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a classic, but it doesn’t measure up. PAGE 12 Mostly sunny, high 18. Cloudy tonight, low 12.
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VOL. 96 " COVERING THE UNIVERSITY LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 88
Jay Calderon/DN
REV. JOHN CARTER speaks to about 40 members of the Lincoln community Monday night at St. John’s Baptist
Church, 701N. 24th St. The recent ritual burning of a cress by members of Sigma Chi fraternity hassparked racial
tension in Lincoln. ~ " p
Clergy, leaders call ritual racist
By Erin Gibson
Senior Reporter
The University of Nebraska-Lin
coln has failed to correct morally un
acceptable, racist behavior in dealing
with a UNL fraternity, Lincoln com
munity leaders said Monday.
About 40 Lincoln clergymen, citi
zens and students gathered at the St.
John’s Baptist Church, 701N. 24th St.,
to demand the university correct rac
ism at UNL.
Rev. Jessie Myles of Mt. Hermon
Baptist Church said the university has
been unacceptably passive when deal
ing with matters of racial tension.
“We will committee this to death.
We will research this to death,” Myles
said. “It’s time for something to hap
pen.
Myles joined others at St. John’s
church who said a weekend incident
involving Sigma Chi fraternity is evi
dence racism is prevalent in Lincoln.
Lancaster County Sheriff’s depu
ties reported that fraternity members
were found last Thursday night con
ducting a ritual that involved Confed
erate uniforms, sabers, rifles and the
burning of a 6-foot-tall cross.
No arrests were made regarding the
ritual.
The university released a statement
that said Sigma Chi did not violate
university policy and would not face
university sanctions.
But Rev. John Carter of St. John’s
church said the university must take a
strong stand against such racism as
expressed by Sigma Chi.
“If you can’t say that it’s wrong,
then you’re condoning the conduct,”
Carter said.
“It is wrong,” he said. “That’s the
bottom line. It is wrong.”
Myles spoke forcefully of Sigma
Chi’s justification of the ritual. Frater
nity spokesmen have said the ritual is
an important re-enactment of fraternity
history. Myles said the event had
clearly racist undertones.
“There just comes a point where
you get tired of this crap,” Myles said.
Please see FORUM on 6
UNL won’t penalize
Sigma Chi for ritual
By Esin Gibson
Senior Reporter
An apologetic Sigma Chi fraternity
will not face university sanctions for a
weekend ritual that included burning
a cross, a university spokesperson an
nounced Monday.
Linda Schwartzkopf, acting direc
tor of Cheek Affairs at UNL, said the
fraternity did not violate the Univer
sity Student Code of Conduct during
the pre-initiation ritual.
Sigma Chi members’ actions were
protected by the First Amendment
guaranteeing freedom of speech, she
said, but the university will use the
incident to raise cultural awareness and
the fact that while nofteg^^°mtent
may have; been present, use of Con
federate memorabilia and a burning
cross in close proximity will almost
certainly be misinterpreted as having
racist connotations,” she said in a state
ment.
Lancaster County Sheriff’s depu
ties said they discovered about 30
Sigma Chi fraternity members en
gaged in a historical fraternity cer
emony last Thursday night, a half mile
south of Highway 33 and SW 58th
Street.
No arrests were made regarding the
ritual, which apparently included Con
federate uniforms, sabers, rifles and
the burning of a 6-foot cross, deputies
said.
Sigma Chi President Craig Vacek
said the ceremony was not racially
motivated, but a ritual to re-enact the
founding of Sigma Chi by soldiers
during the Civil War.
“Our fault lies in the fact that we
created the potential for this misunder
standing and for that we are extremely
apologetic,” Vacek said.
“But the meaning of what we did
remains the same, and is no way based
«—
Our fault lies in the
fact that we created
the potential for this
misunderstanding
and for that we are
extremely apologetic "
Craig Vacek
Sigma Chi president
\
in-racism in any way, shape or Form,”
he said.
According to a Sigma Chi ritual
manual, the burning cross came from a
Roman legend. Emporer Constantine en
visioned a flaming cross the night before
his army invaded Rome in A.D. 371.
John Harris, special assistant to the
vice chancellor for student affairs, said
the symbolism of a burned cross can
not be ignored by the campus commu
nity.
“I don’t think it has any small
meaning at all,” Harris said. “For fra
ternity members to not understand the
reality of this symbolism troubles me.”
Harris said he thought the frater- „
nity members would say they did not
intend to hurt anyone with the ritual.
“But how can we be sure?” Harris
said. “They were willing to take a very
strong stand in this ceremony with a
6-foot cross.
“What’s next? Is somebody going
to be up on this cross?”
Harris said racism was a problem
both in Lincoln and at UNL, and the
fraternity should not bear the brunt of
all backlash against racism.
But the fraternity should be held
Please see SIGMA CHI on 6
*
. ' 'w ?: ■- ■ ■
By Erin Schulte
Senior Reporter
The civic responsibility of jury
| duty clashed with the reality of stu
S dent life at a judiciary committee
| hearing Friday.
Public testimony was heard on
LB73, which would exempt full
i time college students froua jury
t duty ; r .".Ir;
The bill was proposed by Sen.
I . . y
; V
tf;?
_ ■ .
By Matthew Waite
. Senior Reporter
-—----:
The prosecution’s case against
former NU winghack Rtiey Washing
ton stinted to come to a close Monday
afternoon with a series of chain-of
evidence witnesses designed to intro
duce physical parts of the case.
The six evidential witnesses came
after four long days filled with lengthy
cross-examinations from defense attor
neys of three prosecution witnesses—
inducting one on Monday—who said
Washington was the shooter.
Defense attorneys were quick to
point out that all three witnesses once
said under bath they could not iden
tify Washington as the shooter, then
changed their stories. ~ r
Washington is on trial for the Aug.
2, 1995 shooting of Jermaine Cole
outside the Kwik Shop at 27th and W
streets. He is charged with second-de
gree attempted murder and use of a
firearm to commit a felony.
The chain-of-evidence witnesses
introduced by Special Prosecutor
Ronald Lahners included three police
officers —TJhe first officer to respond,
and two varaandled different pieces
Linct^ppt^fce Officer Timothy
Kennett was the first dispatched to the
Rwik Shop, hut was quickly diverted
to 835 N. 26th St., the apartment of
Clarence Williams. Williams reported
that a man who had been shot showed
up:athis doo£. - - - •
Williams testified that Cole was
lying on his doorstep when he opened
the door.
“He asked me to ‘call the man,’”
Williams said: “That’s the way he put
it.
“I said, ‘I don’t allow drunks in my..
house.’ He said, ‘I’m not drunk, Vic
been shot.’”
Please see TRIAL on 3
