UNL Rodeo
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place in the finals.
She said the team did well consid
ering it was its first competition of the
season.
“For the first rodeo, everything
doesn’t always go as well as planned,”
she said. “We did all right, but we can
always do better.”
In other events:
■ Tigh Anderbeig of West Dakota
Technical Institute won the bareback
riding event with an average score of 74.
■ Sheri Donahey of West Dakota
Technical Institute won the breakaway
roping with an average of 5.3 seconds.
■ Jason Thorstenson of National
American University of Rapid City,
S.D., won the calf-roping event with
an average of 12.15 seconds.
■ Zac Crane of Dickenson State
University in Dickenson, N.D., won
the saddle-bronc riding with an aver
age score of 74.5.
■ Jodi Bubel of Dakota State
University in Madison, S.D., won the
goat-tying event with an average time
of 7.4 seconds.
■Tj. Ruland and Chad Lammers
of National American University won
the team roping with an average time
of 7.1 seconds.
■ Erin Wanner of Dickenson
State won the Barrel Racing with an
average time of 12.945 seconds.
■ Monte Williams of South
Dakota State University in
Brookings, S.D., won the bull riding
with an average score of 71.
Latina sorority sought
Greek system may add second minority house
ByIevaAugstums
Assignment Reporter
The greek system is preparing to
add another member to its family: a new
sister with diverse roots.
Greek Affairs met with students and
sorority representatives Saturday to dis
cuss the possibility of establishing a
chapter of a nonexclusive historically
Latina sorority on campus by December.
Organizers have not yet chosen a specif
ic sorority to bring to campus.
Director of Greek Affairs Linda
Schwartzkopf said she was excited at the
prospect of another sorority on campus.
“We want to provide students with
as many opportunities and choices as
we can,” she said.
Gabrielle Dalton, an organizer of
the potential sorority, said it will open
the greek system to Latina students.
Because of their small numbers, Latina
students have not been as involved at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she
said. There are about 400 Latino stu
dents at the university.
“We feel that a lot of Latina students
do not feel comfortable in the greek sy s
tem,” Dalton said. Juan Izaguirre, co
founder of the Sigma Lambda Beta
Fraternity colony on campus, said the
potential sorority would be the second
minority-focused greek house at UNL
this year. Those new chapters will get
more minorities involved, he said.
“The greek system is one of the key
ways to get involved on campus,”
Izaguirre said. Schwartzkopf said the
Interffatemity Council welcomed the
Sigma Lambda Beta colony, a nonex
clusive historically Latino fraternity, in
February.
Panhellenic Council President Sherri
Neall said the council supports the group.
“We will help out wherever need
ed,” she said. ® ■
Schwartzkopf and others orignally
planned to meet with two sororities and
hear why UNL should colonize, but
they heard only one presentation.
Organizers wanted to hear presenta
tions from Gamma Phi Omega and
Sigma Lambda Gamma, but represen
tatives from the latter were not able to
attend.
So only representatives from
Gamma Phi Omega, a nonexclusive
Latina sorority that celebrates the diver
sity of the Latino cultures, came and
discussed its history, beliefs and goals.
Sheila Castillo, Gamma Phi Omega
president at DePaul University in
Chicago, said members of Gamma Phi
Omega are goal-oriented.
Gamma Phi Omega sisters live up to
academic excellence, cultural awareness,
philanthropy and sisterhood, she said.
“We represent dedicated sisters who
care about themselves and their com
munities,” Castillo said. “A sorority is
more than just an organization - it is a
support system.”
Yvette Lopez, associate dean of
pledges for Gamma Phi Omega at the
University of Illinois-Chicago, encour
aged UNL to research options before
deciding on a sorority.
“You have to find out what is going
to suit you,” she said.
Dalton said organizers also will
look at other Latina sororities. Meetings
will be held for those interested.
Dalton said students who want to
help establish the colony can contact her
at (402) 470-0470.
“This is something that will stay
with you for the rest of your life,” Lopez
said. “It’s true; sisters are forever.”
