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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1994)
Correction: Alan Jacobsen, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, was reported to have said Tuesday that state senators from western Nebraska were not good representatives. Jacobsen actually criticized all senators for proposing too many bills. He did not specifically attack senators from western Nebraska. The Dally Nebraskan regrets tne error. ■^SPORTS Remembering the Orange Bowl Nebraska players are more enthused for spring ball after their narrow loss to Florida State on Jan. 1. Page 7 Thursday 63/34 Today, sunny and mild. March 31, 1994 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 93 No. 131 Commission to experience minor changes By Angie Brunkow and Matthew Waite Senior Reporters he state education coordinating com mission will undergo only minor changes resulting from a bill given final approval in the Nebraska Legislature Wednesday. “It didn’t take away any of our constitutional power,” said Patsy Martin, communication co ordinator for the Nebraska Coordinating Com mission for Postsccondary Education. LB683. which was introduced by Sen. Jerome Warner of Wavcrly and received 43-0 final round approval, defines the role of the commis sion. The bill goes to Gov. Ben Nelson for his signature. Legislators directed the 11-member com mission to coordinate higher education and let the individual colleges and universities govern. Warner said the intent of the bill was to clarify the original intent of the commission and to clearly define its role in postsccondary education. He said the commission’s role would change slightly with LB683. “They become more advisory,” he said. “They arc not involved in (university) governance.” The language of the bill will not end confl ict between the commission and other governing boards in postsecondary cducat ion, Warner said, but it will help narrow the disagreements. “It eliminated a lot of the misunderstanding that occurred,” he said. Martin said the commission was comfort able with the changes outlined in the bill. “The statutes probably did need some clari fication,” she said. The commission’s duties of comprehensive planning,defining rolesand missions and elimi nating duplication remain intact, she said. The com miss ion also still offers budget guide lines and reviews, she said. The changes give the body more time to review budgets and outline what capital construction projects it reviews, she said. Martin said when conflicts arose about the commission’s role, groups would interpret stat utes regarding the commission differently. “There were some misunderstandings be fore,” she said. “This will help clear some of that up.” NU Board of Regents Chairman Charles See COMMISSION on 6 Sen. Gerald Matzke, right, talks with Sen. Dwite Pedersen on the floor of the Legislature Wednesday morning after the passing of LB1129. Hazing bill gets final-round approval By Angie Brunkow Senior Reporter A bill passed by Nebraska legislators Wednesday would give university officials extra help in eliminating hazing from campus, a UNL administrator said. LB1129, proposed by Sen. Gerald Matzkc of Sidney, got final-round approval 40-0, and if signed by the governor, it will make hazing a crime. Individuals found guilty of hazing could be punished with a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine; organizations could be fined up to $10,000. James Griescn, vice chancellor for stu dent affairs at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, said the university needed this ex tra deterrent to effectively discourage haz ing. “Having hazing as a violation ofstatc law will increase student awareness of the unac ceptable nature of (it),” he said. With the threat of criminal prosecution above them, students probably will be more likely to rethink their actions before engag ing in hazing, Gricscn said. Matzkc agreed. “It wouldbc very foolish for fraternities to ignore this law,” he said. Matzkc said the law would add weight to the university’s efforts to deter hazing. “The university has done an excellent job in establishing standards for student con duct,” he said. “But the educational institu tion does not have the power to levy fines and imprison people.” Griesen said the law also would ensure that all students who were found guilty of hazing were punished. The university will report all major hazing incidents to the county attorney’s office, he said. “University jurisdiction extends only to currently enrolled students,” he said. “We have no ability to deal with the student who might drop out of school to escape our juris diction.” Matzkc said the law would have a second ary benefit of helping reduce alcohol con sumption on campus. Alumni advisers to fraternities and sororities will be forced to limit alcohol use by its members, he said. “Most of the worst acts of hazing involve excessive consumption of alcohol,” Matzke said. Greek house presidents and alumni will need to take the lead in stopping alcohol use and hazing, he said. “This is going to be primarily the respon sibility of the leadership of fraternities and sororities to make sure their members are responsible in their use of alcohol, so hazing incidents do not become criminal activi ties,” Matzkc said. Husker football fans will have to pay more to see less By Tim Pearson Senior Reporter NL students who want to watch the Comhusker football team make an other run at the national champion ship will have to pay the consequences. Students wanting season tickets for next fall will have to pay $ 17 more than last season to sec one less home football game. Last season University ofNebraska-Lincoln students had to pay $56 for football season tickets, an average of $8 per game. This season students will be charged $73 for season tickets, slightly more than $12 a ticket. Athletic officials: Price raise needed to cover costs Nebraska has six home games scheduled, com pared with seven last season. Cindy Bell, assistant athletic ticket office manager, said the increase in prices wasn’t just targeted at students. “There wasan increase in the price of tickets for everyone,” she said. “We increased the prices all the way around.” Unlike past years, this year there is a definite guideline on setting student ticket prices, Bell said. “In the 10 years I’ve been here, the student tickets have been $7, but there was never any policy on that,” she said. “Student tickets didn’t nave to be 30 percent of the public prices or 20 percent. “The number was just an arbitrary number.” In the past, students have been charged $7 per game. Last year that figure was changed to $8. Full-time students will now be charged half of what the public pays for season tickets, and the faculty will be charged 80 percent of what the public pays. Students will have the chance to buy season tickets during the student lottery next week. Bell said increasing athletic expenses caused a need for increased revenue. A majority of that increased revenue will come from the raise in ticket prices. “We need to pay the bills, to help cover our expenses,” Bell said. Unlike other schools around the country, UNL doesn’t allot any student fees to the ath letic department. “When students come to the University of Nebraska, they do not pay anything in their fees for athletics,” Bell said. “At most schools, part of student fees go towards athletics, even if that See TICKETS on 6 University sued by professors who were denied tenure Plaintiffs seek to keep jobs, get compensation By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter . _____ NU general counsel Richard Wood said Wednesday that the University of Ne braska-Lincoln would contest allega tions made in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Four assistant professors in the College of Engineering and Technology sued UNL, the NU Board of Regents, UNL Chancellor Gra ham Spanier and Stan Liberty, dean of engi neering, claiming they had been unfairly passed over for tenure. Wood said he would file motions in U.S. District Court denying all the accusations. The suit claims L. Russell Alberts, Gautam Batra, Michael Rcsch and Nisar Shaikh had been “professionally hazed." Shaikh has since left UNL and lives in Sunnyvale, Calif. He and the other professors claim: • since the fall of 1991, all of the professors have been denied tenure at UNL. • their work while at the university was satisfactory. • they were not given information on what criteria would be used to grant tenure. • the university improperly used outside evaluations of the professors to review their job performance. Last November, the four professors filed complaints with the Faculty Grievance Com mittee. The committee recQmmcnded the pro fessors be allowed two years to prove they warranted tenure. Spanicr overruled the committee’s recom mendation and upheld the denial of tenure. The professors then filed the lawsuit. Spanicr said he had not seen the suit and declined to comment on the issue. Thom Cope, attorney for the four professors, was unavailable for comment. The professors arc seeking: • a restraining order keeping UNL from filling the professors’ jobs in the engineering college. • a retaining order keeping Alberts, Resch and Batra in their current jobs until a decision on the case is made. • damages compensating the professors for lost wages, lost benefits, mental distress and other damages named by the court. • punitive damages against the individual defendants.