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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