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TV^.;1xr MONDAY
I WEATHER:
Today -Mostly cloudy.
30% chance of showers.
Southeast wind 5 to 15 mph. .
Tdnight - Cloudy. Low :
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COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1 -£ 7 T 1Q --
_ - - September 18, 1995
Researchers
go high-tech
in Beadle labs
By Paula Lavigne;
Senior Reporter
Cutting-edge technology at the George W.
Beadle Center will bring scientific research
from the “dark ages into the 21st century,” a
center director said.
Marion O’Leary, Center for Biological
Chemistry director, said the high-quality equip
ment at the Beadle Center would allow his
discipline to expand.
Beadle
1 . r-i r-.
Center
Plant photosynthesis; en
zymes and metals are three
elements of UNL’s biologi
cal chemistry department that
will be studied at the center.
O’Leary said biological
chemistry was an “equip
ment-intensive” study. The
new equipment at the Beadle
Center allows for purifica
tion analysis.of proteins,
DNA and other materials.
DNA also will be researched in the Center
for Biotechnology.
Director Donald Weeks said four new core
research facilities in the Beadle Center were a
cost-effective way to enhance research at the
Center for Biotechnology.
The four new centers include DNA sequenc
ing, protein analysis, antibody study and cell
analysis.
People will have access to expensive equip
ment, he said, without having to purchase their
own research materials.
One of the highlights of the center is a‘
biosafety level-three containment facility,
Weeks said, the BL3 lab.
The BL3 lab allows scientists to work with
human and animal pathogens, he said. Dr.
Charles Wood, a scientist from the University
of Miami, is coming to UNL to use the lab for
studying the Herpes and the HIV viruses.
The equipment at the Beadle Center is 47
years newer than chemical engineering equip
ment in Avery Hall, but that will be the biggest
change for the department, said Professor Wil
liam Schcller.
Most of the department’s work still will be
done in Avery Hall, he said. The main function
of the department is to coordinate two develop
ment labs in the Beadle Center.
One of the labs will be used for a project
Deart James Hendrix brought from the Univer
sity of Nevada at Reno. The other lab is still
under construction, Scheller said, but may be
used to study renewable energy.
Unlike the chemical engineering department,
the chance to move out of an older building was
a valuable asset to the School of Biological
Sciences.
• Brent Nickol, vice director, said the Beadle
Center gave the school more state-of-the-art lab
space.
“The building we were in, Matter Hall, was
built in 1975, before the advent of molecular
, biology,” he said. “As a consequence, the labs
are not equipped for that kind of study.”
Projects the school will research are:
— Microbes’ resistance and survival in ad
verse environmental conditions.
— Natural products produced by microbes
used to control agricultural pests.
— Molecular genetics of plant viruses and
how they assemble.
.—Behavior of bacterial viruses, and the use
of viruses to regulate algal blooms on area
lakes.
— How light induces photosynthesis.
The Beadle Center should help research pro
ductivity aeross the university by freeing up
space in other buildings, Nickol said, and tflso
will allow the sciences to group their faculty
members along discipline lines.
Jeff Haller/DN
A man talks to Lincoln police Sgt. Joseph Wright on R Street in front of the Nebraska Union Sunday morning while
police wait for the crowd to disperse.
Fight erupts following dance in union
By John Fulwider
and Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporters
UNL and Lincoln police were called to
the Nebraska Union early Sunday morning
to break up what may have been a series of
fights that erupted following a dance involv
ing more than 700 people.
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity sponsored
the event, which was scheduled to end about
1 a.m.
Eric Stokes, Kappa Alpha Psi vice presi
dent, said fraternity members were not in
volved in the fight,
“We just got people out,” he said, "“and
when they got outside, we heard that some
thing had broken out.”
No one involved in the fight was identi
fied and no arrests were made. At least four
UNL-police officers and several Lincoln .
police officers were involved in dispersing
the crowd.
Diana Hafermann, the Nebraska Union
night manager, said it took more than an hour
to clear everyone out ofthe building.
University Police Sgt. Bill Manning said
on}y one officer was working at the dance,
because the fraternity had estimated a crowd
of 100 people. More supervision was needed
at the dance, he said.
“Anytime there is a big event like that, we
should have had more people,” Manning
said. “A group of 500 to 700 people should
have had three to four officers.”
* Hafermann counted the money collected
for admission, and estimated that at least 745
people had paid , to enter the dance. The
fraternity stopped charging admission after
12:30 a.m., she said..
Police gave the following account of the
incident:
At 1:14 a.m., the UNL police officer
working the dance, witnessed a fight on the
second floor of the union. When the officer
tried to stop the fight, he was caught in the
middle of it and struck in the throat.
The officer was not seriously injured.
Several other fights broke out as the crowd
was leaving, police said.
Student organizations are required to reg
ister their activities with the police depart
ment. One officer is provided to the group
for free, but other officers must be paid by
the student group, Manning said.
He said he would review the dance and
fights this week.
Hafermann’s account was.similar to that
of police.
The night manager said she had talked to
the UNL pol ice evening-shi ft supervi sor ear
lier in the evening and was asked to call back
if the crowd grew larger than expected.
When the crowd did begin to grow,
Hafermann called UNL police. She said two
UNL police officers came about 11:30 p.m.
lice officers came to help clear the crown
from the building. „
She said she was in the first-floor hallway
near the south entrance around 1 a.m. when
she heard people shouting there was a fight.
By the time she got to where the fight sup
posedly was, she said, she saw no evidence
that there had been a fight.
There have been problems with dances
held in the union in the past, she said. But the
problems have not been the fault ofthe dance
organizers, she said.
Usually, she said, problems are caused by
people who are already intoxicated coming '
to the dance.
“It was a normal college dance, basi
cally,*” she said.
She said she didn’t remember having any
previous problems with Kappa Alpha Psi
members, adding that the fraternity had al
ways been good at helping with security.
Finalists named for vice chancellor position
By John Fulwkter
Senior Reporter
The four finalists for the position of vice
chancellor for business and finance at the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln have been an
nounced: '
The candidates are Penny J. Berger, a part
ner in the Lincoln law firm of Rembolt Ludtke
Parker & Berger; Eugene A. Gilchrist, vice
chancellor for administrative affairs at St. Cloud
University in St. Cloud, Minn.; Melvin W.
'Jones, vice president for financial affairs and
treasurer at Marquette University in Milwau
kee, Wis.; and David R. Larson, vice president
for business and finance at Clemson University
in Clemson, S.C.
The candidates will interview for .the posi
tion on campus. John Goebel left the position
Jan. 1 to serve as dean of the College of Busi
ness Administration. Paul Carlson, associate
vice chancellor for business and finance, has
served as interim vice chancellor since then.
Berger said she, if chosen, would strive for
efficiency in university business.
“I want to make it easier for everyone else to
do their jobs at the university,” she said.
She said her experience in the business world
would help the university face new challenges
like decreasing federal funding of education.
Gilchrist was in South Africa Sunday. Jones
and Larson did not return Daily Nebraskan
phone calls Sunday.
The vice chancellor for business and finance
oversees all of UNL’s accounting functions.
Those include payroll and student accounts, the
budget, internal audits, UNL Police, facilities
management, human resources and transporta
tion services. •
The vice chancellor also oversees auxiliary
services such as printing and mail services,
telecommunications and the University Book
store. • I'