Music director
By Lindsay Young
Staff Reporter
Juan Tejeda’s fingers moved
quickly across the white buttons of
the accordion as he switched from a
waltz to a polka to a jazz tune.
Tejeda, Xicano music director of
the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
in San Antonio, Texas, used his tal
ents on die button accordion to give a
part of Conjunto and Tejano music to
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
students this week.
He also used his past experiences
and his flute music to share and dis
cuss the Xicano culturevand issues.
Tejeda, also the founder of the
Tejano Conjunto Festival in San
Antonio 17 years ago, was on campus
this week as part of the College of
Fine and Performing Arts Artist
Diversity Residency Program.
His focus is sharing the Xicano
culture through his music and poetry.
“It is through the arts that we mir
ror our reality - that we preserve our
language, our history, our culture, our
values - through our poetry, through
our songs,, through our dance,” Tejeda
said .
Tejeda did this by talking to stu
dent organizations, like the Mexican
American Student Association, and
different classes, including the
University Foundations classes and
multiculturalism classes in the
Teachers College.
This week he taught the origins of
Xicano culture, shared poetry, talked
about personal experiences, and dis
cussed the history of Conjunto and
Tejano music, giving his listeners a
taste of both. > £ ^ ^ : v
The experiences he brought into
his presentations were from-his'early
sc ho olye&rs .'Tiles e experiene e s
played a large part in why he gave his
presentations, he said.
“When I was small (the school)
made me feel ashamed of who I was,
of my culture, of my accordion and of
my parents. ... I didn't really know
what was happening when I was in
grade school. It created a tremendous
conflict within me,” Tejeda said.
He said a lot of Xicanos go
through experiences like these, and
through education this can be fought
‘As he started to learn more about
r-f—7-;i‘ ■ »
the Xicano movement at the
University of Texas at Austin in his
Xicano studies classes, he began to
get more interested in staying with
die cause.
This, he said, is why he went into
the Xicano movement and now has
made a career out of it in arts admin
istration. v
Tejeda incorporates both the but
ton accordion and flute into his teach
ings.
The flute Tejeda played for stu
dents is called Quena and was a
South American flute from Bolivia.
This type of flute was originally
made from bamboo, Tejeda said, but
the one he played was made from
hard Redwood. This flute is played
vertically rather than horizontally as
with traditional flutes.
The button accordion is the core
of the Conjunto and Tejano music
styles, Tejeda said. These two styles
mix everything from country, jazz
and blues to rock, cajun and salsa.
Conjunto and Tejano music also
employ the bajo sexto guitar, bass
and drums.
lejeda said the Artist Diversity
Residency Program was a good pro
gram because of the mixture of his
tory and arts. He also said sharing
different cultures through the arts
was a learning experience for every
one.
“We’re all different, and different
cultures exist throughout the world
and share this information and learn
from each other,” Tejeda said.
Ron Bowlin, director of the
Kimball Recital Hall, said the pro
gram brings every type of art to a
broad range of students on campus
and in: the comnamity. The program
was started three years ago.
BowJinsaidit-was an outreach
program from the college tojthe rest
of the campus.
Tejeda said the program helps to
expose people to different views and
perspectives.
“By learning about each other
and of each other then we can become
better human beings,” he said.
Tejeda said he hopes he taught
audiences something new this week.
“Hopefully it has got them to
think about different cultures and
specifically Xicano culture,” Tejeda
said.
c J For more about Juan Tejeda’s music,
please see pagel2,
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I
If
Conduct code queried
CODE from page 1
, message and forwarded it to Greene.
Greene’s letter was delivered to
Woodford by the UNL Police
Department Aug. 16 and charged
Woodford with violating section 4.8
of the UNL Student Code of
Conduct: “physically abusing or
threatening to physically abuse any
person.”
He also was charged with violat
ing section 4.30, which forbids stu
dents to break federal, state or city
laws while on university property or
at a university organization-spon
sored event
Woodford said he was told by
Greene, in an Aug. 21 meeting, that
the UNL police searched the parking
garage for six hours, causing delays
in construction.
ponce imiei iven cauoie
said police were notified of the mes
sage Aug. 6, when he and several
officers searched the garage. He did
not disclose the amount of time he
and other officers searched the build
ing.
Cauble said UNL police took this
message seriously - as they do with
all bomb threats - although they did
not publicize the matter for fear of
causing a panic.
Woodford said Greene gave him a
piece of paper that outlined the pro
posed punishment for posting the
message.
The proposed punishment was 30
hours of community service, having
to take an anger class and probation
for one year.
“I had three days to accept or
reject his proposed punishment,”
Woodford said, “and if I rejected it,
(my case) would go before the
(University) Judicial Board.”
After the Aug. 21 meeting with
Greene, Woodford contacted
LeMieux at the ACLU-Nebraska. „-.j.
LeMieux said the ACLU could
• not have helped Woodard uifldss'%£
lost his judicial board hearing; ahd
took his case to court.
“From our view, we looked at the
message and we feel he was being
punished for free speech,” LeMieux
said.
M
Our fear is that this will have a chilling
effect on speech; that students will refrain
from using certain types of speech ... ”
MattLeMieux
executive director of ACLU-Nebraska
_
According to Woodford, Greene
said that if Woodford did not accept
the proposed punishment, more
charges would be brought against
him between the time he handed in
his decision and the time of the judi
cial board meeting.
Woodford said the extra charges
were a risk he did not want to take,
based on some advice he received
regarding the past history of the judi
cial board.
“If I lost the judicial board hear
ing, they could do anything; they
have an enormous amount of power
to levy any sort of punishment on
you,” Woodford said.
Woodford accepted Greene’s pro
posed punishment Aug. 28.
“Once he accepted Jhe punish
ment, our case was moot,” LeMieux
said.
Examining the rules
Vice Chancellor for Student
Affairs James Griesen, who would
not comment on Woodford’s case,
said the administration has to have
the authority to examine individual
cases in order to take into account the
student’s intentions, past disciplinary
history and the seriousness of the
offense.
“We could have a big, broad
range (of punishments,) but it would
n’t make any sense,” Griesen said.
“Our students have good common
sense; they can understand the worse
-die offense, the heavier the sanction.”
If a student does not accept the
p|b$}0d ptinisho*€n£ heMffl, She.
jiidiciM bohrd giVeS students suffi
cient opportunity to voice their con
cerns.
“Our code ojf conduct provides
great assurance that students get ade
quate opportunities to tell their sides
of the story, and if they so choose, to /
have a panel of five peers and four
professors (the judicial board) deter
mine whether they did violate the
code and what their punishment is,”
Griesen said.
Griesen also said students have a
choice whether or not they want to
accept a judicial officer’s proposed
punishment.
LeMieux said the ACLU is afraid
this incident will leave students fear
ful of speaking freely.
“Our fear is that this will have a
chilling effect on speech; that stu
dents will refrain from using .certain
types of speech - that are protected
speech,” LeMieux said.
LeMieux said a legal case could
still be made if a student said the
“interpretation of this (free speech)
policy leaves me fearful of what I can
ppt on the Internet”
^However he also said the code
could be made more clear by discus
sion within the university.
“After sitting down with Charlie
Greene and seeing the student gov
ernment is interested in discussing
the issue, it might be possible to work
this out without taking legal action,’
LeMieux said.
Griesen said the administration
always welcomes suggestions regard
ing improving the code of conduct,
although he said it will not be amend
ed arbitrarily.
“We are anxious to listen to any
one, whohas ideas as to how we c4n
^hi^ke^r. code better - and I assure
tihemwe’Bgive (their proposals) seri
ous attention,” Griesen said.
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