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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1990)
-f-% • —..-"-"l $—J' Ci J. WEATHER I 1 INDEX Friday, 60 percent chance of light rain or thunder- News. .2 showers, high 50-55, south wind 10-15 miles per Editorial.4 hour, shifting northwest by evening Friday night, Sports.7 20 percent chance of evening showers, low 35- Arts & Entertainmsni.9 40. Saturday, mostly sunny and warmer, high in classifieds .10 the mid-60s. April 13, 1990 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No. 13 'J SWAT team kills Lincoln man Police investigate Amigos parking lot shootout By Ryan Steeves Senior Editor Police are investigating the shooting of an armed Lincoln man Thursday morn ing by Lincoln SWAT team members in the parking lot of Amigos, 2825 Comhusker Hwy. As required by law, a grand jury will be called to decide if criminal charges should be filed. Mike Hcavican, Lancaster county attorney, said the Nebraska Slate Patrol and the Lincoln Police Department will investigate the shooting that killed Randall J. Erickson, 25, of 2135 Griffith St. Hcavican said LPD’s internal affairs division will determine if the shooting was justified according to police pol- Erickson icy. An autopsy showed Erickson was shot once in the chest by a S W AT officer. The bullet went into the right side of his chest, through his ribs and lungs and out his back, Hcavican said. Erickson died of shock and blood loss, the autopsy showed. Lincoln Police Chief Allen Curtis said Erickson’s weapon was not loaded. But Erickson had told officers at the scene that the rifle was loaded and that he had 17 rounds of ammuni tion, Curtis said. Curtis said two or three SWAT team mem bers involved in the shooting have been re lieved from duty until he decides if they can return to work. The members have been relieved because police often experience trauma after shootings and require counseling before returning to duty, Curtis said. Erickson, who attended UNL for a semester in the spring of 1986, had been pulled over Thursday morning at about 1 a.m. for suspicion See SHOOTING on 6 Al Schaben/Dally Nabraskan Lincoln firefighters attempt to revive Randall J. Erickson, but fail. Erickson was shot Thursday morning by a SWAT team member during an hour-long standoff in ttoe Amigos parking lot at 2825 Cornhusker Hwy. Low default rates at UNL make system unnecessary By Jennifer O'Ciika Staff Reporter A computer system that is helping Midwestern col leges reduce student loan default rates probably is not needed at the University of Nebraska-Lin coln because of the low default rate, a university official said. The Unilink system, provided by the Unipac Service Corpora tion, gives colleges a list of delin quent students at no cost. The col -4 4 Obviously, a de fault rate qf zero would be great. But for a univer sity this size, that's (3.3 percent) incredible. Beacon director of Office of Scholarships and Finan cial Aid —-f) lege then matches that list with its students and contacts them. John Beacon, director of the UNL Office of Scholarships and Finan cial Aid, said he is not familiar with the Unilink system. But the default rate at UNL in 1980 was only 3.3 percent, he said, on fed era! Stafford Loans and SLS (Sup plemental IwOans for Students). “Obviously, a default rate of zero would be great,” he said. “But for a university this size, that’s (3.3 percent) incredible.” Under the 1986 federal Higher Education Reorganization Act, colleges and universities are re quired to institute a loan default management program when default rates reach 20 percent That makes Unilink “unques tioningly useful” to Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, according to Financial Aid Direc tor Dennis Martin. The default rate there was 31.5 percent in 1987. Martin said the system allows the college to work effectively with delinquent students before they default on their loans. Students are delinquent on loans if they haven’t made payments within 30 days. If no payments are made within 180 days, they de fault. Martin said that since the Unil ink system had all the ‘-‘bugs” worked out in January, the college has saved thousands of dollars. And the program has cost the college only $38 in long-distance phone calls to the Lincoln com puter hookup, he said, so eventu ally it will save taxpayers millions in defaults. Martin said he and a Unipac of ficial will present the service to the National Association of Financial Aid Administrators in Boston later this year. The system is the first of its kind ■ pgj^Aua on 3 Fun money’ reaches $6 billion Study: Students have buying power By Thomas Clouse Staff Reporter Student spending habits tradi tionally are underestimated, but one 1989 study indicates many students have significant buy ing power. According to CollcgeTrack, a New York-based research company, the 5.6 million undergraduate students nationwide have a buying power of about $32 billion. That covers such things as personal income, gifts, schol arships and financial aid. According to a study done for the Daily Nebraskan by Research Asso ciates, a Lincoln-based research company, University of Ncbraska Lincoln students spent $78,802,725, not including tuition, in the 1988-89 academic year. Stewart Himmelfarb, president of CollcgeTrack, said CollcgeTrack conducts its study six times a year. Students’ discretionary income, or ‘‘fun money,” was more than $6 bil lion last year. Thomas I wand, UNI. professor of economics and finance, said, “The student population, as a whole, is wealthy in discretionary income.’’ Iwand said discretionary income is personal income minus income tax and payments for such things as mortgage, rent, car and debts. Jon Daehnke, Daily Nebraskan advertising manager, said most Daily Nebraskan advertising is based on three main fields: alcohol, clothing and records. ‘‘Between those three, they make up most of our top 10 advertisers,” Daehnke said. John McCallum, owner of Twist ers Music & Gifts, said students buy everything from compact discs and cassettes to T-shirts and jewelry. And those sales are increasing, he said. “Compared to last year, the busi ness has almost doubled,” McCal lum said. John Tavlin, owner of Nebraska Diamond, said his company docs a lot of business with students and faculty members who buy engagement rings, wedding bands, earrings and pendants, promise rings and pearl rings. According to Tavlin, the number of student customers is high. “It’s awfully hard to gauge, but in the last couple of years, it (business) has most definitely increased,” he See BUYING on 3 Ban on shirts reversed Group allowed to sell T-shirts By Emily Rosenbaum Senior Reporter A decision by the University of Nebraska’s general counsel will allow Students for Choice to sell T-shirts that were banned ear lier this week by UNL’s Affirmative Action officer. Richard Wood, NU vice president and general counsel, determined Wednesday that the printed material on the pro-choice T-shirts was “pro tected la guage under the First Amend ment.” Brad Munn, UNL’s Affirmative Action officer. Monday banned the sale of the shirts in the Nebraska Union because of their religious con notations. The shirts read, “The Incredible Shrinking Woman’s Right to Choose” and “Rated PG, papal guidance sug gested.” Munn stated in a press release that “displaying the shirt and vending it on the University of Nebraska-Lin coln property can be seen as de grading and humiliating to many Roman Catholics and others.” Munn said Thursday that he banned the shirts because union booths used by student groups arc owned and operated by the university. He said he thought the university could control anything sold or distributed at the booths. He said his concern is not with the particular shirt Students for Choice is selling, but with the possible rami fications of a policy that might allow any shirt to be sold. “I’m concerned when the shir*, says ‘kill all Jews,’” Munn said. He said the university’s proposed fighting words policy would prohibit See SHIRTS on 6