~ I-,,-1 I-It—I I—I
Michelle Paulman/DN
Making the cut "~r .
Duane Butler, a third-generation barber, gives Matthew Farewell a trim Monday at his shop at 2649 N. 48th St.
Date set
for hearing
of student
From Staff Reports
A Nov. 23 preliminary hearing
has been set for a University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln student who
allegedly tried to fire a semiautomatic
rifle at his classmates last month.
Lancaster County Judge Gale
Pokorny set the hearing for 10 a.m. for
Arthur McElroy, 43, who carried a
loaded .30-calibcr M-l carbine into
an actuarial science class in Ferguson
Hall, pointed the weapon at students
in the room and allegedly attempted
to fire.
McElroy, a graduate student who
was enrolled in the class, pleaded
innocent last month to charges of
second-degree attempted murder,
making terroristic threats and two
counts of using a weapon to commit a
felony in the Oct. 12 incident.
. According to police, the ri lie d idn ’ t
lire because a round already was in
the weapon’sehamberwhen McElroy
apparently tried to force in another
round.
As students ran from the room,
McElroy allegedly tried to repair the
weapon. When he was unsuccessful,
police said, he left the building and
lied in his car, which was parked on
the sidewalk at the cast entrance of
Ferguson Hall.
He was arrested about 30 minutes
later at his home in Bcnnct, with the
weapon and X1 rounds of ammunition
in his car.
No one was in jured in the incident.
Cauble notes initial
investigation flaws
Standard interview
procedure not used
by university police
By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter
talc Sen. F.mic Chambers of
i Omaha said an investigation
by two UNL administrators of
a police inquiry that targeted Al rican
Amcrican students was “totally defi
cient” and should be disregarded.
The investigation, completed by
James Gricscn, vice chancellor for
student affairs, and John Goebel, vice
chancellor for business and finance,
examined the questioning of five Af
rican-American males in an Anthro
pology 110 class by Officer Barb
McGill of the UNL Police Depart
ment.
The police investigation concerned
the disappearance of Candice Harms,
a University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
freshman who has been missing since
Sept. 22.
The investigation was initialed
when a student reported that Harms,
18, was scaled by and talking to an
African-American male in the class
the day she disappeared.
Police acquired the names of the
five African-American males enrolled
in the class and contacted them for
questioning. Officers also photo
graphed four of the men; the fifth
refused to allow his picture to be
taken.
Gricscn and Goebel's report was
given to UNL Chancellor Graham
Spanicr Nov. 2.
Chambers called the project the
“Keystone Kops report,” and said it
was “absolutely unacceptable.”
“It was a textbook example of a
snowjob,” he said.
The report concluded that “no im
proper or unprofessional behavior on
the part of the UNL police” existed,
but that retrospective examination of
the incident “casts doubt on the advis
ability of taking pictures of the stu
dents contacted.”
The report also recommended the
photos be returned to the students,
along with any copies that might have
been made.
Gricscn and Goebel also wrote that
the university “will do all in its power
to prevent future activity that might
raise similar (negative) emotions”
among any of its students.
Chambers said neither Gricscn nor
Goebel should have conducted the
investigation because both had pri
vate interests to protect.
“It seemed that the purpose of their
investigation was to whitewash the
situation and protect the administra
tion and ihc university,” he said. “In
fact, their report was such a travesty
that (UNL Police Chief) Ken Caublc
saw the necessity of dealing with the
essentials, which they totally ignored.”
Caublc’s response to the report,
dated last Wednesday, said his expe
rience and training as a police officer
allowed him to identify Haws and
errors in the initial police investiga
tion.
He said that because Gricscn and
Goebel had no law-enforcement train
ing, their perception that the investi
gation was routine was expected.
But Caublc’s letter listed four ar
eas of the investigation that did not
follow standard procedures for such
an interview, including the follow
ing:
• A failure by investigating offic
ers to familiari/c Caublc with the
request by the Lincoln Police Depart
ment to contact the African-Amcri
See LETTER on 6
a freshman at
I's apartment at
332 f4 22nd at about 11:40 pju. She never
nukes M to her home at 6100 Vine St
p rou no iDanaofiM n
I field north of Lincoln.
