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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1988)
Netiralskan September 8, 1988 ___University of Nebraska-Lincoln INDEX WEATHER: Thursday, partly sunny and breezy, high in the low to mid 80s News Digest.2 with N-NW winds at 15-25 mph. Thurs- Editorial..4 day night, cooler, low near 50. Friday. Diversions..7 mostly sunny, high near 80. cESteds..'.'. '.'.!! 23 Vol^88 No. 8 Nightly help available for drunk students By Kari Mott Staff Reporter Peer alcohol educators, students whoassist intoxicated students, are now on call seven nights a week, according to Gerald Flcischli, medical director at the University Health Center. Previously, the peer service had only been offered on weekends. “There is a need for the program during the week as there is for the weekends,” Fleischli said. Fleischli said he decided if the services were needed on the week ends, it was a safe bet it was needed during the week. Last year, peer alcohol educators were on call 448 hours and on duty for 66 hours, said Janet Crawford, health educator and instructor at the health center. “Last year, it was Friday and Sat urday nights,” Fleischli said. “This year it is every evening, because when you have a service that is not consistently available, people arc not sure whether to seek it out or not.” Crawford said the Peer Alcohol Educator Program started three years ago, but emphasized educating stu dents about alcohol and how to pre vent alcohol abuse. During the last 1 1/2 years, peer alcohol educators have been on call to assist employees when intoxicated students come in during the middle of the night, Crawford said. Students are sometimes too drunk to take care of themselves, so the center works like a detoxication center. “Despite attempts to educate stu dents there is still drinking going on,” Flcischli said. “The (peer) student is an extra pair of hands who will assist the nurse in monitoring the intoxicated student,” Crawford said. The alcohol educator is especially helpful because ihc health center doesn’t want to leave the intoxicated students alone, Crawford said. They need help checking for acute alcohol intoxication, she said. Acute alcohol intoxication occurs when someone has ingested large amounts of alcohol. Someone with acute alcohol intoxication could die, Crawford said. The health center has a Breatha lyzer to measure the amount of alco hol consumed. Students with high alcohol levels signal that they might have a drinking problem, Fleischli said. With those cases, health center employees sug gest they consult an alcohol coun selor, he said. “Very few students have taken advantage of this,” she said. Students who come into the health center are not allowed to leave until a “responsible party,” someone who is not intoxicated, comes in and signs a paper, Fleischli said. If a responsible patty cannot be found for the student and he or she insists on leaving, they must sign a waiver that says they arc leaving against medical advice, he said. “We don’t want to send people out on the road,” Fleischli said. The program includes training for signs of acute alcohol intoxication to greek social chairmen this year, Crawford said. The peer alcohol educators is a spin-off from the health aide pro gram, Crawford said. The student goes through the same interviewing process as a health aide. Students then take a one-credit hour class during the fall semester that deals solely with alcohol, Crawford said. I John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan “We would like to avoid the need sible drinking or no drinking at all,” or this service by (teaching) rcspon- Fleischli said. Hams appoints task torce to determine drug prevalence By Ryan Johnson Stiff Reporter and Lee Rood Senior Hdiior_ task force named by Lincoln Mayor Bill Harris should helpdetermine how prevalent drugs are in the Lincoln community and how to stop them, according to Lincoln Chief of Police Allen Curtis. Curtis said the 22-membcr task force was designed by Harris and a former police chief after the mayor witnessed severe drug prob lems in other cities. Curtis said Harris’ concern over a potential drug problem in Lincoln spawned the task force. Harris announced the task force in July for the purpose of reviewing law enforcement, education, intervention and treatment efforts. The force is expected to determine where work is needed, recommend a plan of attack and set the city’s role in programs. Curtis said it is impossible to tell how bad Lincoln’s drug problem is right now, but re search by the task force could help determine how well police are handling the problem. Until then, Curtis said, any drug problem the city has is a big one. ‘‘I think every place in the United States of America has a problem with drugs,” Curtis said. “Our problem is we have it, and we have to do everything in our power to get rid of it,” he said. Curtis said the Lincoln Police Department conducted fewer drug investigations in 1987 than in 1986 but confiscated greater amounts of money from drugs and drug-related property. In 1986, police seized §304,183 worth of drugs. In 1987, they seized $1.1 million worth, he said. “Hard” drugs, such as crack, heroin and LS D are also showing up more in Lincoln, Curtis