insidellT
1leekend
Sports
Women’s gymnastics set for
regionals, page 8
Arts & Entertainment
West Coast designer to visit
Lincoln, page 11
COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 94 NO. 136 -
______________ _April 7-9, 1995_
ASUN party brings complaints from bar owner
By Brian Sharp
Senior Reporter
Student government president
Shawntell Hurtgen says she and her
newly-elected senators have done
nothing wrong.
But management and employees of
a local bar and grill say otherwise.
The argument stems from a March
29 party at Barrymore’s Lounge, 124
N. 13th St. That was the same night
new student government omcers were
sworn in. Following the ceremony,
many celebrated at Barrymore’s.
But that is where the similarities
between the two accounts end.
In a two-page letter addressed to
A SUN and “Young Republican*’mem
bers, bar manager Laird Haberlan la
beled party-goer behavior that night
as “repulsive.”
Laird alleged that members of the
group tore pictures off the wall, dam
aged property and disrupted business
while they were there. The letter also
alleged that former ASUN president
Andrew Loudon was chewing tobacco
and spitting it on the floor.
Loudon has denied the allegations.
“I have never chewed tobacco in
my life,” Loudon said.
Hurtgen said the letter was an inac
curate account of a rather peaceful
evening. About 20 people showed up,
she said, including former ASUN
members and students trom Wayne
State College. Hurtgen said the letter
was the first mention of any problems
from the event.
“So far, we have not found anyone
(from the party) who has seen any
thing,” Hurtgen said. “I find that is
rather odd.”
Kristi Ziems, who was bartending
that night, said she remembered dif
ferently.
Ziems said there were almost 80
people with the party, which started
around 8 p.m. The group was standing f
around in the center of the bar, she
said, making it difficult for the only
waitress on duty to take orders. Things
got out of hand shortly after 10, she
said.
Ziems said party-goers were con
tinually asked to settle down. There
were three other couples in the bar,
See ASUN on 7
Singers’
director
to retire
By Paula Lavigne
Senior Reporter
Not many teachers can say their students
act on Broadway, sing in Nashville or per
form on a Hawaiian cruise ship.
Ray Miller, founder and director of the
Scarlet & Cream Singers, can say this with
pride.
But Miller is ready for his final curtain
call. He will retire this year after 22 years as
Scarlet & Cream director and 29 years as. a
music professor at the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln. About 130 Scarlet & Cream
alumni will honor Miller at a special celebra
tion this weekend.
Scarlet & Cream singers and musicians,
who are sponsored by the UNL Alumni As
sociation, perform at alumni functions across
the nation and serve as a public relations
tool.
But Miller made them much more than
that—as a group and as individuals. Miller
took the award-winning Scarlet & Cream
Singers across the United States and over
seas, and he scheduled a bi-yearly tour across
Nebraska.
He said he also wanted to give students an
outlet for their performing talents other than
opera or oratorio. He had them perform
popular, fun music mainly from the ’30s and
’40s—with a few Beach Boys tunes reluc
tantly thrown in.
Miller served as a director and a father
figure to the 14 singers and five musicians.
Miller said he would miss working with the
students more than anything.
“It’s not like having them for a math or
science class for one semester,” he said.
“Some of these kids were with me for five or
six years.”
In that time, Miller said he tried to teach
them more than notes and steps.
“We taught them cooperation and com
mitment,” he said. “We said if you had a big
fraternity or sorority dance on Friday night
and we had a performance, you were coming
with us.”
For some, the commi tment to performance
turned into a career.
Ken Goodwin, who was in the group from
1979 to 1982, started a nationwide chain of
piano rock-and-roll clubs.
Goodwin, who now lives in Cincinnati,
said his experience performing on stage with
Scarlet & Cream helped him with his career.
“Ray took a bunch of crazy kids from
different schools and put them together to
perform for the alumni,” he said, “and still,
somehow, kept his sanity through it all.”
Don Robertus, who was with the group
from 1985 to 1988, said Miller’s demand for
commitment helped him stay focused in
school.
“Ray was there to keep us in line,” he said.
