doily
Wednesday, january 15, 1975 lincoln, nebraska vol. 98 no. 64
Tent shows to take music, drama across state
With the coming of the radio, the talkies and the
automobile, the Chautauqua died.
A 1975 revival of the touring tent Chautauqua
sponsored by NU will become a reality in six
Nebraska communities this summer.
From the 1880's to the 1920's the Chautauqua
were traveling tent shows that traveled across the
country, taking culture, plays, lectures and debates to
the public.
Hugh Luke, Chairman of the NU advisory planning
committee, said the Nebraska Bicentennial
Commission budgeted $15,000 for the project.
The advisory commission is made up of NU
faculty and individuals from the six communities
involved.
Music and drama
The 1975 revived Chautauqua will spend 2 days in
each community and will include full scale musical
and dramatic presentations, public discussion and
debate and other forms of entertainment from NU
and local communities.
The six cities the Chautauqua will visit are
Chadron, May 30-31; Scottsbluff, June 1-2; McCook,
June 3-4; Hastings, June 5-6; Norfork, June 7-8; and
Nebraska City, June 9-10.
Luke said smaller communities were selected
because they (NU) wanted to involve the entire state
in the Chautauqua project.
This way, Luke said, people can pick the
community nearest them to attend the Chautauqua.
'Most exciting'
Ben Rader, UNL history professor, said in
pre-World War I days the annual Chautauqua was the
most exciting event of the year.
Rader said the early Nebraska Chautauquas were
in Crete, Beatrice, Fullerton and Kearney.
The movement to bring culture and entertainment
began in Chautauqua, N.Y. in 1875. Originally, Rader
said, it was formed by the Methodist Episcopal
Church to train Sunday school teachers and soon
expanded to become interdenominational and
included education and popular entertainment.
The Crete Chautauqua for a time was the largest of
all the assemblies, even larger than the one in New
York. The first Nebraska Chautauqua was formed in
1882.
Permanent headquarters
In 1884 the assembly acquired permanent
quarters, 100 acres of tree-shrouded land on the
banks of the Blue River northwest of Crete.
Ministers dominated the early Crete Chautauqua,
but by 1888 speakers from NU presented lectures.
During the 1890 drought and depression which hit
Nebraska the Chautauqua turned to politics and
William Jennings Bryan. In the presidential election
year of 1896 he debated the free silver versus gold
standard issue with John P. Irish.
20 Nebraska groups
By 1900 more than 20 assemblies existed in
Nebraska alone. The 1908 Kearney assembly brought
to town the all-black Virginia Jubilee singers, a
moving picture, an - expose of the Panama Canal
illustrated with lantern slides, a comedian, a fireworks
display and two lectures on popular philosophy.
The roaring 20's brought a change in
entertainment. County fairs and vaudeville acts
replaced the Chautauqua.
Luke said it is fitting that the Chautauqua again
become a part of the Nebraska culture during the
nation's Bicentennial.
He said if the Chautauqua is successful it could
continue yearly.
Students get
legal help
for variety
of crises
"If you didn't have services like this
one, lots of students just wouldn't be
talking to a lawyer," says David
Rasmussen, attorney for the Student
Legal Services Center. Rasmussen's office,
Nebraska Union 334, handles student
cases which, he said, range from problems
with workmen's compensation to assault
and divorce cases.
"There is no typical case," Rasmussen
said. "We get a little of everything. It's
much the same as a private law office."
Some problems do appear to be more
common, however, including those
resulting from landlord-tenant disputes,
drunk driving arrests, and traffic fines.
"We get mostly civil cases-few
criminal cases," Rasmussen said. He said
drunk driving problems are most common
among young male students.
Female students seem to have
consumer problems, such as
misrepresentation by dish and silverware
salesmen in residence halls and sorority
houses, Rasmussen said.
1972 law school graduate
Rasmussen, a 1972 graduate of the
University of Nebraska College of Law,
said he counsels 12 to 14 people on a
busy day, and spends about 30 minutes
with each person. He -prefers that
students schedule an appointment, but in
cases of an emergency he will see a
"walk-in" immediately.
