Friday
October 27,2000
Volume 100
Issue 48
dailyneb.com
Since 1901
Financial benefits of Antelope
Valley plan outlined in report
In News/5
The rivalry runs deep:
Former players, coaches
recount its roots
In SportsFriday/16
^ 4
Do you believe in ghosts?
Many tales of ghosts and
tragedies live on campus
In Arts/10
■ Interim Chancellor Harvey Perlman should be
purged from the list of possible chancellors,
Regent Robert Allen says.
BY VERONICA DAEHN
©COPYRIGHT2000 DAILY NEBRASKAN
Interim Chancellor Harvey Perlman shouldn’t be
considered for the permanent chancellor position,
Hastings Regent Robert Allen wrote in an Oct. 20 let
ter, because of his "attention and interest in helping
homosexuals."
The letter, written to members of the Board of
Regents and obtained by the Daily Nebraskan, said as
dean of the Nebraska College of Law, Perlman spon
sored “several homosexual items," including a gay
dating service.
Allen also objected to Perlman’s telling members
of UNL’s Academic Senate that he was opposed to
Initiative 416, which would ban gay and lesbian mar
^ 1 —
riages, civil unions and domestic partnerships in
Nebraska.
Perlman, who said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll
be in the running for the permanent chancellor posi
tion, refused to comment on Allen’s letter but said the
two had spoken on the phone since the letter was
written.
“Regent Allen is certainly entitled to his opinion,"
Perlman said. “And it differs from my opinion.”
In an interview, Allen said the university should
not be taking stances on controversial issues, such as
Initiative 416.
“Why get involved?” Allen said. “It’s not going to
help us.”
With UNUs large number of administrative open
ings, speaking out on controversial issues can’t help
the university rebuild, Allen said.
“This is a time where we need to do the things that
are in the best interest of the state,” Allen said. “And
that is not to get involved in Initiative 416 on either
side.”
Allen said Perlman’s remarks against Initiative 416,
- ---- -'•*•** • .-'—~-1
and his support of gays and lesbians while dean of the
College of Law, would harm UNL
“Considering Harvey Perlman's attention and
interest in helping homosexuals,” Allen wrote, “his
public comments regarding Initiative 416 should not
have come as a surprise.”
Allen, who owns a furniture store in Hastings, said
he has had experience with homosexuals, having fired
one "years ago for soliciting young boys.”
But Allen said he also has employed a gay man for
the last 17 years.
“I have a homosexual work for me,” Allen said.
“And I love him dearly. But if you get too much of that,
it hurts your school, and I think Harvey’s done that.”
Allen’s letter said he was both “surprised” and “dis
appointed” with Perlman’s comments about Initiative
416.
The letter also stated Allen had been disappointed
with former UNL Chancellor Graham Spanier for sup
porting and helping with Perlman's "homosexual
items.”
One of the “homosexual items” to which Allen
I
referred in his letter was the “dating service” Allen said
Perlman started in the law college.
The dating service was a gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgendered law student organization, Allen said
While Allen said he likes Perlman, the interim
chancellor’s “homosexual baggage” would damage
the university, he said.
“It’s not that Harvey isn’t a talented guy; he is,”
Allen said. “But he’s not helping the university by talk
ing about 416 publicly.
“It is my opinion,” Allen wrote in the letter, “that
the vast majority of Nebraska citizens would prefer
that our university avoid doing anything that would
encourage anyone to be involved in the homosexual
lifestyle, or in any form of sexuality, for that matter.”
McCook Regent Don Blank wrote a letter to the
regents, which he would not provide to the Daily
Nebraskan, in response to Allen’s letter.
It is important to realize Allen doesn’t represent
the majority when it comes to support for Perlman.
Please see PERLMAN on 8
Nate Wagner/DN
First-year ceramic graduate student Kari Radasch deans a spray booth that will be turned into the smaller of the test kilns used at Richards Hall. Radasch's kiln-building dass set the con
crete foundations for the kilns Thursday afternoon. Below, the building, under construction.
aNew
beginning
Richards renaissance
gives hall new life
BYJILLZEMAN
Room numbers are displayed by white pieces of
paper taped to doors with the number printed on
them.
Signs in some of the doorways warn of wet paint,
and some of the bathrooms do not have mirrors.
Exposed wires and ventilation shafts line a few
hallways, and every now and then a ladder can be
seen next to rows of offices.
The art students who attend classes in Richards
Hall, a UNL building being renovated, encounter
these unusual sights every day.
Despite the temporary quirks, Richards Hall
should be one of the best art buildings in the country
when it’s completed, said Barry Shull, UNL manager
of architectural and engineering services for
Facilities Management and Planning.
The doors are open for Richards Hall, as a kiln
Please see BUILDING on 5
Ode to Norman: One man's view
Editor’s Note: Whatfollows is a
Daily Nebraskan reporter’s testa
ment to Nebraska Football and
The Game of the Century.
BY BRIAN CARLSON
I’ve always tried to keep the
Nebraska-Oklahoma rivalry in
perspective.
The important thing to
remember, you see, is that it’s not
life and death.
It’s a whole lot more.
