Bonds considered for renovation
> .
Nelson supports building improvements idea
By Brad Davis
Senior Reporter
Gov. Ben Nelson pledged his
“wholehearted” support Friday to a
state legislative proposal that would
1 renovate or replace 14 buildings in the
NU system.
If passed, the proposal would
eliminate the University of
Nebraska’s maintenance backlog by
2015, including five buildings at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The proposal, sponsored by Sen.
Dan Lynch of Omaha, would allow
the university to issue about $79.5
million in bonds designated for
deferred maintenance. The university
and state each would repay half the
bonds’ cost.
NU will pay off its share of the
bonds - about $5.9 million per year -
through a 1.5 percent tuition increase
that began in 1997.
The state will match NU’s funds,
up to $5.9 million per year, if the bill
passes in the Legislature.
NU President Dennis Smith said
the time to issue these bonds was now
because of the low, 4.8 percent inter
est rate available to tax-exempt insti
tutions. Therefore, the net cost of the
N bonds would be close to zero.
Because construction and renova
tion costs rise approximately 4 to 5
percent per year, issuing bonds one
after another would be too costly.
“If we start tomorrow, and take 10
years to finish (on a pay-as-you-go
basis) it will be a lot more,” Smith said.
Smith presented a chart showing
the university also will save money by
issuing bonds, because university
cash reserves could earn 6 percent
interest. Therefore, it is less expensive
to issue the bonds charging only 4.8
percent than to pay for each renova
tion project as it is completed.
Buildings included in the NU
maintenance package at UNL include
Love Library, Hamilton Hall and
Avery Hall on City Campus, and the
Snyder building at a university exten
sion in North Platte.
The plah also recommends the
replacement of several buildings,
including the Biochemistry and
Natural Resources building on East
Campus along with Lyman and
Bancroft halls on City Campus.
Richards Hall is being renovated
by state funds from a separate bill,
LB386, which the Legislature
approved last year.
LB386 provides NU with $5.9 mil
lion for the fiscal years 1998 and 1999.
- The newly proposed legislation
also provides the state college system
with between $7 million and $8 mil
lion in deferred maintenance funds, to
be repaid with $400,000 per year in
state funds and $400,000 from the
state colleges.
Lynch said the state had been, “at
best, irresponsible” for leaving some
maintenance without funding for the
past 30 years.
Smith said die university has been
deferring about $6.13 milhon worth
of maintenance each year.
He said NU now has about $108
million in deferred maintenance.
To ensure NU does not accumu
late a backlog of deferred mainte
nance in the future, Smith said the
university would increase funding
directed to maintenance by $ 1 million
each year for the next 10 years.
He said maintenance funding ulti
mately would equal 1.5 percent of
each building’s worth per year, which
is construction experts’ general rec
ommendation for annual mainte
nance on most buildings.
“This is a good business way to
deal with this problem,” Nelson said.
“It’s not unique to Nebraska or higher
education; itVsometimes the last
thing that’s funded.
“It’s a lot more exciting to build
new buildings and expand programs.”
Lynch agreed.
“Without this kind of project, we’re
never going to catch up,” Lynch said.
“And for generations to come, it
would continue to be chaos with
maintenance.”
ASUN focuses on King holiday,
diversity education for semester
By Jessica Fargen
Assignment Reporter
ASUN leaders hope to pick up
where they left off last semester with
diversity education.
Last semester, ASUN leaders
hoped to promote diversity at UNL
and interact more with student organi
zations on campus.
This semester, the Association of
Students for the University of
Nebraska will be working with minor
ity groups on campus to recognize
Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 19,
ASUN leaders said.
f Viet Hoang, speakerof the senate,
said the first order of business for
ASUN was to make the King holiday
a success by sponsoring events with
groups such as the Mexican American
Student Association, Afrikan People’s
Union and the Women’s Studies
Association.
Throughout the day, speakers,
booths in the Nebraska Union and a
broadcast on KRNU-FM (90.3) of
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech will
make it hard for students to miss the
spirit of the hohday.
Curt Ruwe, AS UN president, said
he hoped the holiday would be a day
of “union with a lot of activities and
coordinating.”
Malcolm Kass, 2nd vice presi
dent, said, “We don’t only want it to
occur, but we want it to be a success.”
Ruwe said he planned on meeting
with Kass and 1st Vice President Amy
Rager early this week to assess all
their goals and plan changes for this
semester110 3i:0011 3® 01111 03111
“As far as the goal's lis£ we’ll look
at what we’ve accomplished and what
needs to be changed,” Ruwe said.
Hoang said he would focus right
away on recruiting students to fill the
vacant senate seats in the College of
Law, the College of Dentistry and the
Division of Continuing Studies.
Hoang said the sexual orientation sub
committee also had openings.
Senators attending various student
organization meetings would
announce the vacancies at the meet
ings to reach as many students as pos
sible.
u
Personally, I think increased
interaction with the student body has
been our bright star”
Malcolm Kass _
ASUN 2nd vice president
Ruwe, Kass and Rager said they
all had projects they would at least
like to see started during their terms.
