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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2000)
Issues of diversity focus of retreat BYJILLZEMAN A wide array of UNL students converged last weekend at Camp Carol Joy Holling in Ashland. Although their physical differ ences were apparent - present were Asians, blacks, Hispanics, international students and whites - they all held the same goal. About 55 students came to analyze and break down stereo types, address diversity issues and have a little fun, too. These students participated in the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s 13th Annual Cultural Diversity Retreat, sponsored by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. The majority of the funding for the retreat came from the Pepsi Diversity Enhancement Fund, said Chuck van Rossum, assistant director for the Minority Assistance Program. Representatives from the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska, fraterni ties and sororities, several cam pus cultural groups, the Residence Hall Association and the Daily Nebraskan participated. Several students not repre senting an organization also vol unteered to participate in the retreat Self-awareness, seeing other people’s perspectives and making a difference were goals stressed at the event. These goals were addressed through sessions organized by members of UNL’s Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee. For one session, the group was divided by what culture they identified with and separated into groups to discuss stereotypes. This was controversial among the students, especially biracial or multiracial participants, but van Rossum said a beneficial conver sation was generated afterward. “The discussion woke us up,” he said. “Awareness was forced into the groups.” Another issue brought to the table was that several students said they didn’t think they had a strong culture, van Rossum said. Many of these students were white, who came from mixed European ancestry and couldn’t track their relatives. “Hearing students say they never had a culture caused some discomfort, but that’s where learning occurs,” he said. One downfall of the retreat was that no American Indian stu dents were represented, he said. A few American Indian stu dents signed up for the event but did not attend, he said. “Their voices were missed,” he said. UNL junior advertising major Kevin Sheen said he thought the participants were representative of the students on campus. Sheen, who represented ASUN’s Sexual Advisory Orientation Council at the retreat, said interacting with a variety of students was beneficial. “It’s good to get a sense of where everybody else is, besides the majority that exists on cam pus,” Sheen said. Although Sheen said he enjoyed the retreat, he also said he thought issues the group dealt with were too general. More of these should have been applied to UNL’s campus culture, he said. But overall, Sheen said, he would recommend the retreat to other students. “It was cool,” he said. “(The university) should look at offering a class dealing with these kinds of issues.” Students learn different views in exchange BY Jill CONNER Harry Magee was looking for a change. Magee is an Alcorn State University student spending the fall semester at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as part of an exchange program. “(UNL) was a place I had never seen before and perspec tives I had never known before,” said Magee, a senior biology major. The program started when UNL signed a formal exchange agreement with Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss., on Martin Luther King Day in 1999, calling for both the exchange of faculty and students. That year, two Alcorn stu dents participated in LeaderShape Nebraska, a lead ership conference held annually for students. James Griesen, vice chancel lor for student affairs, spoke to UNL students at the conference about spending the spring semester at Alcorn. “It is a unique opportunity for our campus because Alcorn State is a historically black uni versity,” Griesen said. Under the agreement, both schools agreed exchange stu dents would pay tl?e same amount of money to go to the exchange university as they would to go to their original school. “It is a real opportunity at no additional cost for students at UNL to have a very different education experience,” Griesen said. Three students, Bill Alcorn, a senior construction manage ment major, Scott Worrall, a sen ior communications major, and Erin Gartner, a senior actuarial science major, approached Griesen, and arrangements were made for the three to spend the spring semester at “(UNL) was a place I had perspectives I had never Alcorn. Worrall said the experience opened his eyes to a lot of new occurrences. “I feel as if I’m a more diverse person now that I’ve seen a dif ferent culture, attitudes, envi ronment,” he said. “Just being able to experience something completely different than what I’ve grown up in.” . Worrall said the difference of campus size had a big impact on what students did for recre ation. “It was a very close-knit campus, a lot smaller campus, and not being in a metro area, there weren’t a lot things to do,” he said. "There you would hang never seen before and known before. ” Harry Magee Alcorn State student out with people and talk.” UNL’s 22,268 students out number Alcorn’s 3,100. Getting involved in campus groups at UNL has helped Magee fit in comfortably during his time so far. Magee said the experience has provided a wide variety of perspectives and attitudes, especially about the weather and classes. "It was 20 below, and they still went,” he said, referring to stories he has heard about snowstorms in Nebraska. Students interested in spending the spring semester at Alcorn should contact Griesen’s office. Professor finds hope during visit to Bosnia ■ UNli Patrice McMahon recounted her journey through the problems after the war. BY LAUREN ADAMS