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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1999)
Proposal would provide papers with housing fee By Dane Stickney Staff writer Students living in residence halls may soon find themselves with a broad er knowledge of world events, as well as" newsprint on their fingers. UNL Chancellor James Moeser voiced his support Monday for an idea that would provide national, and possi bly local, newspapers paid for by hous ing costs in residence halls. “This would be a positive step to increase news readership among stu dents,” Moeser told the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Publications Board. “It seems that fewer students are aware of world issues, and I believe providing newspapers would help the situation.” ivioeser saia ine New tone limes and USA Today would most likely be provided through the program, but oth ers at the meeting suggested that the Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha World Herald could also be included. Students in residence halls would have access to each day’s newspapers, but residence hall fees would be raised about $20 a year, Moeser said. If implemented, the program could have a negative effect on the Daily. Nebraskan, said Josh Funk, editor. “If this were to happen, we would expect a large drop in advertising money,” Funk said. “Right now, 94 per cent of the budget comes from ads, and only 6 percent comes from student fees. Advertisers that used to come to us would stay with the Journal Star because they would have a presence on campus.” James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs, shared Funk’s worry about a possible decline in advertising revenue at the DN. Because only residence hall stu dents would benefit from the newspa per idea, Griesen proposed that an effort should be made to add more pages devoted to national and international news to the DN. “We could only reach at most 4,000 people (in the residence halls,” he said. “If we could bring more of a national perspective to the DN, then we could affect more people.” Will Norton, dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communication, originally thought of the idea for free newspapers on campus after reading an article about a similar program at Penn State University. Norton said the on-campus compe tition may not hurt the DN. “Competition improves quality,” he said. “Maybe the DN needs a jump start. 1 m not sure the UN would get hurt by having more newspapers avail able on campus.” Moeser proposed a trial run, funded by the honors program, at Neihardt Residence Center to gauge student response to the idea. “We would like to plant the seed at Neihardt,” Moeser said. “I would love to see pressure from other students to say, ‘We want this, too.’” Griesen and others at the meeting said in order to get a better student rep resentation, the trial run should be done at more than one residence hall. The publications board was inter ested in learning more about the pro posal and its effect on the DN. Ryan Merrill, a sophomore and member of the publications board, said no decision can be made about the pro posal before more facts are known. “I think it is good to have an experi ment target, but we’re not going to do anything big until we do some research,” he said. “If the demand is out there, then we’ll play it from there.” City police recover officer’s stolen gun By Jake Bleed Senior staff writer A pistol stolen from an off-duty police officer in July was recovered Saturday afternoon during a routine traffic stop, officer Katherine Finnell said. Police pulled over Hung M. Au, 20, near the intersection of N and 14th streets at 1:35 p.m. after officers saw the Lincoln man driving without license plates, Finnell said. While talking to Au, the officer making the stop saw a six-pack of beer behind the car’s seat, Finnell said. The officer searched Au and found a 9 mm Smith and Wesson semiauto matic pistol tucked in the man’s belt, Finnell said. While inspecting the weapon, the officer noticed one of the gun’s serial numbers had been filed off, Finnell said. Another serial number under the pistol’s grip could still be read. The gun’s serial number was matched to that of a gun taken from a' Lincoln police officer’s locker at a local gym on July 17,1998, Finnell said. The officer apparently stowed the weapon, valued at $420, in the gym locker while he worked out The pistol, a model 3913 Smith and Wesson, is a smaller version of the police duty weapon, also a Smith and Wesson semiautomatic, Finnell said. Police do not suspect Au stole the weapon. The 20-year-old probably pur chased the weapon later, Finnell said. Au was arrested on allegations of carrying a concealed weapon, posses sion of a firearm with altered identiflca tion and possession of a stolen firearm. Finnell said Au probably had proper registration for his car so he avoided being cited for not having plates. Finnell said serial numbers on weapons are stamped deeply into the guns and are hard to erase. “Usually if they’re ground off, we can still read them,” Finnell said. t Model United Nations holds debate By Lindsay Henshilwood Staff writer The involvement of the United States in the United Nations was the topic of a Monday afternoon debate at the Nebraska Union. It was the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Model United Nations’ first debate of the year. “The Model U.N. is a student organization that models itself on the actual U.N.,” said member Melissa Beran. The group studies some of the procedures the United Nations uses in decision and policy-making. On Monday, “Crossfires,” the name of the debate, took place in cel ebration of United Nations Day, marking the 52nd anniversary of the organization. It was a debate based on how involved the United States should be in the United Nations. After introductions by Secretary General of UNL’s Model United Nations Ayca Ariyoruka and Lincoln Mayor Don Wesely, the sparring began. Bill Avery, a political science pro fessor, represented the more liberal perspective of the debate. “The U.S. is an extraordinary state as it has an unconditional viabil ity,” Avery said. He said the United States is as involved as it can be with the United a It is easy to see what is wrong with the US. participation in the UN” Glenn Freeman assistant to Sen. Chuck Hagel Nations and that the United Nations depended on the involvement of the United States. “The U.N. could have been formed after World War I, but the United States was not interested and so the early attempt failed,” Avery said. He stressed the importance of United States’ leadership both in the world and in the United Nations and said that the United States is the only country with a combination of char acteristics to make its strong leader ship position possible. “Leadership rests on the ability of the leader to remain legitimate in the eyes of other countries,” Avery said. Glenn Freeman, special assistant for Military and Veteran Affairs for U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, responded to Avery’s comments. He gave the more conservative view saying that people cannot be complacent about the United States’ involvement in the United Nations. “If is easy to see what is wrong with the U.S. participation in the U.N.,” Freeman said. He compared the United Nations to the political development of the United States, saying that the United Nations is not fully developed. Choosing the extent of the U.S. involvement in the United Nations would be difficult, Freeman said. This is because of the divergent nature of three groups of U.S. citi zens. These include the multilateral, who believe that the United States should be more involved in the United Nations. Next are the unilateral who say the United States should do what it wants to do. The third group, the iso lationists, want to leave other coun tries alone. “It is this divergence of people in the U.S. that means that the debate will always be hard to conclude,” Freeman said. Overall, Freeman said, it seemed as if the United States had one main focus, which affected its decision making worldwide. “The primary concern of the U.S. is the U.S.” he said. , Fora complimentary Engagement Package, call 1.800.642. GIFT. V BORSHEIM'S. 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