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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 1999)
—»»» »»- TUESDAY Boys of the Big 12 Footing the Bill November 9,1999 Chris Mihm and Eric Chenowith represent die Many believe in public art’s impact on education, I big bookends in the Big 12 Conference for men’s tourism and a city’s beauty, but many disagree on |! basketball. PAGE 10 who should pay for it. BACK PAGE Cloud} ? K 1 f t NO. 55 | UNL ‘ahead of times’ in ' student fee allocation ■ By Kimberly Sweet Senior staff writer « -: * UNL probably won’t be affected by a case brought to the U.S. Supreme Court today that r could crack down on how student fees are used. •* A decision made two decades ago by die NU t Board of Regents puts the University ofNebraska i Lincoln ahead of the times when it comes to v deciding what student fees should subsidize, said James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs. ? But colleges and universities across the nation ? that still rely on student feis to fund campus * groups may be at risk, depending on what the court decides. The dtefrfewhether puhlir uniwerm ties can charge mandatory student activity fees to fund campus groups. ' ims is a very important decision tor higher education,” Griesen said. “We’re clearly, in one sense, ahead of the times.” ~ - The issue was brought forward in 1996 after a law student at die University of Wisconsin filed a J lawsuit against die college. A federal judge and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court * ofAppeals ruled that the fees unlawfully force stu ► . dents to subsidize views they don’t agree with. UNL was forced to face the issue in 1978, Griesen said. Controversy over using student fees to sponsor speakers arose after actress Jane Fonda came to campus advocating leftist political views. In 1979, the NU Board of Regents worked with the Association of Students of the University ofNebraska and voted to put a system in place that eliminated mandatory fees for all campus organi zations except for three - the Daily Nebraskan, the University Program Council and ASUN. The regents said students could give up the benefits the subsidies provided and get a reftmd. Please see FEES on 6 ByJoshKnaub Staffwriter The role of UNUs Culture Center is to be a place to support campus minority groups. Instead, those groups say the facility’s poor condition inhibits their work. But student action and a receptive administra tion may make the Culture Center the cultural mainstay all involved say they would like to have. Daryl Swanson, University of Nebraska Lincoln unions director, said he considers die Culture Center to be the university’s third union. % “It has most of the components of the other unions,” Swanson said. “It has meeting rooms, student organization offices, computer labs and a TV lounge. It has a large meeting space.” M I can certainly understand why today s generation of students would be unsatisfied with the facility Daryl Swanson Nebraska Unions director While the Culture Center does have these facilities, itwould be a stretch to say they are equal to similar spaces in the City or East unions. Much of the building is not accessible to wheelchairs. Carpet in the lounge space is ratty, and the building’s interior paint is worn thin. Offices, like those of Afrikan People’s Union, Mexican American Student Association and die University ofNebraska Inter-Tribal Exchange, are accessible by a narrow stairway. Computers in the building’s two labs are out of-date. Three computers still have 5.25-inch flop Please see CENTER on 7 f -'’WqilMpilHHIPippppnVRISlipipVBpppRpiKPipiiqipiRpiill^HIHpilll, Newsmakers A WEST BERMAN COlWLEenWraces la front of the Berlin WON before It was lifted darlaf the cellapee of ceeeaenliai la East Bertie ea Nev. 10,1909. November 1999 amfcs the 10* anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The wall fell after weeks of aatHovenaneat protests Nov. 9,1989. The fall of the wall Is often described as the "End of the Cold War.” A decisive step in German history ■ But after the fall of the Berlin Wall 10 years ago, some divisions still remain, Germans say. -- . By Brian Carlson Staff writer On Nov. 9, 1989, 15-year-old Christiane Mischek attended a commu nity meeting in her hometown ofWeida, East Germany, less than an hour’s (hive from the Wsst German border. The meeting took place amid highly charged times. Mischek, now a gradu ate student in German and secondary education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, could not have guessed that by the time the meeting ended, fee Berlin Wall - since 1961 symbol of a divided Europe - would have fallen. Around East Germany, in cities like Leipzig and Dresden, citizens were tak ing to the streets to protest the commu nist regime. The protests woe peaceful, but many East Germans, mindful of previous times when the Soviet Union crushed protests in Eastern Europe, were wary of more of the same. “In Leipzig, die situation was very intense,” Mischek said “They brought in tanks and the army, and they were just waiting to get the call, ‘CMC, now go for it’” By the time she left the meeting hall that night, die history of Germany and the worid had taken a new course. After the meeting had carried on for a while, a local official made his way to the front of the crowded hall. Stepping to the podium, he announced that the wall had been opened. “At this point it was all quiet. Everything just stopped,” Mischek recalled. “It was all quiet for a couple of seconds.” She remembers her mother saying the man must be crazy. But many people in the crowd pushed forward, placing candles at the front of the room. The Crowd sponta neously broke into a rendition of the West German national anthem, previ ously forbidden. As Mischek nude her way into the street, she remembered, she already feh more free. “I think we all kind of knew some thing was going to change,” she said. “We all had expectations and great hope, but not in that way. “It was still kind of like, ‘Is it true?’ This was all like a dream.” Please see BERLIN on 8 ReadtheDailyNebra8kanontheWorldWideWebatdailyneb.com