WEDNESDAY
WEATHER:
Today - Mostly sunny.
Northwest wind 10 to
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Tonight - Fair. Low in
the lower 30s.
October 25, 1995
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Phillips returns to Husker backfield
By Jeff Zeleny
and Trevor Parks
Senior Reporters
For the first time in seven weeks,
Lawrence Phillips walked into Me
morial Stadium Tuesday wearing his
No. 1 jersey and carrying a football in
his hand.
On Nov. 4, Phillips will run onto
the field with the rest of the team as the
No. 2 Comhuskers play Iowa State. It
will be Phillips’ first game since since
Sept. 9.
Phillips, who was a Heisman Tro
phy contender, was removed from the
team after being arrested on suspicion
of assaulting his former girlfriend, Kate
McEwen. Coach Tom Osborne’s de
cision to throw Phillips off the team
brought gasps from some football fans
and applause from women’s groups
across the country.
“Quite frankly, when the event oc
curred, I thought he should be dis
missed permanently because I thought
it was a stalking question,” Osborne
said Tuesday.
Those who applauded the decision
to boot Phillips from the team were
incensed Tuesday. It is a clear indica
tion, they said, that football comes
before women’s rights.
My real pain in this is that it re
minds every victim that they don’t
count,” said Judith Kriss, director of
the UNL Women’s Center. “I would
like to, ifwecan, somehow rise above
this situation that has become about
football and to change attitudes in
society.”
Osborne dismissed Phillips from
the team Sept. 10. The junior from
West Covina, Calif., later told the
coach he was “out of control” when he
climbed into fellow teammate Scott
Frost’s apartment and attacked
McEwen. One day later, Osborne said
Phillips could someday return to the
team.
“I’m sorry that this happened. I
know I can’t undo the situation, but I
am trying to learn from it,” Phillips
said in a statement. “I haven’t run
from the problem but I am facing it
head on.”
McEwen has declined to talk to the
media throughout the last month.
“The reason that I have not spoken
to anyone to this point, is not only
because of the overwhelming nature
of the ordeal, but also because of my
desire for privacy,” McEwen said in a
statement.
Phillips was found guilty of misde
meanor assault and trespassing in
Lancaster County Court. He will be
sentenced Dec. 1. Phillips was or
dered to have no contact with McEwen
by the court and the University Judi
I
cial Board.
“While there have been sanctions
imposed by the university and the team,
nothing can be done to change what
has happened to me,” wrote McEwen,
who is still receiving protection from
Phillips.
‘I'll take the heat’
Medical tests on Phillips, who spent
four days at the world-renowned
Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kan.,
concluded that he does not have a
personality disorder nor is he psy
chotic. Although he is required to see
a counselor twice a week and a psy
chiatrist once a week, he isnot danger
ous, Osborne said.
“I don’t think the university or the
football program has done the easy
thing,” Osborne said. “The easy thing
would have been to dismiss him, but
after examining all the factors involved
we didn’t feel it was the right thing to
do.”
Medical professionals said a struc
tured environment was crucial to
Phillips’ future, Osborne said. They
advised Osborne it wasn’t in Phillips’
best interest to remove him from the
football team.
“I’m prepared to live with how it
all works out,” Osborne said. “But if it
doesn’t, then I’ll take the heat.”
Many officials—athletic, univer
sity and judicial — played a part in
Phillips’ return.
Lancaster County Judge Jack
Lindner changed a court order Mon
day that originally barred Phillips from
being around Frost or McEwen.
Frost, a transfer quarterback from
Stanford, said in a letter to the county
prosecutor’s office that he does not
feel uncomfortable practicing with
Phillips. However, outside of athlet
ics, Phillips still is ordered to have no
contact with Frost.
“He and Scott cannot go to the
movies together, but they can practice
on the football field,” Osborne said.
Osborne met with both players at
midfield following Tuesday’s prac
tice.
Under guidelines of the Unity
Council, a group of players who help
decide team rules, Phillips would have
had to miss at least three games be
cause of his arrest. When Phillips re
turns next week, he will have missed
six games.
“The team was quite supportive of
his returning,” Osborne said.
It’s not my team’
Beck said McEwen just wanted to
put the incident behind her and focus
Jeff Haller/DN
l-back Lawrence Phillips waits to run through a drill at practice Tuesday afternoon at Memorial
Stadium. Phillips rejoined the Cornhuskers Tuesday after a six-week suspension.
on her basketball career. She said she
supported Osborne’s decision as a
professional in the athletic department
and a University of Nebraska em
ployee. However, she declined to say
what she personally thought of rein
stating Phillips.
“It’snot my team, it’s not my play
--
ers, it’s not my university,” Beck said.
“What it is, is I have to control my own
team and my own decision making.”
Beck and McEwen ’ s fami ly remain
adamant about Phillips havingnocon
tact with the sophomore guard. Phillips
is not allowed to go into the student
athlete cafeteria or academic center
when McEwen is present.
Although Phillips cannot have any
contact with McEwen, she no longer
is receiving 24-hour protection as she
was before, Beck said.
“She feels safe,” Beck said.
See PHILLIPS on 2
Students to discuss Broyhill
By Kasey Kerber
Staff Reporter
Students with questions about
the future of Broyhill Plaza can
-quiz planners at
tonight’sASUN
meeting.
A committee
will update the
Association of
Students of the
University of
Nebraska on
current plans to
reolaceBrovhill
1--1 Fountain at 6:30
p.m. in the East Campus Union.
It also will field questions and
comments in an open forum from
any student who attends the meet
ing.
“We’re hoping to attract a lot of
students to this meeting,” said
Shawntell Hurtgen, ASUN presi
dent. “This is a topic of importance
to all students, and we hope to have
their input on it.”
Hurtgen said she expected the
committee to address whether na
tionally acclaimed artist May Lin
had been contracted to design a
water feature, a structure that uses
water but is not a fountain.
“From what I’ve heard, they’ve
been trying to work out a contract
with her,” Hurtgen said, “but de
tails on this seem to change more
each day.”
Hurtgen said ASUN would wait
until after hearing the committee’s
report to take a stand on the issue.
“We will likely write legislation
endorsing the committee’s plans or
we will draft legislation speaking
out against it,” Hurtgen said.
Student input will be vital, she
said.
“We need to take some type of
stand before the plan is finalized,”
Hurtgen said. “It’s important to let
others know that students have an
impact on this decision.”
lestimony continues
in Harms’ civil suit
From Staff Reports
Testimony continues today in
Lancaster County District Court in a
wrongful death civil suit filed by the
parents and sister of slain UNL stu
dent Candice Harms.
The suit was filed against Roger
Bjorklund and Scott Barney, the two
men convicted of abducting, raping
and murdering 18-year-old Harms in
1992. The Harms family is seeking
$7,300 in damages for funeral and
burial expenses. Additional compen
sation also is sought for general dam
ages.
For 12 weeks following her abduc
tion, the city of Lincoln was marked
with fliers asking for any information
on Harms’ whereabouts. Investiga
tors had few clues before arresting the
two men on robbery charges.
Barney made a deal with prosecu
tors to become a state witness in ex
change for a life sentence. Bjorklund
received the death sentence Sept. 21,
1994.
“Defendants’ intentional, outra
geous and extreme conduct towards
Candice Michelle Harms went beyond
all possible bounds of decency and is
regarded as atrocious and utterly in
tolerable in a civilized community,”
the lawsuit states.
See HARMS on 6
