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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1993)
SPECIAL SECTION ► Holiday supplement Wedn^day ■ ■ ■ *y£JC\J HIQIflP Cloudy with a chance III^IUV of rain. Thursday, mostly cloudy, high near 50. Alcohol ceases to How at ‘Animal House By Matthew Waite Staff Reporter Animal House isn’t the crazed party fraternity the movie made it out to be. In fact, it has banned alcohol in the house and cleaned up its act. Sigma Chi Fraternity at the Uni versity of Maine in Orono, whose house was the setting for the movie “Animal House,” has barred all alco hol from the house and all fraternity functions in the house. The policy, which reduced the house membership to one, has caught on at Orono. All but one member de activated when the policy first went into effect, but the house has since grown to 18 members with a 14 member pledge class. The policy is not unique to the University of Maine. Farmhouse Fra ternity at the University of Nebraska Lincoln also does not allow alcohol in its house or on fraternity property, Farmhouse President Lee Thurber said. Although UNL is a “dry campus,” which means alcohol is banned from university property, many fraternities still have parties with alcohol in their houses, Thurber said. But not at Farmhouse Fraternity. “If men want to drink, it occurs out of the house and the properties,” Thurber said. Members of Farmhouse take pride in their policy, he said. “The absence of alcohol contrib utes to an environment of strong broth erhood that’s not based on social ac tivities,” Thurber said. Since he has been in the house, Thurber said, Farm house has not had an incident involv ing alcohol. Thurber said the house did have off-campus parties that included al cohol. Thurber said he did not look down upon fraternities that did have alcohol in their houses. He said Farmhouse chose not to run the risks involved with alcohol consumption in the house. Blake Fryer, a senior speech com munications major at the University of Maine at Orono, said his SigmaChi chapter re-thought other house poli cies after the fraternity decided to ban alcohol in the house. “We restructured our ideas and our rush practices,” Fryer said. “It was basically a revamping of our atmo sphere.” But Fryer said the decision to ban alcohol was not one that would work for all fraternities. “For us it was a voluntary choice, and we have no second thoughts about doing it,” Fryer said. “There are fra ternities out there that are centered on alcohol — that’s not for us here.” Thurber said alcohol was not the focus of Farmhouse. “It’s best for us that we don’t have alcohol in the house,” he said. The risks of having alcohol in the house were too great, he said. Dan gers exist in fraternities even when See CLEAN on 6 Life 101 taught with care in Spanish 102 Optimism, compassion complete lesson plan By Corey Russman Staff Reporter Haydce Ayal a- R i c hards bel ie ves 1 ife ’ s lessons have a place in her classroom lesson book. “Don’t push yourself. Have goals, but realize that you must sacrifice sometimes in order to achieve them... Love yourself first, and then you can love others ... Try to do your best at whatever you do, and enjoy life.” When she was 22, Ayala-Richards, a graduate teaching assistant student from Puerto Rico, began a 30 year journey that would lead her through nine sur geries and many months in the hospital. Between ages 22 and 31, Ayala-Richards went through seven surgeries to remove numerous non-cancerous tumors, resulting in the loss of ner ovaries ano uterus. Now, she is struggling with a hole in her pancreas that is leaking pancreatic acids into a balloon cyst. But Ayala-Richards, 52, has emerged optimistic about life and ready to bring that optimism to her Spanish 102 classroom. One way she brings that to her classroom is by listening to what her students have to say. “If someone is feeling pain or loneliness, I can sit down and talk with them and can feel for them because I have been through it,” Ayala-Richards said. Ayala-Richards said she always was will ing to help others and listen to their prob lems. “If I can help someone to be better tomor row, 1 will do it,” she said. Ayala-Richards also said this outlook had changed her approach to teaching. Teaching, like parenting, involves help ing others see their problems and providing them with a lifetime of knowledge and wisdom, she said. Part of that responsibility is making her students realize learning is important. The function of a teacher is not only to teach, but also to make students love what they are doing, she said. “If students love to learn, then they are going to learn