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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1989)
Hk V -H i Jc3;llV Ti WEATHER: , INDEX fg Mg ^ ? H Monday, a 40 percent chance of thunder 1 A __ _ j|| __ storms in the morning with mostly cloudy con- News Digest.2 1 Jj JHP* ditions. Becoming partly sunny in the after- Editorial .4 m 1 £ 1® Br^ll Br* ■ MjF * M Hr 11 ^n'Wi![!TdV0^2o0nmi,M ^rh0U^nd Arts A Entertainment.... 17 iS|k IS fflffihiii—r*™ MW M MB J wEbem.^ ai^B -M RB highs in the low to mid-80 s Monday night, a 'toSmI Ms Iff H jglf^igrk, 8H H 40 percent chance of thundershowers with a Sports 25 iBB Vk 969 m H Hi a jm SB ^Wk fflB UK MB flfl low in the lower to mid-60's Tuesday, high in Classifieds 29 **&■ ^8| JIL WlL JL BL the lower- to mid-80 s. August^8, 1989 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No. 2 Survey:AIDS threat has lifted UNL’s condom sense By C J. Schepers Staff Reporter Condom use among University of Ne braska-Lincoln students has nearly doubled in the last four years because of the “AIDS scare,” according to Greg Barth, information systems manager at the University Health Center. “I think it’s part of a national trend and concern about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases,” he said. In comparing results from the annual Stu dent Health Surveys since 1986, Barth said he found students reporting a steady increase in the use of condoms over other contraceptives. The survey reflects the answers of about 300 UNL students randomly selected for telephone interviews. The 1986 report shows that 22.7 percent of students said they used condoms as their pre ferred birth control method. In 1987, that figure jumped to 31.7 percent and in 1988, it rose again to 38 percent. Results from the 1989 spring survey indicate that 43. percent of UNL students interviewed said condoms were their most commonly used method of birth control. This year, for the first time, the survey asked: “Has the threat of AIDS affected your sex life?” Of the unmarried students interviewed, 26.6 percent said the threat of acquired immune deficiency syndrome had affected their sex lives. When asked how the deadly disease af fected them, 36.4 percent said they were more selective in their sex partners, 33.3 percent reported they had fewer partners, 7.6 percent said they had become celibate and 12.1 percent said they now use condoms. “There is a direct result of the AIDS threat,” in relation to condom use, Barth said. Dr. Gerald Fleischli, medical director of the University Health Center, said other contribut ing factors to increased condom popularity include easier access. Condom access and promotion has in creased through vending machines at the health center, die “fish bowl” that sits on the pharmacy's front counter and campus-wide promotions of safer sex, Fleischli said. He said the health center has ‘ ‘become more aggressive’ ’ in promoting condom use because of AIDS and the nationwide focus on condoms. Another interesting finding in the survey, Barth said, involved the age at when students first had sexual intercourse. 1989 UNL Sexual Habits Survey conducted by the University Health Center /6-*How often have you whal age did y0U firiV^O^W '— -^ A:TcinS^Ual mfC°An— I A.* unmarried married 12-14 6.6 2.5 4.5 not at all 38.3 3.8 ; 15 9.0 4.1 6.6 1- 3 x/ month 16 5 3 8 ^ *^’7 ^ 7 3,8 | 17 27.9 19.0 23.5 onceaweek 15.2 30.8 • 18 16.4 27.4 21.8 2- 3x / week 9 9 38 5 ! 19 6 6 20 7 ^ I 38'5| 20 8.2 6.6 7.4 | , 4-5x/weck 2 5 17 3 21 2.5 2.5 2.5 | ' J | 22 3.3 2.5 2.9 female y*"y 12 00/ ^ 23+ 9.9 4.1 6.5 Jf figures in % In comparing responses between men and women, the figures indicate a traditional pat tern of men having sex at a younger age than women. At age 19, however, the total percentage of women first engaging in intercourse exceeds men. At 19, only 6.6 percent of male students said they had first engaged in intercourse, compared to 20.7 percent of females reporting first encounters. The results indicate that the “double stan dard still exists,” in society’s acceptance of men engaging in sex at a younger age than women, said David Johnson, sociology depart ment chairman. “Women are more likely to have their first sexual experience when they go off to col lege,” Johnson said. See SURVEY on 8 Grant rewards teaching Federal grant is received By Lisa Bolin Staff Reporter □recently received federal grant will help improve un dergraduate education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln by upgrading teaching rewards, said Leveme Barrett, co-director of the grant. The grant will help provide the personnel, workshops, consultants and research travel needed to develop a fair reward process, Barrett said. Barrett, associate professor of agriculture education, said he and co director Robert Narvcson, professor of English, are using the three-year grant to develop a process in which effective leaching is recognized and properly rewarded through promo tions, tenure and merit pay. UNL received $53,000 for August 1989 through July 1990, he said. The grant came from the federal Educa tion Department’s Fund for the Im provement of Postsecondary Educa tion and will be used by faculty members in the Arts and Sc iences and Agriculture colleges. He