UNL takes action against student drinking
Ur ant money to aid m
battling binge drinking
ByIevaAugstums
Senior staff writer
Planning to make an impact on
the UNL binge-drinking scene,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln offi
cials said Thursday they would have
their strategy finalized by April.
“We are dealing with societal and
cultural practices students bring with
them to college,” UNL Chancellor
James Moeser said. “It’s not going to
be easy.”
In September, the university
began to wage a war against excessive
student drinking.
Its ammunition was a five-year,
$700,000 grant from the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation, based in
Princeton, N.J.
Linda Major, former coordinator
of UNL’s alcohol and drug education
program, said the university decided
to apply for the grant, because it “saw
a need to improve the campus and
community drinking climate.”
“The mission of the grant is to
reduce high-risk drinking among uni
versity students,” Major said. “The
grant will hopefully accomplish
that.”
Vice Chancellor James Griesen
said he believed UNL received the
grant because the university put
together what promises to be a very
effective coalition of individuals to
proceed with the grant’s mission.
Members of the campus-commu
nity coalition include university offi
cials, business leaders, students, par
ents and UNL faculty members, he
said.
“Nationwide there is high-risk
drinking among college students -
this university included,” Griesen
said.
Major, who was named project
director of the Johnson grant, said a
total of eight universities received
funding to combat binge drinking,
while two universities received par
tial funding.
The group established a first-year
planning budget of $100,000, Major
said. The remaining grant money will
be divided among the group in
$150,000 increments in the next four
years.
The complete comprehensive
plan of the grant will be available in
April, Major said.
Members of the campus and com
munity would be able to comment
and make suggestions to the plan, she
said.
“To change a culture, you have to
look at it very complexly,” Major
said. “The good news is we have plan
ning and strategy time. The bad news
is that there is no action.”
The coalition is examining the
following areas:
■ Education and information,
including awareness of risks associat
ed with high-risk and illegal drinking.
■ Social environment, including
alternative student activities to high
risk drinking.
■ Neighborhood relations,
improving the social climate of UNL
students who live off campus.
■ Policy and enforcement to
revise institutional policy as appro
priate.
In a recent high-profile incident, a
20-year-old sophomore fell from a
third-floor window in the Chi Phi
Group promotes alcohol safety
By Ieva Augstums
Senior staff writer
One student group has decided to fight a battle
against college binge drinking, and university officials
hope that the steps they take will lead other UNL stu
dents in the right direction. NU Directions, a University
of Nebraska-Lincoln student task force, started waging
its war against excessive drinking in September.
Chris Linder, NU Directions student chairwoman,
said the 35 member student group is ready to challenge
university students and overall drinking on campus.
“We want students to be more responsible,” Linder
said. “It’s one of our goals, but it’s not going to be easy.”
The vision of the group is to create a campus culture
that supports responsible, low-risk drinking, including
abstaining from drinking all together, she said.
UNL Chancellor James Moeser said he has confi
dence in the group’s ability to confront the campus
drinking issue.
“We have a great task in front of us,” Moeser said.
“This is our opportunity to be proactive instead of reac
tive.”
Linder said three work groups - policy and enforce
ment, education and information and social environ
ment - would look at ways to reduce high-risk drinking
among university students.
The groups also will look at improving the safety
and environment of the campus and community, she
said.
Brenda Chrastil, a junior biochemistry major,
decided to join the group because, she said, she has seen
first-hand the devastating effects of alcohol.
A member of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, Chrastil
experienced the death of Laura Cockson, a sorority sis
ter who died when the car she was riding in was hit by a
drunken driver. -
“(Drinking) is a problem on campus that everyone
needs to be concerned about,” Chrastil said. “This is a
serious issue affecting schools nationwide.”
Some of the NU Direction program goals include:
■ Reducing or controlling the spread of liquor.
■ Reducing high-risk marketing and promotion
practices.
■ Reducing the use of false identification.
■ Increasing campus based substance abuse treat
ment services and/or the availability of community
based substance abuse treatment services.
■ Increasing the availability of attractive, student
centered social activities located both on and off the
UNL campus.
“It’s going to be up to students to inform students
about these issues,” Linder said. “We want as many stu
dents involved as possible.”
NU Directions members have visited UNL student
organizations, discussed alcohol issues on campus and
have asked for suggestions, she said.
By April, Linder said, the group should have visited
each UNL student organization. A complete list of
issues and comments would then be compiled for refer
ence and future use, she said.
“This is something I have always believed in,”
Linder said. “I’ve had friends whose lives have been
changed because of drinking. This affects everyone.”
NU Directions is funded through the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation’s Matter of Degree program. The
university received the $700,000 grant in September to
reduce high-risk drinking among UNL students.
Students who are interested in becoming involved
with NU Directions can contact Linder at (402) 472
7440.
Fraternity house after a night of
drinking.
The woman had been vomiting
out the window before she fell, break
ing several ribs, her arm and pelvis.
Her spleen was also removed.
She was released from the hospi
tal earlier this week and is expected to
return to classes when able.
Sanctions against the fraternity
are expected to be announced early
next week.
