Thursday
September 14,2000
Volume 100
Issue 19
dailyneb.com
Since 1901
Daily Nebraskan
petaluma, part four the
strange plot twist into a
DALLAS! mall, ferns and
cowboys included
In Opinion/4
Renowned artist and activist
Maya Angelou takes the pocfium
tonight at the Lied Center
In Arts/8
The Huskers’ bread
and-butter plays include
the vaunted option
In SportsThursday/12
\
i
'Harvard of the Plains': Goal set in UNL blueprint
BY JILL ZEMAN
Once upon a time, the
University of Nebraska was the
“Harvard of the West.”
Since its 1869 founding, its
academic reputation has slipped
a bit - with UNL recently finding
itself in the third tier of U.S. News
and World Report’s ranking of
national universities.
Now, a UNL task force has a
projection for the future: return
ing the university to the academic
limelight in which it once basked.
A 2020 Vision: The Future of
Research and Graduate
Education at UNL, is the blue
print for the next 20 years that was
formulated by the Future
Nebraska task force.
The minds behind the report
belong to faculty and staff mem
bers, administrators and corpo
rate and community representa
tives.
The group, which was led by
former Chancellor James Moeser,
churned out a 61 -page report that
details ways to improve the uni
versity, which include maintain
ing a strong faculty, increasing
graduate program standards and
bolstering the university’s finan
cial status.
Interim Chancellor Harvey
Perlman said the report is not as
much of a plan as it is a compila
tion of suggestions.
Perlman said the major value
of the report is that it will generate
faculty discussion on how to
improve the university.
The report is an idea, and it is
up to the faculty to decide if and
how it will be implemented, he
said.
Perlman said he’s planning
several faculty forums where indi
viduals can voice their opinions
and offer criticisms or sugges
tions about the report.
The report sets forth specific
and general goals for the universi
ty, he said.
The document mainly focus
es on graduate education and
research, but Perlman said under
graduate students and those
involved in the humanities
should not feel neglected by the
report’s contents.
“This is not, by any means, a
complete vision,” he said.
Gail Latta, professor of
libraries and member of the task
force, said the group aimed to
make the report consistent with
the heritage of UNL
The report also lists a number
of schools described as the “aspi
rant family.”
These schools include the
University of California in
Berkeley, University of Michigan
in Ann Arbor and the University of
“It’s good we’re challenging ourselves. But we
should strive to be excellent with our peers. ”
Shelia Scheideler
Academic Senate president
Iowa in Iowa City.
But not all of these top schools
are within the university’s striking
range, said Sheila Scheideler,
Academic Senate president.
Scheideler said the university
should set its sights on compara
ble schools, rather than just the
best universities in the country.
In drawing up an aspiration
list, members of the university
should focus on schools that have
similar programs and student
populations, she said.
“It’s good we’re challenging
ourselves,” she said. “But we
should strive to be excellent with
our peers.”
Please see VISION on 5
Craig Reinsch,
sophomore civil
engineering
major and adult
leader in Boy
Scout Troop 72,
displays the
merit badge he
earned as a Boy
Scout.
Despite gay controversy, Scout support steady
BY GEORGE GREEN
Local groups remain committed
to Nebraska Boy Scouts even as
national support for the group wanes
because of its ban on homosexuals.
“We have not _c
lost anything,” ■ For reactions from
said Richard Boy Scouts at UNL,
Stockton, field seepage5.
director of the
Boy Scouts Cornhusker Council in
Lincoln.
Support for the Cornhusker
Council, which covers 16 counties in
southeast Nebraska, including
Lancaster, has not changed, Stockton
said.
United Way chapters in Gage and
York counties, Nebraska City and
Lincoln provide funds for Nebraska
Scouts, said Steve Smith, a
Comhusker Council executive.
The United Way’s Lincoln chapter
gave $72,000 to the Boy Scouts in July,
said Robin Mahoney, director of fund
distribution and planning for the
Lincoln United Way.
Sexual orientation is not men
tioned under the Lincoln chapter’s
anti-discrimination policy, so the
group did not feel that the Scouts’ ban
was a problem, Mahoney said.
Mahoney also said discrimination
based on sexual orientation is not
prohibited under state law.
The U.S. Supreme Court in June
upheld the Scouts’ ban on acknowl
edged gays holding leadership posi
tions. Since the ban, about a dozen
chapters of the United Way around
the country and other groups have
revoked funding for the Boy Scouts.
Mahoney said the Nebraska chap
ters can continue to support local
[ Scouts, while other chapters across
the nation withdraw aid because each
chapter is autonomous.
Local churches, which sponsor
about 75 percent of Scout troops and
packs, also have not withdrawn their
support for Nebraska Scouts.
Boy Scouts have been meeting for
more than 85 years at St. Paul United
Methodist Church in downtown
Lincoln, and the church will remain a
meeting place for Scouts, said the
Reverend Fred Synder.
Synder said the Scouts’ good work
outweighs any controversies that
arise.
The church is open to many dif
ferent groups whose guidelines might
be slightly different from the church’s,
he said.
“We take a broader view of the
JoshWolfe/DN
organizations,” he said.