said. Crack is the most potentially lethal drug, Curtis said. It is highly profitable and attractive to gang members who want to make a quick sale. Tne city doesn’t need the additional threat of gangs, he said. Crack also poses problems, he said, because it is highly addictive. Addiction to the drug sprouts up faster than to other substances. “Crack can kill you in a matter of weeks .. . so you need to stay on top of it,” Curtis said. Diane Frohn, a University of Nebraska Lincoln freshman and a member of the task force, said that Lincoln’s problem is not as big as that of Omaha and Kansas Cilv. The task force, she said, is trying to prevent such prob lems from spreading to Lincoln by dealing with drugs in Lincoln before problems escalate. Vaughn Robertson, counselor at the UNL Multi-Cultural Affairs office and a task force member, said meetings of the drug task force have been mostly for awareness. At the meetings, members have taken a position that “we are all ignorant,” he said. Meetings with city and county drug agen cies, law enforcement agencies, Lincoln Public Schools and other organizations have taught the task force about the drugs themselves and the problem in the community and schools, Robertson said. Professionals have also attempted to show the group which drugs are prevalent and in what types of people demographically. Robertson said a big concern of the force right now is crack. The fact that the drug is so addictive and the presence of “quasi-pseudo” gangs in Omaha and Lincoln have made the drug a priority. Problems in Los Angeles with the Crips and the Bloods, two gangs involved in gang wars and drug trafficking, could spread to Lincoln, which is “prime territory,” he said. Robertson said an Omaha police officer who spoke to the group said Lincoln could be a target for such trafficking because it is easily accessible, has a low crime rate and has not had a “bad (drug) problem” before. Robertson said he doesn’t know if the UNL administration “has given any thought” to whether drugs have become a big problem on campus. But any effort made by UNL to combat a drug problem, he said, must be university wide, not just within the University Health Center or counseling centers. Robertson said he doesn't know if any such effort will come about. The subject has not come up at task force meetings, he said. He said the force has made no recommenda tions or strategics but is still in the process of “consuming a wealth of information.” The force will meet “as long as it takes,” he said, to make recommendations to the mayor and law enforcement agencies. Margaret Nellis, Community Health coordi nator at the University Health Center, said most efforts to fight substance abuse focus on alco hol because it is “a more visible problem.” Drug problems, she said, usually surface from something identified by police or resi dence hall officials. “Most people with problems deny it,” she said, but students will talk more openly about alcohol abuse than other drug abuses because it seems to be less of an embarrassment. Community health offers such programs as free evaluation services for students with drug problems, drug education classes, peer educa tion so that others can recognize problems in a oiudent and support groups for children in alcoholic families. Alcohol and drug education officials, she said, also share their information with UNL classes. Ward Witllama/Oaily Nebraskan Forestalling foliage foibles UNL groundskeeper Richard Wahl fences off areas near Morrill Hall Wednesday. The fencing Is to protect plant materials from construction that is to start this week. AS UN holds minonty bill UNL official says parts of bill misleading By Ryan Steeves Senior Reporter Che Association of Students of the University of Nebraska voted Wednesday to rewrite a bill that would urge UNL officials to increase recruitment of minority fac ulty. The move came after James Grie sen, vice chancellor for student af fairs, told senators that some parts of the bill were misleading. Gricscn objected to parts of the bill because it characterized minority faculty departures as a trend and at tributed those departures to UNL. officials. Gricsen said he sees no trend in minority departures and suggested that senators rearrange the wording of the bill to make it more accurate and* “artful.” A bill that shows UNL stu dents are committed to minority re cruitment would attract such faculty J better than than one that denounces UNL’s atmosphere, he said. Before sending the bill back to committee for revision, senators adopted amendments supported by AS UN President Jeff Petersen. The amendments removed some lines that Petersen called opinions of certain senators and said the state ments were not based on fact. The removed lines suited that senators “abhorred” racist, stereotyped atti tudes that inhibit minority faculty recruitment and retention. Stevie Wilson, a senior broadcast ing major from Lincoln, spoke in support of the bill. Wilson said more minority faculty arc needed to en hance cultural diversity and reverse “backward” thinking at UNL and in Nebraska. UNL officials should hire minori ties until they constitute 20 percent of the faculty, he said. “Twenty percent is much better than the one or two percent we have now,” he said.