eekend
Sports
Frost enrolled in classes,
page 9
Arts & Entertainment
The Paris Opera Ballet will
entertain Lincolnites tonight
at the Lied Center, page 12
January 13-15, 1995
Making waves
>**88. ^—1
Travis Heying/DN
UNL Maintenance worker Bart Newton wades through water that collected in the basement of the Walter Scott
Engineering Center. An estimated 200,000 gallons of water flooded the basement, shutting down campus
computer systems and Internet access in seven states. '
Walter Scott flood
makes second mess
in as many days
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
water woes continued Thursday when about
220,000 gallons of water flooded the base
ment of the Walter Scott Engineering Cen
ter.
Water levels in the mechanical equip
ment rooms of the center reached as high as
three feet, Hich McDermott, director of fa
cilities management, said.
The heating, cooling, ventilation and
electrical systems were shut down, some of
them sitting in waist-deep water. McDermott
said damage estimates would not be avail
able until those systems could be dried out
and checked.
The cause of Thursday’s flood stemmed
from the same circumstances that caused a
flood in Avery Hall late Wednesday night,
McDermott said. He said, however, that it
was mechanical failure, not human error,
that caused the second flood. The flood in
See FLOOD on 3
Travis Heying/DN
City power plant worker Ed
Hoffman lowers drainage hoses
into the basement of the Walter
Scott Engineering Center.
“It may seem like a crisis, but
we know how to deal with it.
We take it in stride. ”
MARY MCLAUGHLIN
MIDnet executive director
Flooded building
causes breakdown
of local Internet
By Paula Lavigne
Senior Reporter
A flood in the basement of the Walter
Scott Engineering Center shut down Internet
access to seven states Thursday and inter
rupted NRolfUNL’s electronic registration
system.
MIDnet, an Internet station that serves
about 80 accounts in Nebraska, Iowa, Mis
souri, South Dakota, Arkansas, Kansas and
is expanding service to Chicago, also serves
all University of Nebraska-Lincoln systems.
Mary McLaughlin, MIDnet executive
director, said they would try to start up the
system with a generator as soon as they were
allowed in the building.
MIDnet called all of its technical repre
sentatives early Thursday morning and ex
plained the problem, she said.
“If people had deadlines to meet, there
could be some problems,” she said. “They
See INTERNET on 3
Nelson aims
for change
in Legislature
By J. Christopher Hain
Senior Reporter
Gov. Ben Nelson challenged state lawmak
ers to heed the needs of the people in his State
of the State address to the Legislature Thurs
day.
But to head in that direction, Nelson said,
government must be prepared to change.
“We must admit the need for change and
have the courage to follow through,” he said.
He then directed state lawmakers down his
road map for change during the 1995 legisla
tive session, outlining his plans for restructur
ing state government, several legislative initia
tives and the budget.
The governor said he hoped to steer away
from “disorderly and demanding” government
by making government more efficient and by
fighting unfunded federal mandates.
Some of the governor’s restructuring initia
tives include the following:
•Creating a health care policy project to
coordinate and consolidate health care pro
grams currently scattered among several agen
cies.
•Placing the Department of Education un
der the governor’s control and appointing the
State Board of Education.
•Merging the parole and probation admin
istrations.
•Merging the administrative functions of
the Equal Opportunity Commission into the
Department of Labor.
•Utilizing vacancy savings — transferring
to the general fund a portion of money saved in
personnel costs.
Nelson’s other proposals include a crime
package, a 12-point economic and human re
source development program and several other
legislative initiatives—including the areas of
welfare reform, child care and child support,
health care and education.
* But the governor said his plans could also
include an income tax reduction without break
ing the state’s budget.
One way the governor hopes to provide for
his $70 million reduction in income tax is by
making better use of federal funds available to
the state.
“We can, indeed, pay for everything I am
proposing,” Nelson said.
The governor’s plan would increase the
budget by 4.7 percent next year and 3.6 percent
the following year.
The University of Nebraska will receive a
budget increase under the governor’s plan as
well. The increase will be applied toward the
engineering proposal as recommended by the
university, 16 additional faculty members and
additional instructional equipment.
Several state senators, while acknowledg
ing the aggressiveness of the governor ’ s agenda,
expressed their reservations about some of
Nelson’s proposals.
See GOVERNOR on 3
Parking garage proposal pulled from regents’ agenda
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
Chancellor Graham Spanier has
pulled a $5.5 million parking garage
concept proposal from the NU Board
of Regents’ agenda, citing opposition
from the garage’s neighbors.
In a letter to the regents, Spanier
wrote that criticisms from the His
torical Society and the Alpha Phi
Sorority moved him to take the item
off the agenda.
“I have reviewed the feedback my
staff has received about these con
cerns, and I have concluded that it
would not be appropriate to seek your
approval for the program statement
until such time as those who have
objections to the plan are consulted
further,” Spanier wrote to the re
gents.
“I have always promoted the uni
versity as a good neighbor, and we
have consistently sought positive re
lationships with state agencies, the
city, surrounding communities and
our own constituencies,” he wrote.
Phyllis Larsen, a spokeswoman
for the university, said the proj ect was
on hold indefinitely and no time frame
had been set.
House officers in the Alpha Phi
house were skeptical at the news.
“It’s off the list now, but it’s not off
the list for sure,” said Lesley Brandt,
the outgoing house manager. “We’re
not done.”
Brandt said the house had been
trying to organize other people who
bordered the house into action. She
said the house had met with adminis
trators in the Nebraska Historical
Society and residents of Selleck quad
rangle.
Janet Ebert, the current house
manager at Alpha Phi, said the meet
ing with the historical society was a
strategy session. She declined toelabo
rate, but said the two groups agreed
on their opposition of the garage.
What the regents would have been
considering was a program statement
outlining a concept fora 400 to 450
space garage with 3,600 square feet
of student-oriented commercial rental
space. The space would have been
used for stores such as a copy center.
Costs for the site would have been
paid for by parking bonds and rev
enue. generated by the garage.
The two parties’ objections to the
garage are centered on the chosen
site.
Paul Carlson, interim-vice chan
cellor for business and finance, said
his office reviewed 14 sites and settled
on four. He said the only site that
made financial sense was the area
between the Nebraska Union and the
Alpha Phi house.
The sorority insisted that the park
ing garage would bring Peeping Toms,
vagrants and traffic to the area around
the Nebraska Union.
In Spanier’s letter, he said that the
need for a garage was demonstrated
in a study of parking on campus. He
wrote that the need for the garage was
“persuasive.”
Spanier also wrote that there were
a large number of constituencies that
endorsed the construction of a ga
rage.
Items left on the agenda for the
regents’ Saturday meeting are the
elections of the chairman and vice
chairman positions.
See GARAGE on 7