Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1998)
\RY 25,1998 Mardi Gras crowds flood New Orleans NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Despite threats of a police crack down, bared bosoms and barely there costumes flourished Tuesday in the French Quarter on Mardi Gras, New Orleans’ last fling before Lent. The currency of the day was strings of cheap plastic beads, which men dispensed by the hand ful in exchange for flashes of breasts. With the weather a sunny 70 degrees, police said the crowds could top 1 million, which would be a Fat Tuesday record. Police said spectators were 15 rows deep in spots, and 60,000 to 70,000 people gathered along eight blocks of Bourbon Street alone. Parades ran several hours late because a float on Zulu - the tradi tional black spoof that rolls first - broke down. That delayed the parade of Rex, king of Carnival, and the many parades that followed. Civic leaders had complained that New Orleans’ Mardi Gras was getting a reputation elsewhere around the country as an orgy in the streets. And police spokesman Lt. Marlon DefiUo said the department would take a harder line against lewd behavior this year. But there was little sign of any crackdown in the French Quarter. “I stop it if I see it, but so far I haven’t really seen any,” said a policeman standing beneath a bal cony where women drew cheers for raising their shirts. “This group isn’t complaining.” Crowds of men with cameras surrounded Dorothy McGee, a 26 year-old secretary from Boston, as she repeatedly raised her cutoff T shirt while her husband, Doug, looked oa “This is really fun,” she said, heavily laden with beads. “I would n’t do it at home, but what the heck.” Her husband added: “It’s OK with me, as long as she shares the beads.” Religious groups walked amid the revelers with signs warning of damnation. They handed out fliers calling for repentance and harangued the crowd over loud speakers. “We believe these people will go from Mardi Gras to hell,” said Fred Sutton of Mobile, Ala. “Is a string of beads worth eternal damnation?” 1-—---I UNL speed limits to drop for safety of pedestrians TRAFFIC from page 1 ■ $75 for 11-15 mph over. ■ $125 for 16-20 mph over the limit. Offenders must then add a $23 court cost. In a letter sent to several city leaders Feb. 13, public works recommended that LPD and the University of Nebraska-Lineoln enforce the changes. Another change - this one done by the university - may keep pedestrians getting on and off shuttle buses on Vine Street safer.Tad McDowell, UNL Parking and Transit Services manager, said the university was urged to move a shuttle stop in front of Henzlik Hall east or west 75 feet so it was closer to lit crosswalks and away from such a con gested area. McDowell said the stop was moved f about 75 feet to the east Tuesday, but he wanted city officials to make sure the move was adequate. Wiechmann said ASUN’s Government Liaison Committee talked to public works last semester about the dangers to pedestrians near 14th and Vine streets. Wiechmann met last semester with ASUN President Curt Ruwe, Haden and Mayor Mike Johanns to talk about GLC proposals and testimonies from accident victims. Addressing safety concerns in the 14th and Vine streets area was one of ASUN’s main goals last semester. Public works investigated GLC’s suggested traffic changes and acted according to results from traffic investi gations earlier this year. - | Editor: Paula Lavigne Managing Editor: Chad Lorenz Associate News Editor: Erin Schulte Associate News Editor: Ted Taylor Assignment Editor: Erin Gibson Opinion Editor: Joshua Gillin Sports Editor: David Wilson A&E Editor: Jeff Randall Copy Desk Chiefs: Bryce Glenn Photo Director: Ryan Soderlin Design Co-Chiefs: Jamie Ziegler Tony Toth Art Director Matt Haney Online Editor: Gregg Steams Questions? Comments? Ask for the appropriate section editor at (402) 472-2588 or e-mail dn6uniinfo.unJ.edu. Asst Online Editor: Amy Pemberton General Manager: Dan ShattU Publications Board Melissa Myles, Chairwoman: (402) 476-2446 Professional Adviser: Don Walton, (402)473-7301 Advertising Manager: Nick Partsch, (402)472-2589 Assistant Ad Manager: Daniel I jib OassUeld Ad Manager: Marni Speck Fax number (402) 472-1761 World Wide Web: www.unl.ecki/DailyNeb The My Nebraskan (USPS 1444)00) is by the UNL Publcations Board, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R Si, Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, vough Friday duming the academic year, weekly during the summer sessions.! has access to the Pubficafions Board. ~ Readers are encouraged to submit stoi. id comments to the Driy Nebraskan by caing (402)472-2588. Subscriptions are $55 for one year. Postmaster Send address changes to the Daly Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St, Lincoln NE 68588-0448. Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE. - ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1998 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Rescuers halt survivor search KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) - Rescuers with dogs searched die piney woods near a tornado-devastated campground Tuesday for the bodies of people blown away when a swarm of tornadoes strafed central Florida. At least 38 people were killed and hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed Monday. Seven people were still missing Tuesday, four from the Ponderosa Park Campground. As hope of finding more survivors faded, searchers began yelling to the two dogs, “Go find Fred!” - the signal for the black Labrador and Weimaraner to find bodies hidden in the underbrush surrounding the camp ground. “Search!” - the command to find survivors - could no longer be heard. “There’s nothing in there,” said Lt. Mark Bogush of the Tampa Fire Rescue Canine Unit. “They don’t want to shut that door of hope, but this is basically a cleanup.” Rescuers picked through the mass of twisted metal, shattered glass and splintered lumber the day after six to 10 El Nino-driven twisters tore through central Florida from the Gulf of Mexico. Monday’s tornadoes, packing 260 mph winds, were the state’s deadliest on record, killing more than Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The weather service issued warn ings 20 to 30 minutes before the torna does hit, but it did little good. “When people are sleeping there’s no way of getting the message out,” said Terry Faber, University of Miami meteorology researcher. In Sanford, 40 miles north of Orlando, the putrid stench of a rotting pig carcass alongside a driveway hung heavily in the air over a 10-acre farm. Chickens, pigs, a horse, and a cow with a broken leg wandered about in a daze. Freddie Padgett of the town of Geneva near Daytona Beach, recount ed wearing a life jacket to bed - his habit whenever storms approach. His recreational vehicle was demolished, and he was hurled into Lake Harney by the winds, staying afloat by cling ing for hours to a small boat. The number of people left home less and damage estimates were being tallied Tuesday. State Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson said, how ever, that property damage was not on a scale with Hurricane Andrew, which destroyed or damaged 35,000 homes and caused $25 billion in losses. Shelters were set up to house thou sands, but many found solace with rel atives, neighbors or in hotels. Donations began pouring in as relief organizations estimated that more than $300,000 will be needed to shelter, feed and clothe displaced fam ilies. President Clinton declared the region a disaster area, clearing the way for federal aid, and the Red Cross pro vided meals. Clinton also promised to survey the destruction Wednesday. Cinde Von Herbulis was among the volunteers helping to distribute supplies. “We are giving them what they will need today and tomorrow,” she said. “They were afraid if they took too much there wouldn’t be anything for somebody else.” Weapons specialists take control WASHINGTON (AP) - Weapons experts - not diplomats - will take charge of deciding where and when to hunt for hidden Iraqi biological and chemical arms, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told uneasy sena tors Tuesday. She promised to work with the U.N. inspections commission to clear up “ambiguities” in the deal that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan struck with President Saddam Hussein and “to close any possible loopholes.” Projecting caution about the accord, the administration said it would insist on a “quick test” of Saddam’s promise to expose all sites, some of which have never been opened, to U.N. inspectors. “We have to be watching very close ly,” President Clinton said. Bill Richardson, the U.S. ambas sador to the United Nations, returned from New York Tuesday and joined Clinton’s other national security advis ers at the White House to go over the Iraq agreement At the Pentagon, officials announced that Clinton had signed an order authorizing the call up of 500 members of the National Guard and Reserve in support of the Gulf deploy ments. Defense Secretary William Cohen announced Sunday that he requested the move, which makes specialists such as Navy harbor surveillance troops, Coast Guard port security forces, Army