The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, November 05, 1993, Image 1
A&E^ Haunting love A tragic love opera, Dido & Aeneas, Friday plays at Kimball i «n/1 Hall this weekend. 3 _ _ _ Variable cloudiness P89® 9 and colder today, flurries possible. Saturday not as cold, mostly sunny._ Controversy surrounds president selection O’Brien discusses NCAA allegations By Andrea Kaser Senior Editw __ _ A candidate for the NU presidency re sponded to questions at a Thursday press conference regarding controver sies surrounding his office, including NCAA violations and scholarships awarded to his daughters. Gregory O’Brien, chancellor of the Univer sity of New Orleans and one of four finalists O’Brien tor the University ot Ne braska presidency, held the press conference after a public interview with the NU Board of Regents. Since O’Brien was named chancellor in 1987, his two daughters have received scholarships from the Tay lor Scholars Program, a fund O’Brien said he was instrumental in starting. 1 he tund otters scholarships worth 3>5Q,OUO to See O’BRIEN on 2 Curris’ Iowa past raises questions By Jeff Zeleny Senior Editor The NU Board of Regents met for 45 minutes in closed session Thursday with presidential candidate Constantine “Deno” Curris discussing an issue he was in volved in at the University of Northern Iowa. The issue stems from a “semi-accurate” newspaper report about Iowa legislative issues five or six years ago, Curris said after the closed session. He would not elaborate. Curris uurns was me iourm can didate interviewed by the regents. The board will se lect the new president Sun day. Regent Chairman John Payne of Kearney gave Curris the option to discuss the Iowa issue in closed session. “I would like to go into closed session with the issue in Iowa,” Curris told the board. See CURRIS on 2 Officials say hazing may have led to fall By Alan Phelps Senior Reporter Fraternity members apparently hazed a 19-year-old UNL stu dent before he fell out a third floor Phi Gamma Delta window Wednesday afternoon, university of ficials said. Jeff Knoll, a freshman from Ogallala, remained in critical condi tion Thursday at Lincoln General - Hospital. James Griesen, University of Ne braska-Lincoln vice chancellor for student affairs, said police interviews with fraternity members indicated Knoll, a Fiji pledge, had been drink ing “in a coercive environment” be fore the accident. Active members of the fraternity found Knoll in the house Wednesday afternoon during a “pledge sneak,” Griesen said, when pledges were not su d to be in the house at 1425 R “He was caught before he could sneak away,” Griesen said. After Knoll consumed alcohol, he told fraternity members he felt ill and wanted to go into the bathroom, Griesen said. Knoll entered the bath room alone as other fraternity mem bers went downstairs to eat dinner. Soon after, one of the members downstairs glanced out a window and saw Knoll lying on the parking lot, Griesen said. The bathroom window, about 25 feet above the concrete in the back of the house, did not have a screen. Emergency teams arrived about 5:30 p.m. Knoll apparently did not lie unnoticed in the parking lot for long, Griesen said. “We know it was a very short amount of time,” he said. After Knoll was taken to Lincoln General Hospital, university and Lin coln police officers began interview ing fraternity members. UNL Police Chief Ken Cauble said Knoll’s fall See FALL on 6 Staa McKee/DN Joyce Yen, a junior math major, is involved in many campus activities but manages to keep a 4.0 grade point average. % / All the way No matter what, Yen gives only her best By Melanie Branded Staff Reporter UNL junior Joyce Yen doesn’t do anything half way. Whether its maintaining her 4.0 grade point average, working as a student assistant on the honors floor in Neihardt Residence Hall or giving tours of the university as a New Student Enrollment host, Yen gives it her all. “You don’t stop half way,” Yen says of her work ethic, “you take it all the way.” The math major from Hastings also spends her time as a member of the University Honors Program Student Advisory Board, Pi Mu Epsilon math honorary and Gold en Key Honor Society. She is the coordinator of the Student Alumni Association, a jun ior adviser for Alpha Lambda Del ta freshman honorary and an Od yssey Peer mentor. “I’m a person CTIinCMT who needs ^ * rJi ■ things to do,” profile yen says r keeps me go ing and