^ A&E
Art Gallery
Warm up with a cup of
tea at the new Noyes Art
Gallery. This month's
exhibit, "Tea Party,"
features mugs and
saucers by Lincoln
artist Alicia Hanck.
Page 6
Wednesday
19/5
Today, doudy with a
chanced light
snow.
January 19, 1994
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 93 No. 85
Bill would make hazing a crime in Nebraska
By Angie Brunkow
Senior Reporter
Hazing will be a crime in Nebraska if the
Legislature passes a state law intro
duced Tuesday by Sen. Gerald Matzke
of Sidney.
“Every alumni organization and every house
organization will realize that it will no longer
be permitted,” Matzke said.
Matzke said he decided to introduce LB 1129
after he was approached by the parents of
Jeffrey Knoll, a University of Nebraska-Lin
coln student who was injured last November in
an incident related to fraternity hazing.
The UNL Judicial Board imposed sanctions
on Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity in December
for forcing Knoll to consume alcohol, hazing
and dangerous conduct. The Lancaster County
Attorney’s office did not file criminal charges
in the incident because no criminal law was
violated, Matzke said.
Under Matzke’s proposal, individuals sus
pected of hazing could be charged with a Class
II misdemeanor, punishable with a maximum
of six months in jail and a $ 1,000 fine. A student
organization, such as a fraternity or sorority,
that is involved in hazing could be fined up to
$10,000.
Matzke, quoting the bill’s definition of haz
ing, said, “I believe ‘ any activity which willful
ly or recklessly endangers the physical or men
tal health or safety’ of a student should be
illegal.”
The bill, which applies to post-secondary
educational institutions, specifically outlines
hazing to include whipping, beating, forced
alcohol or food consumption, sleep deprivation
and forced exclusion from social contact.
Keith Benes, president of the Association of
Students of the University of Nebraska, said
with no state law to prohibit it, students could
simply quit school to avoid all penalties for
hazing.
“They would basically get off scot-free,”
said Benes, who worked with other university
officials to give Matzke suggestions for the bill.
James Griesen, vice chancellor for student
affairs, said the bill could help reinforce uni ver
sity decisions in situations like the Knoll inci
dent.
“We can only deal with disciplining the
student as long as they remain a student,” he
said.
Matzke said most other states had laws
prohibiting hazing.
“I think in the majority of states in the
country, there would have been a criminal
prosecution (of the Knoll incident),” Matzke
said.
Matzke, a Fiji and UNL alumnus, said the
bill was intended to help build up the greek
See HAZING on 3
Gulf War anniversary
evokes bad memories
By Kara G. Morrison
Senior Reporter ___
hree years ago this week, an
unusual silence enveloped
campus as the first news of
Operation Desert Storm broke.
Students gathered somberly around
television screens across campus.
CNN echoed through residence halls,
greek houses and the Nebraska Union
as groups of students listened to White
House Press Secretary Marlin
Fitzwater announce, “The liberation
of Kuwait has begun.”
Some University of Nebraska-Lin
colnand Nebraska Wesleyan students
gathered on 16th and O streets that
night, holding candles and waving the
peace sign.
The Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska even ad
journed its meeting early so that, as
then-ASUN President Phil Gosch said,
“we can all get home.”
Most students, like Patrick Adams,
now a junior political science major,
remember what they were doing on
Jan. 16,1991, the start of the Persian
GulfWar.
“The night everything broke out, I
was at work at Gallup Polls,” Adams
said. “Some of us came over and
watched (CNN) at the Nebraska
Union. We skipped work to see what
was going on. Nobody got too much
done at work that night.”
Adams said the union crowd was
“really somber.”
“There were a lot of people, but no
one was really saying anything,” he
said.
Debbie Wolfe remembers return
ing from running errands with her ex
boyfriend to a phone call from her
mother, who asked, “Are you OK?”
“I asked why, and she told me (the
war) had started,” Wolfe said. “We
hadn’t been listening to the radio or
anything, so I didn’t know.”
Wol&« father w a colonel in the
55th Wing at Oflfutt Air Force Base.
“My dad had left (for active duty)
seven days before that. 1 turned on the
television and sat there and cried.”
