COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
SINCE 1901
February 7, 1996
WEDNESDAY
WEATHER:
Today - Partly sunny and
mild. West wind 10 to 15
mph.
Tonight - Partly cloudy.
Low in lower 30s.
VOL. 95 NO. 100
Gamblingbill
tabled by
legislature
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter
The chips are off the table for extended
casino gambling in Nebraska — at least for
now.
In a 36-9 vote Tuesday, the Nebraska Legis
lature passed Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers’
bracket motion to postpone debate on LR43CA
until June 1.
Legislature
Chambers’ motion effec
tively eliminates any chance
for the constitutional amend
ment to appear on the No
vember ballot.
Chambers said he decided
to introduce the motion after
prolonged discussion made
it clear there wouldn’t be
enough votes to enact the
resolution.
■ * Myjoo was to oetne cap
tain of the ship that sunk the Bismarck,” he said
Tuesday afternoon.
“I didn’t want to see the expansion of what I
call stupid gambling — casinos, horse racing
and lotteries,” he said, “where the chances of
winning are very slight.”
Sen. Don Wesely of Lincoln called the lop
sided vote “amazing.”
“What it tells you is that there are 20 to 30
votes strongly against it,” he said.
But he said he wouldn’t be surprised if the
issue came back to the floor.
“My interpretation of the vote is that it’s
dead, buried and has a stake through its heart—
but it’s like Dracula, it might come back again.”
Sen. Dave Landis of Lincoln agreed.
“This is like herpes — this will be back.”
The extended gambling issue has been on the
hot seat since Sen. Stan Schellpeper of Stanton
introduced the measure.
The resolution would have given Nebraska
lawmakers the power to allow for electronic,
video or mechanical gambling devices.
Schellpeper said he was surprised by the
margin of defeat because he believed extended
gambling had more support.
In introducing the resolution, Schellpeper
said the bill was important enough for all Ne
braskans to be given the ability to decide the
fate of gambling in the state.
Sen. Eric Will of Omaha, one proponent of
the resolution, agreed.
See GAMBLING on 6
Matt Miller/DN
Graduate physics student Richard A. Thomas displays his experiment on how bubbles are shaped at the
ScienceWorks presentation at Brace Lab Tuesday night.
Everyday science
UNL group aims to make subject jun
By Brian Priesman
Staff Aeporter
Bill Nye the Science Guy aside, most
scientists are not geeks.
Or at least that’s what Diandra Leslie
Pelecky, UNL research assistant professor
of physics, hopes to prove with
ScienceWorks.
“You don’t see scientists bungee-jump
ing off of bridges screaming ‘SCIENCE!’ at
the top of their lungs,” Pelecky said.
ScienceWorks, a UNL outreach group
that receives funding from the National Sci
ence Foundation, is designed to take science
to the people.
The group, which meets once a month,
designs portable presentations and skits to
show people that science is something fun
and useful.
“People have that perception that ‘sci
ence isn’t something I can do,’” Pelecky
said.
But ScienceWorks wants to prove them
wrong.
A windshear-microburst display teaches
about weather conditions that can cause plane
crashes.
Another demonstration—a magnet float
ing above a super-conductor—teaches how
to make a frictionless bearing.
And yet another demonstration teaches
about weight dispersion on small objects by
having a person lie down on a bed of nails.
Future presentations include tomadodem
onstration and a demonstration answering
the question ‘why is the sky blue?’
Pelecky said she hoped the projects would
help people understand how science affected
their daily lives.
“The average person doesn’t get much
science literacy,” Pelecky said.
Pelecky said ScienceWorks had at least
one request a week to give presentations.
The next presentation will be Feb. 24 from
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Gateway Mall, 6100 O St.
Greekinitiations change
since state law passed
By Emily Wray
Staff Reporter
Two years after Nebraska’s anti
hazing law was passed, greek ini
tiation is no longer at the forefront
of the Legislature.
But it may be foremost in the
minds of new sorority and frater
nity members.
Most greek houses at the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln initiate
new members in the spring semes
ter. And the president of UNL’s
Interfraternity Council said initia
tion had changed since the passage
of LB 1129.
“Initiation is a more positive c
experience now because the law
makes people more aware of the i
morality issues involved and what r
is considered acceptable behavior,”
Chris Maul said. I
Laura Hohl, president of the \
Panhellenic Association, said the -
law hadn’t affected sororities’ pro
“Becoming initiated is
a step in leading the
chapter, alumni and
establishing a proving
ground for the rest of
life.”
CHRIS MAUL
Interfratemity Council
president
edures.
“Hazing isn’t a part of sorority
litiation,” she said. “Initiation is
lore emotional and spiritual.”
The law that makes hazing ide
al defines it as “any activity which
/illfully or recklessly endangers
See INITIATION on 3
15*
Moeser causes reshuffling
By Erin Schulte
Staff Reporter
The arrival of Chancellor James
Moeser at UNL has left some admin
istrators playing musical chairs as they
return to their former positions.
Joan Leitzel, who served as interim
chancellor, returned to her position as
senior vice chancellor for academic
affairs on Monday.
While Leitzel was interim chancel
lor, Harvey Perlman, dean of the Law
College, fdled her spot as vice chan
cellor. Perlman returned to his origi
nal office Monday.
“I am content and happy to be back
at the Law College to deal with issues
I fully understand,” he said.
The pace of the chancellor’s office
was very intense, he said, but the ex
perience gave him a broader view of
university administration.
The dean’s position Perlman left
open at the Law College had been
filled by law professor Robert
Denicola.
The transition back to professor
was an easy one, Denicola said, be
cause he had been able to teach half
his classes during his time as interim
dean.
“So far, I just moved a few boxes of
books back to my office,” he said.
Denicola said coordinating deci
sions with Perlman had been easy be
cause both were still on campus, and
Perlman was aware of college hap
penings during his time as vice chan
cellor.
Also thrown into the administra
tion mix this semester is Melvin Jones,
the new vice chancellor for business
and finance who took over Monday.
Before Jones was hired, Paul
Carlson served for 13 months as the
interim vice chancellor.
He moved back to his job as asso
ciate vice chancellor for business and
finance.
Carlson said he had one major gripe
about changing jobs. “My office is too
small now,” he said jokingly.
Because Jones is new on campus,
Carlson said he had spent time brief
ing him on university business.
“It’s going to be a while before he ’ s
familiar with the changes and idiosyn
crasies here,” Carlson said. “He and I
are going to work very well together.”
So in this game of musical chairs, is
someone left without a chair?
With the rest of the administrators
settling into their old jobs, Cindy
Morris, who was working as assistant
to the vice chancellor of business and
finance, is not sure of her position.
Morris was hired in July as a tem
porary assistant, she said. She said die
was aware at the time that her job
would be tentative after a vice chan
cellor was hired. '
She said she did not have any con
crete plans if she was not needed at the
vice chancellor’s office.