WEDNESDAY
WEATHER:
Today - Partly sunny and
warmer. Southwest wind
10 to 20 mph.
Tonight - Partly cloudy,
low around 28.
- March 27, 1996
Legislature
stops higher
minimum wage
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter
Nebraska lawmakers made their opinions
clear Tuesday as the Legislature shot down a
minimum wage increase for the second time this
-session.
Legislature The Nebraska Legislature
• voted 18-24 against an
* My amendment that would have
* increased the minimum wage
25 cents to $4.50 an hour.
The proposal was intro
duced by Sen. Don Wescly of
Lincoln as an amendment to
LB 1368, which would alter
the Nebraska Quality Job Act.
Wesely had brought forth
the issue earlier this session in the form of
LB 1042, which would have increased the mini
mum wage 90 cents in two, 45 cent increments.
That bill was held by the Business and Labor
Committee.
An increase was needed, Wesely said, be
cause as the state’s economic development con
tinued to strive forward, its workers’ wages did
not.
He cited consumer price index statistics that
placed Nebraska 47th in average weekly wages.
“If 47th in the ebuntry isn’t enough of an
argument, then I don’t know what is,” Wesely
said. .„,v ,-r- it*
Some of the senators who supported the
amendment, including Sen. Ernie Chambers of
Omaha, said it was foolish to even debate such
a small increase. .
“It is really unfortunate that we are having to
wrangle over a 25 cent increase in the minimum
wage,” Chambers said.
Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln said the
only problem she had with the amendment was
the “piddly amount of a raise” it was.
“this bill would be immeasurably better if
the Wescly amendment is adopted,” Schimek
said.
“It’s past the time we needed to do this,” she
said. “We need to do this today. My only regret
is that it’s not enough.”
Sen. Kermit Brashcar of Omaha, who intro
duced the bill and opposed Wcsely’s amend
ment, said raising the minimum wage would be
counterproductive.
“The establishment of a regulatory mini
mum wage is not an effective way to increase
people’s income,” he said.
Other opponents said there weren’t that many
people in the state working for minimum wage
and an increase would hurt some on the bottom
end of the ladder.
See WAGES on 6
Travis Heying/DN
Shawnteli Hurtgen steps down as ASUft president tonight, passing the reins to President-elect Eric Marintzer and
the ACTION party.
ASUN president finishes term
Hurtgen says she’s proud
of student government’s
accomplishments at UNL
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter
Shawntell Hurtgen has been part of A SUN
for the past four years.
But today, she steps aside as Eric
Marintzer takes over as the next president of
the Association of Students of the University
of Nebraska.
Hurtgen’s desk is still covered with pa
pers and folders, and some half-packed boxes
line her office as she prepares to step down.
“I’m sure I’ll go through some withdrawal
pangs,” she said..
As she looks back on her year of admin
istration, Hurtgen said she was pleased with
her efforts and successes of the past year.
“I feel really good about the year, espe
cially looking back on what we did and
accomplishments that surpassed our goals,”
she said.
One of those accompl ishmcnts was estab
lishing a solid relationship between ASUN
and the Residence Hall Association through
weekly meetings with RH A’s president, she
said.
“We changed the image that ASUN is
only for greeks,” Hurtgen said.
Another major accomplishment, she said,
was creating the president’s roundtable for
presidents of student organizations to dis
cuss their goals and problems.
The group met about once a month,
Hurtgen said, and usually about 40 student
leaders attended.
And establishing a new committee to ad
dress student concerns to the Athletic De
partment has been successful, she said.
ASUN has formed a positive relationship
with the Athletic Department as well, she
said.
“It’s coming along,” she said. “We’ve
made a new step in the right direction.”
The committee makes contact with the
Athletic Department regularly, she said, in- t
stead of when problems arise.
Hurtgcn said she also had enjoyed her
time as student regent on the NU Board of
Regents.
“The board took me seriously,” she said.
“They made themselves available to me, and
on occasion came to me. I really admire the
work they do on the board and the way they
represent the school.”
Regents chairman Don Blank of McCook
See HURTGEN on 6
New vice chancellor ready to get down to business
Travis Heying/DN
Melvin Jones, vice chancellor for business and finance, works in his office
Tuesday afternoon.
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter I
Melvin Jones has spent the past month and a
half as an observer.
“I’m still learning about a lot of areas, and
I’m doing a lot of listening with staff and the
community about the relationship of the com
munity to the university,” he said.
Now, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
new vice chancellor for business and finance
says he’s ready to take action.
To put his business plans into action, Jones
will use a philosophy he developed during his
brief time at UNL.
It’s called EEVACS: efficient, effective,
value-added, cost savings, Jones said.
He came up with the idea in response to a
report from Nebraska businesses that was given
to NU President Dennis Smith about how the
university could operate efficiently, he said.
“I came up with a method, so that everything
we do, we will keep in mind EEVACS,” Jones
said.
He got the idea while thinking of ways for
UNL to provide quality education, while keep)
ing costs down, Jones said. ,
“It came about as a result of talking to staff,
as well as the business community about how
we could provide quality service to students and
parents at UNL,” he said. “I sat down and
thought ‘How could we do this?’ And so
EEVACS was bom.”
This method is important for tuning into
what parents want for their children’s educa
tion, Jones said.
“We need to ask ourselves not only what do
our students need, but their parents, too,” he
said. “We need to tighten our belts and provide
for their sons and daughters our best value.”
Besides keeping costs down for students and
parents, Jones has another important job.
He decides when to cal l off school in cases of
bad weather.
Jones had his first try at the job Sunday,
when he had to decide if winter conditions were
too bad for students to come to UNL safely after
spring break.
After staying up late into the night and re
viewing several weather reports, Jones said, he
See JONES on 6