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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 1993)
■4 SPORTS No respect Several AP voters don't Friu3y think Nebraska Q£/9H deserves a shot a, ,he national VSSiS^SS1 title. Dry and becoming _ _ warmer through Page 7 Sunday. _ UC1 student paper slams new president By.Dionne Searcey Senior Reporter While University of Nebras ka officials were welcom ing president-elect Dennis Smith with open arms this week, some of his students back home were bid ding him good riddance. “Hasta la vista, baby,” was the headline of a Nov. 15 editorial from New University, the weekly campus newspaper of the University of Cali fornia at Irvine. The editorial, which criticized Smith for the work he has done as I executive vice chancellor, was ad dressed to students of the NU system, said John Ronan, editor in chief of the newspaper. “We, the newspaper, used him as a personal whipping boy, more so be cause he epitomized everything we disliked about the administration here — their aloofness, their lack of avail ability,” Ronan said, “not because we personally didn’t like him.” Smith, who caught the flu during his Nov. 13-16 tour of the four cam puses of the University of Nebraska, was unavailable for comment. The editorial denounced Smith, •See guest editorial page 4 calling him a closed-door administra tor. Horace Mitchell, the vice chancel lor for student affairs and campus life at UCI, said although Smith was gen erally a well-1 iked official on campus, some students, at times, might dis agree. “What happens when you’re in the position he’s in is that you can’t make everybody happy all the time,” Mitchell said. The editorial criticized Smith for -- Take down Women’s club puts chokehold on stereotypes By Amie Haggar Staff Reporter he UNL women’s wrestling club is putting a reversal on the stereotype that the sport is only for men. Bonnie Hackes, a UNL gradu ate student, started planning the club in August. Hackes said she had been wrestling for years and was encouraged by others when she presented the idea for a wom en’s club. Wrestling provides a real chal lenge, Hackes said. “It takesa lotofpraclice tolcarn the moves and be able to put them together in a combination,’’ she said. The women’s wrestling club meets Wednesday nights at 7:30 in the Campus Recreation Center. Hackes said the women warm up, do drills on basic moves and then have scrimmages. Hackes said student fees funded the club, so men who arc interested could join. However, she said she wanted the club to focus primarily on women. Karen Mackey, who has prac ticed judo for 21 years, said wres tling strengthened her judo skills. “1 wanted to learn wrestling, especially for the mat techniques,” she said. “People who have wres tled have a big advantage in judoon the mat.” Hackcs said in the spring, many wrestlers would begin competing in matches through the Rec Cen ter’s intramural wrestling program. She expects some women’s wres tling club members to participate in tournaments around the country. Mackey said because many women did not practice judo, the wrestl ing club added a new dimen sion to her athletic endeavors. “it is nice to be around other women who are interested in a combative sport,” she said. “There are always women who arc inter ested in sports like judo and wres tling, and this is giving women the opportunity to do something like that.” Hackcs said college finally of fered women many of the same opportunities male athletes had al ways enjoyed. “On the collegiate level people have equal opportunities, but be fore they get to this point some opportunities aren’t available,” Hackcs said. “Once they reach ad olescence they begin to drop out because wrestling is perceived as a male sport.” Chandra Burtrum, a senior chem istry major in the club, said having a women’s wrestling club climi ^^. li— Shaun Sartin/DN Bonnie Hackes, a home economics graduate student, wrestles Chandra Burtrum, a senior chemistry major, during a women’s wrestling club practice. The women’s wrestling club meets Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Campus Recre ation Center. natcd some of the stereotypes sur rounding men’s and women’s sports. “Before it wasonly guys thatdid the wrestling. Now no one can say that only guys do that,” she said. “Now the opportunity is there and is open to women.” In addition to athletic skills, Mackey said women could learn personal-safety tactics from being in a combative situation. “Wrestling is also good from a self-defense standpoint,” she said. “The biggest thing the women arc taught as far as self defense is self confidence. The experience is in a nonthreatening environment, which makes it easier to transfer in a real situation.” Hackes said various coaches had been instructing the sessions. UNL men’s varsity wrestling coach Tim Neumann has been very helpful in recommending coaches, she said. Burtrum said wrestling helped to free her mind from stress and worries. “When I go in there to practice. - 44 It is a step beyond physical fitness. You can’t be a good wrestler unless you can think on your feet. — Hackes UNL graduate student - 99 - I forget about everything else. You only focus on what you have to. Since I’m learning, I focus that much more so that 1 get down the techniques,” Burtrum said. Hackes said wrestling required more than physical fitness. “It is a step beyond physical fitness. You can’t be a good wres tler unless you can think on your feet,” she