ir Nebraskan
American students help
international students soak
up their new surroundings
In News/5
Third-ranked Huskers
take dean record to
UCom Classic
In SportsWeekend/12
Robynn Ragland, acoustic
guitarist, knocked down
roadblocks to her suc
cess
In Arts/8
TOP: More than
2,000 people
filled the Lied
Center for
Performing Arts
on Thursday to
listen to Maya
Angelou's
speech. Angelou
urged people to
compose their
lives with laugh
ter, acceptance
and confidence.
BOTTOM: Maya
Angelou accepts
a standing ova
tion at the'
beginning of her
speech Thursday
night at the Lied
Centerfor
Performing Arts.
Angelou said
the human spirit
could rise above
anything.
I :
STILLRISING...
Angelou's spirit moves crowd
BY VERONICA DAEHN
The poetic lyricism of Maya Angelou was
enough to bring goosebumps to the flesh and the
Lied Center audience to its feet - three times by the
end of the famed poet’s Thursday night talk.
“Hey, there I go,” Angelou said before she left
the stage, pointing up toward the sky. “Rising.
Composing.”
Focclose to an hour, one of the world’s best
poets held an audience of more than 2,000 people
captive in the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
Angelou, best known for her autobiography, “I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” spoke about
embracing laughter, love and optimism: They are
what compose the human spirit, she said, and life
is about learning how to compose.
“You are in this institute of higher education so
you can learn how to compose,” Angelou said. “So
you can learn to compose this world in which we
find ourselves.”
Through a series of poems - most of them writ
ten by black authors - Angelou told audience
members how to live their lives to the fullest. She
told them how to embrace what is important in the
world.
She said laughter and love should play key roles
in anyone’s life.
“I love laughter," Angelou said. “I never trust
people who don’t laugh. To know what you came
nere tor ana wny you re supposea to compose
yourself, you must laugh.”
Angelou said she loved poems that made her
laugh. Poetry is crucial to a happy life filled with
tenderness, she said.
Courage is also important. Angelou told at least
two stories about people whose paths of life taught
them to be courageous.
One story was about her son, who was para
lyzed because of a car accident years ago. He has
since learned to walk with a cane and underwent
his seventh spinal operation last year, she said.
While he was getting his stitches out - 122 of
them - he called his mom and asked her to recite
the poem, “Invictus” by William Henley, which she
had encouraged him to memorize when he was a
child.
That helped him through the pain, she said.
“Everyone has gone to bed with pain, fear, grief,
terror and disappointment,” Angelou said. “And
each of us has risen. There’s a nobleness of the
human spirit. Despite it all, still we rise.”
Kristen Perk, a freshman undecided major, said
she came to hear Angelou for a class. It was well
worth the effort to fulfill the assignment, she said.
“She has such a good outlook on life," Perk said.
“She was very inspirational.”
Jessica Tok, a freshman biology and computer
science major, agreed that Angelou was a worthy
speaker.
David Gasen/DN
"She was fascinating,” Tok said.
Though Angelou spoke for only a short while,
ier message lingered even after she had left the
stage.
“By all means, keep the laughter in your hearts
ind keep the poetry in your minds and souls,” she
said.
Vedral
testimony
unshaken
■The prosecution could notfind cracks in the
former NU football player's story, while the two
police witnesses'accounts were quickly contested.
BY JOSH FUNK
At times Thursday afternoon the prosecution
looked flustered as suspended NU linebacker Mark
Vedral testified on his own behalf.
The state concluded its case at noon before Vedral
and a medical expert took the stand to challenge the
first-degree sexual assault allegations in the trial’s
third day.
The defense will present its final witnesses in
Lancaster County District Court this morning before
closing arguments when the case will be turned over
to the jury.
Among the final prosecution witnesses Thursday
were two police officers who investigated the case
and presented potentially damning evidence, but it
was quickly contested.
Lincoln Police Investigator Richard Doetker said
he found an unopened condom and a discarded pair
of red and black Calvin Klein boxer briefs in Chris
Kelsay’s bedroom where the alleged attack occurred.
The defense acknowledged both the items were
Vedral’s. The defense admits Vedral and the woman
had sex during the early morning hours of May 6. The
woman, who is a University of Nebraska-lincoln stu
dent, said she awoke to find Vedral on top of her, fully
penetrated inside her and having sex.
