◄ sports
Taming the Tigers
The Nebraska women's
basketball team battled
back from a Jive-point
deficit with less than four
minutes to go to beat
Missouri 77-72.
Page 7
Thursday
57/26
Today, sunny and
mild becoming
cloudy at night.
Vol. 93 No. 106
February 17, 1994
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jay Calderon/DN
Stacey MacTaggart, a sophomore secondary education major, studies by the
pillars near the Ed Weir Track Wednesday morning. Today’s high temperature is
expected to reach the mid-60s.
Spring fever arrives in Lincoln
Warm weather
expected to stay
for rest of week
By Paula Lavigne
Senior Reporter
This week’s warm weather
has been somewhat of an
academic boost for UNL
freshman accounting major Maggie
Beck.
“For the first three weeks of this
year, I hardly went to class,” she
said. “This week’s been perfect.”
Sitting on the edge of Broyhill
Fountain, dressed in shorts and a
light jacket, Beck was enjoying the
afternoon sun.
“I’m a lot happier," she said.
“The cold weather just depressed
me. I got in a slump and stayed
home a lot."
The warm weather is expected
to continue for the rest of the week.
Today’s high temperature is ex
pected to reach the mid-60s. Fri
day’s forecast is a slight chance of
rain but with highs remaining in
the mid-50s to lower 60s.
Pam Duin, meteorologist with
the National Weather Service in
Lincoln, said last week’s cold tem
peratures were caused by a dip in
the jet stream that allowed arctic air
to hover over the Midwest.
“It took a long time to push that
out east,” she said. Duin said a high
pressure system eventually moved
in, bringing generally clear skies
and warmer temperatures.
She said these types of changes
were not unusual for this time of
year. However, she said, it seems
unusual because the below-normal
temperatures last week contrast with
the above-normal temperatures this
week.
“The warm weather is going to
stay for most of the week,” she said.
“6n Saturday, it will cool off a
little, but it won’t be frigid.”
Although Duin said Nebraska
was known for its fluctuating tem
peratures, she didn’t see anything
to indicate a recurrence of arctic air
-M
Everybody is in a
better mood. It will
probably snow
tomorrow, though.
— Yost
UNL junior home
economics and education
major
-ft -
in the near future.
She said the 30-day outlook
showed near-normal temperatures
and below-normal precipitation.
“The normal high temperature
for February is 38 degrees,” she
said. “By mid-March it will be 50
degrees. We’re heading into spring
and it comes slowly.”
Although the warm weather
seems to make people feel better,
Beck said, it also brings along a
See SPRING FEVER on 6
UNL picks up tab
for UNO addition
Expanding campus
engineering center
temporary answer
By Angie Brunkow
Senior Reporter _
Necessity, not responsibility,
led UNL to fund a $345,000
addition to UNO’s engineer
ing building, officials said.
The project, approved by the NU
Board of Regents last fall on emergen
cy status, will
expand the Uni
versity of Ne
braska at Oma
ha’s engineer
ing building by
3,800 square
feet.
ENGMEERMG University of
Nebraska-Lin
DEBATE coin Chancellor
Graham
Spanier’s office provided $140,000
for the project. Private donors, includ
ing the University of Nebraska Foun
dation, generated another $145,000.
Stan Liberty, dean of the UNL
College of Engineering and Technol
ogy, said UNL decided to provide an
additional $60,000 for an overhead
crane and other equipment.
The addition, which will provide
research laboratories for the Center
for Infrastructure Research, is sched
uled for completion in April.
Morris Schneider, a retired associ
ate dean of the UNL engineering col
lege who was in charge of the project,
said the regents approved construc
tion of the building, responding to the
“desperate need” for more research
space.
The center was established at UNO
four years ago with special state funds
designated for research. The Lincoln
campus administers the Nebraska en
gineering college, while UNO plays
host to some faculty, students and
programs.
UNO Chancellor Del Weber said
Wednesday UNOdidn’t have the funds
for the project.
Herb Howe, associate to the chan
cellor at UNL, said that according to
regent policy, UNO was responsible
for providing the physical space for
the engineering program.
Liberty said UNL decided to fund
the building project because it couldn’t
wait.
Research was being bottlenecked
at the center, he said, slowing down
grant activity and applied research.
“It was an emergency,” he said.
Demand for structural research of
construction items such as bridges,
roads and buildings has been growing
in the last four to five years, Liberty
said. The number of research projects
at the center has jumped dramatically.
“It’s really a hot area in the country
right now,” Liberty said.
Liberty said the lack of space in the
UNO building caused logistic and safe
ty problems.
Laboratories had to be rearranged
for research and then undergraduate
See ENGINEERING on 6
Speaker says basin
needs to be preserved
By Todd Neeley
Staff Reporter
Nebraskans have a responsibil
ity to maintain the Platte Riv
er Basin as one of the most
diverse natural areas in the state and
in the country, a Platte River ecologist
said Wednesday in the East Nebraska
Union.
Gary Lingle, a member of the Platte
River Ecology Team, said some 300
different species of birds migrating
from all parts of the United States and
converging on the Platte River made
for a diverse wildlife area.
“We have just begun to discover
the diversity of the area,” he said to a
group of about 40 attending the sec
ond in a series of six 1994 Environ
mental Studies Seminars at the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The Platte River is one of few plac
es in the country where migration can
be witnessed, Lingle said, and the
sandhill crane is one of the numerous
inhabitants of that region.
About 130 bird species nest in the
region, he said.
Lingle said each April about 130 of
the endangered whooping cranes
passed through the Platte River area.
In the 1930s, most of the Platte
River was a sandy area where many
species of birds nested. Now, about 70
percent of the basin is covered with
trees and other vegetation.
He said much of the forestat ion was
created by increased irrigation of the
land by farmers.
In an attempt to improve the envi
ronment for the whooping and san
dhill cranes and other species migrat
ing to the Platte River area, the Platte
River Whooping Crane Habitat Trust
was formed in 1978.
The trust has about $7.5 million at
its disposal for such things as buying
land, clearing trees and bringing sand
from the river to expand nesting areas
and improve habitats.
Also, the money is used to educate
people about the importance of the
region.
“We lose our connectedness to na
ture,” he said, “and it’s unfortunate
because we’re all a part of the system.”
Lingle said the trust fund provided
a good opportunity to preserve the
habitat.
“We have a rich heritage and a
chance to leave something tor future
generations,” he said.
Students to dme with senators
From Staff Reports
UniversityofNebraska-Lincoln
students will have an opportu
nity to share their opinions
with state senators during lunch to
day.
The Association of Students of the
Uni versity ofNebraska’s Government
Liaison Committee is sponsoring Sen
ators on Campus, a complimentary
luncheon designed for students to voice
their concerns to state senators.
Inc tree luncheon will be from
noon to 1 p.m. at the Wick Alumni
Center.
Scheduled to attend are: Sens.
Michael Avery of Gretna, Chris
Beutlcr of Lincoln, Dennis Byars of
Beatrice, Jim Cudaback of Riverdale,
Leo Engel of South Sioux City, Dan
Fisher of Grand Island, Jim Jones of
Eddyville, Dan Lynch of Omaha,
Gerald Matzke of Sidney, Scott Moore
of Seward and Don Wesely of Lin
coln.