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Multi-Cultural Affairs
at UNL gets KKK letter
criticizing conference
By Kim Spurlock
Staff Reporter
he Ku Klux Klan sent UNL’s
Office of Multi-Cultural Af
fairs a derogatory letter, just
one of several found on campus re
cently, after it hosted a conference on
black student government, the office
director said.
Jimmi Smith said KKK members
have sent racist letters to him and to
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs over
the past two years. Fliers printed on
KKK letterhead also have been found
posted on campus.
Smith said that just after UNL hosted
the Big 8 Conference on Black Stu
dent Government the first week of
February, his office received a de
rogatory letter on KKK letterhead.
In poem form, the letter contained
insults related to Black History Month.
.. during Black History Month
let’s all do our share, and deport a
nigger, no true white folks will care,”
stated the letter, which was written on
letterhead labeled “Invisible Empire
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”
“Why, oh why, were some born
black, when all they can do is steal
and sell crack,” the letter also stated.
Smith said the letter was the first
on KKK letterhead mailed to the of
fice this year. Two were received last
year, he said.
Smith said he also has received
several letters from the KKK at home
and thinks his address is on the KKK’s
mailing list.
He said he doesn’t open all of the
KKK letters he receives at home. The
one sent to the Office of Multi-Cul
tural Affairs was brought to the atten
tion of Vice Chancellor for Student
Affairs James Griesen, who also was
notified after a student discovered
fliers on KKK letterhead attached to
several trees on campus.
Smith said Griesen is looking into
the problem of racism on campus.
“It’s been an issue that (Griesen)
has sought to attack. As a major part
of his goal for the next several years,
he’s listed improving race relations
through cultural diversity,” Smith said.
Griesen was out of town and not
available for comment.
Smith said the authors of the let
ters and fliers are unknown and may
be students or faculty members.
“I’m sure that there are probably
some students who are probably good ,
supporters of the Ku Klux Klan and
other oppressive organizations, be
cause they bring that from their homes;
they bring it from some of their
communities,” Smith said.
Search committee
Consideration of women,
minorities emphasized
By Lisa Donovan
Senior Reporter __
The UNL Chancellor Search
Committee met Thursday to
discuss hiring criteria, includ
ing the importance of considering
women and minority candidates, the
committee chairman said.
Harvey Perlman, dean of the Col
lege of Law, said Brad Munn, Af
firmative Action officer, met with the
12-member committee to discuss equal
opportunity hiring practices.
Before a search for any adminis
trator begins, Perlman said, the Af
firmative Action officer informs the
committee of Affirmative Action
practices.
“He emphasized what the com
mittee is already sympathetic with,
and that is that women and racial
minorities should be considered,”
Perlman said.
So far, the committee has received
about 200 nominations and applica
tions for the University of Nebraska
Lincoln chancellorship, with several
coming from within the university.
Perlman declined to say how many
university officials were in the pool
of candidates. UNL Interim Chancel
lor Jack Goebel has been reported as
being nominated for the position.
The committee took no final votes
on candidates Thursday and decided
to continue taking applications and
nominations for the position, Perlman
said.
Perlman said he could not give a
date for »he final selection of the
chancellor.
The committee is not “under any
specific time schedule,” he said.
Once the committee narrows its
list of candidates, it will present its
choices to NU President Martin
Massengale.
After Massengale, fonner UNL
chancellor, decides who should be
the next chancellor, the NU Board of
Regents will vote on the selection.
Steel McKaa/Daily Nebraskan
Joseph Young, professor of horticulture, Anthony Starace, chairman of physics and astron
omy, and Richard Keesing, doctor of physics at the University of York in England, plant the
tree that was grafted from the tree that first inspired Sir Isaac Newton. The tree was planted near
Behlen Physics Lab.
Newton's tree flourishes at UNL
By Michael Hannon
Staff Reporter
It may be a few years before
another apple falls from its
branches, but part of the tree
that inspired Sir Isaac Newton is
now growing at the University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln.
„ The “Flower of Kent” apple tree,
produced by grafting a twig from
Newton’s original tree to the roots
of another plant, was dedicated south
of Behlen Lab on Thursday after
noon after spending three years
growing on East Campus.
The people who played a part in
bringing the tree to UNL used a
gold shovel to finish the planting
before about 75 people.
“This tree has a special symbol
for us. It ties us with the past. It
rem inds us of what we owe the past
and what we owe the future,” said
James O’Hanlon, dean of the Teach
ers College.
Joseph Young, professor emeri
tus of horticulture, said he was
inspired to investigate the tree when
Ed Lyman, professor emeritus of
horticulture, read a biography of
Newton and “wondered what the
variety of apple was.”
Later, Young and Lyman con
tacted Richard Keesing professor
of physics at York University in
England.
See TREE on 3
Yeltsin wins sweeping powers in the
Russian republic. Page 2.
UNI. student breathes new life into
Graduate Assistant Association. Page 3.
Condensed version of spring football
kicks off Saturday. Page 5.
Audience at Lied Center for Perform
ing Arts discovers its Southern roots.
Page 6.
iNDEX
Wire 2
Opinion 4
Sports 5
A&E 6
Classifieds 6
Gun-control bill withstands changes
By Kara Wells
Staff Reporter
A bill calling for the purchase of an an
nual permit to buy handguns Thursday
withstood an attempt to alter it into a
competing bill calling for an instant records
check on gun purchasers.
The amendment offered by Sen. Brad Ashford
of Omaha would have
changed LB355, a bill in first
round consideration in the
Nebraska Legislature, into
LB801, a competing gun
control bill.
LB355 requires an annual
permit to buy handguns,
exempting law enforcement personnel, gun
dealers and selling of guns between family
members. LB801 would require gun dealers to
cooperate with police in conducting an instant
background check on a gun purchaser.
The amendment fell one vote short of being
passed.
Although Ashford sponsored the amend
ment, he voted against it.
“I oppose the amendment although it has
my name on it,” he said. *‘I just want to make
sure the (legislative) body has an opportunity
to vote on instant check."
LB355, Ashford said, is a “piece of legisla
tion that is a good, solid effort to deal with the
gun-control problem.” Eighty percent of Ne
braskans want some sort of gun control, he
said.
Ashford said he prefers LB355 over its
competing bill, LB801, because LB801 cannot
work. The bill is too expensive, requiring all
gun dealers to have direct access to the police
department for instant background checks, he
said.
Ashford said that with LB355, there would
be one background check on gun purchasers
each vcar. With LB801. a background check
would be required every time a gun is pur
chased, he said.
Sen. Jerry Chizek of Omaha also voted
against the amendment, saying that LB355 is
the “least offensive” of the two bills.
“Under LB801, you must gel a background
check every time you purchase a handgun ...
not once, not twice, but every lime,” he said.
Sen. Stan Schcllpeper of Stanton argued
that LB801 is the better bill.
Schellpeper, who co-sponsored LB801 and
See HANDGUN on 3