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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1992)
Hail\7 ■ -m T 1 LJaliy i ——> - : Nebraskan ‘- ! ravis Meying/^pectal to the DN Lincoln firefighters and paramedics treat 30-year-old graduate student Hann-Wan Guan, who was injured in a chemical explosion Tuesday afternoon in Hamilton Hall. Explosion injures chemistry student Man listed in fair condition with cuts, burns By Erik Unger Staff Reporter _ _ A University or Ncbraska-Lin coln student suffered bums and cuts Tuesday after an explo sion on the sixth floor of Hamilton Hail. Hann-Wan Guan, a 30-ycar-old chemistry graduate student from Tai wan, was taken to Lincoln General Hospital and later transferred to the St. Elizabeth’s Community Health Center bum unit, where he was listed in fair condition. Authorities said Guan was work ing alone in the lab when the explo sion occurred about 4:15 p.m. Guan was burned by the chemical explosion and cut by glass, but the exact cause of the accident and the extent of the injuries were unknown. Students and faculty members on the scene speculated that Guan was performing a routine chemical proce dure involvingdislillalionofachemi cal in the lab, said Phyllis Larsen, coordinator of news and information for UNL’sOfficc of Public Relations. Nate Peachey, a chemistry gradu ate student, was working on the Fifth floor of Hamilton Hall when the ex plosion occurred. Peachey said he heard the cxplo sion and the sound of glass shattering and ran to the sixth floor. Other stu dents were already trying to extin guish the fire. “Guan came staggering out of the room,” Peachey said. “He was bleed ing from his mouth, chest and throat.” Guan’s hair and eyebrows also were singed, Peachey said. Peachey said Guan was coherent and talking, but seemed da/.cd when he reached him. “Heasked me if his face was burned and if he was bleeding,” Peachey said. “I told him, and he was asking for compresses for the bleeding.” Peachey said the blood didn’t seem to bother Guan. “He spoke profusely, but in Chi nese” to three students also on the scene, Peachey said. Although Pcachcy said he sup ported Guan, the injured man exited the building using his own strength. Charles Kingsbury, safety director at Hamilton Hall, said he was at the scene of the explosion in a matter of seconds. Smoke filled the hallway and destroyed the lab, he said. He said Guan was able to walk, but was cut badly and was bleeding pro fusely. Kingsbury said he didn’t know what caused the chemical explosion. Peachey said Guan was doing re search on non-linear optics when the accident occurred. Four or five other students were on the floor, Pcachcy said, but Guan was working alone in the room. Peachey said graduate students routinely work without faculty supervision. Deadline looms for NU-NCAA conflict By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Staff Reporter_ _ cbraskaathlctic department of ficials may have to violate NCAA regulations to avoid breaking Nebraska state law this Sat urday in the Comhuskcrs’ football game against Utah. The conflict has been forced by Legislative Bill 69, a state law requir ing the University of Ncbraska-Lin coln to allow all athletes eligible for need-based aid to receive it. LB69 went into effect June 1. NCAA regulations prohibit uni versities from awarding more than 92 football scholarships a year. All need based aid, besides Pell Grants or student loans, counts as a scholarship. A1 Papik, assistant athletic direc tor in charge of compliance and ad ministration, said 12 Huskcr football players were eligible for need-based aid and were not on scholarship. Of the 12, he said, eight were freshmen and would rcdshirl, meaning they won’t play this year. dui iour oincr piaycrs remain eli gible for aid. If they accept the aid and play in a game, they will be counted as scholarship players and will pul UNL over the NCAA’s scholarship limit. But under LB69, UNL cannot pre vent the players from participating in games to keep them from being counted as scholarship athletes. “We cannot deny them the oppor tunity to accept aid,” Papik said, “nor can we curtail participation in athlet ics because they arc recipients of aid.” Papik said he did not know if the four players intended to accept the aid. If they play Saturday, he said, he will determine if they received aid , and put UNL in violation of NCAA regulations. He said the athletic department sent a last-minute request to the NCAA Monday requesting instructions on how to proceed if UNL was pushed over its scholarship limit. “We arc wailing for a directive from the NCAA on how to proceed if a v iolation occurs,” he said. ,fWc asked for an immediate response because if anybody participates Saturday, that puls us over the limit, and we want to See NCAA on 6 Crime statistics unrepresentative, official says By Shelley Biggs Senior Reporter _ Campus crime statistics often arc unrepresentative of the colleges and universities they represent, UNL officials said. As of yesterday, campuses nation wide must disclose their crime statis tics to comply with the U.S. Campus Security Act of 1990. UNL Police Chief Ken Caublc said crime statistics depend on a campus’s location — if it is close to a large city — and the system students use to report crime. Caublc said there were several dis crepancies in the way crimes were reported. The University of Nebraska-Lin coln, for example, is the only campus in the University of Nebraska system that has a commissioned police force, he said. Caublc said it wasdifficult to com pare UNL’s statistics with thoscof the University of Nebraska at Kearney, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska Medi cal Center because those campuses lack their own police forces. Thus, crimes occurring on those campuses most likely will be reported to local police instead of to the university. And local police may not choose to release those reports on a regular ba sis, Caublc said. “Sometimes municipal police de partments will not share their statis tics with campuses if they don’t have a good relationship with them,’’ he said. *. Unlike many other campuses, Cauble said, the Lincoln Police De partment is willing to release infor mation to UNL Police. James Gricscn, vice chancellor for student affairs at UNL, said he did not want to see the university’s crime statistics used as a recruiting edge. Gricscn also said it was unfair to compare UNL’s statistics to those from schools that do not have their own police forces, such as Creighton Uni versity in Omaha. From Aug. 1, 1991, to July 31, 1992, Creighton reported six burglar ies, while UNL reported 74. Gricscn said he believed Creighton’s reported crime statistics were lower because the Omaha uni versity reported campus crime to the local police department. “It is a reflection of the fact that we have our own police force,” he said. “Creighton would be wrong to say they have a safer campus because they don’t have a police force.” A campus’s location also plays a role in the crime statistics that arc compiled, Caublc said. The University of Kansas in Lawrence, for example, has about the same number of students as UNL, Caublc said, but Lawrence has a much smaller population than Lincoln. “Where KU represents about one fourth of the 66,000 people in Lawrence, UNL represents aboutonc tenth of the 193,749 people of Lin coln," he said. [Campus crime Data aa reported to campua police 1969 to July 1992 Homicide 0 r First degree sexual assault 4 m/j Second degree sexual assault 0 Third degree sexual assault 4 KNB Robbery 5 Aggravated assault 3 K| Burglary ' 266 _ I . B Larceny/theft 2620 ■PlMotorvehlcle theft 25 y\ <~sj VIR ^-«... \j^ ..V a Scotl Maurer/DN i ' * * ’ \
