I WEATHER INDEX
Monday, increasing cloudiness and cooler, high
^ 45-50, northeast wind 10-20 miles per hour. News.2
Su Monday night, cloudy, 30 percent chance of Editonai.4
showers, low in the mid- to upper-30s. Tuesday, Sports.8
cloudy, windy and cooler, 50 percent chance of Arts & Entertainment.9
rain, thundershowers possible, high 40-45. Classifieds.11
||/larch 5, 1990 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Voi. 89 No. 144 h 3
Decision due today
on restraining order
for park development
By Victoria Ayotte
Senior Reporter
Judge Paul Merritt is expected to
decide today whether the South
Salt Creek Community Organi
zation will get a temporary restrain
ing order against further development
of Cooper Park, Sixth and D streets,
by the Lincoln Board of Education.
At a hearing Friday in Lancaster
County District Court on the petition
for a temporary restraining order, Miles
Johnston Jr., representing the com
munity, said “irreparable damages”
will be done if the school board is not
stopped.
The board plans to switch Park
Elementary School — which is next to
Cooper Park ~ with Everett Junior
High School, and expand Everett into
Cooper Park with development of a
soccer field.
Trees in the space for the soccer
field were knocked down last week.
Many protestors, who attempted to
stop the destruction of the trees, packed
the hearing room.
The South Salt Creek Community
Organization filed the suit because
members of the organization allege
that Lincoln contracted with the Lin
coln School Board without owning
the property.
Johnston Jr. said the property is
state-owned, and. cited as evidence a
deed from 1867 that gives the state
ownership on the condition that it
uses the property as a scat of govern
ment.
Although the properly was not used
for a scat of government, ownership
has notchangcd hands since that time,
he said.
There is no record that the stale
transferred ownership of the park to
Lincoln, Johnston Jr. said.
Although the city has acted as if it
owns the property since then, it docs
not, he said.
The state dedicated land to Lin
coln with a document when the city
was formed. The park was either not
specified to ownership by the city or
was reserved Inom city ownership along
with land for the University of Nc
braska-Lincoln and the courthouse,
Johnston Jr. said.
Miles Johnston Sr. said the park
was unique and should not be taken
away from public use by an “illegal”
agreement between the city an ’ school
board.
“It will destroy a neighborhood,”
he said. “It’s very clear the damage is
irreparable.”
Dana Roper, representing the city
of Lincoln, said the plan dedicating
land to Lincoln “worked as a deed”
to Cooper Park, and that the park was
not reserved for slate ownership.
Roper said he also thinks it is
See COOPER on 5
- =fe="=3't- ^KCSSSSSSr __
■BKBilliWki n —^^tLmmmmmmmmrnH^MUSBti
_ .. Melissa McReynolds Daily Neoraskan
Bowling buddies ...
Tracy Lucas, vice president of the Interfraternity Council, coaches Matthew Siems of
Lincoln during the Bowling for KIDSAKEII, that was held at Madsen’s Bowling & Billiard
Center, 4700 Dudley St., and sponsored by Amigos and the Nebraska Bookstore.
Matthew, 9, is one of nearly 100 children on the Big Brothers/Big Sisters waiting list, said
Barb Gaither, executive director of the YMCA BB/BS program. University of Nebraska*
Lincoln groups including Association of Students of the University of Nebraska, IFC/
Panhellenic, Residence Hall Association and University Ambassadors raised about
$1,100 so far in Sunday’s bowl-a-thon, said Jon Bruning, second vice president of ASUN.
The money will go toward pairing children on the waiting list with BB/BS volunteers,
Gaither said.
I ■ - 111 ■ ■ " ' ■
Spring Break on, despite new rules
By Robin Trimarchi
Staff Reporter
Local officials in many South
ern hot spots deny rumors that
college students will not be
welcome in their cities over this year’s
Spring Break season.
