Photos by Jeff Hsller/DN
aska’s foremost retailers. This portrait was taken looking into two mirrors at his
(tore’s espresso bar.
“Today, I know much more about how the
system works,” Allen says. “It really doesn’t
work that well.”
Allen began to lose respect for the board
with Roskens’ secretive dismissal and the se
lection of then-UNL Chancellor Martin
Massengale to take his place.
A search committee selected four people to
be considered for president. When Massengale
was added to the list by the regents, the other
four candidates dropped out.
In 1993, Allen distributed a letter to the
press criticizing new Chairman John Payne of
Kearney. Payne was too weak to lead the
board, Allen said, and .had caved in to
Massengale’s supporters back in 1990.
Allen broke his rule, and publicly criticized
fellow board members. But, he says, looking
back, he didn’t think he would run for re
election. He was fed up with their shenanigans,
he says. He thought he was finished with the
regents. The least he could do, he says, was let
the people know their system wasn’t working.
“That was dumb,” he says, shaking his
head, because he did run for re-election and he
still has to work with the board. He describes
most of his time with the regents as “seven
against one.”
The board, he says, is cliquish, secretive,
too concerned with mediocre politics. They’re
good people, he says, but they’ve ! >st touch
with the electorate.
“All these people mean well in their hearts,”
he says, like a kind but exasperated father, “but
they try to make decisions on their own, and
it’s detrimental to the system.”
Alone on board
If Allen feels left out on the board, Regent
Don Blank of McCook says, it’s because the
other regents don’t feel comfortable talking to
him. Things Allen did have made them ner
vous, Blank says, like recording his conversa
tions.
Allen has a, recording device on his phone.
A secretary transcribes many of his phone
calls, and then he destroys the tapes.
“I do everything I can for accuracy,” Allen
says.
This practice became public in 1990 when
Allen gave transcripts of a conversation with
Massengale to the Omaha World-Herald. Allen
believed the conversation showed that
Massengale was trying to help with Allen’s
campaign. The regents have a policy that for
bids NU administrators from helping regents’
campaigns.
TTie news that Allen was recording his
telephone conversations caused a greater stir
than his allegations against Massengale.
Allen now regrets releasing the transcripts.
“That was dumb,” he says, sighing. “Old hon
est, dumb me.”
But Allen says the criticism doesn’t bother
him.
“I don’t have any problems doing the right
thing and taking criticism from people who
don’t agree. I try not to be rude,” he says. Then
his thoughts and thus the conversation turn to
his present crusade. “I’ve got my hands full
with this Spanier thing.”
A copy of Spanier’s resume sits on Allen’s
desk. It’s the resume of a fine sociologist,
Allen says, but not an administrator. Spanier
has coddled social groups like the Gay and
Lesbian Association, Allen says.
The dismissal of Engineering Dean Stan
Liberty and Business Dean Gary
Schwendiman’s resignation further anger
Allen.
“Even Scrooge didn’t fire people at Christ
mas,” Allen says of Liberty’s December an
nouncement.
Allen has stacks of information of the engi
neering college and the College of Business
Administration, a copy of a speech in which
Spanier praised Liberty and a handful of letters
from UNL professors who protested Liberty’s
dismissal.
In a December letter to NU President Den
nis Smith, Allen argued that Spanier should be
dismissed, not Liberty. The letter questioned
Spanier’s honesty and qualifications.
“He just talks in circles,” Allen says of
Spanier, “makes no sense at all.”
Most importantly, Allen maintains, Spanier
does not represent the people of Nebraska.
Spanier wants to be on “the cutting edge of
social change.” Nebraskans are conservative
people, Allen says.
“If people were to vote on the way the
university goes,” he says, “They’d vote over
whelmingly against Graham.”
Spanier responded to Allen’s very public
criticism in a letter.
“In this case you have gone beyond express
ing a difference of opinion or a criticism; you
have openly called into question my honesty
and integrity, and I cannot stand by idly and
allow you to do this without a response,”
Spanier wrote.
