NetSraskan
i
WEATHER: Thursday, sunny and
warmer with highs around 25, SW winds 5-15
mph Thursday night dear and cold, lows 0
5 above zero Friday, sunny, highs 30-35
Saturday through Monday, dry with highs
around 30 each day, lows 0-10 above on
Saturday morning and 5-15 Sunday and
Monday morning
INDEX
News Digest.2
Editorial.4
Diversions. 5
Sports.13
Classifieds.15
February 9, 1989_ University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vo!. 88 No. 97
Legislature delays nursing incentive bill
By Jerry Guenther
Staff Reporter
After lengthy debate Wednes
day, the Nebraska Legislature
decided to delay until Feb. 22
action on a bill providing financial
incentives for nursing students in the
state.
legiUP
Sen. Arlene Nelson of Grand Is
land, a sponsor of LB357, said she
introduced the bill to give financial
incentives to nursing students in
training programs and to those who
work in rural areas where there are
nursing shortages.
The bill includes a one-time award
of $ 1,000 to nurses who complete one
year of employment in rural hospi
tals. The bill also would award $500
to nursing students after they have
completed one academic year or 30
credit hours of college.
Sen. Ron Wi them of Pap il lion said
he agrees the nursing shortage prob
lem needs to be addressed, but he said
the bill could be improved.
“I think there is probably only one
thing worse that wc can do as a Leg
islature than ignore a problem in our
society,” Withem said. ‘‘And thai is
to pass a bill that claims to solve a
problem that really has little or no
impact on that problem.
‘‘I’m afraid that’s what wc have
here with LB357,” he said.
Withem said he dislikes the bill
because it isn’t based on individual
students’ financial needs.
The way the bill is stated, Withem
said, wealthy students as well as poor
students could collect $500 after one
academic year in a nursing program.
Withcm also said he doesn’t think
the bill’s $1,000 financial incentive
for nurses who complete one year of
work in rural hospitals will help ease
the rural shortage. The $1,000 incen
tive isn’t enough money to attract
nurses to rural hospitals, he said.
Sen. David Bcmard-Stevens of
North Platte said he agrees with
Withcm that the incentive won’t help
ease the rural shortage because the
money only is a one-time offer.
Sen. Scott Moore of Slromsburg
said he is against LB357, but for
different reasons than Withcm.
Moore said he agrees nursing stu
dents need more financial help in
other form, such as grants, but said he
thinks the state would be better off
spending its money on all students,
not just nurses.
Sen. Jacklyn Smith of Hastings
said the issue of a nursing shortage is
nothing new.
Smith said that as the population
of Nebraska and the nation continues
to age, nurses will be needed more
See NURSING on 15
LULAUt and
condoms to go
before students
By Ryan Sleeves
Staff Reporter
University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln students will have the
chance to express their
views next month on using student
fees to fund the Committee Offering
Lesbian and Gay Events, pulling
condom dispensers in UNL buildings
and adding election poll sites.
The Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska voted
Wednesday to pul questions concern
ing these issues on A SUN election
ballots. ASUN will hold its elections
March 15.
wne question vs hi ask muucmis 11
they think COLAGE, part of the
University Program Council, should
receive student fees. ASUN senators
voted 13-7 to include the question.
Sen. Kevin Lytle, Chairman of the
Committee for Fees Allocation, said
CFA members need to know whether
UNL students support COLAGE to
help CFA decide whether to fund the
organization.
On Sunday, CFA voted 5-4 to give
COLAGE S746 in student fees.
ASUN will re icw that allocation and
all other proposed student fees next
Wednesday.
A similar ballot question appeared
in the ASUN elections two years ago,
Lytle said. The question asked if stu
dents supported funding a UNL Gay/
Lesbian Council. About 2,000 stu
dents, constituting 85 percent of
those who voted, said they objected
to funding such a group.
COLAGE members have main
tained that those statistics were not
representative of all students because
only 15 percent of the student body
voted that year, Lytle said.
COLAGE members also have said
the figures arc outdated, he said.
