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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 1994)
Sleepout raises money and awareness for homeless By Nick Wlltgsn Staff Reporter Cardboard boxes, each containing a blanket and pillow, flanked a stage at Antelope Park on Friday. To the 250 area residents who attended the Great Plains Winter SleepOut, the boxes represented what some people call home. The third annual event is designed to raise money and awareness for the home less. About 100 of the participants stayed overnight in the park. Some even slept in the cardboard homes. Among those attending were about a dozen political figures, including various public officials and candi dates in the upcoming election. The event featured gospel music from singer Annette Murrell and role-play ing games designed to help partici pants understand the problems the homeless face. Sue Ellen Wall, chairwoman of the sleepout’s planning committee; said the sleepout was held for two reasons. “First of all, we want to educate people in Lincoln about the issue of homelessness,” Wall said. “There are homeless people here in Lincoln, and many people don’t understand that that's the case. Wall said she also wanted to raise money for homelessness. Money raised from this event goes directly to services for the homeless such as food and shelter. Wall said. None of the money raised Friday goes toward the Bruco Schllodor, a Groat Plains Wlntor SleepOut participant, pvoparoo to go vo sloop. Schllodor joinod moro than 128 pooplo who slopt out Friday night to raiso monoy for tho hnmaiatt administrative costs of homeless ser vices. Wall said corporations contributed $ 10,000 this year. She expected more funds to be collected from individual donations. In each of the past two years, the sleepout has raised about $26,000. Several Lincoln police officers donated their time to provide security during the sleepout. Wall said the previous two sleepouts had been held at Centennial Mall in late October. Wall said the organizers also found a new place for the event because of the potential problem of having the event the night before a Nebraska football game. “We worried about downtown traf fic and, especially the night before a game, the safety of the participants,** she said. Michael Carpenter, chairman of the Lincoln Homeless Coalition, said a significant homeless problem ex isted in the Lincoln area. “Over 3,000 individuals will be come homeless in Lincoln and Lancaster County each year, and over half of those will be women and chil dren,” he said. Carpenter also said not all home less people were alike. “You know, a person who is a cashier in a quick shop or a person who is serving you your lunch in a restaurant, all of those folks are po tential homeless individuals,” he said. “Many of us are about a paycheck away from not being able to support our existence in terms of shelter and basic needs. Barry and Lisa Forbes spent the night at Antelope Park. The two, who have attended the event before, said even though sleeping in the park wasn’t like being homeless, they still learned a lot from the experience. “The first year I was out, I talked to a homeless person,” Lisa Forbes said. “They told me, ‘Well, this really isn’t anything like it.’ I don’t think that’s the point. “It’s increasing awareness that’s really important, because as long as people know about it, then we can do something about it.” Julie Fults, a student volunteer with the Joe Mertz Center for Volun teer Services at Union College, said students sometimes didn’t think they could help raise money for the home less. Students have a hard time get ting pledges from other students, whom Fults said usually were broke. The sleepout, however, gave them an opportunity to show support, she said. “I encourage them to come and sleep out or at least come to the pro gram, because the larger a number of people we can get to show up, the more the city of Lincoln will realize this really is an issue.” Engineering Continued from Page 1 only as a basis for discussion, Smith said, and will provide a strategic plan for meeting the engineering needs of the state, including a plan for imple menting a separate engineering col lege. “The task force is not charged with delivering recommendations or alter natives,” Smith said. “The task force report is to come to the president. I will study it and make a recommendation to the board.” The task force also will provide a detailed analysis of engineering needs in the aatc and in Omaha, he said. Regent Robert Allen of Hastings said researching the need for another engineering college in Nebraska was wasting time and money. “We know we have a good engineer ing school,” Allen said, referring to the high marks the Uni versity of Nebraska Lincoln engineering college received on its recent accreditation report. But the report also showed that the college had equipment that was in bad and needed to be refurbished, he “ Wchad better protect what we have ... (before) we start goingoff wastingall this time on this expensive study, he said. Smith said it was impossible to say whether the uni versity was wast ing time until the report was finished. When he makes hisrecommcndationtothc board, there will be plenty of time for discus sion, he said. Regent Rosemary Skrupa of Omaha said she didn’t think researching the issue was a waste of money. She said she was troubled that so many regents had spoken out about the issue before getting information from the task force or hearing Smith’s rcc-i ommendation. In the courts, that’s called backdooringthejudge, shesaid,and the judge could hold them in contempt of court. The recommendation will come from Smith, she said. Regents should stay out ofthcdiscussi on until that lime. Smith said the task force would an alyze enrollment, faculty/studcnt