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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1996)
WEATHER: Today - Colder with a 30 percent chance of rain. North wind 10 to 15 mph. Tonight - Blustery, low <«C33»M«C33»M«e3»>*«<C3>J COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOl. 95 NO. 119 near 20 to 25._ _______ _March 5, 1996_ Schooner or later Editor earns local attention for magazine By Todd Anderson Staff Reporter For years, Prairie Schooner and its edi tors have been recognized across the nation for publishing outstanding literary work. But only recently have the magazine and its editor, Hilda Raz, attracted much local attention. Last month, Prairie Schooner received the Nebraska Governor’s Arts Award for Orga nizational Achievement. And two weeks ago, Raz was named the 1996 Woman Artist of the Year by the Lin coln/Lancaster Commission on the Status of Women. Prairie Schooner, which is supported by the University ofNebraska-Lincoln English Department and the UNL Press, has always had a great reputation nationwide, Raz said. The Washington Post has called Prairie Schooner one of the best magazines for “fabulous fiction,” and Writer’s Digest has called it one of the top 10 magazines for poetry. In fact, it was the magazine’s reputation that attracted Raz to UNL in the first place. “My family thought I was crazy; Moving to Nebraska?” she said. But the magazine’s high standards and the reputation of UNL’s English Department made Raz’s decision clear. She began working with the Prairie Schooner as a volunteer poetry reader. Since then, she has served as the poetry editor, edi torial assistant, and eventually editor of the magazine. Raz, who is the fifth editor and the sec ond female editor in the magazine’s 70-year history, has been editor since 1987. Raz works with a team of associates from the English Department and several volun teer readers to sort through stacks of manu scripts every day. From those stacks, only a handful of writ ings can be chosen for the quarterly maga zine with a printing of more than 3,000. “We have a very professional staff,” Raz said. “We’re making the best magazine na tionally and internationally.” The magazine recently published several issues with different focuses, Raz said, such as Canadian women writers, Czech and Slo vak writing and Latino writing. Those special issues were near sellouts, she said. “We are constantly expanding the venue,” Tanna Klnnaman/DN Hilda Raz, editor of Prairie Schooner magazine, was recently named Woman Artist the Year by the Lincoln/Lancaster Commission on the Status of Women. she said. The Prairie Schooner also has attracted distinguished contributors such as Octavio Paz, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Cynthia Ozick, Eudora Welty and Raymond Carver, as well as essays, poems, translations and fiction from Pulitzer Prize winners and Nobel laureates. Often these writers appeared in Prairie Schooner before their major works were pub lished on the East Coast. The Prairie Schooner, however, i s the only top-rated literary magazine that does not pay its contributors, she said, although it is work ing toward that goal. ine magazine continues to aistnoute awards in the names of former editors and long-time supporters, such as the Lawrence Foundation Award for best short story and the Bernice Slote Award for best work by a beginning writer. Aside from editing the Prairie Schooner, Raz is also an associate professor of English and a published poet and essayist. Still, with all the national attention the Prairie Schooner and Raz have received, lo cal recognition is the most gratifying, she said. “(Receiving these awards) really validates your work,” she said. Liability in oolice chases aody debated By Ted Taylor Senior Reporter Debate on a bill addressing police liability in high-speed chases was delayed Monday af ternoon after two senators attacked the bill — and its introducer. One day after an accident following a high speed police chase ~ . . . ~1 claimed the life of a 16 LegiSlatlire year-old Beemer girl, law f IfWv makers began to debate M LB952, which would limit police liability in chases that injure an innocent third party. Debate on the bill, in troduced by Sen. Dave Maurstadof Beatrice, was -* postponed until March 19 after heavy opposition from two Omaha senators. Sens. Ernie Chambers and John Lindsay dominated the debate on the bill, saying it was poorly drafted and riddled with problems. “I think that Sen. Maurstad may believe what he’s saying,” Chambers said, “but I don’t think he knows what he’s talking about. “It sets up more hoops that an injured third party has to go through to recover. The real is sue is that it will attempt to make it as difficult as possible for the injured third party to col lect;’ Before debate started, Chambers distributed packets containing more than 50 pages of news paper articles dealing with police chases — some dating back to 1974. Maurstad said his bill was good public policy because law enforcement officers should be al lowed to pursue criminals to protect the well being of society. He said third parties also should be allowed to recover damages from all sources involved in the chase. Current law states that in cases where police chases run through more than one political sub division, damages can be collected only from the subdivision where the accident or injury occurred. Maurstad’s bill allows the injured party to recover damages from all political subdivisions involved in the chase. Chambers and Lindsay said the bill was an attempt to lessen the fiscal blow to local gov ernments and law enforcement agencies. Lindsay said the state, then, would be forced to pick up the tab for those who couldn’t work and spent all their earnings paying for hospital bills. See CHASE on 2 By Chad Lorenz Senior Reporter Representing students who have been ignored and using poor cam paign tactics were areas of contention in Monday’s ASUN debate, two days before the election. The debate, sponsored by Pi Sigma Alpha, Golden Key Na tional Honor So ciety and Mortar Board, brought together OF FICE presiden tial candidate Justin Firestone and ACTION presidential candidate Eric Marintzer. Firestone said students — espe cially residence hall students and in ternational students — thought the Association of Students of the Univer sity of Nebraska had ignored them for too long. “Everybody knows there’s a politi cal machine running on this campus,” Firestone said. He said residence hall students didn’t have proportional representa tion on ASUN committees, such as the athletic relations committee, which have only one residence hall student but two greek representatives and three at-large members. Firestone said OFFICE candidates were committed to listening to what students truly think, not just claiming . they represent students. “That’s why we’re running,” he said, “because we want to change all that.” Marintzer said his party was look ing to speak for students. “This is not a political machine. This is concerned students,” he said. ACTION will represent students because its ticket is diverse, Marintzer said. Its slate of 72 candidates includes 38 women, nine minorities and 11 residence hall students. “That’s what I call an accessible government,” he said. ACTION would work closely with the Residence Hall Association by sending Kara Marshall, second vice presidential candidate, to RH A meet ings, Marintzer said. And he said he would continue to talk frequently with RHA president Eric Vander Woude. Marintzer said OFFICE couldn’t represent all students because its 11 candidates include only one woman and no residence hall students. “If someone can tell me how that ■ is access, I’d like to know,” Marintzer said. “I question how they’ll be able to represent females on this campus when they only have one woman on their slate.” Firestone said he already had shown he could fight for women’s concerns on campus. “I assure you I don’t have to be a woman to understand women’s needs.” He said he fought for women’s con cerns in the Committee for Fees Allo cation when he spoke out against cut ting funds for the Women’s Center. He said he was able to convince the com mittee to save the Women’s Center. Firestone said he had stuck his neck out for students in the campaign be cause it was his duty. OFFICE would be committed to that duty and would See DEBATE on 2 J. Christopher Hain recently quizzed ASUN presidential candidates Justin Firestone & Eric Marintzer. The interview can be found on page 3