Assignment Reporter Lindsay
Young contributed to this report
Review prompted by
past racial problems
KEVlflW from page 1
and the press when selecting a
school to review.
Then, based on that informa
tion, the civil rights office selects
a topic to review with the school,
Hamilton said. The office also
handles discrimination based on
gender, age and disability.
“The reviews are done to
determine if federally funded
institutions are complying with
civil rights laws,” according to
the Office for Civil Rights
World Wide Web site.
Hamilton would not discuss
any details of the UNL review
with the press, but he provided
background on the review process.
The partnership review
evolved from an older version
called a compliance review. The
partnership reviews include
more input from those involved
at the school, Hamilton said.
“The reviews are done in a
positive way to be mutually
beneficial,” he said.
The less adversarial format
allows for free sharing of ideas
between schools and the Office
for Civil Rights, Hamilton said.
Another benefit of the part
tt
The reviews are
" v i
done... to be
mutually
beneficial
,s
Michael Hamilton
associate director of the
Department of education
regional office
' ■ ■ ■■ ■
nership reviews is speed:
University administrators
receive a copy of preliminary
findings before pivil rights
office officials leave the school.
The old compliance reviews
took four to six months to complete.
Each year the Office for
Civil Rights conducts 15 to 20
of these reviews.
OCR will also look at how
the university has handled inci
dents on campus in the past two
years, Hamilton said.
But, he said, the review
should not be cause for worry.
“We expect good things in
Lincoln.”
Regents request more
athletic-budget reports
From Staff Reports
The NU Board of Regents request
ed Saturday more frequent reports on
the spiraling budgets of each campus’
athletic department, which combined
are now worth hundreds of millions of
dollars.
Although they possess auxiliary
budgets, the departments aren’t
autonomous, regents said. They reiter
ated that each athletic department is
part of the university and is controlled
by its campus’ chancellor.
Chancellor James Moeser said he
greatly appreciated regents’ reminder
that athletics are under institutional
control.
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln should be able to tell the
NCAA that the Athletic Department is
controlled by the university and that
control rests in the hands of the chan
cellor, Moeser said.
Some regents also criticized the
NU Athletic Department on the UNL
campus’ lack of communication with
the board.
Several, including Regent Nancy
O’Brien of Waterloo, said they
received no notice before NU Athletic
Director Bill Byrne designated some
football seats in Memorial Stadium as
“club seating” and began charging
$ 1,500 per seat for 1998 season tickets.
But they did receive phone calls
from angry constituents, they said.
“We’ve gotten more comments on
that than anything we’ve done in the
past three or four years,” Regent John
Payne of Kearney said.
Payne also requested the university
find Byrne a public relations manager,
because “he desperately needs one.”
Moeser said a new public relations
director was recently hired.
Students favor Burger King
BK from page 1
Griesen said. The next-highest con
tender, which Griesen wouldn’t name,
received 59 percent of first and second
place votes.
“Burger King was the clear prefer
ence,” Griesen said.
Sara Russell, president of the
Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska, also said stu
dents strongly supported awarding the
lease to Burger King.
Many also favored Runza, she said,
but students thought the restaurant was
too expensive for the union.
Chancellor James Moeser told
regents that the McDonald’s bid for the
union lease potentially could have paid
more money to the university, because
the restaurant would have paid the uni
versity a share of its annual sales.
McDonald’s stated in its April 2 let
ter to the regents that it could outsell
Burger King by 37 percent next year.
But Burger King guaranteed a sig
nificant lease payment, Moeser said,
and will pay about $44,600 annually to
lease the 3,875 feet of space on the
union’s first floor starting July 1.
Each year, Burger King also will
contribute 7 percent of its revenue from
sales beyond $636,607, and will invest
1.5 percent of sales in union marketing
programs.
The contract includes an option to
renew the lease for an additional five
years if the restaurant and university
agree.
A Burger King franchise first leased
space in the union in 1987. The restau
rant’s current lease expires June 30.
