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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 1998)
ENHANCE files protest By Sarah Baker Senior Reporter The losing party in Wednesday’s RHA election Thursday attempted to declare the election null and void, releasing a list of complaints. Members of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Residence Hall Association ENHANCE party sent out a list of complaints about the conduct of the opposing ACTION party and asked for a new election. ENHANCE’s list of complaints c edthat: ACTION’S presidential nomi nee, Ben Wallace, exchanged friendly gestures, such as back rubs, with RJHA Election Commissioner Keri Stenger. ■ ENHANCE’s election com missioners were uninformed about election procedures. ■ RHA Adviser Chuck Rensick was indifferent when complaints were filed before the election. ■ The ENHANCE party mem bers were harassed by election com missioners while they were legally campaigning. ■ ACTION supporters tam pered with ballots. Wallace said none of the allega tions were true. ' “I think some of their concerns have merit,” he said, “but I think the concerns about Stenger are attack ing the integrity of both of us. “Hopefully, people who know me know I would never attempt to co tan election like this.” illace said he had made an attempt to lighten his friendship with Stenger over the past few weeks, and he felt that had been made apparent. “I think (ENHANCE) is some a Some people think some of the concerns are petty, but when you are running an election, they aren’tpetty” Larry Willis ENHANCE presidential candidate one trying to make an issue out of nothing,” Wallace said. He said the ACTION party was not preparing a response. Kristen Morrow, RHA treasur er-elect from ENHANCE, said her party members met with Rensick to discuss their complaints Thursday night. Morrow said the party filed for proceedings with the election com mission, which consists of the elec tion commissioners from the indi vidual residence halls. “The commission will hold a hearing to see if there needs to be any disciplinary action,” Morrow said. “We have witnesses that say the poll workers gave advice to vot ers, and this clearly slants the elec tion.” Rensick refused to comment on the process, but said that to the best of Ms knowledge, an RHA election had never been declared null in the past. ENHANCE presidential candi date Larry Willis said his statement came in response to concerns the ENHANCE party had before the election. “We wanted to express these concerns as a total package because we wanted a fair election,” Willis said. “We were met with indiffer ence. “Some people think some of the concerns are petty, but when you are running an election, they aren’t petty.” Stenger said her responsibilities encompass many things, including making sure the elections are “run in a fair way.” She would not com ment further. Willis said ENHANCE’s main goal in the process was to keep the election fair and honest and said he was not surprised by Wallace’s com ments. His statement would appear natural to me if I had made the same mistakes he did,” he said. “(The election) was pretty stacked.” Willis said the outcome of the complaints will depend on the deci sion of Rensick. “If we have to re-run this elec tion, we will,” he said. Wallace said the only thing the ACTION party is concerned with now is the rules and the future of the students in the residence halls. “I think (ENHANCE candi dates) want to make sure the rules are being followed,” Wallace said, “and I respect that “However, I think we need to decide if these complaints are important enough to get in the way of what is really important - the res idence hall students.” mr eils newWasting By Josh Funk Senior Reporter Paul Peterson, a member of Associated Retarded Citizens, could n’t afford his own place until Fannie Mae came to town last year. Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest mortgage company, made it possible fofcthe Afcof Lincoln/Lancaster County to build duplexes for its mem bers tolivein. “The independence factor will be the best thing about having my own place,” Peterson said. At a news conference unveiling the duplexes Thursday morning, offi cials from Fannie Mae and the other organizations involved in the project spoke about what it took to make the project a reality. With $392 billion and $710 bil lion in mortgage-backed securities, Fannie Mae is the United States’ largest corporation. A public company, Fannie Mae was chartered by Congress and President Franklin Roosevelt in response to housing-finance prob lems created by the Great Depression. Today more than 12 million peo ple nationwide live in homes Fannie Mae helped finance. In the year since Fannie Mae opened its partnership office in Lincoln, it has helped make more than 8,800 Nebraskans homeowners. It has invested more than $611 mil lion in housing as part of its HouseNebraska plan. “We want to reach out to the under-served and people with special housing needs,” said Robert Levin, Fannie Mae’s executive vice president of marketing. “Our job is making sure affordable housing is available to low and moderate-income families.” Across Nebraska, Fannie Mae is doing just that, with projects in cities including Lincoln, Omaha, York and Hastings. “We’ve exceeded our first-year goals,” Levin said. A little more than a year ago Fannie Mae announced its partner ship with Nebraska and committed to providing 25,000 Nebraska families with affordable housing. Republican Rep. Doug Bereuter was instrumental in bringing Fannie Mae to Nebraska, said Steve Peregrine, director of Lincoln’s Fannie Mae partnership office. When Fannie Mae announced it was opening 25 partnership offices across the country, Bereuter helped convince the company to open an office in Lincoln. “I knew that Fannie Mae could make a contribution to Nebraska housing,” Bereuter said. “I thank them for their work.” As competition for Housing and Urban Development programs Increases, it is important to find new housing partnerships, Bereuter said. The duplex project involved a number of partners: Nebraska Investment Finance Authority, Lincoln City Council, Equity Fund of Nebraska and the Department of Urban Development. “Fannie Mae is the key to these projects across the state,” Jay Dunlap of the Equity Fund said. The news conference concluded with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a tour of one of the completed units for future residents. Residents will be able to move into the new duplexes, near 35* and X streets, in June for $150 a month. Partnership is what made the pro