Gay/lesbian alumni group to fight injustices
uy Larry Peirce
Senior Reporter
The lack of an adviser is the only
setback now facing the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln Gay and Lesbian
Alumni Association, said organizer
Rodney A. Bell II.
Once an adviser is found. Bell
said, the association will give its let
ter of intent to Campus Activities and
Programs, which will forward it to
the Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska for recogni
tion, Bell said.
Once established, the association
will be open to undergraduates, fac
ulty and alumni. Like other alumni
groups, he said, it will function as a
social network.
Ideally, Bell said, the association
will have annual dinners and will
publish a newsletter. It also may ere
ate a foundation to raise money.
‘‘I envision a board of directors,”
he said ‘‘with faculty, alumni and
student members.”
Bell said he planned to submit the
letter of intent today, but said the
association’s designated adviser had
to refuse ‘‘based on conflict of inter
est.” Bell said he hopes to find an
adviser this week.
Bell said that more than 50 people
have talked to him about forming a
gay and lesbian alumni association.
The alumni association won’t be
affiliated with the Gay Lesbian Stu
dent Association or the Committee
Offering Lesbian and Gay Events,
but will be organized from the GLSA
office, Bell said.
“I hear from non-students who
don’t want to go to COLAGE or
GLSA events because they aren’t
students,” he said.
“We’re dealing with different
cooperative clientele.’’
However, he said, he hopes GLS A
and COLAGE members will become
student members of the alumni asso
ciation.
“We’ll encourage bisexual and
straight people to get involved too.’’
Because of current attitudes about
Homosexuality at UNL, Bell said, the
association also will serve as a
“watchdog against constitutional
violations.”
ASUN’s refusal to appropriate
money to COLAGE is an example of
what the association will look for, he
said. The association may try to raise
money for attorneys to represent gay
interests.
“Gay bashing” and “NOFAG”
political parties are other problems
the association will try to deal with,
he said.
The association will try to create
public awareness about bashing, Bell
said, and push for suffer laws against
hate crimes.
“It’s an unreported problem,’’ he
said. “When (UNL) school’s in ses
sion, there has been bashing in Lin
coln.’’
In response to attacks on gays, one
of the largest foundations in Ne
braska gave $1,700 to support self
defense workshops for gay men, he
said.
“And here’s the university com
plaining about $750 (for CO
LAGE),’’ he said.
The association also will promote
workshops for self-defense, he said.
Gay-bashers arc “Ku Klux Klan
ish,” he said, and groups of three or
more people who seek out gay men to
attack, often near the state capito!
building.
Because most gay-bashers arc
from 17 to 25 years old, Bell said,
groups like COLAGE arc needed to
educate people about homosexuality.
The association also could pro
vide job support and referral services,
be said, because gays face economic
discrimination by employers. Bell
said some gays live with the fear that
their employer will discover they arc
gay and fire them.
Some companies have notified
national gay organizations that they
don’t discriminate against gays.
These companies “don’t care
about the gay aspect,’’ and are only
interested in finding good employ
ees, he said.
“That’s what I want. It’s not the
issue.’’
Through the association, gays
See ALUMNI on 6
State senator says university needs more computers
By Brandon Loomis
Senior Reporter
State Sen. Scott Moore of
Stromsburg said Friday that many of
Nebraska’s brightest students are
going to college out of state because
of a lack of computers at Nebraska
colleges.
“I, for one, think the area of
computers should have higher prior
ity” in the Legislature’s appropria
tions, Moore told the Appropriations
Committee at a hearing about LB735.
The bill, sponsored by Moore,
would give $3.5 million to the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln,
$500,000 to the University of Ne
braska at Omaha, $3 million to tech
nical schools and $2 million to state
colleges for new computer terminals.
Moore said the appropriations are
based on student populations.
Gerald Kutish, associate director
of UNL computing, testified with a
neutral position on the bill, but said
the number of computers on campus
is too low.
“The quality is great, but the
quantity is not there yet,” he said.
UNL has a ratio of one computer
for every 200 students, Kutish said,
while the University of Illinois, a peer
institution, has one for every 30 stu
dents.
UNL’s peer institutions have be
tween 1,000 and 2,000 public access
terminals, he said,compared to 177 at
UNL. The peer institutions spend an
average of 2.4 percent of their gen
eral budgets on computers, but UNL
spends only 1.5 percent of its budget
on computers, Kutish said.
“We spend probably 50 cents on
the dollar compared to the national
average,” he said.
Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln,
a member of the committee, said her
son, a recent UNL graduate, dropped
his computer science major because
UNL lacks computers.
UNL student Mark Policky, a jun
ior finance major who spoke in favor
of the bill, said he is in a computer
science class that has no direct access
to computers The class has about 200
students, Policky said.
“If you go to any computing
room, you will find the facilities poor
and inadequate,” he said. “We can
not overlook such a serious prob
lem.”
No one testified against the bill.
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