NU women take
on Colorado
35/25
Today sunny and mild,
becoming dody and
windy tonight and a 30%
chance of snow.
Tomorrow cloudy and 35
degrees_
Baldwin case prompts senator’s proposal
Bill would give
state judges
more authority
By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter
Proposals introduced Wednes
day in the Nebraska Legisla
ture would loosen restraints on
state judges dealing with criminal cases
involving the mentally ill, the bills’
sponsor said.
Sen. Don
Wcscly of Lincoln
introduced LB518
in an attempt to
give the courts
l____more authority
I^MmFOIUM ovcr lhosc found
nol guilly for
crimes by reason of insanity.
Wesely said his proposal was in
spired by the case of Andrew Scott
Baldwin, a former University of Ne
braska-Lincoln student and
Comhusker football player.
Baldwin was shot Iasi Sept. 5 by
Omaha police officers during what
doctors determined to be his second
psychotic episode in nine months.
“I’m hoping this legislation will
prevent that scenario from ever oc
curring again,” Wcsely said.
Baldwin, 23, from Roselle, N.J.,
was charged with the Jan. 18, 1992,
assaults of Gina Simanck Mountain
and Lincoln Police OfficcrGrcg Sims.
He later was found not guilty by rea
son of insanity when psychiatrists
determined the attacks were caused
by a psychotic episode.
-44
I’m hoping this legislation will prevent that sce
nario from ever occurring again.
—Wesely
state senator
Baldwin was diagnosed as suffer
ing from schizophrenia, and was or
dered by Lancaster County District
Judge Paul Merritt to undergo psychi
atric treatment at Omaha’s St. Joseph
Center for Mental Health on an outpa
- 77
tieni basis.
In September, Baldwin was para
lyzed when a bullet fired by an Omaha
police officer severed his spinal cord.
See BALDWIN on 6
Money needed
for program
to stay afloat
The state of Nebraska
has not kept promise,
project director says
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter
Cn effort to improve education in
Nebraska’s elementary and high schools
has been underway lor only a year, but
it may be cut short if funds once promised for
the project don’t come through.
A program initiated by the Nebraska Math
ematics and Science Coalition in 1991 was
designed to improve math and science educa
tion in all Nebraska schools.
roiiuii luiium^iwi uii|;iu
gram was provided through
a grant from the National
Science Foundation in
Washington D.C.
The grant was supposed to
be matched with stale funds
more than a year ago, but no
money has been allotted yet.
“The state of Nebraska made the promise for
significant support — it was a letter of good
intent,” Karen Ward, coalition project director,
said.
“At this point all wc have is good intent, we
haven’t gotten any money from them,” she
said.
Sen. Ron Wilhcm of Papillion, chairman of
the education committee, introduced LB649
Wednesday. The bill would appropriate legis
lative funds to pay for the slate’s portion of the
grant.
Wilhcm’s proposal would appropriate S2
million lor the project in the next two years.
If Nebraska doesn’t match the amount, the
foundation will look down on giving future
grants. Ward said.
“If the Legislature hasn’t done something
definitive, as far as getting us $2 million for the
first grant, there is no way the NSF will look
favorably on requests.”
See BILL on 3 .
Jeff Haller/D N
Cool place to study
Wendy Freeman, a senior electrical engineering major, studies Thursday in a spot she
cleared of snow near 16th and Vine streets. Freeman, who was waiting to meet a
friend, said she enjoyed the winter weather.
East Campus
college plans
big changes
By Mindy Leiter
Staff Reporter
This semester the College of
Home Economics will make
some changes, including a
merger, a new department director
and an anticipated name change, a
UNL official said.
Karen Craig, dean of the College
of Home Economics, said the college
was combining the Department of'
Human Development and the Family
and the Department of Consumer Sci
ence and Education to create the De
partment of Family and Consumer
Sciences.
in addition, Lraig said, me College
of Home Economics is anticipating a
name change, already approved by
the NU Board of Regents and pending
approval in March by the Nebraska
Coordinating Commission for
Postsecondary Education.
The proposed name, College of
Human Resources and Family Sci
ences, better suits the college’s goal
of finding new ways to serve families
and communities, Craig said.
“We want to move away from the
cooking and sewing perspective that
most people hold,” Craig said, “The
faculty wants to operate within a 21 st
century framework.”
Such a framework, she said, will
include dealing with all aspects of
modem family life.
‘‘We need to help individuals and
families and communities deal with
critical issues in a responsible way, so
they can act.”
Craig said those issues involved
single parenting, youth at risk, finan
cial problems and the lack of rural
businesses in small communities.
Streamlining departments is one
way the college will deal with these
issues, Craig said.
Racdcnc Combs, a professor of
consumer science and education, and
See MERGER on 3
Changes considered to boost residence hall appeal
By Jeffrey Robb
Staff Reporter
In an effort to stave off a decline in the
number of students signing on for spaces in
UNL residence hal Is, the Office of U n i ver
sity Housing is considering several measures to
draw in more upperclassmen, a university offi
cial said.
Doug Zatcchka, university housing director,
said residence hall population dropped 11 per
eent in the last six years because students were
moving off campus earlier.
He said better communication was needed
between students and housing officials to find
out exactly what students, and especially up
perclassmen, would value in the halls. Toward
that end, a special workshop of housing admin
istrators, residence directors and student assis
tants was held last Sunday to work through
Plans geared toward attracting upperclassmen
ideas and coordinate plans.
Zatcchka said four main ideas were being
considered to boost residence hall appeal:
• make parking lots larger and closer to the
halls.
•configure meal plans so food service could
be provided later in the afternoon or evening.
Zatcchka said many students suggested this
because class schedules often run through meal
times.
• hold costs down.
• designate halls housing only upperclass
men. These halls would provide more privacy,
with mostly single rooms for occupants.
“We have upperclassmen who have a strong
desire for privacy, like not having a roommate,
for example,” Zatcchka said.
Tiffani Walvoord, a senior anthropology
major, has lived in an apartment throughout
college. She said she thought residence halls
were loo crowded, noisy and expensive. Pri
vacy and freedom arc the main advantages of
her apartment, she said.
Privacy is also a factor in why JustinTumblin,
a junior psychology major, lives off campus.
He said his house offered privacy that residence
halls couldn’t give.
Zalcchka said residence halls had been im
proved in the last five years to eater to students.
Cable television, computer laboratories and
24-hour visitation have been added, but more is
needed, he said.
Jim H ill, a Cather Hall student assistant, said
another idea proposed was to take a portion of
students’ unused meal money and apply it to
snack-bar use. Hill said a price discount for
students who live in the halls three or more
semesters also was discussed.
Zatcchka said problems could arise in trying
to fit such proposals into the housing budget.
But he said if the plans were examined, and
were found to be affordable and of student
value, then the plan could move forward.
However, Zatcchka stressed that possible
improvements must be of student value. A
survey was held last year to determine if 24
hour visitation rules would influence students
to staying in the halls. Many students said they
would slay in the halls because of the new
measure, Zatcchka said, but residence hall
population went down this year despite the
plan.
“I don’t want to spend a lot of money and a
lot of time and find out nobody cares,” he said.
Zatcchka said there was no timetable for
when any new plans may be implemented.