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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1993)
ASUN explores civil rights Mental journey highlights meeting By Andrea Kaser Staff Reporter AS UN members began last night’s meeting with their eyes closed. John Harris, special assistant to the vice chancellor for student affairs and guest speaker at the meeting, asked members to close their eyes while he took them on a mental journey to Africa. “Right now, in this room, we are a community of people. We are Afri cans. We’re princes and kings and queens and princesses,” he told the Association of Students of the Uni versity of Nebraska. “One day there comes a rustling from the shore. Suddenly someone grabs your arm and puts a chain on it, and they do the same to your leg, and you wonder why.” Strangers do this to the sisters,' brothers, mothers and fathers of this community, Harris said, and they are herded onto crowded ships. “Someone’s taking us from Africa, and we know not why,” Harris said. This was where the civil rights movement began, Harris said. Harris was invited to speak in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The movement began “when someone decided that because of the very nature of my skin I was different — inferior. We still wonder why,” he said. The civil rights movement was, for King, not a political movement, but a moral one, Harris said. But, King believed morals could not be legis lated, he said. Behaviors, however, could be mandated by law, he said, citing King. And that is why lawmak ers play such a crucial role in civil Tights, Harris said. As a legislative body, the actions of AS UN are key to race relations at UNL, Harris said. The United States is at a turning point, he said, with the arrival of the Clinton administration and the recent riots in Los Angeles. “As people feel less and less a part of the American dream, they’re ca pable of anything,” he said. . The decisions of AS UN members’ generation will set the course for the future of civil rights, he said. “Your generation will move us forward or backward in race relations like never before,” he said. In other business, members of the campus life committee decided to petition to put prayer back into UNL graduation ceremonies. And the Gov ernmcnt Liaison Committee was granted approval to lobby for legisla tive bills that support multicultural education in elementary and second ary schools. Bjorklund, Barney waive hearing rights From Staff Reports Two men charged with first degree murder in connection with the death of Uni versity of Ncbraska Lincoln student Candice Harms waived their rights to a prelimi nary hearing Wednesday. Robert Bjorklund, 30, appeared in Lancaster County Court Wednesday. He waived his rights to a hearing and will be arraigned Jan. 27, his attorney, public de fender Scott Helvie, said. Bjorklund also is being charged with robbery and use of a weapon to commit a felony. Scott Barney, 24, waived his right to a prcl im inary hearing Tues day, and will be arraigned Feb. 3 in district court, his attorney, Kirk Naylor, said. Barney is being charged with first-degree murder in connection with the Harms case. Harms’ body was discovered in a field southeast of Lincoln Dec. 6 after she had been missing for 12 weeks. rroject to help disabled students tind jobs From Staff Reports Students with disabilities will soon have more help finding jobs because of a SI35,000 grant the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln recently received. According to a UNL news re lease, the grant, given by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilita tion Services', will be used to create a project entitled Relevant Em ployment for Students in Univer sity Mediated Experiences. The project will be aimed at helping college students with dis abilities make the transfer from college into employment, Mary Friehc, assistant professor of spe cial education and communication disorders, said in the release. “Our objective is to work with university students with disabili lies to gel them better prepared for employment,” Frichc said. The project will be co-dircctcd by Frichc and Jan Lcucnbcrgcr of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Project members also will include a project coordinator, a part-time career planning and place ment counselor, a part-time reha bilitation counselor and a graduate assistant on the UNL and UNO campuses, the release said. Splinter Continued from Page 1 As vice chancellor for research, Splinter oversaw the university museum, University of Nebraska Press and regulatory committees overseeing research. Splinter said the university museum was one of the top muse ums in the country and he enjoyed working with it. He mentioned the largest elephant skeleton in the world on display there: ‘‘I remember when I was a kid, they found it south of North Platte,” he said. The University Press has achieved national recognition under Splinter’s supervision. “I’ve been very pleased to serve on the press board to decide which b<>oks will be published,” Splinter said. “One little fringe benefit is that I get to read books printed by Nebraska Press. I enjoy that.” As for his personal plans after retirement, Splinter said he hoped to complete some research on East Campus — studying soil moisture measurement with radio frequen cies. He also has planned a trip to Alaska, and wants to go sailing off the coast of Maine, he said. But Splinter is not sure he will like life after UNL. “I’m retiring with some apprehen sions,” he said, ‘‘because really I’ve enjoyed my academic work all these years, teaching and doing research.” Regent Continued from Page 1 Besides Dr. Wilson, the regents attending the Nov. 15 meeting were Payne, Don Blank of McCook and Nancy Hoch of Nebraska City. Massengale arrived after the meeting had started. Dr. Blank would not disclose any information from the gathering, in cluding whether Massengale was told during the meeting that he did not have the board’s support to receive a contract extension. “By no means did we (the regents that were present) represent the board of regents,” Dr. Blank said. “There were simply some people on the l>oard who wanted to talk to Dr. Massengale. ” Skrupa said she thought the meet ing was “ill advised and wrong.” “It puts all the regents in a bad light,” she said. Skrupa said the meeting should have been discussed as a personnel matter in a closed meeting, but the press should have been notified. The meeting with Massengale was within stale law, which slates that a quorum of members is necessary fora gathering to bean official board meet ing. Visitors Continued from Page 1 their stay in Lincoln. They will audit four UNL business and economics courses, serve as interns at local busi nesses to get hands-on free enterprise experience, and work with tutors and with Anderson at the center. Overall, the Tajiks will work an average of six days a week. “It’s going to be very, very busy,” Anderson said. “A lot of people think that 90 days is a lot of lime to leam. But when you’ re starling on the ground % floor, it really isn’t.” AndQfson said obstacles could come up in the Tajiks’ road to learn ing free enterprise. “Obviously, thcrc’sa problem with the language,” he said. “We didn’t realize that a lot of American business terms don’t translate into Tajik. So we’re literally creating words to work with.” Anderson said the process would work much more effectively if a larger delegation of professors from Khojand could come to Lincoln to leam. “I think that the program would really take off if they had a few more folks over here,” he said. But the Khojand visitors have some things working in their favor, Ander son said. “They have the support of the com munity and the local businesses,” he said. “And they pick up on concepts, very quickly.” r ^ Don't Miss Our "Grand Reopening” CHECK OUT OUR NEW LOOK, NEW NAME AND NEW AUTOMATIC BOWLING SCORERS! THE GAMES ARE ON US!!!!!! 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