*4 SPORTS
Gearing Up
Shanelle Porter, a senior
sprinter on Nebraska's
track and field team,
hopes to break out of the
pack as she finishes her
Husker carreer.
Page 5
Wednesday
57/33
Today, partly sunny
and mild.
February 16, 1994
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 93 No. 105
Jon WaKer/DN
Sen. Don Wesely of Uncoin, Gov. Ben Nelson and Chancellor Graham Spanier cut cake in the Nebraska Union
in honor of the University of Nebraska’s 125th birthday.
Hundreds consume NU birthday cake
By Kara G. Morrison
Senior Reporter
The University of Nebraska celebrat
ed its 125th birthday Tuesday with
more than 350 pounds of birthday
cake.
Gov. Ben Nelson, Sen. Don Wesely of
Lincoln and University of Nebraska-Lin
coln Chancellor Graham Spanier were on
hand to commemorate the Nebraska Legis
lature’s Feb. 15, 1869, chartering of the
University of Nebraska.
“It’s a nice occasion to have a party,”
Spanier said.
About 200 students, faculty, staff and
passers-by were on hand for the 2 p.m.
birthday bash in the Nebraska Union.
Nelson read a resolution, passed by the
Legislature Tuesday morning, recognizing
the university for its contributions to “life,
learning, culture and productivity of the
state.”
Wesely, who introduced the resolution,
is a 1977 UNL graduate. He was a graduate
student when he was elected to the Legisla
ture in 1978.
The state senator said he had a personal
interest in getting the resolution passed.
“I just wanted to say thank you to the
university for all it has done,” Wesely said.
“I would not be where I am today without the
University of Nebraska.”
Wesely said theuniversityofTeredhiman
excellent and affordable education and trans
formed him from a shy student, enabling
him to become a state senator.
“I wouldn’t have been able to afford a
college out-of-state,” he said. “I’m eternally
grateful to the university.”
Spanier began the birthday celebration
by presenting the governor with a University
of Nebraska tie and the first edition of
“Nebraska” magazine.
The magazine, which chronicles the 125
years of NU’s history, will be sent to the
nearly 150,000 living NU graduates, Spanier
said.
Following the governor’s presentation,
Spanier cut the birthday cake, giving the
first piece to Nelson.
“It isn’t just sugar and spice,” Spanier
said about the ingredients of the 20 giant
sheet cakes, or 1,920 pieces of cake, that
were served at the Nebraska Union and East
Nebraska Union Tuesday.
Spanier, describing the preparation of the
birthday cake for the event, said the ingredi
ents included 100 pounds of cake mix, 100
eggs and 100 pounds of powdered sugar. It
took 12 hours just to mix the batter, he said.
Spanier joked that one aspect of the cer
emony could go down in history as one of his
best decisions.
“I did pick the chocolate cake and the
white frosting.”
Pretrial diversions an option for offenders
By Matthew Waite
Senior Report*_
Pretrial diversions can give first-time of
fenders charged with a misdemeanor or
minor felony a second chance, clearing
their name of any criminal record.
Lee Flynn, director of Diversion Services in
Lancaster County, said pretrial diversions of
fered the opportunity to drop a charge if the
defendant agreed to complete a program de
signed by the counselor.
“It’s an opportunity for people to earn their
way out of trouble,” Flynn said. ‘‘By earning
your way out of trouble... you learned what got
you to commit the offense.
“If they haven’t learned anything, they’re
going to get rearrested.”
The program is especially important for
students, Flynn said, who are working on an
education.
Flynn said the program was tailored to the
offense and the person.
For example, someone with a charge of
minor in possession of alcohol would have to go
to an alcohol-control class, Flynn said, and
someone facing assault charges would go to an
anger-control class.
In addition to attending a specialized class,
Flynn said, the defendants have to perform a
certain number of community service hours
and pay a fee for the service.
Recently, incidents involving the Universi
ty of Nebraska-Lincoln have resulted in defen
dants opting for pretrial diversions.
