inside
K
ednesday
Sports
Benning part of an
experienced group of
Husker I-backs, page 7
Arts & Entertainment
UNL students form R&B
band, page 9
April 12, 1995
Spring?
GerikParmele/DN
A student tries to keep dry as he walks past a blooming European Birdcherry tree Tuesday
morning near Love Library. Snow and rain fell in the morning as temperatures remained
in the 30s.
Smith presents
budget solutions
By Angie Schendt
Staff Reporter
NU President Dennis Smith ad
dressed the Academic Senate Tues
day about effi
ciency in the
classroom and in
the university sys
tem.
Higher educa
tion is under stress
from the
economy and an unsympathetic pub
lic, he said. State appropriations to
universities across the nation decrease
every year, so tuition must be raised,
he said.
Because these financial problems
are long term, a different planning
strategy must be implemented.
“Higher education is approaching
a new era,” he said.
Smith presented four alternatives
to fix the fiscal problems. The same
amount of resources no longer are
available, as they were a few years
ago, he said.
One alternative is that the univer
sity could do less with less, Smith
said, but that would not make sense
in a state where high-school gradu
ates are increasing.
SENATE
The second alternative is to do the
same with less, he said, but that would
involve across-the-board cuts, which
he did not recommend.
“This short-term approach as
sumes the crisis is short term,” he
said.
The third alternative, he said, is to
change the delivery of the education
system. Sweeping changes along with
restructuring the university are in
volved with this alternative.
“The .university will not be the
same institution after this is done,”
Smith said.
The fourth alternative is to sharpen
the university’s mission, he said. All
four university campuses should work
together better so everyone can ben
efit, he said.
“We should continue to strive in
excellence in the areas that we have
the capacity to dp so or have already
shown excellence in,” Smith said.
A task force has been started to re
evaluate and restructure inefficien
cies. It will look at central and cam
pus-wide administration, he said. A
different approach must be taken with
individual departments so they can
interact with each other, he said.
See SENATE on 6
New Crib coffee house hopes to perk student interest
By Rebecca Oltmans
Start Reporter
The small, unobtrusive opening of
a gourmet coffee bar in the Crib of
the Nebraska Union last night is actu
ally the first step in a larger, more
noticeable plan.
“It’s kind of a pilot coffee bar,”
said Daryl Swanson, director of Ne
braska unions.
If student feedback is positive
enough, the coffee bar, set for its
official grand opening Thursday,
could become a permanent coffee
house, first in the Crib and then in the
expanded union, Swanson said.
The coffee bar, located near the
fireplace, was open from 5 to 10
Monday night. The opening was un
advertised to provide a night to get
the kinks out, Swanson said.
Thursday night, the Crib will be
come the coffee house, decorated
and open to the public at 6 with
entertainment onstage, and, of course,
coffee.
The coffee bar’s first night went
well, considering it was not adver
tised, said Kerry Stueck, manager of
retail sales.
About 20 customers showed up,
Stueck said.
“But many students came over to
check it out,” Stueck said.
The idea for a coffee house origi
nated last year when a group looked
into the idea of opening a non-alco
holic nightclub in the union. That
idea changed to a coffee house.
Because the bakery will continue
to serve gourmet coffee, the coffee
bar will open at 5 p.m., when the
bakery closes. The bar’s menu in
cludes gourmet coffee, espresso,
cappuccino, bottled water and as
sorted sweets, like brownies, cook
ies, muffins and bagels, Stueck said.
The bar has five coffee flavors and
will offer two each night, Stueck
said. It also might add cappuccino
toppings.
The timing behind the bar’s open
ing is important.
“We wanted to have it open long
enough to get some feedback before
decisions are made over the sum
mer,” Swanson said.
The bar will close May 4 for the
summer because there are fewer stu
dents on campus. It will re-open this
fall Sunday through Thursday in the
Crib, with an expanded coffee selec
tion and occasional entertainment on
the Crib stage.
“We are looking for a vote of
confidence from students that this is
a good idea,” Swanson said.
Swanson said student feedback
was important because right now the
Crib is a study room. The coffee
house won’t change the study envi
ronment except on Thursday when
there is entertainment.
“It wasn’t meant to be a study
room, but that’s what it has become,”
Swanson said.
Any design plans for a coffee house
in the renovated union are still gen
eral, Swanson said.
“We would want to build some
thing that looks and feels like a cof
fee house,” Swanson said.
The coffee hou^e would be a stu
dent lounge during^the day and
accomodate entertainment over some
noon hours, evenings and weekends.
It also might be a place where both
faculty and students could spend time,
Swanson said.
“Some people want a coffee house
large enough to accomodate large
numbers of people for entertainment,”
Swanson said. “Others want a small
intimate space.”
Schlondorf to plead
insanity in shooting
By Brian Sharp
Senior Reporter
A man who is charged with shoot
ing a UNL police officer last Sep
tember will plead not guilty by rea
son of insanity, his lawyers told the
court Tuesday.
Public Defender Dennis Keefe
filed the one-page brief in Lancaster
County District Court.
Keefe would not comment on the
specifics of the case or the evidence
supporting the defense. Schlondorf
saw a local psychiatrist March 24,
but Keefe would not comment on
the evaluation.
Schlondorf, a former criminal
justice major at the university of
Nebraska-Lincoln, allegedly fired
11 rounds at a UNL Police Blazer at
16th and R streets on Sept. 12 in the
midst of a low-speed chase through
Lincoln.
Officer Robert Soflin, who was
driving the Blazer, was struck in the
right hamt, neck and shoulder. The
six-year UNL Police veteran has
since returned to the department and
has filed a separate $1 million law
suit against Schlondorf.
John Coiborn, chief deputy
county attorney, said an insanity
defense for Schlondorf was not un
expected.
“It’s simply another issue in the
case that we will have to deal with,”
Colbom said.
But it also means further delays,
he said. The state will now ask the
court to appoint an independent psy
chiatrist to evaluate Schlondorf.
Schlondorf remains in Lancaster
County Jail. He has been charged
with first-degree assault on a peace
officer, two counts of attempted sec
ond-degree murder, four counts of
using a firearm to commit a felony
and one count each of making ter
roristic threats and fleeing to avoid
arrest.
Despite snow, students pray together
uy Jonn hulwider
Staff Reporter
“Amens” may have outnumbered
“brrrs” Tuesday as several Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln students
braved the snow and cold to pray
together in the greenspace north of
the Nebraska Union.
From 7 a.m to 7 p.m., at least one
student was praying. The gathering
drew more than 30 students from
several different campus Christian
groups. Students said they prayed for
many campus and personal concerns.
TTie students said they were not
gathering to attract notice to them
selves but to draw attention to God.
Paul Payne, a junior mechanical
engineering major, said the gather
ing was not moved to a warmer loca
tion because the students wanted to
let God have control of the gathering.
Aron Utecht, a junior broadcast
ing major, said the cold wasn’t a
concern.
‘Talking to the God of the uni
verse is better than worrying about
the cold,” he said.
The gathering was planned sev
eral weeks ago by leaders of AH
Travis Heying/DN
Members of several Christian groups at UNL pray
Tuesday in the greenspace.
Campus Prayer. ACP is a group of
UNL students who hold prayer meet
ings on City Campus, East Campus
and off campus.
Amy Nickerson, a junior psychol
ogy major, said the gathering demon
strated that not all Christians were
out to condemn others.
Mark Peach, a senior sociology
major, agreed.
“I just want people to know that
God loves them,” he said.