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By Darren Ivy
Staff Reporter
Pretty much anyone who has
seen and believed “The X-Files,”
last summer’s “Independence Day”
or any one of the several other
films, books arid television shows
that have capitalized on tales of the
paranormal will tell you that “we
are not alone.”
And if you’re one of those who
find this newly-revived genre inter
esting at all, you definitely are not
alone.
» “Particular paranormal phe
nomenons have seen increased in
terest because of recent movies and
literature,” said Donald Jensen, pro
fessor of psychology at the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln.
To keep students informed
about paranormal activity and pro
vide them with information, the Ne
braska Paranormal Collection in the
UNL Archives has been put on dis
play in the second floor of Love
Library near the interlibrary loan
center.
The exhibit of books, magazine
articles, newspaper articles, and
personal records gathered over sev
eral decades by E.A. Krai will be
displayed through Sept 3.
Items for the exhibit were do
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nated by Kr&l, a retired
teacher from Wilber who set up a
fund to support die study of paran
ormal events at the university
According to Gail Latta, refer
ence librarian for the departments
of psychology and sociology, work
on the exhibit has been done dur
ing the past year. Latta said she
•to
worked with Krai to set up the ex
hibit an j to study the educational
value of paranormal events.
“This exhibit is good because it
goes along with Jensen’s Psychol
ogy 470 class about science and
parapsychology,” Latta said.
In addition to teaching this psy
chology class, Jensen has taught a
summer reading course about para
normal activity for 10 years. He
also has been actively involved in
the paranormal field for 30 years.
Jensen had an article published in
Skeptical Enquirer, a quarterly
magazine that provides a standard
scientific point of view about para
normal events. - I
The exhibit is an extension of
UNL’s paranormal claims hotline at
472-9493, which Jensen manages.
“The purpose of the hotline is
to provide a service for people with
paranormal claims a~ J to look at
data and seek ways to get scientific
information about the paranormal
claims,” Jensen said. I
By and large, Jensen said, para- |
normal claims often are explain
able. Most of the claims received
by the hotline have turned out to be
caused naturally or haven’t been
paranormal at all. ,
“The key to determine if paran
ormal phenomenons exist is taking i
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Because paranormal events are
difficult to investigate, it is easy for
hoaxes and rumors to be get started.
Jensen said finding testable
physical evidence poses a problem
when trying to determine the au
thenticity of paranormal claims.
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Bt tASHA E. KiJiTER
Staff Reporter
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Ingle argued all day Tuesday,
disagreed with much that
Tom Short, on his last day at
on the Nebraska
message on the Bible
opposition,
was sf "sored byNU/
of Nebraska-Lincoln
group.
paid for his ser
adviser
group pays for
and the production
his pamphlets.
/ The primary purpose of Short’s
f #vi$it on campus, Wiebelh»%sakl, is
to “get people td think about tbd
Bible.”
The subjects in the Bible are rel
evant to everyday life, but the Bible is
not discussed in the classroom,
Wiebelhaus said.
“Lots of people have thoughts
about God Christianity, but not
much education,” he said. “We wanted
to make this an open classroom.”
Ingle, a freshman theater arts ma
jor; stayed for a good part of the day
to listen to Short and to contest Short’s
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t
N.
people by
against
grossly Unfirir.”
Sophomore psychology major
Alissa Nichols said she thought the
demonstration was healthy for the
campus as a community.
“It brings people together,” she
said.
Nichols stayed to watch Short be
cause she “likes to see how different
people look at things,” she said. “It
gives everyone the right to say what
they think.”
Throughout the day, Strit was con
fronted by several people who con
tested his views on the Bible, homo
sexuality ayJ other social and religious
issues.
“This is a typical day,” he said. “I
find the Scripture to be perfect, to be
God’s word.”
Between defending his faith and
arguing specific biblical issues, Short
attempted to give his personal testi
mony to the group, which dwindled
while classes were in session. ,
' “People asked me if I’ve tried other
ways of living besides with God,” he
said. “Yes, I’Ve tried other ways.”
Robert Aguirre, a graduate English
student, didn’t agree with Short’s
strong view on homosexuality.
“His condemning homosexuality
can become very harmful,” he said.
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