sports_ as e _ TUESDAY
Sweet Swinger Happily divorced Aprils, 1997
NU’s Todd Sears can become only the fifth player Bette Midler and Dennis Farina star as a divorced
in Nebraska baseball history to hit .400 or higher. couple who rekindle old love and hate when they FLAKEY WEATHER
Sears is currently at .447 for the year. PAGE 9 meet again in “That Old Feeling.” PAGE 12 Morning snow, high 34. Cloudy
VOL. 96 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 N0.133
Nudity is essential to play, director says
By Erin Gibson
i Senior Reporter
Despite minor controversy, a play with a
| scene including full-frontal nudity will open this
| weekend in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
5f Howell Theatre.
The award-winning play, “Six Degrees of
Separation” by John Guare, recently raised the
? eyebrows of KETV and KOLN television news
reporters and NU Regent Robert Allen of
; Hastings because of its fully nude scene of an
adult male and adult subject matter.
But Dick Durst, dean of the College of Fine
and Performing Aits, said the university supports
i i
the play and believes its content will be presented
responsibly by its actors and director Tice Miller.
Both students and faculty helped decide to
produce “Six Degrees,” which won the Olivier
Award for best play and the New York Drama
Critic’s Circle Award in 1993, Durst said.
Allen said he was concerned students who
did not approve of the play’s subject matter
would be required to help produce or view the
play for course credit.
Durst said he has assured Allen that no stu
dent who felt uncomfortable with the nudity or
subject matter would be required to see or work
on the show.
Allen also said he was concerned some audi
ence members might not be made aware of the
play s content prior to show time.
Advertisements for the show warn of the
adult themes, language and nudity, Durst said,
so the public could decide for itself whether the
material is appropriate or acceptable to view.
“I feel strongly that neither he (Allen) nor I
can be the public censor,” Durst said.
Children not accompanied by an adult will
not be allowed to see the show, Durst said. The
play will be treated as an R-rated movie at the
Howell Theatre box office.
Miller, who is also a UNL theater arts pro
fessor, said the adult content of “Six Degrees”
is true to the playwright’s intent and is impor
tant to the story line.
The play makes a strong statement about the
power of celebrity status and race today, he said.
The play implies all people are connected,
and all people ought to be caring and concerned
for each other, Miller said. The play’s title re
fers to the theory that any two people in the
world can be linked through only six other
people.
All nudity featured in the pfay occurs in a
scene that lasts about 30 seconds of the 90
minute play, he said. Those who choose to see
the play for its shock value will be disappointed.
“It’s very important to the character and the
story line,” he said. “We shouldn’t do the play if
we’re not doing the nudity.”
The play opens Friday at 8 p.m. in the Howell
Theatre, which is in the Temple Building at 12th
I
Jay Calderon/DN
GRANT W1STR0M signs autographs before the start of the “School is Cool” Jam.
gs ‘School is Cool Jam’
BLbrings good message
—to Nebraska youth
By Erin Schulte
Senior Reporter
Grade-school students from all over the state are used to cheering and whoop
ing it up for athletic and academic marvels at the annual “School is Cool” Jam.
But Monday, more than 11,000 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders cheered just
as loud for a football player who said — national-championship winner or not—
he didn’t always feel like a winner.
Jared Tomich, a former Comhusker All-America rush end and recent UNL
graduate, told students about his learning disability.
“I am what I consider a special-needs student,” Tomich said. “It doesn’t mean
that you are dumb, it doesn’t mean that you are lazy.
“It just means you need a little extra help.”
Tomich said he went through elementary and high school without knowing
why he had such trouble understanding what other students had an easy time
with. Some thought he was lazy, he said, but that wasn’t true.
“I wanted to learn,” Tomich said, “I just didn’t know how.”
When he got to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Athletic Department
helped him. He found out he had a short attention span, and just needed to rein
force what he had learned in class with tutors. He encouraged students who
might think they’re not as smart as others to go for help soon.
“Don’t feel embarrassed, don’t feel ashamed,” Tomich said. “Ask for help.
Please see SCHOOL on 8
Forty-year tradition lays
foundation for Health Aides
By Kimberiy Swartz
Staff Reporter
For almost two years, senior Nikki Mcgee
has helped students with everyday headaches to
weekend hangovers.
As a Health Aide Coordinator, she contin
ues a 40-year tradition of “students helping stu
dents,” by providing a link between her peers
and the University Health Center.
That link was first provided in 1957, when
UNL was the first university to have a Health
Aide Program. It was then that the Asian flu
epidemic hit the campus and many students be
came ill.
The University Health Center trained stu
dents to care for their peers then and continues
to look for more students to be in the program
for next year. The deadline for applications for
next fall is Friday.
Now, 40 years later, the program continues
to grow with more than 100 Health Aides such
as Mcgee, a pre-med biology major certified in
First Aid and CPR. She has learned how to as
sist other students with minor physical and emo
tional concerns.
She has taken many temperatures, provided
a lot of Advil, and offered friendly support to
other students.
Please see AIDES on 3
City Council primaries today
By Lori Robison
Staff Reporter
With UNL’s City Campus composing the
largest voting district in the city, university stu
dents could play a major part in today’s City
Council primaries, an election official said.
But 20 voters, or less than 1 percent, of the
1,846 voters in the district that includes City Cam
pus voted in the 1996 city elections, said Patty
Hansen, Lancaster County election commissioner.
“Only nine voted in 1995,” she said.
Hansen said that low voter turnout has all but
eliminated any potential influence registered City
Campus residents could have on local government.
Today, all registered voters of Lincoln can
choose six of the 14 candidates to advance to
the City Council general election May 6, when
voters will then decide which three candidates
will fill three open at-large seats.
Voting hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Registered
voters unsure of where to go can find the infor
mation on their voter registration cards or by call
the Lancaster County Election Office at441-7311.
Most residents on and near the university’s
City Campus can vote at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center. Residents on the south side of R
Street must go to the Downtown Senior Cen
ter, 129 N. 10 St., to vote, Hansen said. East
Campus residents can vote at the American
Lutheran Church, 4200 Vine St.
Those residents who have moved since the
last election but have not notified the election
office can still vote today, Hansen said.
Residents interested in voting in the final elec
tions have until April 25 to register.
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the Y/orld Wide Web at http: / /www. unl.edu / Daily Neb
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