■m -r* DflliV «g
Nebraskan
WEATHER:
Thursday, cloudy and cold, 40 percent chance of
snow, high in the upper-20s, northeast winds 5 to
15 miles per hour. Thursday night, cloudy and
cold, low in the low teens. Friday, mostly sunny
and not as cold, high in the mid-30s.
INDEX
News.2
Editorial.4
Diversions.7
Sports.15
Classifieds.18
■ uecemper /, 1989___ University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No.<S^
IROTC rule banning
homosexuals prompts
few protests locally
i By Victoria Ayotte
f Senior Editor
Hi --
I* f ta i hough the University of Wis
I consin recently has experi
enced controversy over a pol -
m icy barring homosexuals from ROTC
I programs, UNL officials said they
■ have not heard many complaints
* about the policy’s application at
i Nebraska.
The University of Wisconsin Fac
I ulty Senate voted Monday for a reso
| lution suggesting removing the
| ROTC program from the campus if it
does not change its policy barring
homosexuals by 1993.
Lt. Col. Robert Jacobson, com
mander of UNL’s Army ROTC pro
gram, said the issue has not been a
“serious problem” here.
“I really don’t think it’s caused a
major disturbance,” Jacobson said.
‘Even the state
ment from the
Faculty Senate at
Wisconsin is actu
ally characterized
as an effort to
send a message
to the Congress
and the Penta
gon.9
- Row son
Jacobson said he has received an
inquiry from a gay-lesbian group on
campus wondering if homosexuals
were allowed in the program.
It is military policy to bar homo
sexuals from the ROTC program, he
said, although homosexuals may take
ROTC military courses for college
credit.
Those applying for entrance to the
ROTC program sign a statement that
they have not committed homosexual
acts, Jacobson said, which is the basis
for the military to know who is a
homosexual.
Vice Chancellor for Student Af
fairs James Gricsen said he has not
had any complaints about ROTC’s
policy.
ASUN President Bryan Hill ap
proached him, he said, about possible
student concerns regarding the pol
icy.
Hill brought the situation to NU
Vice President and General Counsel
Richard Wood, who said he had not
heard complaints about ROTC’s pol
icy, according to Joe Rowson, NU
director of public affairs.
The university, Rowson said, op
erates ROTC programs at UNL and
the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
ROTC has “traditionally been a pro
gram the university wants to offer to
students.’’
The ROTC rule banning homo
sexuals does not violate any univer
sity or Nebraska policies, he said, and
change in ROTC policies probably
should be at the federal level where
that policy was made.
“Even the statement from the
Faculty Senate at Wisconsin is actu
ally characterized as an effort to send
a message to the Congress and the
Pentagon,” Rowson said.
Steve Thomlison, AS UN general
studies senator, said he also is con
cerned about the controversy this
topic could bring to campus and
thinks change in the policy should be
made at the federal level.
“You can’t punish someone for
something they don’t have control
over,” Thomlison said. “I think it
would be a great shame if the ROTC
program were to be removed from
UNL.”
Thomlison said he has not heard
any complaints about the policy at
UNL.
David Whitaker, chairpcrsoh 'of
the Committee Offering Lesbian and
Gay Events, said he also has not heard
complaints about ROTC’s policy.
The policy is a potential issue on
campus, he said.
“I think it will be a while for this
university to get to the point of doing
something like that (Wisconsin’s
action),” Whitaker said.
Rodney Bell, chairperson of
UNL’s Gay/Lcsbian Alumni Asso
ciation, said he has written three let
ters, one to each ROTC department
on campus, inquiring about their pol
icy on homosexuals.
Bell said he and other students are
concerned about the policy, al
though it has not been a real campus
issue yet.
“It’s totally unfair,” Bell said,
“because there is no evidence that
homosexuals are any more or less of
a security threat.
“People need to know that this is
happening.”
Bell and Whitaker said ROTC
prohibits homosexuals because they
say they are a security threat and can
be blackmailed.
See ROTC on 6
l...■ - ■ - 1_uE_2_ ■ IBM ..MHBft
David Hansan/Daily Nebraskan
Southeast Community College maintenance worker Todd Miller takes a break from
cleaning up soaked ceiling tiles. The tiles fell throughout the college Wednesday after the
roof developed leaks. Physical Plant Director Bob Aguilar estimated between $300,000
and $500,000 in damages.
ASUN complies with UNL policy
Anti-discrimination bill passed
By Jana Pedersen
Senior Reporter
The Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska
passed legislation Wednes
day that brings ASUN and all UNL
student organizations into compli
ance with the University of Nebraska
policy prohibiting discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation.
After ASUN passed a bylaw
amendment to add sexual orientation
to its anti-discrimination clause, gen
eral studies Sen. Steve Thomlison
initiated a motion to bring up a bill on
emergency status. The bill included a
provision giving student organ iza
lions until April 29, 1992, to change
their constitutions to comply with the
amended bylaw.
