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RIGHT:
Signs opposing
initiative 416
were prevalent
ata National
Coining Out Day
rally in front of
the Nebraska
Union
Wednesday
afternoon.
About 100 peo
ple gathered to
hearspeakers
that included
Joel Schafer,
ASUN President,
who said he was
against the ini
tiative and for
gay rights in
Nebraska.
BOTTOM:
Alex Mason, 8,
holdsasign
opposing
Initiative 416 on
the steps of the
State Capitol on
Wednesday. He
said he wanted
*416 to go."
We're queer - Get used to if
■This year's Coming Out Day takes a political
tone as gay rights supporters encourage people
to step out of the closet and vote against 416.
BY VERONICA DAEHN
In front of the Nebraska Union Wednesday,
Lincoln resident James Gaster leaned into the guy
next to him, draped an arm around his shoulder
and said "This is my boyfriend.”
Gaster and his boyfriend, Cozad resident
Allen Mladek, were at UNL Wednesday to cele
brate National Coming Out Day.
Close to 100 people - student, non-student,
gay, straight - gathered to support gay and les
bian rights and to oppose Initiative 416 at a rally
in front of the union.
That same group of people then marched to
the State Capitol, where speakers protested
Initiative 416, the constitutional amendment that
would ban same-sex unions.
The human train of marchers held signs and
chanted “No to 416!” as they walked.
Gaster called the initiative "evil” and said peo
ple needed to accept those who were gay and les
bian.
"We’re here, we’re queer - get used to it,” he
said. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”
Brent McCracken, a junior film studies major,
said he was tired of his generation keeping quiet
in the face of controversial issues.
“I’m straight, but I promote tolerance and a
general well-being and love among all people,”
McCracken said.
Initiative 416, the Defense of Marriage
Amendment, is wrong, he said.
“People are being led astray,” McCracken said.
“(416) is actually a promise of hatred and bigotry.
I’m for all people.”
Giuli Chingren, a senior English major, dis
agrees with homosexuality but marched in the
rally anyway.
She is a bit different than most other gay- and
lesbian-rights supporters.
Chingren calls herself a straight, Christian
Republican who is heavily involved in the cam
paign against Initiative 416.
Chingren said she was hopeful the initiative,
which will appear on the election ballot Nov. 7,
would fail.
Nebraska has a large population of conserva
tive people, and Chingren said conservatives
believed in equal rights for all people.
They also support maintaining the
Constitution, she said, because changing it would
essentially increase the size of government.
She said she thought conservative
Nebraskans would realize this and vote against
the initiative.
"I can’t allow myself to think this will pass,”
Chingren said. “It’s too disheartening. I believe
people in Nebraska are fair-minded.”
Because of her religious and political prefer
ences, Chingren said she realized she might have
a stronger pull with those conservatives support
ing the initiative.
She has talked to many Christians and has
helped them better understand the issue, she
said.
"As a Christian, you cannot force your views
on other people,” Chingren said. “You can love
the gay community. God loves them, too.”
Please see RALLY on 3
Debate
sways
few
BY BRIAN CARLSON
With the presidential race in a statistical dead
heat, Wednesday night’s second debate between
George W. Bush and A1 Gore had the potential to
make a large impact
“What we’ve got here is the tightest race since
1960, between Kennedy and Nixon,” said Kevin
Smith, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln political
science professor. “The bottom line is the race is so
tight, these debates might actually mean some
thing.”
But among a group of a few dozen students
who gathered to watch Wednesday’s night’s debate
in the Nebraska Union, there was scant evidence
the debate made much difference.
Smith moderated a post-debate discussion.
When he asked whether any of the group changed
their minds after watching, no students raised
their hands.
One student, Jean Schumacher, said she
entered the debate undecided and still had not
made up her mind after 90 minutes of give-and
take between Bush, the Republican, and Gore, the
Democrat.
“I’m basically looking for one strong point that
makes me trust the candidate, but I haven't found
it yet,” said Schumacher, a sophomore advertising
major.
Said Smith: “You’re a small representative sam
ple, but political scientists would probably say
most undecided voters would echo your senti
ments.”
Because mis aeDaie was more civil, Mmtn saia,
it bore more resemblance to last week’s vice presi
dential debate between Republican Dick Cheney
and Democrat Joe Lieberman than to Bush and
Gore’s first encounter.
“This seemed to me to be more of a debate
between grown-ups, instead of two candidates
saying, ‘Did not. Did too. Did not. Did too,’” Smith
said.
