Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1992)
___ _ ■ _ __ Death penalty opponents voice support for bill Former governors join senator in legislation to end executions By Cindy Kimbrough Senior Reporter About 20 Nebraskans rallied Tuesday at the Capitol to support a state senator’s bill to repeal the death penally. Supporters of LB327, a bill that would elimi nate the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without parole, included two former governors and several area religious leaders. “The death penalty is a gloomy subject, but also an extremely important one,” said Sen. Ernie Cham bers of Omaha, the bill’s chief sponsor. The state, Chambers said, should not have the right to decide what offenses justify the death penalty and who should be put to death. Former Nebraska governor Frank Morrison said he didn’t know of any other subject on which opinions were formed so quickly on so little information. Morrison said he opposed capital punish ment because it did not work. The death penalty is not an effective way to control crime and does not benefit the victim’s family, he said. “It does not bring the victim back to life,” he said. It also is unjust, he said, because capital punishment allows the state to do what it pro See DEATH on 3 ASUN senator plans to bring UNL diversity By Kara Morrison Staff Reporter A cultural diversity summit held Friday at UNL made a start in addressing minor ity issues, one ASUN senator said. Arts and Sciences Sen. Steve Dietz, who attended the summit, said he would help organ ize a cultural diversity program that was pro posed at the summit. The cultural diversity summit was spon -sored by the Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of Minorities and Faculty in Support of Cultural Diver sity. The first stop in creating a cultural diversity program at the University of Nebraska Lincoln will be establishing a group of faculty and students to outline goals for the university, See ASUN on 3 ^-Ml-J&t--MM =-* . : Greg Bemhardt/DN Jeanine Teodorescu, a UNL French graduate teaching assistant, recently returned from her native Romania, from where she defected in 1987. Defecting to democracy Student discovers increased freedom on visit to homeland By Michelle McGowen Staff Reporter The changes in Jeanine Teodorescu’s life since she left her native Roma nia Five years ago parallel the recent changes in the once-Communist country. Teodorescu, a UNL graduate student and teaching assistant in French studies, said she disagreed with the restraints placed on her as a teacher by Romania’s government. Since leaving, she said, she has grown under the freedom of democracy. “It’s a relief to see everybody can really be free.” Teodorescu relumed to Romania for the first lime last month when she visited her parents. She found a much different envi ronment there, she said. “Small businesses have started, and the prices are skyrocketing,” she said. “You can find things you never would have thought you could find before. Things that are easy to find here, like oranges.” But the markets aren’t the only things that have changed, Teodorescu said. “The people were different too,” she said. “There was a sense of freedom.” Teodorescu left Romania to find such freedom in the spring of 1987, during a trip to Israel. She was lucky to receive a tourist’s visa to travel to Israel, she said, because govern ment restrictions prevented most Romani ans from traveling. “It was a miracle that I got it,” she said. “The ones who could travel were the ones who had higher responsibilities, like direc tors and party members.” Once in Israel, Teodorescu said she de cided to take her chances and leave for Austria. “I was very scared, but I knew I could offer something,” she said. “I could work and support myself.” While in Austria, she held a clerical job at a hotel and applied for immigration to the United States. Once accepted by the United States, Teodorescu traveled to Boise, Idaho, in March 1987. She said she was impressed with the friendliness shown toward her. “Americans are wonderful toward people new to this country,” she said. “This is home for me, and they make the transition easier.” However, Teodorescu said, coming to the United Stales was a culture shock. There were many things to get used to, she said, such as shopping and talking on the tele phone. To further her education, Teodorescu applied and was accepted for an assistant ship at Boise State University. But while visiting friends in Lincoln, she said, she decided to apply at UNL. She accepted an assistantship at UNL, and continued her studies. She currently is working on her master’s degree in French literature. Teodorescu taught French 101 and 201 at UNL this year. She said she would like to be able to teach at higher levels, but graduate students in the French department are al lowed only to teach at the 100 and 200 levels. Teodorescu’s interest in French began at a young age, she said. At age 5 she watched as her mother, a French teacher, taught class. She was en thralled by the magic of leaching, she said, and dreamed of following in her mother’s footsteps. Teodorescu attended a French high school in Bucharest, and then continued her educa tion at the University of Bucharest, where she received degrees in both French and English. Following graduation, she taught at vari ous junior high and high schools for three years. She ended up at the Cultural Univer sity in Bucharest, teaching English to people who wanted to improve their foreign lan guage skills. Despite her trip home, Teodorescu said she was comfortable in Lincoln. “Lincoln is a wonderful town, small and quiet,” she said. “And it offers many cul tural activities.” Teodorescu said she would like to see an exchange program between the University See TEODORESCU on 3 Supreme Court to review Pennsylvania Law, abortion. PageS UNL’s graduate art students featured in Sheldon display. Page 9 INDEX Wire 2 Opinion 4 Sports 7 A&E 9 Classifieds 11 Spanier to lecture on family at UNMC Chancellor says classroom post to help relations By Kristine Long Staff Reporter Lecturing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center won’t affect Chancellor Graham Spanier’s commitment to UNL, he said. Spanier was appointed to lecture at seminars on marriage and the family, divorce, remarriage, human develop ment and family demography in UNMC’s Department of Family Prac tice. “I feel it is important for all aca demic administrators to spend time in the classroom," he said. Spanicr also will be lecturing on marriage and the family in the De partment of Sociology at the Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln. Spanicr said these lecturing posi tions would maintain his ties with the medical community, and would show that faculty members were interested in “cross-campus cooperation.” In previous academic appointments, Spanier said, he worked in medical and sociology departments. When he - II I feel it is important for all academic adminis trators to spend time in the classroom. Spanier UNL Chancellor -tf - was an administrator at Penn State University, he worked with the De partment of Medicine. At the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he worked in the Department of Psychiatry, he said. It is “symbolic” that the chancel lor of one. school would lecture at another school, he said, and it should help relations between the two schools. William Bcmdt, interim chancel lor of UN MC, said that Spanier would present lectures as his time allowed. It is not unusual to have courtesy appointments such as Spanier’s, he said. “With Chancellor Spanier’s back ground, he is perfect for this appoint ment,” Bemdl said. “This is a posi tive kind of thing between the two campuses.” Spanier has taught a University Foundations class at UNL, and said he planned to lecture at sociology of marriage and the family classes throughout this year. *