Daily Nebraskan
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Thursday
November 30,2000
Volume 100
Issue 68
dailyneb.com
Since 1901
■ The congressman-elect visited
farmers to talk about farming woes
and form an advisory committee.
BY GEORGE GREEN
GENEVA — Area farmer Ryan
Bohling has been struggling to make
ends meet
Now he’s looking for some answers.
He says poor crop prices are the
primary culprit for his difficult times.
But high prices for seeds and fertil
izers, along with extra expenses like
the inheritance tax, have compound
ed his burdens.
For these reasons, Bohling headed
to Gregory's Family Diner in Geneva
on Wednesday, to listen to his new
Congressman-elect, Tom Osborne.
Osborne began traversing the mas
sive 3rd Congressional District
Tuesday, to visit with his constituents
about their fanning woes.
While making his rounds, Osborne
will form an agricultural advisory
committee made up of farmer dele
gates from eight regions within his dis
trict.
Each region will elect two repre
sentatives who will be charged with
staying in contact with Osborne
throughout his two-year term.
These people will update Osborne
and his staff about the feelings and
needs of the farmers in their area,
Osborne said.
For now, he said, the committee
members will be responsible for help
ing him build an agricultural policy to
best suit the district’s needs.
“We will forge a common agenda,”
Osborne said.
This arrangement will help to alle
viate the feelings among farmers that
they are at the whim of Washington
politicians, he said.
Giving farmers a slice of the policy
pie will also help to build bonds
between them and the government
officials serving them, he said.
“More ownership means more
involvement and farmers will feel
more connected," he said.
With these reasons in mind,
Osborne started Wednesday’s meeting
by reviewing results from a survey his
staff did with farmers last summer.
A long list of disappointments and
complaints arose from the survey, he
said. But Osborne highlighted con
cerns about low crop prices, a lack of
young farmers and declining govern
ment programs to bail out needy farm
ers.
Osborne also said the survey
showed that farmers felt the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln was lagging in its
responsibility to support the agricul
tural community.
According to the study, 85 percent
of the farmers surveyed felt that UNL
could do more to help agricultural
producers.
“It’s a major obligation of land
Nebraska Congressman-elect Tom Osborne met area farmers at Gregory's Family Diner in Geneva on
Wednesday. Osborne discussed agricultural policy he will advocate when he reaches Washington,
D.C., early next year.
It’s a major obligation of land-grant universities to help
agricultural producers
Tom Osborne
3rd-District congressman-elect
grant universities to help agricultural
producers,” Osborne said.
But at this meeting, Osborne was
flanked by Roy Frederick, a professor
of agricultural economics at UNL.
Frederick spoke briefly at the
meeting, discussing current trends in
crop prices and the various policy
options the government has been con
sidering to help farmers.
When officials adopt a farm policy,
he said, the climate in the crop market
at that moment will play a big part in
their decisions.
“Whatever the situation is when
Tom and his colleagues begin working
will influence their decisions,” he said.
No matter the economic season is
playing out, Osborne said getting
input from his constituents will pro
duce better agricultural policies.
“It’s really important to have a han
dle on what the residents are think
ing,” he said.
Steven Bender/DN
Seventy-six year
old Oeshler
fanner Alvin
Brettmann con
fers with
Congressman
elect Tom
Osborne at
Gregory's Family
Diner in Geneva.
Osborne spoke
to nearly 100
people at the
diner
Wednesday
about agricul
tural policy and
the future of
Nebraska's
farming com
munity.
Number, nature of cases released
BY JOSH FUNK
UNL officials released
Wednesday the number and
nature of disciplinary cases han
dled by the Office of Judicial
Affairs this fall.
The release came in the wake
of the Daily Nebraskan’s requests
for records of crimes of violence
or sex offenses, the names of stu
dents found guilty of those acts
and the punishments.
University officials have
stood behind their policy of con
fidentiality involving disciplinary
records to protect a student's pri
vacy and to preserve their educa
tional objectives.
“We are first and foremost an
educational institution. We edu
cate not only in the classroom,
but in how we enforce our code of
conduct,” Vice Chancellor for
Student Affairs James Griesen
said.
