50/28
Today, cloudy with a 30 per
cent chance of showers, cooler,
south wind changing to the
northwest at 15 to 45 mph.
Tonight, a 30 percent chance
of evening showers.
— Mas— >f„
Legislature advances
terminal illness bill
Two living will bills
reach final reading
By Cindy Kimbrough
Senior Reporter _
The Nebraska Legislature ad
vanced Friday the second of
two bills that would recog
nize Nebraskans’ right to direct their
own medical treatment.
LB696, introduced by Sen. John
Lindsay of
Omaha last ses
sion, would give
legal recognition
to directing medi
cal treatment
through “durable
power of attor
ney” if a patient became terminally ill
or reached a persistently vegetative
state.
The durable power of attorney,
• rather than instructing a physician,
gives a third person the power to
make decisions regarding treatment.
The bill advanced after about 25
minutes of debate on an amendment
intended “to make itcasily accessible
for those who wish to appoint some
one to make health care decisions on
their behalf,” Lindsay said.
The amendment was adopted.
LB696 was accompanied last ses
sion by a similar bill, LB671, intro
duced by Sen. David Landis of Lin
coln. LB671 would recognize the use
of a “living will” if a patient was in a
similar incapacitated state.
A living will gives the attending
physician specific instructions on what
medical treatment will be allowed or
acceptable.
With the advancement of LB671
Thursday and LB696 Friday, Nebras
kans arc one step closer to being able
to determine medical treatment if
they become terminally ill or in a
persistently vegetative state.
The next step for both bills will be
final reading. If passed and signed by
Gov. Ben Nelson, they will become
Nebraska law.
Proposed arts college
could be established
by fall, Spanier says
oy jeremy riizpairiCK
Senior Reporter
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Chancellor Graham Spanicr
said Saturday that he supported
the proposed College of Fine and
Performing Arts and hoped it would
be in place by the 1992 fall semester.
The music, theater, drama, art and
art history programs — which now
fall under the College of Arts and
Sciences — would be transferred to
the new college if it is approved.
Spanicr said he planned to go ahead
with the proposed college.
“We have a modest amount of
money set aside to implement that,”
he said.
Spanicr said he had approved
$150,000 to establish the proposed
college, and that commitment had
given the project new life.
The proposal college was approved
by the NU Board of Regents a year
ago following a controversy in the
Nebraska Legislature over its crea
tion.
Funding for the college was pro
posed for elimination in the budget
cutting recommendations forwarded
in the fall by the Academic Planning
Committee. Spanicrrcjec ted thcAPC
cut and restored the funding to estab
lish the college.
But Spanicr said he had restruc
tured the way the $150,000 would be
spent.
• • :
This is principally an
administrative reorgan 'h
zation, not the creation
of new programs.
Spanier
UNL Chancellor
—-ft -
Originally, the thought was to
use the money for administrative costs,
but I have rejected that,” he said.
Instead of creating new adminis
trative positions, Spanier said, the
money will be used to improve the
college’s programs. Instead of hiring
new administrators and staff, he said,
current ones will be transferred to the
proposed college.
“There may not be any new ad
ministrators (hired),” he said.
Spanier also said no new degree
programs or majors would be created
il the proposed college was created.
“This is principally an administra
tive reorganization,” he said, “not the
creation of new programs.”
UNL is consulting with the Ne
braska Coordinating Commission on
Postsecondary Education to sec what
role il would play in creating the
proposed college, Spanier said. The
statewide comm ission coordinates all
institutions of postsecondary educa
tion irr Nebraska and makes recom
mendations to the Legislature.
rr.1 . . _ Jeff Haller/DIM
1 his is February?
Bob and Julie Tallichet, 2240 S. 47th St., make the most of the warm weather Sunday and
take their son Jacques biking in Municipal Park, near 23rd and N streets.
I-1-!-1
UNL tradition
Program teaches history of groundhogs
By Virginia Newton
Staff Reporter
hiidren and iheir parents
celebrated Groundhog Day
Sunday at Morrill Hall as
part of the weekly “Sunday With a
Scientist” program.
The children were able to touch
a mounted groundhog and learn
about the groundhog’s history and
habitat from Patricia Freeman,
curator of /.oology and an associate
professor of museum studies.
“Sunday with a Scientist” has
been an ongoing program for three
years at UNL, said Peggy Hunt,
•education coordinator of the mu
seum.
The public is welcome at infor
mal gatherings in Elephant Hall of
Morrill Hall every first Sunday of
the month from 2 p.m. to 4 p.mM
she said.
“Lately we’ve had a lot of drop
ins, people who arc just coming in
the museum and don’t know that
it’s going on,” Hunt said. “Many
limes they are so interested they
will stay for the whole two hours.”
Hunt and a co-worker estab
lished the “Sunday with a Scien
tist” program three years ago.
“In the history of the museum,
they used to have lectures by vari
ous scientists, primarily the cura
tors that worked for the museum,”
she said. “We’re really trying to
gel away from lectures, so this is
more of an activity, hands-on kind
of thing.”
Several activities may be going
on simultaneously each Sunday,
such as a video, a slide show or a
scientist identifying fossils for the
public, Hunt said. But all of the
activities arc related, she said.
In conjunction with Sunday’s
gathering, Freeman spoke on the
groundhog myth and its natural
history.
Freeman told about 25 children
and adults that most groundhogs
were located in the eastern part of
Nebraska. A southeast American
Indian tribe called them monax,
which is where part of the scien
tific name for the groundhog,
Marmoia monax, was created, she
said.
Although using a woodchuck
for Groundhog Day is an American
tradition, Freeman said, the myth
of the groundhog is not rooted in
America.
In Europe, there was a religious
celebration called Candle Mas to
mark the preparation for spring and
the planting season, Freeman said.
In connection with Candle Mas,
Europeans started looking for a hi
bernating animal that would come
out of its hole to predict the weather.
“In Germany, they looked for a
badger, England and F rance looked
for a bear and there seems to be
some sort of correspondence be
tween Candle Mas and the ani
mals,” she said.
Black Homecoming Week begins
Scott Maurer/D N
By Sean Green
Senior Reporter
UNL’s celebration of Black History Month
will begin today with Black Homecom
ing Week, an event designed to cele
brate black culture and raise campus awareness
about African-American issues, a member of
UPC’s African American committee said.
Angela Green, a sophomore political sci
ence major at the University of Ncbraska
Lincoln, said Black Homecoming Week was
created partially because homecoming activi
ties in the fall usually involved only members
of UNL sororities and fraternities.
How'cvcr, Green said, Black Homecoming
Week is not just for African-American stu
dents.
“These activities arc for the whole campus,”
she said. “We will be celebrating black culture,,
and helping people understand our point of
view.”
Activities for Black Homecoming Week
begin at 8 p.m. in the UNL Culture Center with
the showing of “Jungle Fever,” a movie that
deals with interracial dating, Green said.
A discussion about interracial dating at UNL
will follow the film, she said.
A panel discussion about the concepts of
Afroccntricily and political correctness will be
See HOMECOMING on 6
Correction: In Friday's edition of the Daily Nebras
kan, an article on the parking open forum incorrectly
identified the forum as being sponsored by the **•'
Parking Advisory Board The forum was open to
students to address their parking concerns
In addition, the 5-percent reduction would not
displace 3,000 students, but would limit overselling
of lots by 5 percent. The Daily Nebraskan regrets
the error
Musician El’ Zabar performs at Car
son Theater. Page 12.
^ WDEX l
Opinion v 4
Sports 5
A&E 6
Classifieds 8