Regents OK deficit request
REGENTS from page 1
Sar-Ben acreage.
NU President Dennis Smith said
the university cannot cover these
costs, which were unforeseen when
the university presented its Fiscal
Year 1997-99 Biennial Budget
Request to the Legislature last spring.
The union funding request reached
the Legislature’s appropriations com
mittee too late for consideration.
And the 55 acres at Ak-Sar-Ben
were part of a 70-acre plot donated by
First Data Resources in May after the
university submitted its budget
request, he said.
Maintaining the acres is not linked
to legislative binding of the new Peter
Kiewit Sr. Institute of Information
Science, Technology and Engineering
at the University of Nebraska at
Omaha, which occupies an additional
15 acres at Ak-Sar-Ben, Smith said.
Nancy Belck, chancellor of the
University of Nebraska at Omaha,
said the acres that require a deficit
budget request would be maintained
at the same standard as the rest of the
Omaha campus.
The area is now all bulldozed
and mud,” she said, and the university
vowed to uphold a higher quality of
landscaping upon receiving the gift
worth about $55 million, she said.
Smith said another “totally unantici
pated” funding shortfall resulted from a
900-person drop in graduate enrollment
and 800-person drop in undergraduate
enrollment caused by Nebraska’s robust
economy and job market
Enrollment declined by about
2,500 students between the four NU
campuses, but the university expect
ed only about 30 percent of that fig
ure. This unforeseen decline, includ
ing 20,095 lost student credit hours,
translates into a tuition shortfall of
$1,418,000, he said.
“I would love to be able to cover
this internally,” he said, but the uni
versity isn’t allowed that flexibility
undbf State law. :
tlte university cannot dip into its
reserve funds to cover this expense
without Legislators’ approval, he said.
The university’s loss of tuition
tops $2.4 million, Smith said, but the
university budgeted for much of the
reroute mis lunamg.
“Those are salary dollars,”
Moeser said. “We’re going to be pay
ing people with that money. We’d
have to cannibalize our reallocation
process to do that.”
Wilson said he found Miller’s
requests from the NU Foundation unfair.
Most donors to the foundation specify
how their gift must be spent, he said.
“You can’t just transfer these
funds around randomly just because
you want to spend it somewhere
else,” Wilson said.
In other action, the regents:
■ Approved a change in regents’
policy regarding how University
Program and Facilities Fees are spent.
Student groups can now petition
the University Program Council for
annual funding once every two years
instead of once every four years.
UNL Student Regent Curt Ruwe
said the change affects the University of
Nebraska-Keamey and UNO campuses
more than UNL, because UPC fre
quently co-sponsors events on campus
with student groups, which gives them
frequent funding support.
■ Approved a lease agreement
for space in Norfolk’s new Lifelong
Learning Center on the Northeast
Community College Campus.
On Dec. 1 UNL will move its
Northeast Research and Extension
Center headquarters from Concord to
6,050 square feet of space in the new
facility.
The first-year rental fee would be
about $57,000 and would increase by
2 percent each year thereafter for 20
years, after which point the university
will cease paying rent. The operations
and maintenance fee would start at
about $21,000 annually and continue
for the duration of the lease.
irv Umtvedt, UJNL vice chancellor
for extended education, said the
Norfolk location would be accessible to
most people living in northeast
Nebraska and would serve as “an excel
lent outreach point for the university.”
■ Heard a report from Janis
Somerville, senior associate for the
University of Maryland System, who
asked the university to join the
nationwide K-16 Initiative, which
asks elementary, junior high and high
school educators to work together to
develop common goals for educating
students and produce better teachers.
Smith and many regents said they
would support setting such goals in
Nebraska.
■ Approved renaming the UNO
Institute for Science, Technology and
Engineering the “Peter Kie\Vit Sr:
Institute of Information Science,
Technology and Engineering.”
Peter Kiewit Jr. recently donated
$15 million from his late father’s
estate to build the institute.
66
I think its a big mistake to go back to the
governor and the Legislature and the
taxpayers and ask for money”
Drew Miller
NU regent
Purchase of Reunion
approved by regents
By Erin Gibson
Senior Reporter
The NU Board of Regents mem
bers bickered Friday over whether
the university should purchase the
Reunion Building at 16th and W
streets.
Some board members suggested
the university should not have to
purchase the $ 1.27 million building
from the NU Foundation, because
the foundation could donate it.
Others defended the foundation,
which University of Nebraska
Lincoln Chancellor James Moeser
dubbed “the best friend to this uni
versity.” Moeser also called expect
ing the foundation to donate the
building “ridiculous.”
Regents later unanimously
approved the $2.16 million mea
sure, along with a proposal to reno
vate the former Tau Kappa Epsilon
Fraternity house at 420 University
Terrace on the UNL campus.
The university must renovate
the house to make room for campus
entities now housed on the 1200
block of R Street, Moeser said.
