Inside Wednesday
Sports
■ NU women kicking around soccer, Page 7
Arts & Entertainment
■ Haymarket continues to expand, Page 9
PAGE 2: Simpson lawyers contest evidence
August 24, 1994
No Vacancy
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Jeff Haller/DN
Kerry Fischman, left, and Lacl Fischer hang out in Fischer s new residence, one of the seventh-floor TV lounges
in Abel Residence Hall. Fischer decided to move out of her temporary triple room, and the lounge was the only
available space.
Overcrowding poses problem for housing
By Patty Wewel
Stall Reporter
A rush of students requesting on-campus
housing has left several students with tempo
rary room assignments as their home away
from home.
Michael Hager, assistant director of hous
ing, said two students had moved into the TV
lounges of residence halls. One student moved
into a lounge in Abel Residence Hall because
he smoked and his other two roommates did
not.
As of Aug. 16, 186 freshman had tempo
rary room assignments, and 46 uppcrclass
students were waiting for a room on campus.
More current figures won’t be tabulated until
Friday.
The housing crunch occurred because more
freshman than expected decided to attend
UNL. Also, fewer student cancellations were
received than housing officials had planned.
However, the number of students in tempo
rary housing is not as bad as housing officials
had feared.
Hager said housing officials realized in July
that overcrowding would be a problem. But
they expected to place almost 300 students in
temporary housing.
Housing officials explored several options
to accommodate the residents, including mov
ing students into TV lounges in Abel Hall.
The housing department furnished the
lounges with a phone, bunk beds, desks and
racks to hang clothes. Student assistants, as
well as students in single rooms, were asked to
consider taking roommates.
Hager said temporary and permanent triple
rooms had been filled with three people. Stu
dents were moved into the garden level in
Hcppncr Hall, where guest housing was con
verted to student housing.
Laci Fischer, a freshman in general studies,
moved into a TV lounge Tuesday night after
long disputes with her two roommates.
Fischer said the three had been living to
gether for almost one week. Fights about space
and personality clashes prompted her to leave
her temporary triple room in favor of lounge
living, Fischer said.
With two sets of bunk beds, four desks and
ample space, Fischer said she had no problem
living in the lounge indefinitely.
“I love it; this is cool.”
Jaime Iliff. a freshman business adminis
tration and accounting major, is making it
work with her two roommates.
Although her room is crowded, Iliff said
they were able to work out most of their space
problems.
But II iff said she did not have most of her
clothes and other belongings with her.
Hager said overbooking the residence halls
did not happen by accident.
Last March, the university, which is re
quired to provide on-campus housing to any
one younger than 19 on the first day of classes,
calculated the number of incoming freshman
that would need housing.
To calculate how much space is needed,
housing offic ial s—conserva t i vel y—cons id
cr the number of high school seniors graduat
ing in Nebraska. They then figure how many
students may live with relatives, Hager said.
Glen Schumann, acting director of hous
ing, said this year, housing officials miscalcu
lated the number of incoming freshman.
Hager said housing officials thought they
would be safe in extending the deadline for
upperclassmen to reserve single rooms.
Hager said housing’s highest priority was
getting students out of temporary spaces and
into permanent assignments.
Schumann said some students always were
put in temporary housing. However, he said,
the last time the residence halls were over
crowded to this extent was in 1982.
Safety patrol
to be extended
to greek units
By DeDra Janssen__
Senior Reporter
Safety patrols usually limited to residence
halls have been expanded to greek houses this
year, police said.
Ken Caublc, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
police chief, said community service officers from
his department would be patrolling areas by the
houses for eight hours each night.
Cauble said the aim of the expanded patrol was
to increase safety, not to catch students drinking
in greek houses.
“This is not designed to just be a snoop for
alcohol at parties,” he said.
Fourteen officers have provided security for
residence halls for the past two years, Caublc said.
The Office ofUni versily Housing pays the campus
police department for the service in the halls.
In the expanded patrol, officers will provide
security for greek houses, he said. The officers can
enter sororities with permission from live-in house
directors.
Officers can enter fraternities at their discre
tion, he said.
Cauble said two additional officers had been
hired bccaasc of the expanded service, and the
greek houses on campus were paying for part of
the cost.
Caublc said the patrols were added because
campas administrators wanted more security on
See SECURITY on 6
Police blame
stadium crimes
on construction
By Charles Isom_
Staff Reporter
Several fans have been a little too eager to sec
the new and improved Memorial Stadium, uni
versity police said.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Sgt.
Bill Manning said the number of reported break
ins at the stadium had doubled last year, increas
ing from three last year to six so far this year.
Fourofthosesixbrcak-inshavcoccumedinlhc
last three weeks. No one has been arrested.
Nothing was stolen during any of the break
ins, Manning said. The crimes varied from simple
graffiti to attempting to steal a forklift, he said.
On separate occasions, unlawful entrants have
written the word “Crips” with marker on the walls
of the stadium, damaged equipment used in
restroom construction and tried to hot-wire a
forklift.
On one occasion, trespassers hot-wired two
See MEMORIAL on 6
Trees, shrubs to be planted around North Plaza Park
By Sean McCarthy
Staff Reporter
Green space will benefit campus, landscaping director says
Green space is beginning to live up
to its nickname.
Starting this week, trees and shrubs
will be planted along the green space
area north of the Nebraska Union. The
area, officially called North Plaza Park,
underwent a massive transition this
summer from a parking lot to a park.
Bud Dascnbrock, director of Land
scape Services, said rock, concrete, old
lights and water lines were removed in
the early part of the summer. Putting in
topsoil and installing sidewalks and an
irrigation system took the rest of the
summer to accomplish.
Kim Todd, campus landscape archi
tect, said the area was seeded as soon as
possible because of the heavy student
traffic during the first weeks of the fall
semester.
Workers posted signs and fences
around the area after it was seeded to
keep people off the newly developed
spot, she said.
“We’re trusting people to respect the
area now,” Todd said.
Dascnbrock said the idea for creat
ing the park originated in a committee
that included officials from parking
services, facilities management and
landscape services. The university hired
an architecture firm to design the park
and to demolish the parking lot.
The park created much controversy
last year. Some students and faculty
members opposed removing a parking
lot to create room for the area.
The University ofNcbraska Boardof
Regents approved the decision to re
move the parking stalls last October,
despite opposition from the Association
of Students of the University of Nebras
ka.
Dascnbrock said he hadn’t heard
any negative comments since the chang
es started.
The park will benefit the whole cam
pus, Dascnbrock said.
“We try to develop a bond between
people and plants,” Dascnbrock said.
“People may not be aware of it, but
everyone benefits from being around
plants."
For many incoming freshmen, the
final decision to attend a college is based
on the appearance of the campus.
Dascnbrock said. The space will im
prove the appearance of the University
of Ncbraska-Lincoln campus,
Dascnbrock said.
Dascnbrock said the park would con
tinue to evolve this semester. Trees,
shrubs and (lowers will be planted, and
the irrigation system will be adjusted.
Most of the flowers will be planted in
late winter when the area is completely
finished, he said.
As the park enters its final stage of
development, Todd said, the area will
attract visitors.
“We hope this turns more of the
campus into a place more for people and
faculty to interact,” Todd said.