rMxKZ ■ DAILY INEBRASKAN ■ TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10,1998
Bill would require
rest for workers
By Brian Carlson
Senior Reporter
A bill that would require
employers to allow employees at
least 24 consecutive hours of rest
each week was advanced by the
Legislature’s Business and Labor
Committee Monday.
LB 1334, which applies to
employees who work more than 20
hours per week, was placed on
general file for consideration by
the entire Legislature later this ses
sion.
Larry Eret, an employee of
Walker Manufacturing in Seward,
said he had been forced to work
long hours and seven-day weeks,
often on short notice. The situation
has made it difficult for his family
to enjoy time together, he said.
“For the last few years, I
haven’t been able to make plans
with my family and know that
we’ll actuallv be able to do them.”
he said.
Workers at Walker
Manufacturing are attempting to
unionize, Eret said, but many have
simply quit out of frustration with
the working hours.
Sen. John Hilgert of Omaha,
who sponsored the proposal
known as the One Day Rest in
Seven Act, said the bill was pat
terned after Illinois legislation and
reflected similar laws in states of
the industrial Midwest.
Nebraska AFL-CIO President
Go
in
interview tha£tag forking hours
with few breaks pose a threat to
employee health and workplace
safety.
The Illinois legislation has
been on the books for 40 years, he
said, and business there has not
suffered unduly.
Doug McDaniel, who repre
sented the Nebraska Chamber of
Commerce and Industry and the
State Council for the Society for
Human Resource Management,
was the lone opponent who testi
«
I think it’s Chicken
Little syndrome to
say the sky would
fall if this bill
would pass.”
John Hilgert
state senator
fied.
He said the bill would hurt
those businesses, especially in the
health care industry, that must pro
vide around-the-clock services.
“This bill fails to recognize the
intricacies of business needs in
Nebraska today,” he said. “The
effects of LB 1334 would be devas
tating to businesses who are
required to provide services on a
24-hour basis.”
The bill’s sponsors say it would
allow employees who volunteer to
work seven days a week the oppor
tunity to do so.
Workers’ schedules should
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ness needs and demand for ser
vices, McDaniel said.
But Hilgert disputed
McDaniel’s predictions of cata
strophe for the business communi
ty should the bill pass.
“I think it’s Chicken Little syn
drome to say the sky would fall if
this bill would pass,” he said.
Hilgert said it was a shame
Nebraska lawmakers devote so
much time to offering business
incentives and corporate tax
breaks without doing more to help
the' state’s workers.
The state should perhaps seek
to improve its business climate by
promoting a more worker-friendly
and family-friendly environment,
he said.
“You would think the state of
Nebraska would be a Mecca for
business,” he said. “Why aren’t we
just doing gangbusters?
“Other states have these laws;
other states care for their workers.”
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Two men abducted a Lincoln
man from a woman’s apartment at
knife-point 4 a.m. Sunday, the vic
tim told police.
David Williams left Grandpa’s
Ribs and Secret Sauce with a woman
he met there and went to her home at
the 4700 block of Bancroft Avenue,
Lincoln Police Sgt. Ann Heermann
said.
Williams said the two men
entered the apartment, held him at
knife-point and asked if Williams
had had any physical contact with
the woman, but Williams was unco
operative.
Then the two men drove
Williams to Highway 77 and West
Pioneers Boulevard and dropped
him off.
Police suspect that the woman
may have known the two men. Police
also plan to question Williams again.
Homeless man robbed
A homeless man was robbed by
three men as he walked down the
sidewalk near 17th and Dudley
streets at about 3 a.m. Saturday.
Two of the three men grabbed the
vivum, UCU111& riunupcv, wiiiic lac
other took Pro kopec’s cash and
watch, Heermann said.
Prokopec lost $47 in cash and a
$75 watch.
Motorists quarrel
Road rage brewed along O Street
early Sunday morning and led to a
disturbance between two motorists.
Mary Green, 18, was cut off by
Stephen Davis, whom she knew, in
his pickup truck at 56th and O
streets.
Green decided to follow Davis,
29, when he turned south on 33rd
Street, and take down his license
plate number, Heermann said.
When Davis realized he was
being followed, he slammed on his
brakes, leaving more than 100 feet
of skid marks, and slid sideways to a
stop across the southbound and turn
ing lanes.
Davis got out of the truck and
started yelling at her.
When Green got out to see what
he wanted, Davis spit in her face and
then drove off.
Davis was cited for disturbing
the peace.
* i el <
racist, some say
_ 7 97
By Brad Davis
Senior Reporter
Despite the recent controversy
surrounding UNL English Professor
David Hibler, many of his former stu
dents said he was a good, motivating
teacher.
Hibler, who has recently come
under fire for sending an e-mail with
the word “nigga” to more than 300
people, has said in a written statement
that the e-mail was not racist
Sophomore Nikki Markota, who
had Hibler for English 254 in the
spring of 1996, said calling Hibler a
racist because of one statement was
like “taking an inch out of something
that is eight feet long ”
“If people are truly offended by it,
they should read more of his stuff -
they’re taking this one little article out
of all the things he wrote,” Markota
said. “If you knew where he was com
ing from, you wouldn’t pick out this
one little thing and say that it’s
derogatory.”
Since the early 1970s Hibler has
been working with computers at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln and
was the first professor to conduct an
entire class online.
Students in Hibler’s fall 1995
English 254 classes were the first to
have a completely World Wide Web
based course.