ra tios, funding, space and traids in both graduation and cmploymoit in engi neering. In otha board action, a curricular review in the College of Architecture, which wason theagenda for discussion, was passed ova. The revision will rc qu ire st udent s to purchase comput as in the fall. The cost of the computers is estimated at $3,()0(). It was erroneously reported Friday in the Daily Nebraskan that the regents would vote on the matta. Howeva, because the decision is about curricu lum, it does not need regents’ approval. I M matrix HAII'SKIN'COSMETICS Highlight Your Hair And YourTan Uncrate the sun and create a new attitude. Nothing en hances that great tan like summer hightlights. A little or a lot - your hair can look sun kissed and sensational in minutes. Matrix Essentials Hair Color...So safe and gentle. Leaves hair healthy . and strong. Call our hair I coloring experts for a FREE consultation. During October, : get your highlight for only $24m at 210 Gateway North Suite 106 SHEAR ^ COMMAND 467-3625 Tan A FULLSMM VICE HAIMAND TANNItiO SALON Enrollment Continued from Page 1 Other universities, however, have actively tried to find those students, he said. “You hear stories like ‘Nobody at UNL ever contacted our child,’” Spanier said. “All you have to do is wink at us, and we’ll be all over you. The problem is, many of those, Stu dents have never winked.” The result is that UNL is not get ting its share of the top 3 percent of high school graduates, Spanier said. Below that, however, UNL does well, he said. Spanier laid out the following re visions to improve UNL’s recruit ment: •A team effort in recruiting, in volving more faculty and undergrad uates. • A special honor recmitment team that looks at the top 10 percent of high school graduates. • Individual campus visits for hon or students. • Honors Program textbook schol arships. • Earlier awardingofscholarships. • Scholarships for transfer stu dents to try to recapture Nebraska students who leave the state or go to community colleges. “You can’t buy good students,” he said. “A good student is not going to come here no matter what the mon etary fund unless they’re going to get a quality education." A recent U.S. News & World Re port ranking that placed UNL ninth in efficiency is a double-edged sword, he said. On one side, it is good public relations, he said. On the other, part of the reason UNL got such a high ranking is because of the small bud gets it provides its faculty. Spanier said prospective students constantly were hearing about pos sible budget cuts, and that hindered recruiting. Students wony that the university will eliminate, downsize or sacrifice program quality. To combat those fears, Spanier said the university needed to empha size communication by responding more quickly to student inquiries. Spanier said undergraduate enroll ment was expected to stabilize during the next five years, while the number of graduate and transfer students should increase. Spanier said he attributed part of a 42 percent drop in enrollment in the Division of Continuing Studies to the opening of a branch of Southeast Com munity College in downtown Lin coln. That effect was seen mostly in the lower-level classes, he said, while enrollment numbers in the higher classes remained stable. The University of Nebraska - Lincoln College of Business Administration and Woodmen Accident and Life Company proudly present the 16th annual E.J. Faulkner Lecture delivered by Warren E. Buffett Chairman of the Board Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Monday, October 10,1994 10:00 a.m. Nebraska Union 14th and R Streets ^•^■1 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Mr. Buffett will address questions from students only. The public Is invited to this free lecture and is asked to sit behind the student seating. The colloquium can be seen on dosed circuit TV Channel 4 on both campuses. Regents approve UNL bid to buy fraternity house From Staff Reports The university will move quickly to begin renovations on the former Beta Sigma Psi Fraternity house, a UNL administrator said Friday at the NU Board of Regents meeting. James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Ne- 1 braska-Lincoln, said he expected the university to begin issuing supplemen tal Student Fees and Facilities 20-year Revenue bonds to pay for the bui Idingat 2224 U St. The regents unanimously approved UNL’s $430,000 bid on Friday. The fraternity agreed to sell the house to the university pending the board’s approv al. Griesen said a tax appraisal valued the house at $489,000. A separate ap praisal by UNL valued the house at $435,000. UNL was one of seven bid ders on the house, he said. Griesen said he would return to the board next month with a request to withdraw $900,000 from the Facilities Bond Surplus Funds for campus build ing maintenance and repair. Investigation Continued from Page 1 Colbom said a Lancaster County grand jury would convene within the next month or two to examine evi dence from the state patrol’s investi gation. Although the county attorney’s office had filed no charges as of Sun day, Colbom said it could decide to press criminal charges before the grand jury met. The officers involved in the inci dent all were placed on administra tive leave, which is procedure in such investigations. This is the first time in at least 40 years that a UNL police officer has been placed on leave, Cauble said. Although she will continue to be paid, Veskma has been relieved from duty until further notice, he said. UNL police will review her case to day. “I’ve never had a complaint filed for any type of misaction,” Cauble said. “I feel that the actions the officer took were proper at the time with the information she had available.” Editor Jeff Zeleny and The Associated Press cootributed to this report.