Students weather the storm to donate blood
About 500 people
give, despite many
problems involved
By Julie Sobczyk
Staff Reporter
Despite snowy conditions Tuesday, Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln students gave
of themselves toT>enefit others at the Cam
pus Red Cross blood drive in the Nebraska
Union Centennial Ballroom.
The drive was sponsored by the Campus
Red Cross, UNL health aides, American
Red Cross and the Community Blood Bank.
The blood donated will be given to the
American Red Cross and the Community
Blood Bank.
About 500 people had,pre-registered to
donate blood, but because of the snowy
weather, donations were fewer than expect
ed.
“The need for blood never stops just
because there’s snow on the ground. There
are patients in need of blood every day,”
Beth Chapman, an American Red Cross
blood service representative, said.
Melissa Girard, a junior veterinary sci
ence major, braved the weather to become a
first-time blood donor.
“I was a little scared because it was the
first time I gave blood,” she said, “but I feel
good because someday, if I was in the posi
tion if I needed blood. I’d be reassured
because I’d given in the past.”
Many UNL students donated simply to
give part of themselves to a person in need.
“It doesn’t bother me to give, and I
encourage others to donate, too,” Ryan
Soukup, a freshman agribusiness major, said.
“I gave again because I can helpotherpeople
by giving only an hour of my time.”
Stacy Wassenberg, a freshman biology
major, said she gave blood because it was a
good cause that benefited others. She said
she hoped other students would overcome
their fears and donate, also.
“I get really angry about people who
don’t give blood because they’re afraid of
AIDS or getting sick,” she said.
Shane Ham, a junior mechanical engi
neering major, said he was apprehensive
about about donating blood for the first time.
Genk P&miolo/DN
Brett Gay, a senior biology major, gives blood in the Centennial Room of the Nebraska Union Tuesday
morning. This was Gay’s first time giving blood.
“My girlfriend persuaded me to donate,”
he said. “I don’t like the sight of blood, but
I still feel it’s for a good cause.”
UNL health aides volunteered their time
at the drive, too. Health aide Brian Thomas
assisted at the drive as a canteen worker
handing out juice and doughnuts to the
donors.
“Although I was required to help because
I'm a health aide, I still feel really good
about myself,” he said.
The coming of the cold season affected
the number of donors.
Jody Gray, a junior exercise science major
and co-chairwoman of the blood drive, said
people with a cold or who were taking
antibiotics were deferred from donating.
Stephanie Alexander, mobile recruiter
for the Community Blood Bank, said the
bank would distribute the blood to five
hospitals in Lancaster and Seward counties.
Chapman said the blood the American
Red Cross received would be sent to Omaha
for testing, and then to hospitals.
The Campus Red Cross Blood Drive will
continue Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Chancellor
Continued from Page 1
Bauer said he thought it was health
ier at this time for NU to hire a pres
ident outside the system.
As an outsider, Smith would bring
new ideas,perspectives and solutions,
Bauer said.
He expected Smith to work with
UNO on several issues: the need for
more faculty, the addition and devel
opment of graduate programs and the
question of installing an engineering
college, separate from UNL’s, in Oma
ha.
Bauer said officials should give
Smith some latitude at the start of his
administration.
“Everyone deserves a honey
moon,” Bauer said. “I guess how long
it lasts depends on how the issues are
resolved.
“Any new person coming in, espe
cially with the very strong background
Dr. Smith has — we should certainly
give the benefit of the doubt for the
first few weeks.”
University ofNebraska at Kearney
Chancellor Gladys Styles Johnston
said Smith was a bright, capable per
son and a quick study.
Johnston said she met with Smith
for several hours on his last visit dis
cussing the needs of the UNK cam
pus.
The two talked about funds for
UNK, Johnston said, which is always
a concern. She said she also talked
about maintaining UNK as an equal
part in the NU system.
“Three years is not a long time,”
Johnston said. “We are the new kids
on the block, so to speak."
Johnston said Smith’s reaction to
the discussion was focused.
“He took a lot of notes,” she said.
Carol Aschenbrener, chancellor at
the University of Nebraska Medical
Center in Omaha, said her meeting
with Smith was inspiring. She said
she left so energized she wanted to
start working with him right away.
Aschenbrener said she talked about
the climate for health care in America
with Smith.
“The environment for health care
is changing dramatically,” she said.
“That has major implications (for
UNMC).”
Smith comes from a university
where he is very familiar with the
academic health center, Aschenbrener
said. She said Smith had an under
standing of the changes UNMC faced.
“He speaks my language, which is
great,” Aschenbrener said.
Legislature
Continued from Page 1
Koslosky was testifying in favor of
Omaha Sen. Kate Witek’s LB998 and
999, which would prohibit the state
from mandating that Nebraska schools
implement outcome-based education.
