SPORTS
Now that’s sorrow
Nebraska defeated Texas A&M in the NCAA
Tournament 7-0 to move on to play Notre Dame
next Sunday. PAGE 12
A & I
‘The Outsiders’
A UNL faculty member and student have teamed
up to bring the world a collection of essays by
those who look in from the “outside ” PAGE 10
MON IAY
November 16, 1998
One Bright Day
Mostly sunny, high 58. Clear tonight, low 32.
VOL. 98 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 59
UNL’s black enrollment down
The students’ numbers have fallen 10 percent since ’96
By Lindsay Young
Senior staff water
For the past couple of years, UNL
administrators have worked so minority
students could glance around campus and
see more people who looked like them.
Meanwhile, the overall number of
minorities has decreased just as much as
the rest of the student population - a result
of 1997 s stringent admission standards.
But this year, when black students go
to class, when they join student organiza
tions. when they sit down to lunch, there
are fewer of them to be found: 10 percent
: fewer than 1996.
Overall population is down 1.461 stu
i __
dents since 1996 as well. Though the
decline in overall enrollment has been
about 6.4 percent since the fall of 1996.
black student enrollment has decreased
about 10 percent.
“When white students get the cold,
black students get pneumonia,” said John
Hams, special assistant to the vice chan
cellor for student affairs.
LaSharah Bunting, a junior news-edi
torial major and the Afrikan People's
Union president, said the decline can be
partly attributed to students transferring to
other schools and the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln's sometimes unwel
coming environment.
“1 really have seen less of a presence of
black students on campus." Bunting said.
American Indian, Hispanic and Asian
student populations have decreased at a
rate slower than that of the 6.4 percent rate
at which the total student population
declined.
Black students make up about 2 per
cent of the population, American Indians
make up about 0.4 percent, Hispanics
make up about 1.6 percent, and Asian stu
dents make up about 2.1 percent, accord
ing to figures released this week by UNL
Institutional Research and Planning.
White students make up about 90 percent
of the university's population.
Those numbers don't include minority
students who come to Nebraska from
Please see MINORITY on 7
Dawn Dietrich/DN
TO KEEP BLACK students at UNL, the Afrikan People’s Union has social
events, like Saturday’s formal dance.
Supporters
argue to keep
Peru State
By Eric Rineer
* Staff writer
With all the uncertainty still surrounding
Peru State and its future, about 60 people
assembled inside the State Capitol on Friday to
listen and watch testimonies in favor of keeping
the college in its place.
The public hearing was part of a statewide
video-conference set up by tl\e Nebraska
Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary
Education. Video-conference sites included
Omaha, Hastings, Scottsbluff and Chadron.
Twenty-seven people from the various sites
gave reasons for keeping Peru State in Peru and
improving it, which is one of three options the
Legislature will consider.
Sen. Floyd Vrtiska of District 1 said keep
ing the college in Peru, the first option, would
cost the state between S12.5 million and S14
million because, he said S7 million already has
been earmarked for the renovations.
Other estimates, including one presented to
the coordinating commission earlier this
month, estimated the cost at S27 million.
The first option also calls for the addition of
education services in southeast Nebraska.
These services would include dev eloping learn
ing centers at several facilities provided by
southeast Nebraska communities and expand
ing the use of technology.
The second option the Legislature is look
ing at involves moving Peru State's campus to
Nebraska City. This option also adds education
al services throughout southeast Nebraska. The
commission reported this would cost the state
about S96 million.
The third option would be to shut down the
college and prov ide other arrangements for
education services in southeast Nebraska.
But Dick Flynn, dean of the College of
Education at the University Of Nebraska at
Omaha, said any money the state would have to
spend to keep Peru State running would be “a
small price to pay.”
Closing Peru State's doors would be “a ter
rible message coming from a state that values
Please see PERU on 6
-a-_^
Matt Miller/DN
KSU FANS cling to the goal post at Wagner Field after the Wildcats beat the Huskers 40-30. Some fans called the win the biggest of the 103
year Kansas State football program, and said it was a sure ticket to the Fiesta Bowl and a shot at the national championship.
K-State fans revel in their victory
By Andrew Strnad
Staff writer
MANHATTAN, Kan. - The plans were
made months in advance: The fans were ready
to complete “Operation goal posts.”
With Kansas State leading Nebraska 34-30
with just seconds remaining, thousands of
Wildcat students began to straddle the railing
between the stands and the field.
“Fiesta, fiesta'" many fans chanted in ref
erence to the Fiesta Bowl, which will crown
this year's national champion Jan. 4.
Other fans were jockeying for position so
they could be first to the goal posts once the
game ended.
Many fans couldn’t wait that long.
KSU linebacker Jeff Kelly returned a fum
ble 23 yards for a touchdown, giving the
Wildcats a 40-30 lead with three seconds to
go. but that didn’t stop a throng of thousands
from storming the field.
After a minute of pure pandemonium, the
fans retreated only to return to the field after a
failed two-point conversion.
"This is just nuts. We’ve waited 29 years,
and now we can't wait three more seconds.” a
Wildcat fan said to himself as he scurried off
the field.
The game would later end after a kickoff,
and the fans could finally take out 30 years of
frustration on the goal posts at the north end
zone.
Stadium security officers were content to
let the north goal post fall, conceding it imme
diately after the game, while protecting the
south goal post. Better to lose one than two.
Please see CELEBRATION on 6
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