will be submitted. The report says NU enrollment overall dropped 1.5 percent in the fall 1993 semester, the first decrease since 1987. UNL’s enrollment dropped 0.3 percent—a total of 82 students. At UNL, men, at 53.5 percent, outnumber women by 1,719. That number dropped by 142 in the fall of 1993. Minorities make up 4.9 percent, an increase of 17 students, and foreign students comprise 6.2 -percent, an increase of 83 students, the report said. Baldwin moved to new location By Angie Brunkow Senior Reporter Scott Baldwin was admitted to the Ma donna Rehabilitation Hospital shortly before Christmas, hospital representa tives said Thursday. carol jcss, airecioroi cor porate communication for the Madonna Rehabilitation Hos pital, said Baldwin was par ticipating in a physical reha bilitation program there. Baldwin, a former Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln student and football player, w<w iiaiizuwii^u iiuiii 111^ wir Baldwin coin Regional Center, which is part of the Nebraska Department of Public Institutions. Baldwin was found not responsible by rea See BALDWIN on 2 An employee of Judds Brothers Construction works on the George W. Beadle Center Thursday morning. The Beadle Center should be completed in 1995. Wet weather delays Beadle Center Outside topping off, rest in early 1995 By Todd Neeley Staff Reporter_ A cool and wet season has delayed the completion of the George W. Beadle Center for Genetics and Biomaterials Research by nearly six months. Marion O’Leary, head of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln biochemistry depart ment, said several rainy months had pushed the center’s projected completion date back to winter or spring 1995. The Beadle Center originally was sched uled for completion in the summer of 1994, O’Leary said. While the exterior of the building located at 19th and Vine streets is nearly complete, interior work on the 138,000 square-foot structure has not begun, he said. Despite the delays, O’Leary said he was pleased with the progress on the $31.9 mil lion project. “It’s really looking very good,” he said. “It’s exciting to be this close to the project.” When completed, the Beadle Center will be used for research in biochemistry and chemical engineering. Private companies will be able to do research either indepen dently or with the help of university re searchers. Not only will the Beadle Center allow for the development of new products, but it will help university researchers obtain grants. UNL’s biochemistry and chemistry engi neering undergraduate and graduate pro grams will be housed in the center. O’Leary said most universities with dif ferent fields of study had separate facilities. But the Beadle Center will incorporate var ious scientific disciplines under one roof, along with all the modem technologies avail able in each field. The center also will incorporate an out reach program including seminars for high school teachers that will allow them to learn about new science technologies. Some high school teachers will be work ing with scientists in hands-on research, and eventually the center will be used in the production of science programs to be broad cast statewide. “The integration of various activities into one building is unique,” O’Leary said. “This facility is different and really reflects that.” Merits of independent prosecutor debated By Angie Brunkow Senior Reporter The trend of going outside the U.S. Jus tice Department to find justice is not a good one, a UNL law professor said Thursday. Josephine Potuto, an NU professor of consti tutional law, said investigations of possible illegal activity by members oi tne u.a. executive orancn was be ing done more by spe cial prosecutors outside of the Justice Department. The most recent sign of this trend came Wednesday when President Bill Clinton asked U.S. Attorney Gener ai Janet Keno to appoint an independent prosecutor to look into his 1980s real estate investment with a controversial Arkansas businessman. The White House reported that Clinton, who initially opposed the appointment of a special counsel, had little choice but to agree to it because of rising political controversy about the issue. A number of senators and congressmen have been calling for a special counsel investigation, including Nebraska Sens. Bob Kerrey and Jim Exon and Rep. Doug Bereuter. Although Kerrey and Exon, in a joint state ment Tuesday, praised Clinton for requesting a special prosecutor, Potuto said she questioned their stance. -44 To some it's overkill, and to others it's essential. —Sittig Criminal investigations are the job of the justice department, She said, but increasingly special prosecutors are being appointed to do tne job. Special investigators were appointed to in vestigate former Lt. Col. Oliver North, Watergate and the Iran-Contra affair, she said. “It’s costing us a lot of money as taxpayers,” she said. Robert Sittig, an American politics profes sor at UNL, said the design of the political system made investigationsofexecutive wrong doing difficult. The process is awkward because the execu tive branch is forced to investigate itself, he said. Possible confl id of interest in investigations of the executive branch has led to the recent cry for special investigators, he said. “To some it’s overkill, and to others it’s essential,” he said. Potuto said the use of both special prosecu tors and congressional hearings in North’s al leged involvement in trading arms for hostages w w caused problems in later prosecutions. Because information inadmissible in court came out during the congressional hearings, she said, North couldn’t be prosecuted crimi nally. “There was no way to untaint the informa tion for a criminal trial,” she said. But Sittig said in this case, Clinton had little choice but to request a special prosecutor. The election cycle for many members of the House and Senate is gearing up, he said, and incumbents don’t want to get mired down by any Washington scandals. “Some of them are going to face the elector ate, and they don’t want any complications in their re-election bid,” Sittig said. “They just want the air cleared as quickly as possible.” Kerrey goes before voters in the Nebraska primary in May, Sittig said. If the special prosecutor doesn’t resolve the issue quickly, Democratic incumbents such as Kerrey may find their campaigns tangled in the issue, he said. “That’s the last thing he needs or wants.”