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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1980)
jo Wednesday, febmary 27, 1980 tincoln, nebraskavol. 104, no. 33 ii ii i w ui u ii ,. Prisoners: picture ban violates ri ght By Rich Jurgens Ten prisoners at the Lincoln City Jail have filed a complaint with the Nebraska Civil liberties Union alleging that their First Amendment rights have been violated because nude photographs are prohibited in their cells. Dick Kur ten bach, executive director for the NCLU, said he believes that prohibiting nude pictures in the Lincoln City Jail violated the prisoners First Amendment rights. The letter, written and signed by 10 prisoners at the city jail, explicitly named Playboy, Hustler and Hi Times as magazines containing material not allowed in the jail cells. Kurtenbach said the Nebraska State Penal Complex allows nude pictures in cell blocks and said he though the same should apply to the city jail. Prisoners at the city jail cannot go to a corner drugstore to look at such magazines and were being restricted by jail officials, Kurtenbach alleged. However, Patrick D. Rackers, correct ions administrator, said nude pictures were prohibited only in the jail cells. If prisoners want to look at the nude pictures, he said they can look at them in the counseling room. Nude pictures are not allowed in jail cells for the same reason nude pictures are not allowed on billboards in Lincoln because some people don't care to see them-Rackerssaid. He said the right to privacy was of more importance than having nude pictures in cell blocks. Because the jail cells are small and each contain four men, a prisoner who doesn't want to see nude pictures would be having his right to privacy violated, Rackers said. "There are always those prisoners that don't want to see nude pictures," he said. Kurtenbach said he wrote a letter to Rackers asking him why nude pictures were not allowed in jail cells. Rackers replied to the letter, saying that volunteers come to the jail who might be offended seeing nude pictures on the walls. Another reason given in the letter stated that pictures on the jail cell walls would be a definite fire hazard. "Sexual consequences" was another reason for not allowing nude pictures in cells, Rackers said. 'People who are in jail are deprived of sexual outlets," Rackers said, and that since they are in jail for only a short time, there is no compelling need to have nude pictures in jail cells. Jail guards would be in danger if they had to take nude pictures off the walls, because this would mean taking the ' prisoner out of the cell, Rackers said. He added that nude pictures also would lead to prisoner assaults of other prisoners. Lincoln Police Chief Dean Leitner said no pornographic materials should be allow ed in any correctional institution in Nebraska, saying hell never understand why they are allowed at all. Kurtenbach said a panel of lawyejrs would decide in early March whether the NCLU would file suit against the Lincoln City Jail. EigM e&kmts warm womem ' spiritmii yemr By Jill Denning Specials editor Big Red spirit doesn't melt away with the coming of spring, but blooms for the following fall. - .- Mrs. Rose Richter, a 55-year-old Lincoln resident, is sewing up the season by making Big Red caps. The caps, which are made of red and white fur with a white letter N, give her "something to do with her time" and are sold to Lincoln and surrounding community outlets. 'T just sit down at the rnachine and it takes my mind off of everything,' she said. "I get so involved, before I know it Bob (her husband) is home." Richter got the idea from friends who had seen the caps bn people in other states representing other schools. Richter's daughter cuts out the pieces and she sews them. Fifty caps, with more on the way, have been made on the portable sewing machine in Richter's kitchen. Spring weather won't put a stop to production, she said, because then shell just "sew upva whole bunch for fall." The hats, which come in adult and children's sizes, are modeled in the Lincoln area by grandsons, grand nephews and grand nieces. Richter said, "When the kids go into stores, other, bigger kids say, Wow, did you see that kid's hat. Wow, Nebraska.'" Although the hats could be designed for other state schools, Richter said that isn't a possibility yet. "We're pulling for Nebraska.' y - ' V!. AY v. j& Photo by Mark Billingsley Mrs. Rose Richter works on one of her Big Red caps. The caps, sold to local outlets, help keep that Big Red spirit glowing. Testing centers' owner defends admissions tests By Pam George Recent testing fraud allegations concerning college and graduate school admissions tests are invalid, according to the owner of a large international educational center. The centers coach students preparing for admissions exams. Stanley Kaplan, owner of 90 centers of the same name, said a 500-page report released by Ralph Nader in January Quack, Quack: Sheriff receives call claiming the abduction of four Iranian students by the Donald Duck Society PaSe5 All in a dream: Two Sheldon films explore the realm of the subconscious and of sleep. Page 8 What a difference three days make: Husker basketball team downs Oklahoma, 75-68, only three days after , suffering 78-60 loss to the Sooners Page 10 has not caused any change in college admissions policies or tests. "It's very easy for Nader to tear down the tests,' Kaplan said in a telephone interview from his New York City office, "but he hasn't put anything in its place." The Nader report, written by Allan Nairn, accused the Educational Testing Service of not determining accurate information about students who take the tests. ETS administers the Scholastic Aptitude test, Law School Admission Test, Graduate Management Admission Test, College Level Entrance Program and Advanced Placement Tests, among others. Testsdiscriminatory The report says the tests discriminate against minorities, Kaplan said. "The tests are simply measuring where a student is at," he said. "You can't blame a test for what it shows." Kaplan compared the report's allegations that the tests are biased to blaming a medical exam report for showing a patient is sick. ' Kaplan said Nader would like to see the tests done away with completely, but if this happens "gates will close to students.' He said the quality of students entering colleges as undergraduates and graduate students would be lowered if the tests were abolished. "How can you get higher education when you don't have a lower education?' Kaplan asked. "These tests keep these people (without proper education) out,' he said. Minorities assimilate The problem is embedded in the quality of lower education schools, Kaplan -said. If those were upgraded more students would do well on college entrance exams, he said. "I believe minorities have to be acculturated to the United States,' Kaplan said. "I am not saving they should abandon their own culture, but they should assimilate U.S. education requirements.' Kaplan agreed with the Nader report that income level does affect a student's education. If parents are poorly educated, they are likely to create an environment lacking educational stimulation, he said. That is where the report has the right idea, Kaplan said. "If someone from a very comfortable family with all advantages does well on an exam, they show potential. Then there is a black person from an impoverished area who does average, but given his background, the test also shows his potential, he said. Kaplan said Nader has attacked the tests, but not the admissions policies of different schools. Most colleges do not do personal interviewing, so they depend on the test score and grade point average, he said. "Hie grade point average alone is not enough,' Kaplan said. Continued on P 2