Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1998)
SPORTS Record man NU senior kicker Kris Brown, the all-time scor ing leader at Nebraska, shares his accomplish ments with his teammates. PAGE 7 A&E Down under Dogs Based on Australian choreographer Dein Perry s experience as a steelworker, the dance group Tap Dogs makes light work of heavy themes. PAGE 9 FRIDAY September 11, 1998 Set, Spike and Shine Sunny, high 90. Mostly clear tonight, low 63. Spray it again, Sam f i Dawn Dietrich/DN TAKING ADVANTAGE of a late summer afternoon, Erin Went, sopho more accounting major, sprays mud off her teammate, a sophomore English major Sommer Jindra. The two were playing in a mud volley ball game Thursday evening at the baseball fields behind Abel Residence Hall. Binge behavior targeted UNL program will try to change motivations for excessive drinking By Jessica Flanagain and Lindsay Young Staff writers UNL is taking a new approach to combat binge drinking, both on and off campus, university officials announced Thursday. As part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation “A Matter of Degree” program, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will receive a $700,000 grant from the foundation and the American Medical Association to help it develop a plan to fight binge drinking. UNL was officially accepted into the nine-school program on Sept. 1 after about a year-long process. The acceptance was announced at a press conference Thursday afternoon in the chancellor s conference room. The plan will combine the efforts of a jz-person campus-community coali tion, which includes university offi cials, business leaders, the Legislature, students, parents and UNL faculty members to develop and implement the plan in a five-year period. Linda Major, University Health Center drug education specialist and program director, will be the UNL pro gram director for the grant. The collaborative effort is essential for success in the program, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs James Griesen said. Griesen acts as a coalition co-chairman along with Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady. “Education alone does not seem to change student behavior,” Griesen said. Casady said the goal of the group is to change the social norm - which is drinking too much, too often. The coalition has developed a set of seven strategies that it will use to create a formula for reducing binge drinking. which will cover both on- and off-cam pus issues. “It’s a bigger problem than the uni versity,” Casady said. Major said because the university has stepped up its determination to keep drinking off campus, the students have responded logically - they’re leav ing campus. The seven strategies are: ■ Find ways to control the number of alcohol sellers, especially down town, within a one-mile radius of cam pus. Major said about 114 bars and restaurants with liquor licenses are located within one mile of the campus. The high risk rate of drinking directly correlates to the number of licensed establishments in the area, she said. ■ Eliminate high-risk marketing Please see BINGE on 6 Lower enrollment prompts budget cuts By Ieva Augstums Staff writer The Fund B portion of student fees will be cut by more than $300,000 Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs James Gnesen said Thursday. Because of decreased overall enrollment, the Asian financial cnsis and a hot job market, fewer students than projected are attending UNL this year, Griesen said. The 2 percent budget cut directly affects Fund B users, including the Campus Recreation Center, University Health Center and Nebraska Unions programs and ser vices, he said at student government’s Committee for Fees Allocation meet ing. “The exact effects will not be known for about another week or two,” Griesen said. “Directors of each of the agencies need to sit down with staff and student advisory boards to discuss where cuts, if any, will be.” Griesen said he hopes each agency’s decision will not reduce any student services. Agencies may, how ever, push for more income revenue, he said. “Students are not going to pay any more student fees,” Griesen said. “We cut budgets to keep student fees at $240 per semester.” Griesen said an additional tempo rary budget cut could also go into effect this year for Fund B once the UNL Office of Student Accounts cal culates the actual University Program and Facilities Fees paid by students. “I will probably have to cut Fund B even further,” he said. “But if Fund A agencies would like to jump up and volunteer (to help Fund B agencies), Please see FEES on 6 Students say parking scarce; officials say lots not oversold By Jessica Fargen Staff writer Sophomore Erin Fujan said her older sister, who attended UNL, had a philosophy on parking on campus. “My sister used to tell me, ‘You pay 80 dollars for a hunting permit,’ but I didn’t believe her until I was going through the same stuff,” said Fujan, who paid $81 for a nine month blue lot permit this year. Although Fujan said she can usu ally find a spot near Phi Mu Sorority, where she lives, several students said they are not as lucky this year. Andrea Ball, a senior finance major, said things were better a year ago. “I never had to drive around last year,” said Ball, who has a green lot permit. “I found a spot every day.” Green lots, which are for com muters, and blue lots, for on-campus students, are unreserved; yellow lots provide reserved parking. Regan Green, a junior sociology major, said she had a simple expla nation for the lack of parking spaces. “They just give too many permits out,” said Green, who also has a green permit. Tad McDowell, manager of Parking and Transit Services, said about 20 percent more green lot per mits are sold than stalls available, but he did not consider that over selling. McDowell said convenience and overselling are being confused. Overselling occurs when no spots are available, he said. Students want the spot closest to their residence hall or academic building. Parking Services count on some people being sick, on vacation or skipping class, which is why more blue lot and green lot permits are sold than there are spaces. McDowell said if Parking Services limited the number of spots sold for blue and green permits then some people would have no permit at all, and spots would be empty dur ing the day. Early in the day, spots are empty, which is a good thing, McDowell said. Parking Services checked all the residence hall blue permit lots on campus at 6 a.m. and found 341 empty spots, McDowell said. This tells Parking Services that at a time when most students should be home, spots are available, he said Ball said she would welcome an open spot, which is what she expect ed when she bought a green lot per mit for the third year in a row. But she said this year, unless it’s before 9:30 a.m., she drives around for 15 minutes, then heads to Stadium Drive Parking Garage. “You pay $81 for a permit, and you have to park in the garage every day,” Ball said. Jason McCallan, a graduate busi ness student, said the cost of permits is why he opted not to buy one. Instead he finds free off-street park ing, uses the parking meters or parks in Que Place Parking Facility down town. 66 You pay $81 for a permit, and you have to park in the garage every day ” Andrea Ball senior finance major So where are the spots going? McDowell said the increase of about 150 residence hall students from last year, means more permits for residence hall lots were sold. McDowell also said students’ schedules may be more similar this year. Or spaces could be lost from a parking lot near 10th and P streets that closed to make way for a new hotel. On top of that, McDowell said, more people are driving. “Each year, it seems that more people are driving, with fewer peo ple per vehicle,” McDowell said. Overall at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the ratio of per mit holders to parking spots is about 1.17-to-l, but that includes reserved permit holders, who are guaranteed spots. Although Brian Pischel, a fresh man architecture major, does not have a guaranteed spot, the chance he may find one is why he is glad he has a green lot permit, he said. “It was probably worth it,” he said about buying a permit. “At least there’s the possibility that I can have the spot.” Fujan said inconveniences that come with campus parking is some thing she has accepted. “I think the university has always done this, and I don’t think its going to change that they oversell the num ber of permits.” Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http: / / www.unl.edu /DailyNeb