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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1998)
■ The diversity retreat puts a focus on creating agents of change. By Brad Davis Senior editor Instead of changing the world, organizers of last weekend’s diversity retreat said they focused on chaining «person at a time. JjSSfe John Harris, organizeifof the reffeat and special assistants© Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs James Griesen, said he hoped the more than 60 people who attended the retreat would take what they learned during the weekend and apply it to their lives. Harris said he wanted to help stu dents become “change agents” on campus by exposing to them to the thoughts and feelings of people from all walks of life. When students are faced with a challenging situation, Harris said, such as a racist joke or statement, he hoped they would take what they learned at the diversity retreat and apply it to their daily lives - taking a stand against insensitive comments and actions. Amy Rol, a junior business major who attended the retreat at Camp Carol Joy Holling in Ashland, said hearing about people who have expe rienced prejudice will help her become a “diversity change agent,” which was the theme of the retreat. “Everyone has to play a part,” Rol said, “even if it’s small, in helping change the thinking so we can become a solution and not become part of the problem.” Rol said the retreat helped her realize that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln isn’t a perfect place. “It blew me away,” Rol said. “We talked about how everybody is a dis criminator to a small degree, but how everybody can change themselves.” She said the discussions at the retreat would help her better see minority students as people and not just as a representatives of their par ticular culture. “Everybody there was an individ ual,” Rol said, “and it helped develop my thinking a lot. I can look at a per son (from a different culture) as a friend.” Armando Bustamante, a junior Spanish and history major, said retreat participants were open-mind ed and listened to what he had to say as a Latino student. A member of Sigma Lambda Beta, UNL’s Latino fraternity, Bustamante said he would help other fraternities recruit Latinos if they asked him to. Bustamante said because of the retreat, he would examine his own attitudes about diversity and then work to change others’. Harris, who announced that this retreat would be the last of the six he had organized in the past, said he hoped the discussions encouraged people to examine their ideas and beliefs about diversity. “We said to be mindful that UNL isn’t a wonderland - that racism exists and will continue to exist,” he said. “But you have to respond to let the perpetrators know that you’re not going to put up with it.” ^ jl - H plf- " of murder in Denver MURDER from page 1 of events. Witnesses said two men jumped Perry while the other two were stand ing over him, kicking him. The Rev. Patrick Demmer, senior pastor at Graham Memorial Church of God in Christ where Perry was a deacon, said that attempts to portray the suspects as heroes were “the worst case of spin-doctoring.” Demmer said the woman Perry was allegedly attacking, Monica Greenwood, was a girlfriend of Perry’s. The victim, a father of four and a housekeeping supervisor at the Colorado State Capitol, was black. The suspects are white. But police have said the attack was not racially motivated. The Rocky Mountain News reported that Perry had a lengthy arrest record dating to 1985 for charges such as domestic violence, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of marijuana. Last year both Kevin and David Bills attended UNL and lived on the sixth floor of Pound Hall. One of their former neighbors, architecture senior John Janda, said they were “pretty nice guys overall” though they liked to fight. “But sometimes trouble goes looking for you,” Janda said. “It’s tough to say.” Another former neighbor of the Bills brothers, graduate student Bill Nosal, said police had to be called to Pound Hall last spring to break up a fight between the two brothers and another student who lived in the hall. David Bills, who is still a UNL student, also worked at Love Library this year though his coworkers refused to comment. The Associate4JPress c9Br— tributed WtB^report; ' ' - " , 7 -Vx" . ■■;* Officials examine policy CHALK from page 1 University officials last year started discussing whether UNL had a “clear-cut” policy in place about chalking, after messages and pictures were drawn on the side walks that were considered by some to be hate messages, said Phyllis Larsen, UNL public relations direc tor. Last year, during National Coming Out Week in October, side walks were chalked in response to messages written by a gay rights group to promote the week and Lewis said no formal group has been'oiganized to create the policy that would address chalking campus sidewalks, "but Lewis7 and Landscape Services are discussing what they think a policy should . cover. . \. ; 1 Lewis said idiat it was impoSrtant th# policy would be capable of.uni form enfOrcement. “I don’t want us to have a policy that becomes too subjective,” Lewis said. Officials shouldn’t have to decide what is appropriate and what is not, he said, and the policy also should be easy to understand. Lewis wants to look at what the effect of chalking is on campus as well, he said. For example, Lewis wants to look at whether chalkings ii-— I don’t want us to have a policy that becomes too subjective Scott Lewis business and finance would affect how people perceive the campus.The policy also would recognize the needs and desires of students to share thoughts and H hadn’t heard of the Columbus Day tttessages as of Monday afternoon, so it was unknown if disciplinary action would be taken against those who wrote the messages. XML ; police also said they were unaware ofthe chalkings as of Monday night. Last year’s Coming Out Week chalkings prompted reaction from various sectors of campus. , But students studying and visit- '$■ ing outside Monday didn’t seem upset by the Columbus Day state ment. --M The office of affirmative action also did not receive any calls about the chalkings. Trina Smith, a junior sociology and psychology major, said she expected such messages to adorn City Campus’ walkways. Smith said people are taught in school that Columbus was a hero, but in reality, she said, he was not. “It doesn’t really surprise me.” I I aSmjr** MwuwSmr9 lataraat Acc«*s Sarvlca* find us at: ht41dfwnaw.11avix.Mt find these underwriters at our website: http://www.unl.edu/DaiiyNeb/