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Sports
■ Frazier receives banner of support, Page 7
, Arts and Entertainment
■ Lincoln sculptor uses chain saw as tool, Page 9
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PAGE 2: Simpson jury selection suspended
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Policy
to raise
retention
By T»d Taylor
Staff Reporter
A new admissions policy should
lower the number of students leaving
school after their freshman year, the
UNL vice chancellor for student af
fairs said.
James Griescn said that during the
last 10 years, an average of 75 percent
of freshmen at the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln returned to school for
their sophomore year. But he expected
that number to increase in 1997.
“After the new admission^ policy
is implemented in 1997, these rates
should rise a little." Gricsen said.
Griescn said the current level of
freshman retention wasn't bad UNL
freshman retention rates have fluctu
ated between 73 percent in 1988
1990 and 77 percent in 1991-92.
“Having 25 percent not enrolled
does not mean failure." he said. “Some
transfer to other schools, move to
another state or have other positive
reasons for not coming back."
The new admissions policy will
require incoming freshmen to com
plete a core of 16 specialized courses
In high sehooLteore a 20orhfgher<w *
the ACT or be in thotop half of their
class.
GnesensaidUNL s rates were typi
cal for a school (hat did not have a
selective admissions policy.
Around the Big Eight. Iowa State
.University had an 81 percent reten
tion rate last year and has averaged 81
percent to 83 percent during the past
10 years. The most recent figures at
the University of Colorado at Boulder
indicate 80 percent of students re
turned for their sophomore year. The
University of Missouri had 82 per
cent of freshmen return this fall, with
numbers steadily climbing from 76
percent 10 years ago.
Gricscn said UNL had many pro
grams aimed at keeping freshmen
and other students in school.
Some of those programs include:
• S.O.S. (Specialized Opportuni
ties and Services), a program that
provides tutoring and specialized
counseling for eligible first-genera
tion. low-income students.
• University Foundations, a three
credit-hour course ofTered to fresh
men. Gricsen said the class “makes
available to students a small class
room environment with caring pro
fessors and a curriculum aimed at
helping students succeed in college.''
Gricscn also said a study was un
der way that looked at the effectivc
See RETENTION on 6
Gerik Parmele/DN
Doug Boroutor, Republican Incumbent In the 1st Congressional District speaks as
Democratic challenger Pat Combs (foreground) listens Tuesday afternoon at the
Villager Motor Inn Conference Center at 52nd and 0 streets.
Bereuter, Combs face off
Debate subjects
include crime,
term limit laws
By WUrtthaw Wait*
Senior Reporter
In the first public foruni in the
Ul race for the 1st
? 9ll|[§]v|l Congressional
District
da>. a political
I newcomer and a
CLfl watchdog in
^ 1^11- c 11111 bc "1 c x
I changed mcws
not barbs, on
term limits and
crime.
Patrick Combs, a Democrat
seeking his first elected office, and
Rep. Doug Bereuter, a Republican
seeking his ninth term in Con
gress, spoke before more than 70
members of the Lincoln Indepen
dent Business Association.
On term limits. Combs said 80
percent of Americans were frus
trated with Congress, and more
than 75 percent supported term
limits However, he.said, voters re
elected incumbents more than 80
percent of the time
Combs said he did not support
term limits.
“Simply changing the players
in a game that's broken won' t solve
all the problems,” he said. Combs
said major reforms were needed in
campaign finance.
Bereuter. who introduced a con
stitutional amendment that would
require all SO states to have term
limits, said that if only a few states
had term limits, it would politi
cally disarm those states. He said
he would support nationwide term
limits.
If Nebraska institutes term lim
its. an item on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Combs said he would limit his
terms in office to four. Bcrcuter
said he would limit himself to three
further terms in office, which the
item on the ballot calls for.
But Bereuter said he wouldn't
be running for Congress by the
time the initiative went into effect.
Combs said after the forum that
Federal Election Commission
spending reports dated up to Sept.
30 showed that his campaign had
$920. He said he did not have the
fund-raising advantages of his in
cumbent opponent, a reason why
See FORUM on 6
Capsule
remains
in shed
By P»Pra Jan—n _
Senior Reporter
The Apollo 009 space capsule still
sits weathered and worn in a storage
shed on UNL’s East Campus, a uni
versity oflicial said Tuesday. But not
for long. ^
Herb Howe, associate to the chan
cellor at the University of Ncbraska
Lincoln, said the capsule had been in
storage for several months.
