WEDNESDAY
WEATHER:
Today - Cloudy with
possible flurries. South
wind 10 to 15 mph.
Tonight - Mostly cloudy.
Low in the mid 20s.
November 29, 1995
James Mehsling/DN
Gerald Schlondorf (left) and public defenders Dennis Keefe and Sean Brennan present their
case Tuesday at the former UNL student’s trial.
Schlondorf defense
stresses suicide plan
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter
It was no secret that Gerald
Schlondorf wanted to take his own
life.
In three English composition pa
pers, the former University of Ne
braska-Lincoln student wrote in detail
about his wish to kill himself. And
police had responded to at least two
suicide attempts in his residence hall
room.
But whenever counselors tried to
intervene, the 32-year-old former stu
dent who now stands trial on attempted
second-degree murder charges appar
ently did not take their help.
During opening arguments Tues
day in Schlondorf s trial, Lancaster
County Public Defender Dennis Keefe
recreated the night of Sept. 12,1994. v
Keefe said Schlondorf was going
into the Lancaster County countryside
to shoot himself that night. Dressed in
a white shirt and blue tie and armed
with a .45-caliber weapon that re
sembled a submachine gun,
Schlondorf began to drive his pickup
truck through Lincoln.
When he spotted a police cruiser
near State Fair Park, his plan changed.
After allegedly firing at least 12
rounds at two police officers in a chase
through rush-hour traffic, Schlondorf
wanted someone else to do the job for
him.
See SCHLONDORF on 6
Two senators
propose bills
toup primary
By Ted Taylor
Staff Reporter
----- - —- • -— ■ - “‘■**'*--'*'-'-■■—--**2
a proposal to move iNeorasKa s presidential
primary up two months should provide debate
for the Legislature in January, some state sena
tors say.
Sen. Chris Abboud of Omaha said he would
introduce a proposal to move the primary from
May to February in the January Legislature
session.
That bill will coincide with another drafted
by Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln in Septem
ber.
“My bill is a little different,” Schimek said.
“But when I found out Chris had a bill, I thought
we should get together and discuss all the angles
on this.”
Abboud’s bill would schedule a primary on
the last Tuesday in May, right after the Iowa
caucus and in line with the South Dakota and
North Dakota primaries. That would create
what he called a Great Plains primary contest. If
the bill passed, it would not take effect until the
year 2000. ;
Schimek’s bill features a late March pri
mary, which also would create a regional pri
mary with other Midwestern states.
Now, 85 percent of the delegates are chosen
by the time the Nebraska primary rolls around,
Abboud said. By moving it up two months, only
four percent will be chosen.
“That would generate more feelings that
their vote would make a difference,” he said.
Increasing voter interest in candidates as
well as candidate interest in Nebraska are some
of the selling points Abboud will bring to the
Legislature.
By having a more accessible and interesting
presidential election, it would get more people
involved — the way it was 40 years ago,” he
said.
“Presidential candidates pay attention to less
populated states like Iowa because it gives them
a chance to be seen as a leader early on,”
Abboud said.
“It makes the candidates look at the issues of
the state,” he said.
But financial concerns have those same sena
tors wary of the possible move.
“I am not sure what the exact costs would
be,” Schimek said. “Probably as much as an
other election. It would probably be too expen
sive to have a separate presidential primary,
which is what Chris’ bill wants.”
UNL political science professor Robert Sittig
says Nebraska already has lost its chance to be
a heavyweight in the presidential primary race.
“The incentive wouldn’t be there for candi
dates to come,” he said. “Where Iowa and New
Hampshire have succeeded, we have missed the
' See PRIMARY on 2
Tanna Kinnaman/DN
Twenty-five plaques all featuring white male Nebraska buisness leaders hang in the Hall of Fame at the College of Business
Administration. The wall has angered members of CBA’s women faculty.
Female faculty protest all-male CBA wall
By Paula Lavigne
Senior Reporter
Some women faculty members say the Col
lege of Business Administration’s new all-white,
all-male Hall of Fame proves the climate there
is still chilly for women.
But organizers say it wasn’t meant to be
discriminatory.
The Hall of Fame, a wall featuring about 25
photos of Nebraska business leaders, was in
stalled last month.
Patricia Kennedy, assistant marketing pro
fessor, said the hall, which is next to her class
room, makes her uncomfortable. She has heard
similar concerns from other faculty members
and more than four students, she said.
“The women and minorities in this school
aren’t going to feel welcome and belong if they
don’t see people as themselves (on the wall),”
she said. “It’s the same old, same old.”
Last spring, the University of Nebraska
Lincoln chapter of the Anierican Association of
University Professors issued a report that said
the CBA climate was “chilly” because of unfair
procedures, unequal pay, harassment and sex
ism.
The report was followed by an anonymous
letter sent to women faculty that included sexu
ally explicit material and warned the women to
“stop causing a problem at UNL, or we’re going
to give you the boot.”
Mary McGarvey, associate economics pro
fessor, received one of the letters last year. She
said the Hall of Fame had a similar meaning.
“It sent the same old message that there are
no women and minorities recognized,” she said.
McGarvey said she also was upset that the
hall “appeared out of nowhere.”
“Everyone’s reaction I talked to was,
‘Where’s this come from?’... It just came as a
shock.”
But she said no one was shocked to see that
all of the faces were white and male.
Jennifer Liberty, the college’s public rela
tions director, said the hall was a group venture
among the CBA, the Coordinating Commission
for Postsecondary Education and the Nebraska
Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Liberty sand the organizations decided the
collpge would be the best place to display the
plaques.
But it is the chamber, not the college, that
chooses the inductees, she said.
Barry Kennedy, executive vice president pf
the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and In
dustry, said the chamber selected about four
inductees a year and accepted nominations from
anyone.
Although the physical wall is new, he said, it
includes businessmen who the chamber has
honored during the past 10 years. Inductees
must have distinguished themselves in a Ne
braska business, he said.
Patricia Kennedy said she knew of several
women who would have fit that description. But
Barry Kennedy said minorities and women made
up only a small percentage of about 30 nomina
tions that come in each year.
That percentage is growing, he said.
“We have encouraged some nominations
now from both sectors (women and minori
ties),” he said, “and I assume over the years it
will work itself out.”
The chamber already has chosen its 1996
inductee, Omaha investor Warren Buffet, who
will be honored at a ceremony at the Comhusker
Hotel Feb. 8.
McGarvey said she wished the chamber or
the college would have asked few nominations
or circulated nomination forms.
“Certainly now that the business school is
housing this Hall of Fame, we’d be delimited to
nominate some businesswomen,” she said. “We
See CBA on 6
