Forum exa
ines sexual harassment
By Catherine Blalock
Staff Reporter
A Valentine’s Day forum on sexual ha
rassment sparked nearly an hour and a half
of discussion among five ppelists and an
audience of about 20 people in the Nebraska
Union.
“Dealing with Sexual Harassment: Sen
sitive to it? Sick of it?” was the second fo
rum sponsored by the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln Community Conservations
Steering Committee. The committee holds
two forums about campus issues each semes
ter.
John Harris, monitor of the forum and
special assistant to the vice chancellor for
student affairs, said the legal definition of
sexual harassment was “unwelcome sexual
advances and requests for sexual favors.”
One type of sexual harassment is repeated
use of an offensive word, one panelist said.
Linda Crump, associate director of affir
mative action and diversity programs, said
if a person used a specific word — and con
tinued to use it after being asked to stop —
that was considered harassment.
But the definition of harassment can vary.
What one person considers harassment
one day he/she may not the next, said Larry
Doerr, a member of the steering committee.
Sometimes when an incident of sexual
harassment occurs at UNL, it is reported but
nothing is done about it, according to one
panelist.
Kevin Nelson, a UNL on-campus resi
dent, recalled an incident when a female
friend came to visit him and was sexually
harassed by another resident.
“We reported to the on-duty student as
sistant and resident director and were guar
anteed that something would be done,”
Nelson said. “About three weeks to a month
later, nothing was done.”
He said he visited other offices at UNL
with his female friend to find help dealing
with the problem.
“A couple of people called us liars,” he
said.
Pam Cary, a senior secondary education
major, said she too had encountered sexual
harassment on campus.
Last semester, her son was involved in a
car accident. When she explained her situa
tion to her instructor, die was told to “make
up my mind to be a mother or a student,” she
said.
After reporting the incident to her
instructor’s boss, the problem was worked
out, she said.
To prevent sexual harassment, people
must respect one another, said Lisa Sock,
junior advertising major.
“It’s simply about respecting a human
being,” she said.
Detectors can offer protection
from carbon monoxide threat
By Erin Schulte
Staff Reporter
It’s colorless and odorless, but it could be
making you sick.
In the past year, the Lincoln Fire Department
received about 240 calls about high carbon
monoxide levels, said Jim Bopp, a firefighter
paramedic.
Because of recent awareness of the dangers
of carbon monoxide poisoning, many people
have invested in carbon monoxide detectors,
Bopp said.
Detectors have become more affordable in
recent years, Bopp said. But the lower-priced
units often give off false alarms because of the
way their gas sensors work.
Bopp said low-priced detectors accumulated
the gas in their sensors, and after a time they
are set off even if the amount of carbon monox
ide in the air is small. More expensive alarms
“self-clear” after 18 hours.
During the winter, people are more suscep
tible to carbon monoxide poisoning because of
higher usage of fireplaces, furnaces and stoves,
Bopp said.
Carbon monoxide is sometimes emitted from
malfunctioning furnaces, stoves, fireplaces or
other appliances operated by fossil fuels, Bopp
said. In large doses, it can cause nausea, dizzi
ness, exhaustion, headaches, rapid breathing,
unconsciousness, brain damage or even death.
Mike Holmquist, an environmental engineer
for the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health De
part merit, said carbon monoxide poisoning oc
curred when the gas replaced oxygen in the
bloodstream by attaching to red blood cells.
When this happens, the brain, muscles and
other body tissues don’t get enough oxygen, he
said.
Normal blood contains about 1 percent car
bon monoxide. At 5 percent to 9 percent, people
get sick, and at 10 percent to 30 percent they
progress to near-coma stages. Holmquist said
50 percent would prove to be fatal.
People who smoke two packs of cigarettes a
day have a steady level of 10 percent carbon
monoxide in their blood, he said.
Effects of carbon monoxide poisoning can
be reversed, Holmquist said, if the person is not
exposed to the gas for 24 to 48 hours.
In the event of high dose concentrations, a
victim would be placed in a hyperbaric cham
ber, which contains high-pressure oxygen, he
said.
To avoid carbon monoxide poisoning, Bopp
said, furnaces should be checked for cracks or
malfunctions every year.
When using fireplaces, people should make
sure the flue is open. Kerosene space heaters
are especially dangerous, he said.
If a detector goes off, Bopp said, someone
should call 911, and a truck will be sent out
with a sensitive carbon monoxide detector to
see if levels are high.
~ If people in the home feel sick, tired or dipy
when the alarms go off, they should leave im
mediately, Bopp said.
ASUN
Continued from Page 1
$7 million shortfall ” Moeser said. “I want to
ask for your help to influence our state govern
ment.”
Moeser said that if the funding were not re
allocated, a “stiff increase” in tuition would be
forced upon students.
“I want you as students to not only advocate
to state legislators, but to your parents as well,”
Moeser said. “I firmly believe that together, we
can win this issue.”
Moeser said he also wanted to see the rivalry
between the University of Nebraska’s Lincoln
and Omaha campuses dissolve in favor of in
creased cooperation, and he briefly advocated
an improved, expanded honors program.
In other business, ASUN passed two emer
gency status bills.
One bill urged Hurtgen, Government Liai
son Committee Chairman Eric Marintzer and
GLC lobbyists to push for the reinstatement of
the $7 million in lost funds.
The second emergency status bill urged
Hurtgen, Marintzer and lobbyists to look into a
bill that proposes an Institute of Information
Science and Technology at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha.
ASUN also passed four appropriations bills,
approving Committee for Fees Allocation bud
get recommendations for ASUN, the Daily Ne
braskan, the University Program Council and
the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
Grant increase
may have little
effect on UNL
By Joshua Gillin
Staff Reporter
Although a temporary bill passed by the fed
eral government increases funding for Pell
grants, many UNL students may not be affected,
an official said.
The temporary spending bill, approved by
the U.S. House of Representatives when the
government shutdown ended Jan. 26, increases
the maximum amount of federal aid that may
be given to a Pell grant recipient from $2,340
to $2,440.
John Beacon, director of scholarships and
financial aid at the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln, said the increase would be welcome, both
to students and to universities.
But, he said, the bill wouldn’t have any last
ing effect, even if it passed as a permanent mea
sure.
Beacon said that because the Fell grant pro
gram was not an entitlement program, it rarely
got all of the money that theoretically was al
lotted to it. An entitlement program is a feder
ally funded operation, in which all allotted
monies are disbursed to die program.
“Congress does not fully fund the Pell grant
anyway,” he said. “Since 1972, there have only
been three years in which the program has been
funded to its maximum.”
Beacon said the bill was temporary, and the
possibility of its being repealed before the 1996
97 academic year was real.
He said President Clinton’s promise of a
$ 1,000, one-time scholarship to high school stu
dents in the top 5 percent of their graduating
classes was unrealistic.
That money would be better spent making
the Pell grant increase a permanent measure,
Beacon said.
“The whole thing will cost $125 million in
the end,” Beacon said, “and the students who
would get the money probably are the ones who
don’t need it anyway.”
About 4,350 UNL students received Pell
grant funds during the 1994-95 academic year,
bringing $5.8 million to the university.
But Beacon said even the $100 increase per
student could be beneficial if UNL had students
who received the maximum Pell grant amount
allowed.
“It’s just a drop in the bucket for the federal
government, but it’s a big deal to us and the
students.” *
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