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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1996)
TV,;Ur THURSDAY WEATHER: ^ ^ —a Today - Cold with a 30% f I chance of light snow. ^^^k I I ■« South wind 5 to 15 mph. ^ .^L * B m Tonight - Bitterly cold. Low 15 below. COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 95 NO. 96 -—-' T __ _February 1, 1996 Scott Bruhn/DN Michael Nuss, an undeclared freshman, left, and Jay Palu, a sophomore architecture student, help put up “Design Diaspora: Black Architects and International Architecture 1970-1990” on Wednesday afternoon in Architecture Hall. Black architects’ show opens By Eva Nekovar. Staff Reporter An exhibit of works by 50 black architects opens today at the Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln Col lege of Architecture. Faye Kopke, a project assistant, said “Design Diaspora: Black Ar chitects and International Architec ture 1970-1990” is one of the few traveling exhibits to come to UNL this year. Sponsored by the College of Architecture, it is the first traveling exhibition to focus on the achieve ments of architects of African de scent. The exhibit features architects who practice in the United States, Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean. “This will give students another perspective,” said Geri Wesely, an administrative assistant for the Col lege of Architecture. “The exhibition contains draw ings, models and photographs and includes a wide range of built envi ronments, designs for transporta tion, governments, education, medical, housing, recreational, re ligious and business use,” Wesely said. Included in the exhibit is work from Charles McAfee, a distin guished alumnus of the Profes sional Advisory Counsel of Archi tecture at UNL. Mark Hoistad, an associate pro fessor of architecture, said the col lege brought in the exhibit to attract students, especially women and minorities. The exhibit will be on display in the Architecture Hall gallery from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., every week day during February. ASUN criticizes seating proposal By Kasey Kerber Staff Reporter The Athletic Department’s pro posed rearranging of student seating ,- at football games, claims of valida tion abuse and a possible buy-back program for tick ets were pom meled at last night’s ASUN meeting. Under the seat ing change pro ■- posai, two student sections close to the field would be eliminated, and two new student sec tions would open up farther away from the field. The Athletic Department said the proposed change was prompted by let ters of complaint from non-student fans. Fans sitting behind student sec tions said they could not see the field when students stood on the bleachers. “This is football, and people need to get tough and get over it,” said Eric Marintzer, Government Liaison Com mittee chairman. “It’s the students that create the hype and the excitement, and we’re the ones that make up the whole game and the university.” Many senators from the Associa tion of Students of the University of Nebraska said the proposal had little to do with obstructing fans’ views. Money was the issue, they said. “If two previous student sections were opened up to regular ticket buy ers, more money could be made,” said Jon Scheve, a senator from the Col lege of Business Administration. In a lengthy discussion, senators criticized the Athletic Department for continually sacrificing student seating. This carried into die next concern of the Athletic Department: that vali “If two previous student sections were opened up to regular ticket buyers, more money could be made. ” JON SCHEVE ASUN senator dation of football tickets is being abused. The Athletic Department submitted a chart of how many student tickets were validated for each home game, ranging from 9 percent for the Arizona State game to 40 percent for the Okla homa game. “What I don’t get is why they care,” said Malcolm Kass, chairman of the Committee for Fees Allocation. “They get more money once we validate our tickets.” A final issue was a possible buy back program for tickets. Once again money was the concern, and senators were critical. “Why would we want to sell our tickets back to the university for eight bucks when we can sell it for thirty?” said Jason Bynum, campus life chair man. Chuck Lee, a senator from Public Affairs and Community Services, said, “I don’t think,this is a good idea, be cause the Athletic Department, with their love of statistics, might claim that a good deal of students are selling their tickets back to the university and therefore feel that students won’t need as many tickets next year.” The issues will be discussed in next week’s meeting with representatives from the Athletic Department. A sense of place Learning Community keeps freshmen afloat at college By Julie Sobczyk Senior Reporter When UNL freshman Dustin Nutter was a senior in high school, he was a little anxious about coming to college. The large number of students, lec ture classes and just being away from home can make many freshmen un easy, and Nutter was no exception. “I’m a little shy,” he said. “I was nervous about coming.” But a program new this year to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Di vision of General Studies has created a group environment to help put un declared freshman at ease. The Freshman Learning Commu nity, which began last semester, en courages new students to get involved on campus and tries to keep unde clared freshmen from dropping out of school, said Don Gregory, director of general studies. „•» “This is an attempt to provide a small community inside the larger college community,” Gregory said. “We want to give them daily contact, so they can get to know each other.” Research has shown, he said, that 25 percent of freshmen drop out of “This is an attempt to provide a small community inside the larger college community. ” DON GREGORY director of general studies something, they’re more likely to stay.” In its first year, the program in volves 62 freshmen, he said. The women live on the fifth floor of Schramm Residence Hall, and the men on the sixth floor. Living together helps promote community among the group, he said. Taking at least three classes together also helps strengthen the freshmen community. All students in the program take English 150, Political Science 100 and University Foundations, Gregory said. “This adds to the support,’'* he said. See FRESHMEN on 3 Blank checks speed up purchasing By Julie Sobczyk Senior Reporter It might seem odd that UNL mails signed, blank checks to ven dors — but one university official says it’s the most convenient way to shop. Bill Bode, director of the Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln’s pur chasing department, said many de partments used the Quick Service/ Quick Pay system. Checks, which have only a uni versity signature at the bottom and the vendor’s name at the top, are mailed to the selling company, he said. But some restrictions do exist. “These would be for small dol lar transactions,” he said. “It’s for when we have an estimated idea, but not the exact dollar amount.” Any purchases less than $500 are considered small transactions, he said. Departments can make these transactions without consult ing the UNL purchasing depart ment. When vendors receive the blank checks and the order forms, Bode said, they are required to fill in the exact dollar amount of the pur chase. “The order tells the vendor what we want and the amounts for the vendor to fill in,” he said. “We ex pect the vendors to be honest with us.” And so far, honesty has been the best policy. “In all the years, I’m only aware of one problem when we felt a ven See CHECKS on 3 Billfor joint custody attracts attention By Erin Schulte Staff Reporter Divorced parents voiced strong _ opinions on a legislature 'Oft < A if Wednesday to the Nebraska Legislature’s Ju diciary Commit tee. The bill, LB1312, changes the standing law uy cuuuig uic-ic quirement that joint custody can be obtained only by mutual consent, and that joint custody would be given first consideration as an option by the courts. Many non-custodial fathers testi fied at the committee hearing in favor of the bill, saying they were tired of being visitors and wanted to be par ents. Scott Allen,.a non-custodial parent of two children, said his rights were violated by the courts and he was hu miliated by not being given joint cus tody. Because his wife did not want joint custody, it could not even be dis cussed in court, he said. Allen said fathers should have a greater role in their children’s lives than just helping financially. He urged senators not to look at fathers “just as a pocketbook.” Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, a committee member, said the idea may not work because if parents couldn’t agree on enough things to remain married, they would not agree on child-rearing issues. Chambers gave the example of re ligious differences, such as ex-spouses who practice different faiths, as an is sue that could not be resolved easily. If the child is in joint custody, both See CUSTODY on 3