Five students from the University of Mis
souri-Columbia, who were caught stealing a
statue of Abraham Lincoln from Sheldon Me
morial Sculpture Garden, have entered the
diversions program.
In addition to paying a combined SIS,000
fine, each of the five men must perform about
80 hours of community service. They must
maintain good grades at their university and
complete an art appreciation program.
Flynn said the Missouri students’ case was a
good example of the reason Diversion Services
was available.
See DIVERSION on 3
Fees committee slashes Women’s Center budget
By Ann Slack
The Committee for Fees Allocation voted
7- 2 Tuesday to cut the Women’s
Center’s 1994- 95 budget by $2,999.
In discussing the Nebraska Union’s budget,
the Women’s Center, the Office for Student
Involvement and the Culture Center all came
under scrutiny.
In a budget request of $1.7 million CFA
recommended the Nebraska Union receive $ 1.6
million.
The committee suggested that instead of
having a graduate assistant work in the Wom
en's Center office, a student on work/study
would be more cost-efficient.
Other budgeted expenses from the Wom
en's Center were cut, such as telephone costs,
maintenance and repairs and printing and copy
ing.
“I think there are better ways they could
spend their money,” CFA chairwoman
Shawntell Hurtgen said. 'There’s a lot of mon
ey that’s not used as well as it should be. This
organization obviously reaches people, but they
could do the same thing with less money.”
CFA also voted to reduce travel and events
expenses for the student involvement office by
$840.
Discussion on possible reduction of funds
for student involvement groups’ advertising
and postage have been tabled until Thursday.
Issues focus
of candidates
in first debate
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
i i . . i
TT
A handshake and a mutual agreement to
stick to the issues began the first A SUN
presidential debate Tuesday at the East
Nebraska Union.
Andrew Loudon, candidate for the VISION
party, and J.B. Howell, RESUME party candi
date, agreed not to attack
each other on a personal
level during the cam
paign.
The candidates met in
the union for a question
and-answer debate that
drew more than 40 peo
ple.
Howell said he wanted
to bring a new light and
new ideas to the Associ
ation of Studentsof the Universityof Nebraska.
He said he would guarantee to deliver all of the
promises in his platform.
Howell said the RESUME party started off
as a joke party.
“We’re not going to lie to you that this won’t
look good for us on our resume but we’re... not
here to stuff our resumes,” he said.
Loudon said his party was of a more serious
nature.
“ You have to know where you are going and
have a vision for those you want to lead,” he
said. Loudon said with the 87 members of the
VISION party, he would have a collective
vision for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Howell said he could represent the students
just as well as VISION by going out and talking
to student groups.
“When you look at what the executive ticket
can represent, they are basically the same thing,”
he said. “We’re all white, two of us are male and
one of us is female.
“I can just as well as anybody represent the
student body—if the student body wants to be
represented.”
Loudon said he was proud of the diversity of
his ticket. He said it would be easier for VISION
to gather student opinions because of the high
number of VISION candidates.
Both candidates took stands against estab
lishing a separate engineering college at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha.
“My own personal belief is that this is a
waste,” Howell said. He said a one-hour drive
was not a big deal if it meant sacrificing the
quality of education.
“If (the groupof Omaha businesses) wants to
See DEBATE on 3
Student faces
second charge
From Staff Reports
AUNL student, charged with mak
ing terroristic threats Monday, was
arraigned Tuesday on a charge of
willfully destroying property.
Police said Seth Davis, who was ar
rested Monday and charged with threat
ening his ex-girlfriend and pulling a gun,
also broke out her windshield. Police said
Davis told them he couldn’t remember
whether he broke the windshield before
or after he threatened her.
The property charge is a Class II mis
demeanor with a maximum penalty of six
months in prison and a$ 1,000 fine. Davis'
earlier charge was a Class IV felony,
which carries a maximum penalty of five
years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.
There was no bail set on the second
charge, but Davis remained in jail late
Tuesday on a $10,000 percentage bail
bond for the previous charge.
Davis, a junior engineering major at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will
go to trial on Feb. 28 for making terroris
tic threats and on March 9 for destruction
of property.