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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1997)
SPOTS A & E Bdarly a game Box office bodhisattva October 13,1997 Nebraska rolled up 410 yards rushing en route to Brad Pitt plays Heinrich Harre — an Austrian -f a 49-21 victory over the Baylor Bears Saturday mountaineer who tutored the young Dalai Lama SWEATER WEATHER rnght m Waco, Texas. PAGES 6-7 in the ’40s — in “Seven Years in Tibet.” PAGE 9 Chance of showers, high 53, Cold tonight, low 27. VOL. 97 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 N0. 35 Diversity retreat opens eyes By Erin Gibson Senior Reporter For University of Nebraska-Lincoln junior Eddie Brown, it wasn’t die easiest way to spend a weekend. As a participant in the university’s 10^ annu al Diversity Retreat, he spent many hours silent ly trying to accept other students’ views on the hot-button topics of racism and discrimination. “It’s very hard to sit and keep your mouth closed and listen to somebody else” with differ ent cultural views, Brown said. It’s much easier to discount others’ views as wrong or ignorant and “ jump on the defensive side,” he said. But the retreat, held at Camp Kitaki near Louisville, challenged its participants^© learn and grow in other cultures, as well as their own, he said. For 10 years, the university has sponsored the retreat to fight prejudice and cultural ignorance on campus through two days of honest discus sions, which participants keep confidential. This year, about 40 students from many cul tural backgrounds and campus organizations gathered at the camp to listen and learn from each other’s experiences with discrimination and injustice on campus. Many participants said they chose to attend the retreat to express their disgust with recent incidents of hate speech, including Tuesday’s slurs against the gay community on campus side walks and Sigma Chi fraternity burning a 6-foot cross during a pre-initiation ritual in January. Brandy Nath, a UNL sophomore who attend ed the retreat, said she arrived at the retreat with some very solid opinions on such cultural misun derstandings on campus, but her opinions changed while listening to others at the retreat. “I feel that our campus has a lot of problems that are hidden,” she said. When the problems manifest themselves in hate speech or other incidents, they are most eas fcfc-— We have the ability; if we can move past the rhetoric, to be genuine in our desire to see people come together... ” John Harris special assistant to the vice chancellor for student affairs ily recognized, she said. But students, faculty and administration cannot ignore those problems during the rest of the year, she said. Nath and Brown said students must take action to prevent incidents of cultural hatred and band together on behalf of oppressed groups in the aftermath of such incidents. They said retreat participants pledged them selves to these goals by planning to become active members in UNL’s Diversity Council, a student group that formed last spring to educate and expose campus members to different cul tures. John Harris, retreat organizer and special assistant to the vice chancellor for student affairs, said he believed the energetic students who attended the retreat will fight injustice on campus. They surprised him in their willingness to “take the heat from one another,” and acknowl edge cultural indifference and biases, Harris said. “Each person had the chance to be very can did,” he said. “And people were challenged.” On the retreat, students looked at past cultur al conflicts on campus, how they arose and how they affected the campus community, Harris said. As a group, students said they were unsatis fied with the campus’s reactions to ihjustice. “Things have happened on our campus that have not been rectified,” Harris said. “The reso lutions presented were slow in coming and not satisfactory” Students remembered Chancellor James Moeser, during his State of the University Address in August, saying he wanted not just tol erance of diversity, but acceptance of diversity on campus. They questioned whether his demands for a new campus climate were rhetoric or reality after almost two months, Harris said. They also questioned their own beliefs and recognized they each held unwarranted stereo types against students from other cultural back grounds, he said. In the end, students asked if, in spite of their differences, they could move forward together to fight cultural ignorance and injustice, Harris said. Most students pledged themselves to take action, looked at their neighbors and said, “I’m willing to be your ally. I’m willing to join forces with you, and I’m not willing to sit back and watch anymore,” he said. Harris said the retreat participants wanted to send a message to administrators that, although wounds of past injustices still fester on campus, student activism has created the potential for a diverse, accepting campus. “We have the ability, if we can move past the rhetoric, to be genuine in our desire to see people come together... and work at it over some time,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything; it’s the principle,” he said. “I would pray in my heart of hearts that we can become an institution of principle,” Harris added. “It’s time.” PARTICIPANTS RON through the rain and puddles Sunday on their romp around East Campus to kickoff the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Homecoming Week. An estimated 250 people ran in the Fun Run despite the rain. Please see story on page 3. Radio show to feature gay forum By Brice Sullivan Staff reporter The hosts of the KRNU-FM 90.3 radio program “Three Men and a German” will be joined by two members of the gay and les bian community on Monday night’s show, one of the show’s hosts said. Klaus Marre said the topic of discussion would ^e students’ attitudes toward the homosexual community. The guests will be Alison Knudsen of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Resource Center and Brian Franz, a member of Someone You Know. Knudsen and Franz were invited in response to anti-homosexual messages that were written after the program’s Oct. 6 show, in which the hosts provided three students with chalk to express their feelings toward the National Coming Out Week chalkings. “I believe that the hosts have responded beautifully to what happened,” Knudsen said. “They’ve taken full responsibility to rectify the situation.” Marre further explained the intentions of the hosts of “Three Men and a German.” “We feel that we need a dialogue on the issue,” Marre said, “not writing on side walks.” Knudsen said the graffiti has caused the student gay and lesbian community to pull closer together, and in response, several peo ple have come out of the closet since the incident. The show will air tonight from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. tonight. Listeners are urged to express their opinions either by calling the program at 472-5768, or by e-mailing at ThreemenandG@hotmail. com. Police caution UNL students about con man By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter His actions aren’t criminal, for the most part, but police and victim services are warn ing people of a smooth-talking con man they’ve been tracking. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Sgt. Mylo Bushing and Director of Victim Services Lisa Cauble said they have been talking to several UNL students who have been taken by the man. Because his game is not criminal - until the victims try to end their relationship with the man - Bushing and Cauble only can warn people to beware. Because they cannot charge the man with a crime connected to the con game, his name was not released. Bushing and Cauble described the con man as a likable fellow, a smooth talker who easily fits into a crowd. He hangs out with people, asks women on Please see CON on 3 Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http:/ lwww.unl.edu/DailyNeb