Position secured
for McLaughlin
By Brad Davis
Senior Reporter
Bill McLaughlin can now offi
cially update his resume.
After several
weeks of discus
sions, student
protests and con
tract negotia
tions, the visiting
chemistry
instructor has
secured a job at
the University of
Nebraska
Lincoln.
McLaughlin, the recipient of this
year’s Outstanding Educator Award,
signed a contract Tuesday afternoon
to teach six beginning-level chem
istry classes each year for the next
three years.
Chemistry Department Chairman
Lawrence Parkhurst said hiring the
visiting instructor from St. Joseph,
Mo., was an example of the depart
ment’s commitment to teaching.
Normally, Parkhurst said, the
department hires people based on
their research ability, which he said
makes this hire unusual.
As a “lecturer,” McLaughlin will
not have the research and service
duties that a tenure-track professor
would have, though McLaughlin said
he may seek small grants for science
education research.
But for right now, McLaughlin
said he is eager to get back to the
classroom.
“I’m relieved that this is a positive
resolution for the chemistry depart
ment and for students.”
Students had a major role in
securing McLaughlin’s position for
the next three years, he said.
More than 1,000 students signed
a petition urging administrators to
ignore normal hiring practices and
find the money to hire McLaughlin.
“(Students) work very hard in
class and care a lot about their educa
«
I'm relieved that
this is a positive
resolution for the
chemistry
department and for
students”
Bill McLaughlin
chemistry instructor
tion,” McLaughlin said. “That same
kind of caring has carried to their
interest in securing a quality educa
tion while they’re here.”
McLaughlin said he knew his sit
uation was not typical, and appreciat
ed the university’s commitment to
quality teaching.
Parkhurst said the student outcry
was a testament to McLaughlin’s
teaching ability.
“It was heartening to all of us that
he was so extraordinarily regarded as
a teacher,” Parkhurst said.
The money to hire McLaughlin,
who will earn $40,000 each year, was
secured from the dean of the College
of Arts and Sciences.
Contracts offered to McLaughlin
earlier this week were not acceptable,
McLaughlin said.
After McLaughlin’s three-year
contract has expired, Parkhurst said,
the position will be evaluated and a
national search possibly will be con
ducted to fill the position.
McLaughlin said if the three-year
position goes well, his application
may be in die pile for a morejierma
nent position. ' : ■ ■
“I think a good thing to learn
here,” McLaughlin said, “is that the
students never really had in mind the
wish to run the university, they just
wanted their voices to be heard.”
Gov. Nelson recognizes
student athlete success
From staff reports
Gov. Ben Nelson Tuesday
officially set aside one day this
year to honor student athletes.
Nelson declared Monday stu
dent athlete day to recognize the
hard work and dedication of the
state’s athletes, he said.
Nelson said it takes hard work
and dedication to balance school
work with a collegiate athletic
career.
“Students who have found that
balance should be looked upon as
role models,” Nelson said.
The governor then presented
certificates of Admiralship in the
“Great Nebraska Navy” to seven
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
student athletes.
Nelson said the students rep
resent some 6f the “best and
brightest” Nebraska has to offer.
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Dunagan ruled an adult
Judge says case factors dictate decision
By Josh Funk
Senior Reporter
’ Lincoln Pius X High School
senior Matthew Dunagan will
stand trial as an adult for the
shooting death of his father, a
district court judge ruled
Monday.
Lancaster County District
Judge Karen Flowers cited fac
tors including the severity of the
crime, Dunagan’s age and the
Juvenile Court’s jurisdiction in
her written decision.
Dunagan is charged with the
first-degree murder of his father
last fall. He was 17 at the time of
the shooting.
Part of the reason for the
decision, Flowers said, was
because Juvenile Court would
lose jurisdiction of the case in
less than a year - on Dunagan’s
19th birthday — if he was trans
ferred there.
“These factors outweigh
those supporting a transfer,”
Flowers said in her decision.
Lancaster County Attorney
Gary Lacey, who sought the
decision, did not return calls to
the Daily Nebraskan Tuesday.
Dunagan’s attorney, John
Stevens Berry, refused to com
ment on the case.
The shooting followed an
argument between Dunagan’s
parents on Sept. 30, 1997, in
which his father threatened to
shoot his mother, according to
court documents.
Police allege that after the
argument, Dunagan went to his
room and loaded a 12-gauge
shotgun, which he then used to
shoot his father three times in the
chest.
When officers arrived at the
Dunagan house on the 4400
block of Browning Place, he told
officers everything that had hap
pened leading up to and includ
ing the shooting.
The case will proceed with
preliminary hearings to consider
motions regarding the admissi
bility of evidence and witnesses.
d
Debate examines
affirmative action
■ Local proponents and
opponents discuss its
importance at universities.
By Lindsay Young
Assignment Reporter
A local staunch advocate of
affirmative action went to battle
Tuesday at the podium with two
critics of programs that support
preferential treatment based on
race in university admissions dur
ing a debate at the NU Law School.