said. “This combines physical skills, which are neces sary, and the mental aspect, which gives a challenge to it. selling university land to the Trans portation Corridor Agency for use as the future site of a major freeway. The land, the editorial said, was ecologically preserved and home to the endangered California gnatcatch er. The land is an environmentally sensitive area, Mitchell said, but UCI officials adhered to all state environ mental laws in the sale of the land. “Everything was according to law and form,” he said, “but there were some who didn’t want it to happen.” Ronan said the sale of the land received unanimous opposition from UCI’s academic senate and student government members. “Everybody who was anybody on this campus was against that sale, and he pushed it through,” Ronan said. “We were totally down on his case for that.” The editorial also criticized Smith for failing to further the implementa tion of an Asian American studies program. Asian Americans make up 43 percent of the student population at UCI. Mitchell said UCI had been in the See SMITH on 6 Harms murder case scared city to action By Dionne Searcey Senior Reporter Last September, almost every one in Lincoln knew an 18 year-old UNL freshman was missing. Wednesday, nearly everyone knew a man was found guilty of her murder. The incident that resulted in the death of Candice Harms drew much attention throughout the city during the 75 days when no one knew her whereabouts. Fliers with Harms’ picture deco rated street poles, bulletin boards, doors and windows. A billboard on Holdrcgc Street reminded passers-by a young woman was missing. Rumors of what might have hap pened to Harms ran rampant. Students and citizens joined Harms’ parents in helping find their daughter. Local businesses donated buttons, paper and free advertising. The community waited to learn the fate of Harms and hoped for the best. Dec. 4, 1992, the answer was known when Scott Barney confessed that he and Roger Bjorklund took part in Harms’ death. Barney led police to Harms’ body Dec. 6. A jury found Bjorklund guilty of first-degree mur der Wednesday. The fear that gripped Lincolnites from the night Harms disappeared heightened the awareness of the inci dent, said Judith Kriss, director of the UNL Women’s Center. Kriss said she thought Harms’ death received a great deal of attention in Lincoln because each community member could relate to it. “Everyone that I know has identi fied with this case in some way — as a parent, as a woman, as a student, as a victim, as a vulnerable person, as someone being in the wrong place in the wrong time,” Kriss said. During closing arguments at Bjorklund’s trial, Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey said no woman in the county was safe the night Bjorklund and Barney set out to find a woman to kidnap and rape in hopes of fulfilling a fantasy. Harms just happened to be that woman. Kriss said the randomness of the incident also contributed to its enor mous publicity. “She was totally and completely a victim," Kriss said. “There was noth ing she could have done to prevent that — other than not be there.” Kriss said she was relieved the jurors found Bjorklund guilty because it illustrated that crime didn’t pay. “It sends a very clear message that what happened is out of the realm of anything that is acceptable,” she said. Kriss also said the verdict would help quash ideas that women arc vul nerable. See BJORKLUND on 2 Bjorklund s fate rests in legal system’s hands By Dionne Searcey Senior Reporter ancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey will use three ar guments in an attempt to per suade a judge to sentence Roger Bjorklund to death. A jury convicted Bjorklund on W ednesday of first-degree murder and using a weapon to commit a felony in the death of Candice Harms. Lacey said he would use three ag gravating circumstances to persuade District Judge Donald Endacott to give Bjorklund the death penalty dur ing the Jan. 24 sentencing hearing. The state is limited to arguing only aggravating factors for the judge to issue the death penalty, Lacey said. Defense attorneys are allowed to argue almost any factors to save Bjorklund from a death sentence, he said. Lacey said he would try to prove beyond any doubt that one or more of these aggravating circumstances ap ply to Bjorklund’s case: • The murder was especially hei nous, atrocious or cruel, or manifest ed exceptional depravity by ordinary standards of morality and intelligence. • The offender has been convicted of another murder or a crime involv ing the use or threat of violence. (Bjorklund has been arrested in con nection with several robberies com mitted last fall.) • Themurderwascommittcd in an apparent effort to conceal the com mission of another crime or to conceal the identity of the perpetrator of the crime. Defense attorneys have implied they would argue that sentencing Bjorklund to death would be unfair when his alleged accomplice, Scott Barney, cannot receive it. Barney pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Bjorklund in ex change for a promise he wouldn’t receive the death penalty. J. Kirk Brown, chief of the crimi nal appellate section of the Nebraska Attorney General’s office, said attor neys would have an entirely different focus during the sentencing hearing than during the trial. The sentencing hearing is similar to a mini-trial, Brown said, where witnesses will testify and evidence will be introduced. See PENALTY on 6