chem ical detection forces and Air Force Special Operations C-130 air crews available for up to 270 days. Diplomats were added to the U.N. inspection teams for prospective searches of eight of Saddam’s six dozen or more palaces, a gesture to the Iraqi president, who had accused Americans on the commission of espionage. Also, the U.N. special commission is obliged under the agreement “to respect the legitimate concerns of Iraq relating to national security, sovereignty and dignity.”Still, Clinton and his top advisers gave a generally favorable view of the agreement, which defused a crisis with Iraq that could have boiled over into U.S. bombings. Albright conceded that the function of the diplomats was fuzzy, but she gave assurances “the inspectors will decide where to go,” and she even implied the United States could pull out of the deal if the diplomats’ role was unsatisfactory. “Diplomats may be acceptable if UNSCOM (the U.N. special commis sion) is in control,” she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We will clarify, but we will also test.” Faculty: UNL must raise standards RIGOR from page 1 rigor setting high standards and then working hard to ensure as many stu dents as possible meet that standard. UNL Academic Senate President James Ford said many universities nationally were examining the stan dards they set. “They’re asking, ‘Are our students being challenged at an appropriate level?”’ Ford said, “And the answer is often no, across the nation.” If professors ask more from their students, Ford said, their students will “come up to the mark” and do what is asked of diem. New admissions standards now require incoming freshman to have more of certain high school classes than in the past, and therefore UNL is attract ing more academically prepared stu dents, Edwards said. These students, he said, will expect to be challenged at die university - and the university must deliver. “It places an obligation on the facul ty, on die administrators, on die univer sity, to ensure that we have programs that fulfill the expectations and aspira tions of those students who are coming on campus.” Edwards emphasized that some programs were challenging already. But as the admissions requirements create an academically stronger generation of UNL students, courses should change accordingly. The goal of a faculty committee is to identify students who are not in the UNL Honors Program, but who are “academically committed,” Edwards said. The committee, headed by Brian Foster, dean of the arts and sciences col lege, was organized last semester to brainstorm ideas to make classes more challenging for students who want such a challenge. Foster said the committee, formed of faculty members across campus, has completed its mission to “sketch out” programming that might be necessary to make curriculum rigorous. He said follow-up committees would meet to further discuss creating rigorous programs to identify and serve highly committed students. Ultimately, both Foster and Edwards said they wanted every UNL student to be committed to academics. “The mark of a great university is the amount of intellectual excitement you have on campus,” Foster said. “How people are engaged in intellectually exciting ideas - really worrying about diem and talking about them. “To the extent that we’re able to achieve that kind of environment, we’ve achieved the goals of die committee.” If goals of increased academic rigor are achieved, though, some question whether UNL will become a campus of the “academically elite.” But Edwards said UNL will always admit a large freshman class, comprised greatly of people who aren’t at the “tippy-top” of their high school classes. “The question,” Edwards said, “is rather what will we expect of average students when they come here?” Ford said changes in UNUs academ ic climate won’t happen overnight, and a continued discussion among adminis trators, faculty members, students and people outside UNL would be the only way to truly achieve a rigorous environ ment. The Academic Senate plans to sponsor all-campus debates next semes ter on die subject of increased academic rigor, he said. “We want to increase the level of academic excitement at UNL,” Ford said. “Many universities have healthy debates all the time, but thatfc not very common at UNL.” Moeser noted the environment he would like to see at UNL was illustrated by WillaCather, anNU alumna. “Willa Cather described this institu tion in the first decade of the 20th centu ry as having an atmosphere of ‘endeav or, expectation and bright hopeful ness,”’ Moeser said. “That is what we are seeking to achieve.”
