SPIRTS ARE
Cat attack Reclaiming his race October 3, >1997
Nebraska looks to avoid a let down from its victo- After years spent fretting over his Xicano identi
fy over No. 2 Washington two weeks ago when the ty, Juan Tejeda now yearns to teach others its
Huskers play host to KSU Saturday night. PAGE 9 beauty through his musical heritage. PAGE 12 Chance
VOL. 97 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 29
Student rights
heed concern
■ Vagueness of the UNL
Student Code of Conduct
raises serious questions.
By Brad Davis
Assignment Reporter
UNL’s Student Code of Conduct
has members of the American Civil
Liberties Union-Nebraska worried
about violations of students’ rights.
The ACLU-Nebraska is con
cerned about the vagueness of the
code in dealing with student punish
ment.
i ne organization is also concerned
that some punishments given by the
Student Judicial Affairs Office may
discourage free speech, as in the case
of a University of Nebraska-Lincoln
' graduate student.
The ACLU’s concerns were voiced
to Nick Aieta at a meeting of the NU
Law Chapter of the ACLU. Aieta, a
graduate student senator of the
Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska, reported to
the senate Sept. 10 that the ACLU was
concerned about the code.
Sarah Weber, member of the NU
College of Law chapter of the ACLU,
said specific punishments were not
explained in the code, which she said
could lead to discriminatory treatment
and confusion as to what punishments
a student could expect to receive.
“When you don’t have a set struc
ture to follow, people will be treated
differently, and also they don’t know
what’s going to happen to them,”
Weber said.
Charles Greene, director of stu
dent judicial affairs, said his office
used its authority to provide educa
tional opportunities, not to enforce
arbitrary punishments.
“This is not a punishment office,”
Greene said, “this is an educational
office. My job is to look at the situa
tion, take the burden of proof and
decide what’s best for students to be
held accountable for their action and
continue in their education”
But Matt LeMieux, executive
director of the ACLtJ-Nebraska, said
at least some punishment guidelines
were needed.
“I suppose you have to build a sys
tem that has certain leeway to deal
with particular individuals,” LeMieux
said, “but now it appears (student judi
cial affairs) has no guidance for pun
ishment. Even giving them limited
guidance would be better than none,”
he said.
No joking matter
One student experienced the disci
plinary process in action when he was
called into Greene’s office for a
“threatening” message he had posted
to a UNL Internet news group.
Jeff Woodford, a graduate student,
posted a message to the UNL general
news group Aug. 4 that included a
statement UNL administrators inter
preted as a bomb threat.
In the message, Woodford said the
new parking garage west of Memorial
Stadium resulted in a “net loss” of stu
dent parking and that most students
could not afford daily parking fees to
use the facility.
The final paragraph of the mes
sage read, “If I had some bombs, I’d
consider blowing up that damn
garage. It will be of about the same use
to students as a pile of rubbish than as
an erect structure.”
According to a letter Woodford
received from Greene, the UNL
Office of Public Relations read the
Please see CODE on 3
Far East fun begins
«r
By Debi Hoff
Staff Reporter
The Centennial Room of the
Nebraska Union filled quickly
Thursday night, and more chairs
had to be brought in, as spectators
arrived to enjoy a night of tradi
tional Japanese culture through
song, dance, film and martial arts.
“More people attended than we
expected,” Keiko Teruyama, assis
tant director of the Kawasaki;
Reading Program, said of
Thursday’s activities. “The pur
pose was to introduce Japanese
culture, with a focus on Okinawa.
We hold annual cultural events and
this is one of the biggest events.”
The 1997 Japan Festival kicked
off at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln with opening remarks
from Marshall Olds, acting chair
man of Modern Languages and
Literatures.
He introduced karate instruc
tor John Roseberryf-wfcasum- ,
moned his students on stage to
begin their demonstration of Goju
Ryu Karate.