I Law enforcement investigators search for
IdMM, M ftati frw In the next month.
bi^fi-UNL >0i4c Officer Barb McGill
Votiucxs ftvdulfrifmn-American males
enrolled in Anthropology 110 for
questioning after another student tai the
class reported to poke that Harms was
seen seated by aad taldag to an
African American mala the day of her
M/tf-StiwSf. Ernie Chambers, after
vwag to Mucm*' me ftuoents contacteo
by poke, accuses investigators of
conducting a racist Investigation.
Chambers writes a letter to UNL
Chancellor Graham Spardor, requesting a
meeting w 11.11 univei m\j omcnts »no
BPfcti______
| — — — .3..^ uaAaiL\r 1^. r
JoiTv^p wvien, vice ciuiivcefior toc
VlUamaffamslLJbNL , defends the
Investigation, which UHL Pohce Chief Ken
Cauble says is a toAow-up by the Lincoln
PoAco Department
says be is angered by
_ of the Investigation and
cats for his resignation or termination.
Wiffttatesenftnd John Goebel, UNL't vice
lIMk format in ess and finance,
complete an Investigation of the police
inquiry and find no "improper or
unprofessional" behavior on Urn part of
Inrcstnaticu: pincers, . __
Mrt^&ubl/Ltpondt to the report by
HirlMnlUld Godbei with a letter outAning
four areas he thinks were not standard
procedure for this type of
Investigation specifically, the Baa of
anflPMfog McGM nsodoa the etndeate ■
M/kUhmpn responds wfth a letter to
fcJJdMUuUding Cauble for "standby
up for what Is right" and conthmfog to
C06BtfQfoe Ills ''
fiplmiatiofi11
Soott Maurer/DN
Commission, regents
dispute top priorities
By Shelley Biggs
Senior Reporter
The Coordinating Commission
for Poslsccondary Education,
which oversees higher educa
tion in Nebraska, has come under l ire
by officials who say it is nothing less
than a bureaucratic nightmare.
John Payne of Kearney, chairman
of the NU Board of Regents, said the
commission was a layer of bureau
cracy silling between the regents and
the Legislature.
The extra time and effort needed to
gather information for the commis
sion eventually will turn into extra
money out of the pockets of higher
educational institutions within Ne
braska, Payne said.
“If it continues at the present rate,
we will have to find more money to
hire more people,” he said. “So the
money that could be used for new
general equipment will be used to
handle the requests of the board.”
Palsy Marlin, community coordi
nator for the higher education com
mission, whose authority is granted
through the Nebraska Constitution,
said the members of the commission
needed patience from all officials in
volved in the process.
“We’re the new kid on the block,”
Marlin said. “We’ve had to make
decisions real quickly.”
A recent problem for the commis
sion centers on the 1993-95 proposed
See COORDINATION on 6
UNO officials keeping
housing dispute alive
By Susie Arth
Senior Reporter
University of Nebraska at
Omaha officials arc not yet
willing to wave the while flag
in their battle to construct student
housing on the UNO campus.
Barbara Hcwins-Maroncy, exccu
livcassistant to thcchanccllor at UNO,
said officials still were considering
various options for student housing.
“None of us have given up hope,”
she said.
Hcwins-Maroncy said NU Regent
Nancy O’Brien of Waterloo asked
UNO officials to continue to work on
a housing plan and offer a solution
within six months or one year.
Hcwins-Maroncy said she believed
on-campus student housing was im
portani to both students and their par
ents because it would create a stron
ger campus spirit and better unity.
The campus also would serve its
students better if it had on-campus
housing because students would be
able to walk to a classroom or library
rather than drive.
“Students would gel a different
opinion and view of campus life,” she
said.
Neil Morgensen, director for fa
cilities management and planning at
UNO, said officials still were consid
ering three on-campus.sites for stu
dent housing.
“The chancellor is anxious to try to
bring the resolution to rest as soon as
possible,” he said.
See DORMS on 6
