Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 1995)
insidefT 1 uesday Sports Nee hopes Huskers can continue NIT streak, page .\ 11 Arts & Entertainment Broadway comes to Omaha, page 13 March 14, 1995 Clinton greets Huskers National champs meet president By Jeff Zeleny Editor WASHINGTON — The highest-rank ing college football fan in the United States was dwarfed by the country’s No. 1 team at a White House ceremony Monday. President Bill Clinton congratulated the Nebraska Comhuskers on their national championship and said the team was strong not only in character, but in size. “This is the only football team in America that could make me look like/a ballerina here,” said Clinton, with about 90 Nebraska players flanked behind him on the South Lawn of the White House. The president spent about 30 minutes Monday afternoon in Washington with NU players, coaching staff and the Nebraska Congressional delegation. Clinton was escorted to the South Lawn by Nebraska coach Tom Osborne and cap tains Rob Zatechka, Terry Connealy and Zach Wiegert. Monday’s meeting with Clinton was the first time an entire Nebraska football team has met with a U.S. president. In 1970, when the Huskers won their first national championship, team captains and coaches traveled to Washington. The fol lowing year when Nebraska was named No. 1, Nixon personally congratulated the team in a Lincoln ceremony at the Nebraska Coliseum, said NU associate athletic direc tor Don Bryant. The presidential meeting was scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. EST, but Clinton arrived about 30 minutes late. While the players waited, they fidgeted and took off their suit jackets in the 70-degree sunshine. Clinton appeared on the South Lawn a few minutes after noon. He laughed, smiled and waved to the small crowd of coaches, wives and dignitaries while walking to the podium. The president said he had been a college football fan for years. “I have been since I was a small boy a very ardent football fan,” Clinton said. The president lauded Osborne for his 22 years of success at Nebraska. When the president telephoned Osborne after Nebraska’s 24-17 Orange Bowl win over JeffHaHer/DN President Bill Clinton jokes with Nebraska football players on their way to a ceremony on the White House South Lawn Monday afternoon. Miami, Clinton told the coach no one de served the victory more. “I know that coach Osborne’s record alone justifies a national championship,” Clinton said of Osborne’s 219 career wins. “Folks would like to have that here.” Osborne, in his trademark passive style, thanked the president and Nebraska con gressmen for playing host to the event and offered a word of advice to the 40 members of the national and Nebraska media who were present. “I hope a lot of pictures are taken today. They will never look better,” Osborne said of his players who traded their red jerseys for slacks, ties and jackets. The Nebraska captains presented Clinton with a glass-enclosed autographed football and personalized red jerseys numbered 95 and 96, for the remaining years of Clinton’s - first term in office. “Even though you are from Arkansas, we know you are a Husker fan at heart,” said Connealy, a defensive tackle from Hyannis. Clinton praised Ed Stewart, Wiegert and Brenden Stai for their first-team All America awards, as well as Matt Shaw, Zatechka and Connealy for being named academic All-Americans. Zatechka (whose name the president mis pronounced) has never had a B in a class, Clinton said. “We could get him a job here at the White House,” the president said. See CLINTON on 10 Nebraska gave its ‘best shot,’ Gov. Nelson says, but in the end ... Micron chooses Utah By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter “ " Top-quality engineering education drew Micron Technology Inc. to locate its new $ 1.3 billion complex near Levi, Utah, instead of Omaha or Oklahoma City, Micron officials announced Monday. Julie Nash, Micron spokeswoman, said the engineering programs at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University would give Micron long-term resources for computer soft ware production. The universities, located near Levi in Utah County, were major factors in Micron’s deci sion, she said. Nash did not say if Nebraska was the second choice. The University of Utah is in the nation’s top 60 engineering schools, she said. Both univer sities have fabrication programs suited to Micron’s needs, she said, and are willing to offer on-site education and training. Nash also cited Salt Lake City’s and Utah Valley’s highly educated labor pool, Utah’s pro-business environment, community infra structure and easily-accessible site as factors in Micron’s decision. Tax incentives, she said, were much further down on the list. “We’re looking more at long-term type factors,” she said, “and incentives only offer short-term benefits. “This site has to remain competitive for years and years to come.” Each site appealed to Micron, she said, but a combination of factors put Utah on top. “There wasn’t anyone that was lacking any thing. It was a very tight race, and Utah County happened to meet our needs the best,” she said. William Splinter, dean of the engineering college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said he thought available space played more of a role in Micron’s decision than the college. But BYU and the University of Utah offer See DECISION on 6 Engineering still in backseat with university, Legislature By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter ~ Sen. Chris Abboud of Omaha didn’t plan to present an engineering bill to a legislative committee the same day Micron Technology Inc. of Idaho said it was going elsewhere. But the timing was perfect, he said. Testifying before the Ne braska Legislature’s Edu cation Committee, Abboud said Monday he was baffled by the NU Board of Re gents’ December decision to not establish an inde pendent engineering col lege in Omaha. Cn A kkn.J A 1 "5 LCuidLMiuift n “‘r0'':::0— „ ' T J Omaha-area senators signed on to a bill that would establish and provide money for an engineering college in Omaha. One problem, however, is that the original draft of the bill violated the Nebraska Consti tution, according to an Attorney General’s opinion. To fix it, the committee would have to amend the bill to add the Coordinating Com mission for Post Secondary Education into the approval process, the opinion said. But Abboud pressed on, saying the bill was started long before Micron. He said the debate started in the summer of 1993, when the idea of an independent college was first passed around. Abboud said he was confused by the mes sages sent by different reports about engineer ing education and the 5-3 vote by the regents to deny a separate college. “It’s a little puzzling to me,” he said, adding that he understood that “politics is what it is.” Abboud said he understood that building a new structure in Omaha was expensive, but the university and the state should take advantage of the donations that the businesses pledged. NU President Dennis Smith said he was See LEGISLATURE on 3