Griesen: Crime act flawed
CRIME from page 1
One of the problems with
reporting everything is the num
ber of unsubstantiated reports
that would be included with legit
imate crimes.
Despite these complications,
University Police Chief Ken
Cauble believes it is important to
be open about crime on campus.
If people know crime is a prob
lem, they will report it, he said.
“Community response is what
helps keep crime down,” Cauble
said.
But UNL already does many
of the things the bill would
require.
In the bill are provisions
requiring universities to keep
_a. __*_ _ __j
awuiaiv tii in diausutd aiiu
make them available to the pub
lic.
UNL voluntarily publishes its
crime statistics twice a year in a
publication every student uses -
the schedule of classes, Griesen
said.
In addition the UNL Police
Department releases the statistics
to the Daily Nebraskan annually.
As part of keeping accurate
crime statistics, the bill also
would require a daily crime log.
University Police not only main
tain this log, they fax a copy of it
to the Daily Nebraskan every day.
But the openness at UNL is
the exception, not the rule.
66
I have some serious concerns about
this bill. It is well-intended, but not
well-proposed.”
James Griesen
vice chancellor for Student Affairs
“We are very unusual. We
work with the administration
honestly,” Cauble said.
Other universities that do not
report crime accurately, Cauble
said, make for unfair comparisons
between universities.
One of the more controversial
parts of the bill is a requirement
that all campus disciplinary hear
ings be open to the public.
But open hearings could crip
ple the hearing process, Griesen
said.
Lawmakers argue that disci
plinary hearings take the place of
the courts, but they do not under
stand the purpose of the hearings,
he said.
Disciplinary hearings operate
on a different set of rules and bur
den of proof, Griesen said. They
also address different issues.
“Public hearings would be
very dangerous for all involved,”
Griesen said.
Because disciplinary hearings
cannot compel people to testify, it
would be nearly impossible to
conduct business in an open hear
ing, he said.
In a hearing guilt does not
have to be proven beyond a rea
sonable doubt. The decision is
made based upon a preponder
ance of evidence.
“People would not understand
the difference between courts and
hearings,” Griesen said.
Open hearings would expose
victims to scrutiny, he said.
Disciplinary hearings protect
the interests of the educational
institution and maintain the envi
ronment, Griesen said.
Although the reason for the
bill may be sound, its require
ments will not decrease crime, he
said.
“This is a simplistic solution
to a complex problem, and it’s
just not that simple.”
UNL steps up safety walks
By Ieva Augstums
Assignment Reporter
Drowsy pedestrians and tired
feet are two things the UNL
Parking Advisory Committee is
hoping to avoid during
Saturday’s Spring Safety walk.
Positive and negative feed
back from past participants per
suaded organizers to change the
structure of this year’s walk.
“Last year some people said
we spent too much time on City
Campus,” advisory committee
President Linda Swoboda said.
“By the time we reached East
Campus, everyone was tired.”
Swoboda said in order to
accommodate safety concerns
on City and East campuses, two
walks will be held this year -
one on each campus.
Swoboda said this is the first
year the committee, with the
help of the Chancellor’s Safety
Committee and the UNL Police
Department, is doing two sepa
rate walks at the same time.
“Most students and faculty
work and go to class on one
campus and not the other,”
Swoboda said. “It seemed
appropriate just to have two sep
arate walks.”
Those participating should
park in the parking structure,
625 Stadium Drive, and board
buses on the south side of the
structure at 4 a.m. Buses will go
either to City or East campus,
she said.
The walk will last approxi
mately two hours.
Tad McDowell, manager of
Parking and Transit Services,
said parking services believes
the Spring Safety Walk is a pro
ductive way to voice safety con
cerns.
“It helps us identify areas
that may need improvement,” he
said.
McDowell said the Spring
Safety Walk started several
years ago to look at lighting
concerns around campus.
“Today I would have to say
the lighting issue is almost prob
lem-free,” McDowell said. “But
mere are sun some areas or con
cern.”
Swoboda said the Parking
Advisory Committee created a
Web form that the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln community
can fill out to address safety
concerns on both City and East
campuses.
By using the Web site -
h ttp ://www. uni. edu/park/i mg_n
ofr/park/img_sfty.html - any
safety concerns could be direct
ly submitted to the parking ser
vices office, Swoboda said.
“It is important for us to know
where the concerns are,”
McDowell said. “There’s no one
better to tell us problem areas than
the people that utilize the areas.”
Swoboda said the Parking
Advisory Committee did not
feel it was necessary to have a
«
I would have to
say the lighting
issue is almost
problem-free.”
Tad McDowell
parking services manager
Fall Safety Walk this year, as it
has in past years.
“We invited the Chancellor’s
Safety Committee, the UNL
Police Department, and the
Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska to orga
nize a fall walk if they had any
cnncpms tn aHHrpss ” fJu/fihnHa
said. “However, they decided
that a fall walk wasn’t needed.”
Unless new concerns arise
after the 1998 Spring Safety
Walk, PAC is planning to keep
only the annual spring walk, she
said.
Anyone wanting to attend
this year’s Spring Safety Walk
should contact Linda Cowdin,
PAC recording secretary, by
Thursday, (402) 472-4455.
Although reservations are
not required, PAC would like an
approximate number of those
planning to attend so it can pre
pare enough transportation.
