SPORTS
Shandranonymous
Shandra Johnson doesn't always know her times
in the pool and doesn't always care. Call her the
winner, and she’s happy. PAGE 12
A & E
Euro fab
First came the fabrics, then came the artist. Maria
Tyniec, a Polish textiles artist joins her art work,
already at UNL, and begins her residency. PAGE 10
THURS »AY
November 19, 1998
Chili Conditions
Partly cloudy, high 43. Mostly dear tonight, low 25.
VOL. 98 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 62
1993 22.3%
AH college
students .
1997 28.5%
1993 25%
All
americans
1997 23.2%
Source: Center for Disease Control. Journal of American Medical Association and LfNL Health Center.
Matt Haney/DN
College smoking on increase
By Josh Funk
Senior staff writer
Nationally, heath risks and costs
have scared people away from smoking,
but on college campuses it is increasing
ly popular.
A study released Tuesday shows
that the collegiate population that
smokes increased by nearly one-third
from 1993 to 1997.
“Eighteen- to 24-year-olds have
become the new battleground.” said Bill
Novelli with the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kads in a statement. “The
tobacco industry has set up very aggres
sive promotions specifically targeted to
this age group.”
The Harvard School of Public
Health surveyed more than 14,000 stu
dents at 116 colleges about risky behav
iors.
t The numbers show that 28.5 percent
of college students were smoking in
1997, which is up from 22.3 percent in
1993.
And that battle continues today with
the American Cancer Society’s 22nd
Annual Great American Smokeout.
The Smokeout encourages addicted
smokers to kick the habit and tries to
prevent teen-age smoking through edu
cation.
Yet many smokers, such as fresh
man general studies major Jon Nelson,
are not ready to quit.
“I’ll quit eventually, but not today,’’
said Nelson, who started when he was a
high school freshman.
But a University of Nebraska
Lincoln study shows that smoking is not
as prominent here, though it's still
increasing from 16 percent of students
m 1993 to 19.8 percent in 1998.
The Harvard study showed that one
fourth of college smokers started m col
lege, but most had been smoking since
high school or earlier.
“In the college setting, students may
be likely to start smoking to fit in if they
Please see SMOKE on 6
$14.3 million OK’d
for new honors hall
■ The NU Board of Regents
voted 6-1 to approve the Esther L.
Kauffman Residential Center for
honors students, to be located just
north of the Nebraska Union.
By Lindsay Young
Senior staff writer
The NU Board of Regents approved a budget
of about $14.3 million for the construction of a
residential center that will house UNL computer
science and management honors program stu
dents.
With a vote of 6-1. the regents passed the bud
get Wednesday morning.
Carole and C. Edward McVaney, both UNL
alumni, donated $32 million through the
University of Nebraska Foundation for the J.D.
Edwards Honors Program, which will provide for
the construction of the Esther L. Kauffman
Residential Center.
Construction is scheduled to begin in
September 1999. It is scheduled to be completed
Jan. 1,2001, and to open in March 2001.
The center devoted to honors students will be
located in the place of the parking lot north of the
Nebraska Union and west of Selleck Residence
Hall.
Regent Chuck Hassebrook of Walthill cast the
only dissenting vote.
Hassebrook said more space will be built into
the center than what is needed. For example, he
said, the great hall, a 2,700-square-foot meeting
space for special events, isn't needed.
Hassebrook said there was meeting space
nearby that could be used for the same purposes.
“Every dollar we get we ought to use as fru
gally as possible,” Hassebrook said.
UNL Chancellor James Moeser said housing
honors students in one residential center has been
known to aid other universities in retention and
Please see REGENTS on 2
Payment of loans places
some students in trouble
Editor s note: Today is the last in a three
part series on the changing face of student
loans: where they’ come from, trends in how stu
dents use them and how students pay them hack.
By Jessica Fargen
Staff writer
The joyride of a seemingly free education
that comes with receiving a student loan check
each semester can come to a screeching halt six
months after students graduate.
Alexia Scott, who graduated in December,
just got off that ride.
For the last five months, Scott has been pay
ing S165 a month toward her more than S10,000
education, which landed her a computer pro
gramming job in Lincoln.
“When you go through the loan program,
you think, ‘Oh, you have six months after you
graduate,’” Scott said. “You tell yourself that
you'll save that money up, but the first time they
come it’s a shock”
Craig Munier, the University of Nebraska
Lincoln’s director of scholarships and financial
aid, said the May 1998 UNL graduates had an
average student loan debt of $15,711, which
figures to about $180 a month for 10 years.
Ten years is a long time to make 120
monthly loan payments, explaining why some
students may default on their loans, which
occurs when 270 days pass with no payment.
If students think they may default, they
should contact their direct loan servicing agent
right away, Munier said. Options such as
renegotiation and deferment or forbearance,
which cease payment for a period of time, are
available.
Tom Melecki, vice president of policy,
research and planning at the Nebraska Student
Please see LOANS on 2
Hearty helpings
B
Dawn Dietrich/DN
JARED HOLLINGER, a freshman construction major, serves chili to the people at the
People’s City Mission on Wednesday evening, while Justin Clark, a sophomore marketing
major, hands Hollinger bowls. More than 75 students helped with the chili supper, which
was planned because of the recent beating of a homeless man on City Campus. PLEASE
SEE STORY ON PAGE 6.
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http: / / www.unl.edu/DailyNeb
