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March 21,1989 _ University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vo!. 88 No. 125
|Senators advance bill stiffening penalties
|»y jerry uuentner
and Natalie Weinstein
Staff Reporters
rWl he Nebraska Legislature gave first-round
I approval Monday to a bill that places
**• stricter penalties on crack and cocaine
dealers, despite claims by Sen. Ernie Cham
bers that the bill is “a farce and a sham.”
it s a pouucian s Din, pure ana simple,
Chambers of Omaha said.
Senators advanced LB592 31-5 after about
four hours of debate.
The bill, sponsored by Sens. Chris Abboud
and Sharon Beck of Omaha, and Scott Moore
of Stromsburg, provides for mandatory mini
mum prison sentences for people who manu
facture, distribute or possess cocaine or crack
with intent to sell.
Abboud said the bill does not deal with the
individual user.
“It deals exclusively with individuals sell
ing and trafficking these types of drugs,”
ADooua said.
According to the bill, a person caught with
at least 10 grams, but less than 28 grams, of
crack would receive a three-year mandatory
minimum prison sentence. Someone caught
with 28 grams or more of crack would receive
a five-year mandatory minimum sentence.
Twenty-eight grams is slightly less than one
ounce.
A person caught with at least one ounce, but
less than seven ounces, of cocaine would re
ceive a three-year mandatory minimum prison
sentence. Someone caught with seven ounces
or more of cocaine would receive a five-year
mandatory minimum sentence.
The maximum penalty for all four crimes
would be 50 years imprisonment.
Abboud said 26 states have adopted similar
legislation.
Chambers said senators would vote in favor
of the bill, despite its ineffectiveness, because
it would make them look like crime-fighters.
“You’re going to pass this knowing it won’t
do a thing,’’ he said.
See DRUGS on 3
btuaent Court
order&Petersea
to pick justices
By Ryan Steeves
Staff Reporter
rhe Student Court at the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln Mon
day ordered AS UN President
Jeff Petersen to appoint new justices
by April 5.
After 28 minutes of deliberation,
the justices unanimously voted that
Petersen should appoint the justices
before new executive officers of the
Association of Students of the Uni
versity of Nebraska take office April
5.
Eric Aspcngren filed a petition
against Petersen in Student Court
March 9. Aspengren accused Pe
tersen of not appointing justices on
lime as prescribed by the ASUN
constitution.
The constitution requires senators
to approve justices, who serve one
year terms, 30 days prior to the gen
eral election. The general election
was marvn id. retersen nas not yei
appointed justices.
“It was an oversight on my part,”
Petersen said.
Petersen said he will comply with
the court’s order without appealing
the decision. He said he will try to
make the appointments by Wednes
day so AS UN senators can approve
the justices at the regular ASUN
i meeting.
During the course of the hearing,
Petersen accused Aspengren of hav
ing ulterior motives for filing the
petition. Petersen said he thinks As
pengren filed the petition on behalf of
Stan Mommaerts, a nominee for stu
dent court
At the time the petition was filed,
Petersen said, about five students had
applied to be a justice. The president
appoints seven justices.
Petersen said he thinks Mom
maerts wanted the appointments ac
celerated because the lack of appli
cants would have ensured him a spot
on the court.
“I believe that is the real motiva
tion in this case," Petersen said,
um» 11 uiai 13 uuV| uivii & umuv uiai 3
a real flaw in the system."
Aspengren said he resents Pe
tersen’s accusation. While admitting
he and Mommaerts are friends, As
pengren denied filing the petition on
Mommaerts* behalf. Aspengren said
Mommaerts informed him about the
missed deadline but did not ask him
» to bring the issue to Student Court.
"It was my feelings to do this,"
Aspengren said.
Aspengren said he filed the peti
tion because he didn’t want the next
round of ASUN members to appoint
the court. This could iead to 4 ‘court
packing," he said, in which mem
x bers’ friends are appointed.
Without the petition, Petersen
would have ignored justice appoint
ments, Aspengren said.
"I think he was willing to let it go
and let the next president do it,"
See COURT on 3
Wttltav) Uuw/Dalty Nsbiaekan
Ke«y Palmar, a freshman ails and sciences major, tells moderator Vaughn Robertson she
Is disturbed that tradmonafind minority sorority members refer to each other as ‘tee”
and 'they.” Palmar spoke during an open forum in the Centennial Ballroom on increasing
cultural diversity in the university sorority system.