TYoop 54 meets at the Cathedral of
the Risen Christ in Lincoln, and the
church will remain the troop’s gather
ing place, said Father Robert Tlicker, a
priest at the church. ,
“Our troop is supported by the
parish and will continue to be,”
Tucker said.
In Washington on Tuesday, a
group of laivmakers in the House of
Representatives moved to repeal the
Boy Scouts of America’s federal char
ter.
A federal charter awards no spe
cial benefits to an organization, but is
seen as an honorary designation.
The federal legislation is expected
to be easily defeated.
Lincoln Public Schools will con
tinue to allow the Scouts to use its
buildings for recruitment and train
ing, said Dave Myers, an assistant to
the LPS superintendent.
Please see SCOUTS on 5
Discrepancies
in stories mar
Vedral's trial
BY JOSH FUNK
As his rape trial continued Wednesday, sus
pended NU linebacker MarkVedral’s lawyer con
tinued to challenge the victim’s story.
In day two of the highly publicized trial, the
victim finished her cross-examination and
Vedral’s roommates and neighbors added their
accounts of the night of the alleged rape.
Several discrepancies surfaced in die testimo
ny of the four men who either lived with Vedral or
next door.
The overall picture of the events of the night of
May 5 and morning of May 6 is clearer, but the
muddied details may be a factor because the case
rests on the narrow issue of whether the woman
consented.
Defense attorney John Sohl explored several
inconsistencies in the woman’s statements
between the June preliminary hearing, her testi
mony this week and with other people’s testimo
ny.
The woman has testified that she awoke in the
early morning of May 6 to find Vedral, whom she
did not recognize then, on top of her engaged in
sexual intercourse.
If convicted, Vedral could face a maximum
penalty of up to 50 years in prison.
The woman turned on a light and caught a
glimpse of the man leaving the room. She later
identified Vedral in a photo lineup.
But later that night, the woman met Vedral
while she was searching the house for Chris
Kelsay, with whom she arrived.
The woman testified that she did not know it
was Vedral until the prosecution showed her a
map of the house’s rooms last week.
“I didn’t look directly at any individual until I
reached the other duplex,” the woman said.
The defense acknowledges that Vedral had sex
with the woman, but he said she was awake
beforehand and consented to the act.
The woman came to Vedral’s 1005 Michelle
Court home for a graduation party that night with
Kelsay.
The woman and Kelsay, who were friends and
had dated before, were both at another party ear
lier that night.
Please see TRIAL on 6
Local clubs found violating ordinance
■ An undercover look finds
two other businesses failing to
follow the no-contact rules.
BY JOSH FUNK
Like a chaperone at a 1950s
school dance, the city council
got out its ruler to mandate
some space between employees
and customers in Lincoln busi
nesses.
So the city banned sexual
contact in all of its businesses
and went after the only strip
club not governed by a no-con
tact provision in state liquor
laws.
Mataya’s Babydolls
Gentlemen’s Theatre Club was
raided Aug. 11, and several peo
ple were cited for violating the
ordinance.
Yet the city’s two other strip
bart^The Nijjlit Before Lounge
Investigation
and The Foxy Lady, offer essen
tially the same entertainment,
and have not been raided under
the new ordinance.
Friday and Saturday, the
Daily Nebraskan accompanied
Mataya’s Babydolls security
agents on an undercover inves
tigation of sexual contact at The
Night Before Lounge and The
Foxy Lady.
Multiple violations of the
city’s “no-contact” ordinance
and liquor laws were found at
both clubs.
For several years, state
liquor laws had banned any
physical contact “involving,any
kissing, or any touching of the
breast, buttock or genital areas”
in liquor-serving establish
ments.
“(The Night Before and Foxy
Lady) have been covered by
similar regulations for several
years," Lincoln Police Chief Tom
Casady said. “We do investiga
tions from time to time on this,”
and police have issued citations.
Nebraska Liquor Control
Commissioner Frosty Chapman
said the rules against contact
had been added within the last
10 years.
But unlike the city’s “no
contact” ordinance, violating
state liquor laws does not carry
any criminal penalties.
Liquor law violations only
affect the business’ liquor
license. The business could sim
ply be warned, or, at worst, its
license could be revoked.
Violations of the city’s ordi
nance carry a maximum penalty
of six months in jail and a $500
fine.
Under th^it law, Lincoln
Police conducted an undercover
investigation at Mataya’s
Babydolls, 5620 Cornhusker
Hwy., in July and August that
culminated with the Aug. 11
raid.
That night, police cited five
dancers, six customers and two
employees, including owner
John Ways Jr., for violating the
ordinance.
At an Aug. 25 hearing, in
which Ways was challenging the
validity of the law, Lincoln
Police officers involved in the
undercover investigation testi
fied about the contact violations
witnessed at Mataya’s.
Many of the exact same acts
police testified constituted vio
lations of the ordinance at
Mataya’s were observed Friday
and Saturday at the other clubs
in town.
Please see CLUBS on 5
ADMIRING
THEIR WORK:
Members of
Alpha Chi
Omega Sorority
look at the side
walk art in front
of Sigma Chi
Fraternity.
Several sorori
ties decorated
the sidewalk in
front of the
house for Sigma
Chi's Derby Days
competition.
P“fek Lippincott/DN