SPORTS I
Not pretty
The Nebraska football team struggled through its
final scrimmage before its Saturday game
against Louisiana Tech. PAGE 14
A & E
Sugar daddies
Old (very old) school group Sugarhill Gang
required the aid of dubbed recordings when it per
formed at the Big Red Welcome. PAGE 18
August 24, 1998
Hotter Than Haoes
Partly cloudy, high 95. Chance of ram tonight, low 65
■
i
Dawn Dietrich/DN
NICOLE WITTWER, an employee of Fringe and Tassel Costume Rental, 735 0 St., hands out rings to students
during Sunday’s Big Red Welcome. Many vendors, student and community organizations peddled free items
to advertise their services and groups during the all-day festival on R Street.
A welcome, Big Red style
■ Thousands endure the
heat to start the school
year with freebies, music.
By Adam Klinker
Staff writer
It’s been said that you can tell a
freshman by the slap-happy look -
but at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln. it's by the bags of free
stuff.
Sunday night, 144 student orga
nizations, clubs, area businesses
and other services filled 240 booths
on R street between 12th and 16th
streets. The students followed.
“It’s intimidating,” said fresh
man biological sciences major
Emily Jorgensen. “But it’s awe
some.”
Enduring the high heat and
humidity - 94 degrees with 54 per
cent humidity - thousands of peo
pie lined the street in front of the
Nebraska Union to get their hands
on free compact discs, food and
coupons.
Following a New Student
Convocation given for transfer stu
dents and the freshman class, the
Big Red Welcome kicked off at 5
p.m. and wrapped up with a concert
by the old-school rap group
Sugarhill Gang at 7 p.m.
Bill McLaughlin, chemistry
professor and recipient of student
government’s Outstanding
Educator Award, told students dur
ing the convocation to experience
the college atmosphere and ques
tion answers in addition to answer
ing questions.
McLaughlin finished his
speech with an impromptu perfor
mance on his harmonica.
Afterward, the capacity crowd
at the Lied Center for the
Performing Arts streamed onto R
Street to join the already growing
crowd.
Construction of the booths
designed to attract students walking
along R Street began around 8 a.m.
and preparation for Big Red
Welcome continued until about 3
p.m.
One of the more popular booths
was the one from Havelock Bank
featuring a “House of Cash" money
grab. About 30 people walked away
with a share of the 100 SI bills
blowing around in the booth, Pat
Myrick, a spokeswoman from
Havelock Bank, said.
Lance Ford, a senior art major,
was the first to get a chance at the
flying $1 bills.
“It’s great,” Ford said. “Lots of
food, free money. I’m having a
good time.” Ford picked up S7.
The Navigators, a campus
Christian group, handed out 2,000
Blue Bunny ice cream cones donat
Please see RED on page 3
Moeser marks
mission areas
By Lindsay Young
Senior staff writer
To help fulfill its mission as a
land grant university, UNL will work
to improve three areas in the next year.
Chancellor James Moeser said Friday.
In his annual state of the university
address Friday morning to about 1,000
people, Moeser announced the forma
tion of three committees designed to
build upon the University of Nebraska
Lincoln's strengths, increase academic
ngor and consider the state of the cam
pus climate - all priorities he set last
year.
One committee, named the Future
Nebraska Committee, will consider
UN Us areas of greatest strength and
potential for future developments. The
committee will be headed by Senior
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Richard Edwards.
Moeser said he is setting down
only one requirement for the commit
tee - that it create a plan that moves
Nebraska forward in research and
graduate studies in the next five years.
Edwards said committee members
win uc djjpunucu uy me ciiaiiccnoi anu
will represent a diverse cross-section
of campus.
“I believe (Moeser’s) intention is to
have a rather open process,” which
includes self-nominations, Edwards
said.
This committee will “turn the
question of the university’s future into
a research problem,” Moeser said.