The rumor stems from notices rc
I leased to many colleges and universi
ties by some resort cities, such as
Daytona and Key West, Fla., that
outline local regulations and stale laws.
Tracy Bowman of Contact Travel
in Lincoln said many students have
been denied hotel reservations or have
been required to pay damage deposits
in cities throughout the South.
But representatives of those re
sorts say that despite new regulations,
Spring Break is still on for this year.
‘ ‘The rumor that Daytona is closed
is false,” said Suzanne Smith, direc
tor of Daytona’s Spring Break Festi
val Task Force.
Smith said she expects about
400,000 students to hit the beaches at
Daytona between March 12 and April
21.
The letter sent by the city man
ager’s office of Key West was not
meant to discourage students from
vacationing on the island, but to let
students know what to expect when
they arrive, said Kathy Woodman,
the office’s citizen liaison.
“We’re small, we’re expensive,
and we’re fragile,” Woodman said.
Hotel rooms can cost $100 to $300
a night, she said. Camping areas arc
limited, the beaches close at 11 p.m.,
and sleeping in cars is prohibited, she
said.
Nelda Perry of the city manager’s
office in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said
the city has “stopped encouraging”
large Spring Break crowds by not
promoting the city or organizing special
activities or concerts. But students
are welcome to ‘ ‘come down and just
enjoy themselves.”
The “sheer numbers... really got
out of hand,” Perry said.
Last year, the city sectioned off
some inside traffic lanes with port
able cement dividers because the
sidewalks could not handle the pe
destrian traffic.
See BREAK on 3
ASUN surveys to determine
student interest in yearbook
By Todd Neeley
Staff Reporter
The Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska
began surveying students last
week about plans for a university
yearbook. •
Jon Bruning, ASUN second vice
president, said senators and student
volunteers mailed out surveys Thurs
day and will conduct phone surveys
in the next few weeks. ASUN also
will place questions about the year
book on the ballot for student govern
mcni elections on March 14.
Ballot questions will ask students
if they think the yearbook would be
beneficial and if they would purchase
it either only once or each year they
arc in college.
The mail surveys will ask students
whether they think a yearbook would
unify the campus, whether it would
increase student spirit and whether it
would record UNL history.
Bruning said he hopes to gel at
least 300 responses from the surveys.
See YEARBOOK on 5
Study: Fewer students graduate in rour years
iiomas Clouse
eporter
he majority of students enter
ing college no longer graduate
in four years.
study of 28.000 students, re
in February by the National
tc of IndcpcndcntCollcges and
rsitics, shows that 16.5 percent
lents who entered public uni
cs after high school in 1980
tied within four years, while
terccnt graduated within five
5 study showed that after six
2.7 percent had graduated, while
crcent had dropped out.
tes Gricscn, University of
ska-Lincoln vice chancellor for
it affairs, said figures at UNL
nsislcnl with the national trend
; same time period.
i graduation rate for four years
L consistently was around 17.5
t for students who entered school
3-84,1984-85 and 1985-86, he
; graduation rate after five years
4 percent for students who cn
ichool in 1983-84 and 1984-85
The rate after six vears for the 84-85
class was about 50 percent, he said.
Gricsen said about 27 percent of
students who were freshmen in 1983
84 and 1984-85 had dropped out be
fore their second year, and about 46
percent had dropped out or graduated
after four years.
About 64 percent had dropped out
or graduated after five years and about
90 percent had dropped out or gradu
ated after six years.
Some students who dropped out,
Gricsen said, may have come back to
UNL later or enrolled in another school.
“All dropouts aren’t bad dropouts,’’
Gricsen said. “Many students trans
fer and finish their degrees at some
other university.”
The national study did not meas
ure students who dropped out before
the study was complete but planned
to return. It also didn’t measure those
who did not enter college until the
study was conlplctcd.
Gricsen said he suspects the rate of
graduation after four years is lower
now than in the past. Graduating in
four years has not been common in
See GRADUATE on 5
all figures in percentages