The other officer, Detective Sgt. Greg Sorensen, *
interviewed Vedral, 22, after the alleged assault.
Comments Vedral made to Sorensen during the drive
to the police station before he had been arrested were
admitted after Judge Bernard McGinn determined
Vedral made them freely.
Sorensen said he told Vedral that an ex-girlfriend
of Chris Kelsay’s had said she “woke up to having sex
with MarkVedral, and she didn’t want to have sex with
Mark.”
Vedral and Kelsay shared the 1005 Michelle Court
duplex in southwest Lincoln with TraceyWistrom and
Kyle and Keith Vanden Bosch. The woman had been
at their house with Kelsay for a May 5 graduation
party.
Sorensen said Vedral told him he “had gone into
(Kelsay’s) room and lay on the bed. Then he said they
started kissing and having sex.
"He said then she realized that I was not Chris and
asked me to stop.”
But when Vedral took the stand he told a different
version of the conversation in the car. On cross exam
ination, Sorensen admitted several hours passed
between that conversation and the time the report
was written.
Vedral said he was the one who told Sorensen the
woman had said she mistook him for Kelsay when
she awoke. Vedral had learned that from his room
mates and two neighbors, who had talked with the
woman after the alleged attack.
Please see VEDRAL on 7
Slack no more:
UNL gives boot
to online notes
| BY VERONICA DAEHN
Last year, some students at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln were not just attending classes
to learn, but some were also making money on the
side.
An influx of online note-taking companies
bombarded the college scene last year, and UNL
students were not shy in signing up for the job.
But because of action taken by the NU Board of
Regents in June, students can no longer sell their
lecture notes to an online service. If they do, they
will be in violation of the Student Code of Conduct,
according to the motion passed by the board.
Regent Chuck Hassebrook of Lyons said stu
dents selling lecture notes to online companies
were undermining the teaching and learning
processes.
“Students learn more by going to class,”
Hassebrook said. “These notes allow students to
not go to class.”
Companies such as versity.com, notesu.com
and allstudents.com hired a herd of university stu
dents from across the country last year to post their
lecture notes on the Web.
Students received up to $400 for a semester of
note-taking.
. Studentsu.com listed 82 courses for which UNL
students had taken notes.
Please see NOTES on 7
Club doors still shut; owners face liquor charges
BYJILLZEMAN
A glance inside Studio 14’s dark-tinted windows
reveals adornments of the highest scale: statues and
fountains - without a Nebraska football helmet in
plain sight.
Theyet-to-be opened club, at 1415 O St., is all pol
ished and ready to go, but without that important
piece of paper that makes everything work out: the
liquor license.
The marquee of the former State Theater, which
earlier had proclaimed the club’s debut, now offers a
more dubious display.
“R U Ready?” its asks. “We’re Not.”
The club is headed by a slew of former Husker
football players: Lance Brown, CEO, along with Joel
Makovicka, Chad Kelsay, Matt Thrman, Jeff Lake and
Billy Haafke.
The hearing for the license is set for Sept. 22, said
Frosty Chapman, Nebraska liquor control commis
sioner.
Chapman said the application has neither been
accepted nor denied, rather it needed to be reviewed
before the commission can decide.
The status of the club is up in the air because of
two separate incidents that may prevent Brown from
obtaining a liquor license.
Brown had been charged with his second offense
of driving while intoxicated, Chapman said.
To add to the group’s troubles, the club has suf
fered an after-hours liquor violation, he said.
But these charges don’t automatically dismiss the
club from obtaining a liquor license, he said.
If the club is approved for the license, it will open
the night of the hearing, Brown said.
The club will not open without its liquor license,
he said.
Brown said he would not talk about any aspect of
the hearing or the club itself, upon advice of his
lawyer.
■' -
v I
MiKewarren/un
Studio 14 had its grand opening postponed several times and is trying to obtain a liquor license from the City Council.
We 11 just have to wait until Fnday, he said.
The club was originally scheduled to open its
doors Sept. 7.
But the hype surrounding Studio 14’s potential
opening hasn’t affected other clubs on O Street, said
Kimbe Meares, Club 1427 co-owner.
s. '1 '
lhe club, at 1427 U St., plays mainly huropean
dance music. Meares said the overall spirit of patrons
who may attend Studio 14, if it opens, should be ben
eficial to the downtown dance scene.
“If they can bring more people to dance, it’s a good
thing,” Meares said.