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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1998)
SPORTS Stand a little closer... Monet Williams is improving her game for the NU women’s basketball team by being more vocal in game situations. PAGE 9 A&E Art for the people The Haymarket galleries are summoning their collective artists to mark the holiday season. This week art openings abound. PAGE 7 TTTTTRG | AV IflUIvu lokJI December 3, 1998 Another Day in Paradise Partly sunny, high 63. Rain tonight, low 45. VOL. 98 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 69 Scott McClurg/DN CHRIS BAHL of the NU Athletic Department’s collegiate licensing office helped crack down on Husker Casino, a Web site that used the Husker name, along with pictures of former football players and former Coach Tom Osborne to market online gambling. Gambling site used Nil images ■ Husker Casino recently stopped illegal use of Husker images, such as a photo of for mer Coach Tom Osborne, on their Web site. By Jessica Fargen Staff writer After hounding from the University of Nebraska and an Atlanta licensing lawyer, a Web-based company in Costa Rica ceased illegal use of the Husker name to market its Internet gambling operation. I he university had accused the company, GoTo Entertainment, of cashing in on NU Husker fans’ commitment to their team by offering Husker Casino - an Internet gam bling site that improperly used the name so dear to many Nebraskans’ hearts. But Wednesday, after receiving letters from the University of Nebraska, GoTo Entertainment closed down its Husker Casino Web site, changed the name and moved it to another site. Company officials would not return calls to the Daily Nebraskan, but they did return an e-mail with the following comment after the site was changed: “Based on the response from University of Nebraska, we have closed the huskercasi no.com Web site. ... Do us a favor and apolo gize to the university - we did not mean any harm." Chris Bahl, NU director of athletic licens ing and sales, was appreciative of the compa ny’s cooperation, but said the situation could have been avoided completely if the company had asked the university for permission in the first place. “I hope that they learned a valuable les son, that if they do use trademarks in the future that they obtain permission before they do," Bahl said. “I'm sure they would have saved them selves some time and effort and saved us a few headaches." Please see CASINO on 2 c ASUN wants parking fee increases reconsidered ByIevaAugstums Staff writer Student government leaders are concerned University of Nebraska-Lincoln students will protest future parking permit fee increases next semester if university officials don’t properly act now. The Association of Students of the University of Nebraska held its last 1998 meeting Wednesday night and passed two government bills asking Parking and Transit Services and university adminis tration to look at parking permit fees and the amount of revenue parking services receives. ASUN’s concerns come from a November senate meetmg with Parking and Transit Services Director Tad McDowell. “What we want officials to recognize is that stu dents should pay for the benefits they receive for the parking space they purchase,” ASUN President Sara Russell said. “Students who park far away from cam pus shouldn’t have to pay the same permit fee inrrpasp QtnrtpnK nav tn nark rlncp ” ASUN wants the Parking Advisory Committee to raise permit prices according to convenience and benefits rather than increase all permits by a flat rate. For instance, yellow permits that allow drivers to park near central camps should be increased more than cheaper purple permits on the perimeter lots. This would mean that a certain percentage increase, decided by the committee, would be applied to each permit level, Russell said. Arts and Sciences Senator Kara Slaughter was in favor of the bill and said students would benefit, while faculty and staff will face higher permit costs. “Red parking tags offered to administration, fac ulty and staff are the most expensive,” Slaughter said. “It only seems natural to have those who have better parking pay more.” However, some senators opposed the bill. Please see ASUN on 2 Students warned of fraud Scholarship scams include big promises, few results By Lindsay Young Senior staff writer Search online for the key term “scholarships,” and hundreds of thou sands of results will appear, each of them trying to lure potential clients into their part of the Web. But don’t blindly trust an online scholarship service promising thou sands of dollars in financial aid, uni versity officials said. Craig Munier, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's financial aid and scholarships director, said scholarship scams come up about the same time every year, just like the cold and the 11U. “The only vaccine against (schol arship scams) is good judgment,” Munier said. UNL upperclassman scholarship forms were available at the beginning of November and are due Feb. 1, 1999. Federal financial aid forms for the 1999-2000 academic year have just been made available and can be turned in as early as January 1999. Munier has not seen many students fall prey to scams at UNL, but at other institutions in the past, he has seen some “pretty sad stones.” Munier said families that “had money to lose" paid a large sum of money and didn't receive even close to mat amount oacK in aia. To avoid fraud, Munier said, the best advice he could give was that if an offer seems to good to be true, it prob ably is. Fraudulent scholarship search ser vices will always charge a fee and usu ally boast, “Millions of dollars in scholarships go unclaimed In fact, while millions of dollars may go unclaimed each year, the money, which usually is in private funds, is not available to the majority of the student population, Munier said. Also, Munier said, fake search ser Please see FRAUD on 2 Scholarship fraud is avoidable According to the UNL Scholarships and Financial Aid office and the Financial Aid Information Page online, the following tips can help students protect themselves from scholarship fraud: ■ Outlandish claims that play to desires and fears should be red flags. One of the most common of these is, “Millions of dollars in scholarships go unclaimed.” ■ Legitimate scholarship founda tions or agencies will never guaran tee that you will receive funds. Scholarship matching firms cannot guarantee that you will receive funding, because they have no con trol over the results. ■ Avoid paying a fee. The most rep utable scholarship search services are free. Also, don’t spend more than a postage stamp to get infor mation about scholarships or loans. ■ Make sure an organization can actually substantiate that awards have been dispersed. ■ Most legitimate programs include a phone number for inquiries about application materials. ■ If legitimate scholarship pro grams use mailboxes, they almost always include their street address es and telephone numbers on their stationary. U Don’t assume from the organiza tion’s name that they have a chari table purpose. Also, investigate claims of government, Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau approval. ■ Overstated claims of effective ness are a good tip-off to a scam. -f ------ ) Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http://www.unl.edu/DailyNeb