"People can usually get in within a day
if they call for an appointment,"
Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen discourages students from
. calling . for,, legal advice, noting that
university operators have ofteh cut in on
his phone calls. This, he said, along with
reports of the University monitoring calls,
has convinced Rasmussen that for the
sake of security, students are safer
coming to the office.
Changed door lock
To insure confidentiality, Rasmussen
said he changed the lock on his office
door ("It used to be a storage room and
we had no idea how many people were
running around with keys") and bought
file cabinets which have locks.
Rasmussen said he does not represent
students in court because he doesn't have
enough time. "If we were to appear in
court with students, we could employ at
least five attorneys," Rasmussen said.
Students are sent to the bar
association referral service if they need a
lawyer to go with them to court.
Salary 'adequate'
Rasmussen said he thinks his salary is
."adequate." He is paid by ASUN with
money from student fees.
"A student registered for 12 hours is
paying about 40 cents toward student
legal service," he said. Rasmussen said the
$250 the center is given for supplies for
one year is not enough. He said although
there might be a need for an expanded
service, he thinks the funds aren't
available.
UNL first to arm police women
By Jim Zalewski
For the first time in Nebraska, women police
officers are armed and doing patrol duty in
cruiser cars.
Lieutenant Robert Edmunds, Campus Police
investigator, said that five women, Connie Felgcr,
Barbara McGill, Dorothy Spence, Connie
Schwarzkopf and Frances Tuttlo, are now
full-time Campus Police officers. He said Campus
Police has had no hesitations in regard to putting
the women on cruiser duty.
"They all are capable police officers,"
Edmunds said. "They all have received extensive
police training, some of them at the Grand Island
Law Enforcement Training Center. We have had
no trouble so far with the women as officers on
cruiser duty."
Edmunds said Spence and Tuttle were first
hired in August, 1970 as meter maids and later
moved on to different full-time officer jobs
McGill (October, 1972), Schwarzkopf (January,
1974) and Felger (May, 1974) all began as
full-time officers.
All of the women officers first have been
assigned to building patrol which, Edmunds said,
is a nightly check of the buildings on campus. He
said they later went to cruiser duty, where they
were always accompanied by a male officer.
He said this had nothing to do with the
women officers' lack of ability, but rather a
shortage of vehicles.
"These women have had training in
self-defense, criminal investigation, accident
investigation, search and seizure laws, and
extensive firearms training, so they have the
ability to do the job," he said.
Schwarzkopf said she thinks being a femaie
can be a help at times when on the job.
"I've always been treated with a lot of
respect, possibly in part because I am a female,"
she said. "I've had some minor problems, but all
police officers can be expected to be
bad-mouthed at times. No one has ever-
threatened me with physical violence."
Schwarzkopf said carrying a firearm is no
problem for her because she is familiar with
weapons and has shot guns before. She said she
thinks the women officers definitely need to be
armed.
"You wouldn't want to try to make an arrest
without a weapon because you never know what
the other person may try to do," she said. "Since
we are police officers, we need to carry guns,
because they are a policeman's tool of the
trade." ...
"It's a job where you have to be cautious, but
not chicken," she said.
Except for traffic control the police training
she received has been more than adequate, she
said. She said this was not on the training
program at Grand island when she attended the
school.
Schwarzkopf said she feels she was hired
because she was qualified for the job, not
because of any departmental pressures to hire
women because of the Equal Rights Amendment.
The amendment was not a factor in the
decision to hire the women, Edmunds said.
Because there are so many females on campus,
Edmunds said the department felt women
officers might be able to work more closely with
them in certain areas of student security.
Though she is happy with her present job,
Schwarzkopf said she would not like to make a
career out of campus police work. She said she is
interested in different areas of law enforcement,
and would welcome the chance for a job with a
larger city police department.
Edmunds said Campus Police is happy also
with the job the women officers are doing. He
said there have been numerous applications for
the positions held by the women, but there are
no plans to replace them or take them off
full-time duty.
"If qualified," Schwarzkopf said, "there
should be no reason not to hire a woman."
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Dorothy Spencer, one of five UNL policewomen authorized
to carry firearms.