Hibler’s classes still make use of
the Web, with each student voluntari
ly posting his or her work to a Web
page on Hibler’s “MAMA” computer
server. MAMA, whose motto is “The
Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing
But,” has a code of ethics posted by
Hibler, including “People are numer
ous and varied. I will treat everyone
with courtesy, respect and humility.”
Because of this advertised com
mitment to peoples’ differences,
Hibler’s former students say he is any
thing but a racist.
Senior Kevin Ridley, who is tak
ing Hibler’s English 258 class now,
said he could see how people could
interpret Hibler’s writing as racist
“A lot of people don’t know him,”
Ridley said, “so it’s kind of taken out
of context.”
Ridley said although he’d heard
the word “nigger” many times, Hibler
did not use it in a derogatory way.
But, Ridley said, Hibler should
better explain himself so people know
he is not a racist.
Jef Sevenker, who was a sopho
more last year when he had Hibler for
English 258, said the professor
brought out the best in students.
“He wanted you to succeed.”
Sevenker said. “He was sometimes
critical, but he wanted you to do your
absolute best.”
Sevenker said although Hibler
motivated his students to perform
well, the professor was unhappy with
the university.
“I know that he wasn’t very happy
with the English department or the
administration,” Sevenker said, “but I
think aside from that his most impor
tant friends or people that he dealt
with were die students.”
A tenured professor since 1975,
Hibler made around $33,000 last
year, according to July 1997 records.
He joined the faculty at UNL in
Ruwe: Students have
chance to voice opinions
FORUM from page 1
“It doesn’t have to have intent
to hurt someone,” an audience
member said. “It did hurt some
one, and now we have to make a
change.”
Nasim Zawadi, a UNL law stu
dent, said this issue, along with
past racially-motivated incidents
such as the Sigma Chi cross burn
ing incident and the way the uni
versity has handled the Martin
Luther King Jr. holiday, has affect
ed the retention and recruitment of
minority students. He said people
need to look at the whole picture.
“I’m sick and tired of it being
limited to one issue,” he said. “It’s
time we do something about it.”
Other members of the audi
ence agreed.
“This university is establishing
a pattern in saying ‘We don’t care .
about the feelings of the minority
groups,’” said Eric Crump, a
sophomore sociology and political
sciepce major.
Other audience members
cauea ior me university to cnange
how it deals with diversity and
sensitivity issues. More training in
those two areas was suggested for
all university employees and stu
dents.
“The university has to step for
ward and say ‘These are the people
we are willing to protect,’” Crump
said.
However, some in attendance
were not as hopeful.
One audience member said the
university seemed to give the
impression this recent uprising
would not change things on cam
pus.
“Nothing will come of this,”
she said. “Absolutely nothing.”
Hibler spoke at various times
throughout die forum.
He denounced the actions of
those at the press conference
Thursday.
He also called for “An End to
u
I’m sick and tired
of it being limited to
one issue. It’s time
we do something
about it. ”
Nasim Zawadi
law student
Racism,” an end to “Little Boy
Blue Clinton’s Tricky Dick War,”
and to “Let America Be America
Again” in his printed text of his
address. The war Hibler is refer
ring to is the conflict with Iraq.
“In my writings and in my
son’s raps - for those of you who
are actually reading them rather
than shouting mindlessly about
what you’re told to think - we use
the rhetoric of the oppressed
underclass of this nation to ask
questions about the nature of con
temporary American experience,”
ho eaitf
The biggest concern for N.
Omar Valentine, junior marketing
major and forum organizer, was
that students would hesitate to
give their opinions on the issue.
“More people were mad when
Coca-Cola lost to Pepsi,”
Valentine said.
Ruwe concluded the forum
with a statement urging people to
stay dedicated to change.
“We need to stay together and
we need to accomplish this,” he
said.
Monday’s statements will be
compiled for a proposal submitted
by ASUN and student organiza
tions to UNL administrators.
Anyone interested in submit
ting their opinion for the proposal
should contact Ruwe at the ASUN
office or Valentine at 436-0503.
1968, after completing his doctorate
degree at Notre Dame University.
A personal file Hibler completed
in 1973 said he received UNL’s
Danforth Mid Career Teaching
Fellowship in 1972 and 1973. The file
also said he was a research fellow,
specializing in puritan literature and
contemporary rock music lyrics.
Hibler said the e-mail including
allegedly racist epithets was part of a
study on rap - what he said was a
form of contemporary poetry.
In a letter written to his students in
1996, posted on the Web, Hibler
wrote that he was considering leaving
LJNL.
“I’ve spent 28 years here busting
ass primarily at one thing and one
thing only: quality teaching. You’d
think in that time someone might stop
to take notice at least of the effort...
Unfortunately, I’ve never figured out
to play the game administrators now
play even with rewarding teaching,”
Hibler wrote.
Hibler wrote that he had been
nominated for the Distinguished
Teaching Award a half dozen times,
although he hadn't learned how to
“play the game” of upper-level
administrators.
“Unfortunately;” Hibler wrote to
his students, “I’ve always been an out
sider to my colleagues, though not to
you. Which is why I have valued your
friendship and have found your exam
ple and inspiration the main thing
which has kept me going for years.”
Sevenker said, “He thought there
was something else he could be doing
with his talent and energy and abili
ties that wasn’t at the university, but
he did love the students.”
Questions? Comments? Ask for the ureropriate section edkor at
(402) 472-2588 or e-mail dnminnnfo.unLedu.
Fat number (402) 472-1781
-»
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