At a time when violence has engulfed the
Middle East and a democratically elected presi
dent has ousted former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic, the debate focused heavily on
foreign policy and military issues.
Bush generally favored a strong military
buildup, but said he was reluctant to overextend
troop commitments or ask U.S. forces to partici
pate in "nation-building” activities, as in Somalia
and Haiti.
Gore said the United States should defend U.S.
values through humanitarian interventions, as in
Bosnia and Kosovo. He said the United States has
successfully conducted nation-building through
out its history, as in the rebuilding of Europe after
World Warn.
Please see DEBATE on 3
$90,000 might buy new leader |
■ A Los Angeles firm will conduct a
national search for a new chancellor,
though administrators say Harvey
Perlman's still in the running.
BYJILLZEMAN
Finding a new chancellor for UNL
costs a lot more than the price of a
classified ad in the newspaper.
About $90,000 more, in fact.
The university hired an outside
firm based in Los Angeles, Kom/Ferry
International, to help identify and
recruit top candidates for UNL’s high
est position, said Joe Rowson, NU
spokesman.
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln is looking for a replacement
for former Chancellor James Moeser,
who left last July to become chancel
lor of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill.
Former College of Law Dean
Harvey Perlman is acting as interim
chancellor.
The $90,000 paid to the firm is a
# |f
standard fee determined by the com
pany itself. UNL also used the compa
ny to hire NU President Dermis Smith,
he said.
The money comes from the uni
versity’s human resources fund, he
said.
Kowson said Korn/berry was qual
ified to recruit candidates because its
employees were involved and familiar
with many higher-up university offi
cials in the country.
The firm recruits candidates and
convinces them to look at the hiring
schools, he said.
“Many times, the most qualified
people for jobs don’t look at ads,” he
said.
The university’s effort to look out
side the University of Nebraska for a
possible chancellor does not exclude
Perlman from the permanent posi
tion, Rowson said.
“We want to know for sure we’re
hiring the best candidate,” he said.
Jim Van Etten, search committee
chairman, said the firm would be able
to generate a list of candidates faster
than the members of the committee
5
“Many times, the most
qualified people for jobs
don’t look at ads ...We
want to know for sure
we’re hiring the best
candidate. ”
Joe Rowson
NU spokesman
could.
The committee, which consists of
students, community leaders and fac
ulty members, doesn’t always have
the time to recruit and review candi
dates, he said.
The firm and the committee will
work together to find a new chancel
lor, he said.
An advertisement will be placed in
the Chronicle of Higher Education
along with other educational publica
tions, he said.
The committee members hope to
start reviewing candidates' files by
early November, he said.
I
Ethics panel OKs rules
BY VERONICA DAEHN
Members of a committee formed in
response to the use of aborted fetal tissue at
UNMC approved several guidelines for use
of stem cells in research Wednesday.
The Nebraska Bioethics Advisory
Committee looked at recommendations
made by the National Bioethics Advisory
Commission, a group formed by President
Clinton in November 1998.
Nebraska’s committee approved a rec
ommendation that said federal agencies
should not fund research that would use
cells from embryos made specifically for
research purposes.
The committee also approved a recom
mendation that would mandate
researchers to provide information to
prospective embryo donors before they
made a decision about what to do with the
embryo.
The recommendation reads: “Prior to
considering the potential research use of
the embryos, a prospective donor should
have been presented with the option of
storing the embryos, donating them to
another woman or discarding them.”
The person requesting the embryo
donation should make it clear that refusing
or consenting to donate would not affect
future medical treatment
The general nature of the research also
needs to be described, and the source of
funding should be disclosed, the recom
mendation states.
The donor should also know the
research would involve the destruction of
the embryos, it reads.
The Bioethics Advisory Committee was
formed by University of Nebraska President
Dennis Smith in response to criticism the
University of Nebraska Medical Center
received last spring for using aborted fetal
tissue in research.
Another recommendation approved by
the committee prohibits researchers from
promising donors that their embryos
would be used on a specific subject or
patient
Embryos and other fetal tissue should
not be bought or sold, another approved
guideline reads.
Committee member John Janovy, a
UNL biology professor, said the guidelines
were tentative. The wording will be adjust
ed before they actually go into effect, he
said.
But once that is done, the guidelines
will be university policy on stem cell
research.
The committee’s work was worth it,
Janovy said.
“We made progress today,” he said.
V 9
