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Staci McKee/DN
Andrei Viniarski sits in the Calvary United Methodist Church, where he recently was baptised. He said the
opportunity to go to church in America was important to him, because it was not allowed while he served in the
Russian military.
Escaping chaos
Russian teacher eagerly awaits admittance to UNL
By Trevor Meers
Staff Reporter
While many UNL students are
making plans to head home for
the summer, one potential student
is doing everything he can to gel in school
— and stay in America.
Andrei Viniarski, 29, arrived in New
York City from Russia Feb. 26. He came
to Lincoln, he said, to escape the frag
mented remains of the former Soviet
Union and to finish his education at the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln.
Viniarski is from Gorky, a city located
about 250 miles cast of Moscow. After the
fall of the Soviet Union, all Communist
city names were changed, and the city of
2 million now is called Nizniy Novgord.
Viniarski graduated from the Teacher’s
Training College of Foreign Languages in
Gorky in 1989 after five years of studying
and training as an interpreter. He speaks
Spanish and English.
After graduating, Viniarski entered the
Soviet Air Force for the two years of man
datory military service required of every
Russian male.
He said Communist officials used the
Air Force for their own gain, just as they
used all of Russian society. High-ranking
military officers often would take the
place of servicemen on flights to scenic
countries. The officers took “pleasure
trips,” he said, while the servicemen lost
training time.
When he retired from his service as a
radio operator in August 1991, Viniarski
began teaching. He also started looking
for opportunities for graduate study in
America.
He heard and read about UNL, he said,
and corresponded with professors in the
Department of Modem Languages and
Literatures.
“1 think this university can give me
great possibilities,” he said.
When he came to America to pursue
graduate studies at UNL, Viniarski left
behind his wife Angela, a pediatrician,
and his two-year-old daughter Christina.
He eventually wants to bring them to
America, he said.
Viniarski said he must be admitted to
UNL as a graduate student before August
or his visa would expire, and he would be
forced to return to Russia. But he is opti
mistic about his chances for staying, he
said.
He has completed one university en
trance exam, he said, and his diploma,
which is needed for admission to UNL,
is on its way from Russia.
Viniarski said that UNL was not the
only good thing he found in the United
States. He also has found political
stability. He is glad to get a break from
Russia’s political upheavals, he said.
“I am applying to stay here because
Russia is on the brink of civil war,” he
said. ‘‘It’s tom apart.”
Viniarski said he could name hun
dreds of factors that might divide
Russians and cause a civil war. Russians
arc polarizing into groups based on
issues such as nationality and political
parties, he said.
“Many people claim to be intelligent,
but the major feature of intelligence is
tolerance, and this feature is rare in
Russia,” he said.
“People want to speak up as much as
See VINIARSKI on 6
Search for
Devaney’s
replacement
beginning
Spanier says process
will be ‘by the book’
By Erik Unger
Staff Reporter
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is
beginning a search this week to find a
replacement for Athletic Director Bob
Devancy when he retires Jan. 4.
UNL Chancellor Graham Spanier said the
university would conduct a national search that
would not exclude anyone,even someone from
inside the athletic department.
Despite reports that the committee already
might have some possible candidates, Spanier
said the selection process would be confiden
tial and at no time during the process would he
speculate on who would fill the position.
“We will conduct this search in the normal
way that administrative searches are conducted
— by the book,” he said.
But Spanier said he was expecting much
speculation before the decision was announced.
“Because this is a university with a high
interest in athletics, people will have a lot of
opinions,” he said.
James O’ Hanlon, dean of the UNL Teachers
College and the faculty representative for ath
letics, told The Omaha World-Herald that he
would be the chairman of the search commit
tee, according to an article in Sunday’s World
Herald. O’Hanlon declined to comment to the
Daily Nebraskan.
Spanier said he hoped to have a decision by
September. But he said the date was highly
variable and depended on the committee’s
schedule, the number of applicants and their
schedules.
Spanier added that he wanted to name the
committee’s choice early enough to let the
See ATHLETIC on 6
Student gets
public defender
in fraud case
By Roger Price
Senior Editor
UNL student charged with student loan
fraud and numerous other crimes ap
peared in Lancaster County Court March
25 to request that a public defender be ap
pointed to represent her.
Deborah Rcinkc, 36, is charged with ille
gally obtaining two student loans totalling $500.
Other charges include theft, possession of sto
len property, writing bad checks, criminal
See FRAUD on 6
Bill Clinton sfclmrts us
ing marijuana while in
college Page 2
Husker baseball team
takes three games from
Kansas to start
conference Page 7
DN critics predict win
ners and favorites for to
night’s Academy
Awards. Page 11
INDEX _
Wire 2 .
Opinion 4
Sports 7
A&E 9
Classifieds 12
Ex-UNL employee seeks state seat
Education, Medicare
candidate’s priorities
By Sean Green
Senior Reporter
A former UNL employee has tossed his
hat into the ring for the 27th legislative
district scat.
Gerald Svoboda of 2540 S. 17th St. said he
had been considering running for office for
three years and finally decided the time was
right.
‘‘I think that with my experience and back
ground I can add considerably to the legislative
process in many areas,” he said.
Svoboda will face incumbent Sen. DiAnna
Schimck of Lincoln and two other contenders
in the May 12 primary. Two of the four candi
dates then will go on to the general election in
November.
Svoboda, 61, worked on and off at the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln from 1953 to
1963 as a hydrologist and hydrological field
assistant at UNL’s Conservation and Survey
Division.
“I’ve been in the field of research and edu
cation for much of my life,” he said. ‘‘Those
areas arc still uppermost in my mind and heart.”
If elected, he said, the concerns of univer
sity students would be high on his list of priori
ties.
Svoboda said he supported the ideas of UNL
Chancellor Graham Spamcr, especially his desire
lo upgrade and correct the curriculum in secon
dary schools lo prepare students for college.
“It is extremely important that our students
have the background lo help them compete,”
he said. “I fully support curriculum changes in
the area of research and education.”
Svoboda was a private consultant for the
U.S. Defense Department. He worked at the
Joint Tactical Fusion Program Office in McLean,
Va., and served as a technical expert for the
analysis and reporting of foreign advances in
remote sensing, general geology, geomorphol
ogy, geohydrology, mineral resources and agron
omy. '-4
See SVOBODA on 6