Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1994)
^SPORTS Down and dirty Nebraska catcher David Crain uses hustle and aggresive play to help the Husker baseball team anyway he can. Page 10 Friday 50/32 Today, mostly cloudy with a chance of light rain. April 29, 1994 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 93 No. 152 UNL officials admit mishandling of money Two students funded through tax dollars By Adeana Leftin, Steve Smith and Jeff Zeleny Senior Editots NL administrators admit fault in mis handling private monies donated to two graduate students, which resulted in lax dollars being used to fund their education. Thursday’s Lincoln Journal, the city’s daily afternoon newspaper, reported thatpri vate funds donated specifically for the education and ex penses of two UNL graduate students were misplaced in an unrestricted fund. Friends and family donated $22,500 to Xiaochuan He and $23,000 to Hua Tong, both ofChina, to sponsor their economic department graduate assislantships. Craig MacPhce, chairman of the economics department, put the $45,500, specifically ear marked for the students, in an unrestricted department account in the University Founda tion. Money can be withdrawn from the fund at the discretion of the economics department head. Gary Schwendiman, dean of the College of Business Administration, said several letters accompanied the private donations. Some letters, Schwendiman said, specified that the money was earmarked for the graduate students. But, he said, the one letter MacPhce saw simply said the donation was a gift to the department. Schwendiman said the other letters were not brought to MacPhep’s attention until recently. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Graham Spanier said in a statement any errors in management of the fund had been corrected and steps would be taken to ensure a similar incident didn’t occur again. “The procedures involved were highly ir regular and do not conform to approved prac tices of the University of Nebraska or the Uni versity of Nebraska Foundation,” he said. “While faculty member and departmental intentions appear to have had the best interests of the two students in mind,” Spanier said, “the UNL administration will insist that proper fi nancial practices arc carefully followed in all circumstances.” Jim Knisely, UNL comptroller, said the re ported improprieties were the result of a mis communication. “In my opinion there was some miscommu nication about what the funds had been used for,” Knisely said. Knisely said donations given to the univer sity usually were not targeted for specific stu dents. “This isn’t something we normally run into at all,” Knisely said. In Knisely’s 15 years as comptroller, this type of student-sponsorship donation has happened only twice before. Knisely said the funds would be returned from the foundation to the university general operating account at once. A trust fund account See FUNDS on 7 William Lauer/DN Bruce Currin, director of the Human Resources Department, works on his computer with his 9-year-old daughter Toby. UNL daughters explore work options By Angie Brunkow Senior Reporter__ Some UNL Teachers College students got advice Thursday with the help of a girl half their age. During “Take Your Daughter to Work Day,” 10 year old Katie Will, worked along side her grandmother, Pat Sim, as chief adviser for the college’s health and human performance department. • “Some people came in and she told them what classes would be best for them to gradu ate,” Katie said. This year was the first time the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln officially sanctioned the second-annual event for its employees. Staff, faculty and administrators all were encouraged to bring their daughters to work to show what they did during the day. The day, sponsored nationally by the Ms. Foundation for Women, was designed to boost girls’ self-esteem. Statistics show girls usually arc not encouraged as much as boys to pursue careers. Katie’s day as a career woman began at 7:30 a.m., when she attended a breakfast with football coaches and recruiters. “I got announced as a special guest,” Katie said. ‘‘And I was the first one to be announced, too.” See DAUGHTERS on 6 Four professors set for long haul in suit vs. UNL By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter__ he attorney for the fourengineering pro fessors who claimed they were unfairly denied tenure at UNL said his clients would take the matter as far as it could go. “Until the last possible avenue of the court process is used, this is not over,” Thom Cope said. “We will continue to challenge the univer sity. “This is well far from over— you can count on it and the university can count on it." Russell Alberts, Gautam Batra, Michael Resch and Nisar Shaikh sued the NU Board of Regents, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Chancellor Graham Spanicr and the Dean of the College of Engineering Stan Liberty. The suit, filed in U.S. Federal Court on March 29, claimed the four professors were “professionally hazed” when they were not told the requirements for tenure. The professors then filed a motion for a preliminary injunction that would have re quired UNL to keep three of the four professors until a decision could be made on the case. Shaikh has since moved to Sunnyvale, Ca lif., after being denied tenure. The injunction was denied Tuesday by U.S. Federal Court Judge Richard Kopf. Cope said the judge’s decision was disap pointing, but wasn’t cause for panic. “It certainly wasn’t unexpected when we heard what (the judge) said in court,” Cope said. NU Associate General Counsel John Wiltsc said the lawsuit had no constitutional grounds to stand on in federal court. “They tried to make a federal case out of this and we disagreed with them,” he said. “The judge did too.” Cope said the professors’ next move was taking their case to the State Claims Board, which handles contract and personal injury claims. He said their fate there was doubtful. “Weanticipatc it will be denied because they always deny them,” Cope said. Assuming they are denied. Cope said, the next step would be to take the case to Lancaster See ENGINEERING on 7 Busy weekend in store for Board of Regents Out-of-state tuition increase could get final approval By Brian Sharp Statl Report#_ The NU Board of Regents will have their hands full this weekend. Issues involving residency require ments, UNMC expansion. Memorial Stadium and a student protest will highlight the board's agenda. Discussion of a proposed parking garage on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus was withdrawn because all the data needed for its presentation was not available, officials said. Regents will get their first chance to discuss the garage at their June meeting. Regents will, however, have a chance to give final approval to another issue of controversy. A recommendation from central adminis tration that would change the waiting period for residency from six months to 12 months will be placed in front of the board. The difference will mean that out-of-state students will have to pay higher tuition rates for a longer time. Joe Rowson, NU spokesman, said the only opposition to the proposal had come from stu See REGENTS on 2 Student activists to protest contract with Mitsubishi By Brian Sharp Staff Reporter The NU Board of Regen is has contracted Mitsubishi, labeled by environmental ists as the worst destroyer of the world’s forests, for two $3.5 million stadium replay screens, and the board will hear about it from some student activists on Saturday. Students from the University of Ncbraska Lincoln, the University of Nebraska at Kearney and the University of Nebraska at Omaha will conduct a protest rally outside Varner Hall on Saturday, following their meeting with the re gents. Lisa Williams, a member of Nebraska Earth First! and the .Rainforest Action Network, is helping to organize the event. “This is such ah unusual situation,” she said. “We have so much ofour studies... centered on preservation and environmental concerns, and then to go and deal with (Mitsubishi). “It’s kind of an atrocity. It’s an inconsis tency.” A letter sent to the regents asks that the contract be reevaluated, that all action on the See PROTEST on 3