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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 1994)
*4 SPORTS Huskers 'quaked The 26th-ranked Penn Quakers manhandle Nebraska 90-80 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Page 5 Friday 65/34 Today, mostly sunny. March 18, 1994 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 93 No. 127 Ministers say Bjorklundwas church leader Defense witnesses call him dependable, dedicated to theology By Kara G. Morrison Senior Reporter Ministers and members of the Seventh day Adventist Church said Thursday that Roger Bjorklund was a religious man when they knew him. Defense attorneys called several witnesses to testify about Bjorklund’s character in the sec ond week of his sentencing hearing. Bjorklund was convicted in November of murdering University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Candice Harms. Prosecu tors arc seeking the death penalty against him. Bob Mohr, a pastor who sold religious books with Bjorklund in the literature ministry of the church, said Bjorklund was ambitious and dependable in the four years he knew him. “Roger seemed to get along well with every one,” said Mohr, who kept in contact with Bjorklund from 1986 to 1990. Lancaster County Attorney Gary Laceyasked Mohr, who called Bjorklund a strong leader in the church, whether he thought Bjorklund could be easily influenced to do something immoral. “1 think Roger ispretty much an individual,” Mohr said. “I don’t think he’d be easily led astray.” i - Donald Yancheson, a Seventh-day Adventist minister in Hastings, said he and Bjorklund had been friends while the men were attending Union College in Lincoln. He said Bjorklund was friendly and dedi cated to theology. Bjorklund, he said, was often opinionated in his beliefs. “He was extreme in his thinking at times.” Yancheson said. “He choose not to associate with people who didn’t agree with him.” Lancaster County District Judge Donald Endacott sustained the defense’s objection that Yancheson answer questions about visits he made to Bjorklund in jail. Endacott said Yancheson did not have to answer the questions because of pastor privi lege laws. Yancheson said he thought Bjorklund was remorseful about Harms’ death, but the minis ter said he was confused by the intense interest Bjorklund look in the trial and legal proceed ings against him. Two former supervisorsof Kimberly Quality Care, a home health-care provider, also testi fied that Bjorklund worked well with their clients, one of whom was a quadriplegic. Bjorklund’s sentencing hearing will resume today and is expected to conclude next week. Endacott has said he will have 90 days from the lime the last evidence is submitted in the sentencing hearing to decide Bjorklund’s sen tence. Sandy Summers/DN Paul Olson, an English professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, recently won the Sue Tidball Award tor Creative Humanity. Olson has spent 25 years working for American Indian civil rights. “I am grateful for the award; I hope that I continue to do justice to the spirit of Sue Tidball." Professor gets humanity award Paul Olson champion of human rights activism By Kara G. Morrison Senior Reporter Paul Olson is known for challenging students to think critically, for de fending human rights and for encour aging activism instead of passivity. “A university ought to be a place of dissidencc and learning where students come out having a sense of what they want to do,” says Olson, a foundation professor of En gl ish at UN L. “not just what job they want tp have.” Olson recently was named a recipient of the Sue Tidball Award forCreative Human ity. In nominating Olson for the award, UNL graduate student Susie Prenger said Olson challenged the university to respond to hu man needs. That challenge starts in his classroom. “I try to get (students) to explore what their real convictions arc,” says Olson, who teaches conflict resolution courses, includ ing one on the literature of war and peace. Olson says he has never known students who have had the courage to follow their own visions who didn’t find success doing something meaningful. He challenges his students to explore their thoughts and their definitions of success. “If no pain is involved, no learning is taking place,” Olson says. Olson began teaching at UNL in 1957, when activism in academia was strong. “In the ’60s and ’70s, a lot of university people were engaged in civil rights ... they were politically active,” Olson said. “That’s almost entirely disappeared.” Now, Olson says, many faculty don’t step outside the university long enough to know what problems are going on around them. And by not knowing, many fail to get stu dents involved in their world. “If I had my way,” Olson says, “I’d re quire faculty members to get out of the university part time to see what’s going on.” He’s an activist himself. With his research on American Indian culture, his interest in what he sees as in creasing poverty in our country and h is work with his wife Elizabeth in the peace move mcnt, Olson has been an activist within education. He has spent several years on UNL's Human Rights committee and has headed a national committee on undergraduate edu cation. In both capacities, Olson has chal lenged universities to meet needsofall people. “Highereducation is structured not lobe very much in touch with the needs of low income people and people from different cultures,” Olson said. Olson worked to ensure accreditation re quirements wouldmakeuniversitie sac count able for all people’s needs. Prcnger called Olson “an intellectual gi ant who would laugh at such a label.” Olson laughs. He denies the label furi ously, despite having studied in London on a Fulbright Scholarship and receiving his doctorate at Princeton. Olson insists he has days where he’s a rottcn4eacherand says his teaching methods arc not distinctive. “I think almost any method, if it’s done with a certain amount of love and some respect for the students, can work,” he says. Electoral Commission fines VISION party for violations By Brian Sharp Staff Reporter The Electoral Commission lev ied $48.75 in fines against the VISION party Thursday, bringing the total to $110.75 for cam paign violations during the ASUN election. All complaints filed auainst losing parties were dismissed oy the com mission, a tradition from past rulings, officials said. The RESUME party has been fined $5 and LETTUCE, $ 1. For the victorious party, now de clared certified winners, no such tra dition exists. Violations that VISION had been accused of included: removing other candidates posters, campaigning in residence halls.placing partysignson vehicles and males being on a female floor without an escort. The commission found VISION guilty of seven poster violations, in volving 50 posters in all. A total of $28.75 in fines were levied for those violations. Door-to-door campaigning viola tions at Abel Residence Hall brought a fine of $25 and an amendment that VISION send letters of apology to residents named in complaints and hall presidents. Residents in Abel Hall said the fine was light and didn't address the seri ousness of the violation. Males being unescorted and wandering the halls not only violated the rules, but a very personal sense of safety, they said. Hubert Brown, a UNL broadcast ing professor and commission mem ber, said that while he recognized the female residents feeling of being vio lated, it was difficult to address in a dollar amount. “What kind of fine are we talking about?” Brown asked. “What would assuage that feeling? 1 don’t know.” During the hearing, Andrew Loudon, ASUN president-elect from the VISION party, said most viola tions probably stemmed from a last minute act of nervousness. Loudon said he was in the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity house when he got a call reporting low voter turnout. Assuming that meant low turnout for VISION, he said, a last-minute push was made to get students out to vote. With polls closing in threc-and-a half hours, Loudon said he made the announcement that “we gotta go,” and the fraternity cleared out. Loudon said he regretted now that he didn’t take time to explain the rules. “I’m not begging for mercy,” he said. “I personally will be paying the fines — not VISION. Please try and be lenient.” J.B. Howell, ASUN presidential candidate with RESUME, said after ward that he was shocked by the out come. While the commission did what it thought was right, Howell said he disagreed with the action. “I guess Loudon whined enough that he wasn’t responsible and screamed ignorance. That’sneverbeen an excuse,” Howell said, “but I guess they (the commission) bought it to night.” See ASUN on 3
