m t i Daily
Nebraskan
INTERNATIONAL JOURNEYS
23/10
Partly to mostly sunny
today. Weekend outlook,
dry Saturday and a
chance of snow on
Sunday.
February 25, 1993
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 92 No. 111
Alumnus gets national recognition
Accomplishments
include co-writing
guide for students
By Mark Harms
Staff Reporter
It was a surprise to Bill
Ekeler when a friend told
him he had made the
honorable mention list of the All
USA Academic Team that was
published by USA Today earlier
this month.
Ekeler, who graduated from
UNL with a degree in elementary
education last December, said he
did not even know he had been
nominated until he received a -
letter from USA Today. It seems
some of his professors had
nominated him on the sly.
Ekeler was one of 73 out of a
field of 1,342 students nation
wide to receive honorable
mention on the All USA Aca
demic Team. He was the only
Nebraska student included on the
list. Sixty students made the first,
second and third teams.
Ekeler had several achieve
ments that helped him earn the '
honor. He had a 3.87 grade point
average, did community service
work for the United Way, was a
member of organizations like the
Golden Key National Honor
Society, and wrote an article for
the “Handbook of College
Teaching: Theory and Applica
tions.”
But perhaps the main factor in
his making the list was the work
he had done while co-authoring a
book called ‘The Black Student's
Guide to College Success.” The
book, published by the Green
wood Publishing Group, should
be in bookstores in May.
Ekeler said the book was like
other college guides, but empha
sized problems that confront
black students. Part of what the
book does, he said, is provide
information about various
university and college campuses
and what they have to offer black
students in the way of clubs,
organizations, faculty and
support groups.
The book also addresses
whether or not to go to college,
finding the right school and
Mrti §au\ hs rfff rTT**
Bill Ekeler, an alumnus of UNL, co-authored the
Success.” The book will be published in May.
fkrixn Trimarchi/DN
‘Black Student's Guide to College
arranging financing.
One section of the book
contains essays by Lyn Vaughn,
an anchor for CNN Headline
News, Greg Gumble of CBS
News and others. Beeler said the
essays offered advice and
inspiration for coping with the
college experience.
Being white, Ekeler said, he
occasionally had problems
convincing people he was
legitimate while he did research
for the book.
“Some seemed to feel I was
probing into places I shouldn’t,”
he said
Ekeler said he was hung up on .
several times, but that he always
was able to call back and smooth
any bad feelings.
One woman asked him if he
was blade, he said. Ekeler replied
that he was not, but that he didn*t
think it made any difference. She
hung up on him.
When he called back, Ekeler
said, he found out that the
woman thought he was saying
that being black wasnot impor
tant.
“I’ve learned to see how some
things can be perceived as
offensive to blacks,” he said.
Ekeler said the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln presented
certain problems for black
students.
“There’s little sense of
community for blacks at UNL,”
he said.
UNL lacks black-oriented
social events, he said, and blacks
have a hard time finding things
such as health-care products and
hair-cutting services.
Ekeler said many African
Americans at UNL didn’t feel as
though they belonged to a group
and often didn’t seek out the
support groups that were avail
able.
As a member of the UNL’s
retention committee, Ekeler is
looking at ways to keep minority
students from dropping out of
college.
“I want to see that more
minority students have the
opportunity to succeed,” he said.
“Until people start working to
See EKELER on 3
Student football seating may be relocated
Several reports
of unruly conduct
lead to proposal
By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter
t least one UNL athletic de
partment official is certain a
proposal to relocate student
football-ticket seating in Memorial
Stadium won’t be taken sitting down.
And that is the inspiration behind
the idea.
Athletic Director Bill Byrne said it
was proposed last week that student
seating be moved to Sections 1,2,9,
10 and 11, which are all iii the east
stadium behind theComhuskers’ side
line. The student seating would fill
the entire sections from top to bottom.
Currently, student seating is scat
tered throughout various sections in
Memorial Stadium.
