Tuesday
November 7,2000
Volume 100
Issue 55
dailyneb.com
Since 1901
Nebraskan
Eric Crouch may have a little less
protection from his offensive line
this weekend
In SportslUesday/10
Columnist Betsy Severin explores
whether a vote for Initiative 416 is
the right choice for Christians
In Opinion/4
One last pitch
Steven Bender/DN
Republican Senate candidate Don Stenberg and his wife, Sue, rally supporters in a Capital Aviation hanger Monday at the end of a
two-day state tour. Fetiow Republicans State Treasurer Dave Hekteman, Ui. Sen. Chuck Hagel and Gov. Mike Johanns campaigned
with Stenberg to attract voters for todays election.
Stenberg says he'll support Bush,
Republicans in Washington, D.C.
BY JOSH FUNK
On his last day on the cam
paign trail, Don Stenberg and
fellow Republicans compared
this year’s race to Sen. Chuck
Hagel’s come-from-behind vic
tory in 1996.
Much like Hagel, Stenberg
has trailed former Gov. Ben
Nelson throughout the U.S.
Senate race. Hagel came back to
beat Nelson by 14 points.
At a Monday afternoon rally
inside a Capital Aviation hanger,
Hagel, Stenberg, Gov. Mike
Johanns and state Treasurer
Dave Heineman encouraged
Lincoln voters to send an all
Republican team to
Washington.
"I’m sure Don wants to
outdo that 14-point (margin),
but we just need one more vote
than the other guy,” said Hagel,
who has campaigned extensive
ly with Stenberg this fall.
Before the crowd, Nebraska’s
attorney general acknowledged
Lancaster County as a
Democratic stronghold in the
state, but he urged supporters to
round up as many votes as pos
sible.
“If we can keep the margin
close (in Lancaster County),
then the 3rd District will carry us
to victory," Stenberg said after
having just flown in from west
ern Nebraska as part of a two
day tour of the state.
During the campaign and
“If we can keep the
margin dose (in
Lancaster County),
then the 3rd District
will carry us to
victory”
Don Stenberg
Republican Senate candidate
again Monday, Stenberg
emphasized his team approach
to government and promised to
align himself with Hagel and
presidential candidate George
Please see STENBERG on 3
David Oasen/DN
Ben Nelson greets Margaret Wolf, a Lincoln resident at 13th and 0 streets on Monday afternoon. Nelson was trying to see as many
people as possible during hit last-minute campaigning for todays election.
Nelson confident of win, promises
he will be an independent voice
BY BRIAN CARLSON
Former Gov. Ben Nelson
spent the last day before
Election Day promising voters
he would be an independent
voice in the Senate.
Nelson, the Democrat, is
facing Republican Attorney
General Don Stenberg in today’s
election. On Monday afternoon,
he appeared at the Wells Fargo
Center in downtown Lincoln.
He stood in the cold and rain to
speak with reporters and ask
passersby for their votes.
“John Wooden, the old UCLA
basketball coach, is a good
friend of mine," Nelson said in
an interview. “He told me once
that when he was getting his
team ready to play, he never
talked about winning or losing.
He talked about giving maxi
mum effort and not holding
back.
“I’m confident that I've
given my maximum effort It’s in
the hands of the people tomor
row.”
But Nelson, who led by 12
percentage points in the most
recent Omaha World-Herald
poll, predicted victory.
“I think tomorrow I’m going
to win,” he said. “But I’m not
overconfident. I’m not taking
anything for granted.”
Nelson appeared earlier
Monday in Grand Island, and he
“People can posture
all they want. I guess
theyfll know
tomorrow
Ben Nelson
Democratic Senate candidate
was scheduled to visit Omaha
Monday night.
In his final pitches to voters,
he said he talked about his inde
pendent approach, discussed
the issues and asked people for
Please see NELSON on 3
Plan approved to control floodplains
■ Neighborhoods east ofCity
Campus will be save from
fk>odwaters;traffic will be
diverted around UNL.
BY JOSH FUNK
The City Council voted unani
mously Monday to adopt a 20
year traffic and flood water plan
that will reshape the heart of
Lincoln.
After several years and hun
dreds of public meetings, the
Antelope Valley project was
adopted into the city’s long-term
comprehensive plan.
All six council members pres
ent commended the work that
went into the Antelope Valley plan
and called it the best compromise
of many different interests.
Councilwoman Cindy Johnson
City Council
was absent
“I believe this to be an out
standing plan that accomplishes
multiple objectives,” Councilman
Jeff Fortenberry said. “This
ensures that as the areas on the
outside (of Lincoln) grow, we don’t
leave our downtown behind.”
The city will move ahead with
final design planning for the pro
ject’s first stages.