‘‘I think it’s quite important to
collect information on this so next
year’s senate can have current data,”
See ASUN on 3
Tami Kappenman, a Junior pm-med student, took little notice of the Blacks Only
sign above a fountain in Andrews Hall. ‘It caught my attention ana there about ft,
she said. _
Signs result in
controversy
and confusion
By Lisa Twkstmeycr
Staff Reporter
Signs hung on campus Wed
nesday saying “Blacks
Only” and “Whites
Only” were misunderstood by
some people and the intent of the
signs should have been more clear,
said Brad Munn, affirmative ac
tion officer at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
The signs were hung by the
student organization Early Warn
ing as part of a campaign to in- I
crease awareness about prejudice \
and racism.
— Munn said he received phone
calls before $ ajn. Wednesday
from people who did not under
stand the meaning of the signs and
thought the signs could be racist.
People wen; at his office door with
the signs when he arrived at work,
he said, wanting to know what the
signs meant.
me Ainrmaiive z\cuon unite
had not been informed that the
signs were going to be hung or of
their meaning, Munn said He said
he was not aware that Early Warn
ing was a UNL student organiza
tion or that the group had been
authorized to hang the signs.
Vice Chancellor for Student
Affairs James Gricscn said Joe
Bowman, president of Early
Warning, had authorization to
hang the signs. However, he said,
an announcement of the sign cam
paign was to appear in the UNL
stan newsletter, the Bulletin
Board, and didn’t.
Bowman said the announce
ment was not in the newsletter
because Early Warning had not
received all of the proper authori
zations in time to have the an
nouncement primed. Early Warn
ing received final approval for the
See WARNING ON 3
Chambers claims allegedly given book is ‘sensationalism’
By Brandon Loomis
Senior Reporter
Stale Sen. Ernie Chambers said
the director ol the Nebraska
Slate Historical Society al
legedly has given senators books
showing Nebraska Indians as savages
in an attempt to defeat a bill that
would require the society to return
human remains to Indian tribes lor
burial.
Chambers said several senators
have received copies of “Northwest
Nebraska’s Indian People,’’ a 48
page book describing the lifestyles ol
Nebraska Indians. The book was
written by James Hanson, current
director of the historical society.
Chambers said he objects to a
photograph in the book of a white
soldier’s naked body shot full of ar
rows. The photo shows a man with
four arrows sticking out of his upper
body and one out of his groin, and
deep gashes on his legs and abdomen.
The caption reads: “Mutilated
corpse of a soldier slain by Indians.”
"This is nothing other than sensa
tionalism and an attempt to arouse
contempt,'’ Chambers said. “It’s a
propaganda piece rather than a his
torical piece.”
Another photo shows an Indian
“war trophy” necklace, made from
the fingertips of 29 ‘ ‘enemies slain in
battle.’
He said an accurate account
should also show while alrocilics
toward American Indians.
“He doesn't show the respect for
honesty and facts dial a true historian
would," Chambers said.
Hanson said he distributed the
book to members of the Govern
ment, Military and Veteran’s Affairs
Committee in response to a question
about what Indians did to their de
feated enemies. The book demon
strates that American Indians per
formed scalpings and similar rituals
to prove battle!icld heroics, he said.
‘ The book docs not depict Indians
in a negative light," Hanson said. "It
F(resents them as interesting and intel
igent."
Hanson said he has been adopted,
or lormaiiy accepted, oy live Ameri
can Indian families, including that of
Sitting Bull's grandson. Silling Bull
was a medicine man for the Nebraska
Sioux Indians m (he 18(X)s.
“I would certainly do nothing to
dishonor Native Americans,” Man
son said.
The Board of the Nebraska State
Historical Society voted 5-3 last
week to oppose Chambers’ bill,
LB340, unless it is amended. Hanson,
who announced last week that he
would support the bill, did not make
any such recommendation to the
board before the vote.
Hanson said he still supports the
bill, but he must listen to members of
the society’s board because he
works lor them.
‘‘I have not changed my position
at all,” he said.
The society would like an amend
ment to the bill that would require all
returned remains to be reburied in
Nebraska, Hanson said.
Chambers said such an amend
ment would make the bill "unwork
able,” because some of the descen
dants of the Pawnee have relocated to
Oklahoma.
Gary Rex, director of Gov. Kay
Orr’s policy research office, said
Nebraska Indian Commission Direc
tor Reba While Shirt recently visited
him complaining about the book. He
See SURIACon 15