S in prayer case
ByJillZeman
Staff writer
The question of whether student-led prayer is
permissible at school events, such as football
games, is on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court,
and the state of Nebraska is involved.
A Galveston County, Texas, school board is
appealing a lower court ruling that student-led
prayer on the public address system at sporting
events is unconstitutional, said Steve Grasz, chief
deputy to Nebraska’s attorney general.
Along with eight other states, Nebraska
signed an amicus curiae brief asking die Supreme
Court to hear the Texas case, Grasz said. A deci
sion is expected by the end of June 2000.
Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg, on
the basis of free speech and religious rights,
showed he supported the position of the Texas
school board by signing the brief, Grasz said.
Not all area high schools agree with
Stenberg’s decision to support the appeal.
Mike wortman, principal at Lincoln nigh
School, said the school would not modify its poli
cies if the Supreme Court ruled in favor of stu
dent-led prayer but would allow discussion if a
group such as the student council proposed a
change.
“We are dedicated to diversity and honoring
the right of students to be unique,” Wortman said.
Administrators at Lincoln High School will
need to discuss the school’s policy regarding
school prayer, but Wortman said he did not antici
pate allowing prayer in school.
Currently, Lincoln Southeast High School
does not permit prayer at school events, said
Associate Principal Patrick Hunter-Pirtle.
Lincoln Southeast is a public institution, with
students of many faiths, and the school needs to be
respectful of all religions, Hunter-Pirtle said.
He argued not all students pray the same way,
and offering a student-led prayer on the public
address system runs the risk of offending.
“How would Christian students react to a
Buddhist-led prayer?” asked Hunter-Pirtle.
«
We are dedicated to diversity and honoring the right of
students to be unique.”
Mike Wortman
Lincoln High School principal
Lincoln Southeast is home to several
Christian-affiliated groups, such as Fellowship of
Christian Athletes and a Bible study club, and he
said prayer is allowed in these groups as only par
ticipants are affected.
If the Supreme Court rules that student-led
prayer is constitutional, the Lincoln Southeast
school officials will consult other public school
administrators in order to be responsive to all stu
dents’ needs, Hunter-Pirtle said.
Hunter-Pirtle said the case is affected by the
Columbine High School tragedy and other recent
school-related violence because it is increasing
support for school prayer.
“They’re taking a complex social issue and
offering a very simplistic answer, thinking it will
change schools,” he said.
Supporters of the appeal believe that the gov
ernment is censoring die religious rights of stu
dents by not allowing them to speak freely, Grasz
said. Stenberg believes allowing student-led
prayer over the public-address system protects
students’ religious liberty and ffee-speech rights,
Grasz said.
If the Supreme Court approves the appeal, stu
dents will be allowed to pray at sporting events.
Research-stopping
efforts worry faculty
RESEARCH from page 1
of Sunday, McShane would not com
ment on it
Mary Beck, a professor of animal
science and another winner of the acad
emic freedom award, said concerns
about inhibiting academic freedom
exist at the university.
“It would be difficult for me to see
how anyone who believes in the bigger
mission of academics would condemn
academic freedom as this would,” Beck
said.
James Cole, a psychology professor
emeritus and winner of the award, said
he faced a similar situation in the 1970s
at Nebraska. The Legislature threatened
to cut funding to the university if it did
n’t ban human sexuality classes and fire
the faculty associated with them, Cole
said.
Cole won the academic freedom
award for fighting the legislature’s deci
sion.
“This is a typical reaction,” Cole
said. “When politicians don’t like an
idea, they threaten to intervene.”
In related news, UNMC officials
announced on Friday that they would
seek fetal cells from other sources to do
their research.
Cells from spontaneous abortions,
ectopic pregnancies and stillbirths will
be used when possible, officials said.
But because of the limited availability,
aborted fetuses would still be used, they
said.
Fiesta Rotot could
bring back memories
BOWL from page 1
was a game that was a very close ball
game; it came right down to the end.”
No. i5 Tennessee comes into the
game with memories of its own after
beating Florida State 23-16 there last
year for the national championship.
“It’s the best we’ve ever been to,”
UT Coach Philip Fulmer said.
“Obviously, we have very fond memo
ries ofbeing there lastyear and a special
time in our football tradition.”
Tennessee comes into the game
haying won its final two games over
Kentucky and Vanderbilt handily. UT
was 7-1 and heading toward a possible
national title bid when it lost to
Arkansas 28-24. •
✓ Hach-it won that game—in'
Fayetteville, Ark., the Vols would likely
be in New Orleans playing Florida
State.
As it was, the defense that had held
Tennessee up for most of the season
finally faltered in toe second half. Most
of the year, it was UT’s offense that
failed to execute. A few mishaps on
both sides led to the losses.
“We were probably two or three
plays or six points, just the same as
Nebraska, from being an undefeated
football team,” Fulmer said.
Solich answered several questions
from reporters concerning the game
played two years ago, only briefly turn
ing his attention to the game at hand.
“I think you have a tremendously
balanced football team in Tennessee, in
terms of their offense, defense and spe
cial teams. It should be a great
matchup,” he said.
A student ticket lottery will start
today, NU Ticket Director John
Anderson said. An allotment of 1,000
tickets, at $75 each, will be put in a lot
"Tery, although Anderson said the lottery
hadn’t been needed in the past
“We have one anyway,” Anderson
said Friday.
Anderson said the seats will likely
be in the lower end zone of Sun Devil
Stadium, as they have been for many of
die NU bowl games.
Hudson Foods acquitted
of lying to investigators
HUDSON from page 1
owed the two men an apology.
“The judge decided no reasonable
person could find these men guilty of
the charges,” Romatowski said, refer
ring to a set of charges that Urbom
threw out last week. “And our problem
was we weren’t dealing with reasonable
people
U.JLaltomey Tom Monaghan_and
Assistant US. Attorney Jan Sharp, who
prosecuted the case, declined comment
after the verdict was delivered.
“The message here is that in this
trial, what you saw is the extreme steps
a company goes through to ensure food
safety,” Hudson’s attorney Ty Cobb
said. “It is not good business to sell bad
food.”
Wolke continues to work at the
Columbus plant, which was closed
-after the recall and later sold to IBP Inc.
Gregory works for Tyson Foods.
r-n
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