So it is with overwhelming
and indescribable emotion that
I, and not a few like-minded
Husker diehards, greet the long
overdue, yet shockingly soon,
return of the vaunted rivalry
tomorrow in Norman, Okla.
it
Game of the Century.
It is almost impossible to
overstate the game’s profound
significance.
I’m among those who believe
the game between Nebraska and
Oklahoma, Nos. 1 and 2 respec
tively in the Bowl Championship
Series rankings, marks nothing
less than the most significant
historical development since the
end of the Cold War.
Lunacy? Sure. Insanity? Yep.
Questionable life priorities? Of
course.
So?
It must be generational.
The way to understand this
seemingly unhealthy obsession
with the rivalry is this:
t
I’m too young to remember
197l’s Game of the Century,
when Johnny Rodgers and the
Huskers beat the Sooners 35-31
in what is generally considered
the greatest game ever played. It
is only a nostalgic afterthought
from a time when I was not a
gleam in anyone’s eye.
So my earliest memories of
the rivalry are from 1985, '86 and
’87, when the Huskers went
down to bitter defeats. In 1987,
the No. 1 Huskers lost 17-7 to the
No. 2 Sooners, and I cried all
night, as if a part of me had died.
Such experiences taught me
the world is a bleak, nasty, unfor
Please see RIVALRY on 8
V.
Gameday
Nebraska vs
Oklahoma
Saturday, @
11 a.m.
Memorial Stadium,
Norman, Okla.
ABC (KLKN 8 &
KETV 7)
Pinnacle Sports
Network (1400-AM
KLIN)
416 leader:
I'm moving'
BYJILLZEMAN
©COPYRIGHT2000 DAILY NEBRASKAN
Three days after the general
election, Guyla Mills, chair
woman of the Defense of
Marriage - Yes to 416 committee,
will pack her bags and leave
Nebraska, her political battle
ground for the past 15 years.
Mills said Thursday that on
Nov. 10, she planned to move to
Virginia to work for Kerusso
Ministries, a group that works to
“spread the truth about homosex
uality."
Mills decided last February to
leave for Virginia, she said.
But Mills said she didn't feel
she was abandoning her cause by
leaving three days after the elec
tion.
She said she planned to visit
Nebraska frequently to serve on
the board of directors of the
Nebraska Family Council, of
which she is now director.
“My roots are here in
Nebraska,” she said.
But moving so soon after her
campaigning efforts - staunchly
proclaiming her defense of
Nebraska families - does raise
some questions in her opponents’
eyes, said Andy Schuerman, UNL
student and member of Huskers
Against 416.
Schuerman said he had no
problem with where Mills choos
es to live.
“What I do have a problem
with is her saying (the passage of
Initiative 416) will protect
Nebraska families with full knowl
edge that three days after the elec
tion, whether it passes or fails,
she’s leaving,” he said.
Election 2000
Schuerman said while the
pro-416 camp has touted the ini
tiative as an issue focused on
Nebraskans, it now clearly seems
like part of a national crusade.
“I can't imagine what kind of
effort is in line with Nebraska val
ues when the majority of the
funding comes from out-of state,"
he said.
Though Mills isn’t connected
with the out-of-state funding, the
Catholic and Mormon churches,
along with other non-Nebraska
entities, have heavily funded the
416 movement
Mills appeared Thursday
night in a debate sponsored by the
Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska.
Mary Carol Bond, Lincoln
campaign coordinator for the
Vote No on DOMA Committee,
debated Mills.
The event was moderated by
History Professor Patrice Berger.
Honors Program director.
The majority of the about 70
person crowd sported buttons
against Initiative 416, provided by
the Vote No on DOMA
Committee.
Audience members burst into
enthusiastic applause after some
of Bond’s comments. At times.
Bond had to hold up her hand to
quiet some students who
opposed the initiative, who made
comments during the debate.
Mills acknowledged the
unpopularity of her view with
many of the students in atten
Please see 416 on 8
On social items,
some agreement
BY BRIAN CARLSON
On issues such as Social
Security, prescription drugs and
taxes, there are clear differences
between Senate candidates Ben
Nelson and Don Stenberg.
That’s not the case on most
social and crime issues, where
Nelson, the Democrat, and
Stenberg, the Republican, have
essentially conservative views.
Both candidates oppose abor
tion. As governor from 1991-99,
Nelson signed bills requiring wait
ing periods and banning partial
birth abortion.
Nebraska’s partial-birth abor
tion ban made it all the way to the
U.S. Supreme Court, where
Stenberg, the attorney general,
defended it during April oral argu
ments. In June, the court voted 5-4
to uphold a lower court’s opinion
that the ban was unconstitution
al.
d *
The abortion issue could arise
for Nebraska’s next U.S. senator in
the form of U.S. Supreme Court
nominations. Analysts predict the
next president could appoint as
many as three or four justices to
replace those who retire, and the
Senate must confirm them.
Currently, a 6-3 majority on
the court supports the right to an
abortion.
Nelson said he would not
make his vote to confirm Supreme
Court nominees contingent on
the nominee’s opposition to abor
tion. But he said justices should
strictly interpret the Constitution.
“Supreme Court justices
should apply the Constitution as it
is, not make law,” Nelson said in a
Please see ISSUES on 8
* 4