Wolfe, a senior marketing major,
also remembers returning to Kappa
Delta sorority that night. Most of the
girls were gathered in the TV room.
Some were crying, she said, but most
were silent.
“Everything was really still. Ev
eryone was in shock, I think."
Jared Wittwer, a December gradu
ate of UNL, was part of a much differ
ent scene Jan. 16.
See WAR on 3
Few hot issues on tour
Vision Statement
widely accepted,
chancellor says
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
UNL’s statewide tour to gather
public opinion on its Vision
Statement continues to roll
along, entering its second leg Jan. 31.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
representatives have visited Broken
Bow, Grand Island, Hastings,
McCook, Norfolk, South Sioux City,
Syracuse and Wayne since Chancel
lor Graham Spanier launched the state
wide tour last semester.
Spanier said his Vision Statement,
which is a broad synopsis of long
range planning and goals for UNL,
had been widely accepted on the tour.
He said the tour had not confronted
any controversial issues through the
first eight stops. The tour also has
served as an important tool for the
university to reach out across the state.
“I don’t think there have been any
issues that show up as hot issues,”
Spanier said.
The chancellor said the tour pro
vided UNL administrators a chance to
meet with a lot of different people,
each with different opinions and con
cerns.
College deans, vice chancellors
and faculty have shared the speaking
responsibilities during the tour,
Spanier said.
Quality undergraduate education
was an impoilant issue brought up in
the tour, Spanier said. Another topic,
he said, was quality in administrative
services, such as admissions, finan
cial aid and parking.
The tour has gathered a mostly
one-sided response, Spanier said.
“Probably 90 percent positive,”
Spanier said.
Though the tour groups have re
ceived some negative feedback at
times, he said, it usually has been
intended as constructive criticism.
“It’s in a framework of apprecia
tion for what we do,” he said.
Spanier said Nebraskans’ opinions
and criticisms were valuable and had
been taken seriously.
Feedback from on-campus and out
of-town citizens is important to
Spanier and his staff, the chancellor
said.
“We have to integrate (the opin
ions) with comments that are being
generated on campus,” he said.
“People like that document,” he
said. “Out in the communities around
the state, they have been very posi
tive.”
The next stop in UNL’s statewide
tour is Alliance on Jan. 31. The visits
end March 25 with stops in Fremont
and Wahoo.
William Lauer/DN
Michelle Tallman, a senior sociology major, covers up as much as possible while
crossing campus Tuesday morning. The hiah temperature in Lincoln Tuesday was 5
degrees. Wednesday’s highs are expected in the 20s and 30s.
End to bitter cold is in sight
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter_
Below-freezing temperatures
and even colder wind chill
indexes this week have
made life darn cold for University
of Nebraska-Lincoln students.
The cold has made walking
around campus an exercise in the
art of layered clothing.
Raquel Wright, a sophomore
psychology major, said she
wrapped herself in longjohns, jeans,
a sweater, earmuffs and gloves be
fore facing the biting cold.
She said the walk to classes
from her room in Smith Hall was a
challenge.
“It’s an uphill climb and another
reason to skip class,” Wright said.
“I don’t like to walk to class in this
weather, and I wish they would
close school for a while.”
But for some students, it’s not
that bad.
C.J. Eggerksen, a sophomore
elementary education and philoso
phy major, was wearing shorts and
a sweatshirt when he left Hamilton
Hall.
He said that compared to what
he encountered in his hometown,
this weather wasn’t that bad.
“Beingfrom Michigan, this isn’t
cold,” Eggerksen said. “Yesterday
was cold. Today isn’t cold.”
“You have to think positive. The
sun is out, there could be eight feet
of snow and it could be 84 below
zero.”
But the end of the cold weather
may be in sight. The National
Weather Service has predicted tem
peratures would rise to the 40s by
Saturday. A 30 percent chance of
snow and highs in the 20s and 30s
were forecast for Wednesday and
Thursday.
So far, the cold and the wind
chill have not given any UNL stu
dents more than a chill.
Dr. Russell LaBeau, director of
medical services at the University
Health Center, said Tuesday there
See COLD on 3