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COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 95 NO. 94 j
____January 30, 1996
Travis Heying/DN
Don Stenberg officially filed to run for the U.S. Senate Monday morning. Stenberg, serving
his second term as Nebraska attorney general, said he would take a “Reagan Republican
approach” to the Senate if elected.
Stenberg files for Senate
Attorney general to avoid Clinton approach
By Ted Taylor
and Chad Lorenz
Senior Reporters
Nebraska Attorney General Don
Stenberg officially filed his candi
dacy for U.S. Senate on Monday,
saying Nebraskans want a Reagan
Republican representing them.
Stenberg, who is serving his sec
ond term as attorney general, be
came the first Nebraska candidate
for Senate to pay the $1,300 filing
fee for the November elections.
He outlined his campaign plat
form during a morning press con
ference, saying he would work for a
stronger national defense, lower
taxes, fewer government regula
tions, a balanced budget and “real
welfare reform” — “a Reagan Re
publican approach,” he said.
Gov. Ben Nelson, the only an
nounced Democratic candidate, did
not discuss Stenberg’s candidacy
during his weekly teleconference.
Nelson did say, however, that he
would officially file in the next
couple of weeks.
Stenberg’s challenger in the
Republican primary, Omaha busi
nessman Chuck Hagel, said Mon
day he had not set an official filing
date.
Stenberg campaign manager
Steve Thomlison said the campaign
was pleased with early indications
from Nebraska voters.
“Nebraskans clearly want a
Reagan Republican to represent
them in the Senate,” he said. “Not a
Clinton Democrat.”
Thomlison said he was looking
forward to running a “very spirited
campaign.”
In Stenberg’s first official cam
paign speech before the Nebraska
Resources District on Monday, he
pledged to fight for Nebraska’s
natural resource rights.
“I’ve been an advocate for rural
Nebraska as attorney general, and
I’ll continue to be an advocate for
rural Nebraska as U.S. senator,”
Stenberg said.
Stenberg said he wanted to fo
cus on Nebraska’s water rights, to
keep Kansas from taking more wa
ter than it should. He said Nebraska
farmers, not the government, should
decide how to manage the state’s
water.
Stenberg reiterated his support
of a balanced federal budget, both
on moral grounds and because of
the benefits for Nebraska agricul
ture.
“I think we have a moral obliga
tion to the riext generation to pay
our bills as we spend,” Stenberg
said.
Stenberg said that although he
often is at odds with Nelson, he was
looking out for Nebraskans.
“I’ve been fighting with Gov.
Nelson, but I’ve been fighting for
you,” Stenberg told the crowd.
Stenberg said he fought Nelson
to allow a federal audit of the Leg
islature and term-limit legislation.
“I’ve proved myself right in the
courts, time after time after time.”
Hagel, who spoke after Stenberg,
said he’d fight to keep Nebraska
farmers and ranchers in control of
natural resources.
“The federal government should
stay out of your business,” Hagel
said.
If Nebraskans put him in Wash
ington, Hagel said, he’d change
three natural resource acts. They
would be: the Endangered Species
Act, the Clean Water Act and the
Safe Drinking Water Act.
See STENBERG on 6
New system makes
getting info easier
By Joshua Gillin
Staff Reporter —
Have you ever found out your
grades by phone? Or received your
housing bill with your tuition bill? Or
checked which classes you need to
graduate, at the end of every semes
ter?
You will, says Donna Liss, direc
tor of information services at the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Implementation of UNL’s new Stu
dent Information System — a new
way of making changes in the way
university departments work together
— should be complete by Thursday.
Liss said the vast undertaking would
mark a new era at UNL.
“We’re trying to move into the 21 st
century,” she said. “The new system
is a big first step.”
Before SIS, all divisions of univer
sity services were consolidated, ex
cept for scholarships and financial aid.
The administration determined what
services were required and which op
erations were needed, as individual
needs arose.
With the new system, administra
tive services will be divided among
five steering teams — composed of
staff members, faculty and students
— that will decide on changes that
should be made.
The steering teams will be inde
pendent of each other in their areas of
expertise, allowing suggestions and
recommendations to be developed
more quickly.
The steering teams will come to
gether and vote on which suggestions
should be implemented first. Imple
mentation teams run by university staff
will put the suggestions into effect.
