McEIroy declared competent to face charges in court
’/
Treatment helping
offset disorder,
psychiatrist says
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter
Arthur McElroy suffers from a
paranoid delusional disorder
but is stable enough to stand
trial, a psychiatrist testified in
Lancaster County District Court
Thursday.
Dr. Louis Martin of the Lincoln
Regional Center said he had been
evaluating the former University of
Nebraska-Lincoln graduate student
since December, and that he was con
vinced McElroy was aware of the
trial’s implications.
After about 30 minutes of testi
mony from Martin, Judge Donald
Endacott ruled that McElroy was com
petent to stand trial.
The paranoiac disorder made
McElroy believe that some force was
against him and thereby gave him an
unrealistic view of the world, Martin
said.
After taking daily doses of the
tranquilizer Thorazine and undergo
ing numerous evaluations, Martin said,
McElroy showed general improve
ment and could deal with the stress of
a trial.
“He’s had time to adjust to this,”
Martin said. “He could go through the
process without breaking down be
cause of stress.”
McElroy, 43, is charged with at
tempted second-degree murder, mak
ing terroristic threats and using a
-
He’s had time to adjust to this. He could go
through the process without breaking down
because of stress.
— Martin
psychiatrist, Lincoln Regional Center
weapon to commit a felony (two
counts) during an Oct. 12 incident in
Ferguson Hall.
McElroy allegedly held a semiau
tomatic weapon on about 20 students
and attempted to fire, but the gun
See MCELROY on 6
Spanier picks
top research
administrator
Appointment of Minnesota
official ends long search
By Matt Woody
Staff Reporter
The search is over.
After nearly three years of phone calls,
interviews and visits, Chancellor Gra
ham Spanier announced Thursday his appoint
ment for the position of vice chancellor for
research at UNL.
Dr. Priscilla Grew, the director of the Min
nesota Geological Survey at the University of
Minnesota, must be approved for the position
by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents'
before she officially assumes the job.
Stan Liberty, dean of the College of Engi
neering andTechnology, who chaired the search
committee, said that Grew received a very
favorable response from all involved in the
search. He said he was optimistic about her
appointment.
“Shchasexcelleni interpersonal skills. She’s
a very good listener,” Liberty said. ‘‘I think
she’s got the potential to be a very effective
leader for the university in this area.”
Grew could not be reached Thursday for
comment.
Although the search for the position took a
long time, Liberty said he was pleased with the
process.
Part of the difficulty in choosing a candidate
was due to a large pool of highly qualified
applicants, he said.
“The screening process was very challeng
ing for the search committee, because the qual
ity of the candidates was very outstanding,”
Liberty said.
Grew’s duties as vice chancellor for re
search will include overseeing the University
of Nebraska State Museum, the University of
Nebraska Press and numerous committees and
research centers at UNL.
Grew will begin in September 1993 and will
be paid $110,000 per year.
She received her undergraduate degree in
geology from Bryn Mawr College in 1962 and
ner doctorate from the University of California
at Berkeley in 1967.
Before taking on her present post at the
University of Minnesota, she served for four
years as the director of the Department of
Conservation for the State of California and for
five years as commissioner of the California
Public Utilities Commission.
Jeff HaHer/DN
Wheeler Dixon, chairman of the film studies program, said the viewers of his latest film, MWhat Can I Do?” get
a chance to look at themselves.
Behind the scenes
Professor writes, produces, directs new feature film
By Michelle Leary
Senior Reporter
Wheeler Winston Dixon, chairman
of the film studies program at
UNL, has gone beyond the
realms of teaching tne art of filmmaking.
Dixon once again has entered the
working world of film as the director,
producer and screenwriter of his latest
film, **What Can I Do?”
The 80-minute feature film, which is
now in post-production, was shot in Los
Angeles in January and is expected to be
completed by November, Dixon said.
Dixon was able to fund his film after
he received the 1993-1994 Layman
Foundation Award, worth $18,000.
The money was divided in half for pre
production expenses and for the actual
shooting of the film.
‘‘We had budgeted the money to cover
a week of shooting, but we finished
filming in one day,” he said. “We were
really surprised, but all the scenes just
seemed to work.”
Dixon is now in the process of locating
$18,OCX) to finish the film, he said.
“The film was remarkably inexpensive
to make,” Dixon said. Many of the actors
and staff worked for union wages, which
was minimum wage, or for free.
Anna Lee, who plays the main charac
ter, agreed to make the film for union
scale after she read and fell in love with
the script, Dixon said. Lee stars in the
daytime soap opera “General Hospital” as
See DIXON on 6
Aviation, pilot theory courses to be offered at UNL in fall
By Joel Strauch
Star Wbeorff_
UNL siudeius may not be able
to get off the ground yet, but
next semester they will be
able to lake introductory aviation
courses at the Lincoln campus.
Beginning next fall, the university
of Nebraska at Omaha Aviation Insti
tute will offer two aviation courses at
UNL.
“This is a great opportunity for
aviation education in Lincoln,” said
Brent Bowen, director of the Aviation
Institute at UNO. “We feci fortunate
to be invited by Chancellor Graham
Spanier.”
Spanier, a licensed commercial
pilot, toured UNO's Aviation Insti
tute facilities last December and, ac
cording to Bowen, seemed excited
about the joint program.
The two classes to be offered are
Introduction to Aviation, which is an
overview of the air transportation sys
tem, and Private Pilot Theory, a basic
teaching of flying without leaving the
ground.
The pilot theory class provides the
ground instruction needed to take and
pass the Federal Aviation
Administration's private pilot written
exam.
The development of actual flight
courses at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln will be determined by the
success of the ground courses, Bowen
said.
“We hope to find expertise avail
able in Lincoln to teach these classes,"
Bowen said. “If not, we will provide
instructors from Omaha."
Eventually, he said, courses mav
be taught over the airwaves by satef
’;y ■ 1 ■
-44
This Is a great opportunity for aviation education
In Lincoln.
—Bowen
director of the aviation institute at UNO
lite.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the
Aviation Institute sponsored a booth
in the Nebraska Union with informa
tion about the two fall courses.
77
David McChesney, a UNL gradu
ate student and a volunteer at the
booth, said the Aviation Institute offi
See AVIATION on 6