“He was kind of a father figure to us all.”
v Joel Johnston, vocal instructor at Gretna
High School, said Miller had the ability to
recruit quality students, match them with
“ See MILLER on 7
i A J J ; * - - 4- j. * • <* * » i * • ** *■ * * *• * * 5 » k * * -- * a 4 a * . a i . . ^
Jon Waller/DN
UNL vocal music professor Ray Miller is retiring after 29 years with the
university. Miller’s biggest contribution was creating the Scarlet & Cream
Singers.
Former student takes stage
ay uoug peters
Staff Reporter
LAS VEGAS — Seven years ago, Rod
Weber expected to be spending 1995 finish
ing medical school and wearing a lab coat
and stethoscope.
Instead, the 29-year-old Nebraska native
and former UNL student has spent much of
the last 18 months on roller slates, playing
one of the male leads in Andrew Lloyd
Webber’s “Starlight Express” at the Las
Vegas Hilton.
Weber’s role is the product of his six
years of work in show business. He quit
school in 1988, passing up medical school in
favor of the stage.
Performing in “Starlight Express,” which
has twice been voted best show in Las Vegas,
has been demanding. The role requires We
ber to perform 10 90-minute shows every
week.
“It’s a high energy show,” Weber said of
the production, which is performed entirely
on roller skates. It s the toughest show I’ve
ever done, physically.”
Weber, who performed with the Scarlet &
Cream Singers while at UNL, credits the
group with giving him experience and help
ing him leam how to work an audience. He
also said Scarlet & Cream’s retiring director,
Ray Miller, influenced him.
“He’s a man of experience,” Weber said.
“He gave us a taste of what this life was like.”
Weber is no stranger to performing. He
participated in show choir in high school at
Plainview and at Blair, where he graduated
in 1983. At UNL he also performed with the
Varsity Men’s Glee Club and the Nebraska
Dance Ensemble’s production of “Dancing
Gershwin.”
Until 1988, performing was a hobby for
Weber, not a career option. He was a chem
istry and pre-medicine major at UNL, and
even after a six-month break from school in
1988 to perform at the Tokyo Disneyland, he
See WEBER on 7
UJNL alums
radio success
honored today
By Tanna Kinnaman
Staff Reporter
Judith Stoia doesn’t hesitate to tackle con
troversial issues.
As executive producer for WGBH Televi
sion in Boston,
she has dealt with issues like abortion, AIDS
and homosexuality. Her credits include a spe
cial about AIDS for PBS and ABC, and the
book, “The Hardest Lesson: Stories of a School
Desegregation Crisis.”
Today, Stoia will receive the Award of Ex
cellence from the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln College of Journalism and Mass Commu
nications Alumni Association.
She graduated from UNL in 1968 with a
news-editorial degree and joined WGBH in
1972 as a radio reporter.
“I started out writing for radio and kept
intending to get into newspapers someday,”
Stoia said.
But after becoming a television reporter and
editor, she found out she liked making televi
sion programs, so she stayed at WGBH.
In 1980, Stoia was promoted to WGBH’s
television producer and became executive pro
ducer in 1989.
WGBH is an award-winning public televi
sion station, and Stoia said proposed cuts in
funding for public broadcasting concerned her.
“It’s a shame,” she said. “We need some
dance, music, fine arts and serious public affairs
programs that are free to the public.”
Stoia said large stations like WGBH would
survive fundingcuts,but smaller stations would
have a difficult time staying afloat.
WGBH currently employs 1,000 people and
has two television stations and one radio sta
tion. It is the major producer of public televi
sion programs such as “Nova,” “Masterpiece
Theatre” and “Carmen Sandiego.”
Stoia managed to get in some serious shop
ping between her heavy schedule of appear
ances at the College bf Journalism and Mass
Communications. She came with direct orders
from family and friends to buy items bearing the
name Nebraska on them.
“Wearing something that has Nebraska on it
is considered exotica in Boston,” Stoia said.
Some of her upcoming programs include
“The World According to Us,” a women’s com
edy special, an abortion special on PBS in
November and a program in May about gay
teen-agers.
■ The article “ UNL gets millions in
two minutes” in the April 5 Daily
Nebraskan should not have given
the impression that the Legislature
handed over to the university $4.5
million with a vote. The
Legislature, by its vote, simply
allowed UNL to enter into bond
agreements that would fund the
four projects.
