Lack of funding curbs
GL6T center's goals
BYJ1LLZEMAN.
A single bookcase with four
shelves of books sits in the cor
ner of the GLBT Resource
Center.
Informative materials litter
the few tables in the room, pic
tures and magazine cut-outs
line the walls and a large poster
of kd lang overlooks the room.
And that's about all that’s in
the Gay Lesbian Bisexual and
Transgendered Resource
Center.
But those involved in run
ning the center say it’s not their
fault the group's office doors
are open irregularly, printed
materials are outdated and
staff turnover rate is high.
The answer, they say, is sim
ple - it’s money.
The GLBT center, unlike the
Women's Center and the
Culture Center, is not funded
by the university.
It’s located on the second
floor of the Nebraska Union
and provides resources and a
place for anyone to hang out
and talk, said Bea Carrasco, a
graduate assistant for Student
Involvement who works at the
center.
Student Involvement pays
one part-time graduate assis
tant, Carrasco, to work at the
center. Other than that, the
group is on its own and relies
on the help of student volun
teers.
The center is the headquar
ters for three student organiza
tions: Allies Against
Heterosexism and
Homophobia, GLBT Graduate
Student Organization and
Spectrum, an undergraduate
GLBT student association.
And everything the center
and these organizations want
to do comes back to money.
There are no new books in
the center - all have been
donated and most are out-of
date, Carrasco said.
This can cause a problem
for students, because some
professors assign projects that
require the center for reference,
she said.
The office must also pay its
own bills, such as telephone
charges and any magazines it
subscribes to.
To pay for this, student
organizations have fund-rais
ers and apply for grants,
Carrasco said.
But with the limited num
ber of staff members spending
their time fundraising and writ
L ing applications for grant
money, not as much time can
be focused on providing servic
es for students, she said.
Other student organiza
tions sometimes hit roadblocks
when trying to obtain universi:
ty dollars, but Carrasco said the
• GLBT center deserved universi
| ty money because it represent
ed a group of students on cam
pus who were often over
"We should be funded
because we serve a
group of society, just
like the Women’s
Center and the
Culture Center ”
Bea Carrasco
GLBT center employee
looked.
“I’m not trying to say other
organizations shouldn’t have
funding,” she said. “We should
be funded because we Serve a
group of society, just like the
Women’s Center and the
Culture Center.”
The center does not receive
money from the university
because it was not founded as a
resource center, as Women’s
and Culture centers were, said
Gina Matkin, assistant director
for training and development
at the Nebraska Unions.
Rather, the usage of thje
room was requested by several
GLBT student organizations,
not an official center, she said.
But because there is no
office for GLBT issues on cam
pus, the student-run room
eventually came to be known as
a resource center, Matkin said.
“People just started turning
to it,” Matkin said.
There is no official director
of the center, rather a handful
of people coordinate events,
supervise and support the stu
dents, she said.
“Many people go above and
beyond their hill-time respon
sibilities,” she said.
Carrasco's goal is to have
the center open eight hours a
day, five days a week.
But that’s not always possi
ble, as Carrasco is a student
herself, and all the gaps must
be filled by student volunteers,
she said.
With a small group of peo
ple staffing the center and an
entire campus to target, volun
teers sometimes feel as though
they aren't accomplishing any
thing at the center, she said.
“It frustrates people - they
feel they’re unheard and not
respected,” she said. “That’s
something I deal with every
day.”
Mary Iltzsch, a junior
English major and GLBT center
volunteer, said it could be frus
trating to devote so much time
to the center without seeing
tangible results.
Many students volunteer
for a few weeks and then quit,
leaving the center with just a
few people who continually put
in time to help out, she said.
Iltzsch volunteers about
nine hours per week at the cen
ter, as well as worrying about
classes and her part-time job.
"I kind of feel like one per
son, doing it all myself,” she
said.
Health insurance
premiums spike
for staff,faculty
INSURANCE from page 1
"We made it clear to the
Legislature we need to be at the
level to be taken seriously,” he
said.
^ Based on percentages, if
insurance costs $100 a month,
the employee’s share will go
from $15 to $21 - a 40 percent
increase.
The university’s share,
which comes from state funds,
will drop from $85 to $79.
[ Rowson said although he
thought the increase was a
good idea, the premium hike
"eats into the raises” given to
the faculty by the regents.
But ensuring health care
coverage for employees is the
ultimate goal, despite the high
er costs, he said.
“It’s good to guarantee we’ll
have coverage for all of our
employees," he said.
Not all employees agree
with the university’s decision to
ensure coverage.
Margaret Bolick, president
of the UNL chapter of the
American Association of
University Professors, said she
was concerned about what
could happen to support staff,
such as secretaries and custo
dians.
The rising insurance costs
come at an inopportune time,
as parking prices were also
recently hiked, she said.
Bolick said while the Board
of Regents voted to raise faculty
salaries, these two factors
could wipe out any surplus
employees could have seen.
“It’s not going to be easy,”
she said. “The costs are being
passed down to the faculty and
staff.”
The Associated Press con
tributed to this report.
Glass blower brings craft to UNL
CLASS from page 1
Scientific glass blowing is a
specialized field. Salem
Community College in Carneys
Point, N.J., is the only school in
the United States that offers a
degree in the field.
The school admits about 20
new students each year for its
two-year program. After gradua
tion, it generally takes 10 years
for glass-blowers to work their
way up to a position at a major
research facility.
There are about 2,500 scien
tific glass blowers in the United
States, and Duke estimates he is
the “only one” in Nebraska.
Within this small and spe
cialized field, the demand for
talented glass blowers is grow
mg.
"Without glass blowers, you
wouldn’t have computer chips.”
