April 11, 1994
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
-4a&e
Sweet Return
Matthew Sweet brings
his music home with
performances today
and tomorrow.
Page 9
Monday
45/37
Thundershowers,
becoming cloudy
and breezy at night
Vol. 93 No. 138
Tour sheds
light on UNL
campus safety
NL officials touring City and East
campuses early Saturday morning
found insufficient lighting to be the
greatest safety concern.
Yet no matter how many lights are installed,
administrators said, safety never can be guaran
teed.
“It’s a difficult issue,” said Tom Johnson, a
parking advisory representative. “There is no
way of making everybody feel they arc com
pletely safe.”
The Campus Safety Tour, which began at 4
a.m. Saturday, was one of two yearly walk
throughs of University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
campuses to check areas of safety concern and
identify needed improvements.
Ten representatives from the Parking Advi
sory Committee, UNL Police, Landscape Ser
vices and the Nebraska Union participaled in
the tour.
By Brian Sharp
Staff Reporter
The reason for the early start was to view the
campuses without the added interior building
lights, which can make some areas appear
better lit than they really are.
The main problem the group found was
lights that were not functioning or not turned
on. The majority of areas needing improvement
had been marked on previous tours. The NU
Board of Regents approved funding for the
improvements last week.
Mike Cacak, manager of transportation ser
vices, said after the tour he was satisfied with
the current situation from a parking standpoint.
“It’s come a long way in just three to four
years,” he said. None of the group members
identified areas of concern in the parking areas
— except those with improvements already
coming.
Earlier, Cacak had pointed out an area 20 lot
See SAFETY on 6
Building’s name
exhibits legacy
of past chancellor
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
roin one end of the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln to the other, the legacy
of one man is everywhere.
From the Cathcr-Pound and Abel-Sandoz
residence halls to the East Campus Union to
Oldfathcr and Hamilton halls, many campus
buildings owe their existence to former Chan
cellor Clifford Hardin.
Tomorrow, nearly 25 years after Hardin left
UNL, a campus building will bear his name.
Hardin’s name will be added to the Nebraska
Center forContinuing Education—which also
was built under his leadership.
When Hardin and his wife Martha came to
the university in 1954, the first students were
moving into Selleck Hall. The enrollment at the
university was about 7,000, and 11th, 15th, T
and Vine streets all went through campus.
When Hardin left in 1969 to become Presi
dent Richard Nixon’s secretary of agriculture,
the enrollment had expanded to more than
19,000. Memorial Stadium doubled its seating
capacity, and 11 th. 15th, T and Vine streets no
longer dissected campus.
The Sheldon Memorial ArtGallery, Kimball
Recital Hall and several other buildings also
took shape at UNL while Hardin was chancel
lor.
Hardin takes no credit for himself. When
looking back, Hardin said it wasn’t he who
brought almost 12,000 more students to the
university.
The end of World War II and the G.l. Bill,
which gave money to returning war veterans for
college, also helped increase UNL’s student
See HARDIN on 6
Jeff Haller/DN
Darnell Utley, a second grader from Meadow Lane Elementary, left, trades in his wheelchair for a swing
Saturday at Holmes Lake. Julie Koch, center, gives a helping hand to Utley and Taylor Glissman as a part of
Project PALS.
PALing around
UNL students teach leadership to special children
By Jeffrey Robb
Senior Editor
During a picnic at Holmes Lake Sat
urday, 6-year-old Taylor Glissman
showed the same vitality as any
child his age.
He hit the playground full force and took
tour after tour through a tunnel there. He was
the first to suggest feeding the ducks on the
lake and the first to ask for more bread when
it ran out.
Taylor reveled in sweets, chocolate cake
and soda the most, just like any other child.
And with his birthday approaching, Tay
lor dropped hints for poss iblc gi fts. He wan ted
a baby chick, because monkeys cost too
much.
But Taylor has someth mg that most other
children don’t have — a special pal.
“I know how to spell pal — P-A-L,”
Taylor said.