Ruwe said he’d like to se£ addi
tional student evaluations of teachers,
such as a separate list of five or six
questions that would be the same for
all departments, allowing for more
accurate comparisons.
“As it is now, you can’t compare
cross departments because evaluation
questions are not the same for English
as they are for biology,” Ruwe said.
“I’d like to see more people see how
the classes stacked up against each
other.” j
Another concern that ASUN faces
every year is student fee increases,
Ruwe said, and with the renovations to
the Nebraska Union, student fees
could be affected.
There is always a potential for
student fee increases, but I’m not
making any predictions yet,” Ruwe
said.
Ruwe also wanted to change the
nomination process /or the
Outstanding Teacher Award, which
students vote for in the ASUN general
election.
that would let teachers of smaller
classes be recognized.
Kass said he had ideas for using
online technology for ASUN election
voting online and class registration
that he wants to research, but he would
not have tune to implement during his
term.
Kass has been working with the
technology committee to come up
with an easier and more convenienl
way for UNL students to register foi
classes on the World Wide Web -
something University of Nebraska al
Omaha students have been doing for a
few years. But Kass said his “pet pro
ject” has been researching the possi
bility of UNL students being able to
vote in the ASUN elections via e-mail.
The University of Missouri has
had increased voter turnout since it
began e-mail voting.
Rager said she wanted to see the
historically low ASUN voter turnouts
increased, but she would focus on
talking with visiting student govern
ment organizations and making
ASUN more visible this semester.
Rager said last semester ASUN
was more visible than ever before on
campus and made efforts to include
more underclassmen and nongreek
students and get feedback from other
student organizations.
wur senators nave gone our ana
talked to more organizations than in
the past and we want that to continue,”
Rager said.
Kass attended Residence Hall
Association meetings last semester,
which he said made a huge difference
by opening up communication lines
that did not exist before he started
attending.
“Personally, I think increased
interaction with the student body has
bben our bright star,” Kass said.
. Ruwe, Kass and Rager all, agreed
increased visibly was
their greatest accomplisnmehtjast
semester and consistent with thegoals
that they hope to continue this semes
ter.
Ruwe attributed increased visibili
ty to the strong work ethic of the entire
student government
“I was really glad to see hard
working people and people not taking
jobs for granted,” Ruwe said.
“We were not just saying words
and passing resolutions - the whole
group was active.”
• , ^ • -V, •
New speaker of Legislature
takes over helm mid-term
- ^ ~
By Brian Carlson
Senior Reporter
The newly elected speaker of the
Nebraska Legislature said he expect
ed a smooth transition for the body
this year despite the loss of a half
century of experience among its
members heading into the 1998 sea
son.
Sen. Doug Kristensen of Minden,
who was elected speaker Wednesday,
said he would emphasize faith in the
institution and its processes as the
Legislature adjusts to changes in its
makeup.
Kristensen defeated Sen. Dave
Landis of Lincoln by a vote of 26-21.
He replaces Sen. Ron Withem, who
resigned in November to become a
lobbyist for the University of
Nebraska.
With the resignation of Withem
and the April death of longtime Sen.
Jerome Warner, the Legislature has
lost 50 years of experience since last
year.
But Kristensen said that by ensur
ing fairness, fostering spirited debate
and maintaining independence from
lobbying interests, the Legislature
can continue to work for the state’s
best interests.
Kristensen said he would work tc
keep all senators involved and
informed, and spend much of his time
meeting with individual senators ir
their offices. The goal, he said, is nol
to pass every bill 49-0 but to ensure
that debate is thorough and balanced
on the most important issues.
“The speaker needs to be able tc
fashion an agenda so that every bill al
least gets a chance to be heard,” he
said.
Kristensen said it was too early tc
speculate on which bills would be
prioritized during the spring’s shon
session. Taxes and spending, as
always, are “bread and butter issues,’
but other concerns such as petition
drive regulations also will be debated
he said.
Last Wednesday senators begar
their shortened, 60-day second ses
sion of the 95th Nebraska Legislature.
tt
The speakers race
has come and
gone, flwd we
- gef ow vw7A other
business
\
Dave Landis
senator
They will have until mid-April to
discuss the 500 bills left from last
session and close to 300 more that are
expected to be introduced in the next
few days.
By the end of January it probably
will be much more clear which bills
will receive priority, he said.
Kristensen acknowledged it was
difficult to jump into the role of
speaker in the middle of a legislative
term, but said he is ready for “the
sprint to the finish.”
Landis said he was disappointed
by the results of Wednesday morn
ing’s vote, but by afternoon he said he
was ready to move on to other busi
ness.
The speaker influences the ses
sion by setting the body’s schedule
for debate, but by himself doesn’t
make or break a legislative session,
said Landis, the Legislature’s second
longest-serving senator.
In his remarks on the floor before
Wednesday’s election, Landis said if
members could discern the speaker’s
ideology by the way he or she carries
out the role of speaker, then the
speaker is doing the job incorrectly.
An effective speaker, Landis said,
upholds the rules and procedures of
the Legislature without bowing to the
interests of the lobby.
“The sun will rise tomorrow,” he
said. “The speaker’s race has come
and gone, and we get on with other
business.
“The institution survives and
prospers.”
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