“What we wanted to do was pro
vide a lot of our services directly to the
students and faculty,” Liss said. “Be
fore, a request had to go to that spe
cific office, and the office might have
become the bottleneck, since it was
the only one dealing with all the re
quests.
“Now there will be whole teams
devoted to certain areas.”
The implementation and steering
See SIS on 6
Grant, research awards
stifled since shutdown
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter
President Clinton and Congress
Thursday again avoided closing the
federal government, but UNL is still
feeling the blows of the Dec. 15 shut
down.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
grants and research have been affected
by the shutdown, said Priscilla Grew,
vice chancellor for research.
The National Science Foundation,
the government agency that handles
grants and research, was closed dur
ing the December shutdown, Grew
said, and grant awards have been slow.
Because the number of grants var
ies from year to year, Grew said she
could not determine the number of
grants that had not been received.
“We haven’t received any new
National Science Foundation awards
since Dec. 15,” she said.
Although the foundation is operat- 1
ing, the agency is backed up with ;
requests for grants, Grew said. Be- j
cause of the backup, UNL grant re
quests and requests to continue grants i
aren’t being met.
Grew said UNL now had 261 pend- <
ing proposals at NSF, totaling S36.9 (
million.
The university depends heavily on
these grants for research projects, she
said, and last year alone 100 awards
were granted totaling $14.4 million.
“They are a very important compo
nent. Now we’re waiting to hear on
pending proposals,” she said.
This slow process at NSF could
hinder summer research, too, Grew
said.
UNL has plans to send a group to
Greenland as part of an ice-drilling
project, she said. But the university
will need toknowby springifit will be
able to send the group.
“That’s a clear example of a con
tinuing project where the shutdown
has created uncertainty,” Grew said.
UNL also is waiting to hear about
smaller projects in agricultural re
sources and the College of Arts and
Sciences, she said.
To show support for NSF, Grew
said she and Interim Chancellor Joan
l^eitzel wrote a letter to Nebraska con
gressmen urging them to keep NSF
)pen.
“We are pleased with the action to
ceep agencies open through March,”
she said, “because the last shutdown
lid create a lot of problems in terms of
lelays.”
UNL harassment policy to be implemented
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter ---
Although the creation and approval of a
harassment policy at UNL has been delayed for
five years, an administrator said the policy
should be approved by the end of the semester.
Christy Horn, University of Nebraska-Lin
coln interim director of affirmative action and
diversity, said the policy—officially called the
Harassment and Discrimination Policy and Pro
cedures for Information Resolutions—would
be UNL’s first official harassment and dis
crimination policy.
It should be implemented in two or three
months, she said.
Mary Beck, who helped draft the policy, said
she didn’t know why the process had taken so
long.
“It beats me,” said Beck, assistant professor
of animal science at UNL. “A lot of people have
tried, and there have been several written, but
none have made it into the final form.”
Now, she said, UNL has an equal opportu
nity statement instead of an actual policy.
Under the new policy, guidelines will be
given on how people should proceed if they are
being harassed or discriminated against, Beck
said.
“People need to understand the limits of their
behavior,” she said. “This policy defines the
limits.”
The policy also tries to define what behavior
is decent and what steps over the line, Beck
said.
But before it becomes reality, Horn said, it
must finish the review process.
The policy, which has undergone a series of
reviews since September, is in the final review
and approval stages and has moved from Horn
to Richard Wood, NU’s general counsel.
“We are conducting a review from the stand
point of legal issues and concerns,” Wood said.
The policy will be sent to Interim Chancellor
Joan Leitzel by the end of the week.
“Once it is in a form that is satisfactory to the
chancellor, it is proposed to the NU president
and the NU Board of Regents,” he said.
If the regents give their approval, the policy
goes into effect.
Horn said a wait for approval from different
administrators and committees was to be ex
pected.
“We have to make sure all the people im
pacted by the policy had input,” she said. “Ev
erybody always has suggestions.”
Horn, however, said the policy looked good
when she reviewed it.
“I had no specific concerns in terms of con
sistency and making sure appropriate issues
were attended to,” she said.
Beck, too, said she had heard only positive
responses.
“Everything I’ve heard leads me to believe it
will be approved,” she said. “But I don’t want to
rejoice prematurely.
“I’m hopeful that this will go through. It will
be a step in the right direction.”