Moeser said Future Nebraska
could look at problems or opportuni
ties UNL is well-positioned to solve
and assess the status and quality of cur
rent programs. It also could envision
what might be possible with enhanced
resources or a reorganization of exist
ing resources.
The Association of American
Universities may review its members
on a periodic basis in the future,
Moeser said. The association, of which
UNL has been a member since 1909,
focuses its efforts on retaining a mem
U
We cannot become
so focused that we
abandon our
comprehensive
mission
James Moeser
UNL chancellor
bership of the principal research and
doctoral-degree granting universities
in the country.
“I am confident the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln will continue to be a
member of good standing,” Moeser
said. He said the university would wel
come the scrutiny of the AAU. which
could benefit UNL, pushing it to focus
its energy and resources.
The strategy for building on UNL's
strengths will cause a greater focus on
selected areas, Moeser said. He said
the university must create balance
and research.
“We cannot become so focused
that we abandon our comprehensive
mission,” Moeser said.
Another committee that has been
created will examine how the universi
ty can improve the educational experi
ence of first-year students, which, in
turn, will improve retention and gradu
ation rates, Moeser said.
The Freshman Year Experience
Taskforce will be headed by Ted Pardy,
a professor of biological sciences.
One of every four freshman stu
dents fails to return for his sophomore
year, Moeser said. Also, only about 50
percent of students graduate within six
years.
He set a goal to reduce the fresh
man attrition rate to less than 20 per
cent and increase the number of stu
dents who graduate in a timely fashion
Please see MOESER on page 7
Union delays mean users lounging with ladders
ByIevaAugstums
Staff writer
Students will have to dodge jack
hammers, bulldozers and dust today, as
the Nebraska Union expansion and
renovation project enters its third year.
Originally a two-year project
scheduled to be completed Aug. 12,
construction is expected to proceed
into the 1999 spring semester, accord
ing to Rachelle Setsodi, spokeswoman
for the University of Nebraska
Lincoln Facilities Management and
Planning department.
Yet, students will pay in fees for the
renovations, even if they graduate
before the project is completely fin
ished.
Nebraska Union project manager
Brad Muehling said the almost four
month delay was caused by bad weath
er and an unforeseen excess of
asbestos found in the building.
“We are picky, and all of us want
(the union) fast, quick and cheap,”
Muehling said. “Unfortunately, we
can’t have it that way.”
Even though the union is not fully
complete, Nebraska Unions Director
Daryl Swanson confirmed that begin
ning this fall, and continuing every
semester for a 20-year term, an addi
tional $20 per student, per semester
will be added to student fees.
“New areas - the lounge and din
ing area - are being used,” Swanson
said. “Students are paying for the use
of the new union.”
The total cost of the union as of this
fall is $13.48 million, instead of the
originally estimated $12.68 million.
The additional $800,000 was approved
by the NU Board of Regents to cover
the increased cost of asbestos abate
ment, Swanson said.
Heather Hipschman, a senior bio
logical science major, said having stu
dents pay now for the unfinished union
is outrageous.
“It’s all kind of ridiculous paying
for the union if it’s not done,”
Hipschman said. “But I guess you do
have to pay for it in order to get it
done.”
Freshman Cory Crouse, also a bio
logical science major, said paying $20
a semester wasn’t a big deaf
“It’s something we have to do as
students,” Crouse said. “Nothing gets
done on time - we must deal with it.”
Features of the project include
adding 55,000 square feet to the build
ing and the renovation of 66,000
square feet of the existing union struc
ture.
Muehling said he cannot hold the
contractors liable for delays that result
ed from things beyond their control,
including asbestos and the weather.
New areas of the union - the first
floor lounge and food court dining
space - are substantially completed
and are accessible and in use, he said.
Other areas, including the north
entrance, the fountain, the plaza, the
recreation room, the big-screen TV
lounge, the 24-hour computer lab, the
copy center and the lecture and meet
ing rooms will be substantially com
pleted by late October or early
November.
Please see UNION on page 7
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http:/ lwww.unl.edu/DailyNeb
