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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1996)
MONDAY WEATHER: Today - Partly cloudy & warmer. South wind 10 to 20 mph. Tonight - Partly cloudy, low near 30. March 4, 1996 Tanna Kinnaman/DN Susan Dickerson Moeser, wife of new UNL Chancellor James Moeser, says moving to Lincoln has been like coming home. Moeser, a native of the Midwest, will begin teaching in the UNL School of Music this fall. Settling In Chancellor’s wife adjusts to Midwest By Julie Sobczyk Senior Reporter For Susan Dickerson Mocser, moving from sunny South Carolina to Nebraska was no culture shock. “1 grew up in the Midwest, in Kansas,” she said. “I feel like I’incoming back home.” Moeser has been back home lor about a month. Her husband, James Moeser, became the University of Nebraska-Lineoln’s 18th chancellor in February. Having some of her family less than four hours away adds to the homc-like feeling in Lincoln, she said. Her parents live in Lawrence, Kan.,,and her brother lives in Omaha. She’s already seen her brother twice, she said, and plans to visit her parents soon. “Vie weather in Columbia last week teas in the 80s. The pear trees are blooming right now. That's what I really miss. ” SUSAN DICKERSON MOESER wife of UNL’s new chancellor So far, she said, making the transition from Columbia, S.C., to Lincoln has gone smoothly. “People have been very friendly here,” <dic said. “I ’ve enjoyed meet ing everybody There’s been just one small problem. The day the Mocsers moved in to their temporary apartment downtown, the wind chili was about 40 degrees below zero. Nebraska’s harsh winter weather has taken some time to get used to, she said. “The weather in Columbia last week was in the 80s,” Moescr said. “The pear trees arc blooming right now. Thai’s what I really miss.” The high winds in Lincoln also came as a surprise, she said. “The wind is a phenomenon of the Mid west,” Mocser said. “I’d forgotten about the winds.” To keep herself busy, Moescr has been preparing for two upcoming organ concerts See MOESER on 6 Stars start USHL play in October By Chad Lorenz « Senior Reporter It’s a done deal. “You’re in the ice business,” said Sen. Stan Schellpepcr of Stanton, president of the Ne braska Slate Fair Board, mo ments afler closing a deal with the triple-ownership of the Star City Hockey franchise. Irving Dana 111 of Omaha, Thomas Tcgt and Kent Reckcway of Lincoln, shook hands and slapped each other on the back outside the conference room of the Stale Fair Board on Friday aller becoming the first owners of The Lincoln Stars. The Stars will start their 54-game United States Hockey League schedule in October, including games against the Omaha Lancers. “Lincoln wi 11 be a nice addit ion to the 1 eague,” USHLcommissionerGino Gasparini said. “We welcome you to the family or cities of the USHL. • • “We think it will be a wonderful marriage between the city, university, state and the USHL.” The franchise will benefit the city by pro moting a new sport for youth and offering another form of entertainment for Lincoln, Gasparini said. “If you want to keep your kid out of hot water, keep him on ice,” he said. Reckcway said the owners intended to open the ice rink to the public whenever the team wasn’t using it. The UNL hockey club and intramural teams would be free to schedule ice time at the coli seum, he said, as well as new junior hockey leagues, figure skating camps and open recre ational skating. “Whatever kind ol lun you can have on ice, we hope to provide it,” Reckeway said. The contract allows Star City Hockey to convert the State Fair Park Coliseum to an ice rink and add seating to house a crowd of more than 4,000 fans. The renovations, funded by the franchise, will cost S3 million. Under the contract, the Slate Fair still will own the coliseum and earn SI00,000 of the franchise’s proceeds for the first fiscal year, said John Skold, State Fair general manager. Each subsequent year, Star City Hockey will pay the fair $50,000. Dana said he was excited for the season to start and wanted to include University of Nc braska-Lincoln students in the excitement. “We’re looking for a vocal group to support the team,” said Dana, a 1976 UNL graduate. The north end of the arena will be reserved for a 700-scat student section, Dana said. He said he wanted to create an enthusiastic atmo sphere with music, chants and crowd interac tion. The franchise has not yet hired a coach, but See STARS on 3 UNL attracting, recruiting better students t*y June dODezyK Senior Reporter A higher number of Nebraska high school graduates in 1995 made UNL’s freshman class 500 students larger this year. And not only is the class of 5,563 larger, it is of higher quality, accord ing to standardized test scores. James Griescn, vice chancellor for student affairs, cited better recruitment efforts by the University of Ncbraska Lincoln in bringing in quality students. Lisa Schmidt, director of admis sions at UNL, said the average ACT score for freshmen increased from 22.7 in 1994 to 23.1 in 1995. The number of freshmen at UNL with ACT scores of 28 or higher in creased to 17 percent of the class this year from 14.4 percent last year, Schmidt said. In 1994, Griesen said, 33.5 percent of freshmen graduated in the top 20 percent of their high school classes. ■ That number increased to 36.5 per cent in 1995, he said. By spending more time recruiting above-average Nebraska high school students, Griesen said, the word about UNL gets out quicker. Out-of-stale recruitment also was pushed, he said, leading to an increase irrstudents from other states. The number of out-of-state fresh men increased from 456 students in the fall of 1994 to 556 in 1995, he said. “That’s probably due to our good recruiting efforts,” Griesen said. The increase in the number of out of-state freshmen comes even though residency requirements were made stricter last year, lie said. Before the fall of 1995, a student could gain residency by living in Lin coln for six months — including time spent taking classes, Griesen said. A student also would have to meet other requirements such as getting a Ne braska driver’s license and registering to vote. But last fall, the residency require ments were changed so that students could no longer count their time living in Nebraska while in school toward residency. “We were really worried that would cut oil out-of-state students,” Gricscn said. In the past, many out-of-state stu dents came to UNL because the uni versity had easier residency require ments than other schools, he said. “Sometimes, they weren’t the best students—students who couldn’t get into their own home state colleges,” Griesen said. UNL still wants to encourage out of-state freshmen, he said, and will offer scholarships to above-average students. New scholarship programs were developed especially for out-of-state freshmen, he said. The “Scholarships for New Nebraskans” program ofTers three different levels of financial sup port. Scholarships equal to in-state tu ition are offered, as well as scholar ships for $2,000 and $1,000. “Those scholarshipshavc been posi See FRESHMEN on 6