sought by police
RAPE from page 1
Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska wants to
make students aware of die risks of
sexual assault
and how to pre
vent them, Kelly
Hoffschneider,
campus life
chairwoman,
said.
ASUN pub
lished fliers with
the composite
sketches to be
Suspect distributed on
campus.
There are a few simple steps stu
dents can take to help avoid becom
ing a victim, University Police Sgt.
Mylo Bushing said.
One of the most important things
is not to walk alone after dark.
“Call ahead and pick up a friend
at the residence halls to walk back
Suspect Students can
call for a campus
escort at (402) 472-1167.
H Diversity b History
%a Editor’s note: Each day Jack History Month, the Daily Nebraskan
Cg will tell the story of a minority who made an important contribution in
I 1 America’s History.
j G "V Because, *l;age 19. hbiecarowjlte 1899 World
Gharhpfon of Cycling and Went oipo set several
i cycling worl$;jfecords; l<%
***s*jb Because he faced continuous bureaucratic and even
physical opposition - he was once strangled to
* - unconsciousness by a competetor after a race - but
repeatedly triumphed with dignity^
! Because He was the United States’ second black
. SgiaJ world champion in sport and was li»**r inducted into
the cycling Hall of
Because he start mall bicycle plant
i in Indianapolis, where tl *-jm to
5 follow his cycling dream
Because he was the H ItlVItlr dn sorint champion from
i ed 117
d States, '«
i, d;
i is
or the most renowned professional
' * n his chosen
k
l____ _
1
i Fax number. (402) 472-1761
_ __ __ ■ World Wide Web: www.unl.eduflaSyfleb
P0^8**1 * UNL Pubfcatons Board, Nebraska Union
34,1400 R St, Unooln,NE 68588-0448, Mon&y through Friday darning fte academic year, weekly
during the summer sessions-The pubic has access to the Publications Board.
Readers are encouraged to submit stay tire andcommenls to the Daly Nebraskan by calling
Postmaster: Send addrgschan^^^^^Nabraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R SL, Lincoln
— ■■■■■■ ■ ■ _._
m
Student sets example
MILLER from page 1
“I’m losing my culture; I’m los
ing my family,” he said. “It’s hard
when I go back because I don’t see
myself as apart of the tribal members
-1 feel like an outcast.”
Miller knows he’s gaining a valu
able education and said he knows he
wouldn’t even have graduated from
high school had he stayed on the
reservation. Of the 30 children he
began kindergarten with, only three
graduated from high school, he said.
Teen pregnancy is rampant on the
reservation, he said, and many of his
relatives and fellow students created
families that limited their educa^
tions. •• t
Miller said he hopes to break that
trend and set an example for younger
members of his family, as well as all
American Indian youth.
“It definitely keeps me motivated
knowing that by even going to col
lege, I am setting a path hopefully for
them to follow,” he said.
Miller claims he wasn’t always a
trendsetter, though.
“I started fifth grade with no
other children of color,” he said. “I
was very shy, very reserved. I didn’t
speak much at all.”
Only after beginning high school
at Lincoln Northeast did Miller
finally break out of his shell.
“It was a total switch in my life,”
he said. “I decided I wasn’t going to
be a reserved, quiet person who never
spoke. I thought I’d get involved, and
I used involvement to build self-con
fidence and meet more people.”
After 11 years of assumption,
Miller said, he still is experiencing
culture shock.
“Every day, I walk across cam
pus, and I see nobody like me,” he
said. “I am just a face in the crowd,
but there’s no comfort zone.”
»' 1 i Miller credits his family mem
bers with providing him support to
_ overcome difficulties at school, but
he said they never fully understood
his need to share his culture with oth
ers.
And other members of his tribe
were less supportive, he said.
He described going back to the
reservation for an internship one
summer at a casino where nearly no
one spoke to him. He attributed their
harsh treatment of him to both jeal
ousy and fear.
“They became jealous because I
was able to leave ... to adjust,” he
said. “They didn’t know how to
approach me out of fear. I felt like I
was in the fifth grade again.”
Now Miller credits his atten
dance at the spring 1997 Nebraska
Leadershape Institute with changing
his outlook.
“It allowed me to realize that I
can make a difference not only on
campus, but also in my life,” he said.
“It taught me to challenge what is,
and look forward to what could be.”
Miller’s vision created from
Leadershape is to increase enroll
ment of American Indian students at
UNL.