Last week AS UN postponed ac
tion on the bylaw amendment until
such a bill could be drafted. Senators
had ■stressed concern that all stu
dent organizations’ constitutions
would be nullified unless legislation
was passed giving them time to com
ply with the amended bylaw.
While presenting opening com
ments on the emergency legislation,
Thomlison said AS UN should adopt
the bill to prevent problems from
developing since the bylaw amend
ment was passed.
“I think this bill will allow them
(student organizations) to satisfy all
the requirements in a timely man
ner,” he said.
When another senator objected to
the length of time granted before
student organizations must make
constitution changes, Thomlison said
the 1992 date was necessary because
student organizations may remain
inactive for two years before they are
dissolved.
He said AS UN must allow inac
tive organizations more than two
years to comply with the bylaw be
cause they may not meet for that
length of time.
See ASUN on 6
uemanas ouua stress
Counseling offered to graduate students
By Roger Price
Stiff Reporter
To alleviate stresses that many
graduate students face, the
University of Nebraska-Lin
coln is developing a model program
for counseling graduate students,
said the UNL vice chancellor fori
graduate studies and research.
John Yost said juggling family,
work and school concerns causes a lot
of stress for graduate students.
The Counseling Center, located in
226 Administration, with the help of
the Graduate Studies office began to
offer one-on-one counseling services
for graduate students this fall, Yost
said.
The graduate counseling program
also has offered a seminar on procras
tination, he said.
Yost said his office started to pro
vide funding for a graduate assistant
to help in the counseling center this
fall.
Linda Brockbank, a doctoral stu
dent in counseling psychology, is
serving as the graduate assistant for
the 1989-90 school year in the gradu
ale counseling program, Yost said.
She is working with Marly Ramirez,
a psychologist at the counseling cen
ter, and Roger Bruning, associate
dean of the graduate college, to ex
pand the counseling program, he
said.
Yost said he expects the counsel
ing program to receive grants next
year because very few other schools
arc even looking at graduate counsel
ing. Currently, the only additional
funding for the program is the gradu
See COUNSELING on 6
Vote expected in January
Congress may ask student papers to limit alcohol ads
By Michelle Cheney
Suff Reporter_
Some members of Congress have fa
vored legislation that would encourage
college student newspapers to refrain
from running alcohol advertisements that
glamorize drinking.
An amendment to the much-touted drug bill
passed by the U.S. Senate encourages college
newspapers not to print advertisements that
encourage irresponsible or illegal alcohol
comsumption.
Originally, the amendment would have re
stricted all federal funds to state-supported
colleges and universities if their student news
papers printed such ads.
The original amendment, proposed by U.S.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., also would have
prohibited alcohol companies from sponsoring
events on university campuses. This amend
ment passed in the Senate Oct. 3.
However, after reexamining the first
amendment, Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., intro
duced a less restrictive version of the amend
ment that encouraged newspapers not to run
the ads, but did not require withholding federal
funds to those that did, said Keenen Peck, an
aide to Kohl.
Peck said he and Kohl agreed with the
amendment’s goal of curbing alcohol abuse
and underage drinking, but thought Binga
man’s amendment violated free-speech rights
of the student newspapers, universities and
alcohol companies, Peck said.
Peck said ads that solely announce price and
product are not the types the amendment aims
to curb. But advertising should not encourage
irresponsible or illegal drinking, he said. Ads
such as Budweiscr’s “This Bud’s for you”
promotion encourage such irresponsible be
havior, Peck said.
The revised amendment also says that a
university will not lose its federal funds if an
alcohol company sponsors an event. Advertis
ing of these events, however, should be re
stricted to just advertising the sponsor and
should not advertise drinking, the amendment
says.
For example, Peck said, an ad that says
“Come to the Stroh’s Jazz Festival” is accept
able but “Come drink Stroh’s beer at our jazz
festival” is not.
The Senate passed the revised amendment
in October. The bill and amendment is sched
uled to be voted on by the House when it
reconvenes in January.
Although the amendment is modified, Peck
said, he and others arc not in total agreement
with the amendment.
Peck said he thinks abolishing advertising is
an ineffective way of reducing alcohol abuse.
He said the focus should be on educating the
public instead of banning ads that deal with
alcohol consumption. He said consumption is
not the problem, abuse is.
Peck said another problem with the amend
mcni is that il docs not specify which student
newspapers arc included.
He said some student newspapers arc totally
independent of their universities and receive
no funds from them at all. He said some of these
independent papers rely on alcohol advertis
ing, and if alcohol ads were banned, the papers
would go under.
Peek said it would be better to have an inde
pendent paper that got revenue from alcohol
ads, rather than a umvcrsity-fundcd-and-con
trollcd newspapers with no alcohol ads.
In the 1989-90 school year, the Daily Ne
braskan received 6 percent of its total budget
from student fees, according to Dan Shattil,
general manager of the newspaper. Shattil said
the rest of the operational costs of the paper
come from advertising.
He said a very small percentage of ad reve
nue comes from ads glamorizing alcohol and
he has never had any complaints about alcohol
ads that have been printed.
