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COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 68
NU president defends fetal cell research
By Josh Knaub
Staff writer
University of Nebraska officials
f are standing behind the use of tissue
from aborted fetuses for medical
| research despite recent controversy.
NU has come under fire from
s state politicians and Creighton
1 University counterparts for using
i j* fetal brain cells for Alzheimer’s dis
v ease research.
%
NU President Dennis Smith said
in a letter sent Tuesday to Gov. Mike
Johanns that he would not cease the
studies conducted on brain cells at the
University of Nebraska Medical
Center.
A Bellevue doctor, who performs
abortions, provides the fetuses free to
the Medical Center.
Johanns had written Smith to
request an end to the research, which
he called “particularly disturbing.”
U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel has also
released a statement condemning the
practice.
“I believe the use of human fetal
tissue obtained from induced abor
tions for medical research is wrong
and should not be pursued,” Hagel
said in the statement.
Smith and other officials said the
issue was not about abortion rights
but about academic freedom.
James Linder, interim dean of the
College of Medicine at UNMC, said
the research was not unique to
Nebraska.
He said fetal tissue research had a
20-year history in the United States
Mid that 288 separate projects involv
ing fetal cells are in progress in the
country.
He said work with fetal cells at
UNMC began in 1997.
“This-is important research/’
Linder said. “If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t
be going on.”
Linder said he appreciated
Johanns’ feelings on the issue, but as
a physician, Linder thought the
research was necessary.
Gail Latta, president of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
Academic Senate, said research using
fetal cells was important to future
developments in treating brain dis
eases.
Latta said politics should not be
part of any research-related deci
Please see RESEARCH on 8
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_ ' /Nate Wagner/ DN
ALPHA TAII OMEGA FRATERNITY freshman Blake Anderson arranges Christmas lights on the hashes in front of his chapter’s house
Wednesday afternoon. Other members of Alpha Tau Omege helped decorate the house from top to bottom.
Gestures prompt basketball poster recall |
I
By Veronica Daehn
Staff writer
There will be no men’s basketball posters
this season because of a gesture three players
made in the picture that officials say was misin
terpreted.
University of Nebraska basketball players
Ross Buckendahl, Rodney Fields and Danny
Walker made what looked like gang signs in the
photograph used in this year’s promotional
poster.
Sports Information Director Chris Anderson
said die hand gestures were not gang signs but
that the posters were recalled anyway.
“Their hands were too closely resembling a
gang sign,” Anderson said. “But it wasn’t (the
1 ' ' ' ~ /
HgirVy 'v - > • ■**■'•< y «■ •
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it wasn’t (the players ’) fault at all. We had determined
it was OK beforehand
- ' • _ - . ■
Chris Anderson
Sports Information director
players’) fault at all. We had determined it was
OK beforehand.”
Head NU Basketball Coach Danny Nee said
the Athletic Department decided to recall the
posters after Lincoln Public School officials said
they would not display them. ^ ,
Nee said he supports the department’s deci
sion.
“It was in our best interest,” he said “There
was a small group of people with a negative
interpretation, and we can’t take that chance.”
Nee said die posters might have tainted the
basketball team in the eyes of Nebraska’s youth.
“There are a lot of young people in
Please see BASKETBALL on 7
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at dailyneb.com
Program
V
By Kimberly Sweet
Senior staff writer
Police hope the streets of Lincoln will have
fewer drunken differs on them this holiday sea
son, thanks to theHelp of some extra uniformed
officers.
Additional officers on the lookout for
drunken drivers will patrol the Lincoln streets,
supported by a program called the Holiday DWI
Project.
Extra officers will be placed downtown and
in other bar-saturated areas from now through
Jan. 4, said Lincoln Police Sgt. Dave Hamly.
Cornhusker Highway, 48th Street and
Highway 2; 56th Street and Highway 2; and the
, Havelock neighborhood will be most heavily
targeted by police, Hamly said.
But officers will be seen mostly in the
downtown area, he said.
The program began officially last weekend.
Extra officers were out after the Nebraska
Colorado football game, Hamly said.
Along with boosting their enforcement dur
ing the next three weekends, extra officers plan
to be out the day of the Nebraska bowl game, he
said.
The program, which is funded by a grant
from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety, is
in its fifth consecutive year in Lincoln.
The office provides funding for 32 priority
counties and communities across Nebraska.
Priority counties are named so by the num
ber of alcohol-related crashes occurring in the
county, said Fred Zwonechek, administrator in
the Highway Safety Office.
Counties that rank high in accidents relative
to their population have the option to receive the
grant.
The total arrests made last year during this
time in Lincoln was 209 -the highest number
of arrests made because of drunken or
impaired driving in the last seven years,
Harnly said.
He expects that record to be broken by lOto
15 percent this year.
The number of people drinking and driving
Please see OFFICERS on 8
' •
SMUTS
Rising fast
Nebraska volleyball player Nancy Meendering
has fought fears and doubts to become one of the
most successful players in NU history. PAGE 9
'
-ill- THURSDAY
Fit for a King December
Richard Eckersley, who designs covers and inside
pages for the University of Nebraska Press, has been
recognized by an British royal society. PAGE 12 Cloudy, high low 43.
