^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.”