UPC changes called dangerous for minority interests
By Corey Russman
Staff Reporter
As the University Program
Council finalizes plans to re
organize, one University of
Nebraska-Lincoin student is worried
about the potential for a decrease in
cultural awareness programming.
Ernest Smith, chairman of the Big
Eight Council on Black Student Gov
ernment, said he was concerned be
cause members of the majority tend to
look out for their own interests and
■ ' -
Student leader says ethnic programming might be neglected
might begin to ignore ethnic pro
gramming because of the controver
sies it could produce.
Because all students pay fees that
help support university organizations
such as UPC, Smith said, minorities
could be “paying for something they
may not get returns off of.”
Smith said he also was concerned
that issues such as cultural perfor
mances, lectures and speakers could
go untouched if there was not ad
equate minority representation in the
reorganized UPC.
He said he hoped minorities still
would receive adequate representa
tion. Smith has encouraged minori
ties to apply for the new UPC posi
tions in order to ensure representation
from the minority population.
UPC officers arc selected on the
basis of involvement in campus orga
nizations, Smith said. Because mi
norities traditionally have not been as
involved as non-minorities, he said,
they may find it difficult to get ad
equate representation in UPC.
Smith said he also had concerns
about money allocation for cultural
awareness programs, and hoped it
would “not be one big pot, in which
the most powerful get the most
money.”
The changes in UPC’s organiza
tion were approved on Jan. 26. They
call for the consol idation of the present
18 UPC committees into one large
committee.
The 18 com m ittccs w il 1 be replaced
by 11 cvcntdirectors.fiveexecutives,
an event staff and many volunteers.
“All that’s disappearing is the com
mittees that make UPC seem like 18
different groups,” said Wendy
See UPC on 3
Michelle Paulman/DN
UNL Police Officer Joe Scott patrols the Administration Building Wednesday. While seeing an officer in a building used
to raise eyebrows, Scott said he believed people were getting used to the foot patrol. “Hopefully, we’ll be a deterrent to
crime,” Scott said.
Crime scare
Prospective UNL students worry about campus safety
By Doug Kouma
Staff Reporter
After two highly publicized,
violent crimes involving
UNL students last semes
ter, prospective students are wor
ried about campus safety, said Jan
Roth, office manager of the high
school and col lege relations office.
In an effort to ease these wor
ries, UNL officials arc striving to
make crime prevention and safely
information available.
The kidnapping and murder of
UNL freshman Candice Harms and
graduate student Arthur McElroy’s
attempt to open fire on a classroom
of students, should not have a large
effect on students' decisions to at
tend UNL, Roth said.
But, Roth said, the crimes do
cause fear in some students and
parents.
“A lot of the concern is coming
from parents from smaller towns
concerned with their student’s
safety,” Roth said.
“But all students and parents
have some concern,” she said. ‘‘It
doesn’t matter where they’re from.”
UNL Police Chief Ken Caublc
said that when he talks to prospec
tive students, he “tries to tell it like
it is.”
“National ly, crime is on the rise,”
he said, “and Lincoln is no differ
ent than any other town.”
But despite the increase, Cauble
said, the crime rate at UNL was still
low compared to Lincoln, which
also has alow crime rate for its size.
Kris Dillon, a university repre
sentative for the high school and
college relations office, said at high
schools she had visited the crime
rate did not seem to be an overrid
ing issue.
Roth said students who visited
UNL were given the “Crime Safety
and Prevention” brochure, which
the university began distributing
last semester in accordance with
the “Student Right to Know and
Campus Security Act of 1990.”
She said tour guides made a
special effort to point out safely
features such as the emergency
phones and the campus escort ser
vice.
Her office also advises students
See CRIME on 3
Man cnargea
with killing
Harms pleads
not guilty
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter
□ man facing charges in con
nection with a murdered
University of Nebraska-Lin
coln student pleaded not guilty
Wednesday.
Scott Barney, 24, was arraigned on
first-degree murder charges in the
death of Candice Harms, 18. Barney
appeared before Judge Jeffrc
Chcuvront in Lancaster County Dis
trict Coim.
Harms’ body was discovered Dec.
6 in a field southeast of Lincoln. She
had been missing for 12 weeks.
Cheuvront set a March 29 jury trial
date for eight charges related to the
string of Lincoln robberies Barney
was allegedly involved in last fall.
Barney also pleaded not guilty to
the robbery charges. The charges in
cluded: two counts of robbery, two
counts of using a weapon to commit a
felony, two counts of theft by receiv
ing stolen property, one count of con
spiracy to commit a robbery and one
count of possession of a firearm while
committing a felony.
Barney’s first-degree murder
charges will be heard at a jury trial
May 10.
Roger Bjorklund, 30, also faced
charges in connection with the rob
beries and Harms’ death. He did not
plead, and his attorney, Public De
fender Scott Hclvie, filed a motion to
quash the robbery charges.
The motion to quash is a proce
dural move often used in legal cases,
Hclvie said. It is a motion that alleges
facts used were possibly unconstitu
tional or defective, he said.
Bjorklund was not served with a
copy of the charges 24 hours prior to
the arraignment, as required by state
law, but Hclvie said that wasn’t the
reason for the quash.
Chcuvront will hear the motion to
quash Bjorklund’s robbery and mur
der charges Feb. 12 in District Court.
Both men are being held without
bond.
ASUN to put commencement prayer on March ballot
By Andrea Kaser
Staff Reporter
Students will be able to voice
their opinions about prayer at
commencement ceremonies
now that AS UN members approved
putting the question on March’s elec
tion ballot.
After much debate, the resolution
to add the question passed with a 14
to-8 vote and three abstentions.
Ronald Schmidt, senator for the
College of Law, said the question
would have no authority in the formal
commencement decision. The intent
behind the question, he said, was to
use it as evidence for the Commence
ment Committee to show how the
majority of students fell about the
issue.
Some members of the Association
of Students of the University of Ne
braska questioned the accuracy of the
elections, citing last year’s 16 percent
voter turnout and the low number of
seniors who vote.
Andrew Pcshck, senator for the
College of Business Administration,
said because most student voters were
freshman and sophomores, putting
the question on the ballot might be
pulling itbcforc the wrong segmentof
the student body.
A vole representing 16 percent of
students would not have enough power
to decide the matter, even if the vote
were yes, he said.
Shane Tucker, senator for the De
partment of General Studies, said all
students had the opportunity to vote
and this issue would get students who'
oppose prayer at commencement to
go to the polls.
“This is a challenge for all the
would-be atheists and Christian-hat
ers to go out and vote in the elections,”
he said.
Schmidt said he was ashamed of
Peshek and others who attacked the
democratic process by implying that
those who didn’t vote still should be
represented.
“I think you guys have been in
timidated loo much by the D.N.’s
sensitivity training,” he said, asking
members if they were going to allow
the students to decide, or the Daily
Nebraskan’s editorial board.
“To say that the majority doesn’t
have the power to implement its will
goes against democracy,” he said.
Jason Howell, a senior criminal
justice major spoke to members on
behalf of the students.
“I’m here to show our opposition
to this action,” he said. “We hope that
you support us.”
After his brief statement, the group
filed quietly out of the room.
ASUN President Andrew Sigcrson,
who was at another engagement dur
ing open forum, later said he was
looking into the legal ramifications of
CFA’s action. The level of press the
matter was receiving was premature,
he said.
“There are a lot more stages in this
before it’s final,” he said.