Women’s Week stresses successes
By Lindsay Young
Assignment Reporter
Women can make a change - both alone and
collectively, organizers of Women’s Week say.
This is the idea the Women’s Center wants
to portray during Women’s Week, which begins
at 7 p.m. Thursday. The events planned during
the week will push its theme, “The Power of
One, Women Making Change.”
The week is part of National Women’s
History Month in March and International
Women’s Day on Sunday.
The week will emphasize women’s accom
plishments, such as the fight for the woman’s
right to vote, that aren’t regularly recognized,
said Soledad Quinonez, Women’s Center pro
gram coordinator.
The annual weeklong celebration will open
with two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Chai
Ling, who will share her message of pro
democracy at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Nebraska
Union Centennial Room.
Ling was the commander in chief of the
1989 Tiananmen Square student protest in
China. After the massacre, she spent 10 months
running from Chinese authorities. She is the
president of the nonprofit organization China
Dialogue in Boston.
Ling’s experiences work directly into the
week’s theme because she showed how one
woman can make a change, organizers said.
“We were looking for someone who could
start (the conference) off in a dynamic way,”
said Lenedda Esquivel, Women’s Center volun
teer coordinator.
The regional Women’s Studies No Limits
Conference will be held Friday and Saturday.
The conference, sponsored by the Women’s
Studies Association, will be from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. each day. The conference is free and par
ticipants can register at the Nebraska East
Union, or call (402) 472-9392.
The theme of the conference is
“International Women: Continuing Our
Traditions of Resistance,” and will feature aca
demic papers, creative writings, visual arts,
film and music related to women’s issues, lives
and culture.
“I think we want them to walk away with an
understanding of the international community
and how that affects women,” said Stephanie
Witham, a coordinator for the conference.
Mahnaz Afkhami, president and founder of
Sisterhood is Global Institute, will speak at 10
a.m. Saturday in the Nebraska East Union.'She
will talk about Muslim women’s human rights
issues.
The Women’s Leadership Conference,
March 14 from 8:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Wick
Alumni Center, will conclude Women’s Week.
The theme is “Building Her Story, Leaving
Your Mark.” Registration is $3 for UNL stu
dents, staff and faculty and $5 for nonstudents.
Tickets are $2 more at the door. To register,
pick up a form at City or East campus Student
Involvement or the Women’s Center.
Brenda Council, the first black woman
president of the Omaha Board of Education and
former Omaha mayoral candidate, will be the
keynote speaker.
“She’s done just hundreds and hundreds of
things - real phenomenal,” Molly Klinedinst,
conference assistant, said.
Participants can attend two of the six work
shops such as “Sharing Sisterhood” and
“Finding Strength in Adversity.”
Pippa White, an actress from Nebraska, will
perform a one-woman, one-act play called
“Mothers, Daughters, Wives and Women,”
which will explore women’s roles.
More information can be found at the con
ference’s Web site at http://www.unl.edu/sin
volve/wlc. '
Other events:
■ Therapeutic yoga will be taught as a
c:: z
fund-raiser for a local breast cancer support
group. Registration is required. Classes will be
held Friday from noon to 1 p.m. at the Campus
Recreation Center, 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. in the
East Campus Recreation Center, and Saturday
from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to 12:30,
p.m. and 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Heritage Yoga
Center, 600 S. Cotner Blvd. Call (402) 472
3467 to register for classes at UNt. Call (402)
488-8676 for Heritage Yoga Center classes. The
cost is $10.
■ March 10, the Women’s Center will hold
its annual open house from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in
Room 340 of the Nebraska Union.
■ UNL Economics Professor Ann Mari
May will speak on “Women and Work” March
11 from 2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. in the Nebraska
Union Colonial Room A.
■ An International Women’s Forum will be
held from noon to 1:30 p.m. March 12. A panel
of international students will discuss their lives
and answer questions in the Nebraska Union.
■Alias Jane, an all-women band, will play
at the Culture Center March 13 at 8 p.m.
■
.
