;#;fl
| W
**'■
—---:---—
Kerrey
to leave
Senate
Maurstad, Nelson
possible candidates
By Veronica Daehn
and Lindsay Young
Senior staff
Leaving those in the state’s political circles
wondering who will take his place, U.S. Sen.
Bob Kerrey announced Thursday he will not
seek re-election in November.
After serving two terms in the Senate,
Kerrey said if was time to concentrate on his
personal life.
“At the end of this term I will leave elected
political life with gratitude for the chance to
serve the people of Nebraska in the never-end
ing cause of making this a more perfect union,”
Kerrey said in the speech announcing his deci
sion.
Johanns said he It S JllSt Cl
respects the work
Kerrey has done.
“Sen. Kerrey
and I have been COUTSC.
friends for 20
years,” Johanns Anne Boyle
said in a press State Democratic Party
release. “We
haven’t always
agreed with each other' but I have admired his
commitment to public service and to
Nebraska.”
Anne Boyle, chairwoman of the state
Democratic Party, said Kerrey’s announcement
was nui a surprise.
“He gave us time to reflect (before his
announcement),” Boyle said. “This is not a day
in mourning; it’s just a change in course.”
Lancaster County Democratic Party
Chairman Mike Donlan said Kerrey would be
remembered as an introspective person and for
die humanism he brought to the office.
“We’re very disappointed, not surprised,
but disappointed,” Donlan said.
Chuck Sigerson, chairman of the state
Republican Party, said he did not foresee the
decision.
“Only Bob Kerrey knew, and Bob Kerrey
knew only at the last minute,” Sigerson said.
“We had inklings that he wasn’t going to run,
but nobody knew for sure.”
Donlan said it would be tough to predict
who would try for the spot.
“I don’t know any more than anyone else,”
he said.
Though some names have been tossed out
to take Kerrey’s place, only Attorney General
Don Stenberg, Lincoln Doctor Elliott>Rustad
and Omahan Mary Beth Heaverin have
announced their intentions to run for the
Republican nomination.
Sigerson said the Republicans were confi
dent they would win die U.S. Senate seat.
Johanns’ favorite for the seat, Rep. Doug
Bereuter, announced Thursday he would not
seek a place in the Senate and instead run for
re-election to the House.
“After careful reflection, I concluded that
what I said four years ago remains relevant,”
Bereuter said in a press retease.
“I do not want to serve 12 more years in
elective politics, and that is the minimum one
should expect of a Senate candidate to gain the
necessary seniority and influence to benefit
Please see KERREY on 6
Heather GJenboski/DN
FRESHMAN EUROPEAN STUDIES and German major Lisa Lux, sophomore film studies and English major Brent McCracken and sophomore ele
mentary education major Zachary Stork have a laugh while taking a late-night snack In the Lounge, in the basement of Nelhardt Residence
Center. The Lounge was renovated this fall and reopened Tuesday night as a project of the business learning community.
By Derek Lippincott
Staff writer
Students in Cather, Pound and Neihardt resi
dence halls craving an evening snack no longer
have to wait for a pizza delivery man.
All they have to do is walk downstairs to the
Lounge, the residence complex’s newly renovat
ed snack bar, which was closed first semester for
die changes.
Students of the business learning communi
ty in Cather Residence Hall, with the help of
those in Abel Residence Hall, were handed a
project in the fall of 1998 to renovate the snack
bar, formerly know as the Pub, in the basement
ofNeihardt.
“It was my idea about a year and a half ago
for a project to give the business learning com
munity,” said Glenn Gray, assistant director of
residence life. “It was a good out-of-class activi
ty that would help students use what they learn in
their business classes in a real situation.”
The Lounge features remodeled facilities
including a brighter atmosphere, new televisions
and a revamped menu.
rs take control
■ ■
Cather Residence Director Sheryl Haug said
the Lounge would also offer various events
including dances and a Super Bowl party.
Aside from providing students food and
activities, the project has also provided lifelike
opportunities for business students. Sophomore
business major Angela Vraspir said it was like
starting a business from scratch.
“This project was brought to us in the fall of
1998, and we took over in die spring of 1999,”
Vraspir said. “We started talking about what we
could do different to make it a better place to
hang out. We had to write a business plan. It was
like starting a whole new business.”
Freshman business major Tony Marquez
also saw the project as a great learning opportu
nity.
“It’s a marketing environment so it will give
me a lot of experience at the next level,”
Marquez said. “It’s also nice to work with a lot of
cool people who are in this for the same pur
pose.”
The Lounge is run by two committees of stu
dents. The management committee makes deci
sions on possible menu choices, business hours,
m We had to write a
business plan. It was
like starting a whole
new business.”
Tony Marquez
freshman business major
employment and payroll.
Tbs marketing committee is in charge of get
ting the Lounge’s name out to the campus by
posting signs and setting up dances and other
events.
Renovations of the Lounge were paid for by
a $100,000 grant from Pepsico Inc. to the food
services of the four residence complexes on
campus.
“I think we’re on the brink of something
new,” Marquez said. “I think this project is
something other universities might look into.
We’re just on the brink of our potential.”
—LEGISLATURE—
Senator has support for UNMC bill
■ Research using
aborted fetal tissue
would be illegal.
By Kimberly Sweet
Staff writer
An Omaha senator wants to
end debate overusing aborted fetal
tissue for research at UNMC by
making it illegal.
And he has a majority of sena
tors behind him co-signing die bill.
Sen. John Hilgert of Omaha
introduced a bill Thursday that
would prohibit state employees
and institutions from using abort
ed fetal tissue for any purpose.
Hilgert, who introduced the
bill on behalf of 25 other co-sign
S ,
ers, said the bill is needed to deal
with citizen concerns about the
University of Nebraska Medical
Center’s use of fetal cell brain tis
sue in its research on Alzheimer’s
and Parkinson’s diseases.
“Many citizens have grave
concerns about the use of aborted
fetal tissue,” Hilgert said. “If there
are senators who have concerns
about it, tins bill is a vehicle for
them to voice them ”
Hilgert said he is not for end
ing the research at the University
of Nebraska Medical Center.
Instead, the senator said he thinks
every effort should be made to
obtain die tissue in other ways.
“No one is against the
research,” he said. “We want to ban
the use of aborted fetal tissue.”
Nebraska Right to Life execu
tive director Julie Schmit-Albin
said she and other anti-abortion
activists were grateful Hilgert had
the courage to address the fetal tis
sue issue.
“Being a short session - 60
days - it would have been easy to
ignore this,” Schmit-Albin said.
Drew Miller, a member of the
NU Board of Regents who has
been outspoken about continuing
UNMC’s research, said he was
against Hilgert’s bill.
Even though the bill echoes a
Board of Regents resolution to
look to other sources than elective
abortions for tissue, Miller said,
Hilgert’s bill would cut off the
research before alternate sources
could be secured.
Hilgert said Georgetown
University in Washington, D.C., is
willing and able to begin supply
ing alternative tissue.
But Miller said the tissue that
would come from Georgetown is
not taken from the brain, like tis
sue researchers at UNMC have
been using in their research of
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s dis
eases.
If the University of Nebraska
were given time to develop a
source for obtaining fetal brain tis
sue from sources other than abor
tions, it would be the first in the
nation, Miller said.
But it is a project that will take
time, he said.
“Sen. Hilgert knows perfectly
well that it is going to take a
while,” Miller said. “If you tell
Please see FETAL on 7