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Osborne
wins 200th
Nebraska comes Flldfly
back to beat 7R/RR
Oklahoma State ^
27-75 Thursday
^Scfsrtxin
ra»® f Saturday
___ —
Homecoming theme pales with all-white court
By Matthew Waite
Staff Reporter
he Homecoming theme “United Colors
ofUNL” has some students questioning
how an all-white Homecoming court
can symbolize the colors of the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
“I found out the theme, and I’m thinking
‘United Colors of UNL’ — more diversity,”
said Linda Kay Morgan, president of the Afrikan
People’s Union. “And here it is, all the candi
dates are white. That really goes with the whole
theme of the program.”
Morgan questioned the theme because no
ethnic minorities were on the Homecoming
royalty court.
Andrew Loudon, co-chairman for Home
coming Royalty, said the theme did not have to
imply multi-ethnic issues.
‘“United Colors of UNL’ is a very generic
term,” Loudon said. “It doesn’t have to deal
with multicultural issues.”
Loudon said a question on the royalty appli
cation asked what the applicants thought the
theme meant. He said the answers the commit
tee received included ethnic-based answers,
but also had responses saying the colors were
those of the football team on game day.
Morgan said her first impressions of the
-44
The only color that's going
to be happening is their
hair.
— Freimund
co-chairwoman, Homecoming
Royalty
-tf —
theme didn’t include the football team.
“It just doesn’t seem right,’’ Morgan said.
“And the whole purpose of‘United Colors of
UNL’ is all ethnic diversity.”
Karen Freimund, Homecoming Royalty co
chairwoman and vice president of the Univer
sity Programs Council, agreed with Morgan.
“It’s dumb to have the theme since there arc
no minority students on the court,” Freimund
said. “The only color that’s going to be happen
ing is their hair.”
Freimund said the theme was selected last
year by the UNL Steering Committee.
“I think that there are other students that
aren’t minority students that arc opposed to the
theme,” Freimund said. She also said she was
See HOMECOMING on 6
Curriculum proposal
wins more backing
By Dionne Searcey
Senior Reporter
UNL has moved one step clos
er to revamping its entire gen
eral education curriculum,
university officials said.
The Academic Affairs Office ap
proved the proposal that would change
the education of every student enter
ing the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln in 1995, said Liz Grobsmith,
assistant vice chancellor for academ
ic affairs.
Academic affairs offic ials prepared
a report outlining the plan and ex
plaining the philosophies supporting
it, Grobsmith said.
The report is being sent to college
deans and faculty members across the
university, she said. Officials at each
college will review the plan and offer
suggestions.
The new curriculum would include
programs called integrative and es
sential studies, she said.
The integrative studies plan would
require students to take 10 courses,
including critical thinking, oral ex
pression and appreciation of cultural
diversity.
The essential-studies plan would
See GENERAL on 3
Bj orklund may not try
to refile dismissed suit
By Dionne Searcey
Senior Reporter
cr Bjorklund has made no
ins to refilc a lawsuit stat
...g he was treated unfairly in
jail.
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf
dismissed Wednesday a suit Bjorklund
and two otter inmates filed charging
they were discriminated against in the
Lancaster County Jail.
The judge dismissed the case with
out prejudice, which means Bjorklund
can refile the suit. -
The inmates were instructed to re
vise their suit by Sept. 20 but failed to
do so. A federal magistrate asked that
the amended suit show the alleged
discrimination was not based on legit
imate governmental concern.
Bjorklund and two otter inmates,
Matt Williamson and Richard
Blackwell, had filed a complaint June
23 alleging jail officials unfairly re
stricted their freedoms.
“You must believe that we are
brain dead to think that we cannot see
that we are being punished in every
sense of the word/ Bjorklund stated
in a complaint filed June 23. “We are
to be treated as inmates in general
population. Either move us or correct
these things.”
Jail rules state general population
inmates can watch television, gain
access to the law library, play board
games and watch movies.
Bjorklund said in the complaint
that jail officials restricted his free
doms, treating him as if he were in
protective custody. Inmates in pro
tective custody have limited access to
television, the law library, board
games and movies.
Bjorklund said he and other in
mates were not in protective custody.
They were pretrial detainees,
Bjorklund said, who had not yet been
found guilty of any charges by a court.