Taylor, who has impaired motor skills
and was born with water on the brain, turns
to that pal, junior deaf education major Julie
Koch, to show how much he cares for her.
“You know who I’m going to invite to my
birthday party — you.”
Koch and 1 I other University of Ne
braska-Lincoln students arc volunteers for
Project PALS, an cITort that pairs a college
student with an orthopedically handicapped
child. The goal is to instill leadership in the
students, both younger and older ones, Koch
said.
The children, called junior counselors,
have been chosen individually lor their lead
ership potential, Koch said.
The project is a division of the Nebraska
Human Resources Institute, a nonprofit or
ganization. About 130 college students vol
unteer as NHRI counselors and are divided
among eight projects.
The project originated in the 1950s at the
Nebraska Orthopedic Hospital, said Gary
Sherman, project sponsor.
Eventually, the hospital hit a point where
it had to decide if it would fold or find a way
to continue, Sherman said. The project then
teamed with the Lincoln Public Schools and
college students.
Sherman said he had been involved in the
project while in college in the late 1960s.
Koch, who is co-chairwoman of the project
this semester, said the NHRI counselors
taught their pals things like what it meant to
be a friend or how to listen to people.
The college students must also teach
tougher lessons to their pals, Koch said, like
why people may be mean to the children in
class.
Support is the key, she said, and the
project receives that from many different
areas. The counselors provide it, as do par
ents. The children have created a family com
munity among themselves, Koch said.
On Saturday, even a few parents of the
college students showed up for the picnic.
Don Johnson, whose son Mike is a volun
teer, said he and his wife, Pat, were proud of
Mike’s work with the project. Mike invited
them to come from Sioux Falls, S.D., for the
picnic.
Pal Johnson said this project helped pro
vide her son with some of the experiences he
missed as an only child.
Mike Johnson, a sophomore biology ma
jor, said working with the kids was great.
“I love it,” he said. “I love little kids.”
See PALS on 3
NFL great says heroes not just on field
By Derek Samson
Senior Reporter
NFL Hall of Fame running back Gale
Sayers said Sunday that people should
look beyond the sports world when
searching for role models.
“Most of the real role
models are people you’re
around every day,” the
Omaha native said. “Your
parents, your coaches, your
professors — those are the
real role models. When the
superstardrivesoffinashiny
car, the real role models are
still there, all around you.”
Sayers Sayers gave Ihc keynote
speech at the fourth annual Nebraska Student
Athlete Academic Awards Banquet, where Trev
Alberts and Theresa Stclling were among 152
student-athletes honored for their excellence in
athletics and academics.
Sayers graduated from Kansas and started
for the NFL’s Chicago Bears during the 1960s.
He was the youngest player ever to be inducted
into the NFL Hall of Fame.
Too much emphasis is placed on athletes
being role models in today’s world, he said.
“ft’s important to understand there is a dif
ference between role models and heroes,” Say
ers said. ’There is a lot of talk about athletes
being role models. Some people even worship
athletes.
“They try to walk like them, dress like them,
talk like them... but how many Michael Jordans
do you see?”
Sayers said the genuine heroes were nor
mally found somewhere other than the sports
section.
“There is too much press over athletes being
role models,” he said. “We need our athletes to
do more than just visit schools once in a while.
“The real unsung heroes are the troops who
fought in Desert Storm, the people helping out
earthquake victims, policemen and firemen
who put their lile on the line for others and
single mothers who arc trying to raise their
children alone.”
Sayers, whose speech drew a standing ova
tion, urged the student-athletes to make a posi
tive influence on society.
“The only kind of role model I ever wanted
to be is someone who always did his best,” he
said. “These young people look up to us, so let’s
not let them down. Remember, you’re a role
model to the people you’re closest to.
“There are positive and negative role mod
els, and each of you needs to be a positive one.
Role models — if you’re one, God bless you, if
you’re not, become one.”
Alberts, a senior football player from Cedar
Falls, Iowa, was named the male student-ath
lete of the year.
Stelling, who has excelled in track and cross
country, was rewarded for her work in the
classroom with the female student-athlete award.