Byrne said the proposals were dis
cussed during a Feb. IS meeting of
senior staff members of the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln Athletic
Department.
After he received several letters
from fans about increasingly rowdy
student behavior at football games,
Byrne met with Joe Selig, the athletic
department’s ticket manager. They
and other athletic department offi
cials discussed ways home football
games could be made more enjoyable
for all fans, Byrne said.
“Most of the explaints we’ve
gotten have been aboU^students stand
ing up throughout the games, block
ing the view of people behind them,"
Byrne said. “This way, if all the stu
dents were together, everyone would
be standing and it wouldn’t matter.’’
However, he said, other complaints
have included more serious allega
tions of rowdy student behavior.
“We’ve had people complain about
students constantly throwing things,
like cups, and there have been other,
much worse incidents,” he said. “If
some of these things are true, then it’s
pretty bad.”
Byme would not specify what the
most serious allegations were.
The Daily Nebraskan received a
letter last semester from a fan who
claimed to have seen a Comhusker
Marching Band member hit with a
cup full of vomit during a game.
Another proposal made during the
Proposed
student
Source: Athletic director Bill Byrne
Feb. 15 meeting was to reduce the
total number of student tickets allot
ted to 8,000.
Gary Fouraker, assistant athletic
director for business affairs, said the
lowering of the student-ticket ceiling
was proposed by Selig.
“Joe thought that, given the de
cline in student-ticket sales during
recent years, not a lot was going to
change in the future, and dropping the
total to 8,000wouldn * t be a problem,”
Fouraker said.
In 1983, 15,400 student tickets
were sold. Since 1988, student ticket
sales have steadily declined from
10,500 that year to last season’s figure
of 7,500 sold.
Byrne said the decrease in student
ticket sales was a nationwide phe
nomenon.
“College student demographics
have changed dramatically in the last
See SEATS on 3
candidates
square off
in debate
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter ______ _
East Campus is an integral part
of UNL and should not be for
gotten in student elections, a
member of the VOICE party said
Wednesday in the East Union during
the first AS UN election debate of the
year.
Keith Benes, VOICE presidential
candidate, said he had lived on East
campus ior
three years and
had seen the
number of core
classes located
there decrease.
East Campus
students must be
heard from.
Benes, a junior speech communica
tion major, said.
The VOICE party has 14 senato
rial candidates from East Campus.
PARTY presidential candidate
Steve Dietz, a senior art major, said
the East Campus questions were pre
formulated by VOICE supporters and
weren’tthe most important campaign
issues.
Dietz said one major goal of the
PARTY group was to make students
feel more at ease with the Association
of Students of the University of Ne
braska.
“Right now, students feel com
pletely separated,” Dietz said. “We
need to have a group of people to say,
‘Damn it, this upsets me.'
“We need to talk to chancellors,
not call press conferences.”
With that relaxed attitude, Dietz
See DEBATE on 3
Woman cut
by stalker
at her office
From Staff Reports
A man, believed to be stalking
a woman since Monday, al
legedly stabbed her Wednes
day afternoon in the Lincoln City
Office Building, 129 N. 10th St.
A man approached a female em
ployee on fourth floor of the building
and threatened her, Lincoln Police
Captain David Beggs said.
The threats were not related to
robbery, murder or rape, he said, but
a brief struggle ensued. The woman,
who Beggs refused to name, received
a minor facial cut from the assailant
who carried a pocket knife.
Beggs said the 34-year-old woman
was confronted Monday in her office
by the same man. The suspect called
the woman by name, questioned her
and left, Beggs said.
Tuesday at 2:41 p.m., the man
tapped on the woman’s office win
dow and fled.
Beggs said the woman didn ’ t know
the man and reported the second inci
dent to the police.
The assailant is believed to be a 5
foot-6 African-American male with a
slender build. He was wearing a black
baseball cap, a blue denim jacket and
blue jeans. He is believed to be about
25 years old, according to police re
ports.
The suspect was still at large late
Wednesday night.