The demonstration included
fighting maneuvers as Roseberry
shouted commands. The fighters
entertained the audience with dif
ferent displays of their skills,
including a small boy battling a
grown man, which brought laugh
ter from the audience.
Louise Jannink, an exchange
student from the Netherlands,
attended the show and was
amazed.
“The karate was very impres
sive,” Jannink said. “Especially
the last exercises, which showed
the power and strength involved.”
The second portion of the show
included a video, “Southern
Breeze,” with pictures from
Okinawa, Japan. The film showed
photos of the Okinawan landscape
and people with the accompani
ment of traditional Japanese
Lane Hickenbottom/DN
JOHN ROSEBERRY of the Academy of Sho-Rei-Shobu-Kan Karate Judo &
Aikido demonstrates Okinawan Goju-ryu karate to a crowd of people
attending the Evening of Ryuku in the Centennial Room of the Nebraska
Union Thursday night.
music. Japanese words appeared
on the screen throughout the film.
Jannink said she thought the
film was a nice touch. The scenery
of the sea and islands, she said,
was nice, but she especially
enjoyed the portrayals of people.
Finishing off the evening were
the Ryukyu dancers. A silence fell
over the audience as the Japanese
women walked on to the stage
draped in traditional Japanese
dresses. The dancers moved slow
ly and smoothly to the sounds of
the soft, high notes of Japanese
music.
Jolanta Iwanicka, a Polish
exchange student, especially
enjoyed the Ryukyu dancers.
“I did not know that the
Japanese dances were so calm,” ~
she said. “It was not what I expect
ed, but it was very nice to attend.
You could see that the dancer!
were having fun on stage and that
made a difference.”
Church says accept gays
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter
More acceptance from the
Catholic church may be on the way for
homosexuals following the release of
a statement from a committee of U.S.
Catholic bishops, a local reform
group leader said Thursday.
“I see it as a movement away from
condemning the fact a person is gay or
lesbian or a homosexual,” said John
Krejci, state director of Call to Arms,
a Catholic Church reform group who
-supports more acceptance of homo
sexuality within the world’s largest
and oldest Christian denomination.
The statement released Tuesday
from New York advised parents to
love and support their gay children.
“I think it is moving in the direc
tion to more tolerance, and perhaps,
acceptance,” he said.
But some local priests said the
statement was nothing new to the
Catholic Church.
“My first reaction was that it was a
reiteration of what the Catholic
church has always taught,” said Msgr.
Myron Pleskac of St. Joseph’s
Catholic Church, 1940 S. 77th St.
“The church has always said that.
A gay person is the child of God, and
even if he or she possesses that orien
tation, it doesn’t make him or her any
less a child of God,” he said.
Asst. Pastor Jeffrey Eickhoff of
North American Martyrs Church, 931
W. Harvest Drive, agreed and said the
statement did not change the way the
church looked at homosexuality.
“It’s not an acceptance of the
lifestyle, it’s an acceptance of the per
son,” he said.
Melissa Rigney, a graduate assis
tant at UNL’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual
and Transgender Resource Center,
said the statement was nothing but
positive for the gay community.
“It’s almost a complete turn
Please see BISHOPS on 2
■ ■ - !
Mother posts bond;
Dunagan released -
From Staff Reports
Matthew Dunagan had his
bond amount lessened Thursday
and his mother freed him from jail.
Dunagan, facing first-degree
murder charges, posted the 10 per
cent of $300,000 bond and was
freed from the Lincoln Attention
Center for Youth Thursday after
noon.
Dunagan was charged
Wednesday with first-degree mur
der and use of a weapon to commit
a felony after police found his
father dead in the family living
room Tuesday. John Dunagan had
two shotgun wounds to the chest.
Mike Hansen, Dunagan’s
lawyer, said Wednesday that
Dunagan intended to attend
Lincoln Pius X High School,
where he is an honor student.
Hansen said Dunagan had a 4.0
grade point average.
Please see DUNAGAN on 6
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http.7 lwww.unl.edu /DailyNeb