UNL receives gift of $1 million
■ The funds will go toward the
creation of a chairman position in
the plant sciences department.
By Matthew Beermann
Staff writer
Microsoft vice president Jeff Raikes, who
grew up near Ashland, gave UNL a $500,000
gift Friday as an endowment to help expand the
plant sciences department.
The gift was supplemented by a match from
the Donald and Mildred Othmer estate, making
the total endowment for a chairman position $ 1
million.
The position, known as the Ralph and Alice
Raikes Chair in Plant Sciences, was awarded to
Sally Mackenzie, director of the Plant Sciences
Initiative at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln.
I" ’
Mackenzie’s position will be housed in the
Institute of Agricultural and Natural Resources
and is a component of a larger program incor
porating many different disciplines.
“We are at a point in history where technol
ogy, such as computers, are allowing us to do
phenomenal things,” Raikes said. “In particular,
the university is in a position to become a world
leader in plant genetics.”
Mackenzie said the gift could also serve as a
successful recruiting tool for the department.
She said by focusing on recruiting faculty,
improving the program internally and attracting
excellent students, she hoped to help the UNL
program reach a level “worthy of international
recognition.”
Jeff Raikes’ father, Ralph Raikes, was a
UNL graduate and a nationally known leader in
agriculture. Jeff Raikes credits his father as the
inspiring force behind his gift.
“My family has been very connected with
agriculture for over a hundred years,” he said.
66
My father felt that the university s agricultural research
was absolutely vital to the states economic success
Jeff Raikes
Microsoft vice president
“My father felt that the university’s agricultural
research was absolutely vital to the state’s eco
nomic success.”
Listed in Forbes Magazine as one of the 400
Richest People in America, Jeff Raikes’ person
al net worth is estimated at more than $650 mil
lion. He credits his upbringing on a farm out
side Ashland with both his success and his
desire to give to the university.
“My growing up on a farm in Nebraska was
a very important part of my life,” he said. “Part
of one’s success in life is due to one’s communi
ty, and so we have a responsibility to give back
to that community.”
Raikes said he is one of more than 50
Nebraska natives working at Microsoft who he
looks to from time to time to make contribu
tions.
“Having worked at Microsoft, I’ve been
very fortunate, and I think that we should help
put that success to good use,” he said. “This
isn’t my first gift, and it won’t be my last.”
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Events promote awareness
Do It Sober speech kicks off Alcohol Awareness Week
By Lindsay Henshilwood
Staff writer
Today marks the start of National
Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week,
and some students at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln hope the week’s
events will be bigger and better than
years past.
Events planned for the week
include the kickoff of NU on Wheels -
the safe-ride-home program - a dance,
live music at the Nebraska Union and
the 17th annual Do It Sober speech.
The week starts off with Do It
Sober - an annual speech sponsored
by Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity
and, this year, Delta Delta Delta
Sorority.
John Bunning, chairman of the Do
It Sober program at Sigma Alpha
Epsilon, said he expected this year to
be the most successful year for the
program.
Organizers have spent more
money on promotion this year and for
the first time are focusing promotion
at the residence halls as well as greek
houses, Bunning said. Most greek
houses require their members to
attend Do It Sober.
This year at Do It Sober, Joel
Goldman from Campus Speak, a
www.dailyneb.com
goes perfect with:
milk
chicken
fried potatoes
your Internet
string beans
horsey sauce
national group, will talk about sex
under the influence, aiming to show
how alcohol can dramatically change
people’s lives and their friends’ lives,
Bunning said.
The program starts at 7 p.m. at the
Lied Center for Performing Arts.
On Tuesday and Wednesday Jail
‘N’ Bail will take place from 10 a.m. to
1:30 p.m. outside the Nebraska Union.
For $25, passers-by can bail out
students placed in jail. Jail ‘N’ Bail is
sponsored by Party Smart and Project
Care, Creating an Alcohol
Responsible Environment, and
involves mock breath testing on stu
dents and faculty who want to partici
pate.
The aim of Jail ‘N’ Bail is to raise
awareness of the possible outcomes of
drinking, said Brett Stohls, co-founder
of another venture being kick-started
this week NU on Wheels.
Stohls said the most significant
part of the week will be Thursday’s
launch of NU on Wheels. Stohls
described the service as a free safe
ride-home program.
The service, run through the
Husker Cab Company, will take stu
dents wherever they want to go within
the city limits providing they can show
their ID cards.
It runs on Thursday, Friday and
6t
We are really; really
optimistic that (NU on
Wheels) will be
popular with the
students
Brett Stohls
co-founder of NU on Wheels
Saturday nights from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.
and the phone number is (402) 475
RIDE.
“We are really, really optimistic
that it will be popular with the stu
dents” Stohls said.
Also on Thursday several live
bands, sponsored by Party Smart, a
group that organizes alternative activi
ties for students to do on the week
ends, and the University Program
Council, will play outside the
Nebraska Union.
The Aaron Zimmer Band will play
from 9 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. followed by
Blacklight Sunshine from 10 p.m. to
10:45 p.m.
NetAid concert brings
fund raising to Web
LONDON (AP) - Annie Lennox
and The Eurythmics kicked off the first
of three fund-raising concerts held
Saturday in London, Geneva and New
Jersey and broadcast live on the
Internet to increase awareness about
world poverty.
NetAid organizers had.predicted 1
billion Internet hits on their Web site,
the largest audience ever for a live
music event.
Bono and Wyclef Jean were the
first on stage for a duet at Giants
Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., per
forming for 15,000.
Rochelle Madariaga, 17, of Union
City, N.J., had a front-row seat.
“You know, I’ve never been this
close,” she said. When asked if she
planned to make a donation, she said,
“I’m not too sure. I’ll think about it.”
For the average computer user, the
quality of the London concert footage
was akin to watching a shaky, slow
motion security camera.
By the time Welsh band Catatonia
had taken the stage Saturday evening in
London, an estimated 125,000 Internet
users had tried to log onto the NetAid
Web site, which was designed to be
viewed with a top-speed modem that
most home computers do not have.
The sheer volume of Internet users
also slowed the system, making pic
tures grainy and slowing transmission
time, said Thomas Ritstetter,
spokesman for KPMG Consulting,
which set up the Web site. As Internet
congestion eased, however, the concert
footage became more fluid, although
the images were not as clear as a televi
sion picture.
The three overlapping concerts
were organized by the U.N.
Development Program and the
California-based Internet development
company Cisco Systems Inc. Their
goal was to have people watch the con
cert online, then donate money via the
Internet to victims of poverty in
Kosovo and Sudan.
The Web site was designed to han
dle 1,000 financial transactions per
second, but the amount of money being
donated was unclear.
Speaking before the concert in
Geneva, Mark Malloch Brown, head of
the U.N. Development Program, said
die initiative should be seen as just the
start of a “permanent coalition to fight
poverty.”
“Judge us not by the revenue we
generate, but by tile number of Internet
hits we get,” Malloch Brown said.