" Junior finance economics major
Matthew Eickman said he met Miller
. through the Leadershape program.
and respects him for his hard worid : m
“The first word that comes to
mind (when I think of Vernon) is
integrity,” Eickman said. “He acts
morally and responsibly no matter
what he does, whether it’s in UNITE,
as a Health Aide, or as a friend.”
He said Miller is excellent proof
that background does not determine
success. . - '
,— _ t—i—-—-—
American Indian
health bill proceeds
By Joy Ludwig
Staff Reporter
Shah Roohi wants to help
American Indians receive ade
quate preventive health care.
But Rpohi, communication
health educator at Carl T. Curtis
Health Center in Omaha, can’t
There just isn’t enough money.
But on Thursday, the nearly
12,000 Americahlndians in the
state came aliige closer to getting
better health care.
LB1324, which would provide
$500,000 from the general fund to
establish certain programs begin
ning in fiscal year 1998-99, was
advanced by the Legislature’s
Health and Human Services
Committee.
Some of die programs the bill
would help pay for include prena
tal care, education about proper
diet and physical activity, blood
pressure and cholesterol screen
ings and tests and education about
sexually transmitted diseases.
Sen. Don Wesely of Lincoln,
the bill’s sponsor, said he knows
American Indians need more help
? from the government, especially
after he attended a recent public
health conference where someone
asked what was being done about
American Indian health care.
“My response was ‘We’re not
doing enough,”’ Wesely said. “I
made a commitment then to do
• something about it.
“We do have a state respousi
: bility to do what we can.”
Wesely said the mortality rate
for Nebraska's Omaha and Ponca
tribes is higher than other tribes
and the general population. Also,
American Indians have the high
est diabetes rate in the world. They
are 4.2 times as likely to develop
diabetes, said Preston Thomas, a
Lincoln commissioner who works
with the Indian Affairs
Commission.
People need to be educated
about preventive health care, said
Roohi.
He said most of the Omaha
tribe population of 5,100 are
young. Sixty percent are under 25,
while only 3 percent are older than
65. If he could teach the young
people about preventing diseases
“He’s worked hard to get where
he is,” he said “People really respect
him”
Miller’s hard work paid off with
acceptaace intp an internship pro
grittn in Washington, D.C., last sum
mer. Only 20 students from across
the nation were accepted.
“Up to that point I had never
knpwn what issues were affecting
Indian people,” Miller said. “At D.C.
I was finally able to be around other
Indians and know what they wanted
to change. I finally found people like
myself with the same goals and the
same interests.” %
Overall, Miller said, he is happy
move his fami
1 years ago to
We do have a
state responsibility
to do what we
tlw'WESBii.si:,;:, ;
state senator,from Lincoln
. : 1J IV. i!.! 1U .. J-!. • -r
like diabetes, eating healthier and
exercising and could administer
more tests, he said, he thinks the
people would live longer.
“If you want to stop diabetes,
then you have to get the weight
down,” Roohi said. “If you want to
stop heart diseases, you have to
get them to eat right”
Nebraska ranks third in the
nation for death caused by dia
betes.
Eleanor Baxter of the Macy
tribe is an example of how the
education she gained from Roohi
and the clinic helped. She - along
with her father, mother and sib
lings- is a diabetic.
“Today with the education that
I have learned from him and the
support groups I now know, I can
take care of myself and pass on the
word to my people, she said.
r Another concern addressed in
Me hearing was current gdVern
moit funding. 'u?*;• •*'
Although federal agencies
such as the Indian Health Services
do provide funding for basic
health care, they do hot provide
money for preventive care, said
Sherriann Moore, health adminis
trator at the Ponca Health and
Wellness Center in Omaha.
Moore said American Indians
also couldn’t receive help through
Medicaid until the late 1980s
because the state wouldn’t be
reimbursed. Now, she said, the
people can use Medicaid, which in
turn generates a third party rev
enue to be put back into the health
center, which opened Jan. 26.
“We’re starting to look at (the
cento*) as an economic develop
ment for the tribe.”
“I’m not comfortable With the
fact that I don’t know my tradition,”
he said. “But I’m glad she had the
courage to move'away" /
After graduation, Miller hopes to
teach and to serve as a role model for
other Indian students.
“1 want to show them that life
doesn’t end in high school - that
there are other things outside the
reservation,” he said. !
He’s not finished contributing to
UNL, however, and said he can see
himself doing so much more.
“1 want students on campus to
know that a Native American student
can be a leader - that there are those
out there willing and able to be
involved, and that they can make a
difference”