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Pella Corp. extends
externship to UNL
By Marissa Carstens
Staff Reporter
While many students were spend
ing spring break in the sunny South,
UNL graduate student Scott Tafoya
worked 14-hour days at a window man
ufacturer in Iowa.
And he liked it
So much, in fact, he said, “It’s too
bad I can’t do it again.”
Tafoya and five other business grad
uate students from the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln spent the week at the
Pella Corp. Shennendoah, Iowa, plant.
There the students analyzed pro
duction lines and brainstormed ideas for
improving production quality at the
plant.
Pella organized the week, which is
called an “externship” rather than an
internship, for university students in
1993. As a result, the new ideas have
allowed the company to prevent period
ic shutdowns in production.
This year was the first time Pella
invited UNL students to participate.
University of Iowa students participated
earlier in March.
The UNL spring break project
began March 23 when students were
shown the current working conditions
at Pella.
Brainstorming on the project con
tinued throughout the week, and manv
students’ ideas were put into play, said
Marie Michaelis, a UNL graduate stu
dent
For instance, Tafoya suggested the
company purchase a $16,000 machine
to automate one step in the window
assembly line. Now, the company is
seriously considering his suggestion.
Before returning to Lincoln Friday,
the students evaluated their ideas and
presented their results to Pella.
Carrie Arehart, another UNL grad
uate student, didn’t work at Pella during
spring break, but she will start today in
the company’s personnel and human
resources department.
There she will help determine
where to put walls in order to create the
best workplace environment.
“It is a fascinating concept,” Arehart
saia. i can leam a 101 mrougn it.
Each student project reflects the
Kaizen management style- a Japanese
form that involves using new ideas to
make quick, dynamic changes in a
workplace.
The Pella project will continue
through April, said Michaelis, who will
participate in the externship later this
month. A total of eight UNL students
will participate this spring.
For some, including Tafoya, the
educational value was unprecedented.
“I learned more in one week than I
have in two vears.”
Semi-trailer, dump truck
collide on interstate, 1 dead
From Staff Reports
Police are unsure what caused a
fiery truck wreck that killed one and
injured two along Interstate 80 Friday
morning.
An eastbound dump truck haul
ing a load of rocks and pulling a trail
er veered into the median at about
10:30 a.m., breaking barriers before
entering the westbound lanes where it
was broadsided by a semi-trailer
truck, Nebraska State Patrolman
Dave Nelson said.
Both trucks caught fire instanta
neously, igniting the cargo of old tires
and batteries in the Werner
Enterprises semi-trailer.
Richard Grubb, 37, of
Englewood, Ohio, was in the sleeper
cab of the semi-trailer truck and was
killed on impact. The driver, Thomas
Noey, 33, of Malakoff, Texas, sus
tained a broken arm as well as bruis
es to his heart.
The semi-trailer truck was only
two-and-a-half miles from its desti
nation, the Werner Office at Highway
50 and 1-80. It was driven from Ohio
the day the wreck occurred.
The driver of the rock truck, Jon
Hadraba, 45, of Plattesmouth, sus
tained bums on his head and hands,
but was released from the hospital
Saturday.
Firefighters had a tough time
extinguishing the burning tires as
thick, black smoke continued to pour
from the trailer well into the after
noon.
Originally police believed the
rock truck had blown a tire, causing it
to swerve into the median, but Nelson
said there is no evidence of that.
It appears the truck’s wheel
veered off the road and bogged down
into the mud, pulling the truck farther
into the median, Nelson said. Rain
and reduced visibility also may have
contributed to the wreck.
The wreck blocked traffic on the
interstate near the Millard airport exit
through most of Friday.
Both vehicles were considered a
total loss. The semi-trailer truck was
brand new and had yet to get license
plates.
Mysteries of quasers discussed
at internationonal conference
By Chad Ellsworth
Staff Reporter
Astronomers at an international
conference in Lincoln during spring
break tried to cut through the mystery
surrounding quasars - giant black
holes in die center of galaxies.
But a lot of mystery remains, par
ticipants said.
A consensus exists among
astronomers that quasars are black
holes, but no one knows how they
work, said Martin Gaskell, associate
professor of astronomy at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Gaskell and about 60 of his col
leagues from around the world met at
the Ramada Hotel and Conference
Center Monday through Thursday to
discuss many different theories con
cerning how quasars work.
“There were just the right number
of people,” Gaskell said. “If we would
have had more than a hundred people,
we would have had a difficult time
sorting through all of the different the
odes.
“If we would have had less, there
probably wouldn’t have been enough
information on which to draw some
conclusions.”
Although there were a lot of theo
ries put forth, Stephanie Snedden, a
graduate student in physics and astron
omy, said astronomers must wait and
obtain more data before forming any
definite ideas.
But some progress was made in
solving the quasar question, Gaskell
said. . - .
“Some models have been ruled
out, but there is not a unanimous con
sensus on the main problems,” he said.
Snedden agreed: “We have a sim
plified picture of what goes on, but it is
still an incomplete one.”
The last two quasar conferences
were held in Oxfordshire, England, in
1994 and in Shanghai, China, in 1996.
Nebraska was chosen because of
its centralized location and its inexpen
sive accommodations, Gaskell said.
“We feel the conference was very
successful.”
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