By Sarah Baker
Staff Reporter
Instead of just cheering their team
to victory this Saturday, some Husker
fans will also be donating their time to
charity.
Huskers Helping the Homeless
gives University of Nebraska-Lincoln
students and faculty the chance to
donate some time to raise money for
the homeless in Nebraska.
The event is being sponsored by
the UNL Residence Hall Association
and the Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska.
Ben Wallace, RHA president, said
the groups are trying to recruit more
volunteers to collect money.
“We are hoping to get as many
people to help as we can, at least 100,”
Wallace said.
The money will be collected by
volunteers stationed around the stadi
um. The money will be donated to the
Matt Talbot Kitchen in Lincoln and die
Siena/Francis House in Omaha.
Paul Koch, executive director of
the Siena/Francis House, said this pro
gram was something new for the shel
ter.
“We are not an aggressive fund
raising organization,” Koch said. “This
was some new ground for us, and we
thought we would try it out.”
Koch said most of the shelter’s
other funding comes from private
donors and government programs. He
said the money collected will go
toward the operations for the shelter.
“We really appreciate the assis
tance from the UNL student body,”
Koch said. “ASUN and RHA have
been tremendous. Our organization
couldn’t survive without people like
them.”
Carrie Pierce, ASUN Student
Impact Team chairwoman, said she
hopes the volunteers realize how much
good they are doing.
“Any chance students get to help
the community is an important one,”
Pierce said. “This one is especially
important because it is benefiting both
the Lincoln and Omaha communities.”
Wallace said that as a reward for
the volunteers, the person who collects
the most money will win two airline
tickets to Florida for spring break.
“We are also giving away other
prizes, like dinners, to the other high
collectors,” Wallace said.
Both Wallace and Pierce said they
wanted to stress the importance of vol
unteerism.
“A lot of time, people think volun
teerism takes a huge time commit
ment,” Pierce said. “We need to give
back what we receive anytime we can.”
Wallace said anyone who is still
interested in volunteering for the event
can still sign up Saturday at 9 a m. at
the Lied Cotter for Performing Arts.
“Anyone who can come out and
help when they can would be appreci
ated,” Wallace said.
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lauds jury system *
By Brian Carlson
Assignment Reporter
“A jury of your peers, sir, finds
you guilty by a count of 60 percent to
40 percent, with a margin of error of
plus or minus four points.”
Former Nebraska Chief Justice
Norman Krivosha posed a question
to students who attended his Faculty
Fireside Chat Thursday night at
Neihardt Residence Hall: Why don’t
we adopt a justice system based on
public opinion polls?
After all, everyone has an opin
ion.
O.J. Simpson? Guilty, say two
thirds of whites. Innocent, say two
thirds of blacks.
Louise Woodward? Depends on
which verdict. Original first-degree
murder conviction and life in prison?
Too harsh. Later decision by a judge
to overturn the verdict? Too lenient.
So say the polls, anyway.
“People say, ‘My God, what kind
of a legal system do we have in
America?’” Krivosha said. “Innocent
people are found guilty, and guilty
people are found innocent.”
Objection! Krivosha said.
The mere fact that the public may
or may not agree with a verdict does
n’t mean the justice system is broken,
he said.
Beyond a reasonable doubt,
Krivosha said, the American justice
system, though not perfect, is the
best way he knows to promote jus
tice.
American courts’ presumption of
innocence until proven guilty is
essential for ensuring the rights of
the accused, he said. But too often, he
said, the public is swayed by emotion
and fails to insist on the burden of
1 proof.
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*. ‘We have a tendency to make up
our minds too early,” he said, “as a
result of which it’s not that the sys
tem’s failing, it’s that we won’t let it
work.”
Proper functioning of the justice
system requires a thorough examina
tion of all the evidence, not cursory
glimpses of a couple of news
accounts, he said.
“If we start off with a notion
about where the trial’s going to go, >
we’re always going to be angry with
the result when it doesn’t go the way
we want it to,” he said.
Although the public perceives
courts as overburdened by rules that
prevent justice from being done,
those rules make the U.S. justice sys
tem fairer than most of those in the
rest of the world, Krivosha said.
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rules, and there are reasons for the
rules,” he said. “The truth is so elu
sive;, who knows what the truth is?
My experience in the courtroom is
that people honestly lie.”
One student questioned whether
Krivosha’s faith in the American jus
tice system was justified. People
bring biases to the jury box that color
their verdicts, he said.
But Krivosha said experience had
shown him that juries usually stick to
the evidence and aren’t fooled by
emotional appeals.
Often the seemingly unjust ver
dicts are the ones that receive the
most publicity, other students noted.
The public doesn’t hear about many
of the well-conducted trials, they
said.
Krivosha said public opinion
should defer to the judgments of
jurors who spend weeks or months
examining the evidence.
Half-baked public opinions on
well-publicized cases are akin to a
theater critic attending the first ten
minutes of a play, leaving, coming
back for the end and writing a review,
he said, , . ! ,
“It’s a pretty good system, aruj f
think we really ought to be careful
about wanting to create this justice
by polls,” he said.
Walk, run to benefit
environment center
By Erin Beal
Staff Reporter
Volunteers are gathering on East
Campus on Saturday to walk, run or
bike in support of the
Environmental Resource Center.
Tiffiny Clifton, senior environ
mental studies major, ERC co
director and a planner of the bene
fit, said the center is expecting
between 150 to 200 volunteers
Saturday.
Carol Reed-Klein, also a senior
and environmental studies major
arid ERC co-director, said those
participating are asking their
friends and family to sponsor theim.
The 5-kilometer trek begins at the
Nebraska East Union and winds
around the campus.
The ERC, on the second floor of
the Nebraska Union, is an office
that provides information about
environmental issues for students,
faculty and staff, Clifton said.
“It serves as a liaison between
the environmental studies program
and the students in that program,”
she said.
Reed-Klein said the ERC envi
ronmental library has a collection
of periodicals, books, videos, sub
ject files and other reference mate
rials. Because the ERC is a nonprof
it center, it depends on fund raising
to supply its resource library with
new materials, she said.
Clifton said the proceeds of the
fund-raiser will be used to pay for
fliers, 35 new books, and operating
costs. The center also is planning to
use some money raised to inform
people about an industrial develop
ment planned to be built on
Wilderness Park.
Registration for this event will
be at noon, and the hike and bike
will begin at 1 p.m. Clifton said that
if the event goes well, the center
plans to make it an annual event. ■
Anyone interested should call (402)
472-8823.
Beware of snowplows and sand
spreaders when driving this
winter. Let them work for you!
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