Had McDonald’s been allowed a
second chance to bid on the lease, the
company’s letter states it would have
paid more than $315,000 to remodel the
space in question in order to comple
ment the union’s remodeling, which
will be completed by this fall.
McDonald’s average store sales are
the highest in its market in Lincoln,
states the letter, signed by McDonald’s
Senior Manager for College
Development, John Grubb.
“We believe that an opportunity to
counter-offer reflects acting within the
best interests of the university,” Grubb
wrote.
Moeser told the regents, “We went
with the student voice.”
NU regents seek improved administrative efficiency
By Erin Gibson
Senior Editor
The University of Nebraska
wastes between $500,000 to $1
million annually because of poor
management by the Nebraska
Department of Administrative
Services, administrators said
Saturday.
As a result, the NU Board of
Regents passed a resolution
demanding the university adopt
practices that will force the depart
ment to improve its efficiency.
The resolution, which passed
during the regents’ regular monthly
meeting Saturday on East Campus,
states the university will work to
help the department redesign man
agement practices by adopting
modern information systems and
stopping micromanagement.
The university also will work
aggressively in instating its new
$12 million computerized infor
mation system, which will start
operating July 1, 1999.
The state administrative ser
vices department’s computers
cannot interface well with the uni
versity’s information system, and
state law requires the department
pre-approve all university pur
chases worth more than $250, said
James C. Van Horn, NU vice pres
ident for business and finance.
That adds up to about 150,000
purchases per year - each submit
ted and approved on paper rather
than by computer, he said.
“It’s a paper blizzard,” Van
Horn said, adding that few pur
chases are altered or denied as a
result of the audits.
The time wasted shuffling
paper, accrued interest lost wait
ing for accounting audits, and
money spent developing software
for university and department
computers to interface means the
university must waste up to $1
million annually, he said.
An April 3 letter from State
Treasurer Dave Heineman to the
regents states “dramatic change”
must occur to improve the depart
ment’s efficiency in auditing the
university. The current process is
“unnecessary duplication and
increases the university’s admin
istrative costs,” the letter states.
Another April 3 letter from
Karen Kilgarin, director of the
state’s administrative services
department, to Van Horn states
she will cooperate to improve the
department’s efficiency.
“I would like to be optimistic
that this time DAS is really going
to change,” said Regent Drew
Miller of Papillion, who intro
duced the resolution.
The university has repeatedly
asked the department to change its
wasteful management practices
for three or four years, he said.
Miller also proposed the uni
versity not spend money on devel
oping software to interface with
the department’s computer sys
tem, which he said costs $1 mil
lion. But other regents rejected
that section of the proposal.
Heineman’s letter states the
department is considering pur
chasing a new $38 million com
puterized information system,
much like the university’s new
system recording all human
resources, payroll and accounting
transactions.
If the systems were similar,
Van Horn said, the state could
have online, real-time access to all
university accounting records.
But Heineman’s letter states
the Legislature has yet to make a
commitment to fund such a new
system, and the new governor,
who will be elected this
November, may not approve it.
In addition, the department’s
accounting division disapproves of
buying the same computerized sys
tem as the university, which is pro
vided by SAP Corp., die letter states.
Van Horn said he is confident
“for the first time in years” that
Kilgarin and her department will
work with the university to elimi
nate costly micromanagement of
university finances.
In other business Saturday,
regents:
■ Approved student
for the 1998-99 academii
all
semester
Nebraska
will pay |
fees each
fall.
Student fees at the
of Nebraska at Kearney and
University of Nebraska Medical
Center will not increase from the
current rates of $146.50 and
$107.25 per semester, respective
ly
Neither will fees increase at
the University of Nebraska at
Omaha, where students taking six
or fewer credit hours pay $82.50
and students taking more credits
pay $95.75 per semester.
■ Approved a $4 raise in
tuition rates for high school inde
pendent study courses offered by
the UNL Division of Continuing
Studies effective Sept. 1.