anything," she said. Ayala-Richards said learned that from Staci McKee/DN Haydee Avala-Richards, a graduate student and Spanish teacher at UNL, has nad nine surgeries in the past 20 years. experience, being a student herself. She hopes to graduate in December 1994 with a doctorate in Spanish. “I want students to be learning with joy, not with an obligation of having to be there,” she said. But her experiences as a teacher and a student may be limited prematurely. Ayala-Richards said she was developing a new tumor in her stomach, but was too weak to have it removed. She also fears pancreatic acids again are leaking in her body. “1 know it is not the end,” Ayala-Richards said. “(A pancreatic cyst) is a cyst that lasts forever. I know I am going to die because of it, I just don’t know when.” “I ask God every day to let me finish my Ph.D. and to let me write and publish books and short stories once I graduate,” she said. UNL homecoming not what it used to be Editors’ Note: College heritage is an impor tant part of student life. UNL students today, however, don’t have the chance to take part in many long-standing campus traditions. This is the third in a week-long series of stories about UNL's forgotten traditions. By Dionne Searcey Senior Reporter Cricket Simmons walked with other roy alty candidates onto the stage at the homecoming dance and waited for the 1968 queen to be announced. “The whole dance stopped,” she said. The speaker announccu Simmons, who was then Cricket Black, as the new queen. “I wish I would have en joyed it more," Black said. "I was a 1 ittle self-conscious to be in the spotlight." Simmons, class of ’70, said homecoming was a big deal in the late 1960s to stuucnts at me university oi neuiasKa-uincuin. The 76-year-old tradition has decreased in size and glamour since its Nov. 12,1912, start at UNL. In Simmons’ day, she said, homecoming week was full of activities that included a bonfire, dance and yard-decorating parties. Greek houses and student groups had their own dances and events throughout the year, Simmons said, but homecoming was a time that brought the campus together. Andrew Loudon, homecoming royalty co ordinator of the 1993 UNL Homecoming Com mittee, said this year’s events included a pep See HOMECOMING on 6 New guidelines for financial aid shorten process By Mark Baldridge Senior Reporter This fall it will be easier for many univer sity students to reapply for federal fi nancial aid. John beacon, director ot admissions, schol arships and financial aid for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said new guidelines for re application for federal aid had streamlined the process greatly. “The government has extracted about 75 percent of all information from last year’s application,” he said. “All a student has to do is update the information and answer a few ques tions.” To make applying easier, the government will assume much of the information on a student’s application this year hasn’t changed from last year. Rather than asking for information already on file, the federal government will issue an application directly to the student with most of the answers already filled in, Beacon said. The government has known about the idea for a few years but has waited until this year to implement it. Beacon said. “ACT came up with the idea a few years ago,” Beacon said, “But it took until now for the idea to be accepted. The government also stalled in implement ing the simplified process because computer support to issue the pre-printed applications was unavailable, he said. And a number of catches still exist, Beacon said. “The letters will be sent directly to the student’s permanent address,” Beacon said. See AID on 6 Student leaders: UNL should get back to basics By Steve Smith Senior Reporter__ Two University of Nebraska College of Law students said Tuesday UNL must focus on education, not topics like pink triangles and green space. Former UNL Student Regent Andrew Sigerson and Robert Caldwell, former UNK student president, told about 100 Downtown Lincoln Rotary Club members that the Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln needed to change its priorities. “Let’s get back to the basics. Let’s get back to academics,” Caldwell said. The first-year law students’ presentation, titled “Education? Who Cares?,” centered on one common theme: Getting social issues out of the classrooms. Sigerson said UNL had the wrong priorities when it focused on: • The 110-space parking lot north of the NebraskaUnion that will be replaced by a park. • The controversial “pink triangle” shelters, which Eric Jolly, director of affirmative action See EDUCATION on 2