A construction company will
destroy those buildings to make
room for a new Mary Riepma Ross
Film Theater and Visitors Center,
for which the university should
soon finish raising money.
The university now has about
$3.5 million in private donations to
build the visitor’s center, Moeser
said. No date has been set to begin
its construction.
“It’s a critical move,” he said.
“We need to do it now. The Temple
(Building) block is critical to the
interface between the City Campus
and the city of Lincoln.”
Regent Drew Miller of Papillion
suggested the-NU Foundation could
pay either for the renovations or for
the Reunion Building, which it now
owns.
The foundation was highly suc
cessful in raising money and recent
ly increased its capital campaign
goal to $375 million, he said.
But NU President Dennis Smith
said donors to the foundation speci
fy how the university must spend
their gifts.
“Foundation money is not avail
able” for other projects, Smith said.
“I find that hard to believe,”
Miller said.
Moeser said he doubted a donor
would step forth to pay for either
structure, since donors seldom fund
renovations or care to buy an old
warehouse on. the edge of campus.
“I can’t speak for the founda
tion, but I think that would be a
ridiculous request,” he said.
Regent Chuck Hassebrook of
Walt Hill said he agreed, because
the foundation and the university
are vital to each other’s survival.
“At some point... we’re king of
robbing Peter to pay Paul,”
Hassebrook said.
Regardless of their funding
source, both structures are neces
sary, Moeser said.
The Reunion Building will
house the UNL Department of Art
and Art History so its current loca
tion in Richard Hall can be
refurbished, he said.
Other university departments
and entities may use the 65,500
square-foot building when other
buildings are renovated on campus,
he said. The University Museum
now uses the building’s top floor for
storage space and exhibit prepara
tion.
Paul Carlson, UNL associate
vice chancellor for business and
finance, said the building consists
of two main floors and a basement.
The ground floor, which is now
built to accommodate fast food
restaurants, will need renovations
before housing office suites.
Parking around the building
will remain available for com
muters with Area 20 permits,
Carlson said.
After renovations are completed
on the former Tau Kappa Epsilon
Fraternity house, the Academic ■'
Senate Office, Ethnic Studies, the
Off iceo f International Afifaimv
International Studies and Summer
Sessions will move into the struc
ture, which contains about 15,240
square feet of space.
“We feel that the space is pretty
tight,” said Peter Bleed, former
Academic Senate president. “When
it was first proposed, we were going
to have a fair amount of room in the
Tau Kappa Epsilon house.”
But more organizations now
will share the space, he said.
Bleed said the location didn’t
bother him, because the senate was
formerly housed in the 501
Building at 10th and T streets.
No date has been set to begin
renovations on the house.
RHA passes legislation
against discrimination
By Sarah Baker
Assignment Reporter
RHA is taking a look at the bigger
picture when it comes to discrimina
tion, President Ben Wallace said at
Sunday’s meeting.
The Residence Hall Association
passed a non-discrimination bill that
calls for respect and dignity for all
members of the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln community to bet
ter the learning environment.
“We passed a similar bill to this
one last year, right after the Sigma
Chi Qross-burning,” Wallace said.
“This bill comes in response to last
week’s homophobic chalking.
“Events like these are happening
on campus every year, and it’s not
enough for RHA or ASUN to pass a
resolution any more and say it’s bad.
We need to take action.”
Social Events Chairman Rob
Holbum, who worked on writing the
bill, said he wished this statement
came under less reactionary terms.
‘T do think this bill is addressable
to any situation of discrimination,
and it says this kind of thing is some
thing we will not accept, tolerate or
take part in,” Holbura said.
Wallace called for the senate to
take action against discrimination.
“We need to go beyond resolu
tions,” he said. “We not only need to
pass this bill, but we also need to fol
low it up with education.”
RHA also discussed the alloca
tion of funds for its annual spring
Residence Hall Semiformal.
The money for the event is taken
from the SA/Floor Hall Programming
Fund. The representatives were ask
ing for $1,000.
RHA was unable to come to a
decision, so the bill was tabled until
its Nov. 2 meeting.
RHA also passed a bill to give $500
to the Nightmare on 16th Street Paqce
at Abel Residence Hall on Oct 29.
RHA will be going on its annual
retreat at Camp Carol Joy Holling on
Saturday.
undergraduate enrollment drop,
which it expected when UNL raised
its admissions standards this fall.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Chancellor James Moeser has said he
expected fewer students to apply for
admission, because many feared rejec
tion under the stricter new requirements.
Miller continued to suggest the
university should cover its deficit
funding requests, first saying UNL
could find die funding and then ask
ing why the NU Foundation couldn’t
cover the requests. The foundation
recently raised its fundraising cam
paign goal to $375 million, he noted.
UNL recently reallocated about
$400,000 to create an Opportunities
Fund that will assist departments in
recruiting senior women and minori
ties to fill faculty positions. Miller
twice asked why UNL couldn’t
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