said research often receives more credit than leaching, particu larly at a research-oriented university like Nebraska. “Most define scholarly acts as publications and speeches,” Barrett said. “Asa norm, activities of teach ing don’t count as scholarly, when in fact they are. It is a nationwide prob lem that research and teaching activi ties are not valued the same.” Ensuring that both research and teaching are rewarded fairly will benefit teaching as a whole, he said. “If teachers are better rewarded, they’ll spend more time doing it,” Barrett said. “The more time they spend teaching, the better they will be, and the students will learn more. ’ ’ Barrett said he expects UNL to receive an additional SI20,(XX) dur ing the next two ydars. The English, psychology, agricul tural education and agronomy de partments each will design plans for how teaching should be rewarded, he said. The overall plan also will rely on student evaluations, peer and self evaluations and trained observers, Barrett said. Observers from each college will attend project meetings to develop a plan, he said. Barrett said there has been no opposition yet. ‘ ‘The administration has been just wonderful,” he said. “They have been very excited and very suppor tive. Any problems that may arise See GRANT on 7 Paintball Wizards A paintbaiier prepares to Job a shot against oncoming opponents. See story on page 16. - - . - - " ■... ■■■■■ - ' ■■■■"■ ..------.:.. Doctors study young adults’ strokes By Melissa McReynolds Staff Reporter Doctors arc looking for a com mon factor that causes some young adults to suffer strokes after performing such simple tasks as blowing their noses or slamming drinks. A healthy 32-year-old woman, who had no family history of strokes, traumatized an artery supplying blood to her brain while tossing back several shots of whiskey in rapid succession during a drinking game, according to a June letter published by the New England Journal of Medi cine. “Since the article was published, we’ve received letters from around the country from people describing similar experiences,” said Dr. Rich ard M. Trosch, a neurology resident at Yale University and a co-author of the article. Trosch said he and his Yale co authors, Drs. Moshe Hasbani and Lawrence M. Brass, are hoping to collect blood samples from the people who wrote to find why “eve ryday people doing everyday things” suffer strokes. The Yale Stroke Program article listed 24 potential stroke-causing “trivial traumas,” including brush ing teeth, childbirth, heavy lifting and diving into water. Trosch said the common factor may be weakened vessel walls in the stroke victims’ vascular systems. Until such a catalyst is found, Trosch said, it is impossible to issue a warn ing about potential stroke-causing actions. Young adults are more susceptible to such trauma, Trosch said, because their arteries are more taut than older individuals. The New England Journal of Medicine article attributes the woman’s traumatized artery and sub sequent stroke to the way she con sumed the alcohol, not the alcohol itself. “Although alcoholic intoxication has been reported as a risk factor for stroke,” the authors wrote, “the manner in which one chooses to be come intoxicated has not.” Trosch explained that spontane ous dissection, or tearing, of the ar tery begins with a sudden hyperex tension of neck muscles. This can occur, for example, when drinkers throw their head back to slam a drink. One of four main arteries that supplies blood to the brain can then stick to the vertebra of the neck, he said. Then, if the neck is rotated, the artery becomes pinched, and then tom, Trosch said. Trosch said many strokes may have been caused by “trivial trau mas” that can go undetected. “The absence of trivial trauma from a patient’s history does not exclude the possibility that it oc curred,” the article stated. “Patients may consider such movements insig nificant and thus not recall them, or be too embarrassed to recount them.” Relating the stroke to the trauma also can be difficult, the authors wrote, because the onset of symp toms may not begin for hours or even days. Reunion faces ups, downs as first anniversary nears By Emily Rosenbaum Staff Reporter the one-year anniversary of ie Reunion’s opening ap roaches, the project’s devel oper said the student center has had successes and failures, but overall he’s pleased. David Hunter, one of four partners of the Hardy Building Corp. that owns the Reunion, said the food court, copy center and Hair Tech all have “done quite well.’’ The 100-seat conference room frequently has been used by organi zations on and off campus and by several businesses, Hunter said. But stores selling items such as T shirts and sweatshirts, which Hunter describes as non-necessity retail items, did not do as well because of a competitive market. Campus Screen Printing was one of the original businesses that opened in the Reunion in May and has since closed. Yogurt Sensations and Bodies by Design also opened in May and now are no longer located in the Reunion. “There’s always some trial and error,” Hunter said. “We’ll change some things that aren’t as good.” Changes to the Reunion will be announced in two weeks, Hunter said. See REUNION on 14