Witek said her bill did not outlaw
outcome-based education, but would
guarantee decisions of local commu
nities on whether to implement the
new education methods.
The Nebraska Council of School
Administrators, the Nebraska Associ
ation of School Boards and the Ne
braska State Education Association
all opposed Witek’s bills .
The NASB stated: “The language
(in LB998.999) in particular, Team
er-outcome-based educational meth
odology’ is confusing and vague. This
could be interpreted to mean no tests
or grades could be given to students.”
The Nebraska Council of School
Administrators said the Legislature
and many school districts already had
invested resources in outcome-based
education.
“To abandon this state-initiated
movement would be a terrible mis
take,” the NCSA said.
Witek said the bills were written in
response to the Legislature’s 1992
outcome-based education bill.
Provisions of the bill are not yet
binding, but Witek said she thought
the Accountability Commission, in
charge of outlining the bill’s goals,
was headed toward making them man
datory.
The cost of mandating such pro
grams, she said, would increase the
cost of education dramatically.
Technology hits Teachers College
By Marcia Vertoy
Staff Reporter
Students are learning teaching
methods of the future in the high-tech
Teachers College Alumni Technolo
gy Center.
Jim Fejfar, a professor of curricu
lum and instruction in the Teachers
College, said the purpose of the labo
ratory, located in Room 120 of Mabel
Lee Hall, was to help students and
faculty learn to use technology in
education.
The lab is a gift from the college’s
alumni, Fejfar said, and is reserved
strictly for the use of students and
faculty.
“The alumni fund the lab, and it is
their wish that only the college’s stu
dents be the ones using it,” he said.
Students using the lab have access
to computers with CD-ROM capabil
ity and a software 1 ibrary that students
can use to check out software, Fejfar
said.
Additional technology available to
students includes smart-carts and vid
eo cameras.
The smart-cart works in the same
way as an overhead, Fejfar said, but it
has a computer attached. The user is
able to type in information using the
keyboard or load up software appl ica
tions.
The video cameras, he said, can be
used as an electronic imaging device
in order to keep track of students who
use the lab. In this way, the cameras
are similar to student identification
cards.
This is helpful, Fejfar said, be
cause it helps instructors remember
students two or three years down the
road.
‘if the instructor is called about a
recommendation long after the stu
dent has graduated, the student’s pic
ture can be called up,” Fejfar said.
Along with the open lab time avail
able to students, the classroom is also
used for miniworkshops of three or
more people.
The workshops cover different
topics, Fejfar said, from learning how
to use electronic mail to introducing
Microsoft Word. Usually, Fejfar said,
there are about eight workshops a
week.
The use of the different technolo
gies and the workshops will benefit
education students in the long run,
Fejfar said.
“If we didn’t have this lab, the
students wouldn’t have the advanced
skills they need.”
Bill offers expression protection
By Kara G. Morrison
Senior Reporter
Sen. Dave Landis of Lincoln told
the Legislature’s Education Commit
tee that high school students should
not be excluded from the First Amend
ment’s guarantee of freedom of ex
pression.
Landis testified Tuesday in favor
of enacting LB 1166, the Student
Freedon of Expression Act, which
would protect student publications
from prior restraint.
“They don’t get to be obscene,
libelous, slanderous, or to incite vio
lence, but they get to say what they
want,” Landis said,"... including un
comfortable and unsettling ideas.”
The idea seemed to unsettle Sen.
James Monen of Omaha, who asked
whether students would be able to
write editorials denying, for example,
the Holocaust, or supporting the le
galization of drugs or other contro
versial topics.
-M
But they are kids and
they’re still playing
with toys.
' — Morten
state senator
Landis said he proposed the act
“with the idea that tree expression is
an instructive device, even in its mis
management.’*
The act, he said, would give stu
dents responsibilities as well as rights.
Students, not school boards, Landis
said, would take the responsibility for
the content of their publication.
“Rather than give students a toy
newspaper, we will give them a real
paper,” Landis said.
“But they are kids and they’re still
playing with toys,’’ Monen said.
...Were talking about people in their
formative stage who still need direc
tion.”
The bill would allow school boards
to set guidelines that do not interfere
with the First Amendment, Landis
said.
Jessica Kennedy, a University of
Nebraska-Lincoln freshman broad
casting major, told senators that high
school students were mature enough
to use the right responsibly.
“We do have a code of ethics in
high school journal ism,” she said.
“It’s not a free-for-all out there."
Kennedy told committee members
they should support the act if they
supported the education of critical
thinkers.
“Influential writing does not be
long to adults alone," she said. “It is
naive to think the free flow of infor
mation is for adults alone."
John Bender, a communications
law professor at UNL, also testified in
favor of the act. He said it was not a
radical proposal and should be passed
to ensure quality journalism educa
tion in the state.
No one testified against LB 1166.