Despite the devastating sights prevalent throughout Bosnia, a political science pro fessor who took a trip through the war-tom state found hope. Patrice McMahon, a UNL political science professor, went to Bosnia for two weeks in mid September as part of the Young Investigators Program. The pro gram, funded by the state, offers exposure for young scholars to research together with scholars of different countries. McMahon spoke to Pi Sigma Alpha, UNL’s political science club, on Friday. Judd Choate, the club’s adviser, said McMahon could offer students and faculty a dif ferent perspective on war that Americans don’t understand. "A lot of Students are inter ested in concepts like war,” Choate said. ‘It’s important for us to look at how war happens and how we can learn from his tory.” McMahon shared an overview of the program and background information on the war in Bosnia, as well as her own reaction to the current state of the country. Although the war ended in December 1995 with the Dayton Accords, the country is still very much divided, McMahon said. McMahon had studied the current state of Bosnia, but she said she was unprepared to deal with the pain that still existed in the country. The war may have ended the violence, but there are still ethnic barriers within the country, she said. “I didn’t go naively,” McMahon said. “But I was not Speaker says dialogue key to diversity at UNL prepared to hear the individual stories of suffering.” Although McMahon was sent to deal with issues of recon ciliation, she said she felt frus trated and unable to offer a solution. After hearing the sto ries of atrocities that occurred during the war, McMahon said she felt useless in her attempts to help reconciliation. “You don’t say anything,” she said. “You put your head down like a coward because you can't do anything.” McMahon said it was diffi cult to know what issues to focus on first as there were many unresolved problems in Bosnia. She said three major issues that need to be dealt with are the devastating effects of the war, the country's dire financial state and the strong ethnic ani mosities that exist. Although McMahon said she felt frustrated, she was encour aged by the Bosnian people to go back to the states and tell others the stories she had heard. We are responsible for not letting it happen again, said McMahon. I: jS BY CHARLIE KAUFFMAN In a continuing effort to educate college campuses about the merits of diversity, Steve Birdine spoke Saturday at the closing session of the uni versity’s annual conference on "People of Color in Predominantly White Institutions.” “If your campus hasn’t fig ured out how to deal with diver sity in 75 years, 100 years, 125 years ... What makes you think they're going to figure it out any time soon?” Birdine said. Birdine, the president of the diversity-promotion organiza tion Affirmations in Action, said diversity has nothing to do with being nice. Birdine said diversi ty is about having honest dia logue without being afraid of offending anyone. “A true diversity dialogue has nothing to do with bashing white men,” Birdine said. “It has nothing to do with being politi cally correct.” Birdine urged the audience to shed stereotypes and not to worry about being offended. “If you do nothing else on your campus but eliminate stereotypes, you've taken a tremendous first step,” Birdine said. “If you leave your house looking to be offended, every thing is going to offend you.” Birdine said people will always be different and will always disagree on one subject or another. The key, he said, is to get along no matter what. "We need to disagree with out being disagreeable," he said. EARN UP TO $2,150 CALL 474-7297 ASSIST MEDICAL RESEARCH Man arrested after crime spree in residence halls University Police arrested a man Thursday evening after a minor crime spree including two residence hall burglaries, theft from a car, drug possession and possible car theft. When police contacted the man outside Cather/Pound/Neihardt food' service and asked for ID, the man showed them a checkbook stolen from a car earlier, University Police Assistant Chief Mylo Bushing said. Police arrested the 6-foot, 180-pound Hispanic man in his late 20s as John Doe because they could not confirm his iden tity Friday, Bushing said. But police did find the fruits of several crimes in the bags the man was holding. The man had property taken from one Cather room and one Pound Hall room Thursday afternoon, as well as property taken from a car parked in a 19™ and Q streets lot between Monday night and Thursday afternoon. Doe also had a stereo that was taken from a stolen car. Police suspect Doe in the car theft and were trying to match his fingerprints from the stereo to items in the car. The car was stolen from a university lot near 19th and R streets between Tuesday night i and Wednesday evening, and it was found early Friday morning outside the 501 Building in a handicapped space. When police searched the man, they found a small bag of suspected marijuana and a pipe with drug resin. Doe was charged with pos session of marijuana less than an ounce, possession of drug paraphernalia, two burglaries, one larceny from auto and two counts of possession of stolen property. Farmhouse fraternity reports six thefts from cars Farmhouse Fraternity was plagued by a rash of six thefts from cars last week. Six cars in the 3601 Apple St. fraternity parking lot were bro ken into Tuesday night, Bushing said. The thieves smashed some windows and forced some locks, causing $ 1,150 damage. The thieves made off with $10,320 in loot including CD players, CDs, cellular phones, clothing and speakers, Bushing said. One student reported 274 CDs, worth $4,100, stolen from his car. Bushing urged students to remove any valuable property, especially CDs, from their cars at night. Compiled by Josh Fuhk —-—i dailyneb. com c/?T Tfiamas Jewelers 6420 “O” Street • 467-5402 Layaway • Financing • Student Accounts Availabie