ject work, said Tom Kinney, executive director of the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority. “After we identified the problems, we can come together to solve them.” Editor: Paula Lavigne Managing Editor: Chad Lorenz Associate News Editor: Erin Schulte Associate News Editor: Ted Taylor Assignment Editor: Erin Gibson Opinion Editor. Kasey Kerber snorts Editor: David Wilson Questions? Comments? Ask for the appropriate section editor at AftE Editor: Jeff Randall (402) 472-2588 or e-mail dn@unllnfo.uni.edu. Copy Desk Chief: Bryce Glenn =■-■ ■ Photo Director: Ryan Soderiin Fax number (402) 472-1761 ***** C*0** '““£*** The Daily Nebraskan (USPS Board, Nebraska Union 34, OriteEdito£ gSKhs Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by caHina General Manager: Dan Shatdl (402)472-2588. Publications Board Melissa Myles, Subscriptions are $55 for one year. Chairwoman: (402)476-2446 Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 RSI. Lincoln NE Professional Adviser: Don Walton, 68588-0448. Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE. . (402)473-7301 ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1998 Advertising Manager: Nick Paitsch, THE DAILY NEBRASKAN t" .. .. (402)472-2589 Creative Director: Dustin Black Classified Ad Manager: Mami Speck . ' i ” ”, ' UNL’s Web page given a ‘face lift’ ■ The site was redesigned to be more user-friendly and to give the university a fresh image on the Web. By Jessica Fargen Assignment Reporter The university’s three A’s - alumni, admissions and athletics - may now be noticed by more peo ple visiting UNL’s redesigned World Wide Web site. The University of Nebraska Lincoln’s Web page was changed to keep it fresh, to make it more user-friendly and to display the university’s new nameplate, administrators said. Sally Buchholz, manager of publications and photography at UNL, said the Web site, which has been redesigned three times in the past three or four years, was changed because people said it was hard to find information, particu larly pertaining to those three A’s. And, Buchholz said, users had complained that they didn’t know what button to click on to get what they needed. So, athletics, admissions and alumni were moved to the home page, and the search button and the ‘What’s New?’ button were moved to a column on the left side of the home page. Two areas from the previous site that were the most -confusing or least helpful were the welcome page and the online resources page, Buchholz said. It was redis tributed to other areas because it was a “hodgepodge of information that did not make-sense.” The welcome page is now clearer and not “such a bottleneck for links to other pages,” she said. The small, rectangular box, containing several buttons leading information-seekers to various pages, was changed to a list with descriptions. Now a viewer can scroll down to see what major ser vices the university is offering. As people surf UNL’s Web page, they also may notice the new pictures and descriptions of online university services. “Having a Web site change periodically is something that we should be doing,” Buchholz said. Carrie rierce, a junior adver tising major, said she used the new site Wednesday to get information for an advertising project. From the home page, she clicked on the alumni page section, which was not available two weeks ago. The alumni page is now easier to find, and students can readily find out what the Alumni Association offers. Pierce said she thinks the page is classier, and the university’s image “gives off the feeling of intelligence.” Buchholz said she could not put a figure on the cost of creating a more user-friendly Web site. The only expenses were the staff time that was spent on the pro ject. She said it took her a couple months to enter codes and scan pic tures, but it took a lot longer to decide how to lay out the page, choose pictures and evaluate the information. Staff from Love Library evalu ated the old site and gave sugges tions. Also, Web site information providers gave suggestions after looking at a test version. Julie Swan, a cataloger at Love Library, said for about six weeks last fall several staff members test surfed UNL’s Web page and other university s’ Web pages to figure out what worked and what did not. Donna Liss, director of Information Systems, said it was Nameplate toheadup new image By Jessica Fargen Assignment Reporter The university’s new Web page isn’t the only change the University of Nebraska Lincoln has made to its image recently. An official university nameplate will be appearing on some university publica tions this spring and soon on all publications, said Phyllis Larsen, UNL’s director of pub lic relations. “We’re working hard to get a more consistent image throughout the campus,” she said. ine nameplate was created by a chancellor’s committee to refine UNL’s image and distin guish it from the rest of the University of Nebraska sys tem. The new nameplate is the . word Nebraska in red letters, in a typeface similar to the Daily Nebraskan’s front-page flag. ‘The University of Nebraska Lincoln’ is printed underneath the heading in smaller black type. The old nameplate - which can be found in the upper right corner of the current student directory office phone directo ry,and other UNL publications - will be replaced almost com pletely by next fall. The university also will use the header on more booklets and documents than the old one. For instance, all admis sions materials will consistent ly have the new nameplate. Larsen said she did not think the nameplate would change for many years. Sally Buchholz, manager of publications and photogra phy, said UNL has changed its nameplate fairly regularly to freshen up the university’s image. Larsen said the university also was working on a new logo specifically for UNL. Implementing and design ing the nameplate was not that expensive, Larsen said, because most publications, such as the student directory, were reprinted every year any way. Buchholz said redefining the image of the university was something that was necessary to remain fresh. “I hate to put a dollar value on it,” Buchholz said, “because it’s a part of what needs to be done as a part of our communi cation missions.” fairly common to redesign Web pages because universities have to figure out what to do with online services. Liss said last weekend she vis ited other university s’ Web pages, and was surprised to find they weren’t as nice as UNL’s. “Ours used to look (like those), but ours is a little crisper and brighter now,” she said. “They just need a face lift now and then.”