“The capsule essentially is un
changed from where it was last
spring.” Howe said.
However, he said, a change is in
sight.
We re anticipating by the end ot
the semester we’ II be able to say some
th! ng pretty positive about it."
Howe said the university still was
exploring options for displaying the
space artifact, which was a forerun
ner to the manned Apollo space
flights.
One option would be to display the
capsule on one of the concourses in
the Bob Dcvaney Sports Center, Howe
said. However, he said, that plan is on
hold until the UNL Athletic Depart- *
ment completes a study of all its fa
cilities.
The study, which began last year
and should be completed soon, will
help determine how the department s
facilities can best be used to meet
their needs. Howe said.
The university also is exploring
other options for displaying the cap
sule. Howe said. He would not com
ment on what those options were.
Meanwhile, mi nor . damage to the
capsule’s exterior — caused by envi
ronmental exposure and students carv
ing their initials on the spacecraft —
has yet to be repaired, Howe said.
Damage to the interior will not be
repaired, Howe said, because the cap
sule was gutted before the university
acquired it.
The key is it s a histone piece of
equipment, and we do want to use it in
appropriate ways," he said.
However, he said, restoring the
capsule was not a top priority for
UNL, compared to such things as
NRoll.
For years, the capsule was dis
played outside Morrill Hall on UNL's
City Campus. It was moved to the ^
storage shed after some local fans of
the U S. space program complained
that the university was neglecting the
capsule by allowing it to deteriorate
from exposure to Nebraska’s climate.
More recently. Stonic Cooper, a
UNL meteorology senior, challenged
UNL to either preserve the spacecraft
or give it to someone who would.
Mudslinging becoming common in Nebraska campaigns
•y Jull* Sobczyk._
WgjKmGr^ ! ———
The use of negative advertising in Nebraska
political campaigns is becoming more com
‘ mon, especially this elec
tion year, a University of
Nebraska-Lincoln political
94 science professor said.
"Campaigns in Nebraska
have a negative tone more
so than in the recent past,”
Robert Sittig said. "This is
because candidates' cam
paign-strategies people arc
I advising them to do it, and
they are.”
Negative campaigns concentrate on criti
cizing the opponent rather than discussing the
issues, Sittig said.
But negative campaigns arc becoming
scntial, he said.
“Hard-hitting campaigns arc somewhere in
between required and essential anymore,” Sittig
said. “The candidates try to stay out in front of
each other and then it escalates ”
When a race is more competitive, negative
campaigning is less likely, he said. In those
cases, candidates stick more to the issues, he
said.
But negative campaigning increases when
one candidate is way behind the other, such as
in the race between Jan Stoney and Bob Kerrey
for the U S. Senate, Sittig said.
Kerrey is ahead and Stoney is behind, he
said. “Stoney is using a standard approach.
Every candidate must be prepared to do so.”
Sittig said he thought negative campaign
ing was an i important part of candidates' strat
egics. " v,..
“I think that their Strategy is don't let any
critical comment by the opponent go unchal
lenged. Just beat them to the punch.”
Both Kerrey and Stoney have used negative
advertising in their TV ads. Sittig said.
Steve Jarding, campaign press secretary for
Kerrey, said negative campaigning was on the
rise in the Senate race as the Nov. 8 election
approached.
“The primary reason we have used this type
of campaigning is because Mrs. Stoney has
refused to talk about her record, and she has
one,” Jarding said. “The people have a right to «.
know.”
Jarding said he didn't think of the cam
paigning as negative.
“We look at how Mrs. Stoney has treated
Kerrey in the past 12 months,” he said. “If
she's going to ask questions about Kerrey's
record, we'll ask about hers. We don’t call this
negative.”
Melissa Dollaghan, Jan Stoney’s press sec
rctary, said the Stoney campaign began using
negative advertising once Kerrey started to use
it.
“Kerrey went negative first," she said. “On ^
the radio, he was attacking statements on agri
culture Stoney had madeY'