ncips me to stay on \ top of things.” Yen said her campus in volvement wasn’t iust motivational. It provides her with new experiences, public speaking and interviewing skills, and the opportunity to interact with all types of people, she said. But she admits keeping up with her schedule takes some work. Yen said she found time for school and activities by prioritiz ing and planning ahead. “I live and die by my daily plan ner,” she said. Despite her workload. Yen de nies she has any superior abilities. “Everyone has this misconcep tion that I’m smart,” she said. “Per sonally, I don’t think that I’m that smart.” She attributes her success in the classroom and in activities to hav ing an open attitude, to being un afraid to ask for help and to being unsatisfied with doing less than her best. Yen plans to graduate from UNL in May 1995 and go on to graduate school. After graduate school, Yen said she was consid ering teaching high school or col lege math. She also is considering a career in operations research. 30 students hope to find themselves in Jeopardy By Ann Stack Staff Reporter The answer is: Trying out to be on the television quiz show Jeopardy. Please phrase your response in the form of a question. What are 30 University of Ne braska-Lincoln students doing this weekend? Those students will in the first round of Jeopardy college tryouts Fri day in Omaha. Similar tryouts will be conducted in Los Angeles, New York City and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., as part of a nationwide search for teen-age and college con testants. After registering by phone in ear ly September, 100 contestants from Nebraska were selected randomly for the actual tryouts. The contestants will be given a general knowledge test composed of 50 questions, said Amy Kennedy, a senior broadcasting major at UNL and intern at Omaha’s KMTV Chan nel 3. Contestants who pass the tests will go on to participate in a mock jeop ardy game. They then undergo a per sonality interview with two Jeopardy staff members, Kennedy said. After that, 15 Nebraska finalists will be chosen for championship rounds in February, Kennedy said. Senior finance major Greg Hill said he called more than 10 times trying to secure his spot in the first round of Jeopardy tryouts. He will put his knowledge to the test Friday at 3 p.m. “A friend who did it last year said that you have to get 35 out of the 50 questions right in order to get an in terview and compete in me mock game,” Hill said. “I’m not really ner vous. I figure I’ll either know it or I won’t.” Autopsy physician: Harms was victim of sadism, torture By Dionne Searcey Senior Reporter and Mike Lewis Staff Reporter A pathologist testified Thursday that Candice Harms was the victim of what he called sex ual sadism and torture before she died. Dr. Matthias Okoye, the Lancaster County coroner’s physician and a fo rensic pathologist at Pathology Med ical Services in Lincoln, testified Harms’ left nipple was cut off while she was alive. “It’s more likely than not this in jury occurred before death,” said UKoye, wno con ducted Harms’ medical legal au topsy. Okoye came to that conclusion, he said, because the wounds near the nipple area bled. “Dead people do not react to inju ry,” he said. “Dead people do not bleed” Special Deputy Public Defender Richard Goos asked Okoye during cross-examination whether the sev ered nipple could have been a result of predatory animals. T did not see any damage consis tent with predatory activity around the nipple,’’ Okoye said. ‘This is con sistent with sexual, sadistic homicide and torture.” Okoye showed the jury 30 slides of Harms’ badly decomposed body during ‘its autopsy. Several of the — X X—, slides showed four bullet wounds in the skull. The bullets entered the skull through its back base, through the left temple and through the left side of the jaw, Okoye said. One bullet entered the skull through the left cheek and nearly exited the skull through the right side, he said. Okoye said he determined the bul let wounds occurred before the vic tim died because blood was found in See TRIAL on 6 ► A pathologist testified that Harms was the victim of what he called sexual sadism and torture before she died. ► A dismissed juror contradicted the judge's explanation for his dismissal ana said he thought his telephone had been tapped. I rxtecott dismissed Friday's so jurors could have a »ekend. The trial resumes Monday at 8:30 a.m.