“Students sometimes make
mistakes, and we feel it is our
[ duty to help them learn to func
tion in the community.”
When asked how releasing
these records would hinder that
educational purpose, Griesen
answered “How would it help?”
The statistics released list
only the code of conduct viola
tion, number of cases reported
and number of students
involved.
This fall 130 incidents involv
ing 213 people were reported to
Judicial Affairs for prosecution.
It was unknown Wednesday
how many of those people were
found guilty. Officials said the
number of cases prosecuted was
not readily available from the
database.
If the Daily Nebraskan’s
request for records were granted,
details of 28 of the 213 cases may
have been subject to release, but
the exact number is uncertain
without knowing the details of
these cases.
The U.S. Department of
Education defines a crime of vio
lence as: arson, burglary, any
assault, burglary, any homicide,
vandalism or destruction of
property, kidnapping, robbery or
a sex offense.
A 1998 change to the federal
Higher Education Act makes it
clear that crimes of violence and
sex offenses should not be kept
confidential as part of a student’s
educational record.
The Daily Nebraskan
requested access to the records
under the state’s open records
law.
Both the university and the
state attorney general's office
denied the newspaper’s request
on the basis of an exception to the
housing violations
academic violations
alcohol and drugs
The following list shows a selected number of incidents reported to Judicial
Affairs and prosecuted under the Student Code of Conduct. A total of 130 cases
involving 213 people have been reported this semester. Only one case has been
appealed to the Judicial Board. incidents total people
- - "" involved
physical abuse, threatening abuse & harassment
sexual assault (inappropriate touching)
theft, attempted theft & property damage
__traffic violations
Records in red: Categories that could be released if the Daily Nebraskan’s request
were honored.
open records law that states per
sonal records of students do not
have to be released.
Interim Chancellor Harvey
Perlman said he stands behind
the university policy, which
favors confidentiality over the
public’s right to know.
“On a campus we may want
to establish a process that is edu
cational and disclosure (of
records) may jeopardize that,”
Perlman said.
But the chancellor did say he
understood the Daily
Nebraskan’s concerns about
releasing disciplinary records.
Melanie Falk/DN
“The issues policy-wise are
not new, and the arguments you
make for release are reasonable,”
Perlman said.
The campus newspaper has
raised concerns that the campus
should have access to the most
accurate information about
crimes and other dangers, and
the most accurate information
must be a combination of police
and disciplinary records.
The newspaper also ques
tioned the level of accountability
for the Judicial Affairs office given
Please see RECORDS on 7
Convention bylaw
proves contentious
BY MARGARET BEHM
Amidst a controversial three
hour debate, student govern
ment came up with a bylaw for
the constitutional convention.
Numerous amendments
were brought up during
Wednesday’s marathon meeting.
Senators were continuously
reminded when voting on
amendments, if they didn’t make
a decision, a special session
would be held Friday night.
Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska President
Joel Schafer said the reminders
were to emphasize the bylaws
needed to be passed.
“I just wanted to let them
know that I intended to have this
pass before Christmas,” he said.
The amended bylaw that was
passed lets Schafer and ASUN
Speaker Jason Mashek each pick
two ASUN members to be.on the
convention. Itoo ASUN members
also will be randomly chosen.
Schafer gets to choose four at
large students to be on the con
vention and Mashek will choose
three. Two at-large students will
be randomly be chosen.
ASUN
Student organizations that
are recognized by ASUN also will
have a say in the convention.
Each group can elect one
spokesperson that can bring pro
posals to convention meetings.
The proposals will then be voted
on. If they pass, they would be
added to a rough draft of the con
stitution.
The bylaw passed with a vote
of 18 for and three against.
Schafer said he agreed with
the passed bylaw.
“I think that most senators
felt that this was a fair compro
mise to the many proposals peo
ple brought to the table tonight.”
Human Rights Chairwoman
Angela Clements said the bylaw
should have been tabled to give
the senators more time because
of numerous amendments.
"I think it’s unfortunate that
ASUN senators weren’t willing to
table it, hold a special session and
do it right,’’ she said.
Clements had brought a pro
Please see BYLAW on 7