Spanier’s letter defends Liberty’s dismissal
“I don’t have any problems doing the
right thing and taking criticism from
people who don’t agree. I try not to
be rude ... I’ve got my hands full with
this Spanier thing. ”
■
ROBERT ALLEN
Hastings regent
and assures Allen that he is trying to serve his
students, faculty, staff and constituents.
Allen now regrets writing the letter to Smith.
All people saw, he says, is that a regent was
trying to fire a chancellor. They didn’t listen to
his reasoning.
“That was dumb,” he says of the letter.
He often recalls his mistakes that way.
“That was dumb,” he says, rolling his eyes and
rocking his head back and forth. “I shouldn’t
have done that,” he says, referring to a number
of situations that have cast him in the spotlight
in the past. t
Almost always, he regrets the manner in
which he handled these situations and not his
intent. When he is criticized by others, too, it’s
almost always his manner they attack.
Controversial style
Most of his critics respect Allen’s goals,
but, they say, he goes about reaching them the
wrong way. Dennis Mullen served on the
Hastings City Council for four years while
Allen was mayor. He was president of the
group most of that time.
Mullen knows what it’s like to fight with
Bob Allen. Allen had a vision of what city
government should be, Mullen says, and he did
not want the council to get in his way.
“You may fault his style,” Mullen says,
“but I don’t think you could criticize his mis
sion.”
When talking about Allen, people choose
their words carefully. He is described as a hard
worker, a determined and tehacious man, and
a man with an uncanny ability to appeal to the
common voter. Allen truly wants to do what is
right for the people, they say.
“While they like to run me down, there’s an
element of respect,” Allen says. “They know
I’m trying to do what’s right.”
Mullen says Allen “absolutely believes he
represents the electorate, and that the elector
ate understood where he wanted to take them
when he ran.”
But, Regent Blank argues, Allen doesn’t
consider the consequences of his words and
actions before he speaks and acts.
“He tends to shoot from the hip,” Blank
says, “when he just doesn’t think first.”
Dr. Charles Wilson, a regent from Lincoln,
has said that Allen stirs up controversy be
cause he likes to be in the spotlight.
That infuriates Allen. He says he hates the
attention'.
“I despise the goddamn stuff,” he says,
pausing as he often does after he swears,
worrying because Georgene hates it.
“I hate having to be a part of something
that’s negative, but I don’t back down.”
Regent Nancy O’Brien of Waterloo, chair
person of the board, is, as Allen describes her,
“no fan of mine.” O’Brien wonders why some
one who claims to hate the spotlight would
find his way back there again and again.
“Since his behavior warrants that over and
over,” O’Brien says, “I find it hard to believe
that it bothers him.”
Allen says he has no choice. When he
knows something is right, he can’t back down.
“I’ve been through this before,” Allen says.
“It’s lonely at the time, but I get a lot of calls
of support.”
His style may be troublesome, but Allen
should not be ignored, Mullen says. He has a
way of ferreting out problems.
“If Bob Allen is raising Cain and question
ing,” Mullen says, “well, where there’s smoke,
there might be fire.”
How Allen goes about solving problems is
what gets him into trouble, Mullen says. But,
he says, those who’ve worked with Allen
“have a whale of a respect for him.”
Mullen had words of warning for Allen’s
future foes.
“Anyone who underestimates him is in for
a rude awakening,” he says.
Powers, who also served on the Hastings
council, narrows that warning.
“Spanier’s in trouble, I’ll tell you that,” he
says, “because Bob is determined, and he
won’t give up. He has the tenacity of a bull
dog.”
But there’s not much room in Allen’s office
for a new crusade. In November, he began his
second six-year term as regent, his last politi
cal office. After that, he’ll put politics behind
him, maybe to write a book or two. Until then,
he promises, he’ll keep fighting, keep pushing
for a better university. He might make a few
mistakes and act dumb sometimes, but he
won’t back down.
Allen tucks Spanier’s resume back into its
file. His desk has lost its semblance of organi
zation. A layer of copies covers its spilled
piles. Educational reports, letters, magazine
pages. A slice of key lime cheesecake from the
bakery below waits for him to finish his thought.
“If you go for truth and accuracy, you’re
going to make some people unhappy, he says.
“After this, it’s someone else’s turn.”