The plan also must be
approved by the two other Joint
Antelope Valley Authority part
ners before work can begin. The
other partners are the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln and the
Lower Platte South Natural
Resources District
The plan will create a six-lane
road along 19th Street from K to Q
streets. The road will snake east
between the Beadle Center and
Malone Center and come back
west along an expanded Antelope
Creek, diverting the bulk of traffic
around City Campus.
The expanded Antelope Creek
will be able to better accommo
date flood waters.
As a result, a large area of the
Clinton and Malone neighbor
hoods and the east edge of City
Campus will be removed from die
floodplain. Currently any devel
opment in the area would have to
be built above predicted flood lev
els as the Beadle Center was, and
property owners must carry costly
flood insurance.
University of Nebraska
Lincoln officials view the area
between Vine, R, 17th and 19th
streets as a prime area for expan
sion once the floodwater project is
complete. They envision as many
as six new research labs during the
next 30 years for the area, which is
now mostly parking lots.
To complete the Antelope
Valley project, the city will have to
buy several homes, displacing
families. Council members said
affected families and businesses
should be treated with respect and
sensitivity.
“These are projects that affect
the quality of life, and that affects
people who live in the communi
ty,” Councilwoman Annette
McRoy said. But she predicted the
project benefits would outweigh
the hardships.
Even though council mem
bers said they still had some con
cerns about the details of the plan
and a lack of flexibility if there are
problems, they agreed it was
important to move ahead with the
plan.
Please see COUNCIL on 3
Prospect: Art students must grasp human spirit
BY VERONICA DAEHN
Before Sunday, Kathleen Rountree had
never stepped foot in Nebraska.
But she’s at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln now, hoping to become the next
dean of fine and performing arts.
Rountree, associate dean of the College
of Music and Dramatic Arts at Louisiana
State University in Baton Rouge, spoke to
faculty members Monday about her philos
ophy on the arts.
She is the third candidate to interview for
the position.
Rountree said she was interested in com
ing to Nebraska for several reasons.
“I see lots of positive indicators here,”
she said. "The budget’s stable, the tuition's
low, and I see a lot of potential for growth.
That's very exciting.”
Rountree has been at LSU since 1989 and
has been associate dean since 1995.
She said it was important to realize the
quality of work being done by students in the
College of Fine and Performing Arts.
Sometimes, artists decide the work they
do isn’t as exotic as the work of scientists,
lawyers or agriculturists, Rountree said.
But just because artists don’t use as many
multisyllabic words doesn’t mean the work
isn’t noteworthy, she said.
"Think about what your students are
doing,” Rountree said to UNL faculty mem
bers and administrators Monday. “They are
striving to express part of being human.”
A theater student’s learning to perform a
soliloquy requires a great understanding of
the human spirit, she said.
And a sculpture student creating a piece
of art out of a lump of clay is just as special.
“The things we do every day are equally
as or more exciting than what’s going on at
the rest of campus,” Rountree said.
She talked about several challenges fac
ing colleges of fine and performing arts,
including obtaining funding and becoming
more multicultural.
Colleges can no longer rely solely on
state support or tuition, she said.
Please see DEAN on 6
Perlman seeks input
on UNL goal-setting
BYJILLZEMAN
The wheels are turning in a
process that aims to make UNL
one of the top schools in die coun
try.
University of Nebraska
Lincoln Interim Chancellor
Harvey Perlman reiterated his
commitment Monday to the
20/20 Vision report, which sets
goals for the university’s next 20
years.
Perlman sent an e-mail to fac
ulty and staff members updating
them on the progress on the
vision statement, which outlines
the university’s goals, particularly
in graduate education and
research.
In his e-mail, Perlman said he
would share the 20/20 report with
the NU Board of Regents and
encourage faculty and staff mem
bers to implement the report
The Institute of Agriculture
and Natural Resources and the
senior vice chancellor for
Academic Affairs will start a
process allowing faculty and staff
members to decide how to take
action, Perlman said.
Perlman said he had received
valuable feedback from deans,
department chairpersons and
other faculty and staff members
about the report
Through their comments,
Perlman said he learned faculty
and staff members generally sup
ported the report
While the report focuses
mainly on graduate education
and research, Perlman said it was
important to not neglect other
areas of study.
The 20/20
report also
goes hand-in
hand with the
university’s
prioritization
of classes, he
said.
Sheila
Scheideler,
Academic
Senate presi
dent, said she
was pleased
with Perlman’s
progress on
adapting the
report to facul
ty needs.
When the
statement was _
first released,
several faculty
members wor
ried the report focused too much
on graduate education and
research instead of undergradu
ate education and the humani
ties, she said.
But Perlman’s continued work
has made the statement more
friendly toward the areas first
thought to be neglected, she said.
“It’s all falling into order,” she
said. "We need to respect that
research includes everything,
“It's not
just a
feel-good
docu
ment put
together
to pla
cate the
universi
ty comm
unity."
Joel Schafer
ASUN
president
Please see 20/20 on 3