Drive to oust Hergert reaches UNL campus
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s student and faculty governments soon may join the effort to force Dave Hergert off the University of Nebraska’s Board of Regents.
The student senate will decide whether to call for Hergert’s resignation at its meeting next Wednesday, voting on a resolution that both the student body president and the senator who authored it think will pass.
In September, the UNL Academic Senate likely will vote on a statement supporting the Legislature as it mulls impeachment proceedings against Hergert.
That vote will come after Academic Senate President Mary Beck meets with the faculty presidents of the three other NU campuses and urges them to support the statement in a universitywide faculty effort that would pack more statewide punch.
The faculty and student action marks the first hint of organized, on-campus protest against Hergert, a Mitchell businessman who has faced much criticism from Republican and Democratic state senators for violating various campaign finance laws but so far has avoided similar criticism from within the university.
“We don’t have the power to remove him,” says Matt Schaefer, the student senator who authored the resolution calling for Hergert to quit.
“We do have the power to send a message that cheating and dishonesty and illegal activity by students and teachers isn’t tolerated, and it shouldn’t be tolerated when it is someone who helps run the university.”
Schaefer, a UNL junior who volunteered on Democrat Matt Connealy’s failed U.S. House of Representative bid last year, says he has paid attention to the Hergert case as it has moved from the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission to the floor of the Nebraska Legislature and then to the state attorney general’s office.
Accountability and Disclosure, the state agency that polices campaign finance law, fined Hergert $33,512 in May for four campaign finance violations but didn’t find evidence Hergert intentionally had violated the law to beat incumbent Regent Don Blank in November’s election.
That wasn’t good enough for 31 state senators, who voted 31-0 (with 17 abstentions) asking for Hergert’s resignation and threatening to impeach him if he didn’t quit.
Hergert refused to resign, and his case now faces review by a special legislative committee that will recommend what, if any, action the Legislature should take, including possible impeachment.
State Attorney General Jon Bruning opened an investigation into Hergert’s case this summer to see if the new western Nebraska regent intentionally broke campaign finance law to beat Blank.
University voices have remained noticeably absent from the first nine months of conversation.
One regent, Chuck Hassebrook of Lyons, repeatedly has criticized Hergert’s actions, while two others, Regents Randy Ferlic and Howard Hawks of Omaha, have defended him.
“I think he violated the law, he paid his fines and that should be the end of it,” Ferlic said in June.
University of Nebraska President J.B. Milliken and all other university regents repeatedly have refused comment on the matter and have faced little pressure to do so from the students and professors they oversee.
Schaefer wants to change that.
“I kinda get upset when Hergert brings up Republican versus Democrat, or east versus west, as reasons people are pursuing this,” he said Thursday.
“The election was between two Republicans. This is about him cheating.”
Student body President Omaid Zabih said he has contacted Hergert to tell him about next week’s vote.
Zabih sits on the Board of Regents with Hergert and says he won’t take a public stand supporting or opposing his fellow regent.
He does think a student senate discussion about whether Hergert should step down or remain on the board is a valid debate even though the student senate has no official power to oust a regent.
Zabih said he has heard from no student senators who oppose the resolution since they learned of it earlier this week.
“Public opinion, there’s power in that,” he said. “This is a university issue that’s pertinent to what’s going on here.”
Beck, president of the UNL Academic Senate, hopes faculty members can influence public opinion as well if they vote to condemn Hergert’s actions.
She says she’s tired of the negative publicity the university has received because of Hergert and hopes a four-campus effort would hasten his departure.
“It’s sort of a blight on the face of Nebraska that he apparently is so adamant about not resigning,” the animal science professor said.
“It’s kind of annoying.”
Reach Matthew Hansen at 473-7245 or mhansen@journalstar.com.
The student senate will decide whether to call for Hergert’s resignation at its meeting next Wednesday, voting on a resolution that both the student body president and the senator who authored it think will pass.
In September, the UNL Academic Senate likely will vote on a statement supporting the Legislature as it mulls impeachment proceedings against Hergert.
That vote will come after Academic Senate President Mary Beck meets with the faculty presidents of the three other NU campuses and urges them to support the statement in a universitywide faculty effort that would pack more statewide punch.
The faculty and student action marks the first hint of organized, on-campus protest against Hergert, a Mitchell businessman who has faced much criticism from Republican and Democratic state senators for violating various campaign finance laws but so far has avoided similar criticism from within the university.
“We don’t have the power to remove him,” says Matt Schaefer, the student senator who authored the resolution calling for Hergert to quit.
“We do have the power to send a message that cheating and dishonesty and illegal activity by students and teachers isn’t tolerated, and it shouldn’t be tolerated when it is someone who helps run the university.”
Schaefer, a UNL junior who volunteered on Democrat Matt Connealy’s failed U.S. House of Representative bid last year, says he has paid attention to the Hergert case as it has moved from the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission to the floor of the Nebraska Legislature and then to the state attorney general’s office.
Accountability and Disclosure, the state agency that polices campaign finance law, fined Hergert $33,512 in May for four campaign finance violations but didn’t find evidence Hergert intentionally had violated the law to beat incumbent Regent Don Blank in November’s election.
That wasn’t good enough for 31 state senators, who voted 31-0 (with 17 abstentions) asking for Hergert’s resignation and threatening to impeach him if he didn’t quit.
Hergert refused to resign, and his case now faces review by a special legislative committee that will recommend what, if any, action the Legislature should take, including possible impeachment.
State Attorney General Jon Bruning opened an investigation into Hergert’s case this summer to see if the new western Nebraska regent intentionally broke campaign finance law to beat Blank.
University voices have remained noticeably absent from the first nine months of conversation.
One regent, Chuck Hassebrook of Lyons, repeatedly has criticized Hergert’s actions, while two others, Regents Randy Ferlic and Howard Hawks of Omaha, have defended him.
“I think he violated the law, he paid his fines and that should be the end of it,” Ferlic said in June.
University of Nebraska President J.B. Milliken and all other university regents repeatedly have refused comment on the matter and have faced little pressure to do so from the students and professors they oversee.
Schaefer wants to change that.
“I kinda get upset when Hergert brings up Republican versus Democrat, or east versus west, as reasons people are pursuing this,” he said Thursday.
“The election was between two Republicans. This is about him cheating.”
Student body President Omaid Zabih said he has contacted Hergert to tell him about next week’s vote.
Zabih sits on the Board of Regents with Hergert and says he won’t take a public stand supporting or opposing his fellow regent.
He does think a student senate discussion about whether Hergert should step down or remain on the board is a valid debate even though the student senate has no official power to oust a regent.
Zabih said he has heard from no student senators who oppose the resolution since they learned of it earlier this week.
“Public opinion, there’s power in that,” he said. “This is a university issue that’s pertinent to what’s going on here.”
Beck, president of the UNL Academic Senate, hopes faculty members can influence public opinion as well if they vote to condemn Hergert’s actions.
She says she’s tired of the negative publicity the university has received because of Hergert and hopes a four-campus effort would hasten his departure.
“It’s sort of a blight on the face of Nebraska that he apparently is so adamant about not resigning,” the animal science professor said.
“It’s kind of annoying.”
Reach Matthew Hansen at 473-7245 or mhansen@journalstar.com.
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