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APU fund-raises!MASA could lift boycott
with flapjacks
By Lindsay Young
Staff Reporter
Two UNL student groups are
hoping a pancake feast will do
more than feed hungry students
Friday night.
The Afrikan People’s Union
and Gamma Phi Beta sorority are
sponsoring a pancake feed to raise
part of the $200,000 needed to
bring the Big 12 Conference on
Black Student Government to the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The pancake feed will be from
10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday at the
Culture Center.
The conference, which will be
Feb. 19-22, is a first for the Big 12,
though the defunct Big Eight held
20 such government conferences.
To bring the conference to
UNL, the APU placed a bid to a
committee of representatives from
Big 12 schools. The bid included
APU’s plans for the conference
and the facilities of the campus
that would give support.
Kim Stokes, APU sponsorship
chairwoman for the event, said the
group wanted to have the confer
ence to benefit supporters as well
those who are planning it.
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“The conference is a good lead
ership opportunity for people of
color on this campus,” Stokes said.
About 1,200 students are
expected to attend the four-day
conference, which will focus on
leadership.
Speakers will be brought in
from across the country. One
speaker will be poet, writer and
activist Nikki Giovanni. Other
speakers have not been finalized.
Several smaller workshops
regarding self-esteem, spiritual
uplift and academic organization
also will be offered.
APU started planning the con
ference last spring. Committees
were formed to handle aspects
such as fundraising and schedul
ing speakers, Stokes said.
APU is considering a car wash
or a formal dance as other ways to
raise money for the event, she said,
though university funds are also
being used.
The pancake feed will cost $2
in advance and $3 at the door. For
more information, call Lynda Todd
at 472-8989.
Rec center opens
rock-climbing wall
By Lori Robison
Staff Reporter
Campus Recreation administra
tors have unveiled Nebraska’s newest
mountain peak. But nature had noth
ing to do with this geological forma
tion.
Jutting slightly out from the cor
ner of Court 5 inside the Lee and
Helene Sapp Recreation Center, dot
ted with red, green, blue and yellow
hand and foot holds, this rock
climber’s paradise comes complete
with fossil impressions on its rocky
surface for a touch of realism.
Stan Campbell, director of
Campus Recreation, said the rock wall,
completed in June, can accommodate
eight climbers at a time and measures
40 feet wide and 36 feet high.
The indoor wall is the largest in
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largest in the Midwest.
El Dorado Wall Company in
Colorado built the wall, which cost
$80,000 and took three years to build,
Campbell said. Money for its con
struction came from the rec center’s
budget for repair and improvements
to the center, which amounts to about
$9 from each student’s fees
Kenda Scheele, assistant director
for structured activities, said the sum
mit is actually a steel support frapie
overlapped with fire retardant material
and a textured surface called Dude Tex
The rock wall, supported by exist
ing rafters in its centerand attached to
brick walls, blends in with its sur
roundings, she said, and should not
interfere with activities taking place
on Court 5.
Campbell said the idea for the wall
came mostly from requests from
UNL’s climbing club. However,
requests from other students and a
review of the popularity of similar rock
climbing peaks at other Big 12 univer
sities also contributed to the Campus
Recreation Advisory Council’s final
decision to begin construction.
Jim Alvarez, a student program
assistantat University of Kansas
Recreation Services, said demand for
KU’s 6-year-old climbing wall has
increased dramatically.
Demand was not high at first, he
said, but each year the number of peo
ple wanting to climb the wall increases.
Campbell said Friday’s turnout -
25 to 30 climbers - was a promising
indication of the wall’s popularity
with students.
Bradley Martin, a UNL outdoor
adventure graduate student with nine
years of climbing experience, says
the demand for climbing walls at uni
versities has increased along with an
interest in outdoor activities.
For those new to rock climbing,
Martin said, a visit to UNL’s wall
could be a way to learn balance and
endurance and improve
strength.“This climbing wall is
geared for beginners,” he said. There
will be a lot of supervision provided
for climbers, Martin said, and the
equipment used in the center is state
of the art.
Climbers must complete a $20
initial training session to learn proper
use of equipment as well as climbing
skills and techniques. CamDbell said.
Any students who want to learn to
climb the wall first must complete a
2-hour training session. It costs $20,
but students who complete the ses
sion can climb as much as they want,
Martin said. Experienced climbers
don’t have to go through training, but
can pay $20 to get certified, which
will give them unlimited access.
Those who aren’t sure they want
to learn can test climb the wall for $5
in what is called a walk-up. Climbing
instructors will keep the person tied
to ropes hanging from the top - called
a belay - as the person scales the wall.
The walk-up doesn’t involve learning
the proper knots or advanced tech
niques, Martin said.
