• ^
Cloudy in the morning,
30% chance of light
snow. Sunny in the
afternoon. Tuesday, 50%
■L chance of snow.
Robin Trimarchi/DN
Tanya Sherrod, right, a sophomore business accounting major, smiles as she sings the Black National Anthem,
“Lift Every Voice and Sing,” at a candlelight gathering in honor of Dr. Martin Lutner King Jr. Friday at Broyhill
Fountain. Rickey Riley, a freshman business administration major, is at left.
King vigil lauds legacy, power to dream
By Kara Morrison
Senior Editor
In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., one professor Friday encouraged
everyone to apply talents, courage and
determination to make dreams realities.
Michael Combs,a University of Nebraska
Lincoln associate professor of political sci
ence, spoke to about 50 people at a candle
light vigil at Broyhill Fountain honoring the
life and dreams of King.
In his address, Combs recalled a celebra
tion in which fifth- and sixth-grade children
were acknowledging King for making it
possible for black and white children to play
together. Combs said King’s legacy ex
ceeded this.
“Dr. King was about empowering people.
... Heempowered us to dream great dreams.”
Combs said it was Dr. King who made
him, as a youngster in Baton Rouge, La.,
dream of becoming a university professor in
a lime when that dream seemed unrealistic.
“He also asked us as a nation to stop
dreaming small dreams,” Combs said.
Combs said Dr. King made America be
gin to dream about an equal society and to
realize the importance of diversity and
- it
He used a philosophy oflo ve,
and love knows no color. Jus
tice knows no color. Freedom
knows no color. In freeing Afri
can-Americans, he freed all of
America,
—Michael Combs, UNL associate
professor of political science
-tf -
multiculturalism.
But Combs said dreams of equality and
diversity would not be realized until African
Americans held political offices and leader
ship positions in places where they did not
constitute the majority — places such as the
chancellorship at the University of Nebraska
or of Harvard.
Accompanying King’s philosophy of
empowerment, Combs said, was “a philoso
phy of love, peace, justice and an apprecia
tion for the worth of all people.
“He used a philosophy of love, and love
knows no color. Justice knows no color.
Freedom knows no color. In freeing African
Americans, he freed all of America,” Combs
said.
The vigil, sponsored by Alpha Phi Alpha
fraternity, honored “a great man and a great
movement,” Andrew Huff, a junior broad
casting major said.
Kelli King, a freshman general studies
major, said she thought the vigil was a
needed event and that it went well.
“Dr. King would have been proud of the
progress we’ve made, but we have a long
way to go,” she said.
Graduate student and Alpha Phi Alpha
member Reginald Chandler also said he was
glad people came to support the accomplish
ments of King, but expressed a need for the
university community to unite more fre
quently than at yearly commemorations.
After Combs’ address, the group lit
candles and sang.
Graduate student George Thom, another
member of Alpha Phi Alpha, said the candles
were lit “as a symbol of hope and encourage
ment for a better tomorrow.”
U.S. blasts
Iraqi capital
with missiles
Warships fire Tomahawks
on nuclearweapdhs plant
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United
Slates on Sunday fired a shower of
Tomahawk cruise missiles on a nuclear fabri
cating plant eight miles from downtown
Baghdad to make “the political and diplomatic
point” that Iraq must comply with United Na
tions resolutions.
In a crescendo for President Bush’s final
weekend in. office, U.S. forces shot down a
MiG-23 warplane and struck an Iraqi air de
fense installation before warships launched
more than 30 Tomahawks into the night skies
near Iraq’s capital.
See related story on page 2.
White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater
said the United States had targeted the non
nuclear cruise missiles at a nuclear fabrica
tions plant in response to a series of weekend
military provocations by Iraq.
In New York, the United Nations rejected
Iraq’s latest conditions for weapons inspec
tion, raising the possibility of further U.S.-led
raids. U.N. officials want Iraq to allow uncon
ditional travel into Iraq by U.N. weapons
inspectors and guarantee their safely.
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein “is determined to cre
ate a confrontation in the closing days of the
Bush administration,” and emphasized that
Bush would not flinch.
Cheney referred to Saddam as a “pathetic
figure” for testing the U.S. presidential transi
tion and the United Nations coalition that
defeated Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War.
President Bush was at Camp David for the
weekend and made no statement.
The attack put Saddam on notice that the
United States was willing to hit him close to
home. Like last Wednesday’s hostilities, it
was a limited action unlikely to expose U.S.
forces to much risk.
Baghdad was lit by bright blasts of anti
aircraft fire from Iraqi gunners. It was not
immediately known whether the attack was
successful.
“We don’t have a damage assessment at this
point,” Fitzwater said.
However, an explosion wrecked the lobby
of the downtown Al-Rashecd hotel, and re
ports said two people died and up to 30 were
injured in several parts of the city.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the
casualties were caused by falling anti-aircraft
shells or American missiles.
A Pentagon official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said U.S. military planners “ab
solutely” had not targeted the hotel. Although
" See WIRE on 3
New year brings tough decisions for regents
Standards raised
despite opposition
By Kristine Long
Staff Reporter __
After two hours of debate Saturday, the
NU Board of Regents passed a resolu
tion creating higher admission stan
dards for the university system.
But the decision was not without opposition.
Five minority representatives appeared bc
nfore the board to express
their concern for minorities
and inner-city youth who
don’t have the educational
opportunities to meet the
standards.
The new standards, which
will be implemented in the
1997-98 school year, re
quire high school students to have four units of
English; three units of math, social studies and
natural sciences; two units of foreign language
and one unit of any academic subject. At UNL,
students will be required to have four units of
high school math.
In addition, students must be in the top 50
percent of their graduating class, have an ACT
score of 20 or above, or score at least 850 on the
SAT.
Eddie Staton, Omaha Mad Dads representa
tive, said hundreds of parents and students
feared those standards would be too lough, and
a lot of students would be discouraged by them.
“We will sec more kids turning to the streets,”
he said.
For some “education is the one way to get
out,” Staton said.
Dr. George Garrison, UNO faculty senate
vice president and chairman of black studies,
said the university was created in an “attempt to
make education available to those who would
otherwise not have a chance at education."
See STANDARDS on 3
Board faces cuts,
presidential search
By Kristine Long
Staff Reporter
Facing the challenges of a decreasing
budget, improving student services and
the search for a new NU president, the
NU Board of Regents started its new year
Saturday.
President Marlin Massengalc addressed the
board with hope for the fu
ture, despite financ ial prob
lems.
“Looking ahead into 1993
and beyond, our challenge
is clearly going to be to
press for excellence, even
as we struggle with finan
cial stress,” he said.
Regent John Payne of Kearney proposed a
plan to have Massengale, whose contract ex
pires at the end of 1993, serve as NU president
until the summer of 1994 so the presidential
transition wouldn’t occur in the middle of the
academic year.
Massengale said he would agree to this plan
if the regents would allow him to continue for
the extra semester.
Massengale outlined his goals of rewarding
excellent teachers, improving student informa
tion systems, strengthening research and im.
proving gender and minority equity in his stale
of-lhc-universily address.
Payne, who was elected chairman of the
board for his second year, will help Massengale
achieve these goals.
Regent Charles Wilson of Lincoln was
elected vice chairman.
In other business, the board passed its first
major resolution of the year — the establish
ment of a master of arts in art history degree at
UNL and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
See REGENTS on 3