Duke said, “A glass blower is
needed to make the wafer carrier
used in (silicon) chip produc
tion.”
For UNL, having an in-house
glass studio helps keep the
research facilities competitive.
In describing the impor
tance of an on-campus glass
facility Belot said that he used
the glass shop “almost every
day.”
“Hadrian is a really talented
glass blower. We were very lucky
to get him,” said Belot. “A good
glass blower can help you build
instruments that you just can’t
buy.”
Sharon Kolbet/DN
Hadrian Duke
shapes Pyrex
using gas flames
and a graphite
rod.
As Nebraska's
only scientific
glass bicker,
Duke is responsi
ble for both
repairing and
creating labora
tory instruments
for the universi
ty.
Candidates'negative antics mar campaign
NEGATIVE from page 1
Cady said Nelson was mere
ly raising the possibility at that
time, not endorsing it.
Stenberg also objected to
Nelson’s claim that Stenberg
wanted to eliminate the U.S.
Department of Education, cost
ing Nebraska $100 million in aid
to education.
“I’ve never proposed reduc
ing Nebraska’s funding from the
Department of Education,”
Stenberg said. "I think it could
be increased if we eliminated
some of the federal bureaucracy
and sent more of it back to
schools to helpjour kids.
“I call on Ben Nelson to stop
misrepresenting and distorting
my positions on the issues.”
The two sides continued to
squabble over a GOP TV adver
tisemeht, no longer airing,
which encouraged viewers to
call Stenberg at his Capitol
office number and thank him
for his work as attorney general.
Nelson and the Democratic
Party criticized the ad, and said
state employees should not
have to answer partisan cam
paign phone calls.
Stenberg agreed, but said he
could not pull the ad because
campaign finance laws prohib
ited him from requesting that
the state GOP do so. He said the
Democratic Party, by continu
ing to press the issue, was
engaging in political harass
ment.
But Anne Boyle, chair
woman of the Nebraska
Democratic Party, said the issue
was still relevant because state
employees in the attorney gen
eral’s office had referred cam
paign-related phone calls to
Stenberg’s campaign headquar
ters.
“Because employees in your
office have passed on messages
to your campaign during work
ing hours now raises questions
of other abuses and violations
of state personnel rules,” Boyle
wrote Wednesday in a letter to
Stenberg.
With less than seven weeks
left until the Nov. 7 election,
both sides have said they expect
the campaign to heat up.
Voters can see Nelson and
Stenberg in action today, when
KETV broadcasts their debate at
6:30 p.m.
Trade vote for China to positively affect state, world
BY JOSH FUNK
The Senate’s decision to per
manently normalize trade rela
tions with China will have posi
tive effects worldwide and in
Nebraska, experts said.
Tuesday’s vote was the first
step toward China’s admission
to the World Trade
Organization, which is expected
later this year.
As part of its WTO member
ship and the permanent normal
trade status, China will have to
open its markets to American
businesses and western influ
ence.
By opening traae to partici
pate in international markets,
China has to move more
towards the rule of law,” said
political science assistant pro
fessor Andrew Wedeman, who
also heads UNL's Asian studies
program.
To guarantee contracts and
other business agreements,
China will have to establish
open, independent courts,
which can better enforce the
Communist country’s existing
human-rights laws, Wedeman
said.
The granting of permanent
trade status will end the annual
review of U.S.-China trade rela
tions that has been a source of
contention between the two
countries.
“In return for normal trade
relations,” President Clinton
said, “China will open its mar
kets to American products, from
wheat to cars to consulting serv
ices, and we will be far more able
to sell goods in China without
moving our factories there."
He added that new trade sta
tus and WTO membership could
affect the Chinese far more pro
foundly. “Our high-tech compa
nies will help to speed the infor
mation revolution there.”
Wedeman said the exchange
of information may have a
greater long-term effect on
China than any trade policy.
"It gets harder and harder for
the regime to control the flow of
information,” Wedeman said.
"When the regime no longer has
control of the information, it
can’t lie as easily."
Nebraska Senator Chuck
Hagel supported the measure
both as the proper way to deal
with China and an exciting eco
nomic development.
iraue is me common
denominator in today’s world,”
Hagel said in a statement.
"Granting (normal trade rela
tions) will help to increase the
Chinese people’s interaction
with the rest of the world and
their standard of living.”
Hagel and Nebraska Gov.
Mike Johanns cheered the
agreement as a positive
prospect for the state’s indus
tries.
In November 1999, Johanns
visited China with a delegation
of Nebraska officials to promote
trade.
“I witnessed Nebraska busi
nesses already doing business
there and the potential for more
w
7 witnessed Nebraska businesses already doing
business there and the potential for more
Nebraska business in China."
Mike Johanns
governor
Nebraska business in China,”
Johanns said in a statement.
And the agreement will not
mean a great change in existing
U.S. policies, Wedeman said.
“This doesn’t open U.S. mar
kets any more than they already
were,” Wedeman said. “Almost
all the change in the relation
ship will be on the Chinese
side.”
Detractors of the measure
say the U.S. government was
putting dollars ahead of princi
ples and sacrificing a policy tool
that could help force China to
stop proliferating weapons and
start improving its human rights
record.
China has held most
favored nation trading status
with the U.S. since at the early
1980s.
Almost every year of that
relationship the U.S. Congress
threatened to remove status.
Wedeman said withholding
trade from China to compel
adherence to international
human rights standards was
both ineffective and unlikely.
“The threat of withholding
trade is a case of ‘The Boy who
Cried Wolf.’ China knows it’s an
idle threat,” Wedeman said.
The Associated Press con
tributed to this report.
the
daily nebraska,
read it online at
dailyneb.com
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