Major said campus and communi
ty members working with the grant
have discussed the incident and plan
to use it as a case for future preven
tion.
“This was a good teaching
moment for the campus and the uni
versity,” Major said. “It will be exam
ined.”
Bill targets women’s health care;
proponents look to set up council
By Jessica Fargen
Senior staff writer
A women’s health council that
would act as an information center,
provide resources for medical services
to low-income women and advise gov
ernment was the subject of testimony
Thursday.
LB480, sponsored by Lincoln Sen.
DiAnna Schimek, would set up the
Women’s Health Initiative of
Nebraska. The Health and Human
Services Committee took no action on
the biU.
Schimek said she introduced the
bill because health issues in areas spe
cific to women, such as osteoporosis,
have been overlooked. Nebraska has
no concerted effort to coordinate infor
mation on women’s health, she said.
“There wasn’t a focused effort, and
so we suggested it,” Schimek said. “We
got all kinds of support for the deal.”
Ten senators have signed the bill.
At Thursday’s hearing, representatives
from groups such as the Nebraska
Nurses Association, the
Lincoln/Lancaster County Women’s
Commission and the Nebraska
Commission on the Status of Women
testified in favor of the bill. No one tes
tified in opposition to the bill.
Patti Lutter, a public information
officer with the Nebraska Commission
on the Status of Women, said it was
time Nebraska had a concerted effort
to coordinate women’s health informa
tion.
“Basically, the main objective is to
serve as a clearing house, and coordi
nate efforts of health care organiza
tions as they relate to women,” Lutter
said. “The supporters realize that
putting (in) a women’s health initiative
would help to facilitate and improve
the poor status of women’s health in
Nebraska.”
Nebraska’s performance on most
preventative health care measures is
below average according to the 1998
Status ofWomen in Nebraska report by
the Institute for Women’s Policy
Research, Lutter said
According to the report, Nebraska
women have lower rates of pap smeai
tests and cholesterol screenings thar
other states.
Lutter said older women anc
minority women are especially at risl
for health problems because of lack oi
insurance or inadequate diets anc
access to medical services.
“Because women live longer thar
men, it’s just no secret that women’s
health issues are completely differen
than men,” she said. “Unfortunatelj
most of the research done on healtl
issues has been done on men.”
The cost of the council and its ser
vices would be about $150,000
Schimek said, but that is an estimate
and could be adjusted
Three-fourths of the council’s
members would be women. Memben
of the council would include the execu
tive director of the Commission on the
Status ofWomen, representatives fron
the University of Nebraska Medica
Center and Creighton Medical Schoo
and women of varying ages who are
health-care consumers.
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Clinton’s acquittal
rests with Senate
President's future looks brighter
r WASHINGTON (AP) - With
acquittal assured, the Senate talked its
way through a final full day of closed
door, deliberations Thursday at
President Clinton’s impeachment trial,
set for climactic noontime votes
Friday in the case that one Democrat
i called “this sordid saga.”
Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine
became the fourth Republican to
declare her intention to vote to acquit
on both charges, following the lead of
other moderates who broke party
; ranks a day earlier.
; Inside the chamber, where Chief
Justice William Rehnquist presided,
s the talk was blunt at times. “Over and
i over and over again, from both sides of
1 the aisle,” senators denounced the
1 president as a liar, GOP Sen. Bob
Bennett of Utah said later.
Bennett predicted that Clinton
would go down in history as “the most
accomplished, polished liar we’ve
ever had in the White House.”
A two-thirds vote is required to
convict die president and remove him
from office, and there was no chance
I I of that happening.
“There can be no doubt that
President Clinton’s conduct has made
a mockery of most of his words, or that
his example has been corrosive
beyond calculation to our culture and
to our children,” said Oregon
Republican Gordon Smith, who said
he would vote to convict
For all the expressions of disgust, a
formal effort to censure the president
appeared all but dead, a victim of
Republican opposition. Democrats
said they would make an effort to
force a post-trial vote on the Senate
floor, and failing passage, would draft
a statement of condemnation.
Controversy broke out over a
report that Clinton had vowed revenge
on House Republicans at the polls in
2000.
“It is deeply troubling that the
president views closure of this consti
tutional process as an opportunity for
revenge,” said Majority Leader Trent
Lott, R-Miss.
White House spokesman Joe
Lockhart didn’t deny presidential
anger, but said, “I can’t think of a
worse, more dumb strategy than going
after people based on whether they
were a House manager or not.”
Chief Justice William Rehnquist
made the trip from die Supreme Court
in his limousine Thursday, as he has
for each session since the trial began
Jan. 8, and a few moments later the
Senate’s doors were closed for deliber
ations.
At the start of the day, the third
devoted to private deliberations, Lott
said 37 senators had yet to speak, each
centurjy
Senate impeachment rules.
“The House managers failed to
establish that the president’s conduct
amounts to ‘high crimes and misde
meanors,”’ said Sen. Jack Reed of
Rhode Island.
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., saw
the case otherwise. “When President
Clinton chose not to ‘tell the truth, the
whole truth and nothing but the truth,’
he put himself above the law. He vio
lated his oath and undermined the rule
of law which he had sworn to uphold.”