Committee kills LB1112
By Todd Anderson
Assignment Reporter
Columbus Sen. Jennie Robak’s
third attempt to extend health insur
ance coverage to Nebraskans who
suffer from biological brain diseases
might fall just short of reaching
debate in the Legislature.
LB1112 would require insurance
companies to treat mental illness the
same as physical illness while plan
; ningcoverage fdr their dttstomers.
But the bill was killed during an
emergency meeting of the Banking,
Commerce and Insurance committee,
called by Sen. Dave Landis of
Lincoln, and in effect the third pro
posed bill this decade that would
equalize mental and physical disease
was stopped.
“I really felt that some sort of par
ity would come through this year,”
Robak said
Senators were busy gathering
their things before adjourning Friday
as several senators spoke in favor of
Robak’s motion to bring the bill to the
floor of the Legislature.
Sen. Don Wesely of Lincoln said
Nebraska ranks near the bottom of
states in providing community-based
mental health service.
ror a long time we ve neglected
the mentally ill,” he said. “They still
struggle.”
Even Sen. Ardyce Bohlke of
Hastings, who vowed never to sup
port advancing a bill to the floor with
out the support of the committee, said
LB 1112 deserved consideration from
the state senators.
But Landis said he would not sup
port the bill because it “dictates a
contract between the provider and
client” • ,
LB1112 would not be a cost
effective way of aiding the mentally
ill, Landis said.
Robak asked the body to post
pone voting on the motion, which
requires at least 30 votes, because
only 32 senators were present at noon
on Friday.
But her motion has until
Wednesday to make it back onto the
agenda because of a rule limiting the
time to move a bill killed by commit
tee onto the floor.
On Friday, the Legislature approved
three bills during final reading:
■ LB777 allows judges to require
parenting-education courses for cou
ples filing for divorce.
66
For a long time
we ve neglected the
mentally ill
They still struggle
Don Wesely
Lincoln senator
■ LB822 changes the age of
retirement from 60 to 55 for some
teachers and school administrators
and changes annuity rates for school
employees.
■ LB320 would require new dri
vers to obtain a provisional driver’s
license in place of a normal permit.
The Legislature must vote again on
the bill because it was amended dur
ing final reading. The amendment
changes the fee for the permit,
depending on the time it is issued.
n*k E.N. Thompson *
I—I luIX Forum on World Issues
A cooperative project of The Cooper Foundation and the University of Nebraska-Uincoln
The Mind of the Chinese
Consumer: Polling the World’s
Most Populous Nation
In 1994 and in 1997, Gallup conducted the first-ever publicly
released nationwide surveys of China, providing a wealth of
findings regarding marketing and advertising data, lifestyle
trends and census-type information. Burkholder provides an
unprecedented glimpse of the needs and attitudes of one of the
world’s most fascinating and rapidly changing societies.
University of International Affairs
Nebraska Division of Continuing Studies
i Department of Academic Conferences
Lincoln and Professional Programs
Richard Burkholder Jr.
Vice President and
Director ot International
Operations. Survey
Research, The Gallup
Organization
Free
admission
Wednesday,
March 4
3:30 p.m.
Lied Center far *
Performing Aits
12th and R Sheets
Lincoln. Neb.
UNL is • nondiKfimraloiy mUtution.
Senators, students
connect at luncheon
LUNCH from page 1
before catastrophe hits.”
Engel also brought up the issue
of students leaving Nebraska after
they graduate.
“I think that more opportuni
ties are developing in Nebraska,”
Engel said. “We have to create
opportunities, though. I think that
most people who live here would
like to stay here.”
Patent said issues discussed at
the luncheon were important.
“As a student, the Legislature
has such a huge impact on the edu
cation we have that if we don’t
communicate with them, we can’t
expect them to understand our
needs.
Engel said the best part of the
luncheon was seeing students’
interest in the impact the
Legislature has.
“I think the enthusiasm and*
getting the students’ perspective of
what is going on is the best part,”
he said. “Listening to young peo
ple talk makes me more excited
about the future.
“When I see them, I see the
future.”
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