The two sides squared off over
the topic “Affirmative Action
Policies on University Campuses:
Equal Protection?” in the hour
long debate sponsored by the
Nebraska Federalist Society.
The contenders were Matt
LeMieux, executive director of the
American Civil Liberties Union
Nebraska, who was the only propo
nent of affirmative action; Michael.
Greve, opponent and executive
director of the Center for
Individual Rights; and Glenn
Freeman, opponent and local con
stitutionalist.
The debate focused on two
recent affirmative action issues:
the 1997 Hopwood ruling in the
fifth circuit court appeals, which
overturned affirmative action poli
cies in University of Texas law
school admissions; and Proposition
209, a 1997 California constitu
tional amendment that erased affir
mative action policies in that state.
Three panelists discussed the
merits of the arguments for affir
mative action in the Hopwood case
and Proposition 209, such as the
need for diversity and using affir
mative action as a remedy for past
discrimination.
At the University of California
at Berkeley law school, only one
black student was enrolled this
year. In Texas, about 1 percent of
the 468 students admitted were
minorities this year, down from 10
percent Mexican Americans and 5
percent blacks last year.
Some say these numbers show
that minorities no longer fed wel
come at the schools.
Some of the minority students
may be going to other schools
where scholarships that focus on
minorities still are available,
LeMieux said.
Greve said these decreases in
numbers did not justify talks that
Proposition 209 and Hopwood are
causing resegregation in higher
education.
Throughout the rest of the
country, he said, minority admis
a
Let my color be so
insignificant that it
doesn’t matter.”
Matt LeMieux
American Civil Liberties Union
sions in law schools had increased.
Freeman said there was nothing
odd about Proposition 209, which
states that no preferential treatment
can be given to someone because of
race, religion, gender or religion.
“It’s the American way,” he
said.
But studies have proven that
whites receive more job offers and
benefits than minorities, LeMieux
said.
And, he said, people have to
look beyond merely the number of
students accepted. People need to
look at other affirmative action
efforts, such as the NU Law
School’s minority recruitment day.
“It takes so many different
forms. It’s not just quotas. It’s not
just set-asides,” LeMieux said.
And affirmative action is
important because the American
society is not colorblind, he said.
Freeman agreed but said he
wants to be judged on his qualifica
tions, not on his color.
“Let my color be so insignifi
cant that it doesn’t matter. That’s
what we’re talking about here,” he
said.
But LeMieux disagreed with
Freeman about whether diversity
should be a goal for universities.
The courts in the Hopwood case
“didn’t believe diversity was a
compelling student interest,”
LeMieux said. Diversity is impor
tant in the classroom, though, he
said.
Freeman said diversity should
not be something universities strive
for.
' ’“If T6rmfe&ty,
you’re just not going to get it,”
Freeman said. The proportion of
whites to blacks in the United
States is too high to ensure ideal
diversity: There are about 30 mil
lion blacks compared to about 180
million whites, he said.
Patrick Pfaltzgraff, treasurer
and law student, said the Federalist
Society, which sponsored the event,
was looking for a lively exchange
between its participants.
“That’s what the Federalist
Society is all about,” he said. “The
Federalist Society supports an
exchange of ideology.”
$5.2 million
vetoed from
By Joy Ludwig
Staff Reporter j
In an effort to reduce spending
in the Nebraska Legislature, GoV.
Ben Nelson announced Tuesday his
line-item vetoes totaling $5.2 mil
lion from the state’s main budget
•bill:■ ■ - ;;
The governor,- as expected,5 tbbk
his red pen to LB1108, while send
ing LB 1110 back to the floor.
Nelson’s move could be the first
of a series of spending-related j
vetoes unless the Legislature shows
more spending restraints, he said.
“I’ve maintained for years we l
should spend only what we must,”
Nelson said at a news conference
Tuesday afternoon.
“We need to save some for a
rainy day and return some to the 1
taxpayers.” j
Nelson first will cut $5.2 mil
, lion in general fund spending for
the remainder of fiscal year 1997
98 and 1998-99. The Legislature
had passed the bill last week.
The funding for combining the
Nebraska State Patrol Training
Academy and the Law
Enforcement Training Center in
Grand Island received the largest
single veto, with $2 million of its
$12 million being cut.
Because the construction funds
won’t be spent all in one year,
Nelson said he felt the $2 million
cut was justified.
“The Law Enforcement
Training Center is an important j
element in the fight against crime,
and we want to be supportive of
this.”
The other bill, LB1110, would
provide funding of core services
for Educational Service Units and
We?1 toej^rtytax.jcelief tw?t
fund enacted last yearin LBI80.ii
Nelson said he vetoed this bill
because when he had signed LB 180 i
last year it was with the under
standing that the state would set
aside $20 million in the Property
Tax Reduction Incentive Fund.
The money would be used to |
assist selected local governmental
services that were looking at alter
natives for reducing spending.
LB 1110 would undo those mea
sures, he said.
Nelson, however, did sign
LB 1110A, which will provide $9.7
million to Nebraska’s ESUs. The
Please see CUTS on 6 ^