Bjorklund is awaiting trial for
charges of first-degree murder in the
slaying of UNL student Candice
Harms. Bjorklund’s trial begins Oct.
25.
“We, the plaintiffs, are asking that
we be given the same rights as other
inmates at the Lancaster County Jail,”
Bjorklund said in the complaint.
Another lawsuit Bjorklund filed is
pending. In that suit, Bjorklund alleg
es jail officials retaliated against him
because of motions he filed concern
ing the murder case.
Out of the house, into the spotlight
Home schooling
no hindrance
to UNL senior
By Trlsh Mooney
Staff Reporter
alee away her ambition, her
self-motivation and her
background and Cara
Catlett might be just another 19
year-old student. But most UNL
students Catlett’s age arc just get
ting started.
Catlett already is well on her
way.
She is a senior political science
major who plans to graduate with
honors fnpm the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln in May.
She was educated at home and
began college at Mid-Plains Com
munity College in North Platte
when she was only 16 years old.
She left the public school sys
tem in Seward when she was in the
fifth grade. Her parents, Walt and
Jolene Catlett, wanted to teach her
at home to give her an education
with a strong Christian background,
which they didn’t think could be
found in a public school.
Catlett woke up every morning
and went to the “school room," set
up in her home, where her mother
taught her and her younger sister.
At about 11 a.m., Catlett said
she would work at her parents’
Runza restaurant. She would take a
piano or gymnastics lesson in the
afternoon and study in the evening.
Catlett said she didn’t regret
being educated at home and she
didn’t feel she missed out on any
thing.
“I had all kinds of opportunities
to interact with other home
schooled children. We had planned
activities and parties.
“I don’t feel like I’ve been so
cially deprived. It’s always been
easy for me to get out and meet
people. 1 enjoy doing that,” Catlett
said.
Catlett’s decision to start col
Sandy Sum mars/DN
Cara Catlett, a home-schooled student, surrounds
herself with her studies. Catlett, a 19-year-old UNL
senior, is active in College Republicans and ASUN.
lege early can be traced back to
when she was 12 years old.
“I must have read about some
one doing it, and I said, *1 want to
do that,’ and when I turned 16,1
was still serious. My parents said
they’d see what they could do.’’
Catlett said her parents had al
ways supported her, but it was self
motivation that drove her.
“My environment would stimu
late anyone,” she said.
See CATLETT on 3
Athletic director fights to get Big Red in the black
Athletic department
budget
Nebraska's athletic
department deficit is
declining and may be
eliminated by the end of the
fiscal year.
Nine month reduction:
Jan^-Sept.
$2.4 million $1 million
By Tim Pmrson
Senior Reporter
Before Bill Byrne took over as
Nebraska athletic director, the.
university’s athletic depart
ment had a deficit of more than $2
million.
In just nine months, Byrne has
reduced the deficit from $2.4 million
to about $1 million.
His goal is to rid the department of
that deficit by the end of the year, so
Nebraska doesn’t have to be known
by its football nickname in its budget
affairs.
< “We’d like to have a budget in the
black,” he said. “We don’t want to
have a budget that goes with our nick
name: Go Big Red.”
Byrne came to the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln nine months ago
from Oregon, where he had been ath
letic director since 1984. At the Uni
versity of Oregon, Byrne raised more
than $20 million for new athletic fa
cilities.
He was chairman of the PAC-10
Budget Committee and was named
the top fund-raiser by the National
Athletic Fund-raisers Association in
1985.
While Byrne was at Oregon, fund
raising rose from $400,000 a year to
more than $2.5 million.
At Nebraska, Byme is in charge of
' ''--T «• ' '' . * #
a record budget of $17.8 million for
the 1993-94 fiscal year.
“I’m pleased with the budget,” he
said, “we’d like to not have any debt,
but we plan on reducing it this year.”
Byrne downplays his role in reduc
ing the deficit.
“All 1 did was visit with all of the
coaches about their budgets,” Byrne
said. “We are working hard to make
certain our accounts are payable.”
Most public universities receive
slate aid, but the UNL athletic depart
ment receives nothing from the state
of Nebraska. Byrne said this made it
tougher to raise enough revenue.
See BUDGET on 3