Minority participation dominates discussion
By harm Bander
guff Rsponer
ranting representation in
8 wtite PanheUenic Associa
XJi tion to a black sorority and
trying to increase minority partici
pation in the grade system domi
nated a panel discussion Monday
aimed at improving cultural diver
sity in UNL sororities.
The panel discussion was part
of the PanheUenic Spring Program
on Cultural Diversity and was at
tended by members of all sororities
at the University of Nebraska Lin
coln.
Beth Hansen, a junior French
and English education major and a
member of the Delta Delta Delta
sorority, said the gretk system is
not diversified enough.
“Look at yourselves,” she
said. “Thegreek system is way too
white. We need to consider Span
ish, American Indians and other
minorities and diversify.”
One of the three panelists,
Leslie Lewis, a senior pre-med
major and member of the black
sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, said
that although it would be difficult
for her sorority to reach the mini
mum-member requirement of the
National Panhellenic Council, her
sorority should stilt be recognized
as a member of Panhellenic.
She said that because of the
small number of blacks available
to rush at UNL, reaching the
member requirement is difficult
However, Tiffany Seevers,
president of the Panbcuenic Asso
ciation, said Alpha Kappa Alpha is
not presently recognized on the
UNL campus because its national
chapter has not petitioned UNL, for
permission to start a local chapter
and join the Panhellenic Associa
tion. She said that the minimum
niember requirement had been
waived in the past for Zeta Phi
Beta, UNL’s only recognized
black sorority.
Robin Uecker, a sophomore
advertising major and member of
Gamma Phi Beta sorority, said that
in order to fit into Panhellenic, all
sororities should have to abide by
the same rules.
Lewis said Panhellenic should
accommodate minority sororities
by making representation propor
tional.
“We don’t want to be assimi
lated, but accommodated,’’ Lewis
said. •
She said that she wants her so
rority to be recognized as a sepa
rate entity with some of the same
goals as other sororities.
Lisa Morris, a sophomore busi
ness major and member of Alpha
Chi Omega sorority, said she
thinks people don't understand
exactly what minorities want from
traditional sororities. —
« Morris also said Macks labeling
their sororities “Mack sororities'’
is keeping the gap of communica
tion open.
Courtney Butherus, a junior
journalism major and member of
Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority,
said that part of the reason more
blacks are not in sororities is be
cause they are a small minority on
campus.
Before the panel discussion
began, suggestions for increasing
cultural diversity in the greek sys
tem were discussed.
One of these suggestions was to
change the wording in the
Panhellenic rush booklets to en
courage minority participation.
TtMfWK Slndeier contributed to the etory.
Commission
scrutinizes
state’s colleges
By Larry Peirce
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska Coordinating
Commission for Postsecon
dary Education gave its an
nual review Monday and presented
suggestions on how to conserve re
sources at the state’s colleges.
IggjjMBg
Eric Seacrest, program review
chairman, told members of the Ne
braska Legislature’s Appropriations
and Education committees that
postsecondary institutions need to
monitor their programs to avoid du
el ication.
At least two public postsecondary
institutions offer similar programs
that don’t meet “statutory perform
ance criteria” for degrees conferred
and credit hours taken per faculty
member, he said.
The University of Nebraska-Lin
coln and the University of Nebraska
at Omaha offer graduate programs in
political science and psychology that
don’t meet state standards.
To conserve money and resources,
the commission recommended that
the institutions monitor these pro
grams and jointly explore options,
including attracting additional stu
dents, Seacrest said.
The commission also updated the
status of programs that in the past had
failed to meet statutory criteria.
The undergraduate programs that
UNL continues - but that do not meet
statutory criteria - include physics
and astronomy, philosophy and soci
ology. The math and statistics, soci
ology, and physics and astronomy
departments continue graduate pro
grams that do not meet statutory cri
teria.
State statutes require that aca
demic programs, failing to meet state
criteria, be reviewed. UNL is con
uniting me programs without moni
toring^ them, Seacrest said.
Failure to meet requirements
doesn’t mean a program must be dis
continued, because some programs
show growth trends, and others are
vital to their institution’s mission, he
said.
The commission also noted that:
• UNL is considering a master’s
degree program in legal studies and
museum studies, and a doctorate
program in home economics.
• Kearney State College cited a
need to confer a Master of Arts,
Master of Science and Master of Fine
Arts degrees, which are now beyond
its authority.
• Chadron State College cited a
need to offer a master’s degree in
business administration. The pro
gram has been approved by CSC’s
board, but the college lacks funds to
implement it.
See REVIEW on 3