Non-members - students and fac
ulty who haven’t paid the semester rec
center fee - can climb for $ 10 a day, or
can pay $ 150 for unlimited access.
The rock wall is open by reserva
tion from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m week
days. Walk-up climbers can scale the
peak from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday,
and 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
By Lindsay Young
Staff Reporter
Three years of small steps for the
Mexican American Student
Association could mean one large
lift at the end of December of its boy
cott of the Multi-Cultural Affairs
office.
The boycott severed ties between
MCA, which is an arm of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
administration, and MASA, a stu
dent-run organization. MASA was
no longer to co-sponsor events with
MCA, use the office’s services or
even walk through its doors.
MCA’s services include tutoring,
counseling, financial aid programs,
career services, social events, educa
tional planning and employment
opportunities. Those services pri
marily focus on minority groups.
During the temporary lift of the
boycott, MASA members now can
access those services and the group
can co-sponsor events. MASA repre
sentatives say they hope the boycott
will be gone for good, but that will
depend on future negotiations.
Gabrielle Dalton, MASA Dresi
dent and a senior agriculture educa
tion major, said that if discussion
with administrators continues, the
boycott could end by Jan. 1.
“It does sound promising,” she said.
The boycott reached a turning
point for MASA members in June
when Chuck van Rossum was
appointed as assistant director of the
Minority Assistance Program.
Creating that position was one of
the requests MASA made three years
ago when the boycott began.
After Rossum was hired, MASA
met with Chancellor James Moeser
and Vice Chancellor for Student
Affairs James Griesen to reopen
communication with MCA.
Administrators in the Multi
cultural Affairs office are eager to
resolve the conflict so they can
resume business as usual.
“Putting the boycott to bed needs
to happen for us to turn the corner,”
Rossum said.
Jimmi Smith, MCA director,
agreed and said his office wants to
continue to provide services and sup
port to all students, including MASA
members. MCA is used by minority
student groups such as the Afrikan
People’s Union and the Vietnamese
Student Association.
Smith said communication was
most important and that MCA had
tried to keep those lines open during
the boycott.
“We have been asking them to
stay at the table to work with the
issues,” Smith said.
Venita Kelley, chairwoman for
the Chancellor’s Commission on the
Status of People of Color, said she
supported the group in its boycott
and was proud of the members for
sticking with it so long.
“The boycott needed to be
addressed,” she said. “We cannot
afford to lose Latino students.”
Anatomy of a split
MASA started the boycott in
February 1994 by pointing out 15
problems it wanted solved. After
meeting with the administration, the
list was shortened to five.
One was a request for a new posi
tion in the Minority Assistance
Program. MASA thought the office
needed an assistant director to better
supervise employees and make its
services more equitable. Years later,
Rossum was appointed as a direct
result of this request.
MASA also requested that its
members be allowed to sit on search
committees and interview commit
tees that help hire MCA employees.
Chandra Diaz, former MASA
president, said all groups were not
represented enough in the office.
“There needs to be diversity in
diversity,” said Diaz, a senior mid
dle-level education major.
Smith, MCA director, said anoth
er cause of the boycott was sensitivi
ty problems in the office, but those
problems were dealt with first. The
office corrected employees who
were found to be out of line and con
tinued to monitor them. Those prob
lems might not have caused the boy
cott, though, if communication was
stronger and if they had been report
ed earlier, he said.
Dalton acknowledged that sensi
tivity in the office was being
addressed.
However, before a permanent lift
can be established, Dalton said,
MASA has other requests:
■ The creation of a student
adviser group to the MCA.
■ The creation of a liaison to
keep MASA and other groups
informed of what is going on in the
MCA office.
■ Continual sensitivity training
for all who work in the office.
Moving forward
Kelley, of the chancellor’s com
mission, said she was hopeful that
the boycott would end in January.
MASA members were able to start
resolving the boycott, she said,
because they were so persistent with
the administrators.
“I am most proud and impressed
by the students’ character and what it
is they did by addressing their con
cerns on this university,” Kelley said.
Tim Alvarez, MASA co-adviser,
said he too was optimistic about the
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students did all of the work and that
he just mediated.
“What the students asked for was
nothing out of the ordinary,” he said.
“I admire them for standing up for
what was right.”
Diaz said MASA was not going
to back down from its requests.
A potential end to the boycott has
MCA administrators learning
lessons from the conflict.
Smith and Rossum said the boy
cott caused the office to evaluate
itself closer than it had before, which
helped it move ahead with its pro
grams. Smith said it was important
for students to evaluate the universi
ty’s services.
Communication with universit\
officials on matters is crucial 10
avoiding later conflict, he said, and
all students should do as MASA did
and come forward to say what they
think needs to change.
Rossum said. “Sometimes glass
es get dirty and just need to be
cleaned up.”
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